PSA: Fluevog Shoes Summer Sale Is On!

Miracle | Marvel in green. My friend Francine purchased these, her first pair!

My favorite shoe company's summer SALE started yesterday. (Sorry I'm a day late with the announcement!) I hear that shoes are flying out the door, so now is the time to catch the pair you've been eying this past Spring season. If you can't get to a store, you can check out the many reviews we've done on the For the Love of Vogs blog to see what the shoes look like on real feet, and then you can (and should) call a store to talk to the helpful staff about sizing and fit. I'd call the Los Angeles store, of course, but I also love the Haight St. folks in San Francisco. Joanne posted an excellent overview with more specifics on what's on sale here, in case you need more context than just scrolling through the many stock photos of the shoes on the Fluevog website. All those beautiful shoes ... it can be overwhelming, I know. :-)

Prepare | Guide in yellow. Remember these? They went on sale! Only this colorway, though.

Happy shopping! But like Joanne says, if you don't find anything you're sure about this season, the Fall lineup looks amazing already. So save those pennies!

xo, Gladys

Aqua Chiffon

I wore this outfit to meet up with friends for dim sum in Monterey Park (at yummy NBC Seafood) and then visit Fluevog Los Angeles on Melrose afterward. I love how the top matches the shoes (Hi there, I'm Mrs. Matchy-Much. Nice to meet you). I don't wear these oxfords often enough, even though they're utterly beautiful and supremely comfortable. It's actually a pleasure to drive with these shoes on (no lie). So when they fit perfectly into an outfit, I'm happy. These were my fourth pair of Fluevogs, from three years ago, and the amazing colors, comfort, and quality of this particular pair were what clinched my love for Vogs. It was the first time I'd gotten shoes in an unusual color. I'd only ever worn black, white, red, or brown shoes before that. After these aqua/turquoise shoes, I knew I'd be getting more colorful shoes in the future.

Top: Marineblu via Amazon | Jeans: GAP | Watch: Fossil | Shoes: Fluevog Erika (Fellowship family) (black/ivory still available)

I believe I've had this top for two years now and I've worn it maybe once before ... or is this one of the items that fell through the cracks in my closet after I bought it? In any case, it felt new to me when I pulled it off the hanger and put it on for this outfit, and I was very pleasantly surprised. More like delighted. I am a huge fan of this shape -- the puffed sleeves and flattering embellished v-neck that accentuate my shoulders and the incurve of my waist, and the smocked hem right at my hips. It's a chiffon fabric that hangs nicely and glosses over any lumps. :-D Since I've gained a not-insignificant amount of weight from this time last year, I've been looking for more dressy tops that aren't form-fitting. I had no idea I had something like this in my closet already. I think the reason I didn't wear it more often after buying it is that it looks much better on one's body than on the hanger so my eyes always passed over it. But not to worry. This is one piece that is definitely going into heavier rotation from now on. And check out that embellished back!

So why did I go to the Fluevog store on Melrose?

Fluevog Love: Seattle

Hope: Promise oxfords in navy/ivory

I simply couldn't visit Seattle and not make a trek to the Fluevog store there as well. I wore my new blue Promise oxfords with some navy and stripes that matched really well. It was a cool day so I put on the only blue sweater I had, and it turned out to match the bright blue of the soles of my shoes. Paging Mrs. Matchy-Much.... Hiya, that's me. :-)

Top: Urban Outfitters | Cardigan and jeans: GAP | Shoes: Fluevog Promise (Hope family) via Amazon | Handbag: Coach (hand-me-down) | Socks (see last photo below): Sockdreams

Posing in front of the store on Pine Street

Fluevog | Amazon on great sale

Begin: Cha Cha in black. Brief as my visit was, I managed to try on a couple pairs and talk to dealer Brenda, who was wearing a gorgeous boxy top with her skinny black pants and black Cha Chas. Her outfit was so cute that I had to try on the same shoes as well. Tassels! I didn't realize I was a tassels girl, but after buying the Nzame and the Beezies, I can't deny it any longer. :-) Too bad the Cha Chas run between true-to-size and slightly large, so the size 6 (smallest size) is too big for me even with socks.

