Category: Personal

Always nice to leave the hustle and bustle of the city for some peace and quiet…

Spot the nuthatch!

Our little yellow party boat for the weekend:

Damselfly larvae:

Neat moth:

I love doing my garden every summer, last year my plants were absolutely destroyed by whitefly, so I’m hoping this year will be different!

Tomatoes, Strawberries, Begonias, Lobelia

Begonias, Phlox, Lobelia. (My poor phlox on the right… high winds broke the main stem but it’s hanging on!)

Strawberries, Phlox, Lobelia, Tomatoes

Tomatoes, Nasturtium (still waiting!)

When I was about two, I was the typical shy kid. Hiding behind Mom’s legs, hoping people wouldn’t notice me, until I discovered… my shoes. There must have been something special about that pair of shoes that made me discard my shyness, stick my foot out, point to my feet and say to every neighbour, friend and stranger; “Look! Look at my shooooooes!”. My parents must have known that my love of shoes would continue throughout my life, and my closet bursting with shoes confirms it.

One morning a couple of weeks ago I was watching Breakfast Television (as I do every morning), and I heard those fateful words “Up next, red carpet trends – in shoes!” I stopped making breakfast and went back to the tv to watch what all the celebrities would be wearing for TIFF. Then Dina said, “To win…” before she’d even finished saying it, I opened a new email message and typed in the BT contest email (I’d tried to win other prizes in the past, so I knew the email address already) and waited, poised over my keyboard waiting for the question from Dina. “To win this fabulous prize from Ron White Shoes, tell us what the embellishment is on the grey pair of shoes we showed earlier!” I knew the embellishment, the shoes were super cute. I typed my answer (zipper!) and sent it off to cyberspace. Finished breakfast, started work as usual… until I got a phone call from BT at 9:30 saying I’d WON! Amazing.

I booked my appointment at Ron White Shoes at Manulife Centre and couldn’t wait to go. Everyone was SO nice and so genuinely happy for my awesome win. My friend Elaine and I sat down and they started the foot massage machines that are under each seat in the store (why are these not in every store of every kind, I don’t know.) and we were introduced to Lee, who would be helping me pick out my shoes. We were tucked in a little corner of the store, and people kept looking at us like we must be famous to be getting VIP treatment. He brought over water, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and we dug in after I had my feet measured. Lee asked me a few questions about what I was looking for, and then took off to grab an assortment of shoes, shooties, booties and boots to try on. It was SO much fun. I tried on tons of styles I probably would have overlooked and the piles of shoe boxes started to add up. I eventually narrowed it down to two pairs, basically the same sling-back peep toe shoe, one of them beige with a white bow on the back, and the others black sparkly shoes. Elaine and I discussed the pros for each shoe and I decided if I was going to pick out shoes based on being a VIP, it had to be the sparkly shoes.

Thank you so much Breakfast Television, Lee and Natasha (at Ron White Shoes) for making it a once in a lifetime day that I will never forget! The gift bag was fantastic, and the shoes are incredible, comfortable and make me feel amazing. Cheers to you all, and you can bet I’ll be sticking my foot out, pointing down and saying “Look at my shoooooes!!!” every time I wear them!