Christmas, Doctor Who Edition 2013

Do our outfits remind you of something, or maybe someone?

That's right! My sisters and I dressed as three different Doctors. From the left, my older sister is dressed as #10 (David Tennant, probably my favorite Doctor), my younger sister is dressed as #11 (Matt Smith, her favorite), and I am dressed as #9 (Christopher Eccleston, the fantastic one-season wonder who is my second favorite).

In contrast to our (sorta) ass-kicking faces above, here we are channeling the goofy and fun aspect of the Doctor:

ON ME: Suede jacket: Ann Taylor LOFT (from many years ago) | Top: GAP | Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt via Costco (!) | Shoes: Fluevog Qtee via Amazon

It made me happy that we all managed to get into some kind of costume. I think the casualness of our interpretations was perfect for the holidays (it wasn't Halloween or a Comic Con, after all) ... although I wish I'd worn boots rather than my admittedly-gorgeous but still-not-appropriate Mini Qtees, at least for the pic.

Anyway, here are some of my other favorite photos of the day, with lots of kiddos, yummy food, and a last look at our growing family.

Happy New Year's Eve! If you'd like some inspiration on making your New Year's resolutions, here are a few articles and video that I enjoyed:

• "Here's The Science You Can't Not Know Before Making That Ambitious New Year's Resolution" via Upworthy
• "How to Actually be Successful in Achieving Your 2014 Goals" via Good
• and "The Most Important Thing You Can Do In The New Year To Lose Weight, Get Sharper And Live Longer" via HuffPost

All thought-provoking. The takeaways? Let's make our resolutions specifically for the New Year in order to harness the power of optimism on this occasion. Instead of roaring out of the gate and being immediate-results-oriented, we should start with small steps to build strong, identity-based habits that will last throughout the year. (We won't burn out so quickly that way.) Finally? Get more sleep!

And with that, I bid farewell to the good and the bad of 2013, and look forward to a wonderful start to 2014! I wish you the same! See you in this space next year. :-)

xo, Gladys

Sewing: Oliver + S Reversible Bucket Hat, Take 2

I didn't want to end the year without one last sewing project, and thankfully this one turned out okay so I can share it with you. Really, though, it's the model who's doing all the work here.

Even if a little blurry, isn't he utterly adorable? Those cheeks say hello!

This is my godson C wearing the reversible bucket hat that I made for him as one of his Christmas presents. If it looks familiar to longtime readers, it's because I have made this hat before -- from a free Oliver + S pattern available here -- and even used the same fabric for one of the sides (his mom picked the fabrics). This time around, however, I confess that I was pretty rusty due to not having sewn anything during the second half of the year. Sorry, C! Well, he doesn't really like the hat (yet), anyway. During the photoshoot, he kept taking it off -- hence the blurriness as I scrambled to take the photos in the waning light. His mom, my older sister, tried to help ... and I just wanted to point out the Doctor Who TARDIS slippers she's wearing in a couple of the photos -- another present from yours truly!

Speaking of which, I'll post some photos of our actual Xmas celebration, which sorta had a Doctor Who theme and made me seriously happy. And then there was the delicious food. And the adorable nephews. And the fun family conversations and music. I was in heaven!

Anyway, if you celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful holiday, too!

xo, Gladys

Party Chic

It's official: I've converted both MP and E to Fluevog AND ModCloth.

We had a get-together last weekend at my house to celebrate E's recent birthday and the upcoming holidays. We planned to sing some holiday songs while E played her flute and to have some yummy wine with our potluck dinner. Of course, I had to kindly request that we all wear dresses. Even though kids and husbands were involved, it was a holiday/birthday party after all. These two immediately said yes! Which is why I love them so much. *g* And we all ended up wearing ModCloth and Fluevog, even without coordinating the specifics.

On me, far right: Dress: Trollied Dolly via ModCloth | Shoes: T.U.K. via ModCloth

MP, far left, is wearing a dress via ModCloth that was formerly in my closet but that I realized looked MUCH better on her. And she's wearing her gorgeous red Bartoli boots, her first-ever pair of Fluevogs (documented here). These two-tone red boots are simply amazing and go with almost everything!

