Holidaze 2014

Hello there. :-) Happy holiday season. I wanted to make sure I posted one more time in 2014. Here's my Xmas day outfit, a couple of new favorite items in my closet.

Dress: Effie's Heart | Shoes: Fluevog Liz via Raspberry Heels

The fabric of this lovely Effie's Heart dress is stretch knit and drapes wonderfully. I love how well-made it is. Plus pockets!

I love these shoes. They're a limited-edition colorway that was only available at a store in Poland called Raspberry Heels.

I know it's been a loooooong time since I last wrote something here. It's been a busy fall since I finished up school. Besides volunteering at my son's school and weekly yoga, I attempted NaNoWriMo in November and I interviewed to do adjunct teaching at the local community college -- I start in February! I'll be teaching three comp courses and am putting together the syllabi now.

My siblings and siblings-in-law had an "ugly sweater" theme. Can't really see mine, but it's a Doctor Who sweater from TeeFury.

The holidays have been more relaxed for us this year, which has been nice. Because frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm proud of all that I've accomplished this year, but it's been difficult in many ways, as anyone who's read or seen the news since the summer knows. I'm wishing you all a more peaceful, sane, just, compassionate, and happy new year.

xo, Gladys

The Doctor Is in...

How silly is that title. But yay, I am done!!! I found out a couple of days ago that my dissertation was officially accepted by the university. I'm all but diploma at this point. I came back from my trip this past Tuesday, and since then I've been trying to catch up both on what I missed at home and on sleep. Still in a bit of a fog, to be honest (partly because I can't shake off the sleeping habits I acquired this summer, combined with having to wake up early to take my son to school), but I am definitely more relaxed than I was the past few months.

Getting the rest of the committee signatures last Monday was a nice experience. I had a lovely chat with two committee members. The last one was my other co-chair, and while waiting at the cafe for her I saw this:

Looks like the TARDIS has been moonlighting as a door somewhere, doesn't it? Haha. I thought it was pretty cool, seeing something like that while on a journey specifically seeking to become a doctor myself. ;-)

Co-Chair and I spent quite a bit of time talking about how to turn the dissertation into a book. I was just following her lead ... that's the way she works, constantly thinking about the next step. It was flattering, I'll admit. She's not the easiest person to impress, and she was quite happy for me and called the project original. It was probably the best face-to-face meeting we'd ever had. I'm still not interested in getting a job as a professor and having to move away, but I'm considering applying for postdocs in the L.A. area. We'll see. Competition is incredibly fierce all around nowadays.

After that meeting, I had a fantastic dinner with Joanne and Dorothy -- both of whom are members of the MotleyFlue -- and we took these:

Of course we had to take the requisite Fluevog shot, courtesy of Dorothy. I wore my new burgundy/black/pink Sandras and Joanne wore her blue Guides (which I also have). Our pose in the second photo is due to a private joke, but it actually turned out to be a good photo of us, which is hilarious since we were totally hamming it up! Anyway, I had such a fun time with these kickass women. (I have to say, I'm so blessed to be surrounded by amazing women in my life, from my friends to my all-women dissertation committee to my mom and sisters. I have some great men and boys in my life, too, but I definitely have close relationships with more women than men.)

Also, the food in the Bay Area is reliably excellent. That's one thing I miss about living there. If you ever get a chance, try Isla in San Bruno (yummy Filipino food) and Paisan in Berkeley (American). And the quality of the Thai food in San Francisco, even the small hole-in-the-wall places, is outstanding.

Anyway, I don't have anything big lined up for the fall, but I'll probably look into applying for postdocs. I also want to work on NaNoWriMo in November. I can't wait to go back to a very different genre of writing! Cheers!

xo, Gladys

It's Happening

Having a blast with my funny boy during a hike at Yellowstone National Park in June

I drove half the day to my university yesterday. I'm here on a mission: to get my committee's approval signatures for the dissertation and submit all paperwork to the graduate office. So far, two signatures down, two to go! I had a lovely long chat with one co-chair over coffee yesterday. Though I don't expect to go into academia, she suggested that I think about turning it into a book manuscript and publishing it at an academic press somewhere, and then offered some leads. (My reaction: Wow! Really?) Anyway, hopefully everything will be done by Tuesday. Cross your fingers that it all works out. It's still sinking in that I'm almost done. I'm really going to be a "Doctor" soon. Whoa....

Random but here are bonus photos of my outfit for a 1950s theme birthday party from all the way back in May. Man, I have been neglecting this blog.

