say it ain't so

let me become a mommy blog for just a minute. you know, those blogs that are all about the plight of being a mom and the only way to power through the martydom of being that single most important person in the universe is through coffee, wine, or really expensive shoes.

okay, okay, let me be honest. i work. i don't stay home with my kids. i hate coffee. i'll take a good shiner, blue moon, or merretti's over the most expensive glass of wine and i thought jimmy choo was the guy who owns the dry cleaners down the street.
but i do love shoes. . . . .just not the sex and the city kind.

let me introduce you to my first love:


i bought my first pair spring of '93. ahhhh. so comfy, so granola-ee, so unique. so stinky! but i loved them as did every college kid in the early '90's. let me give you some history on the greatness that was teva.
some river guide back in colorado in the 70's hated his water logged sneakers and his flip flops just weren't cutting it. yada, yada, yada, teva sandals. the dude sold them out of his van! fast forward to 1985 yada, yada, yada, he can't keep up with production and sells out to deckers outdoor corp.

let me back it back up. summer '93 and this little number joins my crew:
he jumps out at me via camp ozark. i loved these bad boys for a while, much cooler than my tevas. this relationship lasted for awhile until i found out teva took them over. i couldn't replace them. teva was taking over the world. oh and the quality really went down hill after that.

this sent me on a quest for something new to fill the sandal shaped hole in my heart. which brought me to these: chacos
i know! how cute are they!!
here's the problem. they only come in whole sizes. so, for those of you that are a clean 7.5, you outta luck! the problem? they have a higher arch, so whereas with most shoes you can kinda fudge the size, in these you really have to hit dead on. so yes, my quest continued.
though i longed to take them home, it was not to be. and then he walked in. . .
the keen
now, lucky for me, the mister is an avid researcher. we had to research prior to purchasing, to make sure we were getting the most bang for our buck, the best quality for the price.....and this is what we found. martin keen, the brainchild behind this shoe sought to create innovative performance footwear that represents his two primary passions: the ocean and his sculpture well. . . . keen footwear wasn't exactly living up to that once they became mainstream.
so, he left and became this:
the mion

the point of all this? although jimmy choo may be a really nice guy, he can't hold a candle to these guys. the real problem is this. all of these "american made" granola crunchers that i came to know and love have deceived me. they are nothing more than another product of our "global economy". yep, they are all now made in china. only mion remains true to its american roots. teva? china. chacos? china. keens? china. oh and decker corp? they also manufacture uggs and simples. in china.
i'm not telling you to boycott. as a matter of fact, i did some e-window shopping while i was writing this. by all means we can buy from whomever we choose to by from. i'm just sad that while i try to support the eco-businesses, it is difficult to do when most of the eco-business is coming straight outta china.