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

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

Sockdreams Feature

On me and E: Modcloth dresses | Sockdreams socks and tights | Fluevog boots and maryjanes

This is a week old now but I just wanted to share that one of my recent blog posts was featured on the Sockdreams Tumblr blog!! Both E and I are wearing Sockdreams items in the photo above. (Plus I hadn't realized how well our outfits coordinated with each other that day given the mustard colors in our dresses.) So very exciting!

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

Wild Things

Google Doodle: Lovely tribute to Maurice Sendak for what would have been his 85th birthday (b. June 10, 1928)

Here's to a great, if not wild, Monday and a great week! It's going to be busy for us here. We're getting ready for my son's preschool graduation and a long-awaited vacation with family. I finally get to see my newest nephew, my older sister's second child. We just have to get through this week first!

xo, Gladys

International Fluevog Day on Melrose!

Fluevog Los Angeles "Class Photo" 2013

It was a close call, but last Wednesday, May 15, I made it to the Melrose store in time for the International Fluevog Day class photo at 5:15 pm! They had an awesome professional photographer on site to take the class photo, and he also shot individual/group photos for those who wanted them. Then his assistant immediately printed the photos out for us. (He was a friend of dealer Alice, and once I get his name and website, I'll edit this post!)

I love how the photos turned out. It's amazing what great lighting and a wonderful photographer's eye can do. (These first three photos are scans of the printouts, by the way. The rest of the photos were taken with my iPhone.)

Me in my vintage Natalia maryjanes. Funny story: people kept having mishaps with this table since it was quite unstable. I almost fell off TWICE even though I was told multiple times to be careful, and I would have completely eaten it if it weren't for a wonderful fellow Voger I'd just met, Maggie. Thanks, Maggie, for saving me!

Dealer Kate and me. Sitting down, we managed to minimize the height difference between us. I'm so envious of how tall she is!

Here were some of the treats available, and I confess that I partook of the teal-tinted wine and mini-cupcake! Yum. It was a lovely sweet wine that wasn't very strong at all (good thing since I was driving), but I'm sure it and the little cupcake contributed to the happy vibes I was feeling the whole time. ;-)

The spread

Teal champagne/sparkling wine with cherries

Mini-cupcake with target

I loved seeing the dealers all together (except I didn't see Austyn), who all looked AMAZING, and even Keith who used to work there visited so he could be in the class pic! It was such a great bunch of fun, friendly, interesting Vogers there. We talked about our love for the shoes, commented and gave advice on the shoes we owned or had tried on, and asked what pairs we'd be going home with that day. There was Maggie who was wearing her black/beige Mini | Qtee heels, a gorgeous shoe that I also have in a different colorway. She wasn't sure yet what to get but had the Liz in black/pink as her first choice! There was Shannon, who had rainbow-colored long hair and wore her cheetah Arc | Rainbow boots with a pink, purple, and green outfit. She bought the fantastic purple-and-polka dot 7th Heaven | Derby Swirl boots that I took home last week. Then there was the couple who now have matching Radio | CBC oxfords (different colors), just like my husband and I do!

But aside from their obvious excellent taste in shoes, it was a blast to learn that a few of them were hardcore Doctor Who fans. Dealer Kate made sure I met these awesome ladies. They noticed my TARDIS-encased iPhone, and after a few minutes of conversation we were exchanging emails and cards. Haha! One woman, Maggie, had created a gorgeous, DW-character costume by hand for a DW-themed ball a few weeks ago, and another, Natasha, is actually friends with the current executive producer of the show, Steven Moffat. SAY WHAT?? She says she met him while he was just a writer for the 2005- reboot and was still going to the DW conventions in the U.S. (This is one super-talented writer. He's co-creator of another fantastic show, Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.)

Fluevog pink/grey on SALE | Amazon black and pink/grey colorways

Maggie and I were drooling over Natasha's sample-sale loot, the striking Memories Hi | Keepsake heels in dark-blue suede (or is it velvet?). Her skin isn't that bright white, by the way; the lighting was the only way I could photograph the suede, which unfortunately washed out her skin completely. Anyway, the blue shoes matched her blue floral dress perfectly ... then I realized she was wearing TARDIS-blue all over, including her eyeshadow and nails. I should have guessed she was a Whovian as well as a Voger!

Anyway, enough Doctor Who. This is about Fluevog shoes after all! I ended up re-trying some shoes to figure out which ones I'd take home. First up are better photos of the patent lilac and teal Integrity | Amie flats than I took last time. They're so gorgeous. I know the other MotleyFlue gals aren't big fans of these or any ballet flats, but like I said, I've been converted ... and the patent leather in these beeyootiful colors just grabs me.

Fluevog

Fluevog

And then here are the Big Presence | Faraday slingback oxford heels in the black/gold colorway. Reader Dany asked about these after I posted on the ivory/taupe colorway that amazed all of us a couple of posts ago:

Fluevog | Amazon SALE 32% off

I definitely think the other colorway fits my skin tone better. And yes, after some nudges from the MotleyFlue, I did decide to buy the ivory/taupe Faradays for International Fluevog Day at 15% off! Natasha, who looks great in darker colors, chose the black/gold colorway instead.

In case you were interested, here's a pic of my whole outfit that day. I went for comfort and quirk with my vintage maryjanes and funny illustrated shirt.

