Sseko Sandals

I got my 1st pair of Sseko sandals a little under 2 weeks ago & let me tell you, I am in love!  They are the most cozy pair of footwear I have ever owned & are so super cute!  Ssekos are very unique in that you can wear them an endless number of ways. With over 30 colors of straps on their website & limitless ways to tie the straps, you could wear your Ssekos every day for years & never have them look the same twice….hmm, I should try this. You would think that right there is a good enough reason to purchase a pair, but then you hear their story.  I would not do it justice, so here is the link to the story on their website: http://www.ssekodesigns.com/ourstory/. Long story short, when you purchase Ssekos, you are helping these wonderful, bright young women go to college! So, adorable shoes, infinite ways to wear them & you are helping amazing women get an education? No brainer! 

I am thrilled that I stumbled across the Sseko company & am kind of surprised as to the way it happened. It starts around 5 or so years ago. I stumbled upon & started reading the blog of a woman named Heather Hendrick (http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/). I really can’t tell you how I came about her blog, I think it must’ve been a friend of a friend of a friend sort of thing. She lived in College Station (I had recently moved from there back to Austin, TX after attending Texas A&M there) and her blog detailed hilarious stories of her family, church life, volunteer work & many other things.  I found myself coming back every few days, excited to read of the new crazy adventures she had with her 3 young boys & funny husband.  Fast forward a year or so & I had just started at a new job where I (get this) actually worked & was busy at work & was not able to browse the internet all day long (I know – the audacity of it all). I went from checking on Heather & her fam once a week, to once a month, to not at all & ended up kind of forgetting about her blog. This was about 3 years ago.  

Very recently my cousin sent out an e-mail that she was having a purse party with a company called Haitian Creations - http://haitiancreations.com/. This company is similar to Sseko, in that the money from the purses you buy go to the woman who make them. These woman live in Haiti & make purses to help support them & their families.  The invite to this party had a link to find out more: http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2010/01/purse-party-to-help-heartline-in-haiti.html - wait a minute, that’s Heather’s blog! What a small world!  I started reading & catching up (funny how blogs are, I felt like I was catching up with an old friend when I had never met or even spoken to Heather in real life). It turns out Heather had packed up her family (hubby & now 4 boys!) & moved to Haiti to assist women & families over there & was helping out & promoting Haitian Creations. So cool!  After a few more clicks I came across this more current blog post actually guest written by Cameron Crake (who I just read today has moved from Uganda to Austin - where I live – small world indeed!) - http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2011/07/sseko-sandals-and-chance-to-win.html. I was in awe of these shoes!  Immediately after reading about Ssekos, I went to their website http://www.ssekodesigns.com/ and bought some sandals with a 1 pair…or 2…or 3 of straps.  Then preceded to like them on Facebook & follow them on twitter…did I mention how much I am in love?  

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as they arrived the weekend before the 30 Ways in 30 Days challenge. Now I get to challenge myself to wear my sandals 30 different ways over 30 days & it has been so much fun! I've even come up with a few new ties on my own. Here are my entries so far: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyrcoleman/sets/72157627473910346/. 

You might be asking why my pup is in every picture. What does a dog have to do with sandals? Well, besides her overall cuteness & just making every picture better (I’m not biased at all), she has a foot fetish. Yes, that’s right, a fetish with feet.  She LOVES feet, would marry them if she could.  She loves socks, shoes, a foot shaped toy that she has, pretty much anything to do with feet. She doesn’t even chew on shoes or tear through socks, she just carries them around & licks them, over and over and over again.  Here is a little video evidence of the crazy foot fetish:

So, I thought it only fitting that she would be in a ton of pictures of…you guessed it, feet.

I definitely feel like it was meant to be for me to find these shoes & I am so excited for the rest of the 30 Ways in 30 Days challenge & can’t wait to share the Sseko story over & over again. If you don’t own a pair, I would highly suggest getting your butt over to their site (http://www.ssekodesigns.com/) to buy some asap.