Fluevog

Prepare Hi: Rappel in pink was the other pair I tried on. I was asked about these shoes by a friend, and while I'd slipped them on my feet once while visiting the Melrose store, I never managed to take a photo of me wearing them. These shoes are so, so pretty. I think they look great with socks, too. I've heard the zipper might be an issue, but since they were too big for me even with the socks (size 6 is the smallest size), I didn't notice if the zipper was particularly uncomfortable. They run true to size, maybe a little bigger.

xo, Gladys

Seattle Vacation, Part 4

This is the last post on our vacation (that doesn't have to do with Fluevogs ... wait for the next post!), which we ended on a geeky note. The Museum of Flight is just a few miles from the Seattle-Tacoma airport, so we spent our last hours in Seattle there. It is a very impressive museum with an amazing collection of real-life and model airplanes, space vehicles, and military/NASA paraphernalia. It's a great place for kids because there are many interactive educational exhibits with buttons to push and levers to move, and partial replicas of planes and jets where you can sit in the cockpit. There was a cool replica of a small part of the International Space Station that included the exercise area for the astronauts -- basically, a treadmill that was on the "ceiling" (since they float in space there is no ceiling for them, just six-sided rooms). Wouldn't that exhibit be perfect if they could replicate the floating, too? :-) There was also a room overlooking the large parking lot that mimicked a control tower at an airport, where you could hear the actual transmissions from the control tower nearby (the museum is located on or near a regional airport, not the international SEA-TAC).

There was so much more than what's in these photos. We didn't even visit one whole wing dedicated to Boeing company. Top left photo is of the convertible plane car (yes, it could both drive on roads and fly), invented in the 1950s. It obviously never caught on -- only a few handfuls were ever built -- but it was a cool vehicle.

My five-year-old son B enjoyed the whole place very much. There was so much for him to see and do. After learning about the solar system at preschool, he's now a pro at naming and recognizing all eight planets in our solar system as well as Pluto, in addition to knowing their relative sizes and distance in order from the sun. Plus he loves planes and vehicles like his engineer dad. I'd love for him to be a scientist-astronaut!

A mother can dream, right?

Randomly, I had to have my husband take a pic of the lovely mannequin in the pic below. We had no idea why she was in this particular exhibit, "Early Days of Airmail," nor why her back was turned to the viewers, but I thought her outfit was awesome, even from the back.

Loved the cloche hat and her fur stole.

Here are a couple last photos from our trip: a visit to a Cow Chips, a cookie shop that my husband last visited as a child (good cookies), and the requisite visit to the waterfront (we didn't eat at Ivar's, but we liked how the sign in the window says "KEEP CLAM").

Good spot to people watch

Just being neighborly on a rainy Seattle day

Have a happy Monday. Thanks so much for reading!

xo, Gladys

Seattle Vacation, Part 3

You're probably getting tired of all my vacation photos, but there's so much I want to share from our week-long trip! If you ever visit the Seattle area as a tourist, I can definitely recommend visiting 1) Remlinger Farms where you can pick strawberries in the spring/summer, go on carnival rides, and shop the farm's market (definitely for kids); 2) the fantastic and huge Pacific Science Center (with or without kids); and 3) the stunning Chihuly Garden and Glass (without young kids is a good idea because of all that glass). The duck tour was also fun; it's probably better to go at the beginning of your trip to see what you'd like to explore further. Everything but the first was at or near the Seattle Center, which includes the famous Space Needle and the International Fountain. Our hotel was within walking distance to the Seattle Center, so it was very convenient.

Remlinger Farms

Butterflies and life-size checker board at the Pacific Science Center

Mesmerizing blown-glass sculptures at Chihuly

Group photo

Seattle Center

We also splurged on a fancy lunch at Toulouse Petit, which serves New Orleans-style food. My husband started us off by ordering beignets which came with a coffee-flavored sauce. Yummy! We ordered the seafood gumbo (WARNING: super spicy!!), clam and sausage pasta, beef burgers, and chicken nuggets. The fries that came with the burgers and nuggets were very herby, spicy (cajun seasoning?), crispy, and delicious. My older sister and I shared the gumbo and the pasta dish, but the gumbo was so hot (temperature-wise) and spicy that we could only eat a little bit at the restaurant; she took the rest home. The pasta dish was a different story, very lemony and bright, and it was quickly eaten. I also loved the flavor of the chicken nuggets. It wasn't the usual processed frozen stuff, so of course my son didn't like it. :-( But I thought it was very tasty and tender, partly because they used dark meat instead of white. I wish we had gone to the restaurant earlier during our trip so that we could have enjoyed the leftovers. But it was our last chance to spend time with my sister and her sons, and it was wonderful because of that. I miss those boys so much! I wish they lived closer to us.

