Suede & Spikes [Days 10 & 11]

So yesterday I did not have the day off but we did go in 2 hours late which was very nice. It gave me a chance to cook a nice breakfast for Dan and I and to also straighten my hair. [something that does not happen often] I decided since I only had a 4 hour work day I would wear some heels since my options for flats are becoming limited, or so I think, I haven't actually counted. This whole challenge is a guess. Anywho, I wore rain boots there and changed at work because there was no way I was trekking through the snow and ice in heels. These heels I found at a thrift store but I know they are a target brand, and I can't fully remember but I'm pretty sure they still had their new tags on them. I have worn these a lot and I really like how they give my feet an elvish look. The suede is getting kind of ruined though :/

I wore my flats today without first wearing rain boots to work. I was pretty brave to do this because there is still a decent amount of snow on the ground. By the time I got in the building at work, my feet felt as though I had walked barefoot across the snow that's how cold they were. But I digress. These spikey beauties I found when I was once again browsing Kohls.com at work (hopefully no one I work with reads this..) I loved them instantly. I still like them but I did have an incident of tripping over myself and kicking myself in the ankle which caused one of the spikes to gauge a piece of my skin off and bleed, so ever since then I've been more cautious when wearing these. When you buy shoes with spikes I guess that's just a risk you are willing to take. 

xo

Em

Day 4 - Purple

One of my favorite colors to wear is purple, I think it stems back to Almay makeup coming out with the eyeshadow colors for every eye color and purple was always in the brown eye palette. So now I'm convinced that purple brings out my eyes. Of course wearing purple on my feet isn't really gonna do that but oh well. I still like purple.

These flats are one of my newest pairs that I bought from Target on a whim (are you seeing a pattern here because to me it seems like all my shoes are either from Target or Kohl's...) They are a pretty plum shade that would have been perfect had I found them when I was looking for flats for my wedding reception (instead I opted for a red pair of flats which I'm sure will make their appearance during these 21 days). Now of course they are on clearance and are cheaper then when I bought them and also come in red and brown. (I was very tempted the other day to buy another pair, but I resisted somehow. I guess because I'm running out of closet space) I have a tendency to buy suede shoes and I'm always afraid they will get ruined if I wear them and by some chance it happens to rain while I'm out. But that could also happen to satin shoes. 

On a different note this post will already top the number of times I blogged last year. That is pretty sad and I know I want to be a better blogger but sometimes I just don't feel like what I have to say will interest people. At least this challenge gives me a reason to post every day, it's kinda fun going to bed every night and trying to decide what shoes I will wear the next day and then of course deciding what clothes will match. 

xo

Em

Day 3 - Booties

Today my shoe of choice was one that I received as a birthday gift for my 18th or 19th birthday. My mom bought them for me from Kohl's. (I picked them out) They are the Candies brand and when I first saw them I thought they were rocker-esque and that they'd look cute with a lot of outfits. I don't wear them as often as I thought I would because sometimes I think my feet look weird in them, but I'm weird about stuff like that. They are very easy to walk in and only slightly uncomfortable around the toe area.

I wore them with black sweater tights and a dress to work today and got some compliments on them :) 

In other big news, today Hubby upgraded our TV from a 32 inch to a 46 inch. It's gonna be like watching at a movie theater now compared to before. So that will be fun to enjoy after he sets it all up.

Until tomorrow!

xo

Em

Day 2 - Fabulous flats!

Today was a wonderfully dreary day. Because of the weather I opted for some flats even though I should have worn my galoshes. But flats worked out okay, there weren't really deep puddles.

I picked up these leopard spotted flats at Target, probably in 2007 or 2008. I know I bought them because I thought the print was cute and I did not think about how difficult it is to match them with things. Unless you wear black with them. Black matches almost anything. I have no places of significance that I have worn these, at least not that I can remember. Just work or an ordinary outing. 

