#3: Three Holiday Parties in Four Days

So this was the last party of last week, the one we held at our new house. However, it is our FIRST house party at the new house. Special thanks to my mom and my friend M for helping us de-clutter, sweep, and scrub scrub scrub! You should have seen the place BEFORE all the work they did. Here I am looking like I am hard at work! Not really. These photos are deceiving. I was having a ton of fun, perhaps a little discombobulated by the number of people at the house (9 adults, and 10 kids running around so it felt like the adults were outnumbered TWICE OVER!), but for the most part everyone else was pitching in and I was just trying to make sure that folks knew where the utensils, dishes, and bowls were.

The menu for the night was homemade individual pizzas and yummy cake to belatedly celebrate our friend E's late-November birthday. M made her dangerously-addicting chocolate cake, A.K.A. crack cake, and I made a yellow rum cake using the recipe that E's mom gave me. We only ended up cutting the chocolate cake, but I sent E home with at least half of the rum cake which was actually delicious, if I do say so myself (what can I say, it was a good recipe!). For the pizza, M and I made the ridiculously-easy-to-make pizza dough two days ahead, using almost a full 10-pound bag of flour. (Yikes! It turned out that we only needed half that much for all 19 people, especially considering the salad and dessert and the fact that excited little kids are usually too busy to sit and eat much.) M was the one who turned the dough into flat pizza rounds during the party. After cooking a few simple cheese pizzas for the kids, it was the adults' turn. I believe mine was the last pizza to be made as I was too nervous to be really hungry, but wow it was yummy! Sun-dried tomatoes, green bell peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, onion, and both pepperoni and Canadian bacon...mmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! The only downside was the fact that my oven was not really up to the task of cooking more than one pizza at a time. We were cooking the pizza in batches of two each time, and one would turn out kind of burned on top while the other would be slightly underdone if it wasn't left in the oven longer. Sadly, my oven is old (vintage but not in a good way!). Maybe in a few years we'll be able to save up to replace it.

ON ME: Dress: Peppermint via Modcloth (I bought this when it went on sale a few weeks ago) | Cardi: Banana Republic (from years ago) | Tights: unknown | Slippers: Acorn "Tex Moc Black Bear" via Amazon

Anyway, everyone seemed to have a great time, including my guy behind the camera. :-) And I really enjoyed seeing all the ladies' outfits (of course)! Both E and M looked really great in their Christmas-y colors. I especially loved M's super fun and creative outfit, her usual M.O.: cozy bolero, heart tights, soft red bootie slippers with dangling yarn balls, and even candy-striped apron!

Top and jeans: GAP | Cashmere cardi: via Amazon | Thigh-high socks: Sockdreams | Booties (not pictured): Blowfish "Hichi" via Amazon

Here are some bonus photos of another party we went to two weekends ago. (Yes, we are party animals over here, haha.) It was for the kids at the company my husband works for. One of the employees volunteers every year to dress up as Santa! Above is what I wore, and below is my son's Santa photo. I love his green pants, which were bought at a consignment store, and his soft red sweater with elbow patches (GAP Kids sure are stylin'), a gift from his maternal grandmother.

Finally, below are a couple of photos of the hilarious way my son started on the decorations when we got the tree a couple of Sundays ago, the day after the kids' company holiday party. He simply couldn't wait! And of course he decided to keep his decorating at eye-level or below. HAHAHAHA!

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season so far! Stay warm and stay safe!

xo, Gladys

#2: Three Holiday Parties in Four Days

ON ME: Dress: Kohl's | Jacket: Tulle via Modcloth | Tights: Sockdreams | Shoes: Fluevog "Corey" (Blind Faith Mid family) via Amazon

This wasn't quite a holiday party, but it felt like it! It was the 5th Annual Salsalegre, a charity fundraiser supporting a very poor rural area in Baja California, Mexico. My good friend M was part of organizing the event in previous years and wanted to attend it as a guest this time. But she didn't want to go without me as it was too far to go by herself. When she said salsa and charity, I couldn't resist, even if it was the middle of the week. Wait, actually...it was the opportunity to have a fun night out without kids that was the true attraction! Haha! It was a really great event. The performances were AMAZING. And, incredibly, so many of the paying attendees -- the amateurs -- were fantastic dancers. I loved watching them. The hubby and I didn't do much dancing because it was quite intimidating, actually. We're planning to take some salsa lessons before attending again next year!

