MILES to GO || before I sleep

aelibia, I will willingly accept whatever punishment you see fit for me for reneging on my promise to be online by 2pm today. My grandparents and I ended up going to the mall at 1:30, and what was supposed to be a short excursion turned into an all-day affair because my hair stylist no longer works on Sundays, and I couldn't think of a time during the coming week to go see her, so I opted for a last-minute appointment that took 2.5 hours (I got a cut, highlights, and my brows done)! After that, I went on my search for shoes, and... well, that didn't go so well.

So yes, still searching for the perfect, sexy, comfortable shoe. I went to Macy's first, since I had to return something there anyway (well, get it "fixed" is more like it), and I saw a lot of cute shoes, but cute ≠ comfortable, and I've got to apply my same standards that I do for clothing as I do for accessories and shoes. A variety of brands had nice designs, but I was going for a few specific traits:
* A medium-to-high heel; no more than three or four inches
* Heel support-- there has to be something in the back of my heel other than a strap or straps
* Over-the-foot support, preferably in the middle-- a series of straps or one thick strap to hold my foot in the shoe while I'm walking
* No pinching of my toes at the front-- I love peep-toe shoes, but these kind of shoes tend to squish my toes into a very uncomfortable shape, meaning blisters later on, which are NEVER fun

Other pluses would have been:
* A candy color or something different from my usual black (patterns are okay! I actually saw a pretty flower-patterned pair by Jessica Simpson and a paisley-patterned one by Carlos Santana --what is it with musicians and shoes!?-- but the heels were a bit too crazy-high for my tastes)
* No sequins, rhinestones, or other "bling" that can either leave imprints on my skin or fall off and ruin the look of the whole shoe
* No bows or ruffles of any kind
* Good arch support-- nothing TOO curvy or wobbly, like a platform shoe. But platform heels and/or toes are okay, so long as it's not platform from front to back, with the tapering in the back-- those kind of shoes are like asking for a broken ankle!

Anyway, I checked out Sheikh, Bakers, Love D, Guess, JCPenney, Sears, Reflections, and any other shoe store I could think of or saw. The only "for sure" one I didn't get to (but might try to tomorrow) is DSW. All were a bust except for Reflections, where I did find two cute pairs that I might go back for. Sad thing is, the cute color one (Qupid) doesn't have the over-foot support, and the cute style one (Delicious) only comes in black. I went to Guess and also found a cute pair of the right style shoes, but they only came in black and pinched my toes together too tightly at the toe.

Despite what the measuring thing at Macy's said, I'm a size 6 shoe, though with some brands I'm a 5.5 or a 6.5. Sometimes I need a wider shoe, as my feet, when put together, resemble a heart-- arched and wide near the top, and tapering down toward the bottom. I have a high arch and pointy heels (as in, the back of my foot), so I require support for those, and don't want to be tottering around in something that can give me foot AND back pain.

I would go for kitten heels or ballet flats as Morgan suggested, but any ballet flats I've ever had ALWAYS fall apart from the toe (I guess I'm a toe-tapper) and don't help me -5'1" at the most- look any better. At least heels give me a bit of a boost. As for kitten heels, I have worn a pair, and they just hurt my ankles like crazy. I'd rather go "all or nothing" if it comes to heels. That doesn't mean I'd go crazy with pencil-thin stilettos, but I'm fine with a few inches of height. Dressy, sexy shoes doesn't mean "thick-heeled clunkers" in my book.

The search goes on! As always, advice appreciated. I hope my feet aren't "too weird" for nice shoes. It's either a new pair or I have to break in the ones I already have (praying that they CAN be broken into).

Good news? Well, my hair looks great if I do say so myself, and I did get myself some new clothes-- a new outfit for yoga and a cute top and vest from Anne Taylor LOFT (couldn't resist). Plus, I picked up the latest Susan Wiggs "Lakeshore Chronicles" book for Baba and I to read together (as soon as Baba's done with her latest thriller romance that she can't stop raving about and which title escapes me at the moment).

