Happy Presidents Day!  Each Monday, we go back to work and address our own individual business challenges – your shoes shouldn’t be one of those challenges.   So, each Monday we are going to review shoes that will make your feet look and feel great on the first day of the week.  However, today I was thinking about the oval office and what shoes I would want on my feet if I were the President.  If I were the President for one day, I would want a pair of shoes that would offer a few fantastic features:

• Lighten my load.  I would want shoes that would help lighten the load and evenly distribute the weight which would be on the shoulders of a president.

• Look cool walking around.  I would welcome the increased style in my posture and gait.  Besides, isn’t there plenty of sitting that goes on in Washington already.  A pair of shoes where I could get up, walk around, and look good doing it.

• Built-in wake up calls.  The promised activation of neglected muscles – now that’s a stimulus package that I could believe in!

• Help with the numbers. Increased rear-end( buttock) muscle activity – as I am sure it (the rear-end) gets its share of lactic acid build up and a fair share of kicking.

• Help! my back!  I would love shoes that would strengthen my spine subconsciously.  Consciously, don’t we need more strong spines in Washington?  Well, more spines in Washington would be great, period!  Don’t you agree?

• Consensus – something my whole body could agree on.  A shoe that would activate my whole body while in use.  Let’s get everyone in the House and Senate some of these shoes!

Well President, on this special day that is dedicated to you, we looked long and hard and found a pair of shoes that will do all of the above and more for you!  We recommend the new “business on top, party on the bottom” Karani shoes by MBT.  The MBT Karani’s have a rocking chair style bottom which will keep you rocking all day long.  President Barack Obama already has a pretty district strut – imagine what these MBT’s would do to add to it!  Here is a word of caution, there is required break-in time with these shoes – MBT recommends that you work up to wearing them all day,  take a few hours the first week and get your body used to the unique sole.

Do you want to look Presidential in all that you do, buy a suit and tie and a pair of MBT shoes and you are on your way.   Don’t forget to mention this helpful shoe recommendation from your friends at shoes of the day when you run in 2012.

Take a closer look by clicking on the MBT shoe below:

In the city, a black custom “caf” is something you find at Starbucks. “Yeah, I’ll take a grande, triple-caf-half-decaf-double-shot-mocha-mocha.”

In the country, a black custom “calf” is something you find standing next to a cow, although it isn’t rare to see a heifer with a calf at Starbucks. However, I’ve heard that the best custom black calves on the ranch are pure-bred Texas Longhorns, right Mike?

At Allen-Edmonds, Black Custom Calfs are something made exclusively for executive feet. Curl you pinky, grab your tall cold glass of whatever and your cigar, it’s Mr. Steven Stevenson’s mission to completely maintain emerging sources in order to assertively disseminate mission-critical catalysts for change — you can’t say that and get away with it wearing anything less than Allen-Edmonds shoes on your feet, hey Sayges?

Clean sleek lines give this strikingly handsome slip-on dress shoe a very professional look. Subtly catch people’s attention with the rounded toebox with center seam detail, stitching apron style front overlay and matching collar overlay. The smooth leather lining has a cushioned leather-topped insole. The traction patterned dress style outsole is complete with a one-inch capped dress heel. (Glad we had our anatomy lesson yesterday). The sans-lace, metal-less, 100% pure animal calfhide, make this smooth burnished slip style shoe extremely airport-friendly for the executive traveler. This shoe falls into the high-end category, and has everything you would expect from a shoe in the triple-digit price range.

The Shoes of the Day: Allen-Edmonds Men’s Steen Black Custom Calf.

Just be very careful when you “caf“– I’ve heard that can be crazy, especially in Canada!

Welcome back to 1987! Polo shirt, braided belt, pegged pants and the shoes of the day: Sperry Top-Siders. Great Scott Marty!

One Sperry owner writes, “I have worn out countless pairs of these shoes. The soft, pliable leather fits like a glove.” Remember, you can find your shoes that fit like a glove here.

Welcome back, Sperry. We’ve missed you.

I am going to get a brown smoothie and then go back to hang-out in the commons.  You can buy Sperry’s here!

