Back to Blogging...Because the UK rules!!!!!!

OK so I've kind of been gone for a bit, the demands of real life took over and time was lost. But after a couple of mini vacations and some time to myself I am back to blogging hopefully uninterrupted.
For my first post back I wanted to share my new obsession, UK based online fashion Mecca ASOS.com. I do not use the term obsession lightly, this online store is quite literally owning my ass right now. I have in the last month placed four orders from them, three of these orders were in the last week and a half alone.
I am a social net-workers dream come true, as I update my Facebook or stalk celebrities on Twitter my eye catches the little adverts on the side of screen and I will from time to time click on them. Early in July I believe I was on Twitter when I caught sight of an amazing big pocket apron dress, I thought to myself I wish it came in my size but assumed that like always it would not. I clicked on the photo and was directed to ASOS.com. The dress was only $40 and they were apparently in the midst of a sale,
I however was broke so I bookmarked the page and went about my business. I drifted back to the site a couple of weeks later and looked at the full line and fell in love....hard!
I shop at many many stores so it's hard for anything to surprise me and that is what ASOS did. Nordstrom, Torrid, Macy's Bloomingdale's, they all have nice things but at the end of the day they are all selling the same thing. ASOS's plus size line is carrying items that I have simply not seen in plus sizes in the US and have only rarely in standard sizes in stores that are financially at accessible to me.

ASOS carries their own line as well as many lines by well known designers. In addition to having an array of great fashion collections, they also have a MASSIVE shoe department as well as beauty, accessories, men's and children's. It is simply one of the largest online stores I have visited.
The ASOS website is also one of the most user friendly sites I have ever used and it has amazing tools for the shoppers benefit, I shall list them for your benefit:

#5- Currency conversion-You can select which currency you would like to view prices in. This is great because you do not want to fill a shopping bag with items listed in pounds only to check out and have the amount of money you thought you spent double because of conversion to US dollars.

#4- Editorial content: 3 favorite items from new additions to the collections are selected by the sites editors and listed on the homepage. It's worth noting that the editors/buyers and directors of ASOS hail from some seriously respected sources such as Vogue. They also group collections of items based on of the moment trends so that the buyer can shop a specific "look". ASOS also publishes it's own high quality fashion magazine that can be viewed online.


#3- CLEARANCE ASOS has an extensive and constantly updated clearance section as well as an outlet section which has sale items that are not a drastically reduced. This dress was bought on 75 % clearance
This quick and easy dress was reduced from $70 to $14


#2 Flat rate shipping- Shipping to the US is fixed at $6 for standard shipping and $14 for 3 day express delivery. That is amazing I can not get those shipping rates from any store in the US, hell even Old Navy is fixed at $7.

#1-Catwalk, the "view catwalk" option is a video of a model wearing and walking in each individual item on the site. This is an unbelievable asset, items look very different in movement, something that appears blah in a 2d photo can become stunning when shown as part of full outfit and in it's actual scale. Also I find that colors in photos can vary greatly from the actual color shown in the video. There may be other stores with this option out there but ASOS is the first store that I have come across.

While my favorite pieces so far have all been party clothes, I do recognize that I do not go out all that often and I managed to build a new work wardrobe. I'm going for a retro 40's "Secretarial Pool" look, that has gone over really well.


But party dresses do own my heart and I could not stop ordering dress after dress. My recent birthday(yesterday) gave me an excuse to indulge and I made 4 costume changes through out the day, including the cage shirt which I paired with a simple pencil skirt, and what I like to call the swirly dress. I'm in love with both pieces which were from my first order from the site.

The swirly dress is amazing in person and made of knit cotton and quite comfortable.

Me in the swirly dress,

Lace dress worn to bday dinner:


The cage shirt is one of my favorite purchases EVER!





This draped shirt paired with jeans was my final costume change of the day:


But if I had to pick a favorite ASOS purchase it would be the cargo Parka featured above, the hood alone makes me swoon. It was also a clearance item purchased for $40. So Ive talked a lot about ASOS now you should go check out the site for yourselves, look, love and buy many pretty things.

I would like to thank the British at this time for recognizing that the overweight appreciate and deserve trend setting fashion. Since I am in a list writing mood I will leave you with my list of the top 5 fuckawesome things from England:

June 4th 2010, A pledge from Me---No Shoe Porn today

There are moments in a persons life that are truly indescribable, they change you, they stay with you forever, they bring incredible joy, and in truth most of us will only have handful of these moments during the course of our lives. I'm 33 years old now and 34 is right around the corner, so far I have had two of these moments.
The first moment came on an early morning in October 2003 when my niece Kassie was born. The second that a delivery room nurse named Dora placed her in my arms I was completely gone. She's bright and funny, sweet and affectionate, quick witted and bossy, she is curious and kind. She's my mini me and loves to take pictures and dress up. She's a handful to be sure, but lights up my days.


The second moment came in the twilight hours of February 2008 when my nephew Nicholas was born, it seems that my capacity to love doubled instantly the second I saw the doctor literally pull him out of my sister. My little boy is mischievous and sweet, huggable and grumpy, adventurous and shy. He's my little buddy and he means the world to me.


Every week I spend hundreds of dollars of shoes, make up, cabs, clothes and handbags. These things bring me momentary happiness and while I enjoy them and shopping I know their effect is fleeting and in no way compares to what Kassie and Nicholas bring to my life.
Nicholas has an unidentified syndrome that has multiple attached medical conditions. Right now it seems we know all we can know from his current doctors and additional information is needed, which means trips out of state and out of the country are necessary. Now even though I throw money around like it grows on trees we are not in the position to finance these trips. The money I spent on shoes in the month of April alone could have paid for an upcoming trip to Washington for Nicholas. I am aware of that now, and I'm disappointed with myself at the moment. But it's all good, I can make a conscious effort now.
My pledge is to simply think before I drop my card down on the counter of a store or restaurant. I'm not in a position to come up with vast amounts of funds but I can certainly make small adjustments in my spending that can have little to no impact on my daily living but can add up and give me the ability to donate towards my Nephews travels, doctors and to help others.
I take a cab to work and home every day which costs me $25 a day, if I take the bus home I will have saved $62.50 a week that I can put toward charitable efforts. I buy a $4.00 iced coffee at work every day, if I get my iced coffee at McDonald's it only costs $1.50 which will give me an extra $12.50 a week. What I'm trying to say is it's the little things that can be cut out and provide assistance to others, it seems like such a small thing but every individual dollar can help.
I am very aware of that now, possibly too aware. The amount of change that we can make happen for those in need by making these small adjustments to our daily lives is great.
I'd like to ask you all to look at your daily spending and see if you can make any changes, then pick any charity that moves you and help in any way you can.

For those of you that are interested in learning more about my little buddy please visit his website:
http://nicholasalexanderrivera.webs.com/

I also want to take a moment to thank all those who have been helping us in our efforts, we have great people around us helping by making donations, planing fundraisers, making raffle donations and donating time to our fundraisers and spreading the word. My sister Nicholas and I thank you all very much.

Shoe Porn or Shoe Horror's? Wicked Wednesday 5/12/2010

I'm switching things up again with this week's Wicked Wednesday installment. As I was surfing the internet looking for a pair of plus size bubble or tap shorts I stumbled upon a fascinating pair of shoes on torrid.com.

These wolf themed platform pumps by Iron Fist literally jumped out of the screen at me. The shoe features the image of a wolf with bloody fangs on the front peep toe and it's body is detailed throughout the body of the shoe, a dainty satin bow and red sole complete the shoe. They are appropriately called the "Wolfbeater" and are a part of a very varied and interesting range of bags and shoes by Ironfist.


So here comes the switcheroo, instead of talking up the shoe porn aspects of this shoe and relating them to a type of person as I usually do I'm posing the question "What do you think of this shoe?" Is is kitschy, innovative, avant-garde, scary or just plain ugly. I'm not really sure if I like this shoe, but I don't hate it and can of see how it works. It's falling in between kitschy and kind of ugly for me.

PS:I loved the responses I received to the shoe porn challenge and will be posting about it next week!!

Shoe Porn Challenge!--Wicked Wednesday 5/5/2010

I thought I would do something a bit different with this weeks shoe porn installment. First I selected a shoe that differs greatly from my previous selections and secondly I want to ask you the readers how you would wear it.
I have selected a recently purchased brogue(or oxford if you prefer) shoe from H&M. I love this shoe and I absolutely think that although its a canvas flat it qualifies as shoe pron. It's different, it's bold, it's sparkly and hey if worn in a certain way can be sexy.



