Well Tested

Remember back in August when I showed you a new sweater and mentioned something about the shoes that inspired it? Well Cash and I went for a walk in the woods yesterday and finally took some pictures.

I wanted to link to the post about our honeymini-moon, but looking back through the archives, I realized there was no post and there were only a handful of photos! Obviously we had a lot of fun and didn't write home about it. We have dreams of a big vacation chasing cyclists around France, but last year decided that we would keep it simple and drive to the Finger Lakes region of New York and do some camping. It was a fun few days of seeing waterfalls, talking to locals about secret swimming holes, stocking up on delicious foods at the farmers' markets, and picking up lunch at Moosewood.
On the last day of our trip I had one more mission ~ to stop by the Aurora Shoe Company and pick up a pair of the shoes that I was coveting ever since I shared them with you in this post two years ago! If you haven't watched the video that talks about the company and shows you how the shoes are made, click here to check it out.

I wanted a pair for the longest time, but was in love with the idea of going right to the source. The day we visited the factory, activity was relatively low. David, the owner, greeted us and fit me for a pair of shoes while another worker was cutting leather for future shoes. I bought one pair of the Middle English style in burgundy. They felt slightly tight when I first put them on, but it was nice having an expert help with the fitting, but David assured me that they would stretch and mold to my feet as I wore them. It's been almost a year, and my pair fits like a glove.





As soon as I bought them, I started thinking about how good they would look paired with jeans and woolly sweaters, and that's how the shoe-inspired sweater project began. As I said in my post on the sweater, the shoes immediately had me thinking about "cool fall days, apple picking, and another wine tour in the Finger Lakes region". One not-so-secret secret of going directly to the factory is that the shoes are about half the price of what they are sold for online or in other retailers. So who's in for a visit to the Finger Lakes? After testing out my first pair for a year, I'm ready for more. We can stock up on wine and shoes, and then go back again next fall for the apples and more wine and shoes.