You don’t have to be a long-time reader to know I love me a good pair of sneakers. This is for three simple reasons: 1. I wear a size 12 shoe. The cute flats and cute shoes in general are rarely ever made in my size so years ago I just started buying mens shoes instead-specifically sneakers. 2. I have herniated discs in my back as well as intense varicose veins which make heels super painful and technically, I’m not supposed to wear them at all. 3. I love sneakers and that’s reason enough, right? If you find yourself switching immediately from winter boots to sandals, I urge you to give a pair of sneakers a try. Yes, Converse are wonderful. Sure, we all need a good sneaker to workout in. But I mean one or two really cool pairs of sneakers to wear with everything. Here are my favorite picks for Spring:

First up- my current favorite pairs in my own closet. Ignore the fact that I’m wearing a coat in this photo and just look at the shoes-deal? I wear these shoes with everything. I mean everything. I wear them with dresses, overalls, trousers, dress pants, skirts…you name it, these sneakers go with them. They’re a bit more sleek than my white converse while still staying completely neutral. They’re an investment but if you’re like me and wear sneakers more than any other shoe, these are more than worth the investment.

I am the biggest fan of Veja sneakers-mostly because the mens styles are often the same as the women’s styles-just less cute and fun-giving me tons of options to choose from. NOW, an important note, you must give these a chance and break them in. I almost returned my first pair the second I put them on and felt like everyone lied to me. “How can people recommend these?! How can people say they wear these every day?!” But they were so cute that I stuck it out. Within one week, I found myself wearing them almost daily and have never looked back. This is the other pair I have.

New Balance sneakers are another go-to of mine. My dad always wore the solid classic gray New Balances when I was growing up so they feel nostalgic and are so comfortable to top it off. I don’t go for any of the ones with the new “N” logo-the older style feels much cooler and classic to me.

These are the current running shoes I have in rotation for actual exercise. I recommend every single one of them.

And here are some sneakers I wish so badly came in my size because they’d be in heavy rotation for the rest of my life: