Burdened With Glorious Purpose

October 28, 2013 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

outfit details – dress: Annabelle // belt: Xhileration // shoes: Cityclassified // glasses: Derek Cardigan // tote: Gama-Go // Lego Loki necklace: made by me

Hello again, my little ponies!

So I put together this Loki-inspired outfit for day two of mine and Tim’s SoCal getaway. This would’ve been perfect to wear to Disneyland if they had opened up their “Treasures of Asgard” experience while we were there. I could’ve taken a picture with Thor and then demanded that he kneel before me. How could he refuse? I mean, look at how fierce my shoes are! Actually, those shoes would’ve totally been the death of my feet if I wore them to the park. Eek!

Anyhow, our day mostly consisted of shopping at Company D, which is basically like Costco for Disney employees and heaven and hell on earth for me (so amazing, yet so dangerous for my wallet with all the Disneyland merchandise for half off!), and Downtown Disney, and driving to San Diego (boo, traffic). Since I knew we wouldn’t be on our feet the whole day, I opted to wear shoes that aren’t too comfortable for long durations of time, but damn cute! I found them at TJ Maxx a month ago and was naturally drawn to them because they reminded me of the god of mischief. And my green dress with the slanted blocked stripes was found at Ross. Yes, that reminded me of Loki too. With both items I remember seeing them in the store and leaving empty handed, and completely regretting my decision to not buy them. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Luckily, I ended up with both of them!

I made the Lego Loki necklace for myself the day before we left out of a keychain I got from a Lego store last year. It’s not the most functional thing I’ve ever made — he tends to like flipping with his backside out since the horns on his helmet protrude quite a bit. Oh well. I still think it’s quite charming.

My Gama-Go tote was purchased at Comic-Con a few years ago. Isn’t it neat? It’s supposed to look like an x-ray of what bags look like when they’re put through the conveyer belts at airports. I wouldn’t ever bring this on a flight though — something tells me TSA wouldn’t appreciate it. x__x

And look at who I found at the Lego Store in Downtown Disney! HULK GO SMASH. He wasn’t too happy with my ensemble’s inspiration. Sorry I’m not sorry, Hulky!

Cheers,
Nina

These Are the Droids You Are Looking For

October 26, 2013 Nina Penalosa3 Comments

While Tim and I were at Disneyland we built our own droids at the Droid Factory which made its debut at the Star Trader store in Tomorrowland back in April!

The Droid Factory first came about at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida last year, which makes no sense to me because Star Wars creator George Lucas is from California and Disneyland, the O.G. Disney theme park, is in California, therefore we (I’m a Californian, so yes, I say “we”) should’ve gotten dibs first. Am I right? Stop taking all the cool stuff first, Disney World! It’s not fair!

~~Okay, I’ll stop sounding so whiny now.~~ But I digress…

Photo courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

Let’s get onto the fun stuff!

You can pick whether you want to build a single droid or a set of two to put in your own action figure box — Tim and I opted for the set of two.

Tim and I had ridiculous amounts of fun skimming through all the different colored bodies and limbs. And the accessories! You can top your droid off with all kinds of silly headgear like mouse ears in blue, green, red, and the traditional black, a Goofy hat, cowboy/detective looking hat, a pirate hat, and a baseball cap with Yoda ears!

I was dead set on making a purple droid, but I was never satisfied with the results I kept coming up with. Tim immediately spotted a TARDIS blue body and made a TARDISy looking droid and I was so jealous! I came up with the name TR-DS at first, but then suggested TR-D5 to make it sound more droidish.I started building a TARDIS droid too, but I didn’t really want to copy Tim. And I didn’t want our double droid box set to look monotone. Snooze. I gave up on purple and started playing with other color combinations — I tried making a Boba Fett droid (green/red combo), but it looked too Christmas-like. I finally got around to making my Yoda droid, 40-D8. At first I was going to name him YO-D8, but decided 4O-D8 sounded more droidy, and still spells out Yoda in pager code. I’m really dating myself with that “pager code” thing. Oi.

I think building my own droid was way more fun than building my own light saber (we did that last year for our anniversary)! I’d definitely love to make another one — maybe the next time around I’ll finally figure out a way to make a purple droid I’m satisfied with. Or maybe they’ll even have more colors to choose from by then (pink! pink! *hint*hint*). 😉

What colors would you use to make your droid and what would you name it?

Cheers,
Nina

geek style · out & about · Uncategorized

Dia De Los Disney

October 24, 2013 Nina Penalosa5 Comments

My trip to SoCal was way too short, but I’m happy that Tim and I were able to go on a getaway anyhow. And it included a free day at Disneyland (my cousin’s girlfriend works there and signed us in — THANKIES, JOLENE!), so you can’t beat that! I’ve never been to the park during Halloween time, so I was really excited to see how it would be decorated. I have to be honest though… I was a bit underwhelmed. The front entrance and Main Street are adorned with jack-o-lanterns, but the rest of the park looked like its normal magical self (totes not a bad thing, but still!). There were some wonderful Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) decorations in Frontierland though, and of course the Haunted Mansion was decked out with The Nightmare Before Christmas decor (my favorite!). Oh, and then there was Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Like they say on the interwebs, that sh!t was cray. It seemed like the ride was a lot faster, and there’s this creepy fiery galactic space giant that is made of the stuff of nightmares that shows up right at the very beginning of the ride. No me gusta. #scaredycatforlife

