"Mama says they was magic shoes. They could take me anywhere."

As I've mentioned before, I am so not a girl when it comes to the matter of shoes. This was reaffirmed to me this weekend as I spent one long, miserable hour in the shoe department at Macy's, struggling to find shoes to match the dress that I will be wearing to a friend's upcoming wedding. From my observation, every other woman in the shoe department seemed to be absolutely giddy with excitement over the prospect of buying a new pair of shoes, while I sat there practically paralyzed with fear and discomfort over the same issue. Thankfully I did manage to find some (by watching what the woman next to me was buying, seeing that they looked cute on her feet, and then buying the same... hee).

So last night I was thumbing through a magazine, and I ran across a small blurb about a sport shoe called the MBT Sport Trainer (short for Masai Barefoot Technology). Have you heard about these shoes? (Perhaps they've been around a while, but it's the first I've heard of them.) Their concept is:

"Inspired by the Masai Tribe, MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) is a range of footwear which reestablishes our natural conditions of standing and walking. Establishing these natural conditions with MBT offers high potential for health, beauty, sports, fitness, and therapeutic applications. Using a multi layered sole, MBT® transforms flat, hard, artificial surfaces into natural, uneven ground. Much like walking in sand, the unique uplifting lever spring action of the MBT® sole challenges the core strengthening muscles to be more active. This reactive, more supportive muscle action creates good posture and increases shock absorption for all the joints, significantly reducing muscular-skeletal compression."

The article I was reading mentioned that a couple of the cast members of Grey's Anatomy -- Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) and Katherine Heigl (Izzie) -- wear these shoes while on the set filming. Not that this fact alone would encourage me to go out and buy shoes, but it did make me curious enough to read up on them, plus hey--the shoes look pretty cute in the picture. (I personally like my sneakers big and clunky...really!) And besides, these shoes are supposed to be Anti-Cellulite shoes!! MAGIC SHOES!!! Woo-hooo!! Even the price (a whopping $245!) hasn't completely deterred me, this coming from a girl who cares not about shoes...WOW! (I have, in fact, paid $250 *twice* in my lifetime for shoes, but they were Mephisto and still look like brand new years later...those Europeans certainly know how to make shoes that will last.)

So guess what? I have an appointment this afternoon at a place called Foot Solutions to actually try on a pair of these shoes. I'm very excited (and a little fearful that I will like them)!

So perhaps I do have a little bit of the shoe-gene after all. :)