Hiking Boots....To Be Or Not To Be

Hiking Boots- an outdoor necessity or a fashion fo paux? After months of deflecting Joe's comments and constant insistance that I need to have a pair of hiking boots, I caved. I am now the not so proud owner of chunky, not at all cute hiking boots. I can't even bear to take them out of the box and place them near my other shoes for fear of what they will do to my family of fashionable footwear. Instead, they lay in their box in the bag in which they came while I take time to digest the events that took place to make me a an owner of ugly shoes.
It was a rainy day in Seattle and by a matter of coincidence REI started their big anniversary sale. How convenient that this big sale coincided with my birthday? Not only did I get ugly boots but I got them as a birthday present from my dear husband. Diamonds- forget it! A piece of jewelry-not even close! Hiking boots- Whoopty doo!
So we enter the store and it is swarming with Seattle's outdoor enthusiasts. I had scanned the sale papers to make this process as painless as possible and went straight for the boots that I had seen. What luck they had one pair left in my size. As I slid my foot into all of it's "chunkiness," my height increased by a few inches with the tracking on the bottom of those babies! As my face began to crunch, Joe was nothing but smiles. He pushed on my toes, squeezed my ankles, and even made me take a test walk through the "terraine." (aka- an incline that is supposed to represent the rugged ground). After giving confirmation that they would do, I thought I was in the clear until Joe mentioned wool socks. What does a girl with brand new hiking boots need? Wool socks of course! And to further top this already growing ugly ensemble was a pair of "outdoor pants" complete with pockets in the front, back, and sides, nicely accentuating all the "curvy spots" in the most unflattering way. So I ask the question again, hiking boots- outdoor necessity or fashion fo paux? Guess this one ends in a tie with pictures to follow when the ensemble braves the great outdoors!