LIESBETH AND THE VALENTINO BOOTS PART 2

Liesbeth is now enjoying an incredibly well-deserved vacation, but since you probably can't go too long without her, we present one of her best posts. It's just like her pieces are with episodes of Sex and the City; you can never get enough of them.

As you could read I worked up a sweat behind my MacBook last week because I was embroiled in a fierce battle for The Perfect Valentino Boots. After disappointment after disappointment, I finally accepted that these boots and I were just not meant to be by the universe. Maybe it was for the best, it just wasn't meant to be, and I had to move on with my life [insert dramatic violin music]. Until the day after the failed chase, I casually took a look at the website where it had gone so wrong before, and then this happened:

THEY WERE THERE AGAIN IN MY SIZE! Seriously, how it happened, no idea, but they were there. Just exactly one pair left. Then it was a matter of immediately taking action. As you may recall, I no longer have credit cards because they were taken from me in Rio, but luckily Josselin had already offered that I could borrow her credit card in case they ever came online again. Joss wasn't in the office that day, Jet was, although she was in the bathroom at the moment I saw them.

I seriously ran up to her saying, “JET THEY ARE BACK I NEED TO BORROW YOUR CREDIT CARD NOW NOW NOW NOW.”

She didn't have it with her. Panic. Call Joss. “JOS THEY ARE BACK I NEED TO BORROW YOUR CREDIT CARD NOW NOW NOW NOW.” Joss, always good in panicky situations, stayed calm and composed and calmly recited her card number, and everything seemed to be in order until we got back to that damn password window where I had also messed up the first time. “Password? I don't think I have a password, you know.” “Okay, then we will create a password for you now. What is your address? House number? Bank account number?” If I know everything, and I mean really EVERYTHING there is to know and hack about Joss, we have a password and we are closer to the finish than ever.

Two more clicks and then I get the promised window: “Thank you for your order!” Due to previous traumas, I immediately call the webshop again to check that this time the order has really gone through correctly, and the girl tells me that indeed it is the case. The battle has been fought and I have won.

Three days later the doorbell rings and the delivery man is at the door with a gigantic box. “Package for Liesbeth Rasker!” Inside that box is a fire-red shoebox with black letters spelling Valentino Garavani, and in that box are my new loves. They are so beautiful. The leather is so buttery soft. The handmade braid detail around the shaft is so precise and accurately made. The heel is of perfect height and width, the toe is not quite square and not pointy, but somewhere in between. They also smell so wonderful and oh yes, this is love.

This weekend I wore them for a test run to the supermarket, but I'm still in the phase where I'm very afraid they will get damaged and so I'm hysterically careful with them. At the slightest chance of rain, they have to stay inside, and I still don't dare to wear them on the bike. That will pass, but not just yet. We need a little more time. Or rather, I need a little more time.

And that was the love story of Liesbeth and Valentino, who will live happily ever after.