MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

WORKING HARD

My job used to be very demanding that at some point I was working almost 50-60 hours per week. Believe it or not, there was even one time that I worked from 9:00 a.m. to almost 11:00 p.m., and some of my coworkers were working even until 1:30 a.m. (and would come back at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. later for another helluva shift!) Yes, it was that bad and crazy, and there was just sooooo much to do that it felt like I didn't have much choice but to work overtime. Naturally, you'd think that working really late would mean a lighter load the following day, right? Of course not! I'd go to work the next day only to find myself in much deeper swamp.

Anyway, when your life pretty much just revolved around work, it could get depressing and frustrating. One time I was really feeling burnt out, that I felt I need a quick de-stressor ASAP, and the first thing that entered my mind is SHOES. My workplace, being located only a couple of blocks away from the biggest shopping mall in Toronto (Eaton Centre), retail therapy was definitely not an issue. At a little over 6:00 p.m., I logged off at work and walked my way to Dundas and Yonge. It didn't take me long to get to one of the four Aldo stores in Eaton Centre. I quickly scanned the store and a pair of gladiator wedges caught my eye. I asked the sales associate for my size but as expected, they didn't have it. I really liked it though, so I tried my luck with the next size, and wow, I felt like Cinderella when the shoes magically fitted me just perfectly fine like it was really meant to be!

So, the next day when I came to work, my work pile was still over my head high, but at least the few inches of my new wedges gave me a little boost, literally and figuratively :)

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post.  Come back again next week for another edition of:

MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

For a sneak peak of what's inside my closet, please visit:

WEDNESDAY APPAREL

And nope, they're not for sale ☺

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My share for:

366 BLOG PHOTO CHALLENGE | WORDFUL WEDNESDAY |

MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

While waiting at the TTC subway, wearing these boots,
a random lady approached me and exclaimed,
"Oh my, what tiny, little feet you have!"

MY HERCULES BOOTS

When I was still living in Toronto, my BFF there used to own a very adorable Pomeranian named Hercules - or Herc for short. Herc, as a puppy, was very friendly and sociable, so he never failed to amuse people. Anyway, one winter time, I went to my BFF's apartment, and Herc, being his usual jolly self, greeted me at the door with his yaps and yelps and wagging tail. So, I said hi to Herc and gave him a little petting, and I went on to take my boots off and headed straight inside the apartment. Not long after I've entered in and my BFF and I had started talking when we noticed that little Herc had been incessantly barking at something by the door. We looked at him and saw that it was my furry boots he's barking at. Herc thought that my boots was a dog! LOL.  Hahaha!  That was funny and cute at the same time.  Herc would nudge at my boots, then he'd back off a bit as if anticipating a comeback from my boots, then would bark at them again.  In the end, my boots disappointed Herc by giving him the silent "deadma" treatment rather than the fight he was hoping for.  Since then, Vince and I called these pair of boots, "Hercules."

Me and the real Herc

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post.  Come back again next week for another edition of:

MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

For a sneak peak of what's inside my closet, please visit:

WEDNESDAY APPAREL

And nope, they're not for sale ☺

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My share for:

366 BLOG PHOTO CHALLENGE | WORDFUL WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY BROWNIES | ORANGE TUESDAYS |

MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

Aside from bags, I guess we can all agree that shoes are yet again one thing that girls cannot seem to never have enough of.  Can I get an amen to that? ☻

When it comes to shoes, my go-to brand is Aldo.  I appreciate the fact that:

1)  They carry my size (5 or 35)
2)  Their shoes are fashionable and
3)  Affordable.

So a couple of late nights ago, I was pestering my husband to help me choose over several pairs of shoes I was eyeing on.  Poor Vince - he just came from a recent stint of two-week night float and at present is on a busy rotation too - he was obviously fighting the urge to sleep amidst my whining and shoe dilemma, to which he replied in a calm manner, "Why not just buy all those?  That usually solves the problem, right?"  I said to him, "I shouldn't buy four pairs. That's too much.  Plus, I also want to get a clutch bag to match with the shoes I'm getting."  Not long after that, Vince fell asleep, and so I made the decision on my own.  Since I thought four pairs is a lot, guess what, I convinced myself that three pairs and a clutch bag are not excessive.  Oh dear, I swear I heard Visa and Mastercard's loud applaud on me as I completed the online transaction.  Ka-ching!

Anyway, while contemplating over the purchase I made, it dawned on me that shoes, as vain and materialistic they may portray a person to be (no offense meant to Ms. Imelda Romualdez Marcos), they do have personal and sentimental tales to tell.  When I jogged my memory for unique stories behind each of my shoes, true enough, I was able to come up with bits and pieces of anecdote/story for each.  Hence, the birth of this blog segment entitled, "My Shoes and the Tales they Tell."

So, without further ado, here goes nothing:

THE "AUTHENTIC" ONE

In summer of 2008, I, along with six friends, went to Montreal, Quebec for an overnight getaway.  It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, and this pair of sandals was the perfect souvenir from that trip.  Why perfect?  Because the first freestanding Aldo store was opened in Montreal in 1978.  Well, I didn't know that then, but it matters now that I know *wink*

Like I said, that trip was more of a biglaang lakad pero natutuloy (unplanned trip yet gets pushed through), so we didn't have a solid itinerary.  We strolled along downtown Montreal and checked out the different boutiques and stores they have there, and as if there's not enough Aldo stores where we came from in Toronto, we took the time and effort to check out an Aldo store there.  During the short span of time we were in Montreal, we were convinced that the locals there were not used to seeing Filipinos, and they were probably racking their brains trying to figure out where the heck did people like us originate from and what the heck were we doing there.  Based on the peculiar looks and quizzed stares we got from the locals, it was obvious that they were stumped by our exotic looks and strange language (all of us in that trip were Pinoy so we conversed in Tagalog among ourselves).  It is still vivid in my memory how the young Aldo sales associate spoke to me in French, and when I replied in English, she smiled politely, and quickly mumbled, "Ah, English."  Anyway, to cut the long story short, even if Je ne parle pas Francais, that didn't hinder me from buying a pair of sandals ☻

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post.  Come back again next week for another edition of:

MY SHOES AND THE TALES THEY TELL

For a sneak peak of what's inside my closet, please visit:

WEDNESDAY APPAREL

And nope, they're not for sale ☺

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My share for:

MEMORY LANE MONDAY | 366 BLOG PHOTO CHALLENGE |