Hippy Shoes

If there is anything that I love more than putting shoes on the feet of poor kids in developing countries, it's putting those same shoes on my feet so that I can look all hipster and philanthropist-y at the same time.

I've kind of ALWAYS been on a search for shoes that meet the following criteria:

• Are comfortable and heel-less
• Match casual outfits but can also be worn to go out

Of course, in the summer sandals are the answer. But what do I do in winter when i don't feel like wearing boots, tennis shoes, or heels? (I should also note here that I am vehemently against wearing tennis shoes with jeans). In fifth grade my answer to this eternal debate was bedazzled denim Keds, but now I'm at a loss. TOMS are the perfect shoe!

So when I decided to finally pull the trigger, I thought I was being all hipster and trendy. You don't really see too many people wearing TOMS in Pittsburgh yet. We are about two years behind on the trends here. I think Pittsburgh was also recently voted one of the (maybe #1?) most unstylish cities in America. The height of fashion here is a brand new Steelers Jersey. Wanna get even edgier? Wear a vintage-style Penguins t-shirt and cut the shoulders off. 

So I ordered a pair of the classic canvas in ash, but when they came in the mail, they were two different sizes. Strike one TOMS (or maybe it was Nordstrom's fault). So I had to ship them back and order a new pair. I'm incredibly impatient, and I really wanted to have them in my possession by this past weekend so that I could something comfortable to wear while walking around Chicago. So what did I do? I bought another pair in Nordstrom on Michigan Ave. Classic canvas in red. Because I'm honestly the most impatient person in the world. I also ordered a pair for Frank, because I thought he would look cute in them and maybe the TOMS energy would soak into his cells and he would become a more liberal voter? So I'm left with this:

PS. I added the "hipster" effect from my iphone photo app to really drive the point home ;)

I thought I was being super cool. But then I went to Chicago this weekend and seriously, 50% of the people I saw on the streets were wearing TOMS or something cooler. It was just the norm there. Oh well, at least I'm semi(?) cool in Pittsburgh?