TL;DR: I found two comfort brand shoes that work GREAT for my feet!!!! Questions for YLF:
1) Do these Naot sandals (pic below) get the YLF stamp of approval?
2) Of the Taos shoes here http://www.zappos.com/taos-footwear-women-shoes~1 which ones do you like best, if I was to add a second?

The long rambling version:

Hi all, back from San Fran trip and I'll give a full report later when I'm not so jet lagged. In the meantime, wanted to share my new sandals --

http://www.zappos.com/naot-foo.....ck-leather

I've been wanting to jump on the Birkenstock trend this year, as comfy walkable shoes are very appealing to me. Also, since I've never owned Birks in my life, it is a "fresh" look to my eye. While in San Fran, my only shopping goal was to track down a shoe store that sold them so I could try them on my feet!

Unfortunately, the Birks just didn't work for me. In fact, none in that brand, no matter what size or style, worked for me. It is a factor of the footbed itself - they fit elsewhere (width for my high-volume feet) but the footbed was all wrong. I don't know if that means I have low or high or funky arches, or what. It just seemed like the arch was in the wrong place, and not just that part, also the part under the toes was very uncomfortable. The sales person tried to convince me that the footbed would give and mold to my feet after a week of "heavy" walking... but I was not convinced and didn't want to drop the $ on such an experiment. The way I figure, if not comfy out of the box on day 1, I'd never make it a full week walking in them, and also, at my height/weight, I figure I may not be heavy enough. I figured it would take me longer than a week, while someone who is taller may only need a few days. Does that make sense?

Fortunately, this store had all kinds of comfort brands to try on... so I did! And I found these Naot's instead. They fit just perfectly -- everywhere. Yes the footbed is stiff and will mold like the Birks, but the difference for me was all in arch placement, and that little ridge that sits where your toes meet your feet. All the Naot's I tried fit perfectly, as if personally designed for my foot. What's more, this particular style has elastic bands, so gives a lot when walking.

SUPER SUPER comfy!!! Happy feet!!! I wore these all over the place and they stood up to the urban walking test. I don't think my feet have ever been happier on a trip.

In fact, my feet were bothering me already -- this was day 3 of our trip. I had been alternating a variety of favorite, usually comfy walking flats, until I bought these. Back in December I did something to my toes (felt like I'd fractured my toe, not sure), and it is a foot issue that continues to come and go. After a couple of days walking all around, the pain was back with a vengeance, aggravated by shoes that were too flexible at the toe -- and also too flat.

But these Naot's proved to be JUST the ticket for the foot problem -- the pain instantly went away and I was able to walk out of the store and for hours more, wearing them!! The next morning, the pain was still gone. But then I switched shoes for business portion of the trip, and the pain came back again. Back to the Naot's for a few hours, pain gone! Magic.

You can't beat shoes that make your feet happy & healthy -- but are they stylish??? I am hoping YLF gives me the thumb's up. Do you think these give a nod to the Birk trend?

I am not sure pics quite do this part justice, but there is a hint of cobalt blue on the straps. Just a hint, which catches in the sun, and makes me smile when I look down at my feet. Perhaps we can say they are ugly-cute? Is that a thing?

The other brand I discovered at that store is Taos -- I bought these as well:

http://www.zappos.com/taos-footwear-encore-black

They aren't quite so fun but uber-comfy and I really needed a pair of shoes like this, something I can swap into from heels, when attending conferences and needing to stand on my feet all day long. I tried on a ton of different Taos styles and every last one fit like a dream. I am probably going to buy another pair or two. There was long debate between the Naot sandals and this Taos sandal:

http://www.zappos.com/taos-foo.....light-gold

... but the Naot won out for now because I really wanted something more like the classic black Birk... However, now that I'm home again I can put some thought into which Taos I may add to round out my comfy shoe collection, since it's safe to say that this brand works ideally for my feet... which do you like?
http://www.zappos.com/taos-footwear-women-shoes~1

ADDING a second full length photo ... unfortunately it's dark, but hopefully you can get the idea...