Now as much as I love this shoe I quickly realized that I could only think of 1 outfit to wear it with and that was skinny jeans and a tee. Now I'll be honest I own many many many many many things that I have only worn once but times are tough and I am attempting to get more bang for my buck and would love to use this shoe more than once. It's simply too cute to be a wear once and toss aside item. Also I think that it has more than one way in which it can be used I just cannot think of any. Which is where you come in lovely readers, I want you to tell me how you would wear this shoe. What outfit of your own it works with is OK, or simply a recommendation like what type of clothing you think would work. Details are important, I do not need to know the makers of any items but style, cut and color are crucial. I am a very visual person so I am asking you to paint me a picture, or if you want to link to pictures that good as well.
There is an awesome website that I frequent called Polyvore.com. Polyvore allows users to create wardrobe collages with the millions of photos of clothes, shoes, accessories and backgrounds that have collected. It a great way to virtual "window shop", below is one of my recent polyvore set's. Please feel free to send me a polyvore if you would like, but it's not necessary.

Rock & Ruffles by tania831 featuring Rock and Republic shoes

Now I'm not going to ask you to do work without a reward, so the poster of the suggestion I select (hoping that I actually get at least 1 if not more) will be a guest blogger on a future Wicked Wednesday. You can select and write up a shoe porn selection and describe which type of partner the shoe represents.

EDITED TO ADD:
If you are going to use polyvore you do need to include the shoes in the set. Unfortunately a photo of the shoes is not available on H&M online and it takes great difficulty to add a non online store photos to a set.

Eclipse!!!!

The final trailer for Eclipse premiered on Oprah today. It is ten times better than the teaser which was so tame and not indictive of the action and suspense of the Eclipse story. However it is not perfect. I'll break down the good and the bad:

The Good:
The New Born Army -their plan to kill Bella is one of the two big plot points in the book(the other is Bella's decision to stay with Edward and turn vamp or go to Jacob and stay human). The arrival of the army culminates in a huge fight between the good vamps(Cullen's)and their new allies the wolf-pack vs bad vamps(newborns). It will be special effect heavy because of the wolves and action packed because of the physical fighting between the vamps played by human actors. It had to be included and the trailer and it worked well it adds an air of suspense and thrills as we get to see our gentile Cullen's kick some ass.
The scene of them emerging from the river looks amazing. Can't wait to see it on the big screen.


Bad Ass Edward-We see Edward fighting and after his storyline dictated reduced role in New Moon seeing him in thick of action if welcome and exciting. Love the scene where he knocks down the tree Victoria is hiding in.



The Cullen's-We missed the family in New Moon and they play a huge role in Eclipse by fighting to save Bella and protect their family it's good to see them back and appropriately featured in the trailer.


The bad
Where is the love?-While the teaser showed glimpses of the triangle and the love story this final trailer gives us almost nothing, although we do see Edward place the engagement ring in her hand. They needed to find a way to adequately merge these plot points together in the trailer as they make up the focus of the movie. The way it stands right now it seems that the teaser trailer was the "chick trailer" focusing on love and proposals and the final trailer was the "dude trailer" as it focused on action. Although I do love that they have not given away the actual scene where we see him propose and her accept that huge piece of the saga should not be wasted in the commercials.



Dialogue--As in where is it? The teaser had voice overs throughout but the dialogue in this trailer ends about 30 seconds into it which is seriously confusing as the trailer jumping from place to place, angry Jacob, the Cullen's, the fight, back to the Cullen's then Victoria. The films directors do not cut the trailers but maybe they should, as they better than anyone know the narrative of the movie.


Lack of Bella-Umm pretty sure this is Bella's story but we got more Jacob than Bella, only quick flashes of her face and reactions shots.


With less than 2 months until the premiere the production has come under fire recently as word has spread that last minute re-shoots are being filmed next week. Re-shoots at the 11th hour are not a good indication however Summit entertainment is stating that they are not re-shoots of crucial scenes but pick ups (minor add ons to complete existing material). I have no clue which is the true story but what I do know is that I like millions of other Twihards will be at the theater at 12:01 am on June 30th, bring on the Eclipse!!! And for goodness sakes get a freaking move on with the filming of Breaking Dawn, Rob Pattinson will be 24 on May 13th and the dude looks like he's aged alot since Twilight which doesn't work well for the supposedly eternally 17 year old Edward.