 Aankh Milaoongi by Asha Bhosle from See You Breathe - Sight Through Sky-Eyes Disc 1 (Rating: 0)

Well, no one can say that my last few days have been uneventful, because frankly, they've been anything but. Some of them aren't exactly EXCITING!! but "stuff happened" nonetheless.

First off, I went shopping in Uchihara yesterday, which is always nice-- even when I'm on a self-imposed budget because of all the bills I had to pay earlier this month. I still ended up buying two new pairs of shoes (oh my god) and some scrapbooking stickers, along with a Christmas card for Mom. The Christmas/holiday/New Year's cards here are gorgeous! For a while there, I thought I could make a deposit at the postal service ATM in the mall, but I doubt it. I didn't actually try it because I had no money TO deposit, but I might go back there after payday just to see. Still, I don't think I can, and my best bet is *sigh* to pay for a wire transfer to my bank account in the States. I don't understand what PayPal's linkup is with Japanese banks, but I know that I don't have a Japanese bank account and don't intend to get one (even if I could; I'm pretty sure student =/= resident). Why do I need to bother with that when I get paid in cash? Simple-- for when I want to buy things online, like books, food, gifts, or travel. :P

I also found out that Gina Reams (zOMG, remember her?) is here in Japan too, going to Temple University. Her winter break is a little bit longer than mine, but they overlap, so hopefully if we both have some time, we can see each other. That would be fun.

I've been having some weird dreams lately, too (this morning's latest dream was undoubtedly influenced by baine's "The Temptress" and "Star Trek," the original series), but I guess that's to be expected when your brain just says 'You have had a WACKY day, and I am going to try and organize all this...' and does that in the form of some very strange dreams.

Ah, I'd love to find another pair of my old Oxford (Low-Cut) Purple Satin Chuck Taylors (Converse), but it appears they were a special series from 2004, and the likelihood of me being able to find them again in my size is pretty slim to none. Technically I already replaced them with the rainbow-colored hi-tops I bought at Shoe Plaza, but nothing quite replaces a pair of shoes that have seen me almost everywhere, doing all sorts of things, and in my favorite color, no less! You can make a custom pair of shoes at Converse's website, but the fabric isn't really an option, much less the pattern ON said fabric, as far as I've been able to see. I HAVE to make myself get rid of these old shoes! ;_; But it's so difficult...

For anyone curious, the new shoes I bought are downright GIRLY. I got a pair of slip-on wannabe-ballet flats in shiny vinyl red, complete with two knit cherries on the left corner of each opening, along with a pair of fuzzy violet and gold low-heels, with a strap just over the toe (but a closed toe). The great thing is, both of them would look great with jeans OR a fancy dress! I'd much rather have a shoe fetish than a purse fetish, like my mom!

WaMu is idiotic. They're either powered by robots or by people that don't speak English, because when I sent them an email yesterday asking them the SIMPLE question of "how can I make a deposit from Japan?" they kept responding with "you can go to a WaMu branch!" and I'm like "THERE ARE NONE HERE!" Even the Citibanks are all the way in Tokyo. I just wanted to know what the rules were regarding wire transfers, but even though I *KNOW* you can do them (for example, from any place that DOES wire transfers, such as Western Union and its ilk), WaMu didn't mention them as an option at all. Seriously, STUPID!

Also, that thought: how come there aren't any "purikura" programs for PCs or Macs? I mean something that takes your existing pictures (or if you have an iSight/Photo Booth like I do, one that lets you TAKE snapshots) and then lets you decorate them with a wide variety of frames, text, and other decorations? The only thing I can think of that would come close would be a range of Photoshop filters. It wouldn't be hard to make them, necessarily, but not everyone has Photoshop. On top of that, determining a size would be a pain, because I know I would like to "print my own" purikura (you can buy sticky photo paper at most office supply stores). My favorite sizes are the 2.5cm x 2cm ones, or the smaller, 1.5 cm x 1cm ones (roughly). I don't know, has anyone heard of anything?