A Little Shoe Therapy

Yesterday after a long and boring day waiting at a clinic for Gabby the see a doctor (she has the remnants of a cold and has not been able to kick it) Marina and I decided to go with one of her friends, Branka, for some good old fashioned "shoe therapy."  We went to a new shopping center called Garden Mall.  It has a lot of fun stores inside, including a favorite of mine from my previous European life: Promod.

It is a french store that I have long followed ever since my first January sales on my mission.  I was so excited to see it.  Unfortunately, they seem to run the same trend here that they do in France, in that they may have a little bit of a sale on merchandise here and there  but their big sales are in January and July.  Things start off at 25-30%and then move through the month to 75-85% at the end of the month.  Of course even though the prices may be great at the end of the month, the selection usually isn't. All of us had a good time going through the store, neither Marina or Branka had ever heard of or been to a Promod before and they were delighted by it's originality and compatibility with different styles and layering.  Unfortunately the pricing still wasn't in our favor.  I told Marina that either the next time we came to Croatia we would need to come in January "or," she said, "we need to bring enough money!"  Still to see a store I love here, made me smile.

We had fun going to a few other stores to look at things, and then to Müller, a German sort of grocery store a where I found some really pretty straw Christmas tree ornaments.  While we were at Promod I had explained to Branka, who was struggling to remember my name, that Mirna had taken to calling me Sisi instead of Lacee, as a way to make her laugh.  Well the name stuck and when we were in line at Müller she picked up some chocolate santas saying, "One for , Mirna, one for Gabby and one for Sisi."  It made Marina and I giggle, but in the end it was easier for her to remember than my real first name, and frankly I didn't mind.

Our main order of shopping was to help me find a more suitable substitute for my current, walking long distance and getting around in the wet, shoes: my 8 year old worn out sneakers.  I mainly brought them to exercise in but unfortunately most of the other footwear I brought caused pain if worn and walked in up and down hill and all over the place, as well and could deal with the semi constant rain we've had.  So I have shoes for going out to look nice and shoes for church, but not much else.  This just would not do, and my dear friend thinks too highly of me to let me substitute these grungy old things for everything else.  We were on a mission.

We were lucky enough that Branka also knew about a magazine for sale at the news stand that had a 30% off coupon for Banta, where coincidentally I had found a pair of ankle boots that I really liked.   Then as luck would have it I found a British brand pair of walking shoes that fit perfectly and looked really nice. 

It felt so good and liberating to get new shoes and to go shopping with friends.  Marina even mentioned that This really as theraputic.  Mission accomplished! 

~Fraise