Yellow open toe 3 & 1/2 inch Wedges

Her life hasn't always been so great and for a very long time she sat in a dark room feeling sorry for herself. She would post sob stories on Facebook and Myspace as an obvious cry for attention waiting for some knight on a white horse to come in and save her. For all the bitching, whining, crying, and finger pointing things only seemed to get worse until the day she decided to change the conversation.

The world may not give her all she wants, but it has definitely given her all she needs and then some. There may be no romance yet there is an abundant amount of love. And for all the things that may be lacking she is equipped with the skills to go out and get them herself. She just needs to remain patient with the process and keep her faith strong along the way especially when it is being tested.

No one put her in that dark room, she did that all by herself. Today she puts on a cute dress with some yellow open-toed three inch wedges and steps out into the world, into the light to enjoy all that she has been missing. Why did she ever stand in the way of her own happiness? Well one thing is for certain, she won't be making that mistake again.

Army Print Ballerina Shoes

Although I am a lover, not a fighter I do believe in fighting those important battles for what you believe in.

Even though it did not work out in my favor, I filed a case with the EEOC in September 2008. My employer knew I was struggling with a disability that affected me in ways of attendance. When I was at work my performance was one of the best in the department: this was reflected on reports and told to me personally by several members of the management team.

Under the law a person with a disability is allowed reasonable accommodation by their employer as long as that accommodation doesn't cause undue hardship to the employer. I requested unpaid make-up time. My request was denied because "it's company policy", yet a few of my fellow coworkers without disabilities were being allowed make-up time and schedule adjustments. One co-worker claimed she just wasn't a morning person, so management adjusted her schedule to allow her to come into work 30-45 minutes later each day.

My attendance issues put me on corrective action and held me back from a promotion the rest of my training class had received upon our one year anniversary with the company. Some of the reps that received the promotion had skills far below mine, evidence was that I was taking on their workload in addition to mine. I left the company on my own accord and filed my case with the EEOC.

I gathered a packet showing my performance exceeded all standards except in the area of attendance. I gave names of fellow reps who had been given the very same accommodation I was denied. Then I waited more than two years for a response. When I received my denial letter it stated that management was not in the wrong because they can do what they want on a case by case basis. Basically they are fully within their rights to discriminate. Obviously I was hurt, frustrated, and confused by this all. I was given the option to get an attorney and pursue matters further on my own, but instead I decided to move forward and put all this behind me. This blog post is the first time I mentioned it all in over a year.

I know I was right, even if the very people that could have helped me didn't see it that way. The EEOC is set up to protect people like me and they failed to do so. Despite everything I do not regret standing up for myself and I would do it all over again if I had to. Sometimes fighting a war isn't about winning, but about being brave enough to even show up.

Monkey Slippers

I can't begin to tell you how much it irritates me when someone tells me I am too old for something. It's very similar to that feeling I had as a kid when I was constantly told I was not old enough. Does the whole age thing work like the Goldilocks thing where there is one point that is just right?


Often when I dine out I'll ask for the children's menu because I like to color. There's a collection of Bratz Dolls and stuffed animals displayed in my second bedroom. On a warm Spring/Summer day you can find me playing with bubbles. There are nightlights throughout my home because I am still afraid of the dark. If all of this makes me some overgrown kid, then so be it.

Life as an adult is full of stresses: work, dating, chores, bills, health issues. Why not bring back some of the fun and easy times of our childhood if we can? Enter the monkey slippers.

Black Leather Open-Toed Flats

These feet are tired from walking so long without any real destination. They may look pretty to you, but the truth is they are hurting. They have been trampled on, stepped on, and stomped on without any just cause or reason. They seek comfort, something warm and soft to snuggle into. They no longer wish to carry such burdens. They want to heal. Please show them the path to the place they can call home.

Airwalk Flats

A Girl from 1998

These shoes remind me of my senior year of high school. I was best friends with a freshman named Jessica, not unusual since most of my friends were under class man. For some unknown reason the classes of 2001 and 2002 seemed to have a much higher nice person to deuce bag ratio than the classes of 1999 and 2000.

