warm feet in the winter

i've always kind of felt like a second-class citizen in the fashion world. not because i'm not fashionable enough (although i'm definitely not), but because i've always had trouble finding shoes that fit. i wear a size 11, and let me tell you, there are NOT enough size-eleven shoes to go around. i mean, even plus-size women have their own stores nowadays, but do you see any inclusive movements going around to help those poor women who have big feet? i can answer that question for you right now: no, you do not. the only places where you can rely on finding size-eleven shoes are payless and nordstrom (aka nordstrom rack because AS IF i'm going to spend $200 on a pair of shoes). i think i just went on one too many unsuccessful shoe shopping trips during my insecure days in high school to ever feel enthusiastic about trying to find cute shoes that fit my feet.

so that's probably one reason why i've spent the last five winters wearing nothing warmer than a pair of vans, keds, or regular old flats all. winter. long. yes, i've always had very cold feet during the winters. but i'm just trying to explain that i've always been footware-fashion challenged. in fact, i was considering sending out a plea for help via facebook, asking what types of shoes people NORMALLY wear in the winter. i didn't even know what i should be looking for (refer again to my confession of being fashion-footware challenged).

fast forward to last weekend. tommy and i went to go buy tickets to watch the help, and we thought the movie started at 7:25 because that's what time the website said the movie was showing at. but silly us, we should have KNOWN that you can't trust what websites say the movie times are, because it started at 9:25--so we had two hours to kill. and luckily, the movie theater was right across the street from target. can you see what's coming?

we wandered around target, tommy thinking about getting a new pair of church socks and me wondering if there would be any bathing suits left in the store for me to take off their hands (there weren't). i was aimlessly browsing around when i noticed that i was in the shoe section--and i was surrounded by size elevens. no, literally, SURROUNDED. i didn't even know what to do with myself--i think i started to hyperventilate and snatch up all the boxes like a crazy shoe hoarder. they even had BOOTS in my size! boots without heels, no less! (because i don't want to wear heels on a daily basis, but i want boots that i can wear to keep my feet warm. but it's surprisingly hard to find heel-less boots that aren't polka-dotted rainboots, i think, although i've never tried very hard.)

i ended up buying a pair of boots and a pair of fuzzy slippers that have rubber bottoms and therefore TOTALLY count as shoes and i will definitely be wearing them on outings to the grocery store and non-judgmental friends' homes. these are the boots that i bought, just for your viewing pleasure. if you think they're ugly, please don't tell me, because i am just so dang proud of this successful shopping adventure and the fact that i'm finally a boot-owner.

once again, proof that target CAN make all your wildest dreams come true.

this really happened.

tommy and i went to the grocery store last week for two reasons: 1) we needed food and 2) we needed treats to eat while we watched harry potter that night. we started in the produce section, as usual, and got our standard tomatoes-lettuce-carrots-broccoli-peaches-etc., and then started walking through the bakery section to get to the rest of the store. we knew we didn't need to buy any bread because we had a loaf in our freezer that we had to use up before we left on our trip.

but we stopped by the nice bread counter.

you know, the stand with the artisan bread and the baguettes and the rolls and the breadsticks and the whole clove garlic bread that just KILLS me. we looked longingly at the counter, knowing that We'll Know We've Made It When we can buy artisan bread any time we want and not feel bad about it.

and then tommy saw that every. bread. product. had a sale sticker on it. 99 cents, 59 cents, 29 cents! per loaf!

we were giddy like children on christmas morning. of course the only thing we could think was BUY BREAD BUY BREAD BUY MORE BREAD, and we stocked our cart with as many loaves as we could think of an excuse to need. i ran to get tomatoes and basil to make bruschetta so we could use up some of the bread while tommy closely questioned the bakery employee whether such a sale had ever happened in the history of kroger stores before. we took more loaves than two people could ever reasonably eat and walked away thrilled with our genius.

we took kit kats, 100 grands, chocolate-covered raisins, and several mini-baguettes (and some whole clove garlic bread) to watch HP that night. and we were totally satisfied.

epilogue: we finished all the loaves we bought. and even made some homemade bread last night because we just didn't have enough. hello, we're the leiningers, and we are bread-aholics.

a literary binge.

i have a bad habit of getting into the habit of checking books out from the library all at one time. i currently have 16 things checked out of the library and 8 more on hold. (mostly books on CD, but a few movies too.) whoops.

also, i drove past borders and, seeing all the "going out of business" signs, i couldn't help but stop by. and an hour later i came out with these:

whoops. again.

i have problems.

shopping

that girl (^^) is NOT me. because i hate shopping. i really really do.

i don't know when this happened, because i used to like it. in high school, any and all money i used to have i would use to buy clothes. even a few years ago (3?) i remember going shopping with my roomies on my birthday. but i think i can count the number of times i've gone clothes shopping in the last two years on one hand. seriously--i am not joking. before we left provo, i hadn't stepped into the university mall for over a year (except to eat at the old spaghetti factory, which doesn't count as shopping, of course).

but now, there are many reasons why i dislike shopping:
1. i always want to save money so we can buy plane flights and go on trips instead. and now that we have to pay for things such as rent and laundry detergent and toilet paper, clothes just seem so much more superfluous and pointless. (of course, i never have a problem buying books. are my priorities screwed?)
2. just going into a clothes store makes me tired and makes my back hurt.
3. i get grouchy when i spend half an hour trying on different outfits in the dressing rooms and come out with nothing but a much messier hairdo and one pair of shorts.
4. the typical girl self-image thing.
5. when you have size 11 feet, shoe shopping is miserable because THEY DON'T EVEN EXIST.

because of all this, over the past two years, i've slowly pared down my closet and gotten rid of old stuff and my wardrobe has shrunk to a boring set of plain colored v-neck shirts and one pair of jeans. and i hate them. i don't like getting dressed because i hate everything i own. i've started hoping it gets cold so i can wear sweatshirts and not get dressed.

isn't that pathetic?

so, i'm going to go shopping. for my own sanity and to save my appearance. i also have a sneaking suspicion that when i teach next semester and next year i'm going to have to have professional-looking clothes, which i definitely do not right now. ugh.

i just have to work up the nerve. maybe i'll like it better this time around.