Dress: Emily and Fin via ModCloth | Socks: Gold Toe (for girls) | Shoes: Fluevog Danielson

The shoes are Fluevog of course (I showed them off on the blog last year), and the dress is from ModCloth. Of course. When I find a winning combo, I tend to repeat it over and over. :-)

xo, Gladys

Done! (Or as done as I can be atm)

Just sent off the latest draft! which is hopefully the next-to-last draft! (Don't worry about my not hitting 60,000 words exactly; that was just an estimate anyway.)

I really wanted (and expected) to get this done 24 freaking hours ago. For some reason, I've been horrible at estimating how long the revising will take. (To be fair, I did add about 20 pages of new material in the last week and a half. That's the net number of new pages I ended up with. Who knows how much I deleted.) It took me ages to work on conclusions, and some sections just made me want to shut down my brain for the day. Which is sort of what I did, but in pieces. I'd take a look, tweak a sentence, maybe write a whole paragraph, then I'd walk away for a distraction -- 2048, Twitter, Facebook, Cumberbatch news, even TV and a movie. I don't think it was just lack of sleep that made me so distractible, although of course that probably contributed. I had to move around a lot, taking my laptop with me to the couch, to the countertop so I could stand while typing, to the dining table with the uncomfortable chairs, and back again. I even accidentally scraped my thigh (a little blood, even) without realizing it. I didn't figure it out until it started stinging from sweat (yeah, it's kinda hot over here this summer).

Anyway, long story short, this was the weirdest writing session I've ever had. Stupidly, I made plans for this morning, while all I want to do is sleep. It's not worth canceling, though, since my son will probably be awake in a couple of hours anyway. Well, at least I can get those couple of hours. Nighty-night! *yawn*

xo, Gladys

Slowly but Surely

So I'm reading what I wrote in my last chapter to see what needs revision, and I'm a little disturbed that I don't remember writing parts of it. I mean, it's the chapter I wrote most recently, not quite two months ago, so you'd think my memory of it would be better. At least it isn't bad writing. But man, I must have been half asleep when I was trying to finish it. Or maybe what's happening here is that, feeling brain-dead the way I have been for several weeks now, I'm shocked that I was so articulate just a few weeks earlier.

Anyway, still slowly chipping away at it. Not sure if I'll finish before noon today but at least I don't have to edit much more. I should be done sometime today. I've decided to be zen about the rest of it and not stress (too much) about all of the little things I can't get to. As I've been told, "a good dissertation is a done dissertation."

I managed to get half an hour of sleep earlier, but surprisingly I'm not feeling like a total zombie ... yet. My dear friend E offered to babysit my son for quite a few hours (no mean feat since she's got three of her own), which was super helpful. I'm deeply thankful for my family and friends who are being so generous with babysitting and so supportive of me. I couldn't do this without them, and that's a fact.

xo, Gladys

Still at It

Not gonna lie. There should be a cartoon writer with tears and maybe sweat streaming, pouring down its face. I'm not really crying (only a little bit), but it's almost outrageous how long this is taking. I honestly thought the draft I had to revise was basically finished. Either I was wrong or my brain is really slow this month. Maybe both.

So I had promised to get this latest draft in to my advisers by today or tomorrow. Well, today sure as hell ain't happening (I haven't slept), and tomorrow is iffy because of how long each chapter is taking to revise. Not quite done with the third chapter and I still have one more chapter to go, which is the one that needs the most help. Plus I have to finish the introduction, conclusion, and acknowledgments (which is arguably one of the hardest things to write). Argh. Argh argh argh.

Anyway, sorry to keep complaining about this project, but it honestly helps to write these quick missives. I get some of the whine out of my system and I'm a little freer to go back to the dissertation with an open mind.

xo, Gladys

Now Writing Gibberish

That is all.

Wait, that's not all: I need more sleep.

Also, revising is evil. Thank you, that is all.

xo, Gladys

At Work

"Gladys working on her dissertation"
Fun progress meter found here

Argh. I honestly wanted to come back here and share photos of my Yellowstone vacation with you. I still might, eventually. But that post (which requires me to spend a chunk of time editing the photos) has to give way to finishing my dissertation, which is due very, very soon.

The dissertation is almost finished, but I'm at that point where I'm so close to yet too far from being done. That's me above right now, freaking out over how to wrangle this thing that is, yes, metaphorically sticking its tongue out at me. I sent away my husband and son to Legoland for today and tomorrow, but I've seriously wasted the day doing chores and getting on the Internet (damn you, Benedict Cumberbatch, why are you always doing something in front of cameras looking shockingly gorgeous like a real-life Michelangelo sculpture!). I have so many ideas and notes that I have to incorporate, but I haven't been able to bring myself to go through this damn thing again. Though it's not as long as many dissertations I've seen, my brain is no longer in shape so I get tired quickly these days (okay, I'm just getting old). I want to honor the feedback I was generously given by a fantastic group of readers, including my committee members who are the ones that need to sign off on the thesis, but at the same time I just want to be DONE. Feel me?

