Needle in the Proverbial Haystack

I have a serious problem. There is something wrong with me. At least in my opinion, anyway. Shopping for shoes is a necessary evil for me. See, I absolutely LOVE shoes!!! The problem then? I've got big ol' feet! Seriously. Like double-digits big. And even then, the number's not as low as you might be thinking. They're big feet. I've never really thought they looked like aircraft carriers or anything because I feel they are somewhat proportionate to my height. But I've been struggling since high school to find cute dressy shoes that fit. Now sneakers are not a problem--I can always buy them from the men's department if necessary. But sandals, flip flops, peep toes, basically anything in the "pump" or "heel" family is an absolute horror for me.

Those of you with the perfect little female feet (i.e. somewhere between sizes 5 through 9) probably have to make tough decisions when shopping for shoes, like which color to buy or which style you like best. Me? It's only about what will fit. My options are almost null. When I do find something that fits--whether I really love them or not--I typically purchase them only because it's so rare to find a pair of shoes that my heels or toes don't hang off of.

So that brings me to my latest dilemma: shoes for my sister-in-law's wedding. I bought a dress (on eBay for a whopping $9!!) and have been searching feverishly for the perfect (and by perfect, I mean ones that fit) shoes to wear with this lovely floor-length strapless dress.

Now I can't even bother with department stores. You know the ones, where you see the amazing selection of gorgeous shoes with the bright light from heaven shining down on them, the voices of a choir singing, "Ahhhhhhh" in the background? Ya, I can't even bother with that. It's like looking being a child staring at a room full of delicious candy that you're not allowed to have! There's not a single pair of dress shoes in any department store on the face of this earth that carries shoes in my size. Ugh.

Since department stores are out, and since I've already visited every shoe store in my entire county (with no luck!), I had no choice but to turn to the Internet. I checked a TON of stores, such as Piperlime, that don't carry a single shoe in my size. The few random sites I came across that did sell shoes in my size in the color I wanted, I went ahead and bought 'em. Got 'em. Tried 'em on. No luck. Paying for shipping to and fro on literally at least a dozen pairs of shoes over the past few months? NOT my idea of fun. It's like throwing money away. But I have no choice!

I finally came across Zappos a few weeks ago. They do have a HUGE selection of shoes, and, believe it or not, actually had several choices in my size in the color I wanted. I had ordered 3 pairs, none of which fit, so I sent them back. The best part? FREE SHIPPING BOTH WAYS! Finally! I felt like there was hope.

On Monday I went back to Zappos and "expanded" my search a bit. I ordered several more pairs, which arrived today. This was my living room seconds after they arrived:

Like a kid on Christmas morning! Yes. Several pairs of shoes. I dropped about $450 on this order (Side note: Hubs got a call from our credit card company to inquire about the charge... LOL!)

After trying on all of these shoes (these are quite literally my last hope!), the very last pair actually fit well enough for me to make do with them! They aren't at ALL what I envisioned to wear with my dress, but I don't have the luxury of being choosy.

All I can say is, Thank Goodness for Zappos! I love the free shipping and returns, and I was actually impressed with their selection of dress shoes for those of us with unbelievably large footsies.

Ahhhh... Crisis averted. Me got shoes.