Friday, May 6, 2011

Friend Friday - SHOES

Today's Fashion Friend Beauty Friday post hosted by
Katy at ModlyChic is about SHOES!

Probably the favorite to all women of all ages and sizes. I know cause my daughters obsessions started before she was 2 years old. It is in their chromosome to like shoes I guess.

1.What is your go-to pair of shoes?
In cold weather when running errands or want to feel comfy - Ugg Boots
In warm weather - crocs or converses or reef flip flops
To feel Sexy and good any one of my 'A-Team' (you will see below) heels or any of my wedges...

2. What goes into your shoe buying decisions?
Foremost style. I only buy shoes to obtain a specific new style or trend. I then think about how often I would wear it depending on its price. If it is expansive it has to be a classic or timeless or something I will wear a lot. If cheap, it can be very trendy or something I will wear a few times. I try to buy shoes in colors or styles I do not currently own to keep increasing the variety in my (you will see) ridicilous shoe collection.

3. The majority of the shoes in your closet are what color?
There are a lot of Blacks and Browns. But I pretty much own a shoe in almost every color it seems.

4. When it comes to designer shoes what are your favorite brands and why?
I find Steve Madden offers the best quality (real leather) in the most trendy styles for very reasonable prices. I have pairs I have worn for years and have held on well.
I also like Guess, Charles David, Aldo and Victoria's Secret own brand.
I love anything from Betsey Johnson, Juicy Couture and Michael Kors.
5. If price wasn’t an issue, you’d own which shoe?
I love Kate Spade, Briat Atwood, Jeffrey Campbell. Some crazy styles of Gucci, Chanel and Manolo Blahnik would be all in my wish list.

To see how others answered their shoe preferences please click HERE!


 
 
 
 
Also, to see the cool posts on Kori's Blonde Episodes, Fashion Fridays click HERE!
 
 
 
 
AND NOW MY SHOES....
It was so tiring and a huge undertaking but I pushed myself to do this as I have always been wanting to since starting the blog. Which is to showcase all my shoes and really count to see how many I owned.
Are you ready?
Cause be prepared to be pretty amazed. The categories keep on going the numbers are quite emberassing...
There are going to be waaay too many photos but I figure you will just be scrolling them.
Here we go....
 
CATEGORY 1: THE HEELS

THE COUNT = 30 Pairs!

CATEGORY 2: THE WEDGES 
The Count = 10 Pairs!

CATEGORY 3: THE MULES 
The Count = 6 Pairs!

CATEGORY 4: THE BOOTS 
2 Winter, 1 Rain, 9 Tall, 7 Short Pairs. Total Count = 19 Pairs!

CATEGORY 5: SNEAKERS 
Only 2 of these are for actual exercise. I actually own 2 more pairs but landed them to my SIL.
So the true count is = 9 Pairs!

CATEGORY 6: ADVENTURE 
These were all purchased for my crazy Costra Rica, The Amazon and Safari in Kenya trips...They stay in boxes in my husband's closet as I will only wear them when I actually travel to rain forests or savanahs!
Total Count = 3 Pairs!

CATEGORY 7: THE BOOTIES, OXFORDS AND LOAFERS
Count = 7 Pairs

CATEGORY 8: FLATS! 
What is amazing is 90% of the pairs in this category were purchased after I became pregnant with our first child! The Count = 22 Pairs!

CATEGORY 9: THONGS! 
I have not worn 80% of these in a long time...The Count = 7 Pairs!

CATEGORY 10: FLIP FLOPS! 
Lets be honest, I live in Southern CA, flip flops are like the 'the' shoe of this city to wear year-round.
The Count = 14 Pairs!

CATEGORY 11: SLIPPERS! 
So, I am not actually going to count these in my total count cause most of these are extra pairs I keep for guests as our entire lower level is this hard porcelain tile you see here. I wear the fun design crock style one and the ugg boot looking steve madden pair the most.
The count = 9 Pairs!

CATEGORY 12: Wedding Shoe 
This was the pair I wore to my first wedding. I absolutely adore these shoes. I would never get rid of them but have not worn them to anywhere else. Count = 1 Pair!

I know you can't see the actual shoes especially in the big group photos so wanted to higlight what I call my 'A Team' Pairs... These are my favorites, my gems! And all have been purchased years and years ago and yet show hardly any wear!
Isabella Fiore white wedge sandals. With stiching on the wedge heel and delicate leaf motif at the end of their ties they are a beauty. And because of that white ring though they are a total pain to wear! :(

Betsey Johnson, yellow polka dot cork wedges. This is the pair I wore on Easter. The silky rose covers almost all of the toes and look so cute. And they are high!

Aaah, these are just sooo cute. Another Betsey Johnson pair. Linen with red patent leather trim and cork wedges. The wedges have the amazing stich work. And you can see the inside lining is even pretty. Piece of art.

This Chanel pair is my most expansive and the most elite designer shoes. I have worn them once or twise on this blog. The tweed body is trimmed with lizard leather. And like all the others they look amazing on.

This Kate Spade pair was a total Sex and the City influenced purchase. Got them on clearance like all the other designer pairs I own from Saks Fifth's outlet store Off Fifth. They look super cute and are very delicate but not that easy to walk in.

This delicately strappy Laundry pair has been worn very few times but they sure can complete the right evening outfit.

So, ready to add it all up?

