The rain continues in Los Angeles and since late summer I've been begging the weather gods for a real winter because my brain is fried from the heat of the 2014 heatwave that seemed never ending, I'm drinking in every bit of the "wintery" weather we're having. I also bit the bullet and finally bought myself a pair of real rainboots.
image via Zappos
After doing a good bit of research Tuesday, I woke up yesterday morning wanting to look once more at the black version of these boots just in case I wanted to change my mind and go with those instead. These are the Gabriella Rocha Mariene Rain Boots available at Zappos. I love the adjustable calf buckle, contrasting red zipper, the olive color and harness detailing.
To my horror (slight, but only slight exaggeration) I could not find the black version online anymore. Sold out?! Oh no. So I ran to get my Visa card and quickly purchased these in fear that they too would no longer be available in my hard-to-find size.
Purchase has been made and they should arrive, shipped for free in the next 24 hours. After several days of wet shoes, I am looking forward to trying these out. According to the long-range weather reports I will have lots of opportunities to wear these.
The decision making process was really complicated by the frustrating act of reading online reviews. It seemed that for every pair on the internet, at least one person's boots had leaked, fallen apart or something like a buckle had broken not long after purchase. Not encouraging when you're making a purchase to wear in the rain.
Most of the positive reviews were more about how the boots fit or whether or not the buyer liked the color. So it was really hard to get a feel for the quality and waterproof reliability of each pair. Even the well known name brands had complaints about leaking and falling apart.
So in the end it was a bit of a risky proposition but I decided to just go with these because I really like the look and a designer will get me every time with a contrasting zipper. Olive and green, is definitely a favorite color combination plus they were available in my hard-to-find size. So I jumped at them after what seems like years of contemplating this decision. Last year I had absolutely no need for rain boots - or even closed toed shoes for that matter. But this winter I think I will get my fair share of wear. Let's just hope they work.
Since I purchased them at Zappos, I can easily return them if they don't work. But I really hope they will. Much to my surprised, when I went to check out at Zappos the most recent shipping address was the house I lived in in 2006-2007. Bizarre. I cannot fathom that I have not ordered anything from Zappos in nearly a decade.
image via Amazon
I also searched out a pair for The Bug. Again had a very frustrating time with the reviews and finding the right pair was compounded by a suddenly very picky little kiddo. She decided to go with all black which just feels completely boring to me for a rain boot -- a place where you have all sorts of options to really show off your personality and do something colorful and quirky. But these will go with everything, so there's that...and reviews were good and the price was right, just $29. These are the Kamik Raindrop Rain Boots available at Amazon.
Now we are ready for our silly little version of winter. I'll take it! Despite how very much we love and appreciate our generally fantastic weather we are loving the chance to experience a good SoCal winter with what we hope is lots of drought-busting rain. (Not too much at one time, please, dear weather gods. We do not want one of those nasty SoCal winters filled with flooding and mudslides. Yikes.)
So how do you feel about reading online reviews? Are they as frustrating to you as they are to me? While I do appreciate helpful reviews, the negative reviews generally just discourage me from ever purchasing anything. I never quite feel good about a purchase after reading negative reviews.
The reviews that drive me most crazy are the ones that say, "I've haven't actually used/worn these yet..." So why would a person write a review when they haven't done anything they can yet review. I just don't get that. Sometimes all the benefits of the internet, like online product reviews, just start to become a negative instead of a help.
Anyway, looking forward to putting these rain boots to use. Keep warm and dry folks!
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