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It's been on my mind recently—a big anniversary of sorts coming up.

Only, as these things go, I thought about it and forgot it.

What's the big deal? Well, yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of BirthdayShoes.com.

I launched BirthdayShoes on April 17, 2009. Here is a look back at the lead-up — something I sent to my siblings as I deliberated on what domain to register and just what angle to take:

As I think I've mentioned to you guys, I'm hellbent on creating a site dedicated to vibram five fingers. It could be a total flop, who knows, but it'd be kinda fun to build it and see what happens. I was honed in on the domain betterbarefoot.com with the intention of shifting from the notion that "barefeet are better than shod feet" to "it's hard to be barefoot around town" to "five fingers allow you to practically barefoot around town" -- then I realized, this was entirely too complicated and I'd be better off just going straight the point, which is FIVE FINGERS ARE COOL AND YOU SHOULD GET SOME! Start there, and explain why later -- and the why is all post-hoc justification anyway. So now I'm leaning to the domain name birthdayshoes.com ...

I registered birthdayshoes.com on April 16, 2009. Then, on April 17, 2009, I made a grand announcement over a chat with my big brother:

"one STEP at a time" ... Oh boy.

BirthdayShoes' first "real" article came on April 19, 2009, with "The Painful truth about Sneakers." and was folllowed up two days later with my original review of the FiveFingers KSO.

Ten years is a long time. Over that time, a lot has happened:

• BirthdayShoes over 6 million users have made their way here,
• reading from the site's 800 posts ...
• ... and over 300 shoe reviews.

And boy have I had a lot of shoes come my way.

Like so many things in life, I never would have predicted all the strange and great ways BirthdayShoes has affected my life. From the people I've met to even the work opportunities it's sent my way, my fear about whether this site might be a "total flop" has never been realized.

What About the Future?

What does the future have in store? Plans are still underway to update this site's aging (painful! I'm sorry!) design and pump some fresh blood into this site. Thank you all for supporting BirthdayShoes. Special thanks to all the reviewers over the years and especially Jarvis, who has really kept the train chugging along.

... And for the few of you who have been here from the beginning, thanks for sticking with it.

My favorite winter boot of all time is back for its fifth generation! The Feelmax Kuuva 5 aims to improve upon its long legacy of being the lightest waterproof boot in the world with a softer leather, a new waterproofing design, tougher brass hardware and other materials.

Alongside the Kuuva 5, Feelmax has also released a new water-resistant Kuuva Trek hiking shoe. Shorter than its winter boot counterpart, the Kuuva features the more flexible and shorter collar of previous Kuuva boots and a very flexible sole. Kuuva provided both of these shoes to review for BirthdayShoes readers, so without further adieu, read on!

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The Prime Trotters' Wingtop Oxford is a beautiful, handmade, zero drop, dress shoe for minimalist wearers looking to take their barefoot benefits to the office, ball, or urban adventures! Prime Trotters sent me a pair to test and review and what you'll soon see is how they are worthy of a look if you're looking for a handmade, barefoot-friendly dress shoe.

Read on for my full review.

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Sockwa is known for their ultra-minimalist approach to barefoot shoes. Sockwa, not surprisingly, takes a "sock-like" approach to their designs—their shoes take a sock-like design and add a simple, thin, flexible sole for durability.

Sockwa sent over a pair of the Sockwa X8 to review. How'd they turn out? Read on!

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It is 2019, and 2019 marks the 10th year of BirthdayShoes' existence. Hard to believe, I know. Where does the time go?

Long-time readers may have lamented BirthdayShoes isn't as fresh as it used to be (Perhaps never was! I'm no designer.). The site could use an update in look and a steady(ier) supply of reviews, content, news, and more.

I'm interested in making that happen. And some of the above is already in progress: a new design has been created and in short order, we'll be moving the platform from the very-outdated, old school blogging platform it's on (called b2evolution, which has been great, really, it's just ancient), reloading the site in Wordpress, and with that, beginning a new era for BirthdayShoes.

That's the hope, anyway.

Bear with me as we work through this.

Update 4/10/2019: Thanks to all of you (so many!) who have reached out in support! I'm still working on this effort and hope to reach out with more information soon.

The Vibram FiveFingers V-Aqua is the company’s flagship product for water sports and water activities. Utilizing the same base sole from the V-Alpha, the V-Aqua adds drainage holes to clear out the interior of the shoe to maintain a smoother experience as you leave the water. Using a familiar velcro strap design that many legacy Vibram fans will immediately recognize, the V-Aqua aims to keep you dry and flexible for all your water activities!

Recently, Vibram sent me a pair of V-Aqua to review so over the summer I put them to the test. Click through to read my review of the Vibram V-Aqua!

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