Anxiously yours,

Gladys

{On a more serious, somber note, I've been following the horrific events in Gaza. With the world training its eyes on the killing and maiming and terrorizing of children, women, and men under occupation in that part of the world, I can't help but think of the connections with my own work right now. Although my project looks at American colonialism in the Philippines in the early 20th century, empire and militarism look similar everywhere, anytime.}

I Got the Green Light

Just wanted to share that I officially got the green light from my dissertation committee to revise and file by summer's end! Omg you don't know what a relief that is. It's also exciting. I AM ALMOST DONE WITH THIS! Plus it's quite validating personally. I'd forgotten that I'm actually good at doing certain things, which gave me pleasure, a long time ago, before settling down and having a kid. And more importantly, it's also a reminder that these things -- raising a child and pursuing my love of writing/researching -- don't have to be mutually exclusive.... Of course, I knew that in theory, but not necessarily in practice.

Again, this is not an academic blog; I'm just journaling (part of) the journey. And if you're like me, you probably like to know how things end.

(BTW, currently finishing up the Hunger Games trilogy, in preparation for watching the second film in the franchise. Almost done with the last book, which I find the most interesting so far. Most of the people in my life like the last book the least, but then, I'm fascinated by politics.)

More to come soon on how my June went. I'm still editing vacation photos. Happy last night of June.

xo, Gladys

P.S. This also happened in June! Not as exciting as getting my dissertation green-lighted, but definitely a highlight. LOLNERD

Full Draft of Dissertation Done!

Here's another Wordle to celebrate another finished chapter! I confess, it's not as good as the last one I finished (it's also quite a bit shorter). BUT it is the last chapter ... which means that I officially have a full draft of my dissertation! It's kind of a milestone for me. I hope this means I'll get the green light to finish my degree in the next two months, but seriously, even if my advisers think I need a few more months to polish it up, I still have a book-length manuscript under my belt. (Wow, I just reread that sentence and it boggled my mind.) That's a first time for me. Basically, now I know I can finish that novel. (NaNoWriMo 2014, here I come!)

Here's something else I wanted to share that I'm kinda proud of *_*:

I managed this about four days ago while I was on a break from writing (oh, all right, while I was procrastinating). I may or may not have gotten so excited that I started whooping and yelling around the house. I've only broken 2048 the one time but ever since then I've gotten close almost every time. Weird how that works. 2048 is such an addictive game. My brain likes it very much. The person who invented it is a genius. Oh, and there's also a Benedict Cumberbatch + otters version, but I'm always so distracted by the photos that I can't do a very good job.... ;-)

ETA: Here's a better 2048 with BC. I love the otters but this one has GIFs!

xo, Gladys

ModCloth Uniquely You: London Summer

London Summer by gladysn featuring oxford shoes

Today I'm excited to share my style board for ModCloth's Uniquely You Campaign! When ModStylist Amy contacted me about their campaign, I was thrilled but also a little nervous. I hadn't put together a style board in loooooong time. But seriously, I shouldn't have been anxious in any way. It's crazy fun to put together outfits especially when you've got the whole of their collection to choose from. And I definitely could have made boards for many of their other dresses, like this one or this one or this one or this one ... there are plenty more on my Wishlist over there. (You all know how much I love ModCloth, right?? Half my wardrobe comes from them!)

But I have to say, given my current obsession with blue and my forever-love of green, this particular dress, Work to Play, was perfect for me. The mint green and navy combo on this dress is killer. I was thinking about where I'd love to wear it this season when all of a sudden, I had an image of me on a gorgeous summer day in London, taking in the sights and having some tea and scones in the afternoon. It's a total fantasy, of course; I've never been to London. But 1) visiting there has been on my bucket list forever (English major in the house) and 2) I've been watching Sherlock over and over and although I know they actually shoot it in Wales, the show tricks me into thinking about London. Haha!

I know there are two pairs of shoes up there, but I couldn't resist giving myself a couple of options (I'd definitely have at least two pairs of shoes in my luggage). The dress is called Work to Play, after all. Both styles would be super cute with the dress, maybe one for walking around town and the other for a nice dinner out. Then of course I had to include the dainty mint purse and adorable owl pocketbook, just to play up that Peter Pan collar. And given that it's London weather, I added the cardigan and the umbrella, for the just-in-case. Et voila, the London Summer style board was born!