xo, Gladys

Seattle Vacation, Part 2

While in Seattle, we visited Salish Lodge for brunch. Such a beautiful place, built next to Snoqualmie Falls. The visit was a repeat of the last time we had our family vacation in the Northwest, almost five years ago when my kiddo was only months old. Here I am, holding another infant in my arms.

Rocking my godson C to sleep (it worked!)
Outfit details -- Dress: Patagonia sun shelter dress | Shoes: Fluevog Promise (Hope family) via Amazon (on sale)

Waiting for our meals, sipping wonderful hot chocolate

My older sister and her family minus her preschooler son

My brother and his family

Snoqualmie Falls

My younger sister bonding with my kiddo/her nephew over her iPhone

Celebrating the baby's baptism

xo, Gladys

Seattle Vacation, Part 1

Wearing my new Beezies on the plane

Happy Solstice! Summer is officially here in my part of the world!

The first thing we did after my son's preschool graduation was pack up and leave for our family summer vacation to the Seattle area. Along with the rest of my immediate family (mom, sister, and brother with his family), we visited our eldest sister there and finally met her second child, baby C. I really dislike the traveling part of vacations -- parking, shuttles, security checkpoints, airplanes, dragging all that luggage everywhere, especially traveling with a child -- but it was fun and genuinely exciting to be all together under the same roof again, plus the spouses and all five adorable grandchildren. My eldest sister's house is beautiful, and I was in baby heaven, what with the twins and C. The two older boys, my son and his cousin E, are BFFs despite only seeing each other twice or at most three times a year. They played so well together for hours upon hours, so the adults had lots of attention to lavish on the babies or had downtime to rest. I just had to make sure my son took breaks to eat and go to the bathroom. We had a pretty good system worked out for the few days we were all together.

This baby's cheeks are out of control.

Cuddling with one of my twin nephews

Three generations

My mom with her three youngest grandchildren

Watching the chefs at work at Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria (seriously yummy pizza!)

Happy boy with his cousins

Adorable nephew

My brother with his newest neph

My sister-in-law with one of her twin babies

My mom with her newest grandson -- told ya about those cheeks

Lovely sisters-in-law

Salted caramel chocolate chip gelato with a shot of espresso = OMG

Peach gelato -- prettier than it was tasty

Iron Man in training: my nephew playing at Target

My favorite pastime: tickling my baby nephews

My younger sister finally arrived from SF to meet her newest nephew.

Happy twins!

The older cousins = best buds forever

xo, Gladys

Bye-Bye Preschool

Happy Father's Day to those who celebrate!

Dress: Ann Taylor LOFT | Shoes: Fluevog Believe (Hope family)

I wore this simple outfit for my son's preschool "graduation" a few days ago. It's one of the most flattering dresses I own, but I don't wear it that often. I save it for whenever I need to look more ... how to say it ... mature? Or maybe professional? Haha. That's not my usual look. I paired it with the mules so I wouldn't look like I was going to work. It was supposed to be a little preschool celebration, after all.

However, it turned out to be a good choice of outfit because my son's teacher went all out. Besides having the kids put on a show with nine numbers (e.g., hula dance, dance of the planets, a bug dance, several songs), she had representatives from the offices of both our U.S. House Congressperson and our L.A. County Supervisor come and give little speeches and hand out certificates for the kids! Most of my son's preschool friends outside of this school didn't even have preschool graduations. Crazy.

Anyway, it was a treat for the grandparents, too, and my husband and I were very proud of our little guy. :-) Can't believe he's going to kindergarten in the fal! You better believe I am going to savor this summer.

xo, Gladys