Animal Print Shoes in the Workplace

A few posts ago I mentioned I purchased some lovely black lace wedges from Sole Society pictured below:

It turns out there was a color swap error on the site and instead of sending me the lace ones I received a black leopard print. Don't get me wrong I thought they were gorgeous, but lately whenever I buy shoes I always ask: can I pull this off at work? After 45 minutes on the phone with customer service they ended up giving me:

• a credit to purchase the correct ones
• a credit back to my card for the mix up,
• and an additional credit for a future purchase.

I basically got 2 pairs of shoes for free- including the ones I didn't order! Great customer service aside I needed to find some way to incorporate these in my work wardrobe to work!

Today is my birthday and I decided to wear whatever I want. I had planned on wearing the lace ones in the office today but they aren't here yet. And unfortunately I planned on giving the leopard ones to my sister but then remembered we don't wear the same size. What's a girl to do? #firstworldproblems I know!

Its fairly easy to make animal print attire work for the office. An animal print skirt can be paired with a simple button down collared shirt and black pumps. Likewise an animal print top can look stylish and not out of control with a blazer, cardigan or pressed pants.


Originally I had planned on a white button down with a different tan sweater and a black pencil skirt, but today it was freezing and the weather report said it's supposed to be 67 degrees. I ended up going with a tan crew neck sweater from Banana Republic, white Ralph Lauren polo shirt, and Ellie Tahari ankle pants.

It was still quite chilly when I left this morning so I threw on a black cashmere scarf. Other items I tried on were teal and purple sweaters, brown pencil skirts, green skinny pants, and a navy blue pleated pencil dress. All looked great but  I favored this look today!

Festive Weekends

Seattle has kept us quite busy these past few weekends. Jon and I successfully competed in the Amazing Ring Race and also went to a really fun All White Party at a winery on the eastside.

AMAZING RING RACE

A few posts ago I mentioned Jon and I were going to be competing in a treasure hunt for a $15k engagement ring. Organized by SCVNGR and sponsored by local engagement store, E.E. Robbins; teams of 2 compete to score the most points by answering scavenger hunt questions correctly. The entire event is competed through SMS. Contestants text answers to the trek # provided onsite.

Artcarved Bridal Ring from the Amazing Ring Race

We gathered at Pyramid Brewery in Sodo District. This year's event had contestants running all throughout Pioneer Square to different historical locations/local shops to find their next clue :).

Jon and I did an improv shot while waiting in line to check-in

Jon and  made a great team! 2 hours of running around Pioneer Square in 83 degrees proved we collaborated well and were equally competitive. We did well only shy 3 points below the grand prize winner! If there was a 4th place it definitely would have been us. Next year I think we will have all the cards in our hand. The team just posted the Amazing Race photos/videos. You can view them at their site here: http://www.amazingringrace.com.


ALL WHITE PARTY

Last weekend we were invited by some friends (who sadly ended up bailing) to an all white party at a relatively new winery in Woodinville, Matthews Winery. At first I'll admit I thought it was stupid to have a white party at a winery- I could see the disaster red wine a mile away. But that's why they made Tide-to-go pens!

The best part was actually putting the outfit together and dressing my boyfriend!

My Outfit-

Dress: Glory Seam Dress from bebe

Shoes: Naughty Monkey from Nordstrom

Jewelry: Nordstrom jewelry from Nordstrom

Purse: Coach from Macys

Jon's Outfit-

Top: Tommy Bahama from Nordstrom

Shorts: Ralph Lauren from Macys

Shoes: Awesome classy white loafers by Paolo Sesto from Nordstrom

Naughty Monky Suede Heels

Matching Coach purse and bracelet

A few other candids from our evening:

Full outfit ensemble

On the dance floor

Ran into my friend Jeanna whose leaving for Bali!

