A New Year Wedding Celebration

One of the first important things I did this new year was attend the joyful occasion of my dear friend Joanne's wedding celebration. She and Jose are such an inspirational couple. I love how simultaneously fun and nerdy and cool they are together. Being a part of the celebration felt like falling in love again!

They asked their guests to come in fancy vintage wear, from the decade of our choice. The happy couple looked amazing in their finery ... including Fluevogs, of course. :-) My little family and I did the 1940s, also with Fluevogs (no pic of my husband, alas, but he wore his fanciest Fluevogs, the black Wisdoms).

First dance

My little guy and I hanging out. Yes, those are flamingos on my dress! He's wearing a WWII London evacuee costume (I know, so awkward, but I had to get him period clothes at the last minute). The googly eyes didn't come with the costume; those were from Shirl. :)

The Fluevog ladies after dancing. The bride replaced her Vogs with the most adorable bunny slippers.
My outfit details: Dress: Tatyana via ModCloth | Cardi: LOFT | Shoes: Fluevog Liz

I must add, the music that evening was fantastic. Their DJ did an '80s mix with a few songs from other decades thrown in, and it was consistently good. I was on my feet sweating off the food and wine almost the whole time!

Congratulations to the happy couple. Here's to many more years of joy to come!

xo, Gladys

New Year's Resolutions

So I shared this great video produced by Dr. Mike Evans on the effectiveness of New Year's resolutions exactly a couple of years ago, but it deserves to be seen again: "You are 10 times more likely to stick with a change made at the New Year." There may be a couple of reasons for this. The video is quick and informative, so give it a (re-)watch.



It seems that every time I make New Year's resolutions (serious ones that I write down rather than just tell people about offhandedly), I actually do stick to them for at least 6 months. And yes, changing habits a little at a time makes a difference.

This coming year, my resolutions focus on practicing and improving my writing. I've spent the past year helping students work on their writing skills. It's my turn to level up.

1. I'm planning to start this Jane-a-Day 5-year daily journal that uses Jane Austen's writings as prompts for very brief daily musings. I received it as a present a couple of years ago, but I could never get my act together. I start it in 2016. It requires just a quick sentence per day, so it shouldn't be too difficult to keep up (and yet I'm still probably going to miss days here and there).
2. I've also decided that November is a bad time to write a novel when you're teaching three classes, hence NaNoWriMo is not going to happen for me during their official month. But I'm happy to start a daily 30-minute writing habit, whether it's writing something new or revising/editing. But the writing habit has to be focused on a creative work rather than my journal, blog, or academic work.
3. However, it wouldn't be good to ignore my academic work. I have an essay that was accepted for publication (!!) so I'll be working on revising that once I get the readers' notes from the editors. I also want to write at least one essay on my new long-term project that I can submit for publication somewhere.
4. I've asked my significant other to get the writer's app Scrivener for me as a present so that I can revise my writing in a more orderly manner.

Looking at this list, I'm excited. For #2, I don't expect to write anything publishable. I just need the practice so that I can improve. (I tell my students this all the time -- writing is recursive. So you need to write, revise, revise again, get feedback, write some more, revise again, get more feedback, revise again, get even more feedback, and, if you're lucky, finally edit.) I'll need to ask someone to read a draft, which will be scary, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I also have to add a #5: the usual resolution to improve my health. In my case, I've gained quite a bit of uncomfortable weight, which I'll blame on teaching. I'm not a freak about becoming skinny, but teaching really screws up my daily life. For one thing, it's crazy how sedentary it all is. I stand for hours at a time when I'm teaching. However, my campus is not only super small but it's completely flat. There are no acres of hills for me to run across just to make it to my next class or appointment. Also, I can't tell you how much time I spend sitting so that I can grade all the writing I have to assign. Whew.

For another thing, I'm always up super late working on my class prep. I've mentioned before that I need to work on not changing up so much of my syllabi. In any case, when I don't get enough sleep, it causes a cascade of problems: I get hungry when I should be sleeping, I'm more likely to choose poorly (sugary and/or carb-y things), and my body doesn't have enough time to repair itself which leads to bloating and inflammation. Long story short, I'm not healthy at the end of a semester. It's definitely time to harness the power of a New Year's resolution to change things!

