After a prolonged, lustful flirtation, I finally bit the bullet and bought these:

They’re Dries van Noten silver booties (yes, they do look gold, a pale platinum-gold in person, really), with a cutout at the intersection of the cross-straps, which tie in the back, and a sturdy, chunky stacked leather heel. I got them at Head Start Shoes, almost 70% off: they were $189, down from $575 (original price). This was the last pair and it happened to be in my size, so you see how I had to get them. The dramatic price cut, their glamor, and my need to reward myself after I got good news about my big-bad-ass-project (it passed muster! yay!) converged on a beautiful spring day to grab these while I still could.

I’m not gonna lie to you, I’ve become so unaccustomed to walking in anything higher than 1, 1.5 inches tall, that these were a challenge. The heel is chunky, true, but it’s also almost 3 inch high, and the sole is thick but hard. The balls of my feet got quite a workout on the streets of Philly yesterday, but I couldn’t care less: the weather was gorgeous, my project was basically good, and I had silver-gold boots on my feet. Life was fabulous!