It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

...No, I am still not feeling the Christmas spirit that everyone else is feeling - not when it's still November, even with the tradewinds coming in and the sweatshirts coming out of the closet. But how could I run a blog without mentioning the Fall sale that's going on at Payless this week? Especially not when the boots are going on sale - and Lord knows that I could really use more boots in my closet.

That said: I really shouldn't be talking about boots at all, and not because of the whole "living in a tropical climate" deal that I have going right now. Fact is, I usually can't fit into most boots because of my calves, which are really muscular up top; because they're pretty wide, I have problems zipping up most boots, especially since said chunky calves taper down to a considerably narrow-to-average ankle. What's even worse is that the boots that do fit me give me serious cankle action, and cankles only make me look more like a Yeti than I already do.

So imagine my shock when I tried on my first pair of cankle-proof boots at Payless this morning:

Don't let the "low boot" moniker fool you; on me, these came up to a few inches below my knee. And when I say "cankle-proof," I mean it; the pouffy, it-only-looks-like-a-drawstring pouch top does break at the exact point where my natural calves start to taper to my ankles. They're actually sexier in real life, but I did have a few problems with this boot - in particular the narrow pointy heel (which is as delicate and dangerous as it looks here) and the lack of a back zipper, which puts me at the risk of actually injuring myself if I take them off after a long day. Not to mention that, if I had worn these with the blue Old Navy dress I mentioned in my last entry, I'd feel like a gigantic parachute.

(And seriously? I was planning to wear that dress to Christmas with my parents, so pairing it with these boots would only give my Mom a conniption. Remember, this is the same mother who once warned me about going around town in tall pointy boots... without realizing that said boots belonged to my older sister. Make of that what you will.)

I put those seriously hot black suede boots back on the rack, although at the seriously low Payless price I knew I could still come back and snap them up if I wanted to. That's when the other pair caught my eye:

You'd think that the Airwalk Pine Boot would give me cankles just by looking at them, but I was surprised at how un-Yeti-like I look in them. Credit goes to the construction of this boot, which gives us the desired curvy seams and gathers where I (and most women) need it most around the ankles. They're flat, so I won't have problems walking around, but they're also 1) tall and 2) suede, which makes them fashionable enough to still make Mom wonder what has gotten into me if she sees me padding around them on Christmas morning. Heck, I might even end up ordering these online with the extended calf size so I won't have to worry about not giving my legs enough ventilation if I do end up wearing them on a non-winter day.

...Or I could just sit and wait, so I can spend the money on heels and save the boot aspirations for hiking. Which should really send my Mom into an absolute tailspin.