Anyway, good luck on crafting your own resolutions! Here's to an amazing new year. May it be peaceful, kind, and righteous.

xo, Gladys

New Year's Healthy Resolution

Happy New Year, everyone!

Like everyone else and their mom, one of my New Year's resolutions this 2014 is to get healthy and fit. Since last summer, I've been doing yoga once a week and Zumba with friends every other week or so. When the swimming season ended, these two activities kept me on track. I also started logging my food and exercise on MyFitnessPal.com, which was easy to do with my iPhone (with the bar code scanning). And it all worked: I stopped eating such huge portions, dropped some excess weight, and toned up my arms and especially my legs. Even my waistline shrank a little, though not to 2011 and 2012 levels.

But also like everyone else and their mom, I slacked off around November when the holidays rolled around. I didn't stop doing yoga or Zumba, but I did quit logging my food on MyFitnessPal. I started eating whatever sugary and grain/carb-y thing people offered, and I bought and ate such items for myself even though I knew they would give me gas and bloating later on. (For me, pasta is a huge culprit.) I didn't do any extra workouts to compensate for extra calories coming in. Even worse, I took a couple weeks off from any aerobic activity. My skin started to break out severely from all the cheap chocolate I was stuffing in my face (cheap because they're made up more of sugar and milk than the good stuff, real chocolate). Let's just say I wasn't at my best for most of December.

Thankfully, the week between Christmas and New Year's gave me some time to reflect on how I wanted to get back on track. I've been a fan of the Primal (paleo-ish) living philosophy for years now, but to be honest I've had trouble with the "move more" part. I was always athletic growing up, but it was never about disciplining my body; it was about fun. Moving more as an adult takes a lot more effort and discipline, especially with a child around (strangely enough). If I want to work out, I have to budget the time for myself, something I haven't had a lot of practice doing because I've always preferred my physical activity to be either purposeful or FUN (hence the fact that I don't run or do CrossFit -- those aren't fun to me). When I was in school, it was all decided for me: move intensely during P.E. or track or volleyball or weightlifting practice. In college, I didn't really exercise but I did have to walk up and down hills across a huge campus to get to classes and work. Now I'm a stay-at-home mom trying to finish a huge writing project. All of these factors put together have led me to a mostly-sedentary life. Yoga, while I love it, can only do so much with weight-maintenance, especially if it's just once a week. I need to move more. Period.

The good news: my younger sister splurged on all her siblings for Christmas and bought us cool FitBit fitness trackers that you can wear on your wrist all day (you can take it in the shower and you can sleep with it to track your sleep patterns, too). You can see me wearing my Flex wristband in the photos here. The system displays your daily stats on the computer or smartphone. It's the same idea behind logging your food intake, to make you more aware of how much you're moving around. And if you make your daily goals, your wristband buzzes you and on the stats page you get big green happy faces that say "Hooray!" :-) I know it sounds cheesy but it feels pretty good to see it. Another neat thing is that the app links with MyFitnessPal, so you can tell at any given time how many calories you've taken in versus how many calories you've burned. One consequence of this? I've now done several quick workouts (15-30 minutes long) late at night before the stats turn over to the next day! Haha.

It's early days yet, but so far it's fun and interesting to track all of this info. Even if I don't do it for the whole year, at least I'm getting a good sense of my baseline, and for now I feel good about taking control over my habits. I started a week ago, on New Year's Day, and it was kind of a scary revelation to see just how much food and snacks I had gotten used to eating (I was trying hard not to waste all the leftovers in the fridge) and how little I was moving around to compensate. I knew I was bloated and my pants didn't fit as well as they used to, but I didn't realize how badly I was doing. I really fell off the wagon! So far, though, it's been working. I'm down half a pound already from last week, mostly from losing some of the water my body has been hoarding, and my belly looks and feels a little less puffy.

My best "move more" day was last Saturday, when my little family went hiking so my husband could test out his new GPS tracker. (We like our devices in this house, apparently.) We did a 3.7 mile hike at the famous Vasquez Rocks that included some steep hills. Even the 5-year-old managed it. He got tired midway through, but we took several breaks, drank water regularly, and had snacks. We made it in about two and a half hours, and it felt good. I probably would have preferred moving a little faster and maybe not having to push/carry my kid up and down the hills (it was a little scary a few times), but it was a wonderful experience overall. And it was literally all about taking small steps to get to your goal.

