Corrections and a bit of Cognitive Dissonance

(I think I might have been looking at my life a little too literally when I checked in last time. I tend to look at things as either black or white. Often I don't see the grey. And the majority of life is found in the grey, in moderation, in compromise, in the in between. I have a vast amount of time on my hands and it is my own fault for misusing it. There is nothing stopping me from learning and using my time to better my self. I have chosen to stare, stare at the screen, stare into the air. Enough, enough she says....I will use my time more wisely, end of story.)

You've heard about the Hermes orange shoes that were my first Spring shoe purchase? Well I have worn them so much now that they are a little stretched! But I love them, I love the color, I love the shape, I love the way my feet feel when I walk, they make me feel like a modern-day Hepburn. So....Church's English Shoes--a very conservative shoe company that has been in business for decades. They make traditional loafers and wing-tips for men and some of the same for women. Whoever is at the helm of Church's has a great sense of fashion and knows how to turn the most boring loafer into something that has zest, zip, and make a very unique contribution to the world of shoes. Case in point: Warm green leather loafers. Sounds a bit "off", yes? I thought so too, at first. Yet I was drawn to them in many ways. I began to deconstruct what it was that was making them seem so off, was it the color, was it the wrong hue of green, or was it the fact that a traditional loafer usually done in brown was now the color of grass? Of course I had to try them on to see what was going on, so I did....and it all made sense. The green reminded me of my old Mary Jane Doc Martens I wore in college and the style was one that I have always loved, a good, old-fashioned loafer. It was a sort of cognitive dissonance. The color was pulling at my memory while the style was playing with my eye for practical yet fashionable shoes.

I had to have some help in knowing how I was to wear these shoes. Do they go with black? Brown? Other colors? So, today I am wearing neutral-patterned cropped pants with the green loafers. I'll admit it is a bit strange, but I like being able to have something about me that doesn't match with all the other things. I've become so conservative in the past few years that it is good to pull out a pair of green loafers to get me out of the ruts I get in. I am excited that I have a color upon me that reminds me of my greatest days at Emory and that I am also bopping along in a comfortable pair of loafers that I can wear year-round! As it turns out, a bit of dissonance can be good for the spirit....