Shoe Therapy

Ever since I was a teenager, I've wanted a pair of Converse high tops. Over the last year and a half I've even played around on their website, designing various shoes but never ordering them. Their spam-mail finally worked on me the other day when they told me I should check out their online outlet. I saw this pair and thought: "Oh, yeah. I need those." I mean, honestly, what IS the point of being a self-sufficient adult if you can't buy yourself the pair of tennis shoes you always wanted?

The really cool thing about these shoes is that they are RED product - where part of the money goes to fight AIDS in Africa. You can't really tell from the picture, but the soles are red (as are the shoelaces). Anyway, the point of this post is not so much my shoes as it is the quirky little things that have a tendency to lift me out of my patented Jenn-angst. When I put them in writing, I realize how bizarre my psyche is.

Things that make me feel better when I am blue:

1. Shopping bags with handles. The paper ones are only peripherally satisfying now. The really great ones are the ones with extra bling. (Such as Juicy Couture bags.)

2. New shoes (I know this is normal for most women but I was about 33 or 34 before I cared about shoes IN THE LEAST. It took decades for me to give in to the footwear proselytizing of my mother and my brother's wife...)

3. Really, really loud music while I'm driving in my convertible with the top open. (Today it was the Twilight soundtrack.)

4. Dilbert cartoons.

5. Exercising while listening to loud music. (Hey, I'm noticing a "loud music" theme here...)

6. Hotel swag. (See previous postings...)

7. Did I mention new shoes? The best therapy is a combination of these elements, such as: going to The Domain and sauntering over to Cole Haan while listening to loud music on my iPod, then buying some AWESOME shoes because their shopping bags are really great. When you think about it, even if you spend a couple of hundred dollars on a good pair of shoes - that's only one or two therapy sessions (and psychologists never really understand me the way Cole Haan does).

When did I get this shallow? Is it a middle-age thing?

Well...maybe I should try to focus more on yoga and meditation. I hate to admit it but those forms of therapy would probably be much longer-lasting than new shoes. The problem is that you just don't get cool shopping bags when you meditate.