July 12th, 2006
Well, I’m home. I feel changed in some way by the experience. Someone asked me to pick one thing from my trip that I liked best but I can’t really pick just one thing in England or Edinburgh that I felt was more inspiring than anything else. I think I expected when I left to be most touched by Stonehenge but I was awestruck by the simple beauty of the seemingly unmarred landscape and the ancient architecture intermingling with hints of something seventies retro but rarely anything more harshly modern.
Anyway, more on that as I finish sorting through my photos…
I think for now I’ll just review my shoes. 
So, I wore the Keen Venice H2 sandals pretty much from June 23rd through July 2nd except when I was in bed sleeping. They are definitely a hardy shoe and they had no problem on the wet cobblestones in Edinburgh — unfortunately, they didn’t seem to offer any kind of support against the uneven cobblestone streets of the older part of Edinburgh and after a whole day of walking around on those beautiful streets, my poor feet were cramping and my legs were in terrible shape. This was probably not helped by the fact that I had probably been really pushing myself since June 25th with tours and stuff.
Anyway, I think that considering everything that I did despite my “condition,” my feet and legs felt pretty good and would have felt worse a lot sooner in tennis shoes, even my designer New Balance walking shoes or Rebok cross trainers. I definitely recommend these shoes for this kind of travel and everyday wear.
Except for the shoes that went with the bridal dress, if I wasn’t wearing the Keen sandals, I was wearing the Crocs. I called them my anime clogs. They were quite comfortable and they were excellent for rainy, sloshy days. I expected my feet to kind of sweat in them, but they didn’t. They did take some getting used to as they feel a bit cartoonish and big though they fit snugly. The little spikey things on the soles massage the bottoms of your feet while your walking which is nice and I like how easy it is to slip your feet out under the table while no one is looking. Really, I wore these more when we were just going about town doing pre-wedding stuff. I don’t think I would have done any heavy duty touristy things in them but I did see a lot of people on tours with them — then again, I saw lots of people with flip-flops on the tours, including one girl with a broken flip-flop, but that just seems so uncomfortable to me.
Anyway, I had a lovely time and I have a lot more to say, including some political things (bet you didn’t see that coming. 
). I just need to organize my thoughts.
(Side note: Am wondering if I should make a category for shoes. :P)
Tags: UK, Keen Venice H2, Crocs, Stonehenge, shoes
June 22nd, 2006
Well, this is really a mini-review. I mean, you can’t really review shoes until you’ve really had a chance to test them out under some sort of stress test. For these shoes, that’ll be my upcoming vacation, but I thought I’d at least answer Tamara’s request as to how the breaking-in first day went.
So, I wore them all day, which is a record for me because I usually take my shoes off the absolute second I walk in the front door of my house. I much prefer my feets to be nekid than constrained by outerwear, even cute outerwear. However, I made the commitment to wear them all day to really test the shoe and, honestly, I didn’t mind them so much. I actually forgot I was wearing them some of the time until I tried putting my feet up on the sofa — and then my little inner-neat freak kinda freaked out.
O.K. So, as I mentioned yesterday, the soles are kind of cooshy but they are firm enough to offer good support. I felt like there was enough cooshy to cushion the impact to my sensitive tootsies just from walking down to Starbucks and it was quite noticable to me…I felt like I was “walking on air”.
I also want to note that yesterday was a good day pain-wise for my legs but I’m not sure if that was because I also had an excellent night’s sleep or if the shoes made such a difference. Maybe a combination. I am wearing the shoes again today, but I have had a little leg pain today so it’s hard to tell.
Anyway, I think you have to be careful not to adjust the sandals too tightly, but otherwise, I think they’re fantastic so far. If I still like the sandals when I come back, I’m going to look into buying the Keen shoes.
Tags: shoes, Keen Venice H2, fibromyalgia
June 21st, 2006
Well, I’ve had some serious issues with pain lately. I’ve not been shy about it. I’ve talked alot about my legs. My feet hurt alot too.
When I was younger, I used to work for Winn Dixie and then later for Robért’s Fresh Market as a cashier and customer service rep. I also worked in a video store and at a movie theater at various times in my life. Anyway, the point is that in those service industries, I spent long, miserable hours standing on my feet and they hated me for it. My feet would just ache and ache until all I could think about was the ache in my feet and they would continue to ache even after I went to bed that night and sometimes they’d keep aching the next day when I woke up and got dressed and went to work the next day. I always wondered how other people did it day after day, how people who do those jobs their whole lives don’t go mad with the ache. You’d have thought eventually my feet would have gotten used to the standing and the ache would have gone away, but it never did.
These days, I have a sit down job and until a few months ago, I only got that kind of ache when I went shopping for an hour or so or did touristy things or when on long walks. Mind you, I like all of those things, just not the ache.
Now, I get the ache, about 5 or 10 minutes into my morning routine of getting ready for work. I get it in the grocery store. I get it when I take my dog out to piddle. I get it when I take my trash to the dumpster across the parking lot. I even get it when I press the gas peddle on my car. It just comes faster now.
So, I’ve been thinking that one way of combating this pain on my upcoming trip was a pair of really comfortable shoes, but I really wasn’t sure what to get. I mean, I’m the queen of cute shoes and unique shoes. Everyone loves my shoes. But I can’t say that my shoes are all that particularly comfortable. So I did some looking around and reading around and asking around…and this is what I ended up with…
I basically went to a sporting goods store because where better to find comfortable shoes for walking all over the place in? Then I decided that I wanted sandals to feel less constrained. I had received good advice from MJ who is an avid hiker/adventurer that Keen is an excellent brand as far as comfort. Therefore, that is the brand I looked at. The Keen Newport soles felt too hard and I thought they might aggrevate my poor little aching tootsies, but the Keen Venice had a softer sole so those were the ones I tried on. I chose the H2 style because I thought it would be good whether it was wet or dry weather.
Anyway, when I tried them on, they were like Heaven on my feet. I’m not saying they are the answer to my prayers and that my feet are never going to hurt again, but they are certainly an improvement to some of the shoes I’ve been wearing.
So, I bought them and I’m breaking them in today. I plan to wear them on the plan and on the trip. I guess I’ll have to give a follow up review at the end of the vacation as to how the held up and how they did for my achy feet…
As a side note, because I can’t pass up cute shoes…
I also purchased a pair of orange Crocs. They also are nice and cooshy. I think they make good “walk the dog” shoes if I can keep him from trying to eat them. I haven’t decided if I am going to take these shoes with me or not on the trip. Too outrageous? Even for me?
Tags: Keen Venice H2, Crocs, shoes, fibromyalgia
