the great shoe purge of 2011

25. Purge my shoe closet.  Even if it makes me cry - DONE! 

I love shoes.

No really, I LOVE shoes.

Like, I love love love them. 

Some girls like purses, some like jewelry, some like make-up...I like all of those things to, but I really really really like shoes.  Like, a LOT.

And I have a lot of them.  

And the scary part is, I used to have a lot more.

My first major shoe purge happened in 2006.  I was about to turn 25, I was getting ready to move out of my apartment and prepping to buy my first home.  I had lived in that apartment for four years and had accumulated lots and LOTS of stuff.  And lots and lots of shoes.  

My shoe closet in that apartment was amazing.  Yes, I said shoe closet.   A separate closet just for my shoes.  I had each pair housed in its original box with a Polaroid photo of what they looked like, along with a written description on the outside.  The boxes were carefully stacked floor to ceiling in my shoe closet.  Organized by color.

Yes, it was a bit obsessive.

When I left that apartment I moved into my mom's house for a few months until the purchase of my house was complete.  I left a two bedroom apartment that was full of furniture and moved into my childhood bedroom + a storage unit.

Needless to say I needed to downsize on all of my worldly possessions.  Including my shoes.

And so the great shoe purge of 2006 occurred.  It was okay, it needed to be done, and I was purging so many other of my belongings I really didn't give it a second thought.

When I moved into my house only the most favorite of my fave shoes made the cut...which was around 75 pair. 

It became abundantly clear last year that a second shoe purge was needed.  My closet space in my house is minimal.  So minimal, in fact, that I have a huge wardrobe in my room to house all of my clothes.  The closet that's SUPPOSED to have my clothes in it, houses my shoes.  

Which had grown to 92 pairs.

I obviously added this task to the list because I KNEW it had to be done...so it was very timely when a co-worker of mine mentioned that her step-daughter was putting together a shoe drive and do I have any shoes to donate?

Uhhhh, do I have any shoes to donate?!  Are you kidding?  Jackpot!

And so began the great shoe purge of 2011.  

Step one:  The Assessment.

The first step in the Great Shoe Purge of 2011 was to lay them all out and see-whats-I-gots.  

So I did.

And this is what it looked like.

Step two:  Discard the Undesirables.

This included the shoes that were given to me, but I will never ever wear them, shoes I can't believe I ever spent money on, and shoes that were worn one too many times hobbling on the cobblestone in fells point after a couple vodka and cranberries. 

Step three: Truthfully reassess the remainders.

I mean, yes, it's true I love me a hot stiletto.  But my life at 30 is slightly different than it was at 25.  I'm not saying moms can't wear a hot heel every now and then, but is it really PRACTICAL for half of my shoe closet to be taken up by gorgeous pieces of foot artwork that are almost never going to be worn again?  Let's be honest, as much as I adore those Badgely Mischka stilettos with the rhinestone accents, it's just NOT VERY LIKELY that I'm going to be sporting them to Sadie's next gymnastic class.  And they're just a little too, oh I don't know...BLINGED OUT for the office...

And another couple dozen or so pair got sent to the "Donate" pile.

Through the course of completing these three steps,  I took quite the walk down memory lane...

My IND school shoes from high school.  Yes, I STILL have them.  

 

 

Evidence of my hometown...everyone from Baltimore has at least one pair of all white kicks.

 

 Can't forget these party girls lookin' a hot mess!  Girlfriend on the left is missing her match, while the sole sisters in the middle are falling apart.  And don't get me started on those black slut-ettos on the right...they may look alright, but the broken heel on right-y is evidence that these crazy ladies had one too many girls gone wild nights in their past, knowwhati'msayin'... 

 25th Birthday BCBG black peep-toes, meet 30th birthday gold platform stilettos.

I also took a trip around the world...

These lovely little chaussures came home from my second trip to Paris...elles sont très mignons, n'est-ce pas? 

 

And these beaded beauties I picked up during my trip to Italy, in a cute little boutique shop in Rome.

These Mary-Jane Doc Martins came home from my trip to where else?  London of course!  (Lauren, remember how we were trying to fit all of the shoes we bought back into our luggage?)

They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and these little lovelies accompanied me on not one, not two, but THREE trips to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.  Looks like they also had something stay in Vegas though...namely a few of their missing rhinestones.

And then of course, there are the milestones...

 

Check out the sassy lace-ups on these beauties!  I wore these when I walked the stage in my college graduation.

 

These sensible loafers accompanied me on my very first day of work at my "big girl" job.

 

These fancy flips were practically glued to my feet summer of 2007, while I was pregnant with Sadira.

 

Most recently, with the help of this dynamic duo, I walked 60 miles in just three days and raised over $2500 for the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Every single pair had a story, or a memory.

These boots were made for walkin'....

...and these flips were made for floppin'.

Of course some are completely impractical but I just can't part with them.

Like these bubblegum pink peep-toes with a BOW ON THE SIDE!  I mean, I am a child of the 80s after all, I just can't resist these gems!

Somewhere along the way Sadira got caught up in the action, and decided to go through her own shoe pile, which (like mother like daughter...) is an impressive stash for a four year old.  She took a slightly different approach, and chose to try on each pair to see if they still fit or not.  The ones that fit got to stay.  The ones that didn't got pitched to donate.

{Sidebar, I just love how she took her own initiative to do a little shoe purge of her own.  And she was so happy to know they her shoes that she had outgrown were going to be donated.  She makes my heart swell with pride. MAN I LOVE THAT KID.}

 And when she was all finished, this was her pile to donate:

 

And this was mine:

Three large trash bags filled with shoes.  All in all, I downsized from 92 pair to 60 pair, all of whieh were donated.  Sadira donated 11 of her own pair.  And the great shoe purge of 2011 was complete.

Have I mentioned how much I love this kid???