My whole outfit, iPhone photo courtesy of my mom.
Top: Fun 2 Fun via ModCloth | Capri jeans: Sonoma via Kohl's | Maryjanes: vintage Fluevog Natalia (Halo family)

To think, I almost didn't make it to the party...! I'd had a rough start to the day, but I'm so glad I was able to go. I missed Mae and Cheryl, both of whom at the last minute couldn't go for different reasons. But I'm glad I could represent the MotleyFlue down here in So Cal. I do love my Melrose peeps. And special shout-out to fantastic Fluevog guru Anthony for hooking me up with my layaways and getting a pair of long-wished-for shoes transferred to L.A. from Minneapolis. I'm crossing my fingers that it works out! I'll post here if/when it happens, so I don't jinx it. :-)

xo, Gladys

Doctor Who Paraphernalia

Happy Friday! It's a silly, geeky post for today. I thought I'd share some of my fun new Doctor Who items in honor of the new episodes in Season 7, which started last Saturday. (I'm very excited about the new companion, Clara, and I can't wait until the episode with River Song, which is supposed to come this season. I'm hoping for some fireworks from that woman!) Anyway, I haven't gone this crazy over collecting paraphernalia since the height of my Harry Potter fangirling in my early twenties. *g* To my growing collection of Doctor Who tees (Teefury), fabric quarters (Spoonflower), TARDIS beach towel, sticky notes (both available at ThinkGeek), iPhone case, and license-plate frame courtesy of my older sister (Amazon), I have recently added these three gems:

River Song's blank journal, in which I must write my own spoilers (ThinkGeek | Amazon)

Journal #2: TARDIS Deluxe Journal (Amazon)

Bigger on the inside? It will be after I start writing in it.

A ridiculously-adorable and quite-unnecessary TARDIS mini-fridge that makes the whooshing sound when you open the door (exclusively at ThinkGeek)

It holds a six-pack -- four on the bottom and two on the rack, lying down. It can also be used to warm food instead. What's really neat about this is that you can bring it on car trips, and it plugs into the cigarette lighter. #WIN

xo, Gladys

Matching Doctor Who Tees

Recently, I took advantage of a "random grab bag" sale (40% off) at TeeFury, my favorite place to get Doctor Who and other nerdy tees. I had no idea what I'd be getting, especially given the huge backlist they have, but I decided to get a shirt for my husband as well. While the tee I received had a pretty cool Futurama theme, my husband's tee turned out to be a match with one of the tees I already owned, the hilarious (and my favorite) Impersonate Doctor Who design. I'd figured there was a good chance one of us would be getting a Doctor Who shirt, but I love that he got this design in particular. :-D

Also, yesterday, I received this awesome license plate frame in the mail. It says, "MY OTHER CAR IS A TARDIS." My older sister, a fellow Whovian (Whovian = Doctor Who fan), said she got it for me as an early birthday present. She got one for herself, too, apparently. A lot of our interactions on Facebook involve sharing Doctor Who memes. I love it! The idea of having this license plate frame on my dinky old Toyota Corolla cracks me up! Thanks, older sis!

xo, Gladys

Superhero Me

I got permission from my dear friend Paola to post this awesome pencil drawing that she quickly sketched out one evening, after we had dinner together at her house, of me and herself as comic superheroes. She said she wanted to make sure I had on some cute heels (per my Fluevog addiction), and she laughed when she pointed out how sassy my pose and outfit were compared to her own more-demure avatar (wearing her favorite type of shoes, oxfords). I totally love it, of course. And let's just say that cuteness and strength aren't mutually exclusive. *grin*

I'll add that when I was at her house, she totally helped me prep for my kiddo's upcoming birthday party with her art/craft skills.

File this under #damnivegottalentedfriends.

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

Space Brogues at the Space Park

We spent a lovely Sunday morning in the park, with a plan to feed the ducks and geese and chaperone the kiddo as he biked around the park's perimeter. We brought the camera, so I got some photos of my outfit as well. (I don't know who that blond kid is. I got photo-bombed!)

Cardi: GAP | T-shirt: Next Level Apparel via California Science Center | Jeans: GAP | Socks: Sockdreams | Shoes: Fluevog Alli (Adrian family)

I rarely wear these shoes, which I bought secondhand via eBay a couple of years ago. I think it's because they take a bit of work to put on (the straps) and are a bit heavy. However, they're quite fun and stompy and have a great profile. I like the brogue look as well. I'm not sure why I thought they'd be appropriate for a morning at the park, but I was able to easily run in them while keeping up with my son on his training-wheels bike.

I'm quite fond of the socks as well. Sometimes I think the design is meant to be abstract daisies, but usually I think of spaceships when I see it. I wore the socks to match one of my newest graphic tees, depicting the retired space shuttle Endeavour, which I bought when we visited the California Science Center late last month. And I wore the tee because the park, which is in an airport, is named after the Apollo space mission.

And you can see part of my TARDIS spaceship iPhone peeking out of my jeans pocket. I'm such a nerd!

ACK! SURROUNDED!

There were hundreds and hundreds of ducks and geese at the park. I won't lie, it got a bit scary at times! Some were quite brazen and crept close to us, not even a foot away, almost the moment they saw the bag with the flour tortillas in it. I even got spanked in the backside when a goose spread its wings as it tried to mark its territory. And some of the taller birds tried to pluck the tortillas right out of my son's hands. Thankfully, however, no one got hurt, and much fun was definitely had. :-)

xo, Gladys