Yesterday was the day when Jonesy and I met at NAS! It was a very long day for me - we left home at 7:30 AM and came back after 10:30 PM. The start of the day was pretty rough - I could not find my passport just before we were ready to leave. After a short panic attack and going 3 times through the document box the passport was found in the same box on the forth attempt - which just shows the state of my mind that morning!
I think they were ready for me at the Customer service this time: they found my boxes right away and did not ask me if I want to bring my car to the service area to take them home Instead they lagged them out into the waiting area and the feast began!
After ordering 22 pairs of footwear last NAS I was pretty restrained this year - just meager 16 pairs. Pic 1 shows all that bounty and SA helping me to unwrap the shoes. The first pair I tried on was SW Accumulate (pic 2). Gorgeous boots! I was really afraid they will be too narrow in the foot but they were comfortable. Encouraged I pulled them on and - what a disappointment! They gape too much on the top. It is hard to see in the picture but believe me - they do. If this was the only problem I would have considered to try and take in the elastic a bit by the cobbler but - alas - they were too tall and dug into my knee when I sit down. I removed them with tears in my eyes but with the hope that other boots will fit better.
Well, long story short - they did not. With every new pair of boots my heart fell lower and lower. It was good that Jonesy joined us at this point because that cheered me up.
So out of 9 pair of tall boots there was a single pair which fit me - and they were not balck and sleek: Steve Madden Bankker (pic. 10) I was considering to get them because I felt pretty bad but then I had a nice surprise: San Eldeman python booties were a good fit (pic. 3 - 5)! That cheered me up again and I decided to get them and pass on the Bankker because my main goal was black riding boots and booties. See how strong my will is!
After that I tried on SW Adoptable flats - they are so gorgeous and very comfortable (pic 8). I have a huge problem with ballet flats: they usually don't work with my bunions. These were very comfortable and though stretched on the bone but not digging in. I was seriously considering them but in the end decided to pass because I could feel slight pressure on my bone and was not sure how they will behave after a couple of hours of walking. If they come in wide width they would be perfect but they do not after size 10
I also was excited to try Fryes Melissa Trapunto - for the first time they made boots in my size. Oh boy, I had really hard time getting them on - I was afraid I could not take them off at all (pic 6) In the end I prevailed - they are beautiful boots but they felt a bit snug on the calf where the seam is (pic 7) I could have slouched them down a bit but again it was not what I was after so I passed again.
So I ended up with SE python booties and Me Too leopard print pumps. Pumps are a bit tight in the toe box so I am stretching them now (Shannon's potato trick) and we will see what happens.
Poor Jonesy has to endure all this shoe show and then give me her YLF critique on several pairs of jeans I also ordered. So from my order of 16 pairs of shoes, 3 skirts and 5 pairs of jeans I was left with two pairs of footwear and two pairs of jeans!
Then we went to the shoe department. Jonesy did not find anything for herself there and I asked SA to bring me all tall boots they have in my size (pic 12-13) Again long story I tried 7 more pairs with the same result - too tall and too much gaping. This concludes my NAS shoe woes...but the day was still young!
Some more browsing and shopping followed. I got a couple of more items from NAS but poor Jonesy did not find anything again. Then we left Nordie's and ventured into the mall and this is where she hit a jackpot - in Madewell.
We also went to Rack but our energy began to wane and it was soon time to say good-buy. It was a fun day - thank you Jonesy for staying with me through all this extravaganza and being such a sport! I hope we can do it again soon!

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