Oh Strappy Summer Sandals, I Think I Miss You Most Of All.

Shoes are like tires for New Yorkers. You have to rotate and replace them on a fairly regular basis. -Nicole Taney

It has now been four full months of no shopping. That's right, not a lick of money has been spent on clothes, shoes, scarves, hats, necklaces, sunglasses....sigh. And to look on the bright side, only seven months to go. Double sigh!

I have had a few people ask how much money I have been saving. To be honest, I have seen very little difference in my cash flow (repeat to yourself over and over - I love New York, I love New York, I love New York). The difference is that I am not spending money that I don't have, ie. using my old nemesis, the evil credit card. My credit card is truly for emergencies only now and I hope to keep it that way. And for those of you wondering, come January 1, 2011, this does not mean an emergency sale at Bloomingdales. Just wanted to clear that up.

But spring has come to NYC and summer is just around the corner! The city is alive with flowers and birds (yes, I know you all in the country have that in spades) and the ladies of the city are out and about in their summer finery. The parade of flowing dresses, fun hats, big sunglasses, and new sandals...new sandals....oh, new sandals. Sandals and flip flops may be my favorite footwear of all. After years of abusing my tootsies by shoving them into pointe shoes, oh how I relish in these little shoes that let your toes be free! I begin the de-hoofing process in March, so that by April and May my toes are polished and shiny and the winter doldrums have been scrubbed, sloughed and buffed off my feet.

My friend and office mate R, came into our office last week with not one, or two, but three new pairs of summer shoes. The catalyst for this spending was some pesky tendon pain and the need for shoes with a slight wedge to help to combat it. And though, I was completely happy for R and not jealous at all (no no, not one bit), I did find myself missing the days of finding really great excuses, er I mean completely necessary reasons, to purchase a new pair of shoes. Or two or three. Yes, it is true, I have an arsenal of sandals from years past in my closet, but my shoes tend to take quite a beating on the mean streets of New York and some are looking slightly worse for wear. When I think about what I will be buying at the end of this social journey of mine, shoes are one of the first things to come to mind.

So this summer I will march on in my sandals from seasons past, but next year I can guarantee there will be some new recruits. And just like our young men that have recently descended on our fair city for Fleet Week - they will be very, very cute!


*Note - for those of you who are still allowed to shop, shoes pictured are (listed from top to bottom) - Marais USA, Rachel Comey, Seychelles