Mood-enhancing footwear

For many, there is The Little Black Dress. That one magical item that you slip on to automatically transform yourself. With the right swathing of dark fabric you are no longer a girl with a few self-doubts hard at work to strong-arm the much wiser inner voice reminding you of all you truly are: smart, witty, kind, strong, generous...beautiful both inside and out. It is often said that in The Little Black Dress, the neurosis fade away so that the truth can shine through.

I do have a black dress, though I wouldn't refer to it as "little." And last week when I masked it's semi-plunging neckline with a white tank, and punched up the color with my magenta pink ballet flats and a multi-strand turquoise necklace, I looked in the mirror and had to grin at the outfit I'd created for the day. Simple, yet fun, it may not have made me feel like a supermodel, but it did convey that I at least put in a little more than minimal effort for the office that day. So, maybe my black dress isn't a member of the Drool-Worthy Clothing Society, but that's okay, because I have something else, too. I have The Boots.

After an extensive search for the perfect height, color, softness, round toe and lack of heel, I have recently indebted myself to quite possibly the most glorious footwear of my 26 years (which is saying a lot, as I am an avid shoe shopper). The Boots, ah, The Boots!

The color of chocolate and butter soft, they were quite possibly intended for Goldilocks - not too tight, not too loose, not too high, nor too dowdy.

They. Are. Perfect.

Case in point: the past few weeks at work have been insanely hectic. There are major projects with major design work and scheduling to deal with - and they're all due at the same time, of course. But if that weren't bad enough, one must attempt to manuveur around the corporate politics and executive egos which are best treated like active landmines...step ever-so-slightly in the wrong direction and they will blow! It's enough that I'm working straight from the moment my butt hits the chair in the morning until I stumble out into the darkness of night way more than the standard 8 hours later. But today - though I huffed and puffed in exasperation, day-dreamed of a hundred different ways to torture my boss and listened to Stacy punch the letters on her keyboard so violently I wouldn't have been surprised to find myself driving her to the hospital for a hand cast at the lovely hour of 7:00 pm when "the attack" began - I wasn't bothered as usual.

Well, I shouldn't get carried away here. I was still bothered, just not to the extent that I usually am. I mean, they're not magic boots, afterall!

What the boots did do is make me smile every time I looked down and gave me the attitude of, "You know what? This isn't the real world - this is a less-humorous episode of The Office. Oh, and my outfit today is adorable and my jewelry is fun and I'm more than whatever you think I am. So, what else do you want to throw at me or say about me? Cuz it's all just going to roll right off my fantastic boots and down into the gutter."

Wait... oh my goodness...maybe the are magic!

So, the fashion magazines may be convinced that every woman needs that figure-flattering black dress and that perfect shade of rouge lipstick to wear like a red badge of courage, but I say this: Ladies, don't give up the search. Try them all on, because out there somewhere is a concoction of loveliness waiting to wrap itself around your ankles and convince you that serotonin indeed may not come from the brain, but from your very happy boot-clad feet.

Oh, and gentlemen, I'm sure the boots of the world don't discriminate by gender. Go ahead, get yours!

I wish you a million happy steps, skips, hops and jaunts away from the bits of life that want to drag you down!

Much like Where's Waldo...just try to find the boots amongst the mess!