I GOT A PACKAGE IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY.  It was so exciting.  Here in Mayberry, we all pick up our mail from the community watering hole, which is open for business on Monday through Friday from 9-5 {though we can still pick up our mail from the P.O. boxes at any time of night—we just can’t talk to a human unless it’s during business hours}.

Anyway, last Saturday night, Poor Kyle and I stopped by the watering hole to pick up our mail, and what to my wondering eye should appear, but a “You Have a Package” card!

We Mayberrians get these cards in our boxes whenever an oversize package comes for us—we have to go talk to the humans behind the counter and trade our little card for the real deal.  I was so excited, because I am a normal human being and therefore thrill at the idea of getting packages in the mail.  My bubble soon deflated a bit, though, when I realised it was a weekend and I wouldn’t be able to pick up my package until Monday.

Don’t worry though—time passes.  It always does.  I was like a little kid before Christmas on Sunday night, for all my anticipation of getting my mail the next morning.  I kept telling myself, “The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can wake up and get your package.  Go to sleep.  Go to sleep.  GO TO SLEEP.”  Finally my positive self-talk worked, and the next thing I knew, it was Monday!  Hurrah!  I threw back my down comforter, LEAPT out of bed, ran out of the house to get in the truck, ran back in the house to put on a bra because it’s the watering hole and you never know who you’ll run into there, ran out to the truck once again, flew down Main Street to the watering hole, raced inside, and held up my golden ticket victoriously, for all the world to see.

The lady behind the counter looked at me like I had two heads, but it didn’t matter.  Nothing mattered except that I got my package.

Panting, I declared, “Hi…(gasp)…I’m here to (gasp) pick up my package.  (Gasp…gasp…)  I have a card, see?”

She was unimpressed—it was almost like she saw cards like that every day, or something.  Anyway, I was not about to let Little Miss Pattycake Pessimist rain on my parade.  I just grinned and waited for my surprise.  She went to the back room and rummaged around, and finally—FINALLY!—I was awarded with my package.

I about peed my pants when I tore it open.  It was a cardboard box, and inside that box was another box that looked like this:

It was a gift card/DVD set for a pair of my long-coveted TOMS shoes, compliments of one of the maybe 10 friends I have in the world—my dear, dear Chelsie.

If you haven’t heard about this awesome company, you’ve been living under a rock for the past year.  They have revolutionised a new business/charitable model that allows them to donate one pair of shoes to a poverty-stricken person for every one pair purchased.  What does this mean?  It means that you are paying top dollar for what is probably a very inexpensive shoe—the price of one shoe has to cover the cost of making two pairs of shoes, plus the expenses of traveling throughout the world on monthly shoe drops for poor countries, and still make a profit on top of that.

So yes, the cheap shoes are expensive.  BUT it’s for a really good cause—it’s more than you see Nike™ or Adidas™ doing right now. [If you’re interested, you can see a two-minute movie of what they’re about right here.]

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to buy a pair with my own money for a long time now, but Chelsie took care of it for me, which was so sweet and thoughtful of her.  I can’t wait to order my shoes—I spent hours yesterday debating online which pair I should get.

But that’s where I’ve run into some trouble, my friends: I can’t decide!

So I need your help, if you please.  I’ve picked out my top choices, and I would like to put it to a vote.  I’ll order whichever pair gets the most votes in the comment section, so choose carefully—I don’t want to get stuck looking like a nerd with bright purple shoes (don’t worry, though—I didn’t include the bright purple ones in the choices {I’m too conservative to walk around with purple feet}).

Of course, I don’t expect you to help me for no good reason, like you like me or something.  So what’s in it for you?

If you all choose well enough, and the shoes come and I like them as much as I THINK I’m going to like them, I will take the money I would’ve spent on my own pair, and instead spend it on YOU.  Kind of like TOMS’S One-for-One policy, but on my own terms.  Well, not all of you, but one of you.  I will not be holding a second giveaway—I will select from the comments on THIS VERY POST.  You can tell all your friends, or you can keep the secret to yourself (better odds that way).

How’s that for a read-the-fine-print giveaway?

Anyway, so here’s my top six picks (all images courtesy of TomsShoes.com):

Black.  Straightforward and conservative.

Grey.  Straightforward and slightly less (but not much) conservative.

Natural Canvas.  Straightforward and are you sensing a theme?

Brown Suede.  I like the idea of suede.  And brown.

Poe is the name of this pattern, but it looks more like Herringbone to me.  Either way, it’s the only patterned style I picked of the entire six choices.  I guess that’s saying something.

Sand & Brown Suede, lined with fleece.  Would be good for the brrr of the upcoming Canadian winter.

So there you have it.  My TOMS™ choices.  If you think all my choices are atrocious and you’d like to place a write-in vote, check out the other women styles available here.

Please help me choose—I don’t want to waste this precious gift.

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