Speaking of May 13, the TWIFECTA (Rob, Kristen, Taylor or Edward, Bella, Jacob) will be on Oprah that day! Pretty hypocritical of Oprah if you ask me, considering that she has verbally written off the Saga on her show but is now seemingly saying hey lets get the actors on my show because everyone else and their mama has.
I'm a bit skeptical about this interview, we have seen the tree interviewed together in the past and they are usually good and funny interviews but we have also seen Stewart shut down under some interviewers. Oprah likes her exclusives and getting to the heart of the story, not sure how that will work for the notoriously guarded Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson, who have declared that they do not address their personal lives. Also not sure how her audience will react to non-typical starlet Kristen.

Wicked Wednesday 4/21/2010 Postponed????

Hello All

Well it's Wicked Wednesday and I find myself with out access to my shoe porn photos or post details. I'm trying to get the information together or to come up with a replacement shoe, I would hate to miss a Wicked Wednesday in my first month of blogging.
Look for a post late this evening.

Party Time At TARGET!!!!!

Today is THE DAY I have been waiting for for a few months now. At 11:00 pm a "pop up Target shop" (temporary store) will open for 24 hours featuring the eagerly anticipated Zac Posen for Target line.

Zac Posen is one of my favorite designers. His approach is very young, modern and fresh and Natalie Portman is a close friend and muse of his. While I do think he is designing for the very tiny, ballerina sized woman I still appreciate his vision. His designs are both of the moment and classically feminine.

The line for Target features the first full length gown and tuxedo made exclusively for Target and Zac's first swimwear line anywhere. The look book and prices are now available online to help you create your shopping list.


My personal favorites are the raincoat, gold lame dress, snap tape dress and tuxedo bodysuit. I have heard that their are accessories available but have not seen any photos yet. I;m actually hoping that there are because I'm not fitting one leg in one of the dresses.


I'm not sure about you all but I'll be online on 34th Street & 8th Ave. tonight with my fellow rabid frugal fashionistas!! If you are not able to make it to the 24 hour "pop up' the collection will be in select target stores nationwide on April 25th.

Wicked Wednesday-4/14/2010 AND An Ode to Southern Belles

I am a child of the 80's and the TV shows and characters of the 80's (and a good portion of the 90's) were my babysitters, best friends and guru's.
While I was a big fan of Growing Pains, Who's the Boss, Saved by the Bell, and Full House I find that those characters had no lasting impact on the woman I that I grew into. The same cannot be said for the characters from The Golden Girls, Designing Women and Beverly Hills 90210, those women had a massive impact on me and my personal sense of style.


I will not go into my obsession with Brenda Walsh of 90210 (on this post anyway) but I do want to talk about the GREAT Blanche Deveraux(Golden Girls) and Suzanne Sugarbaker(Designing Women).


Blanche was the original cougar, with an endless string of southern gentleman making their way through her tropical themed bedroom. Her clothes matched from head to toe, she got married in red and called her father Big Daddy. She was the aged Southern Belle who never gave up her vitality, personality promiscuity or style. Blanche taught me a few major lessons, like never tell anyone your real age, you can set your own rules, it's ok to need friends.


Suzanne was simply special. A former beauty queen, she lacked professional direction but retained her beauty, spirit and a sense of entitlement yet she was a good person. She lived alone in a huge mansion and walked about her home in negligee's that rivaled ballgowns, had a maid that practiced voodoo and she paraded around Atlanta with her pet big Noel(a gift from Consuela the voodoo maid). While she was quite thin when the show first started she had a significant weight gain during it's run, yet you could not contest that she was the most beautiful big girl or not.
Suzanne was who I wanted to be, she taught me the joys of tiara's, the importance of shopping, that one could retain grace in adversity and that beauty could be found in all forms. I do not wear tee shirts to bed, I do not own pajamas with pants and I do think nightgowns or are only for special or romantic occasion, this is all because of Suzanne.


