Once upon a time there was a little girl named Ashley. She was a fun loving girl who liked to travel and to shop. Unfortunately doing one or the other of these usually led to her being unable to do the other. One July she saved money and went off with her dear friend Jess and dear sister Bri to San Francisco for five glorious days of fun. And fun they were. Unfortunately Ashley's bank account did not think this was fun and upon her arrival home she discovered that all her shopping funds had already been spent hunting San Franciscan Ghosts and eating Clam Chowder from a bread bowl. Ashley was saddened by this but prevailed. After all she is the heroine of our story and heroines usually prevail.
Well along came August a month most hot in Ashley's home of Southern California. Ashley did not do hot. She did not like hot, she did not tolerate hot. You should ask her about how frustrated she currently is with the fact that it is in the high 70's in the middle of December, but more on that later.
To combat the heat Ashley liked to wear sandals. She really enjoyed a good sandal. So one day while out window shopping she stumbled into an Urban Outfitters where a choir of angels began to sing and the heaven's parted shine their glorious light upon The Shoes. The Shoes were not fancy. There were not pretty either. They seemed rough in a way, yet still carried an air of daintiness. Thoughts of traipsing through Greece and Rome suddenly filled her minds eye. She could see herself wearing a flowey white dress and The Shoes as she wondered amid the ruins of Athens. She could see herself in the shoes and an Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday inspired skirt and shirt as she threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain. They were the perfect shoe for travelling and they made her heart sing.
Ashley picked up the shoes knowing they would never fit her colossally big foot. But lo and behold they were her size. She tried them on. Oh how they fit! As if the gods had molded them for her foot alone. But Ashley knew she would never be able to afford them. She checked the price and gasped. The price tag showed a price of $150 (which she thought was a stupid and dumb price for such shoes even if they were perfect in every way). She sighed knowing it was not meant to be. Until she looked at the bottom of the tag. Oh Lo! What's this! They are on sale! FOR $20!!!! "Holy MoFo!" She exclaimed. and then she saw the last thing that sold her on these shoes. Down at the bottom of the tag was written "Last Pair in Store!" and Ashley skipped to the register. However once she was three people from the line she remembered that there was exactly $4.23 in her bank account. her heart sunk. She knew she couldn't make off with her beloved shoes. Despite all their gloriousness, she was still suffering financially from her travels. She was conflicted. Spend money she didn't have and become the owner of the perfect shoes, or be responsible because the likelihood of her actually getting to travel to Greece and Italy would be less likely if she did in fact buy The Shoes. With a heavy heart Ashley got out of line, put the shoes back and slowly walked out of the store. Her dreams were dashed.
December rolled around and for some annoying reason the weather was not co-operating. While other people had lovely thick blankets of snow about them, she was stuck with windy, dry, mid-70's. She was peeved. And when she was peeved Ashley let off steam by getting lost in an Thrift store for an hour or three (usually three). Her first stop was her favourite Thrift shop. It was run by old ladies who thought Ashley was charming and sweet. They found her old lady ways delightful. They began to save things they thought she might like for her. They included supplemental cookbooks to the cookbooks she collected, little 70's plaques that she couldn't get enough of, and vintage little girl's clothing. She was a very happy girl despite the heat.
Ashley left this thrift store and headed over towards Goodwill. It should be noted that she had become uncharacteristically responsible with money over the past months and now did not need to worry about spending $20 on something she really loved. This had been helped by the fact that she only shopped thrift stores now and stayed far, far away from Target. So on to Goodwill she went. she browsed the dresses, she browsed the bags, She browsed the figurines for anything freaky. She then began to browse the shoes. She looked and looked, and looked and then she stopped. A brown strap hung beneath a plastic hooker boot. The strap called to her. She moved the hooker boot and there they were. The Shoes. No! It couldn't be! Ashley picked them up. They were the very same shoes. Frantically she flipped them over. Stuck on the bottom was a sticker marked $150, on sale for $20, Last pair in the store, and a size gigantic. The very exact same shoes were now before her, in her hands once again. The price! She thought. She was sure that they had been marked up to some stupid price like $10 or something, but she didn't care they would be hers. And then she found the little green sticker. The price? $3.99. she looked again. They were still $3.99. And then she bought them with visions of Roman escapades, and Greek food running through her deliriously happy mind.
And that my friends is how Ashley found The Shoes of Destiny.
Has Destiny ever found you in a thrift store?