E, meanwhile, wore the striking ModCloth dress that was her birthday present from me. This is a lovely, well-made dress with lining and a nice heavy fabric -- perfect for colder weather. It also has pockets! She bought the adorable houndstooth cat shoes from ModCloth herself. She had a very successful first purchase at ModCloth and I'm positive she's going back for more!

As for my own dress, it's one that you may remember from earlier this year, sans belt. Trollied Dolly is such a dreamy brand. Plus it's a dress that's in line with my blue obsession this fall. It goes perfectly with my Fluevog Liz maryjanes (see bottom photo below), but it also goes really well with my beige polka dot cat shoes -- same brand as E's, just a different design. The beige matches the yellowish polka dots on the dress. And check out that cat tail on the heel!

Having fun with our posing. I love everything about this pic except MY HAIR. Ugh.

Shoes: Fluevog Liz (Kitschy Kitschy Boom Boom family)

We had a great night. We made music, drank delicious sweet wine (Stella Rosa, anyone?) and ate amazing veggie lasagna thanks to E, and managed to squeeze in a photo shoot while the kids ran around the rest of the house and watched a movie. Special thanks go to my hubby for accompanying us on the piano and taking the photos, and to E's hubby for watching the kids.

Hope you all have a happy holiday season!!

xo, Gladys

1940s Femme

I was kind of in love with what I wore to my husband's company 1940s-theme holiday party:

Coat with belt: Cherry Koko via Amazon | Dress: Collectif via ModCloth | Tights: ? | Shoes: Fluevog Rubens (Baroque family)

I actually had my hair done by a professional that day. My usual hairstylist went into labor (!), so I was lucky to get her friend, Kim, as a replacement. Using a flat iron, Kim worked curls into my hair like had never been done before. It was fun to watch the magic happen as she sprayed, curled, teased, brushed, and pinned. I was really thrilled with how she managed to turn my short bob into this:

Below is an iPhone pic of me at the event, with my coat open to show a peek of my dress. Only about a quarter to maybe a third of the attendees dressed to the theme, but it was fun to people-watch. I wish we could have gotten photos of the outfit during the day. This year, we were busy for most of the day so we didn't have a lot of time to pretty ourselves up. By the time we were dressed, dark had fallen and we were running half an hour late. (Another thing I wish is that the party had been more fun. Sigh. Most of my husband's coworkers that I knew left the company this part year, and the others didn't bother to attend this year, so we hung out with new people. Unless there's a fantastic incentive to attend next year, we might just skip it. It was fun to dress up, but we could have dressed up and hung out with our friends instead. I would have danced the night away for sure.)

xo, Gladys

Holiday Dress Shopping

Happy December! For those who celebrated, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Coming up soon is my husband's company holiday party. There's actually a theme this year -- the 1940s. How fun! When I found out last month, I immediately thought of going to ModCloth to drool over their vintage-style dresses. And given the fact that I already knew which shoes I'd be wearing (the blue Fluevog Rubens -- currently 30% off until the end of this week! with code CMSHOE30 at checkout), I purchased a couple of blue dresses to try on:

Garden Dreaming dress (only size 12 UK left)

Demure All I Want dress -- currently 30% off, lucky you! (make sure to see Details regarding sizing; this dress runs large)

Sorry about the blurriness. These photos were taken with indoor lighting at night. Aren't the shoes adorable?!

What do you think? My husband and friends voted for the second dress because the shape and longer length match the 1940s better. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it on; it has a great drape and also a flattering v-cut back. But I couldn't let go of the first dress, which I thought had better-quality fabric and construction; I loved its shape, its warm wool blend, and the brightly-colored butterfly embroidery on the skirt. Well, after consulting with my husband and friends (who loved both dresses as well), I decided to keep it, too, so I can wear it for our Xmas house party or to another party this winter. I'll post again on each dress when I've had a chance to take them out!

Here's a bonus shot of another pair of GORGEOUS blue shoes -- very comfy too, I highly recommend -- that have entered my life because of my current obsession with blue. I wore these on the day of the recent 50th anniversary of the Doctor Who TV series (did you see the awesome anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor"?!) ... which also turned out to be the same day as my wedding anniversary. Eleven years, baby! :-)

Fluevog Amie in blue snake (only at Amazon, currently 30% OFF until the end of this week with code CMSHOE30 at checkout). Size up at least 1/2 size on these beautiful shoes!

xo, Gladys