This was lots of fun. Thanks for asking me to take part in the campaign, ModCloth and Amy!

xo, Gladys

P.S. Fantastic image of London borrowed from Hull Trains in the UK. Also, I wasn't compensated for taking part in this campaign.

Chapter Draft Done!

OK, this is not an academic blog, but I'm so relieved to be done that I'm posting a Wordle of my chapter! I always do one of these Wordle things when I finish a chapter. Over 14,000 words, baby!

Oh, and you know what today is, right? May 4 ... Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you. (As it was with me, I suppose. Yay for being done! Though it almost burst my bubble when I realized that the last time I did one of these was YEARS ago. Yikes. But hey, I'll let it roll off my back. On to the next -- and last -- chapter ... after some rest and relaxation, that is. I need more sleep!)

xo, Gladys

Birthday Fun at the Huntington

So, I'm still struggling to finish the same dissertation chapter I talked about last time. But I'm getting so grumpy from lack of sleep that I thought I'd take a break to post here and fondly remember some recent events. My dear friend M and I had a ladies day out last weekend to celebrate my birthday. We went to the gorgeous Huntington Library and Gardens and of course we dressed up. It turned out to be perfect weather, and really the whole day and evening were fantastic. What a gift.

Dress and sash: Tulle via Modcloth | Cardi: Banana Republic | Leggings: ? | Shoes: Fluevog Erika (different colorways available)
M is also wearing a Modcloth/Fluevog combo. Her boots (compliment-magnets, I tell you) are still available (Bartoli in red).

My dress without cardi or sash

With cardi but no sash

Trying for fierce expressions

Closeup of my new glasses. This is my usual expression when I look at people/cameras.

We enjoyed ourselves at the Huntington, as expected. We loved walking around the place in our pretty dresses and even better-looking and comfy shoes. Our favorite thing was seeing the mind-blowing Archimedes manuscript exhibit. Archivists and restorers are hardcore. Seriously.

Of course we had to eat somewhere special, so we went to the famous soup dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung, in Arcadia, just a few miles away from the Huntington. If you've never been and you love delicious fresh Chinese food and you live in SoCal or are visiting, I highly recommend it.

Then of course we got dessert, despite being already stuffed. These were from J.J.'s in the same plaza as the restaurant.

Then, what do you know, in the same plaza we found a cute little clothing store. Their markups were unfortunately too much. We tried on a couple of things anyway, including these adorable rompers that caught our eye from the window. They're certainly well-made and of good fabric, but much too expensive (at least for us -- does $140 for a romper sound reasonable to you?).

Special thanks to dear M for making my birthday special this year! Oh, and thanks also for drawing this for me:

Can you guess who it is? Ah, she knows me so well. Hee hee! #Cumberfangirl

xo, Gladys

Pretty, New Glasses

I've been meaning to post for a couple of weeks now, but I'm seriously way past a deadline. Trying super hard to finish a dissertation chapter in time to get it to my advisers before the end of the spring semester. I'm thisclose yet still have more to do. I'm only close to finishing because I have pulled back from my workout schedule the past few weeks -- I bruised a rib on my left side (probably from coughing due to allergies, yikes!! and ouch!!) so I've had to take it easy and just stay home. Sad to have missed yoga for two weeks! Anyway, I also managed to deny myself the pleasure of blogging (but not unfortunately the procrastinative pleasure of following Benedict Cumberbatch via his fans on Twitter and Tumblr, argh) just so I could keep working on the chapter. I hope to be done in the next couple of days. Oh please oh please.

Anyway, I'll have to be brief here. Just a few photos featuring my gorgeous new glasses (Tiffany & Co!) to which I treated myself for my birthday this month. They're navy, and they have bling. I haven't had new frames in almost six years so I was way overdue. And yeah, I splurged. I didn't buy these because of the brand, but because they turned out to be the most flattering for my face shape. Of the eight pairs of blue frames I tried on (yes, they HAD to be blue), I thought these looked the best on me. Received compliments from the get-go. My SIL says she likes them because they show off more of my face, particularly my eyes. (And yeah, looking at recent photos with my old glasses, my eyes do look a little smaller, or like my face is obstructed by the old frames.)

Here's a closeup. Aren't they pretty!

Dress: Ya Los Angeles via ModCloth | Sweater: Urban Outfitters | Tights: Foot Traffic via Sockdreams | Shoes: Fluevog Jen via Amazon

This is a terrible photo taken of an outfit that was actually much cuter in person. Wore it for two parties one Saturday earlier this month. I was inspired to put it together because of the color of my glasses. But the lighting was bad at the time (sun too bright) so you can't see much detail, including how utterly adorable the shoes are!, and my hair was messed up completely by the wind (wind is the enemy here in the high desert).

