Not Playing Around

I am the proud (almost) owner of the following pair these deliciously gorgeous leather lovelies:

And obtaining these beauties was no laughing matter! Rewind time by about a week and you'll find me finally coming to terms with the idea of skinny jeans. Up until this weekend, I'd bucked the trend, mostly because I'd never really liked what they did for my girlish figure. When Carin and I went to the incredible outlet malls in San Marcos, my #1 priority was finding the perfect pair of skinny jeans and some great brown boots for fall.

Thank you J. Crew for having all your jeans on sale this weekend. You are the bomb.com.

But I wasn't nearly as successful finding boots - until today. First, I got an email from my absolute most-loved clothing obsession, Anthropologie. Right now, boots and outerwear are 30% off! Score! So I find these awesome Frye boots and immediately know they'll be the perfect fall boots to go with my new jeans. Only problem? They're only available in a 5 and my 9.5 size foot will NOT squeeze into a 5.

And so the quest for the perfect fall boot begins.

Drawing from my years in retail sales @ the Gap, I know I can call the nearest store and see if these brown beauties are available in a larger size. I remember that Jordan and I will be in Houston again this Thursday (Be jealous. Verrrrrry Jealous. I'll be spending my Thursday night listening to Gungor and David Crowder.), so I begin my search in Houston.

Phone call #1: The store I call doesn't carry full priced shoes. The only chance I have is finding a returned pair, which is a bust. According to the girl I'm chatting with, the Austin store has a pair in my size. The search continues.

Phone call #2: This store has a few pairs of the boots in stock, but aren't actually size 9.5, they only have 8.5. This helpful sales girl encourages me to call the SoHo, NYC store. She ensures me that the NYC stores are my best bet because they are all huge and keep tons of stock. She gives me numbers for two stores and I continue the calls.

Phone call #3: Apparently, no store on the east coast received these boots. This helpful sales girl tells me she is bewildered that the Austin store would send me to her store because there are no boots available within several states. She searches through stores on the west coast and informs me that there are no boots on the west coast either. Now I'm starting to get discouraged. Did I mention I had an anthro gift card that was just dying to be spent on a fantastic pair of leather boots? If only I could find them! The salesgirl does a nationwide search and discovers that a store in Madison, Wisconsin has one pair in their inventory. She gives me the number and I proceed with hesitation. At this point, I'm thinking that it's just not meant to be.

Phone call #4: I explain for the fourth time what I'm looking for and the sales girl immediately tells me that their store does not carry shoes. Ugh. In a last-ditch effort, I tell her about the phone call with the NYC store and she goes, "Are you looking for the Frye boots?! I think we have 1 pair!" So I wait on hold....

.... and then I ordered the last pair (apparently) of size 9.5 Frye boots in the entire United States of America. On sale. With a gift card. From Wisconsin. That's legit. In 5-7 business days they'll be in my arms. Or well, on my feet.