This isn't a fashion blog, but I had to somehow share my excitement and joy.

I wish it was something big like winning a million dollars, or finding out that the Nordstrom near me is handing out free shoes.

Nothing as wonderful.

I am excited over an idea.

Simply just an idea.

Have you ever figured something out or got an idea that was so great you can't contain yourself?

How about getting a little bit of insight that made you realize that this might possibly change your life.

I've had only a few of those during my life time. The first one was starting a YT focused on DIY. That has changed over the years, but it was an idea and I went with my gut.

Another great idea that came to me was this blog. Maybe it wasn't great, but it hit me so hard that I needed to do this.

Alright..here is the idea.

For the longest time I have always wanted to start my own fashion line. I was/am too scared to even think about starting something so new. Not to mention competing with the market that I am in.

I don't have a ANY resources. NONE! No financial backing, little to no network, and the man power has totaled up to one.

All I have are the designs and Ideas in my head. Even so, they are just mediocre designs. I can't possibly think that I can market mediocre designs at a planned price range to make any profit. Breaking even alone will be a blessing.

My idea comes at the most random moments. Brushing my teeth, showering, driving, or trying to pay the cashier at the store.

This ah-ha! moment, is probably one of the most prolific ideas I have ever had in my life.

Not only did I come up with the name for my line -which I really struggled with.  I came up with a design that will work. Something that is functional, sustainable, and always reliable.

I can go on and on about it, but I gotta get to sketching and making samples.

2013 is going to be a really good beginning!

°K.L° ἔρημος σόλα


Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea. --Jim Rohn

"Keep on lovin' what is true and the world will come to you, you can find it in yourself." --Michael Bublé

*H&M (Vegas) Sweater Dress-Bought it last year on my birthday.One of the most shapeless and almost non-flattering dresses ever. It's a little long on me, but I had a thing for burnt orange last fall.
*Cowboy Hat- Bought 3 years ago in a souvenir shop in Galveston.
*Tory Burch Elina Wedges-More pictures of them Here. Seen Here and Here
*Jewel Mint Necklace-One of my favorite Jewel Mint pieces
*Combination of skinny belts. American Eagle Brown Leather, Forever21 Chain&Leather, Charlotte Russe Gold Horse Belt also seen Here

Is frightful....

It is finally cold in Houston. Hopefully for awhile longer so I can bust out some serious knitwear. Every year, I buy sweaters hoping that it would get cold enough to wear them all. It only get's cold enough for me to wear the occasional one, or two. Silly how I went on about sweaters and I am not even wearing one in this post.

I love the look of winter clothing, but I hate the actual cold. The only plus side about cold weather is that my face takes longer to get oily.

As you guys may know, the Elina Wedge Booties by Tory Burch won for the month of January (read it here). This means I will be posting a couple of outfit blogs with them on for 2-3 weeks. I'll then do a review about them and lastly talk about the alternatives. I'll try to do a giveaway for the alternative pair every month just to keep you guys coming back ^_~. Mid-way through January, I'll host another poll for the shoe of February. I don't know what it is about this blog, but I am so in love with it! Everything about it...from excitement, to passion, to love, to design. It's so extremely invigorating and refreshing. Also, it's nice to have another entity outside of YouTube. Not that I'm hating on YouTube...that will always be my #1 baby.

*TopShop (New York)-It was an expensive and only buy from TopShop. Bought it last year and now it's my go to faux leather jacket.
* H&M (Chicago)-High waist checkered trousers. I always shop at H&M when I am in a different city. It's a goal to hit up every H&M I can.
*Tory Burch Elina Wedge Booties-ShopBop
*Charolotte Russe Belt-It use to be gold, and now it has a tarnished look to it. I love the tarnished look!

I was given an opportunity with Macy's to create a look for New Year's Eve. They gave me $150.00 to create an outfit and I took that as a challenge to create as many outfits as I can with $150 or less!

Now, I will be frank with you. I am not the type of girl who wears a dress and find it ludicrous to wear it a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time around. If I can remember, I spent only $4.00 on my prom dress in High School. It was hideous, and I am okay with only wearing that once. After all, it was only $4.00.

