Friend Friday: Peeves & Pets

I didn’t get a chance to participate in the May 6 Friend Friday post about shoes because I committed to participating in the Full Time Fabulous blog event. But I just couldn’t pass up the chance to talk about one of my favorite fashion subjects, other than purses.  I’m also combining it with this week’s topic, which is based on Beautifully Invisible’s “10 Things About Your Blog That Drive Me Crazy “.  I’ll start with the peeves, then I’ll move on to my pets.

Five Things That Drive Me Crazy About Your Blog

1.  Not being able to comment

I just feel that if you have a blog out there, you want people to read it.  Don’t you want to encourage discussion?

2.  Comment sections that make it difficult to leave a comment

There have been times where I can see that people are leaving comments, so why am I the only lame one who can’t?  I think leaving a comment should be an easy task, not a frustrating one.  Previously, I had the settings on my blog set higher to block unwanted content, but that meant a lot more moderation on my part.  Wordpress is good about detecting spam, so now I’ve relaxed the comment moderation to allow more people to leave comments that can be seen instantaneously.

3.  Grammar gaffes

I think this is on everyone’s list, and it should be.  Lack of spell-check and good grammar really gets under my skin.  I will mull over a post for a while before I put anything out there in the open.  I recently attended a writing class at work that opened my eyes to my grammar mistakes.  I even had the instructor look at my blog to let me know how I can make improvements.  I write my posts as if I’m writing for a major website or publication.  I hope that it comes across that way.

4.  Lackluster headlines

In the writing class I spoke about above, we also learned about how to write efficient emails.  This included writing subject headings that accurately describe what will be discussed in the attached email.  I think that the headline/title to a blog post should do the same, but with a twist.  I love clever headlines, even if they are only one word.  In this time of Twitter where we try to be as eloquent as possible in 140 characters, why can’t you do the same with your headline?

5.  Make it personal 

I love blogs that interject a little bit about the writer’s personality, without revealing more than is necessary.  It allows us to see that we can all relate in some way, and that the person on the other end of the computer is just like me.

Shoes, glorious shoes!

1. What is your go-to pair of shoes?

Rather than a go-to pair, I have a go-to color: Black. I have more than enough pairs of black shoes, but I just can’t seem to stop getting them. In fact, I just bought another pair of black mary-jane pumps from Gilt called “Sinful” by Gunmetal.

2. What goes into your shoe buying decisions?

Versatility and uniqueness. I need to wear them with several different wardrobe pieces, and I want them to be show-stoppers. I may have over 10 pairs of black shoes, but none of them are the same and each has a unique shape or are a different take on a basic shoe design.

3. The majority of the shoes in your closet are what color?

Black!

4. When it comes to design shoes what are your favorite brands and why?

Right now, I’m in love with Jeffrey Campbell shoes. I love that most are platform and are a bit unusual in design. I also really enjoy Poetic Licence shoes. They are so very pretty, girly and whimsical.

5. If price wasn’t an issue, you’d own which shoe?

Several pairs of Manolo Blahniks because they are simply just beautiful shoes. Ever since that episode of “Sex and the City” called “A Woman’s Right to Shoes”, I have wanted the Sedaraby Open Toe d’Orsay pump in silver, just like Carrie’s (pictured above). If you are not familiar with the episode, it’s the one where Carrie wears them to a baby shower, only to have them stolen. Then the hostess refuses to replace them and Carrie does a creative thing to get them back.  After then seeing the first SATC movie, I fell in love with the jeweled pump called “Something Blue” that Carrie wore to her civil wedding to Big (pictured below in grey satin).  I confess that I do own a couple, but they were purchased from eBay and not the ones pictured in this post.  I would love to walk into Bloomingdale’s or Neiman Marcus and buy the one’s pictured here outright.  *sigh*

(Images courtesy of Zappos.com here; Lori’s Shoes from my post here; and Nordstrom.com here & here)

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday is a Google group for bloggers to converse on a given topic each week. Katy from ModlyChic sends the questions, bloggers post their responses and then add their post to the list of people sharing their thoughts on the subject matter. To get started, check out this great tutorial on Grit & Glamour here.