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

Happy Snapshots: Summer 2015

I went to Western Europe for the first time this past summer. I went with one of my sisters to London (with brief visits to Bath and Cardiff, Wales), Edinburgh, and Paris. It was a very quick but lovely trip. Here are some photos!

Requisite tourist-y photo with the London Eye in the background (on the Jubilee Bridge)

My younger sister and I got lost while trying to walk to London's West End, and we managed to run into the little cul-de-sac where part of the Philippine Embassy was. Of course we had to take a dorky pic.

I met my friend B at the Tate Modern Museum and afterward we walked across the Millennium Bridge toward St. Paul's Cathedral.

A "street" performance in front of the British National Museum (not an actual street there)

Are you surprised that we made it to Cardiff, Wales, to check out the Doctor Who Experience/Museum? Loved seeing a life-size police box in person.

This was the site of so many great Doctor Who episodes (the Russell Davies years).

This was taken outside the Roman Baths in Bath. The walls activated my trypophobia a bit, but I made sure not to look too closely!

Lovely Fluevogs (Arabella) by the bath

Tea time at the famous Pump Room

More tea, this time in Edinburgh, Scotland

Walking up the Granny Steps towards the Edinburgh Castle

Taking selfies in front Notre Dame just to show we were there. There was no way we were going to wait in those huge lines to get inside. I know. We made really bad tourists.

Posing at one of the many bridges in central Paris. Check out the locks.

Sorry this was basically just a photo dump. I don't have much time to write a longer reflection on the trip, though, to be honest, I probably need to take the time to reflect on it more. I came back from the trip and had to start teaching less than a week later. I was pretty jet-lagged for the first few weeks of the fall semester and I'm not sure that I've quite recovered yet! But it was great to be there. I even saved my sister from getting pick-pocketed/mugged. I want to return with my husband next time.

xo, Gladys

Happy Snapshots: Spring 2015

This past June and July have been a little busier for me than in past years. I was able to meet a writing deadline this week, so I'm feeling pretty happy with myself. Note that I don't expect anything to come out of it; I did submit something for publication (academic), but it's the completion of a writing project that is always a victory for me, even if it's minor.

As I sorta promised, here are some pics from our Colorado vacation. We stayed at a rented guest house on a crazy-beautiful 17-acre place in Durango. This was the yard, you know, where a herd of deer would just hang out and eat the grass and gallop into the forest when they heard a car coming down the long driveway:

Herd of deer

Me on a horse for the first time ever! My companion was named Cielo and he LOOOOOVED to eat. He was big and slow. (Btw, I wish I'd worn a better hat, but I don't have any cowboy hats.)

My little guy (waving) on his horse named Burrito

I love that he's still so cuddly.

It was a nice vacation, although I was scrambling to finish grading during a good chunk of the week. I did finish grading on time, though. And it was a nice place to relax outside of reading student papers.

Here are a couple of other photos from earlier this year. This one with M and E was a selfie taken after we watched the musical play, Pride and Prejudice, at the La Mirada Theatre. It was really well-done and really fun. The three of us went as a birthday celebration for me. What a great ladies' night out!

Do you notice that my front teeth look more prominent? I started wearing Invisalign braces back in February, and with the realignment, you can see that my teeth are wider than they used to look. Yes, I'm finally straightening my teeth in my thirties.

Finally, this photo is of a pair of cool socks that my older sister got for me as a thank-you. They're all titles of banned books. What a super cool way to celebrate such great books!

So you see, I have been taking photos and doing other stuff besides teaching and grading. I wish I had more time for the blog -- it's a good way to practice writing and journaling -- but I hope this will do for now. Have a great rest of the summer!

Gladys

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

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

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

Early Halloween Costumes

This Halloween season is very unlike last year's. My son still hasn't made a final decision on what he wants to be, and I'm not slaving over sewing costumes from scratch this time around. But! I think we've found a couple of good ideas that we'll probably use for the day-of next week!

