I'm a girly-girl. I love purses, jewelry, hair diddies (headbands, barrettes and the like in case you are unfamiliar with the oh-so-technical term "diddie"), shoes, make-up, etc. Out of all of these though, I really love shoes. And I especially love beautiful high heel shoes. And until recently they have always loved me back.

But a couple of years ago I started noticing that I couldn't wear heels all day like I used to without really feeling it. I couldn't traipse all over town in uncomfortable shoes and experience just a minor twinge. Nope. As I've gotten older (God, I hate that phrase!) my feet have gone all wussy on me.

Now that does not mean I've given up cute shoes. Hell, no. I've just readjusted a little. My heels are saved for days when I won't be walking as much or when I can change shoes at some point. I've bought some really cute flats. In fact, you might say that this new wussiness of the feet has expanded my shoe wardrobe. Now I have beautiful heels AND flats! I have managed to keep my feet from screaming and still be fashionable. I have avoided the Birkenstock, Croc, Teva section of the shoe department.

Until last weekend.

You see, our 16 year old niece came to visit and we had a couple of whirlwind days planned. The Art Institute, shopping on State St. and Michigan Ave., Wicked, Chinatown, Navy Pier, Sears Tower--you get the picture.

We started the trip off with a few hours at the Art Institute on Friday night. This is where it all started to go to hell in the feet department. The Art Institute is lovely, but its not made for cute shoes. The floors are MARBLE. No spring, no padding, just hard-ass marble.






I was wearing something that looks a little like this. Cute, huh? And smart, or so I thought. I knew we'd be walking so I chose a flat.

 But notice how flat they are. Notice the lack of any real padding.

Now let's do a little math. Hard-ass marble floor for 3 hours + really flat, non-padded (cute) sandals = MASSIVE PAIN!!