Author: Brandy Saldana

Weekend from Hospital to Carnival

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

Leather Jacket H&M | Teal Sweater Stella McCartney | Jeans Forever 21 | Panda Necklace Betsey Johnson | Ruffle Nude Flats Steve Madden | This weekend was slightly stressful for me. On Friday morning I went down to Salinas to visit my grandma, from my dad’s side, who was in the hospital after having open heart surgery. I felt guilty because I could not be there on Thursday for the surgery. My dad recently had surgery in April for his shoulders, and while I was there the day of his surgery, I regretted going back to work the next day when I really just wanted to be there for him. I didn’t want to have the same regrets again, so I headed home and surprised my parents and grandma by visiting this weekend. I am happy to report she is doing well and so is my dad. He is actually the oldest amongst his siblings, so a lot of the weight of taking care of my grandma falls on his shoulders. I was glad I was able to be there for him while he is going through his own recovery and when he needed his family most. It’s not easy taking care of someone else when your own health isn’t back to 100% yet.
Needless to say, I didn’t have a chance to go to the Fashion Show I had planned to attend Saturday night, but it would have been hard for me to enjoy it knowing that there was all this going on back home. My nephew/godson turned 3 on Friday, and my brother really wanted me to be there for his last-minute birthday party too. Despite all the madness, I had fun at his party and today after hanging out with my sister. She and I got on BART at Fremont station on Saturday night and she slept over at our apartment. We had brunch on 4th Street and then had a spontaneous trip to the carnival by the Oakland Coliseum. My sister, Armando and I were actually on our way to go play mini-golf when we passed by the carnival and my sister decided she wanted to go there instead. We got on a few rides and she won a prize: a dolphin stuffed animal.  We had a blast!
I wore this outfit today except I ended up switching out my shoes in the end. I tried to not be too matchy-matchy with this outfit and picked the tan ruffle flats to go with the ruffles in the sweater despite them not being the same color. I threw on the leather jacket to toughen up an otherwise “soft” look. I think it sums up my feelings for the weekend: beneath an edgy exterior is a big ol’ softy that wants to put others first. Or I am reading too much into my clothes when in reality it is the outfit of someone that was kind of lazy and just threw on a leather jacket to add interest to an otherwise basic outfit. I prefer my initial analysis of my clothes though. It was perfect going transitioning from brunch on a muggy day to a couple of fun hours at the carnival.
Hope you had a good weekend that was slightly spontaneous and thanks for reading!
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

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Evening Wear by the Factory Collection Launch Party

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

On Wednesday I attended an Exclusive Press Presentation for the launch of The Factory’s new custom label “Evening wear at the Factory”. There were cocktails and light refreshments in a posh, private penthouse in San Francisco. The location alone was worth seeing because of how gorgeous the room was furnished and the picturesque view it had of the city. This suite was basically my Pinterest board of Home Decor in real life! The sounds of a violin filled the room as the models walked out in their dresses making the place even dreamier…

But enough about the location, and moving on to who was there. Fashion designers, fashion bloggers, the lovely ladies of Monogram Mag, and of course photographers all made it out to this event. Jack (pictured below) also attended and looked dapper by wearing a bow-tie for the occasion. He is The Factory’s mascot and even has his own Facebook page!

CEO of the Evans Group, Jennifer Evans, credited CODE Salon for the models’ hair and Sasha Maks Vintage for styling the models with their vintage jewelry. Her pieces are gorgeous and I am thrilled I get to share the ones used for almost each dress. I am also blown away by the 5 gown silhouettes that can be customized and I already know which two I want! 

The Cocktail Dress

My number one pick out of all the dresses. I would wear this all the time. It is fun, flirty, and has a sassy vibe to it. The jewelry added an edge to an otherwise girly dress and has a nice effect. (I adore the shoes too!)

The Column Gown

The Ball Gown

The print of this dress is amazing and the shape could flatter anyone! This dress is my number two pick because it would make me feel like a princess.

The Empire Gown

The Fishtail Gown

The Trumpet Gown

The Complete Collection

Leather Jacket H&M | Top Layered with Love | Pleated Black Skirt Everly | Silver Sederaby Heels Manolo Blahnik, Headband and Swan Ring Forever 21
The gowns were gorgeous and the event was really fun. I met a number of people and connected with bloggers Caity Shreve of moicontrelavie.com, Esther Lee of esther-lee.com, and Chelsea Taguchi of chelseassecret.com. Check out their sites and their style. I had a blast getting dressed up for the event and wearing my Manolo Blahnik heels. (I bought them in Vegas last year at the Manolo Blahnik Boutique: You don’t even want to know how many cupcakes I had to bake for these lovelies.) I know they would look perfect with all of these evening gowns.
 To stay updated on upcoming fashion events in the Bay Area follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Thank you for reading!Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

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“Larry the Lobster” Cupcakes

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

Finally some pictures of my beautiful lobster creation! I named him Larry just for the alliteration (must be the English major in me.)
This idea came from the What’s New, Cupcake? and the body is made out of sour cherry fruit slices, smashed together with more sugar, rolled out with a rolling pin, and cut using a template provided in the book. It looks easy, and the instructions are relatively easy, but it was very time consuming! The easiest parts were arranging the candies and crushing the graham cracker cookies to look like sand.
I spent about 5 hours on this project, not including the baking time.  The time I spent was well-worth it though because I made it for a nice co-worker who retired last Thursday after working at the University for 20 years. I was actually inspired by a lobster figure she had in her office and the fact that she enjoys taking boating trips with her husband. She’ll be doing plenty of that now that she has the extra time!
Hopefully you enjoyed seeing this lobster come to life. I admit I am very proud of it. I’ll be featuring photos from an event I attended yesterday, so stay tuned for that sometime tomorrow.
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

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Levi’s x LOOKBOOK Global Style Party SF

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

My third party of the night on Thursday! I heard about this event through The Sixth Tractate’s Instagram account. LOOKBOOK.nu and Levi’s collaborated to throw this global party in celebration of their 501 jeans with the LOOKBOOK community. 
This event was held at The NWBLK on 1999 Bryant Street. I did not know what to expect, and it was DIY heaven once I walked in! There were stations to use puff paint, add studs, and even a tailor station to have your 501 jeans personalized.