On a non shoe related topic, yesterday I signed up to be on the waitlist for Birchbox. This makes me very excited and will give me lots of things to blog about when I started receiving my new products :)

Until tomorrow.

xo

Em

The 21 Day Shoe Challenge

I consider myself to be a shoe-aholic and often times I buy a pair of shoes for an outfit or just because I think they are cute and the outfit will come later. Then those beautiful shoes will sit in the closet, waiting for a chance to be shown to the world. I find myself wearing the same shoes every day. Even though I have boxes upon boxes, I am drawn to the same boring black pair or opt for my uggs when I'm not working. In the wintertime, I will admit it is more difficult to be daring with shoes on days with inclement weather. Having recently slipped off of icy stairs, I can tell you I am very glad I was wearing my flat boots that day instead of something fancier. With that all being said, I have challenged myself to wear a different pair of shoes every day for the next 21 days. And to keep myself accountable I will publish a record on my blog (and to help me remember what shoes I've already worn!) I did not count my shoes in advance so I'm not sure if 21 days of no repeats is even possible (I'm sure it is close to possible if it isn't). So here are my rules:
1. Every day wear a different pair of shoes out somewhere (i.e. I can repeat shoes as long as I've worn a different pair somewhere in public that day)
2. Blog and post pictures of shoes daily

And that's all I've come up with so far!
So today being the first day of the challenge and my feet feeling all refreshed and ready I decided to wear a pair of heels to work. I don't normally wear heels because I'm on my feet a lot and I like to save them for days when I'm not there a full day or I know I won't have to walk all over the place.

This blush colored pair of Lauren Conrad pumps were purchased at Kohl's sometime in the summer of 2012. I bought them for a bridal shower that I was helping host and blush was one of the bride's colors. Since that event, the other most notable place these babies have been was Atlantic City for the celebration of my best friend's 21st birthday. I love the soft suede feel of them and the pretty girly color. Today at work I paired them with gray pants and a white button down blouse. 

xo

Em 

Classic Beauty

Beauty is subjective. I think in order to have true beauty, some of your beauty must come from within. Beauty does not have to be over the top. I think it is simple. Beauty is being yourself and loving who you are. Beauty does not have to appearance, although I think a lot of people classify it that way.

Here are some of the women I think are classic beauties of the past.

Ginger Rogers: 1911 -1995

She became most famous for dancing with Fred Astaire.

I have not seen any of her movies but it is on my to do list.

Shirley Temple: 1928 - Present

When I was younger I was absolutely obsessed with Shirley Temple.

I own many of her movies on VHS and I can remember singing along to them.

I still picture her as the cute little tot who sang about animal crackers.

Marisa Berenson: 1947 - Present

I had never heard of her before watching the movie Cabaret.

While watching the movie I noticed how pretty her eyes were.

Elizabeth Taylor: 1932 - 2011

She was an fashion icon. Her love of jewelry is known by many.

She was married many many times. And she was gorgeous.

xox

Fashion Spotlight: LBD

Usually the ads I get when I'm on facebook are annoying or totally unrelated to something that I would like, but I kept seeing an ad for modcloth.com and I thought it looked interesting and I decided to check it out. I really like a lot of what this site has to offer. Even though I rarely do, I enjoy the idea of dressing up and I can't wait until I'm in the "real" world and I can hopefully have a job that allows me to dress in cute business-y attire and fun dresses. So while I was looking at modcloth I came across these little black dresses that I want so badly! Of course, I was told once by a friend that I wear black too much and I should experiment with colors, but these dresses aren't plain even though they are black.

1. This dress was my first LBD discover

which initiated my search for others. I love the

crossover "webbing" that this dress has. The view from

the back is really pretty too.

2. I love the detail on the top of this dress

and how the bottom flares out.

3. This LBD reminds me of a dress

from the sorority life game on facebook.

BTW, this week the free songs on itunes are really good!

The songs are called Happily Ever After by He is We and Hey Alli by Runner Runner

flashbacks

I think that I was born in the wrong era. Now I do appreciate all the modern technologies that we have available to us today, but why can't we revert back to the way people used to dress. I guess we would look funny walking around in hoop skirts while updating twitter on a blackberry. I cannot think of a single situation, except for maybe a Halloween costume party, where I could dress in a Scarlett O'Hara type dress.

On a somewhat related note, I have been in the mood for some classic movies. I am looking forward to watching Breakfast at Tiffany's with my sister this weekend. I really want to watch Casablanca because I have never seen it.

Here are some dresses from movies that I would love to wear at least once.

