Socks that Changed my Life.... Yes. Socks

Ok.... I'm kind of stepping out of the comfort zone here... (no pun intended), talking about what I put on my feet and how it's changed my life. Well it's not so much the sock on my foot, it's what is on the sock. I remember a few Christmas' ago I participated in a sock gift exchange, it was pretty fun, and I ended up with some cool tie dye socks. Now they have sock clubs and subscriptions, and there's also a fun and sassy online store that sells sassy and fun socks and more. Let me tell you about those first, then I'll tell you my life changing story about socks.... 

(just to let you know, I am not being paid by none of these companies to endorse their sites, I just did my research on sock subscriptions, found some sites, and these were the companies which shined brightest in my book)

The first one I want to tell you about is Sock Fancy (www.sockfancy.com) out of Atlanta, GA. Founded by roommates Stefan Lewinger and Futhum Tewolde, who found it difficult to find fun and quirky socks to wear and show off, they started their business on a small ping pong table.... now it's in a large office in Atlanta and offers Subscriptions to fun and fabulous well crafted socks starting at $11 per month. They also offer the availability to custom make socks! I think that is totally awesome sauce.

When it comes to being the change in the world, Sock Panda (https://sockpanda.com)  is the subscription for you. You can also purchase single pairs without subscriptions as well. Any how, what makes them so special? With every subscription and single sock purchase, they donate a pair of socks to a non-profit charity in need such as the Salvation Army and the Veteranss Hospital here in the US (*information from their website). Since December of last year they have donated over 100,000 pairs of socks to homeless shelters, hospitals, low income senior centers and low income schools *. This company ROCKS! 

And now about the company where the socks that changed my life came from.... 

Blue Q (http://www.blueq.com)Blue Q is a group of tongue in cheek, sassy and fun artists that bring you everything from tote bags, pouches, oven mits, gum, to socks (and that's not all of it....) Founded 26 years ago by the Flat Kitty (that's what the website says....) in MA, Blue Q designs their socks and ships them to merchants around the country, and world. Their tote bags and pouches are made from 95% recycled materials. A percentage of the sales from their bags goes to the Nature Conservancy where a percentage of their sock sales goes to the Doctors Without Borders organization. Not only are they fun and fab, but they are being a change in the world... 

Changing the world, well they changed my world in a very unexpected way. Story goes like this...It was  the shopping season of  the Christmas of 2016 and my sister in law Nadine found these cute socks in a boutique in Idaho Falls. Well, she told me later that she knew that they were right up my alley.... little did she know what she started. Christmas morning with the family I opened by package and was ear to ear smiles when I saw the socks....'The Duchess of Sassy Town' they read....(they were a Blue Q design) 

That year had been a rough year, very rough, I'll spare you the details, but involved  the loss of my Grams, and my heart attack and subsequent open heart surgery. Those socks, the phrase on them, sparked something inside of me... it's hard to explain, but it was a feeling I had never felt before. The next year and a half following I have spent on a very personal and spiritual journey of me. Who I am, and what I want to do and be, all because of those socks. I have always had personality, but 'sassy' was more of a descriptive fit that I liked, and as I have grown as a person during this journey.

I have also become empowered as a woman. I don't like to be called a Princess, that just has such a negative connotation in my opinion... sounds prissy and high maintenance, someone who depends on others to take care of her. Queen, just a higher level of Princess... just bitchier and bossier. Duchess... well, for me that sounds strong, powerful, a force to be reckoned with and a woman who can handle herself... and a woman who can be, yes, sassy....  That is me now. I no longer chase after people for friendship or approval, I believe that love is power, I am strong enough to stand up for me, and for those who cannot stand for themselves. I believe that love always wins, and  that creativity is my best therapy. Yes, all that from a pair of socks. Thank you Nadine, and Blue Q from the bottom of my heart. 

This birthday, I received another pair of Blue Q from my bestie Tammy, girl knows I love my fun socks, and she hooked me up with an adorable pair of socks that say 'I'm a girl, what's your super power?'. Another pair of empowering socks. Thank you Tammy! The Flamingo, well, that's my mother's doing.... I'm a Florida girl and she just couldn't let me leave FL a couple of years ago without a pair of Flamingo socks, they were boutique socks, but I don't know where she got them from.