As you may have noticed… Kimberly is our new charity focused contributor and before I had the chance to tell her about my relationship with the awesome team at FFANY (here’s a little shout out to you, Nicole and Phyllis!) and also that I will be attending the Shoes on Sale event as a member of the press so I will be able to share the action at the event with all of you!! I was able to go last year as well and I have to say it was a great time!! I am so excited this year because of Brown Shoe’s CEO, Ron Fromm being honored! Not just because I consider Brown Shoe my “shoe family” but also because I have had the great pleasure of meeting Ron on a few occasions and I am a big fan of his! He truly is a great guy and the way he interacts with his company is awesome and definitely not typical of a lot of CEO’s out there! He is down to earth, friendly and has a great sense of humor…which are all wonderful traits in my opinion! Congrats to him and Brown Shoe for the opportunity to bring positive attention to their organization while contributing to a great cause! It’s fantastic!! -Julia

This morning was one of “those” mornings.  It was lightly sprinkling outside all morning until about 3 minutes before I had to leave for work.  Then it started to monsoon.  I zipped up my hoodie (hood up of course), grabbed my umbrella and braved the heavy rains.  As I was walking towards the subway my jeans became soaked up to my knees and I began to discipline myself for not purchasing a new pair of rain boots after I got rid of my old ones a few weeks ago.  I made it to the subway station, jumped over the massive puddle that had formed at the bottom of the stairs, headed over to the platform and waited for the 6 train to arrive.  And waited.  And waited.  I waited in the steamy subway station for over 30 minutes.  I started to get all sorts of cranky while I stood there wet, hair getting curly from the humid temperatures of the underground, and now I was running late.  I watched five trains pass my station…five!  Then when the sixth train stopped and the doors opened, it was so packed with commuting New Yorkers that nobody could even get on board.  So I waited for the seventh train to come and luckily there was room on that one…whew!  As soon as we started moving uptown I realized that I had forgotten the lunch that I prepared at home…including my pre-spin class luna bar, a total necessity for me to ensure a killer spin class.  And then Crankfest 2010 began to really set in.  I transferred at 42nd street and started to speed-walk towards the shuttle, zig-zagging through people, “subway stare” on my face.  I was an angry lady who was very late for work.  Finally I made it to the shuttle, had a quick ride to Times Square and walked the few remaining blocks to my office.  I sat at my desk, and as I started to decompress I thought, wow, it is just one of “those” mornings.

After getting most of the cranky out of my system I gave my mother her daily AM phone call.  My mother, a big big fan of shopping on QVC, began to tell me about a television charity event that will be happening on the station in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  All of a sudden I felt like such a jerk face.  How could I have let such an insignificant thing like rain affect my mood so negatively, when there are women out there who are going through a lot more than just a rough morning?  I immediately began to research the QVC event, checking out the program guide to see when it was airing.

What I found out was that this event has 2 parts, starting on Wednesday, October 13th from 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM.  In addition to cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and shoe shopping, the 17th annual QVC presents “FFANY shoes for sale” will be honoring two superlative footwear industry leaders for their leadership and commitment to finding a cure for breast Cancer by presenting them with the Humanitarian Award.  The individuals being honored at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center that night are Sidney Kimmel, distinguished philanthropist and Founder and Chairman of Jones Apparel Group, and Ronald A. Fromm, Chairman and  CEO of Brown Shoe Company.

Jessica Simpson at the 16th Annual QVC Presents FFANY Shoes On Sale Event at Lincoln Center

Continuing the charitable event on Friday, October 15th, a television event for breast cancer research and education will be showing on QVC.  The event will be on from 7:00PM – 10:00 PM ET where they will be offering over 100,000 pairs of brand name shoes (all donated from FFANY member footwear companies) at a fraction of the retail price!  Proceeds will then go towards breast cancer research and education.

Fashion Footwear Association of New York is a not-for-profit trade association representing footwear manufacturers from around the world.  FFANY, a very prominent member of the New York Fashion Industry, has gone beyond it’s mission to promote and assist the common business interest of its members by becoming committed to giving back to the footwear community.  Because of their partnership with QVC, and the charity event “FFANY Shoes on Sale” they have sold over one million pairs of shoes and have raised more than $33 million for the breast cancer cause!

What I love about this is, if you can’t make it to the event in New York on the 13th, you can still easily be part of the charitable cause, comfortably from your couch at home!  Definitely check out the Show on QVC on the 15th, get some great deals on new shoes, and help raise funds to promote breast cancer research and eduction  The more and more I help these incredibly important causes, I think “those” mornings will occur less and less.  And hopefully, dear readers, you will get involved more as well and kick “those” mornings to the curb with me!  All good things my friends!