Party Chic

It's official: I've converted both MP and E to Fluevog AND ModCloth.

We had a get-together last weekend at my house to celebrate E's recent birthday and the upcoming holidays. We planned to sing some holiday songs while E played her flute and to have some yummy wine with our potluck dinner. Of course, I had to kindly request that we all wear dresses. Even though kids and husbands were involved, it was a holiday/birthday party after all. These two immediately said yes! Which is why I love them so much. *g* And we all ended up wearing ModCloth and Fluevog, even without coordinating the specifics.

On me, far right: Dress: Trollied Dolly via ModCloth | Shoes: T.U.K. via ModCloth

MP, far left, is wearing a dress via ModCloth that was formerly in my closet but that I realized looked MUCH better on her. And she's wearing her gorgeous red Bartoli boots, her first-ever pair of Fluevogs (documented here). These two-tone red boots are simply amazing and go with almost everything!

E, meanwhile, wore the striking ModCloth dress that was her birthday present from me. This is a lovely, well-made dress with lining and a nice heavy fabric -- perfect for colder weather. It also has pockets! She bought the adorable houndstooth cat shoes from ModCloth herself. She had a very successful first purchase at ModCloth and I'm positive she's going back for more!

As for my own dress, it's one that you may remember from earlier this year, sans belt. Trollied Dolly is such a dreamy brand. Plus it's a dress that's in line with my blue obsession this fall. It goes perfectly with my Fluevog Liz maryjanes (see bottom photo below), but it also goes really well with my beige polka dot cat shoes -- same brand as E's, just a different design. The beige matches the yellowish polka dots on the dress. And check out that cat tail on the heel!

Having fun with our posing. I love everything about this pic except MY HAIR. Ugh.

Shoes: Fluevog Liz (Kitschy Kitschy Boom Boom family)

We had a great night. We made music, drank delicious sweet wine (Stella Rosa, anyone?) and ate amazing veggie lasagna thanks to E, and managed to squeeze in a photo shoot while the kids ran around the rest of the house and watched a movie. Special thanks go to my hubby for accompanying us on the piano and taking the photos, and to E's hubby for watching the kids.

Hope you all have a happy holiday season!!

xo, Gladys

1940s Femme

I was kind of in love with what I wore to my husband's company 1940s-theme holiday party:

Coat with belt: Cherry Koko via Amazon | Dress: Collectif via ModCloth | Tights: ? | Shoes: Fluevog Rubens (Baroque family)

I actually had my hair done by a professional that day. My usual hairstylist went into labor (!), so I was lucky to get her friend, Kim, as a replacement. Using a flat iron, Kim worked curls into my hair like had never been done before. It was fun to watch the magic happen as she sprayed, curled, teased, brushed, and pinned. I was really thrilled with how she managed to turn my short bob into this:

Below is an iPhone pic of me at the event, with my coat open to show a peek of my dress. Only about a quarter to maybe a third of the attendees dressed to the theme, but it was fun to people-watch. I wish we could have gotten photos of the outfit during the day. This year, we were busy for most of the day so we didn't have a lot of time to pretty ourselves up. By the time we were dressed, dark had fallen and we were running half an hour late. (Another thing I wish is that the party had been more fun. Sigh. Most of my husband's coworkers that I knew left the company this part year, and the others didn't bother to attend this year, so we hung out with new people. Unless there's a fantastic incentive to attend next year, we might just skip it. It was fun to dress up, but we could have dressed up and hung out with our friends instead. I would have danced the night away for sure.)

xo, Gladys

Holiday Dress Shopping

Happy December! For those who celebrated, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Coming up soon is my husband's company holiday party. There's actually a theme this year -- the 1940s. How fun! When I found out last month, I immediately thought of going to ModCloth to drool over their vintage-style dresses. And given the fact that I already knew which shoes I'd be wearing (the blue Fluevog Rubens -- currently 30% off until the end of this week! with code CMSHOE30 at checkout), I purchased a couple of blue dresses to try on:

Garden Dreaming dress (only size 12 UK left)

Demure All I Want dress -- currently 30% off, lucky you! (make sure to see Details regarding sizing; this dress runs large)

Sorry about the blurriness. These photos were taken with indoor lighting at night. Aren't the shoes adorable?!

What do you think? My husband and friends voted for the second dress because the shape and longer length match the 1940s better. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it on; it has a great drape and also a flattering v-cut back. But I couldn't let go of the first dress, which I thought had better-quality fabric and construction; I loved its shape, its warm wool blend, and the brightly-colored butterfly embroidery on the skirt. Well, after consulting with my husband and friends (who loved both dresses as well), I decided to keep it, too, so I can wear it for our Xmas house party or to another party this winter. I'll post again on each dress when I've had a chance to take them out!

Here's a bonus shot of another pair of GORGEOUS blue shoes -- very comfy too, I highly recommend -- that have entered my life because of my current obsession with blue. I wore these on the day of the recent 50th anniversary of the Doctor Who TV series (did you see the awesome anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor"?!) ... which also turned out to be the same day as my wedding anniversary. Eleven years, baby! :-)

Fluevog Amie in blue snake (only at Amazon, currently 30% OFF until the end of this week with code CMSHOE30 at checkout). Size up at least 1/2 size on these beautiful shoes!

xo, Gladys

Back in Purple

Dress: Patagonia | Cardigan: GAP | Tights: Hue via Macy's | Boots: Fluevog PRI (Radio family)

I wore this to volunteer at my son's kindergarten class. No doubt about it, I am WAY overdressed when I volunteer! But dressing up is fun, and I don't have regular opportunities to do it. This outfit came together in my head very quickly, mostly because I basically took it out for a test drive two years ago when I paired the cardigan and boots with a plaid skirt. I like this outfit much better, however. The dress is both comfy and well-made (as all Patagonia items are) with an interesting neckline, and the added texture and pattern of the tights were the perfect way to finish the whole thing.

Detail of the tights

And of course some love for the boots (once again), one of my top 5 favorite Fluevogs, even with the blemish on the left boot (I think I bought it that way). They're easy to dress up or down, they hug my feet just the way I like, and they're excellent for fall weather -- at least in Southern California. I'm sure you'll see these here again. :-)

A note on the photography: I used a remote and tripod for these photos (my son pressed the button on the remote for me, sweet thing), but I'm not that great with self-portraits, hence the off-center images. Sorry about that -- still working on my skillz.

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