They're Wonkeriffic!

I did something today I have been dreading since the first nip of cold air made its way east last year.

I finally bought a pair of boots. Flat ones.

They are the only flats I own aside from my Nikes, and a pair of Carolina blue Sperrys which do not leave the house. (My mother, god bless her, bought them. Sometimes she hits. Sometimes she misses. The Tarheel blue topsiders were a definite miss. *shudder*)

After sliding around and walking waaay too carefully during the last ice storm, it occurred to me that I better invest in a pair of the riding boots that have become so popular in nerd-centric D.C. this winter. Step onto L Street downtown, and they're everywhere.

I was trying to resist falling victim to The Wonk. It's the main reason why I maintain a steadfast refusal, Ted Stevens-style, to set foot in an Ann Taylor.




But alas, there's a Filene's and a Nine West within a minute of the Farragut North metro station where I get off, both of which carry a decent selection of size 11's and well, now we know why SNM is poor.

So I stopped in, and within 8 minutes, I was walking out in my new clunky flat boots, which were an extra 20 percent off.

By the time I got to work I wanted to kick myself, even though they were basically a less expensive version of the Frye Engineer boots I'd been eyeing.

"They look like clodhoppers," I cried, silently picturing Stacy and Clinton ripping the things from my feet and throwing them in a trashcan.

But my feet seem to like them, and my almost non-existent arches needed a rest. I suppose I will have to learn to stop worrying and love the wonk.

But I'm still staying the hell away from Ann Taylor.