The highlight of our time at the Happiest Place on Earth had to be when Tim spotted the Disneyland unicorn, Daisy Duck! I frequented Disneyland a lot as a child (and now adult) and I have never ever seen Daisy there at all. She was the one character I wanted to meet so badly when I was little! While we were walking down Main Street to go to the parking garage Tim said, “Hey, didn’t you want to meet Daisy?” and I was thinking, “What kind of a question is that? OF COURSE I DO.” And then he pointed to the left and there she was, looking all fabulous in pink and lavender! I let out a dramatic gasp, like so dramatic that it made the back of my throat dry and hurt my chest a bit from all the air I quickly sucked in, and then I found myself jumping up and down asking Tim if we could get in line to take a picture. Who knew the site of a fancified duck could make a 27-year-old woman go kuh-ray-zee? But we are talking about Disneyland, therefore anything goes! Unfortunately, the cast member escorting her said they were closing up the line and that she’d be coming back at 3. And so I waited. I mean, I had only been waiting to meet her since I was 5, what was an hour and a half more going to hurt me?

I could’ve easily run up to the front of the line when Daisy came out again, but I didn’t want to be that adult who cut off the little children. Plus I would’ve felt painfully awkward despite the fact that I’ve wanted to meet her long before any of them were even a zygote! Once it was my turn she pointed at my dress and motioned for me to curtsy with her for the picture. And when Tim was done taking pictures of us, she pointed at him and waved her arms for him to come over. She gave him a once over and nodded her head in approval. And she blew many kisses to him! I wasn’t even mad that she was flirting with my boyfriend. It was fuggin’ adorable. 😀

I’ll be blogging a bit more about my trip to Disneyland and San Diego over the next few days (and it’ll probably bleed into next week), so stay tuned! 😀

Cheers,
Nina

geek style

Under the Sea

October 9, 2013 Nina Penalosa9 Comments

outfit details – t-shirt: RedBubble (buy here) // skirt: Marilyn Monroe (buy here) // cardigan: GAP // belt: Xhileration // flats: Blowfish Malibu Shoes // tote: Tokidoki for LeSportsac // ring: Betsy Johnson (buy here) //hair bow: Judy & Park (buy here) // glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy here) // earrings: Crossroads Trading Co. // watch: Timex x Disney

Greetings my little ponies! It’s been awhile since I’ve done an outfit post hasn’t it? I finally managed to find time to sneak in a shoot while I house/dog sit for Tim’s mom and sister! As I type this, Rory and Jezi are curled up by my side enjoying a little nap. It’s almost been like a tiny vacation, this house/dog sitting gig, despite the fact that I still had to go to work. And speaking of tiny vacations, Tim and I are going to be heading to SoCal in a week! We’re only going to be there for a few days, but we’re hitting Disneyland, exploring LA for a day, and then we’re going to visit my sister in San Diego. I’M SO EXCITED!!!! I’ve never been to Disneyland while it’s dressed to the nines in jack-o-lanterns and other spooky Halloween decor so I’m super stoked! Oh, and my sister’s going to take Tim and I to some yummy local SD restaurants. I cannot wait to om nom on some pizza knots from Soda & Swine ::drools::

Anyhow, today’s outfit is inspired by The Little Mermaid/Once Upon a Time. I picked up this art nouveau Ariel t-shirt by Megan Lara last month on RedBubble and paired it with my Peter Pan mermaid bow by Judy & Park and gold dinglehopper earrings from Crossroads Trading Co. I despise the mermaids from Peter Pan (I mean, they only tried to drown Wendy for no good reason), but I couldn’t resist the bow! Look at how effing cute it is! And it was handmade beautifully too. I don’t remember how I came across Judy & Park on Instagram, but I’m glad I did. I also bought a Coraline bow from her as well. And check out my hot pink shoes! I bought them years ago when I still lived in Daly City at Bakers for $20! I don’t know why it took me so damn long to start wearing them. I bought my black skirt at Macy’s last week when I was in Modesto visiting my dad at the hospital. Don’t worry! He’s fine, he just had knee replacement surgery. My mom, sister, and I headed to the mall while he was napping and the dress I wore that day was really short (I normally wear it with black tights since it makes it look not so short, but I couldn’t find my black tights that morning sooo, yeah). I bought the skirt because I was getting really self-cautious about it. But I’ve been searching for an a-line black skirt that’s nice and sturdy for a while anyway, and it’s a good length unlike the other two I have hanging in my closet — one is too flimsy and the other one is too short. I apparently have been having Goldilocks issues with black skirts. I’m also obsessed with it, so don’t be surprised when it pops up a lot in future outfit posts. 😀

My Tokidoki for LeSportsac tote went perfectly with my outfit with all the glam pirates, kawaii mermaids and sea creatures! One of my favorite shows, Once Upon a Time, is currently set in Neverland and Ariel is supposed to make her debut in an episode to be aired later this season. EEK! I’d go on about it, but Tim’s not caught up yet and he reads my blog sooo ::fingers on lips::

This outfit magically conjured itself up since I’ve had Once on the brain. And the fact that The Little Mermaid came out on DVD/Blu Ray last week probably had something to do with it too.