Not counting the slippers I own a total number of 128 Pairs of Shoes!
Well, I guess that is quite a lot! At least as part of this very overwhelming and tiring exercise I did get rid of at least 5 - 7 pairs of shoes today.


So, you might ask Where do they get stored?

Contrary to popular belief I do not have one of those humangous dreamy closets. I do have a decent size walk in and a very large bedroom/house to spread out though. This closet came with the house so it is not custom designed for my clothes/shoes. So I make the best of it.

In the shoe cubbies I store shoes in their boxes. If the box is not original I will write with a marker what is inside... 

In the 'flat shoe' shelves I try to fit my mostly used pairs... 

In the boot cubbies I try to fit way more than the boots by stacking my other shoes on top. Not pretty I know...Plus You can see 3 boxes in front! 

Under my long hanging clothes I store 4 other pairs of boots and a box of platforms... 

On the other side I squeezed 3 more boxes plus under the blouses I store my two most worn shot pair of boots! 

On the top shelve of the third wall you can see more boxes. These are worn more seldom as I need to a stool to reach them, 

- THE END -

Phew...Well that is it on my shoes!
This sure was tiring but it was nice to take them all out and dust all the shelves with pinesole and sift them out. My closet feels cleaner now.
Imagine now if and when I do a post on my actual clothes! May be if we move I will get motivated to do that. But I still do want to at least give a closet tour. The space is so tight though so it would probably make sense to do a movie photos instead of still photos. We'll see...

Oh, our backyard's concerete project was finished today: 
 They told us it will take 35 days to see our true color. It will get lighter. We opted to not seal it so it won't be slippery for the kids with the pool, even though I love the look of high gloss.

The dirt area is the future 'Play Area'. We are still researching the best affordable ground cover for here.

Here are the kids finally allowed to gently step outside so they are having a celebration mickey lollipops sitting on the sliding door frame...

Mint and Hunter... Green that is...


Today's outfit was inspired from the J Crew April Catalog... 

I like the idea of using pink and mint green over dark hunter green. 

I swear I had a crop v-neck mint green sweater too but couldn't find it. This I might have given it away as I haven't seen in a while otherwise it will be added to the list of random items missing from my closet. So, in its absence, settled on this mint green cardi. It was too tight to button up to so only buttoned top the give the effect and show the bib chain necklace... 

Trying a different corner of my bedroom for photos... 

This outfit allowed me to showcase my new 'cream summer booties' which are really wedges. These are the ones I got from Marshalls the other day. They are that cheap 'soda' brand but I really like the way they looked and they feel very comfy (and quite high)... They have that 'house of harlow' wedges I had liked at Victoria's Secret...



This is totally random and weird looking. I thought I would fit in the window but I obviously don't not in these wedges anyway, so before the tripod timer went off had to do something so stuck my head out. 


Cardi - Victoria's Secret
Plaid shirt & Necklace & belt - Forever 21
Pants - Bebe
Wedges - 'Soda' from Marshalls

Today's Activities: Lots going on this morning in our backyard as it is last day of conerete pour and landscaping. We left for the kids swim class then due to high demand from the kids had lunch out at their favorite greek restaurant. They love gyro's. I had to do contractor review during nap time and got in my photo shoot and then they woke up. Cooked while they were having snack. My husband came home early so I can leave with my friend to meet our other friends for 'National Mom's Night out Evet' at the mall hosted by an org called parent connection. It was cool. They had free food and drinks and lots of goodies from places like Kiehl's. We then hit a few stores in the mall but of course as it always happens when you are looking to buy something you find nothing. And I was fine with that. We had fun chatting and used our big coupons at CPK for a late night drink and snack before heading home!

Here is a group shot of us... 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Pastel Floral Gone Rogue

Going springy today but keeping on to touch of winter with the boots!   The pure black boots did not look quite right under the pastel floral dress until I added this black leaf neacklace made out of lava rock. Then the look was complete.


This is another one of the $20 yesstyle dresses. The length of this is actually not bad at all. I also plan to wear it as is with just denim sandals but for today wanted to layer just a bit.


Sometimes the tripod action photo works! 

Fun to pose with a hat I always feel! 

Stacked a few delicate charm bracelets over the silver watch...


These boots are quite wearable even in warm weather...  

The dark denim vest is a thrift buy from Filomena's Closet...

Dress - YesStyle.com
Denim Vest - Filomena's Closet
Boots & Hat - Forever 21
 Necklace - gift from Mom
Earings - Baby Phat

Today's Activities: It was a super busy day today. Which of course started with me finding out by 8 AM that my car was not fixed and could not be taken from the shop. So had to rush to rent a car (on the repair shop budget) while my husband waited with the kids at home.
Managed to leave the house on time to see the play Beauty and the Beast by a Jr. Theater.
The play was excellent. My 2 yr old's attention span after 1 hour not so much!
I struggled with her as she swung my earings in the air to get her out all because I wouldn't let her dance barefoot in front of the stage. She finally calmed down for us to see the finale. My son was great watching the entire show and loving it.
Afterwards we had a picnic lunch with our friends.
Came home for naps while I met once again a few contractors and went over the progress.
Afterwards we were off to a playdate at a friend's house. My daughter was so happy to be having a playdate for once at a girl's house. She was super excited.
Then we went to my sister and her bf's house for a very nice dinner. Where the kids went crazy over their little puppy dog.