Shoes! A fabulous sweepstakes win...

Known (at least to myself) as the Sweeps Queen of Landgraff, West Virignia, I've made entering online sweeps and contests a kind of late night hobby. I have won a few things over the years, mostly tee-shirts & the like, but also a few goodies, including a wonderful long weekend with Dan at the Boulder's Golden Door Spa in Arizona from Oil of Olay, & that Intrepid trip in Italy earlier this year... After the Italy Fiasco, however, I vowed to Dan that I'd never enter a "trip" sweeps again unless the prize was for 2 people and included flights and Everything Else, & I've been true to my word. I enter a lot of "stuff" sweeps, but I'm careful to enter only those hosted by well-known, reputable companies, and for prizes I really want to win... (The big box of condoms that I had to sign a notorized affidavit to claim taught me that...)

For some time now I've had a feeling that I was about to hit "critical mass" in the sweeps-entries-department, at which time the Big Prizes would start rolling in... (Anyone else see the movie "Real Genius"?) Well, this week they did!

A lover of fabulous shoes for many a year (Long before Sex & the City was a gleam in anyone's eye), I'm always perusing fashion sites & mooning over "dream shoes" I'd want to own should I win the Lotto someday... (In 1985 I once spent my entire monthly Army pay check on a pair of high-heeled fur pumps- if that gives you an idea of where my head is at...) This is a woman, after all, whose husband wooed and won her heart with a present of a pair of black, patent leather, 6"

stilletto pumps...

Last week I found and joined a fun fashion site devoted to "all things shoe": http://www.shuzsociety.com, and entered their weekly sweeps. I took one look at the fabulous pair of shoes they had up as that week's prize- $595 Mary Norton peep-toe, high-heeled, fur pumps, embellished with Swarovski crystals!- and I just Had to enter! If ever there were a pair of shoes that "spoke" directly to me, and in a clear, loud voice, it was these! And then I thought no more of it until the next day... when I got a call from the shuzsociety gal telling me I'd won them! She must think I'm nuts, because I nearly went out of my mind right there on the phone! No big, clunky, flat Uggs for me- I had just won my Dream Shoes! Then I got a call from Mary Norton herself- and her website has THE best sales on THE most gorgeous, hand-made shoes and bags that the likes of JLo, et al, are wearing on the red carpet: http://www.marynorton.com - and within days I had them on my little feet- see above- positively THE most gorgeous pair of shoes I think I've ever owned! They arrived in a chic, ribbon-bedecked, pink and brown Mary Norton box, with a lovely shoe bag & a personal note

from Mary, and I truly treasure all of it!

But then a new problem arose: where to wear them?!

I mean, like, you know, Seriously: even in a little black dress, the Kimball Wally World just ain't "worthy"...

And then I won the Grand Prize in another sweeps- with a 3-day trip for 2 to California, including flights, hotel, and a party! I have no idea if Dan and I will be able to go, but if we do, I'll definitely have the shoes for it! :-D