Retail Therapy- Sole Society Shoes

Today started off with a little disappointment and I was in a very sluggish mood. An important meeting I had been looking forward to had been canceled, and I was in the midst of dealing with some "female" politics (I'd like to think most women strive to not live into the catty stereotype). On top of that an unexpected fire drill happened for a live Azure Bootcamp at work and it just seemed like everything was going to continue to spiral out of control.
I caught up on the phone with my friend Phil who is amazing as putting me in reality checks and had a great lunch with a girlfriend at Portage Bay to help cheer my mood.

I was improving but still in a rut, so I do what most girls do to cheer up- retail therapy! I decided since the only shopping I've done post-vacation was for a friend's wedding I was past due. I spent a good hour browsing my usual list of department store and jewelry sites then moved on to the online designer boutique sales (Gilt, RueLaLa, Ideeli...). My last stop was Sole Society because I realized I hadn't yet bought anything from them yet.

Sole Society is an online shoe boutique that grands users free membership. After doing a personality questionnaire your personal closet is wardrobed each month with new shoes. Boot, wedge, flat, sandal- they all sell for $49.95 apiece with free shipping and returns (credits/exchanges only).

And now I present to you all the 3 new additions to my "shoe-family":

Adele in lace

The 2 things I love best about fall: lace and fur. I plan on rocking these with a LBD and colored tights or any solid print and bright dress really.

Natalia

I fell in love with Natalia especially to see it was on BOGO sale with the other sandals. All the wonderful shoe shopping I've missed while in Barcelona! This past weekend I went to a wedding and wore an Ellie Tahari black dress with simple tan and black patent leather Steve Madden flats that had an over sized floppy bow. The contrast was great and elegant, and a drastic change from the sky high heels I normal adorn on my feet.Although these are far from practical I plan to rock them with a pencil skirt or classic cut silhouettes for work into early Fall to acheive the same classic yet stylish look.

Elise

These are the simple "always need" yet stylish sandals that can help anyone deviate away from flip-flops. I'll most likely pair this with trousers or a billowy skirt. I love dainty things and the rhinestones complete this shoe!

The best thing about my little splurge? Under $100. Yup! each shoe retails for a flat charge of $49.95, and summer sandals are on sale right now (code:SANDALS) buy one get one free. $99.90 and 3 new loves is enough to make any girl's gloomy day end on a sunny note.

Amazing Ring Race

It's been about two weeks since Jon and I have returned from Catalan country, and the two things I miss the most are the tapas and the weather. When we came back to Seattle we brought the sun with us. It's consistently been in the mid 70s.

Work has been crazy and in full swing, and I've barely managed to get together and catch up with the girls.Jon has also been "living" with me while he works on closing on a new condo. Overall it's been good but you definitely don't know a person until you live with them (the open containers of leftovers spread across the counter and dirty laundry on the floor drive me nuts!). As we've ironed out adjusting to our new temporary state I have been hunting for weekend activities to do when he's in town so we spend as little time together in my flat. Last week I came across a crazy couple thing to do- the Amazing Ring Race.

The Amazing Ring Race is a spin off from the Amazing Race television show, except instead of competing for a grand cash prize couples/teams compete to for a $15k ring by Archived Bridal jewelry. The event will be sponsored by local jeweler E.E. Robbins.

The event is this Saturday at 11AM at Pyramid Brewery located in downtown Seattle. All teams will need to register before 11 and ensure they can receive SMS from Scvngr (the company running the event). Over the course of 2 hours clues are texted to your mobile phones and teams will scatter on foot across downtown Seattle looking for and collecting clues. They will have to text answers back to the standard mobile line in order to get awarded points and receive the next clue.

I heard last year over 500 people participated so I'm slightly intimidated but definitely up for the challenge! I'm hoping there's other couples( not in a rush to get engaged) that show up besides Jon and I who just want to do it for fun or maybe to sell it for extra cash. I'll check in after this weekend and let you know where we placed :). I see either something very shiny on my finger or some new cash in my savings to fund lots of new shoes in my future :)