The monthly contra dance that we attend was last Saturday, and costumes were encouraged in honor of the holiday month. Almost everyone came dressed as something, and it was fun to see what people came up with. (One glaring exception was my husband, who didn't even bother to wear an orange shirt like he'd done in the past. Oy. But at least he came to dance!) I had spent the previous week looking through old photos on my computer, trying to transfer them to an external hard drive so that I could free up some space on my increasingly-slow laptop. I saw that I had worn this pink-and-white confection of a dress a couple of years ago for another costume party one summer, and it gave me the idea to turn myself into a doll. (Sooo original, I know.)

Dress: Tara Starlet via Amazon | Tights: Sockdreams | Shoes: oooold Steve Madden

You probably can't tell very well, but I drew large eyelashes on my eyelids with an eyeliner. The pink cheek blush was face paint provided by E and applied by MP in the church bathroom. (I had a semi-bright red lipstick on earlier in the evening.) I love the effect! Too bad I didn't have a wig, too, maybe Raggedy Ann red hair. Though I think the clincher was the white tights. If I hadn't had those, this look would have fallen flat. As it was, I got a lot of compliments from the other dancers, male and female, old and young alike. :-) The major advantage to the outfit? It was perfectly comfortable to dance in.

As for my little guy, for about a week I had the idea to get him some nerdy plastic glasses so we could turn him into Clark Kent. He already had a Superman shirt that he wears casually. Add a button-down and nice pants and PRESTO! Super easy Halloween costume. The trouble was that he didn't want to wear any of it. Sigh. It was touch-and-go for about half an hour before the dance, but we managed to bribe/finagle/threaten him into wearing the outfit. And what the heck was the problem? Isn't the effect adorable? Kids!

We got the glasses from Party City.

The line dancers. My kid didn't have a partner -- Daddy had asked first -- so he shadowed me.

So here are the ladies all dressed up! MP, I believe, was going with a mashup-1960s/1970s-mod(ish) theme. With the glasses, she looked like a hot teacher! lol (She said she would have worn contacts but her eyes were not in the mood that night.) And E went with a pirate theme this time around -- a fabulous excuse to wear her gorgeous new Fluevog boots! They both look fantastic.

Land ahoy!

I really liked this profile shot of E! I made her pose like that even though it cracked her up. One last look at those boots (which by the way are ON SALE)!! Thanks to E for providing the photos in this post from her iPhone. (My iPhone is an older model and the photos came out way too dark.)

xo, Gladys

Goodbye, Summer 2013

The weather here has cooled off a bit this past week -- a welcome change -- and it reminded me that summer will officially end this weekend (tomorrow, to be exact). I know I haven't been posting very much lately, but the last month of summer didn't go completely undocumented. I spent a lot of time with family (and friends, too, although I don't have many photos with them). Here are some of my favorite shots. SPOILER: Babies and cutie-pie kiddos galore!

My sister-in-law, my mom, and my delicious twin nephews

My kiddo's new trick and new souvenir tee shirt from his maternal grandmother (she went on a Scandinavia/Baltic Sea cruise)

The kiddo beating on a cloud piñata -- go get 'em!!

Delicious nephew napping on his dad, my brother

The twins again -- these two are not identical, but you can DEFINITELY tell that they're brothers.

Part of my growing family at Oxnard State Beach Park. Missing from the photo are myself, my husband, my mom, and my parents-in-law.

My favorite photo of me with not only my godson, who totally killed it with this pose, but also my Doctor Who paraphernalia (see the top of the TARDIS peeking out of my hand and my shirt?) LOL

Playing hilarious water games at my twin second cousins' (twin nieces') birthday party

The lovely bell peppers are from our backyard garden; the rest of the produce is from our CSA box.

A fantastic homemade meal with my mom and older sister: crab cake with tartar sauce, and crab-and-lobster omelet

Paleo chocolate cake with chocolate icing for my dear friend MP's (belated) birthday. We celebrated on Labor Day, and yes, I made this! It was yummy, but I'll note that the icing melts FAST in summer heat. Recipe here. I doubled it to make two layers.

xo, Gladys