These women were amazing, I was entirely too young to be watching the very adult Designing Women and Golden Girls, I had no idea what menopause was, what it felt like to have an empty nest or to be divorced but I knew one thing for certain---these women were FANCY!!! They wore silk dresses to work, wore negligee's and peignoirs not pajamas, Suzanne wore tiara's and sat at a vanity to comb her hair and they wore heels every where. The sound of Blanche's heels clicking whenever she walked onscreen is ingrained in my memory as is as the sight of Suzanne's swirling layers of chiffon sleepwear. To me they were the very epitome of femininity.
This brings me to this week's shoe porn selection, the Rosazissimo sandal by Christian Louboutin. The moment I stumbled upon a photo of this sandal my mind instantly went to Blanche and Suzanne and the feather slippers they wore.


Very sleek and clean yet the Rosazissimo sandal features a slim heel, ruching and a feather adornment. To me they seem inspired by the marabou slippers that were popular in the 80's and that can still be found at many lingerie shops. They are a 500 times improvement on their predecessor yet the retain the whimsy and allure of the pouffy original. Also this is an actual shoe as opposed to the 80's bedroom slipper.

They are increasingly difficult to find right now but came in three colors, Scarlet, Cobalt and Ivory. My personal favorite is the cobalt. That shoe in that lovely shade of blue is the perfect wedding(and wedding night shoe) to me.

I do not own this shoe and I'm not sure that I'll have $795 to spend on a feather adorned shoe no matter who absolutely gorgeous it is. But I absolutely appreciate their beauty and the memories they brought of the brassy belles that I grew up watching. I would say that when comparing this sandal to a lover I would say it's the bride, she is lovely and soft yet has an absolute sense of whimsy and delight about her.

Wicked Wednesday's 4/7/2010

When it comes to style I like to think of myself a hybrid. I can identify with the classicist(think Audrey Hepburn,Coco Chanel or Charlotte York)I have deep appreciation for the safety and chic'ness of black, enjoy pearls to no end and think that pieces that are beautiful because of their sheer simplicity can be worn throughout decades.
I'm also very much into remaining on trend, there are many trends that I just ignore but occasionally a trend will come about (or come back around ie leggings and oversize sweaters) that I just love like this year stud invasion---Thanks in big part to designers like Balmain and Jimmy Choo I developed a stud obsession as did many many many others :) Which is OK and where being a hybrid comes in handy because while the trendy hipster part of me was wearing studded shoes, boots and bags the classic part of me was wearing a lovely dress with them.

And style hybrid that I am I also have a deep love and appreciation for all things Kitchy!! You know purses shaped like houses, a telephone shaped like a kiss, a purse that is an actual telephone, ginormous flower shaped rings and hearts, hearts everywhere and on every fucking thing, especially on a shoe!!! Which bring us (finally) to today's Shoe Porn selection "The Melissa" by Vivienne Westwood for Melissa DragonHeart.


This heeled peep toe pump is made in plastic and it is one of the cutest shoes ever!!! This shoe looks like it belongs to Barbie or in my nieces dress up trunk but is made for us grownup's and I think I am in love with it. This isn't a super sultry shoe, it's a fun shoe but it's still sexy and it's different you are not likely to encounter another woman in your office( yes I would and certainly will wear this shoe to work)or dinner party party wearing this pretty pump. I love this shoe, it screams summer in NYC, sundresses and ice cream to me. It's completely impractical and that why it's wonderful.
I would say this shoe is like champagne, it just makes me happy and smiley. It's available in a few color combination's so that you can find the perfect level of cute for yourself. While it is not a part of my personal collection yet, it is currently on it's way to me in the Gold (the yellow which was my first love is no longer available) from the good people at Saks 5th avenue.

Finally to equate this shoe to a lover I would say that she is (this shoe is all girl, all the time) the Summer Romance Girl--The girl you meet at a party and she's wearing a halter dress or pink shorts while having drinks & dancing but you can also have a conversation with, because there are thoughts behind her lively appearance. She is fun and sweet and not at all lacking in sex appeal.

PS: I wasn't kidding when I said I loved hearts everywhere, here is a prime example of my love of all things, hearts, kitschy and shiny all wrapped into 1 shoe by the Queen of kitsch herself Betsey Johnson. These wedges are one of my favorite purchases from last summer.