I have no business looking at Ebay right now. I don't, I don't, I don't.
But I am.
Pictured above: the last shoes I bought on Ebay, sometime early last spring. These are Crocs "Alice" Mary Janes, in a fun color, as you see. I haven't worn them much over the summer, but lately I've reached for them as a change of pace from Birkenstocks and am rediscovering how much I love them.
This has led me to think about Crocs generally. I love Crocs. I wore my little "Sexi" thong sandals until the strap broke. I wore my 27-year-old daughter's old purple clogs (a birthday gift when she was 12) from the time she decided she didn't want them anymore until they fell apart.
I have been thinking, as I plot out how to fill holes in my wardrobe for the fall and winter, to prepare for a no-buy-clothing year in 2022, about shoes.
I have boots:
*tall boots (a dark-brown Clarks pair I've had for about five years, plus the camel boots I bought for my birthday last year)
*Doc Martens (gray-green, owned two years)
I have these Crocs Mary Janes, which I'll wear with tights and leggings in the cold weather. They will serve me well as flats –– I love Crocs in the winter for their water-proofness, though sometimes you have to be careful about the soles in wet weather, because they can get slippery.
I have been wanting a pair of clogs.
I have really, really been wanting a pair of clogs. I have, in fact, been looking at these Lotta clogs as an investment item, and I haven't entirely ruled out the possibility.
But then I thought about Crocs, and I thought about Ebay.
Currently kind of in love with a pair of Neria Pro II clogs in a blue floral pattern.
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These would work for year-round wear, including when it's wet out. I love the floral pattern. They're about $35, which is more than I really want to spend on anything right now, but I'm watching them.
Meanwhile, I've long wanted a pair of the discontinued Karin clogs. Watching this blue pair currently, though there are also some more pre-owned pairs in brown.
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Anyway, we'll see. As I say, I really have no business buying anything now, what with all this dorm-room-shopping-for-two, and travel to and from still to accomplish. But I am watching these. The good thing about Ebay is that however attached I might get to the idea of a particular item, there will always be something else, even if it's never that one item again. I also actually prefer to buy used items. My Alice Mary Janes were used, cost about $9, and are in perfect shape. The Karins, particularly, are going to cost more because they're discontinued, whereas I think you can still buy new Alices –– but again, I'd honestly rather buy them pre-worn than new-with-box, or new-without-box, or whatever. Overall, though, I'm going to hold these Crocs thoughts in my mind. I think I would wear a pair of Crocs clogs many days out of the year, with virtually everything, in the same way that I'd wear a pair of (far more expensive) Birkenstocks. Crocs don't last as long as Birkenstocks, and obviously you can't resole them when they wear out, but they do last a good long time and stand up to hard wear. Water doesn't hurt them. They're easy to clean. I know I like them. Etc. Just putting together my fantasy shopping list here . . . and it's nice to have my major clothing items nailed down, so that I can think about things like shoes, which have usually been something of an afterthought for me. I don't need to have a LOT of shoes, any more than I need to have a lot of dresses, but to have some variety and choice among my shoes, especially in colder weather, is a pleasant prospect. Anyway, all of this is very much my aesthetic. It's pleasant to clarify that, too. NB: I have no idea why part of this post is in italics. Something to do with photo formatting, I think, but after stripping things out and retrying, I can't get it to go away. Sorry about that. |