NO SHOES!

Just got back from another Saturday night at the roller derby. It was awesome once again. Was in a sleepy mood and came home to an empty house - not counting my furry bud Gally who never fails to greet me at the door. This week was weird; I was not on my game. Coming off such a high from last week's One Day Without Shoes (which was a SMASHING success) I think caused for an uncharacteristic low. Mushy brain, low energy, high emotions did not a productive intern make. But after sleeping til noon today and thoroughly enjoying my morning, afternoon, and evening, I am beginning to feel like myself again. Instead of marinating in my poopy week, I will recap from the week before which felt like a crazy rollercoaster ride that left all of us with a taste of victory in our mouths.

Mom came into town on Tuesday (4/6) and brought with her Gally, my amazingly cute, mischievous dog. Mom and Gally have a way of making my life way more fun and colorful when they're around, so I was overjoyed to see them. Wednesday was Grace's birthday AKA the day before One Day Without Shoes. Everyone was insanely busy, but I wanted to make sure we still celebrated as best we could. I got all the interns and her managers in on a surprise lunch party at work that day. Mom brought Thai food and Amanda (another intern who I LOVEEE) helped me decorate with balloons and streamers. The land lady was a little pissed that we decided to celebrate without letting her know (we were just eating lunch!), but otherwise the party was a success! Grace was (kind of) surprised and we all feasted on Thai food and cupcakes. It was a perfect break from the craziness at the office!! That night Ede took Grace, Julia, and I out to dinner at Nobu. No big deal. We saw Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Dean Cain, and Jeff Goldblum. No big deal. It's not like I care about celebrities at ALL. (If you can't sense the sarcasm then uh... just stop reading and go to bed). We actually had a better table than Dean Cain + wife AND Jeff Goldblum + his kinda slutty looking date. But Zac and Vanessa had us beat. I didn't mind. He was so close that Grace took a picture of me and he is ALL UP IN the background. Best. Birthday. Ever.... And it wasn't even mine!

Thursday began like any other day... NOT! We woke up at 5:00 am (which wasn't easy thanks to the late night at Nobu) and headed to HQ to meet the other interns. We headed out to the Venice Beach boardwalk by 6:30 am. It was so beautiful and peaceful. It's times like that that really make we wish I wasn't such a lazy bum every other day, because it was so nice to just feel the quiet stillness of the early morning. It was not quiet or still for long. We got to work chalking the side walk, setting up our installation, hanging footprints on clothes-lines, and the end result was awesome. We had a TON of people show up to walk with us, including one guy I talked to for a while who was a barefoot survivor from Belize. He showed me the scars he had from growing up barefoot and told me how inspired he was with TOMS and our mission. It makes you realize what a real impact we are having.


My barefeet hanging out the window on the drive from the beach back to HQ

And talk about real impact... my manager Caitlin and I were giddy the rest of the day with all the social media responses we got!!! We had posts by DEMI MOORE, the JONAS BROTHERS, Demi Lovato, Jordin Sparks, Rachel Zoe, Matisyahu, Kristen Bell, and if I kept listing them it would go on for a while. And oh yeah... Demi Moore talked about us on Jay Leno. BIG DEAL! That day we were also featured on the Today Show. And if you look in the front row in the staff meeting, you can see yours truly wearing a bright pink dress. Here are the two clips:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

TODAY SHOW!

DEMI MOORE AND JAY LENO TAKE THEIR SHOES OFF!! So awesome. Not gonna lie started crying when I saw it.

Moving on, not only was I so incredibly proud of the celebrity support we got, but the support from my friends and family as well. I was getting texts all day from ya'll and it seriously warmed my heart to know that my loved ones were supporting TOMS all over the country. Here are some of my fave texts I got from ya'll on One Day Without Shoes.

Whitney went barefoot to class in the rain in Athens

After attending our HQ walk in Venice, Mom and Gally went shopping in L.A. barefoot!

Katherine walked to work and stayed barefoot all day in VERMONT!

My dad enjoyed the view in Savannah with his barefeet

Carolyn went barefoot in Cincinnati!

Jade studied at the SLC barefoot in Athens

All there is to say is THANK YOU to everyone who stood behind us and was brave enough to go barefoot. These pictures are just a taste of what we accomplished. To read our official One Day recap, click here.

To read my intern blog about our experience, click here.

To read the incredible blog post Kat Maund wrote about One Day, click here.

With that, I must end this thing. I could keep writing, but I would much rather curl up with my pup and fall asleep. Hope all is well wherever you are... and keep in touch!!!! I feel out of the loop... I guess being on the west coast can do that to ya.

Much love

- S