And that leads me to make this corollary to my New Year's resolution of getting more fit: I want to be smarter about how I do it. More mindful. Hiking or just walking with my family would be one way to make that happen. It felt as good as when I meditate during yoga. And so far, an extra 15-30 minutes of Zumba in the evenings (using YouTube videos) has been pretty fun. To be honest, I'm not a diehard fan of doing a full hour of non-stop Zumba the way I do it with my friends (I get exhausted by the 30-minute mark and that's no fun); I just like dancing with friends because of the great company, and sometimes we have brunch together. But our Zumba sessions also aren't as regular as I would like. Hopefully, the quicker version I do at home will be more sustainable on a daily basis and thus do a better job of keeping me on track.

I wanted to end with this photo of one of the huge outcroppings that we saw on our hike. It immediately made me think that a sperm whale or a blue whale had become petrified into rock. Of course not really, but I thought it looked cool. Doesn't that look like a sperm whale's eye to you?

xo, Gladys

Fifties-Inspired Fluevogs

Check these off my "What to Wear this Summer" list! These fun Fluevog saddle shoes, included in the previous post on unworn-to-be-worn shoes, actually saw some action last Saturday at a family party in Long Beach. It might seem like I cheated, but since I wrote the previous post (and just scheduled it to be published later) before wearing these out, I say it still counts! :-)

Gingham stretch button-down: New York & Co. | Capri jeans: Sonoma via Kohl's | Socks: Gold Toe (girls) via Target | Shoes: Fluevog Danielson (Frontiers family) (black/white still available and on SALE)

(Hmm, I think next time I wear this outfit, I'll skip the socks.) I wanted to wear the shoes with a 1950s vibe, so I wore the shirt even though it was a little too warm for the summer weather. I also wish my pants had been high-waisted instead, but at least I have a sewing pattern to make my own high-waisted denim capris (that hopefully fit better and end at the right length down my legs to avoid making them look shorter than they are). In fact, my outfit choice was inspired by this pic from the Butterick pattern I purchased earlier this year:

(I'd love to have legs that long!) This Butterick outfit would be perfect to make for the summer since the fabrics used are thinner than what's in my closet right now. But honestly I was just excited to wear the Fluevog shoes. Wondering now what to wear them with next.... If only I had a poodle skirt! But rolled-up jeans and thin oxford shirt would work, too. Or a fun red shirt and khaki shorts. I'd like to take these out dancing sometime. ;-)

xo, Gladys

P.S. The number 50 is coincidentally significant today. This is my 250th post on this blog! Can you believe it? I can't. Whoa.

Colors of Spring

pickled radishes | party balloons
Fluevog sandals (recently sold) | mandarin oranges from our CSA box

Lately I've been surrounded by spring colors -- a welcome reminder of the new season ahead.

xo, Gladys

Sewing PSA

There is currently a $1.88 pattern sale going on at Butterick/McCall's/Vogue Patterns online, only through this Thursday, February 28, so get cracking!

Check out the Retro Buttericks on sale. I heard about the sale from one of the designers (Gretchen of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing). Love her newest patterns (see one of them above), and I'm definitely getting them. I'm actually feeling a little overwhelmed going through everything. Besides the retro patterns, I'm getting patterns for kids, especially boys. Have fun!

xo, Gladys

Party Ideas

My son's 5th birthday is coming up in less than a month and we're still trying to figure out the theme. Superheroes? Dinosaurs? Crafts? Spring and the outdoors? One of his classmates just had a Lego birthday recently or it would have been our first choice. Of course we might just rehash it. Our kid lives and breathes Legos on a daily basis. Last year we had two parties, two piñatas, and two themes (Lego Star Wars and Mickey Mouse). This year, I feel burned out. My husband says we should just do a "generic" party theme -- bright colors, balloons, and a cake. I'm thinking maybe we should also add lots of prizes so that every kid goes home with a prize that they won (maybe instead of the usual party favor bags).

Anyway, all I know for sure is that we're having cupcakes AND ice cream cake.

A very cool homemade cake from his classmate's Lego-themed birthday a couple of weeks ago

One of the coolest things I've seen in a while (except it's really expensive for a polyester shirt)

We saw this at Costco and were sorely tempted. Sometimes I think Costco will be the death of our family wallet. (Fluevog will be the death of my personal one.)