I like to think that anything above the $15.00 mark is deserving of an encore.

Here is the list of things I bought and you better believe I will work it and re-work it as many times as possible.

*Madden Girl Pumps Orig: $59.00 Sale: $21.50 (Blue/Aqua)
*Nine West Strap Pumps Orig: $89.00 Sale: $22.25
*Material Girl Chevron Top Orig: $28.00 Sale: $9.99 Extra 30%: $6.99
*BCX Gold Top Orig: $39.99 Sale: $23.40 Extra 30%: $16.38
*Material Girl Dress: Orig: $42.00 Sale: $25.20 Extra 30 %: $17.64
*XoXo Tweed Jacket Orig: $79.00 Sale:$39.99 Extra 40%: $23.99
*BCX Blue Pants Orig:$39.99 Sale: $23.40 Extra 30%: $16.28
*Material Girl Triangle Necklace Orig: $18.00 Sale: $9.00
*Material Girl Layered Necklace Orig: $18.00 Sale: $9.00

Totals Spent: $143.03

I was able to whip up 8 outfits with what I got. There are still a few more possibilities that I didn't play with. I think this is a good enough overload. By they way, we are still getting 70 degree weather. It JUST got cold right on Christmas Day!

Personally for me, not all of these are a NYE look. However, for the girls who are a little bit more subtle with fashion, some of these might be right on or it might just be too much. The cool thing about style is, you get to dictate how it works!

Today I went to Macy's to pick up a few things for a New Years Eve OOTD video. Christmas is not even over and here I am thinking about NYE. I really dislike going to the mall. A few things happens; 1) I get extremely irritated by the horrible parking, 2) I cringe when I have to spend money and  3) I am easily enabled.

I was extremely good today. I went in. Grabbed what I needed. I conquered and got the hell out!  After Black Friday, I don't want to hand over my notes for clothes ever again!

I also decided to bust out the new Tory Burch Elina Wedges just to break them in. Boy were they EXTREMELY comfortable. I was in them for 3 hours, including taking twenty something jumping shots and coming out without blisters.

*Tory Burch Elina Wedge Bootie here. Read about how I picked out these shoes here.
*Forever 21 Basic T-shirt
*Forever 21 Anorak Vest
*Forever 21 Cigarette Denim
*Express Belt that came for free with a pair of shorts I bought.
*I have no idea where I got this hat. I want to say Kohl's but it has been in my closet for over 6 years! I couldn't give it up because I knew one day it will be suitable for me to wear it without looking too stupid.

-I didn't mean for this outfit to be completely Forever21. It makes my heart happy to know that the whole outfit was less than $50.

°K.L° ἔρημος σόλα
 
"We're rapidly approaching a world comprised entirely of jail and shopping."--Doug Coupland

*H&M (Manhattan)  Shift Dress. Found it on the sales rack for $4.00! The thread on the pocket was a little loose, but it wasn't anything I couldn't fix.
*Matiko Oliver Stud from SoleStruck here.
*H&M (Tokyo) Hat.
*Forever21 Lace Cuff
*Tory Burch Cuff. I would never buy a cuff this expensive. I bought it because I need to hit the $200 mark to get 25% off. It kind of sorta paid for itself.

°K.L° ἔρημος σόλα

“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”-Benjamin Franklin
 

It finally came in the mail! My first pair of Tory Burch shoes to get this blog really started.

After looking over the poll, I noticed that I have quite a mix of edgy and conservative shoe lovers. This is totally cool because I need a mix.

I cringed a little when I finally checked out of shopbop. The shoes were $276.50, and with tax they came out to be $299.31. To be honest, if I had to pay for shipping I would have probably passed up on the shoes and this blog. I am second guessing if this blog was a really good idea. You guys might need to talk me back into it.

At the end of the day, my frugal and stingy cheap ways kind of dictates my fashion choices.

Anyways, the selection of shoes I picked out for the poll were heavily based on price and what I would possibly like to wear.