The music was playing, appetizers were paraded around, and there was an open bar! Elise and I ordered two lemon drops and took our photo together at the photo booth. 

Soon after we were joined by our blogger friends KT and Sabrina, who also attended Ladies Night at Mira Mira, and we took a photo together at the party. So odd that our outfits coordinate really well! I likened it to the cover of a Sex and the City DVD, except we are not in New York and none of us are single!

I was very lucky I had a chance to meet Crystal (in the pink shorts) and Sue Anne (in the middle wearing the  long skirt) from the blog The Sixth Tractate. I adore the photos on their blog, but most of all, Sue Anne’s writing can be very poetic. It is always so cool for me to meet bloggers in person and finding out that they are as down-to-earth and genuine as they sound on their blog. 

This was a really fun party and Armando took some great photos and he even won a free pair of 501 jeans! He was initially resistant to attend 2 events in one night, but the free food and free pair of Levi’s made the trip to SF after work worth it.
This concludes my long night out on Thursday. I’ll be featuring the amazing lobster cupcake masterpiece in my next post! You’ll understand then why I lost a ton of sleep once you see it!
Until next time,
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

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Ladies Night at Mira Mira with SFShopGirl

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

Thursday was crazy busy for me. I went to a retirement happy hour party straight after work for which I decorated a lobster cupcake for (that I will feature in a separate post), attended Ladies Night at Mira Mira and then attended a party hosted by LOOKBOOK and Levis and the lovely ladies of The Sixth Tractate blog. Needless to say I was exhausted having stayed up late 3 nights in a row working on my cupcake masterpiece and attending parties in SF. I got home from work Friday night and passed out at 7 and did not wake up until 2 am!
But I must say, the events I attended were so fun I am glad I lost sleep for them. This shopping party at Mira Mira was hosted by Alex from SFShopGirl. Look how fabulous she looks in her little white dress! It really complimented the whimsical and dreamy vibe of the store. I am glad I ran into her at the Poshmark Party Wednesday night because she invited me and Elise from WTFAB to this event.

As you can see, there was a nice spread of fruits, cheeses, and champagne. The champagne was amazing because it had hints of lavender and had some lavender flowers in the cup for decoration. I loved a lot of the dresses in the shop and I realize I need to tour the Mission more. I loved discovering this cute little boutique. The location is pretty small, but it adds to the appeal because it feels like its your dream closet. I could not get enough of the lilac silk dress featured by the store’s window!

I ran into style twin Sabrina from the blog  RougeSpark and the lovely Carlina from the blog Allergic to Vanilla. There were a lot of people at the event mingling, shopping, and taking photos upstairs in the photobooth.

Overall I had a blast at the event! I ran into so many friends I had made through blogging that it was nice to hang out and catch up on the latest projects everyone had been working on. In the last photo I am seen with Sabrina ( RougeSpark), Elise (WTFAB), Sofia ( Youtube channel here) and KT (KTRstyle). Everyone looked fabulous and I am almost regretted not wearing heels, but after the Poshmark Party on Wednesday I realized I needed to take it easy on my feet! lol
Anyways, hope you enjoyed my recap of the event. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @willbakeforshoe for updates on events like this in the Bay Area. I’ll do my best to share things with enough time for you to RSVP!
Stay tuned for my recap of the Levis and LOOKBOOK party I attended!

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City Chic Posh Party in San Francisco

Posted on by Brandy Saldana

While I shared some photos via Instagram, here are some more photos taken by the Poshmark team from the party I attended Wednesday night with Blogger Bestie Elise of WTFAB. The event was held at the Spanish Suite in the CLIFT Hotel. 

Already you can see the venue was gorgeous. The drinks were served in the sky-lit veranda with a gorgeous view of the city’s skyline. Elise and I had a blast networking with other bloggers, Poshmark team members, and Poshmark users. I know I will be busy this weekend listing items since I’ve cleaned out my closet from back home and I felt so inspired after chatting it up with all the wonderful people at the event.

Elise and I met up with fashion blogger Jennifer from Just Add Glam. She is so funny and is clearly a style genius! Her gorgeous statement is made up of 2 necklaces in similar colors that work really well alone but are even better paired together! We also met with  Kat from KatWalkSF and Kate from The Fancy Pants Report. I look forward to meeting more bloggers and fashion lovers in the bay area. I’ll be sharing details of upcoming events via Twitter for now until I can create a social calendar of all the happenings in the Bay Area. You can follow me on Poshmark and Twitter with username @willbakeforshoe. 

Overall, I had a great time at the event. The Poshmark team is extremely friendly and it is nice to see their company growing with more and more energetic and dedicated people. As a seller on the app, I really feel part of the community and enjoyed seeing familiar faces from the last meetup recognize me! It is a start up, but they are on the right track and people really matter to them. It is refreshing to see the people behind the technology and I thank them for hosting this fabulous event.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more event posts from this week!
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

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