And here's a bonus photo of the kiddo with some friends:

Hanging out and contra dancing with a few of his closest friends

xo, Gladys

Doctor Who Tees

I have a confession. I've been buying fan-art Doctor Who t-shirts almost whenever I come across them. It's all Facebook's fault. While on FB one day in November, I noticed one of the ads with a Doctor Who-themed tee on it, and of course I clicked. The link took me to a site called TeeFury, which sells a different t-shirt design each day for $10. You only have 24 hours to buy that particular t-shirt. For one day after that, if there are still some left, you can buy the t-shirt for $13 ... but there is a new t-shirt design on the front page. The thing is, it's a geek/nerd/fangirl's paradise for t-shirts, with lots of clever mashups and fantastic illustration, everything from Star Trek to Star Wars, Adventure Time, X-Files, Indiana Jones, Breaking Bad, Hello Kitty, Harry Potter, Big Bang Theory, and lots of other cultural phenomena that I'm less familiar with. Check out their gallery of past designs. It's insane.

(Click on the images below to go to the TeeFury site.)

So I snagged the one that Facebook linked to that day -- with the TARDIS framed by all of the Doctor's enemies -- and I've been hooked since. I've bought four other tees to date. That's a lot of graphic tees for someone like me who usually acquires that many over the course of a year!

One of them made me laugh: Daleks, the Doctor's worst enemy, pretending to be the Doctor of different incarnations. I can just imagine that loud, grating, robotic voice plaintively shouting "Im-per-son-ate! Im-per-son-ate!" (instead of the usual "Ex-ter-min-ate!" in case you didn't know).

This tee I oh-so-generously gifted to Shirl, one of the MotleyFlue, who is also a DW fan like me. The tee depicts the verrry-hot David Tennant as the 10 of Hearts (being the 10th Doctor). Swoon.

My most recent purchase was a twofer, since it was a competition between two Doctor Who tees -- the one to the left is called "Bad Landing" and below that is "Time Fiction" (after Pulp Fiction, get it? *g*). I liked them both and since they were the usual $10 each I decided to go for it.

Given that the official DW tees from ThinkGeek cost twice as much (and the designs aren't as clever as TeeFury's fan-made designs), these are a steal. Plus I like the feel of the fabric itself, which is a soft stretchy cotton knit. I'm usually a size Small but I buy the women's tee in Medium, and it's comfortable and a little loose (which is what I prefer in the "baby tee" style) rather than form-fitting.

There are even a few DW designs that I missed and sort of regret:

Most recently the River Song tee. I love River Song's character. I wasn't in love with this particular design (it barely looks like her) but there are so few RS items that depict her face/body that now I wish I'd gotten it. Oh well.

Then there's this totally adorable design made to look like a knit sweater pattern. It would have been the perfect cheeky graphic tee for winter. I'm not sure how I missed this but I'm sorry about it.

And this one didn't strike me as that interesting at first, but 1) it's a different color than the usual black or navy blue of the other TeeFury tees offered and 2) I'm a fan of French, of David Tennant's Doctor (who said this phrase all the time), and of the typography wrapped around the sonic screwdriver. Why in the world didn't I buy it? I think maybe it was because it was too subtle. At the time it came out, I probably wanted my graphic tees to loudly and obviously proclaim my love for DW. Now I wish I had this one as well.

And by the way, I did buy some Doctor Who fabric from Spoonflower in December, just a couple of fat quarters (this and this). I still haven't figured out what to do with them -- people have made aprons, clutches, purses, and tote bags among other things. We'll see what finally inspires me. :-)

xo, Gladys

Sewing Inspiration: Enchantment under the Sea Dress

One of my goals this year is to finally make a dress for myself (my Halloween Regency dress doesn't count because I can't wear it more than once a year).

After buying Stitch Savvy: 25 Skill-Building Projects to Take Your Sewing Technique to the Next Level by Deborah Moebes of Whipstitch, I think I've found the perfect candidate. It will be great for spring and summer. I mean, look at it!

