imelda marcos?

here is a funny story for anyone that understands the phrase "on a mission" when hunting a "find" of some sort or another...

a few days ago, i blogged about some new things that are of interest to me this spring. one being, the tory burch clogs. really, a good pair of leather clogs with the back strap around your heel is what i want. i just happen to love this particular pair, a lot.

on tuesday, i sat down to read one of my favorite blogs by a girl in boston. my jaw dropped as soon as the page was loaded on my computer. her feature that day was a store in atlanta that she has not visited, but is in love with and dying to see. i have been there! my precious atl friend and i spotted it one night last summer while on our way to drinks before dinner. we stared in amazement with our faces pressed to the glass, trying to take it all in. they were already closed. but after what turned out to be a late night out for a week night, she rallied and managed to get back over there the next day and scope it out for a full report. love at first site for her. so i vicariously live through her visits since i am in rome. she will call me anytime she makes a trip to ann mashburn and let me know the 411 on the newest treasures. i took emily there last fall when we had a girls day in atlanta and she loved it too.

so on tuesday, while hanging on every word i was reading about ann, her family and her fabulous life, i spotted a pair of clogs on one of her employees, jen. i tried to enlarge the picture for more detail. not very much luck. so later that afternoon, i started looking for them on various websites. i found a pair on piperlime that seemed to be a dead ringer for the ones she had...and they were on sale! i put them in my "cart" to ponder on over the next few days.

so this morning, i am looking at them again and decided to just call ann mashburn...the store, not the person. however amazing that would have been, i probably would have hung up the phone in a panic if she had answered. my friend's husband has accused her of stalking this woman because we are so intrigued by her. didn't want to appear as a stalker.

camille (the other employee in the photo) answered the phone. she is also the one that had helped me when em and i had visited last october. she was super sweet and helpful as i explained my quest for the clogs featured on this particular blog. it is so fun to deal with sales people that love what they do (how could she not love working there???) and totally get it when someone is asking such a crazy question. she pulled up the blog while on the phone with me and we looked together. no, they did not have them in the store but she said, "i'll ask jen where she got them and email you as soon as she gets here!". yippee...so excited now. i need to have a store...

so she emailed me back around lunchtime and said how much she enjoyed talking to me, and that jen had purchased those clogs a few years ago but she gave me the brand to help in my quest. jaw drop number 2. they were the exact ones i had found on piperlime. i couldn't email precious atlanta friend fast enough. we both clicked "submit order" immediately...they were in her cart as well. then i marveled at the will behind the way and the uncanny eye that we both never cease to amaze ourselves with. i should have a store...