Must. Love. Shoes.

Sometimes the City-Girl just comes out to play... and more often than not, she ends up in the shoe department of the local Palais Royal.

After spending half of yesterday with the vacuum in one hand and a broom in the other as I cleaned up the needles from the big Christmas tree, today just had to be a different kind of day. I had an appointment to get my hair trimmed, which is right across the highway from Palais Royal, so (after-Christmas coupons in my purse) that's where I went.

Of course, everything in the store was on sale... I bought a cute 'Frozen' purse for my friend Fran's granddaughter (it's heart-shaped, so it's perfect for Valentine's Day), and I found a black leopard-print long sweater, sort of a poncho-type but with sleeves and the front is open so it doesn't go over your head (which makes it very un-poncho-ish)... and then I looked at the shoes. Not that I meant to, but the cashier gave me two 40%-off coupons for shoes after I paid for the first two items.

Never let it be said that I don't take advantage of a sale on shoes. I love shoes, and always have, and I think it's in the family genes because there isn't a female in our family who didn't collect shoes like some people collect sea shells. And come to think of it, my dad and his brothers all had respect for a well-made shoe, and kept them shined and polished at all times.

However... those shoes on sale... I found the most darling pair of leopard print heels... and not high spiked heels (which wouldn't be practical out here) but these are wedge-heels, a good three inches high, not the one-half-inch wedge of an older lady (with my apologies to my nearly 102-yr-old Aunt Dolly). Comfy as can be, and that print is soft and to-die-for, plus a little leopard goes a long way and with my best dark jeans, these will look delicious.

I did look at other shoes, but there wasn't anything there that I didn't already have in my closet, or somewhat similar... so I looked at flats and sneakers. Well, hush my puppies... they had boxes and boxes of new designs for 'Keds' sneakers. I grew up wearing white Keds, except when The Beatles crossed the Atlantic, then my Keds had pictures of John, Paul, George, and Ringo all over them. (And those vintage Keds are probably worth a small fortune today.)

Palais Royal had Keds in their classic white (which is usually my choice), plus blue, and beige with little bow-designs all over them, and dark blue, and stripes... and.... black Keds with white polka-dots outlined in silver glitter. After all these cold days of looking at retro polka-dotted shoes on Pinterest, I just had to buy those black/white/silver Keds. The magic of those Keds is the silver glitter... I told my husband that they're the perfect shoes for walking around the Disney parks, should we be so inclined this coming Summer.

Love those leopard-print heels. But if this damp, cold, misty weather doesn't quit, the leopard shoes will be staying in the closet till the sun shines again.  I don't think the leopard print would be that attractive with water spots all over them, poor things.