Granted, I'll probably make the option with the straps. After having a kid, my body just ain't built the way it used to be. ;-) This is made with regular quilting cotton, too, so it'll be something that won't stretch my limits too much but will still be lovely and fitted to my measurements. Looking forward to it!

xo, Gladys

Joanne Models Her Apron

I was planning to share outfit photos from Hawai'i on this post, but Joanne sent me pix of her modeling the reversible cupcake apron that I sewed up for her housewarming last month, and I couldn't wait to share!

Photos courtesy of Joanne's significant other :-)

Isn't she ridiculously adorable? Besides being beautiful (oh that skin! those dimples!), J-Ro, as we call her, has one of the best smiles of anyone I've ever met, hands down. Maybe she's a second to my son's smiles, though. :-)

Plus I love her outfit. Check out those burgundy Fluevog Benatars!

I'm very happy that she likes her apron. It looks fabulous on her, if I do say so myself! It's a great pattern that seems able to flatter many different body types. I'm actually thinking of turning it into a dress sometime since I'd prefer a dress to yet another apron in my house. Hmm, a reversible dress? Maybe not, but let me see what I can do....

Which reminds me, I've been working on a dress project (for myself for Halloween) that is forcing me to learn how to edit patterns for specific shapes/sizes. One thing I'd really love sometime is to get an adjustable adult dress form to help with fitting. The dress is pretty elaborate -- it requires far more than the apron pattern, for instance -- and it feels like a true learning process even if the specific techniques aren't completely new to me. This means that it is fun and rewarding but also time-consuming.

It's the time-consuming part that stresses me out since I have a deadline for it. However, after two days of ignoring household chores and leaving the care of the kiddo to my awesome husband, the dress is currently wearable, if still sleeveless, and in fact I wore it out last night to an early Halloween party and received compliments. (Compliments are good. They keep me practicing my sewing skills!) Anyway, more on this project sometime before Halloween.

xo, Gladys

My Hardest and Best Job

I confess that it's not easy for me, being the mom to this little guy, especially when he gets a cold not once but twice during the first two weeks of school and the whining never seems to stop.

But then I think of how much he likes to sing and dance to songs we both enjoy, like The Killers' "Read My Mind." And I remember how he couldn't help breaking into a big smile during the photo shoot above, after I asked him to think of a silly pirate joke.

I really love this dude.

xo, Gladys

Sewing To-Do

Uh-oh. Guess who splurged during a recent pattern sale? I'm pretty excited about these, actually. I'll be glad once my gift sewing is over for the month so that I can sew for me again. I haven't done that in quite a while. In fact, I want to learn how to sew more adult patterns and get more techniques under my belt so that I can start drafting patterns based on my own designs. (!) I finally want to say "Yes" whenever my family and friends ask if I made what I'm wearing. (How nice of them to assume that my handiwork would look in any way professional!)

Also, I seriously need to cut down my fabric stash. When I first started sewing last summer, I went a little crazy then as well and bought yards and yards of gorgeous fabric, thinking that I'd be making tons of skirts and possibly dresses for myself. Well, that didn't happen. I made skirts and I even made a halter dress as a gift, but all that lovely patterned cloth is still folded up in a box waiting for me to become a better sewer. Now I feel (almost) ready to take on making a dress for myself and ensuring the perfect fit. I even bought Sarah Veblen's Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting.

As for the rest, I got a bunch of really pretty flannel fabric on sale earlier this month and I think the flannel would work well as pajamas, or maybe even as a fun cloche.... I bought the Regency dress pattern because I've always wanted to wear something like that. Unfortunately it requires quite a bit of fabric and probably more skill than I currently have. If I try to make it for Halloween, I can use some cheap broadcloth to make a kind of wearable muslin as I practice the necessary techniques.... Getting excited about this!

xo, Gladys

Sewing Tutorials Roundup

If you're on Pinterest, you might have exponentially increased your to-do list like I have. Over the past couple of months, I've accumulated links to some awesome sewing tutorials that I want to try by the end of summer. Thought I'd share some of them here, in case you're in need of inspiration and encouragement during these "dog days." Just click on the photos to go to the tutorials.

I want to make these adorable newborn pants for my brother's twin boys who are due to be born in late September.

Here's another project I want to do for my twin nephews. I think I'll have to make two!

I love the idea of these fruit stripe skirts, and I'm thinking the watermelon skirt will be the first one I try.

