Cute shoes that are comfortable??? BLASPHEMY!

Wednesdays are the worst day. The week is already in full swing, but the end is not yet in sight. You have all your work laid out in front of you, but you've yet to make a dent in it. To top it all off, you're sleep-deprived, the weather is awful, your thesis proposal is due damn soon, you've stabbed yourself in the eye with your mascara wand, and, to top it all off, you've just remembered that you left your wine glasses in a friend's room--on Saturday night. You promised to pick them up Sunday. But they're still there. And it's Wednesday.

Or, at least, that's my Wednesday, and, in suit, it's a tough one. So, what could make it better? Why, shoes, of course! But, given the crappycrappycrappy weather, let's look at sensible shoes, shall we? Oh, quit your whining. I promise it'll be fun.

Now, the gold standard for sensible shoes is Dr. Scholl's, though I'm not entirely sure how comfortable their shoe insert products are. Still, I have a pair of their famous buckle sandals--mine are flat slides, and they were pretty freakin' expensive for so little shoe, but they've lasted two years and they are comfortable, so I shouldn't complain. Perusing Dr. Scholl's at Zappos, we have a Chloe knock-off and a Marc Jacobs knock-off:

And it's a no. I'm all for knock-offs, especially comfortable ones, but these ones are, well, ugly. These next ones aren't exactly cute, but I'm attracted to their strangeness, and especially if they're comfortable, I would totally wear them.

Their collection at Zappos is full of iterations of the buckle slide, some ugly heels, other mediocre knock-offs, a few cute flats, a cute pair of granny boots, and a few real gems. Nothing, however, topped this:

Overall, I'd say it's worth wading through the ugly (some of which is quite appealing, like the strange boots I pictured, and also a pair of sort of. . . I dunno. . . combat maryjanes, if you will) to find the few real treats. I'd love the above boots and t-straps. Especially the boots, given the weather. Still, I admit the Dr. Scholl's is a bit of a pedestrian choice, so let's move on to the big guns: Nike for Cole Haan. Now, this isn't a line of couture sneakers. Apparently, Nike has taken their foot-friendly sneaker technology and put it all in cute little heels, boots, and wedges. Sounds good to me. I have a friend who has a pair of their boots and adores them. They all have a little bit of a platform below the ball of the foot, which I think is where the "Nike Air Technology" goes, and they all look pretty damn good:

Especially the two pictured above. Damn. Sexy. Still, the brand that I'm finding most intriguing is probably Devotte. I do remember reading somewhere (helpful, I know) that they're quite comfortable, and while I'm not sure why they're hailed as particularly comfortable on a technical level, but if you look:

That's a low wedge and a sensible heel--hardly something that could twist your ankle or make you sore. And they're lovely, simple, and vintage-y, without being stale and boring. And you can get them at my favorite internet boutique, Active Endeavors.