Another orange shoe? You bet. ‘Tis the season. Pumpkins, deer-hunting vests and accouterments, candy corns, caution signs, barricades, basketballs and oranges. Orange, the new black.

Think of an orange: citrusy, juicy, pulpy, plump and pasteurized – that is just the problem Taryn Rose was trying to solve for the feet she would treat. This is also how she said her feet felt in her three-inch heels after working a 14-hour day. This one-time, formally trained orthopedic-surgeon-turned-shoe-expert decided she’d seen enough in the hospital and was ready to become a ped-fashion diva. She traded her medical surgical tools for a leather tool kit. Her shoes are made by highly skilled artisans in Italy, with almost three hours of hand labor in each pair. Wow, sounds expensive. Remember, handmade shoes aren’t cheap and you should know by now that if a doctor is recommending them for purchase, you better make sure you have your insurance card as well as your credit card and two forms of ID. I am glad that she introduced a men’s line in 2003 – believe me, I’ve tried, and heels just don’t work, but these Astiares sure will.

Whether you are hunting for game or shoes, these Italian made orange beauties are the shoes for you. Made from soft, full-grain premium leather, this loafer-style shoe is perfect for dress or casual looks, with a slightly squared toe, stitched seam moc-style front, and side stitching. These shoes are “not-from-concentrate” and now on sale – the shoes of the day: ORANGE, Taryn Rose Men’s Astaire.

How about some OrangeSoda with some Italian Sausage?

Good things really can come from Canada, eh? Except when you are visiting Montreal, in the French section of town, and you only speak English. When my friend and I were traveling there on business a few years back, we asked our hotel concierge for a recommendation for a fresh, tasty place to grab lunch-because we found the antithesis the day before. In her broken English accent, she explained a “very fine place to eat business lunch.” Oh, she must mean a good place to grab a quick bite to eat.

We arrived at the described local, and we were greeted in French by a gentleman who looked just like Paul Shaffer from the David Letterman show-funny yellow tinted lens glasses and all. As we passed through the entry area and up the stairs, the place was packed! Everyone was dressed in business formal! Oh this must be a great place to eat, even though we still haven’t heard one word of English, and we are extremely under-dressed. Our waiter arrived impatiently and said something in French that sounded like he was talking about day four on the Tour de France. The silence seemed like an eternity as he impatiently awaited our response. My friend spoke up first saying, “Um, I’ll have a Coke” I immediately followed with a “me too.” He must have understood us, as he grudgingly marched away towards the kitchen going to retrieve what we hoped would be, or at least would look like a dark-brown, bubbly soda. Then we opened our menus. Of the 65+ menu items, there was only one thing that my friend and I could read. Something, something “Salmon.” My friend said “I’ll have this” as he pointed to the words that said “Salmon.” Now it was my turn, I panicked and pointed to an item on what was the appetizer menu. I ended up with a small salad and a Coke. We only saw our waiter twice, once with the beverages which turned out to really be Coke, and our food — the salmon which had, as I recall a black bone in it!

I think we would have been treated differently, and ordered food that we really wanted had we been fluent in French and had a pair of these shoes on: Amblesides, black with bone! The shoes of the day, a real treat for your feet.

Amblesides are custom shoes by a new found fellow friend and lover of shoes! It says on the site “The Amblesides are perfect for that afternoon stroll in the park. A great everyday casual shoe with that Fluevog twist we’ve come to love. Made with soft padded and perforated Nappa leathers with a contrasting crepe side strip. Mens only. Whole sizes.” Sorry Bettys, Mens only. By the way, they are on sale.

Let me know what you think, eh?

Yes please, I’ll have some. Stinky feet, we all know the smell — very similar to pickled-spearmint fish eggs, crammed in ziplock, sitting on the dash of your car, in hot parking lot for 8+ hours. Can I get an ‘Amen’? (Nate, you were there!)

I am pretty Keen on this new foot bed, I mean, my feet are pretty happy. I mean, they don’t stink. I mean, they don’t stink when I wear the “Anatomical ANTI-ODOR Footbed Supremes. Okay, so I added the Supremes, because it sounds like a new Taco Bell product. Hey, just thinking outside the bun!

Shoes of the day?

keen – Men’s Presidio

Yes, I own two how about you?