Boots! (my other love)

As most anybody who spends a significant amount of time around horses (be it mucking out a stall, or actually riding) can appreciate.. it's hard to top a great pair of boots.

And as anyone who spends almost  as much time lurking around sample sales and flipping through fashion mags (I know, I know... it's a ridiculous, overpriced, totally wonderful, (and not that all unlike horses) industry, but I LOVE IT).... It's hard to top a great pair of boots...

Put those two together and BLAM-O. From October to March, it's tough to find me in anything but an appropriately heeled piece of footwear.  (Unlike Miss P, I do not thrive barefoot)

To reference one of my favorite Friends quotes:

"These are my new I-don't-need-a-job, I-don't-need-a-man, I've-got-great-boots, boots!"

In honor of my (barely controlled) love of boots, I present this - a parade of my current footwear d'jour:

The new boots:  Konigs.  I have no idea what model they are, but they are shockingly tall, and still abusing my feet.  I have a blister on my left heel that more closely resembles a lunar crater than anything else I can think of... and yet I still love them.  They look great on, provide nice support, and I'm fairly certain they'd survive a nuclear blast.  Plus they were an absolute steal at $150.

When you live in Seattle, you end up acquiring a veritable collection of rain boots.  These cute little Pucci Galoshes are my current fav.  Plus they match nearly everything Pia wears...

For stomping around the barn, and my neighborhood, I am absolutely obsessed with the Ariat Plymouth boots.  They are comfy enough to be in all day, whether I'm scampering around the barn, or walking all over Seattle, and cute enough for me to feel polished, while not so cute that I feel guilty wearing them in a stall, or getting them all covered in horsey dust.

These little guys get shed before my feet hit the ground at the barn.  Suede boots = no go for horses, but they are low heeled, and nice enough for dinner out without being so obnoxious that I don't wear them to work on a regular basis (as indicated by the tragically corporate carpet).  Thank you Theory for continuing my addiction to your not-that-affordable clothing line.

Finally, from Modern Vintage - a heeled boot that I love so much I have actually gone back and purchased them in multiple colors.  They are NOT barn appropriate, but as most of my wardrobe can attest, simply "not being barn appropriate" rarely keeps it out of the barn.  I've replaced the heels on my brown version of these guys multiple times, as stabbing around a sand ring in stilettos and "watching" someone else ride really eats up a covered heel... oops.  Oh well.  not a habit that's likely to change anytime soon. :)

And that, my friends, rounds out my Top 5 Boots for the '09-'10 season.

If I were to do an extensive catalog of my shoe closet I can guarantee that a) your respect for me would go down, b) you'd get horrifically bored, and c) I would have to admit that I have some seriously damaged old favorites stashed away that I'm too sentimental to part with, even though I have literally worn them into the ground, past the point of even my very polite, very indulgent shoe-man's repair skills. 

I love boots.