Happy December, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Kwanzaa!
Its that time of year and we have finally had cold weather hit. My work finished its last event of the year on Sunday and I took several much needed days off so I am a bit behind on the blogging. So here are the socks from the past week.
Friday, December 2, 2011 - Fun and bright and I believe Jane gave these to me last year around this time, if my memory serves me correctly.
Saturday, December 3, 2011 - Happy birthday to the love of my life, Christy! These have been around for quite some time, but they were just the next set in the drawer.
Sunday, December 4, 2011 - today was a terrible weather day, well yesterday was pretty crappy too, but Christy's birthday trumped the weather. Today, was cold, foggy, rainy, and the start of the temperatures dropping - so excited. It was also the day of our last event and I had to go into work on a Sunday, but wow was it a beautiful event and a great end to the year. I chose these socks because I needed tall socks to stay warm under my suits and fit in my boots. Plus - they are Snoopy's Joe Cool socks so it always makes me happy to represent the Peanuts gang.
Monday, December 5, 2011 - the start of a wonderful and restful couple of days off. I want to first show off my arts and craft project. My good friend created a tree skirt that was very popular on pinterest. So I spent most of the day making the first of four tree skirts. I made it for 
my Peanuts gang ornament tree that is in the front room of our house out of two different Peanuts gang material. It was harder and took longer than expected, but I think now that I know the next will go quickly, it did get better the further along I got. Oh yeah, and they don't call it hot glue because it is cool - I lost feeling in my fingertips most of the day. (PS I am making the same one @thiscasita made for our family room tree and then the other two are gifts, I don't have four trees).
That evening we finally got out for the day and went on a fun date night, even though it was freezing. So the socks aren't real fun but were the next in line.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - running some errands on my day off, so these were the next in line. They are cute with gingerbread men and houses. I think Jane also gave these to me. She is the best assistant and so good to me.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - Pearl Harbor Day and my last day off before having to go back to work. More errands were run, so these cute little guys have been around forever and matched my blue jeans and the coldness that is outside today.
Until tomorrow (or next week - next blog) have a great day, weekend, week and holidays.
Thanks for stopping by.
Sincerely,
Brantley/Carlton
Shortly after Christy and I had been married for a year I wanted to do yearly anniversary/family photos and continue to do them each year. Stealing this idea from a dear co-worker of mine (@thiscasita). I, of course, wouldn't use anyone other than our bridal, engagement and wedding photographer Jamie Huffman Photography so the four of us met her for a nice March afternoon and took some amazing photographs on a friend of hers ranch. At the end, I added in crazy socks for all of us to put on and take a few last minute photos. Christy and the boys were troopers #sarcasm (we also got into stickers because of it - so it turned out to be quite painful).
Here they are courtesy of Jamie Huffman Photography (March 2011):
October 31, 2011 - Happy Halloween!
These are my favorite pair of Halloween socks cause of the feel and the jack-o-lanterns. I always save them for the actual day of Halloween.
Thursday, November 24, 2011 - Happy Turkey Day!
This is the only pair of Thanksgiving socks I have so I cant wear them until actual Turkey Day. I have two other pair that are fall-themed, but I have never been able to find Thanksgiving socks. It is such the forgotten holiday and is so frustrating to me. So stay on the look-out and send me some if you see any.
The Day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas Holidays and the assortment of Christmas socks. So enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Friday, November 25, 2011 - These light up with movement. You can barely see the red lights.
Saturday, November 26, 2011 - my newest pair of socks given to me by my wonderful assistant, Jean, this year.
Monday, November 28, 2011 - the next pair in the drawer and also my newest pair given to me by Jean. (I didnt wear socks on Sunday - sorry)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - My other passion, especially at Christmas time is the Peanuts gang and as you will notice I have a lot of Snoopy and Peanuts gang socks. These are chosen because I was wearing my tall boots and wanted socks that fit the boots. Oh yeah - it is also the day I got to meet and hang out with Ms. Katie Couric (@katiecouric) - who rocks my world!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - they were the next in line and I was wearing black pants. I have had them for a while, because I noticed when I put them on the elastic is worn. Haven't decided if they will be discarded, I will see how they are once I do the wash this weekend.
Thursday, December 1, 2011 - how is it already December? Where has the time gone! I am wearing a suit today and these were next in line and happened to match my army green suit.
All caught up. See you tomorrow!