Anyways one of our favorite past times was hanging out at the Nanuet Mall (before the Palisades Mall sent it to it's grave), specifically Spencer's where my brother's good friend Seth worked as the manager. We would load up on funny key chains and magnets, mostly shoplifted, which I feel bad about now as an adult. My only defense is that I was a teenager and most teenagers are inherently selfish, stupid, and impulsive. Every other week Seth would pierce another pair of holes in my ears, at one point I was up to ten piercings in each ear!

Me and my underclassman homies would cruise around in my red '89 Honda Civic hatchback, a hand-me-down car from my brother who got it handed down to him from my dad and my dad bought it brand new off the lot back in the day. We would blast Limp Bizkit or Brittney Spears. I would run over curbs. My glove box was renamed "the love box" because it was filled was silly sexual products/toys that I would never end up using.

I remember turning 18 and being excited that I could legally buy cigarettes. Now I didn't smoke, but plenty of my younger friends did, so I bought it for them. Once again I'm going to use the teenager excuse. Only a few years later would I take a strong stance against cigarette smoking and try to adamantly convince anyone I knew to quit.

And life was simpler back then.

I thought I knew who I was and where I was going in life. Funny thing that fourteen years later I'm still figuring all that out.

Brown Leather Boots with Three Inch Chunky Heels

No Nonsense Kind of Girl

They had been dating for two years, living together for one and half, and he had been cheating on her for the entire time. Her vacation to the land of ignorant bliss had long since expired. Maybe she was originally the other woman, who knows, but she wasn't going to put up with his bullshit anymore even if it was the best sex of her life.

She wore angry all over her body much like slutty girls from Long Island wore fake tans. At the mall she marched right into DSW towards the boots section deliberately ignoring the sale people offering to help. She didn't want their help, she was going to help herself.

There they were, brown leather boots with three inch chunky heels. The price didn't matter, this was what she needed and there was nothing that would stop her from getting them. Credit card swiped. Old sneakers in the trash. Wore those boots right out of the store. These boots would define the kicking ass and taking initials because she doesn't have time to take names kind of persona she wanted to have.

He came home with his shirt misbuttoned wreaking of perfume. What a disgusting cliche. It was the boots that left a bruise on his sorry ass when she literally kicked him out the door. A man she wanted, a little boy she didn't need. And his sweet cock just wasn't worth all the drama that came along with it. Message delivered, he wasn't ever coming back. Let him make a fool out of someone else.

Sometimes she'll sit in front of TV at night wearing nothing but a smile and those boots.

Four inch black wedge loafers

I had so much fun with my February blog challenge, that I decided to repeat it for March with a silly theme: Shoes!!!! I will wear a different pair of shoes every single day this month and write something creative related to the shoes.




Control Freak

She wore long pants on her short legs with those black four inch loafers every day. Consistency was the word she designed her entire life around. Her alarm clock set the same time no matter work day or not, her routine never strayed. Life as bland as the plain oatmeal she ate for breakfast.

You would never catch her without her day planner, not some fancy blackberry or IPhone, this girl preferred to keep things traditional. The third Tuesday of every month was book club, she knew this yet she still always wrote it down. Life was full of chaos and unpredictability, she chose to remain in as controlled an environment as she could.

Cool. Calm. Collected. Emotions were for the lesser people who refused to control their irrational weaknesses. Her clothes were simple, professional, and conservative as was her personality. She believed to be too much of one thing made you little of anything. No room for drama or the people that cause it in her world. Truth be told she didn't deal much with people at all unless she had to.

Every Saturday she cleaned her home. Dust. Polish. Vacuum. Scrub. Every Sunday she chose to get lost in a good book. Crossword puzzles at lunch during the week. Power walking followed by meditation each night when she came home. All her clothes including her socks were organized by color, season, type. No brash colors. Underwear all white cotton obviously. No piercings, tattoos, or jewelry as she was not one to draw attention to herself.

These shoes may be worn, but they haven't traveled far in life and neither has she.