The moment you’ve all been waiting for…cute and comfy shoes!

My first day on the job as a Physical Therapist’s aide, I realized that none of my shoes were appropriate for my new job. This was startling because I had about fifty pairs of shoes (not including flip flops) and none of them were comfortable enough to wear running around all day and still cute. I started in September and noticed that most of my co-workers were wearing sneakers. Now, I think sneakers look fine with shorts and capris, but I’ve never liked the way they look with long pants. It was still warm when I started, so I think I managed with my old gym sneakers with capris or walking shorts until I got my first pay-check.

In the meantime, I started obsessively researching cute, yet comfortable shoes online at www.zappos.com. I found that Cole-Haan made a line of cute flats with the sole of a Nike Air shoe. I’m usually pretty anti-Nike, but cuteness and functionality trumps mistreatment of workers and child labor every time (that sounds a little harsh, but I was desperate). Luckily there was a Cole-Haan outlet near me, so I went and checked it out. They had the cutest pair of faux horse hair zebra print Mary-Jane flats with the Nike air sole and what luck, there was one last pair in my size! All for under $80 too (if I remember correctly)! I was in love and so were all of my patients! Even better, a few months later I found the same style in a brown and camel colored leopard print on sale at www.ruelala.com! So now I had a pair to wear with black outfits and brown outfits. I loved those shoes and still have them, but I have high arches and wore them flat really quickly (to find out what kind of arch you have, check out http://www.runnersworld.com). I started experiencing pain in my knees from the lack of arch support, so it was on to the next pair!

Now, how does one upstage a pair of faux horse hair zebra and leopard print Mary-Janes? With sparkly giraffe Converse, of course. Unfortunately, those shoes were just about the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I own and were quickly retired and only bought out for a few hours for a certain special patient.

Soon it was Summer again and I bought a pair of Reebok “Zig-Tech” sneakers to wear with my capris and shorts. I love the zig-techs and they are still my favorite pair of shoes for work in the warm months and running either outside or at the gym. The shoes come in funky colors and designs, in fact, you can design your own! They have great arch support if you have a normal or high arch. They are very light weight and I’ve always felt like I have a spring in my step when I wear them.

For the Fall and Winter, I discovered Dansko clogs in the “professional” style. These shoes actually look hideous if you just saw them in the store, but when you pair them with long trousers, boot cut jeans or khakis, you can’t tell that they are ugly and they are so comfortable! Again, these shoes have a high arch and it feels like it just gently nestles your arch with firm support. They are very roomy in the toe bed too, so for the first time in what felt like years, I could wiggle my toes while wearing shoes. I also bought a pair of Sketchers shape-up boots, which were great for the winter. I wore them over my skinny corduroys and I looked super chic even though I was at work. The only problem was the boots were so fluffy and warm, I really could only wear them in the cold weather and Sketchers doesn’t really make the shape-ups in cute non-bulky shoes.

So as this Fall came and I saw all of the ballet flats out at Macy’s, I desperately longed to have a pair of cute, but comfortable ballet flats with a high arch. This is the problem of most ballet flats, they are flat and have absolutely NO arch support. I suppose they are fine if you only need to wear them for a few hours a day or if you have flat feet, but I am on my feet non-stop for six to eight hours and have high arches. I searched everywhere and was finally so frustrated that I decided I must just find a way to design my own pair (p.s I have no idea how to go about doing this), then the very next day I got an e-mail that FitFlops were finally making a ballet flat. Hallelujah! I’ve been buying FitFlop brand flip flops for a few years now and they are the most comfortable flip flops.

They are the only flip flops I’ve seen that have any arch support. I have no idea if FitFlop actually firms your bottom, but I can tell you that they are very comfortable and I could wear their flip flops all day. I had long wanted them to do a shoe (other than the backless clogs they had) that were close-toed and good for Fall and Spring weather and they finally have with the Due ballet flats! I only have two problems with them: they tend to run a little big, so I recommend ordering a size smaller and they don’t come in half sizes. I ordered one size smaller and it fit perfectly on my left foot, but was a little tight on my right foot in the toe bed. That’s okay, because I have a trick for making shoes stretch. Just take a resealable plastic bag, fill it half way with water, shove it in your shoes in the parts that you want to stretch out, and put them in a plastic grocery bag in the freezer over night. The water freezes and expands, thus stretching out your shoe (this tip is courtesy of Michelle Phan). If you find you have a little leakage and the bag is frozen in your shoe, just use a blow-dryer to melt it and dry it off a little. You might need to repeat the process a few times, but it works. I’ve been wearing these shoes since late August and they are still really comfortable and the toe bed is stretched out enough now. I can wear them all day running around and my patients love them, they call them my ruby red slippers! I highly recommend them for anyone who has high arches and is on their feet all day, but refuses to sacrifice cuteness!