Yours truly,
Brantley/Carlton
So before we get to the daily pictures I think you need to know what you are dealing with... the scope of the crazy sock collection. This is really why the bucket lunch crew was so floored and issued the challenge.
Christy Wills is still shocked at the two drawer extent to my collection.
So here is the breakdown:
First drawer, yes there are so many they don't all fit in one!
100 daily socks - each of which has a design of some sort this is just the color combo and yes they are organized this way. I MIGHT be a little OCD.
1 toeless (I used to have a ton of toe socks but got rid of them - this is opposite)
5 pedi
31 no show/ankle
6 athletic/ankle
3 gray
6 black - definitely need more of this color
3 pink/purple
1 brown
3 yellow - again very surprising as it is my favorite color
5 red
11 blue - all shades from baby blue to navy blue and all in between
2 turquoise
23 white
The second drawer is just for the holiday socks, and again are organized by holiday
98 total holiday socks
8 Valentine's Day
8 St. Patty's Day
6 Easter
5 4th of July/American (Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veteran's Day, etc.)
24 Halloween
3 Thanksgiving (well 2 are fall leaves, only 1 pair of Turkey socks) everyone forgets this holiday and they certainly don't make socks for it so if you ever see a pair please send them to me and I will pay you back. I need more!
44 Christmas (which includes some that spill over into January for "winter")
So that is a total of almost 200 socks. When Christy Wills and I first started dating - there were well over 300 pairs of socks. I have cut down upon his request, but still have quite a few pair.
Now before I sign off for the night and start uploading the daily pictures I wanted to give you another tidbit into my OCD life, which I also do for Christy Wills. I read an article in Real Simple magazine in their keep it simple, help your life and write in some examples and it immediately turned a light bulb on. Safety pin your socks together! BRILLIANT. I pin every pair of both of our socks together at the toe. They are stored that way in their drawers, the pins come off when we put them on and then when we take them off, before throwing them in the dirty clothes, we pin them back together and wash them that way. Saves a ton of time as we never have to sort socks. Try it and you will never go back.
A final shout out since I described the socks above, to my dear creative director, Fred Melrose. For my 30th birthday - she found this adorable kiddie suitcase and filled it with 30 different pairs of socks and now continues to send me socks for my birthday.
Yours truly,
Brantley/Carlton
So I have several friends that blog and I have never thought I would join this world. Mainly because I don't have anything to say or the time to keep up with it. BUT a challenge was brought to me and I have decided to try and take it on.
Socks are my trademark. Unless I am in flip-flops, I always have a pair of crazy socks on. (it drives Uncle Howard crazy, but he loves me and has accepted it - sort of).
The crazier the sock the better. I wear them to work, to play, to work out, basically except sleeping. I dont own a normal pair - even my normal work-out socks have stripes, designs, etc. (they are the most subtle).
The challenge - we have these "get to know your teammate" lunches called bucket lunches at work. It is a mixture of staff with different tenures and when we were at lunch we had to tell an unusual fact about ourselves to the table. Mine was of course, my socks and how it is my trademark. So they were flabbergasted at it and challenged me to start a blog and post a pic everyday of the socks I am wearing. I thought about it for a couple of months and have decided to give it a try now that we are in my favorite sock season - the HOLIDAYS.
So I enlisted the help of my creative director (AKA Fred Melrose and the most creative person I know and one of my dearest friends) to come up with the name for this blog.
The ones I thought of were lame:
The Adventures of the Sock Queen
Hi, My Name is the Sock Lady
She immediately came up with the best one and the one I settled on but her other submissions were:
Sock it to Me
(my name)'s Odd Stockings
The Daily Dressing of My Two Feet
I then wanted to incorporate music, which I love, as well as my favorite color, but still a play on words so I said what about - We all Live in a Yellow Sock-marine.
But of course, because she is awesome, I stuck with her original submission and decided to call it The Secret of My Sock-cess.
I grew up in the 80's and LOVED this movie (The Secret of My Success). I adore Michael J. Fox and actually got to meet/host him recently for my job. Plus since I have always said Socks are my trademark, it made sense to tie the title into what I feel is my sock-cess.
So visit often, (but only if you don't get creeped out by feet).
And I hope that you will join the sock-cess brigade and when you are out and about and see a crazy sock you will think of me.
Yours truly,
Brantley/Carlton
PS I bet it will make you look at people's feet more often when you are out and about the town.