If I had to pick every shoe each month, they would probably be all black with some  heavy duty hardware. My thought process is always about bang for your buck. If I am going to spend 3 c-notes on my shoes, they better be damn cool. the Tragedy of that is, they might be too cool for me to wear on a daily basis.

The booties would probably be the last choice out of all the of my options. Like someone stated in my comments:  "I love the Tory Burch wedges, but that's because they look the most NORMAL out of the options. However, I feel that if you are going to spend a good amount of money on designer shoes, they should be unique and worth the price. You can find shoes like the Tory Burch ones every season, but if you're going to EXPERIMENT, why play the safe card?! I'm going for the one YOU said you liked. "--L.

Creeps me out sometimes how well you guys know me. ^_~"

I'm glad the Torys won by Out of Stock Default. I would have never gotten them myself.  Since they are pretty "normal" and very every day wear, I would get my bang for the buck with wear and tear.

Now, let's stare at them on my grass-like carpet.

°K.L° ἔρημος σόλα

"Let's be realistic, how many people are buying a $2,000 skirt? I love to design things that people can actually buy. I'm staggered by what a boot costs today."--Vera Wang

Yep, I just quoted Savage Garden.

*H&M Hat
*H&M Knitted Shorts. You can make your own with this video.
*Love Culture Ombre Button Up.
*Forever21 Anorak Vest Here.
*JewelMint Necklace Here.
*Watch from Swatch.
*Pantyhose, honestly I don't even know. I buy so many of them from every cheap store I can.
*To Be Announced 1-800 Shoes from SoleStrucK.

I will find any excuse to wear a tie. I bought this open v-neck sweater thingy a couple of weeks ago, and decided it's not too cold and not too hot to wear it (it did eventually get too hot ). When I saw it, I thought it was awfully boring. Plus the shape and cut reminded me of what I wore back in 10th grade. Not sure if some of you guys would remember this, but back in 2004 the wrapped shirts/dresses were pretty popular--well, at my school. Anyways, it reminded me of it and I wasn't too keen about wearing it around. While I was scoping out for cardigans, an image flashed in my head....that sweater, a button up and a tie would be perfect together. I wasn't sure which button up, and I wasn't sure if the tie would even work. I went back, grabbed it and pretty much spent the rest of my drive going through my closet in my mind.

So that was the story of the low cut wrapped sweater vest. TBH I think it's a shirt that you can wear a tank under....soooo 2004 ^_^".

*Forever21 Chambray blouse
*Agaci Open V-Neck Sweater
*H&M Men's Tie
*Express Belt Here
*Forever21 Shorts (Lucky find for $4.00)
*DailyLook Shoes
*Revlon Really Coral (looks pink in some images but boy was it tangerine.)

*DIY Head Band
*DIY Dress with Petticoat
*Pearl necklace and dropped earrings, $12.99/set Black Friday 2010 Sale (Score!)
*Faux Leather Satchel From DailyLook.com January 2012 (Video)
*Vintage Leather Gloves. My professor gave them to me during a semester sale because they were small enough to fit my hands.
*Aldo Wedges, bought last winter during a Sale.
*Forever 21 Bow Belt
*Matte Revlon Lipstick in Really Red

Don't mind the creepy smile. I was looking through the Mad Men photos, and most of the women barely showed teeth when they smiled. I wish I could go back to the 60's..but maybe as a Caucasian. The Vietnamese people weren't really having a party around that time frame.

People use to put in so much effort with their appearance. Don't get me wrong, I love that we don't have to give a $hit about our looks every waking minute. I also love that we no longer have the ostentatious mind set. Sometimes it's just nice to dress up.

D.I.Y for this outfit will be up very soon. I just need to get over the mundane pain of editing. The worst part about this process. Wish I can twitch my nose and have it all done in a heart beat.

Who was your favorite fashion icon during the 60's?

Jackie Onassis, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, Janis Joplin..omfg freaking CHER!---Shoot! There are so many incredible women from that time frame. I wonder what the people in 2062 will think of our women? I mean Michelle Obama is quite fetching right?