Need a Cure for Cold Feet?

If you’re planning to run away from your wedding, you’ve come to the wrong place. I’ve got a cure for feet that are literally cold, not figuratively so.

Earlier this year Spenco so very kindly sent me a pair of their Flow Insoles. I should have written about them earlier, but I was too busy smugly looking around at people and thinking “my feet are TOTALLY warmer than theirs!”

There is no actual heaters in the insoles, but some sort of heat reflecting technology that I don’t really understand. What I do understand is that my tootsies stay toasty. And in my world? That’s what’s important.

I started out testing this in some chilly situations: inside my ski boots, while running in the snow, early morning dog walks. Then I got addicted. I couldn’t even go to the office without them. On airplanes, I snuggled my toes in their warm little cocoon.

While your feet never feel hot with these in, they are always just on the warm side of average, so if you’re like me and constantly have frozen feet, these are a very worthy investment. They’ve come with me on every trip I’ve taken this winter, and I just rotate them between shoes and boots. Next year I may just buy a second pair, to keep me from having to move them around all the time.

In the meantime, you can buy your first pair of Flow Insoles on Amazon.

I’ve been to over a hundred ski areas in my life. I could barely tell you what goes on in towns, though, as most were from my former life as a ski racer.

Now, when I travel to Whistler or wherever, what I do after I’m down from the mountain is nearly as important as how the skiing was that day. Gone are the days of going over the course in my head and tuning my skis.

One thing hasn’t changed though, from my days of race-fit (two sizes too small) ski boots: the minute I’m off the slopes, I want to slip my feet into something a little more comfortable then molded plastic buckled down over my poor feet. So when Cushe offered to let me test out their ‘Fireside Boot,’ I jumped at the chance.

Even the name matched my new apres-ski tactic. Instead of jumping off the hill and starting to wax my boards, I loll about in the lodge, sipping hot toddies and warming my tootsies by the fire in faux fur-lined luxury.

The Fireside Boot made for wonderful ski-town evening wear. Purple laces and light-wood buttons dressed up my jeans and made me look just a little better than the people trekking around town in their Sorrels. When I was home in Seattle, I found the boots’ waterproofing was not quite up to facing off with our lake-sized puddles. Tromping about in the snow, however, it was quite adequate—never felt a flake on my foot.

The boot really hits its stride when cuddled up on a cold day. The lining is fleece, and just looking at the faux shearling edging is like a sip of hot chocolate for the eyes. If you’ve got a ski trip on the agenda, I’d recommend packing a pair of these puppies.

Buy the Fireside Boot on Amazon

Equestrian style boots are pretty hot these days, but somehow I always imagine that people aren’t lining up to wear their fancy-pants riding boots into actual stable muck.

I don’t step in stable muck often (okay, never) but if I did, I’d want to be wearing the Bogs Mckenna Boot. Then I could not only be covered in horse shit, I could look pretty sweet while I did it. Unfortunately I was unable to test this theory for you, my dear readers. The only horses I’ve seen recently were pulling tourists around New Orleans at an hourly rate that cost more than these boots, and I didn’t think that running behind them to see if I had the opportunity to step in their poop was really going to fly with either their owner or the horses themselves.

Instead, I tested the muck-ability of these in a winter of dreadful Seattle weather. Technically a rain boot, the leather on these held up to a serious storm, and the best part, wiped off cleanly after a trip to the dog park.

If you’re familiar with the Bogs brand, you’re used to the wetsuit-looking specimens that are tough enough to last through anything. What caught my eye about these ones, though, was that they look nice. Darn nice. Wear to work nice. A little skinny jean and tunic sweater and I’m straight from the farm to the desk. Still has all the high-tech, everything-proof-ness of all the other Bogs, though.

I’ll admit these were a bit bulky to pack for travel, but if you’re touring swampland in the Everglades or have any plans to muck about horse stalls, these are the ones to bring. In the meantime, you might want snag yourself a pair to wear with your leggings and dresses.