A note about the shoes. You can't really see them in the horrible iPhone photos above; sorry about that. That's why I included the stock photo to the left. As you can see, they are just gorgeous. I love the Art Deco feel to them. I couldn't resist getting them especially at the sale price Amazon had offered (ridiculously low for Vogs). But sadly, these were not comfortable to wear for dancing that night. The Blind Faith family is a little too large for my feet, so I used insoles AND toe pads. But as the night wore on, the pointed toe box scrunched my poor toes too much. It was hard to walk to the car at the end of the night. (The hubby offered me a piggy-back ride part of the way, and yes indeed I took him up on his offer!) Oh well. Next time, I'm hoping that better insoles will do the trick. The ones I used were not super high quality.

Check back tomorrow for the last holiday party post! Stay warm and happy, dear readers!

xo, Gladys

#1: Three Holiday Parties in Four Days

Last week was super busy, not even taking into account the fact that we're still settling in and cleaning up at the new house. We went to three parties, the last of which WE hosted. Crazy times! But good times, too. :-)

I wore this outfit for my husband's company holiday party. Because the party was held in a large drafty building on the fairgrounds, the wrap was on me for most of the night; the only time I took it off was when we got on the dance floor. I was a little worried because I wasn't sure if I would be sitting with anyone I knew. It turns out we arrived a little too late to sit with some acquaintances, but you know what? That was a lucky thing. I met a really wonderful lady named Veronica, whose husband works in the same building as my husband does (though the two men aren't close friends or anything). V and I talked almost the whole night, and we made plans to have our kids meet at the beginning of the new year. She's a bit older, with her oldest child being fourteen, but I really enjoyed her laid-back vibe and sweetness. For example, she had her husband get me two sodas at different times of the evening, just because she thought I might be thirsty. So sweet! (Where was my husband, you ask? I had sent him away to go drink and take a load off with his coworkers. I was the designated driver for the night!)

By the way, do you like the Xmas tree and gorgeous decorative pillow in the background? I'll take better pictures next time. :-)

Dress: Esley via Shopkempt | Wrap: unknown, borrowed from my mom | Hose: unknown | Kitten heels: J.Renée "Drema" via Amazon

This was a very flattering dress. I loved the shape and the intricate bling detail at the bodice (no accessories needed!). The only drawback was the fuchsia belt which not only was too large for my waist but also unbuttoned easily (as in, whenever I bent over at the waist!). Thankfully I had fashion tape to position it properly and secure it at the same time. I felt that this outfit was a success overall. My shoes, which were new, held up really well, too, even during the dancing! There was some pinching at the toes at the end of the night, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I would recommend this shoe brand for sure.

Check back tomorrow for the next post on my holiday party "extravaganza"! ;-)

xo, Gladys

P.S. It just started snowing! First snow in the Southern California high desert.

Disclosure: I'm a member of Amazon Associates, so if you click through the link above and purchase anything on Amazon, it may result in my earning a small referral fee.

Odds and Ends

Before I sign off for the day, here are a few iPhone shots of what I've been up to since my blogging hiatus. Have a fabulous weekend!

Closeup of my newly-done eyebrows a couple of weeks ago

Just a fraction of the beautiful cloth I recently purchased for my Holiday Challenge

Measuring and cutting contact paper for the kitchen cabinets and drawers in the new house

A little slice-view of the new dining room from the kitchen -- we brought the chandelier with us from the old house

More cloth

A toy Singer sewing machine (that actually does stitches) I saw at Jo-Ann's -- I didn't buy it, but I thought it was adorable

xo, Gladys

Thanksgiving Outfit

It's been so long since I last posted! I've missed you! We started living/sleeping/eating in the new house last week, but our internet won't be connected until early next week. I am putting this post together in the old house, where there are still lots of little things to throw into boxes and bags. Most of my clothes and shoes are still here! So while I have the chance, I'm putting up outfit photos of our Thanksgiving. We visited family in Long Beach that night. The photos were taken in indoor lighting with my iPhone, hence the poor quality. Sorry about that! But I really loved my outfit.

ON ME: Dress: via ModCloth | Cardi: GAP (gifted) | Royal tights and fishnet tights: Foot Traffic and unknown, both via Sockdreams | Mary janes: Fluevog Guides (Prepare family)

The pleats on the dress are very flattering and elongating, and the pattern is just gorgeous. My mom said it was her favorite dress in my closet. Also, this was my first time layering tights like this, and I have to say that the effect of fishnet over opaque is really beautiful. Something I DEFINITELY have to try again. Got several compliments on the whole outfit from my fun aunties. :-)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday last week (if you celebrate it in the U.S., at least)! I'd love to be back to regular posting by the end of next week.

xo, Gladys