Found: Perfect Boots

Hello, my name is A, and I have a boot problem. I have been looking for the perfect boots for nearly 2 years and ordered and returned countless pairs. I think I'm on the black list of every online shoe store. I get my finickiness from my mother who starts her criticisms usually with, "the shoe is too heavy." So, the boot has to be light, flat, flattering at the ankle (no cankles please), 13-15 inches high, fitted but loose enough to tuck jeans under, with some kind of character. I thought I had nailed it with the Frye Sam Button boots to your left and purchased them from anthropologie.com for a ridiculous price (they named it something else) and then found them $100 cheaper. I re-read the measurements and it has a circumference of 15.5 inches. That is way too wide even with jeans and I realized that the cuff would make me appear shorter (if such a thing was possible) because it would cut the line of my legs. I quickly emailed both websites and cancelled my orders. I also really wanted something kind of western but not all out western with stitching, cutouts, a stiff sole or toes that pointed upwards.

Mom was dying to go to Jersey Gardens and I went for the exercise, after Christmas sales, and hope to make use of M's Forever 21 store credit. I got a great price on some pima cotton sweaters for M from Tommy Hilfiger because she is all about how soft they are and machine washable. The discounts were certainly steep but there was nothing interesting - I thought, this is insane, there was so much junk made that people don't want to buy. What a total waste of resources. We ended our excursion at mom's favorite store, Old Navy. I got a great cotton grey cardigan and tank with black "jewels" and spotted shoes piled in a corner.

I like Old Navy flats and flip flops. You can get a million of them in every color and they are comfortable and low maintenance. While the flats of late have not been up to par, I saw these black boots with subtle cowboy detailing on the top, tall, flat, zipper at the ankle and rounded toe (makes your feet look small). I couldn't believe it. Sure, they aren't real leather, but hey, they won't need to be polished and are pretty waterproof. I am concerned about the breathability (think footed pajama smell) but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I popped some gel arch supports in them when I got home and voila, the perfect boots for $39.99.