Although I don't like the idea of cutting into perfectly good pillowcases, this tote bag made from a pillowcase would be great if I could find a pillowcase pattern that I really loved.

I'd like to try out this hemming/finishing method, called a lettuce hem, on a quick skirt using my sewing machine (no serger here).

This is a cute and free pattern + tutorial for a shirt or dress for a 12-18 month toddler (girl). I don't know any kids that age currently, but I'm going to make this anyway! I think I'll use two different fabrics for the circle neck and the body.

And finally, here are a couple of links to sewing roundups:

1) 10 easy skirt tutorials [for adults]

2) free patterns from Oliver + S!

Happy sewing!

xo, Gladys

Pin Up Maker

A dress that I want in real life

I just had to share this nifty game with you! Create an adorable pin up girl HERE or HERE! You can even download the finished product to your computer to keep! Thanks to the talented artist who created this game, Kei Phillips, with the help of game developers at Doll Divine. I loved it so much I had to make more than one pin up ... and I've only started with an avatar that most closely resembles me. There are so many more options to choose from to make a pin up doll, especially the fun vintage hair!

Bringing a little bit of Xmas in July (and yeah, that's a chocolate milkshake haha!)

Imagining a night of dancing

Trying to replicate one of my favorite bathing suits (see second photo here). There was a plaid option but I liked the gingham better.

I MUST thank my dear friend M, who told me about a fun Jane Austen heroine quiz, Which Austen Heroine Are You? (I'm Anne by the way!), on Strangeblog ... and several surfing clicks later, we discovered a link to the pin up maker game! Below I'll share the pin up of herself that M managed to make before she had to go home. I love her creativity and fun sense of style!

xo, Gladys

Jennifer Crusie Crochets

It's not everyday you find out that one of your favorite authors -- who wrote the most perfect romantic comedy novel ever -- crochets ... much less that SHE CROCHETS STEAMPUNK DRAGONS AND BUNNY SLIPPERS. She says she did this as part of her brainstorming/story-making process and calls it "yarnstorming." (Sounds like barnstorming, ha!) Could she get any cooler?

Oh wait, you haven't seen how amazing her crocheted creatures are:

Nelson, the dragon

Lefty and Bob, the bunny slippers

These guys, in her story, were real people whose souls/hearts were trapped inside these items by a mad, mad inventor. So, yeah. Jenny Crusie just got that much cooler. Way cooler. Too bad I can't get Nelson the dragon included when I buy her books. LOVE HIM. And I totally want to read that (not-yet-written) steampunk book right now. :-)

Go read her super-fascinating blog post with a couple more photos of her fabulous crochet yarnstorming projects. I wish I could undertake projects like this that helped me write that novel I've been meaning to write forever now. Sigh.

xo, Gladys

My Crafty Better Half: Fir Cone Square Shawl

A few months ago, I mentioned the large shawl that my husband knitted for his mother about eight or nine years ago (btw, I said it was Irish but it's actually a Scottish pattern). It is still lying in pride of place on a couch in her living room, never used and rarely touched. However, I asked to take photos of it so that we'd have a record of what it looks like. I want to share them with you here.

This is my 6-foot-tall father-in-law holding up the unfolded shawl. This gives you an idea of how large it really is.

As you can see, the pattern is very complicated. It's hard to imagine how someone, just a few months after learning how to knit, could put together such a huge and complex piece like this. But he prepared for it so methodically. He found the pattern he wanted -- the Fir Cone Square Shawl -- in a library book, Folk Shawls: Twenty-five Knitting Patterns and Tales from around the World by Cheryl Oberle. With some cheap yarn, he made test squares of the border and part of the body to make sure that he was doing the pattern properly. He had trouble at the corners but he figured out how to make the corrections himself. After that, he bought the expensive yarn that he wanted and he set to knitting, several hours a day while in the middle of looking for a job at the time.

It is a stunning work of art and craft. If he hadn't gotten a job that required us to move, we wouldn't have packed up all of our knitting needles and yarn, and he may have continued with his knitting and made more such pieces. At some point, I'd like to take up knitting with him again, and this time I'd ask him to help me choose more interesting patterns than a dinky little triangle shawl that I made over and over again with different cheap yarns. Geez, the difference between our knitting sensibilities was embarrassing. O.o

xo, Gladys