Here's a better photo of me with calm hair and wearing my new glasses, at my family birthday lunch. Also, I love this photo with me and my guys; we don't get to do a lot of family photos, just the three of us. Thanks to my brother for taking the pic.

xo, Gladys

Super Liz on a Night out

So, hi there. Yes, I'm still around. (A theme seems to be emerging around here ... hopefully it won't continue.) I almost can't believe that the last time I posted was in late January, but to be fair it's been a busy couple of months. There were lots of birthday parties to attend, including my son's 6th birthday for which we threw two parties (one was just for family), and almost every weekend since the start of February has been taken up. I'm still volunteering at my son's kindergarten class; I've added to my weekly workout schedule -- one hour of yoga, one hour walking, and at least an hour of Zumba; also, and this is big, I'm back to working on my dissertation, yay!

Sure, I've been on the computer and online as per my usual, but the only thing I can think of that happened back in January that may have had something to do with the last two months of radio silence here was the airing of Sherlock's Season 3 on PBS -- after which I became slightly obsessed with the show and the actor who plays Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch. I'd been a fan of the show since I saw the first two seasons on Netflix in late 2012 or early 2013. But then Star Trek into Darkness happened. And, um, this, this, and this. Also, his voice should be illegal, especially when it's speaking poetry or narrating over the purrs of Jaguar engines. But what really clinched it was watching his interviews on YouTube (try 1, 2, 3, 4), and I loved this really long interview that's not on YouTube. I have had crushes on the smartest boys in class since I was a little kid, and that man is intelligent and eloquent as all get out, even in silly interviews. He's also wonderfully humble. Then he tempers the effect with some goofiness here and there so you know he's just a smart, normal guy with nerdy tendencies. Come on, I'm sapiosexual. So maybe you can understand why I've spent whatever time online I have on that? As I can attest, it's the perfect way to procrastinate! :-)

BUT ANYWAY. Hope you're having a happy spring so far! I thought I'd break my radio silence by posting a recent "photo shoot" of me dressed up for a ladies' night out.

Top: Vivace via Amazon | Jeans: Ann Taylor LOFT | Shoes: Fluevog Liz (Kitschy Kitschy Boom Boom family)

I'm trying something new, posing like this. I want to branch out from my usual tilted-head, hand-on-hip, and big-smile poses, which I have to admit works most of the time (and yeah, see below). I thought I'd do something superhero-ish for a bit -- Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Storm, take your pick. The extra two inches from these delicious heels made my legs look a tad more lithe and long, if I do say so myself, and I thought that deserved a superhero pose. Super Liz! Love them.

Comfy and beautiful Liz heels. Great for dancing; I just wish we had better clubs in this town! Or at least clubs where my friends and I didn't feel too old, and grossed out by some of the things people do when they're drunk and, um, libidinous. My friends and I are now determined to have some summer nights of dancing together to our favorite music. E is planning to rent a dance floor for some family parties, so we'll have at least a couple of weekends to make it happen.

On E: Top: DKNY | Jeans: via Sears | Shoes: Fluevog Luxon (Hopeful family)

And here is beautiful E with her princess hair, looking smoking hot in this fun outfit. She continues her quest for health and fitness and is, as you can see, succeeding extraordinarily. :-) Here's to more fun outings. (And I promise to post on them later.)

xo, Gladys

Still Around, Still Fluevogin'

At the Fluevog L.A. store, trying on some amazing Spring 2014 shoes -- on my feet are the Joys (not yet available online) and the tomato red next to those are the Careys. Top: Pink Owl Apparel via ModCloth | Skinny jeans: LOFT | Shoes: I wore my blue faux snakeskin Fluevog Amies to the store (via Amazon)

Sorry for the radio silence. I haven't forgotten about this blog, but I've recently been over at the For the Love of Vogs site reviewing the first of the new Spring 2014 shoes! Plus there's a crazy CRAZY sale going on right now for last season's shoes. You know I had to at least check it out!

I've also been a little busy with my schoolwork (yay!) and the rest of life, but whaddya know, right when things were settling into a groove and I was finally ready to sit down and blog again, my laptop started going on the fritz. Argh! I'll have to take it in and I really hope it's a simple fix. It makes me jittery to be away from my laptop for long. Addicted much? Yup!

In the meantime, I can still get online, so maybe I'll try to post little things until the laptop issue is settled. 'Til then, enjoy the eye candy!

xo, Gladys