Well along came August a month most hot in Ashley's home of Southern California. Ashley did not do hot. She did not like hot, she did not tolerate hot. You should ask her about how frustrated she currently is with the fact that it is in the high 70's in the middle of December, but more on that later.
To combat the heat Ashley liked to wear sandals. She really enjoyed a good sandal. So one day while out window shopping she stumbled into an Urban Outfitters where a choir of angels began to sing and the heaven's parted shine their glorious light upon The Shoes. The Shoes were not fancy. There were not pretty either. They seemed rough in a way, yet still carried an air of daintiness. Thoughts of traipsing through Greece and Rome suddenly filled her minds eye. She could see herself wearing a flowey white dress and The Shoes as she wondered amid the ruins of Athens. She could see herself in the shoes and an Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday inspired skirt and shirt as she threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain. They were the perfect shoe for travelling and they made her heart sing.
Ashley picked up the shoes knowing they would never fit her colossally big foot. But lo and behold they were her size. She tried them on. Oh how they fit! As if the gods had molded them for her foot alone. But Ashley knew she would never be able to afford them. She checked the price and gasped. The price tag showed a price of $150 (which she thought was a stupid and dumb price for such shoes even if they were perfect in every way). She sighed knowing it was not meant to be. Until she looked at the bottom of the tag. Oh Lo! What's this! They are on sale! FOR $20!!!! "Holy MoFo!" She exclaimed. and then she saw the last thing that sold her on these shoes. Down at the bottom of the tag was written "Last Pair in Store!" and Ashley skipped to the register. However once she was three people from the line she remembered that there was exactly $4.23 in her bank account. her heart sunk. She knew she couldn't make off with her beloved shoes. Despite all their gloriousness, she was still suffering financially from her travels. She was conflicted. Spend money she didn't have and become the owner of the perfect shoes, or be responsible because the likelihood of her actually getting to travel to Greece and Italy would be less likely if she did in fact buy The Shoes. With a heavy heart Ashley got out of line, put the shoes back and slowly walked out of the store. Her dreams were dashed.
December rolled around and for some annoying reason the weather was not co-operating. While other people had lovely thick blankets of snow about them, she was stuck with windy, dry, mid-70's. She was peeved. And when she was peeved Ashley let off steam by getting lost in an Thrift store for an hour or three (usually three). Her first stop was her favourite Thrift shop. It was run by old ladies who thought Ashley was charming and sweet. They found her old lady ways delightful. They began to save things they thought she might like for her. They included supplemental cookbooks to the cookbooks she collected, little 70's plaques that she couldn't get enough of, and vintage little girl's clothing. She was a very happy girl despite the heat.
Ashley left this thrift store and headed over towards Goodwill. It should be noted that she had become uncharacteristically responsible with money over the past months and now did not need to worry about spending $20 on something she really loved. This had been helped by the fact that she only shopped thrift stores now and stayed far, far away from Target. So on to Goodwill she went. she browsed the dresses, she browsed the bags, She browsed the figurines for anything freaky. She then began to browse the shoes. She looked and looked, and looked and then she stopped. A brown strap hung beneath a plastic hooker boot. The strap called to her. She moved the hooker boot and there they were. The Shoes. No! It couldn't be! Ashley picked them up. They were the very same shoes. Frantically she flipped them over. Stuck on the bottom was a sticker marked $150, on sale for $20, Last pair in the store, and a size gigantic. The very exact same shoes were now before her, in her hands once again. The price! She thought. She was sure that they had been marked up to some stupid price like $10 or something, but she didn't care they would be hers. And then she found the little green sticker. The price? $3.99. she looked again. They were still $3.99. And then she bought them with visions of Roman escapades, and Greek food running through her deliriously happy mind.
And that my friends is how Ashley found The Shoes of Destiny.
Has Destiny ever found you in a thrift store?
Ooh, I'm first. Small things amuse me.
ReplyDeleteThose sandals look perfect, I would definitely wear them. They don't look ginormous. I'm an American 10-11. True, finding second hand shoes (unworn) in that size is hard but I have done it (gorgeous ankle boots and some heel mary janes) BUT I've never had any shoes of destiny. Things people give away locally to thrift stores generally don't end up in local shops in this country. They can go all over the state. It's annoying but it's the way it is.
Anyway, I feel like I am stalking you so I'll stop now :D
ooooooo Ashley ! this is so well written !! you got me hooked !! ;-) soooooo awesome you found them again !!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow! That's so cool! Glad they worked out for you. I actually have had similar thrift store luck before.
ReplyDelete