1. Scarlett O'Hara's wardrobe from Gone with the Wind
Vivien Leigh is gorgeous and she wears these dresses so well.


2. Christine Daaé from The Phantom of the Opera
Emmy Rossum did a wonderful job as Christine in the movie adaptation of
this legendary Broadway musical. And she wore some pretty awesome dresses.


3. Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn made this dress iconic.


4. Katey Miller from Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Romola Garai is beautiful and these dresses flatter her nicely.

What I'm listening to:
The Lucky Ones by Brendan James
It's free on itunes til Tuesday I believe.
I would definitely recommend it :)

xox

shopping is better than sleeping. . .

Okay not really. I realize sleep is vital, but I don't feel like going to bed yet. Even though I have a paper that needs to be written tomorrow, I just felt like sharing [yet again] some nifty clothes/accessories I found online. Before that I want to share my frustrations with the "Jersey" everything phase. I am really tired of people bashing on my state. Sure, not everyone here is super friendly and nice, and okay don't go the speed limit in the left lane or you won't be anyone's best bud on the road, but we are not all orange oompa loompas with big hair. And not everyone throws tables at dinner. Some of us can live in New Jersey and still have class. Also, those "Jersey Shore" people are phonies since most of them (with the exception of 2, I believe) don't even LIVE in NJ, they just come to our beach and drive all the locals nuts. (My roommate who is from the Jersey shore refers to Seaside in the summer as Sleaside because of all the riff raff that accumulates there.) I guess I would not have ever known about all these negative views of Jersey except all for all the attention New Jersey is getting for tv shows like: The Jersey Shore, Jersey Couture, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and Jerseylicious. If the rest of the country doesn't like us so much why are there some many shows about NJ!!! Okay, I'm done ranting about this for now. Back to fashion. Here's what I like right now:

I think this skirt is really cute.
I love the banded skirt look with an adorable top.
This one is from Express.

[source]

I love these tights.
Well of course, because they have roses on them!

[source]

I want these shoes.
How great is this color?


[source]

I think elephants are pretty cool.
Maybe because we share the first same letter.
So whenever I play that "I'm going on a picnic game," I can bring elephants.

[source]

And lastly, I know florals are a little out of season
since we are entering the cold, blustery weather,
I still like this little wallet. It is cheery until the warm temperatures return.

[source]

xox

Cold weather brings cold feet

Last year, we had a pretty brutal winter, with lots of snow and ice. (I fell twice but that is not the point) Now I have a pair of snow boots that I've had since like the 7th grade and I think I got them at a second hand store. Needless to say, my toes are a little squished. I really would like a pair of snow boots because I have a feeling this winter is going to remind me of last year's. My dilemma is where are all the cute snow boots?! The ones I currently own look like a white pair of the boots Napoleon Dynamite wore, so they are not exactly stylish. And all the cute "cold weather" boots I find online look like any type of moisture would soak through and cause wet socks (and who really wants those?) I did buy rain boots last year, because I was having this same issue when it rained, and they were my makeshift snow boots last year but they did not keep my toesies warm. Then the other day at Target, I saw that they make micro fiber liners (basically giant socks) for rain boots and I might get those. (For only $10 they sure are a lot cheaper than snow boots!) Well here are some of the boots that I found that looked cute and they also had good reviews by customers who bought them.

These range from $68.98-$139.95
They also come in brown but I like them better in black.

[source]


These look like the water would soak right through but
according to the customer comments they keep your feet warm.
I don't know if I believe them though.
They are $74.95 and come in black also.

[source]

And this is what I'll probably go with
unless someone buys me a pair of snow boots.
At the store I saw them in pink, white, and black.
They are $9.99
And they look quite goofy :)

[source]

If I had a paycheck. . .

So I've been out of a job for over a year. I must admit that it makes me very sad that I cannot shop the way I used to and very badly want to. Yesterday in the computer lab, I noticed a website that a girl next to me was on (yes I was being a creeper but she was on a mac and Montclair has the HUGE screens) The website is topshop.com and I found some really cute clothes on there. If I had some income then perhaps I could begin to dream about having these clothes. And the site offers 10% off for students which I thought was really cool. I also really liked looking at their collections My favorite was the Dark Nouveau. It is a mixture of leather and punky pieces with feminine accents.

Satin Trim Babydoll Tunic
Bright Bloom Lace Corset Dress
Hinge Front Flap Bag

Ruched Strap Heels

Dark Nouveau