Love & Misadventure

April 30, 2014 Nina Penalosa9 Comments

The month of April is National Poetry Month, and seeing that today is the last day of the month I figure now would be an appropriate time to talk about poetry — particularly Lang Leav’s. I came across her collection of poems Love & Misadventure in December while dusting shelves at work. I was drawn in by the simple cover with the cute illustration Leav drew and the title itself — it implied poems about love and heartache would be involved and I’m a sucker for stories and poems that involve sad things like that. I know, that sounds weird considering that I was in, what I thought was, a happy and loving relationship when I found Love & Misadventure.

The timing of me finding it was, I don’t want to say serendipitous, but… maybe appropriate? I bought it a week before Tim and I broke up. I remember reading some of the poems to him over the phone (the happy ones, not the sad ones). I found us in its pages — the good times, but mostly the sad ones since my relationship suddenly felt like it was in jeopardy and I had an ominous feeling about where it was going. But I also found myself, just me, in her words as well, and sometimes I don’t quite connect to poetry that way (unless it’s sung and accompanied by music). Or maybe I just haven’t read enough poems. I don’t know. I’m rambling now.

Leav’s poems are simple, but packed with such emotion, beautiful imagery, and many are very poignant. And I found so many of them to be extremely cathartic.

Here are some of my favorites which I made look all fanciful with the Afterlight app because I’m currently obsessed with it 🙂 :

Happy last day of National Poetry Month! I hope you enjoyed these poems as much as I do. Who’s your favorite poet? Favorite poem?

Cheers,
Nina

PS: Don’t forget, you can win a copy of Love & Misadventure and a bunch of other things in my 3-year blogaversary giveaway 🙂

giveaway

3-Year Blogaversary Giveaway! [Closed]

April 26, 2014 Nina Penalosa13 Comments

Today marks my 3-year blogaversary!!! As promised in my last post, I’m throwing a GINORMOUS giveaway to celebrate! I’ve collected a couple of my favorite books and some other little goodies including one of my Le Fancy Geek Boutique necklaces to fill up the LeSportsac tote 😀

One lucky reader will win:

Audrey Jeanne LeSportsac tote (c/o LeSportsac)
reusable bear tote (perfect for packing lunches!)
The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick
Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav
pink polkadot notebook
multiple ink pen
hot pink compact mirror/brush (I swear by this thing)
white lace hair bow
tissue pack with puppies
Le Fancy Geek Boutique Loki necklace

Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, my little ponies!!!

Cheers,
Nina

PS: As always, new readers are more than welcome to enter! But please don’t follow and then unfollow once the giveaway has ended because that’s just a bit uncouth, y’know?

//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js

geek style

Give it Away

April 24, 2014 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

My 3-year blogaversary is right around the corner — this Saturday to be exact! I’d say Le Fancy Geek is still fairly small compared to other fashion blogs out there, but I feel it’s grown quite a bit over the years and I’m so grateful to you ponies for reading it and for coming along this journey with me 🙂

To celebrate I’m going to be throwing a GINORMOUS giveaway! You see that super cute LeSportsac tote I’m rockin’ with this outfit? You could win it along with a bunch of other fun goodies! Don’t worry, I haven’t taken it out and about. It was just used for this outfit shoot to show how cute it is!

When LeSportsac sent it to me, I was really tempted to keep it for myself, but they also sent me a travel bag of the same print, so I kept that one instead and used it while I was in Portland. The tote is from their Artist in Residence Fall 2013 collection featuring the adorable art of Audrey Jeanne. The pastel colors set against the navy blue backdrop and the cute critters definitely make it appropriate to use all year round though. I’m a big fan of totes with multiple pockets and this one is jam packed with them! It’s the ideal tote to take everywhere — work, school, the gym, the mall, an amusement park, the airport, etc. I’m so jealous of whoever wins this!

Be sure to visit Le Fancy Geek this Saturday to see what else you can win 😀

dress: American Rag // tote: c/o LeSportsac // cardigan: Xhileration // belt: AX Armani Exchange // shoes: Restricted (buy here) // glasses: Firmoo (buy here) // necklace + hairclip: vintage

FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as LeSportsac sent me a tote to review and giveaway to my readers. I was compensated with another bag to keep and review. All opinions expressed are my own.

geek style · shoppin'

oNecklace Review

April 19, 2014 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

I used to complain about the fact that my parents never gave me a proper middle name ALL. THE. TIME. Rather than having a traditional middle name, y’know, like one that is also appropriate to be used as a first name, I was bestowed with my mom’s maiden name instead while my older sister got that AND a traditional middle name. I could seriously go on about this whole subject, but I won’t. I finally started appreciating my middle name when I was 18 and even adopted it as my nom de plume and ditched my actual last name (well, not legally anyhow). But all together my initials = N.P.H. Just like Neil Patrick Harris! By default, I have the most legen–wait for it–dary initials. EVER.

After I started noticing a slew of monogram accessories pop up all over the web last year, I longed for a gold necklace that bared my initials. It’s funny, because I recall thinking that very thought while checking my email and came across a message from oNecklace asking if I’d be interested in reviewing a necklace of my choice for Le Fancy Geek. Kismet at its finest, right?!

There are tons of pretty baubles to choose from — you can have necklaces, rings, and bracelets customized with your name (just like the infamous ‘Carrie’ necklace from Sex & the City) or initials in silver and gold (24k plated, 14k, 14k white gold). They also come in various styles and you can choose what length and type of chain you’d like for your necklace to be on. I opted for the split chain monogram necklace on a 16 in. rolo chain and I’m completely smitten with it. The fancy font is slightly hard to read at first glance, but I love how it’s a great balance of being both delicate and bold.

If you ponies want to get one too, you can use the code “fancygeek” at the checkout to receive 10% off! Plus everything’s free shipping. And isn’t Mother’s Day coming up soon? Just sayin’. 😉

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there are apparently guidelines (which you can find here) for how your monogram should look if you chose to get a monogramed bauble. For example, it’s supposed to be First/Last/Middle. So my necklace should’ve actually been customized as NHP, but I didn’t see the guideline until after I made my request. Oops! I prefer it the way I have it anyway.

Cheers,
Nina

necklace: c/o oNecklace (buy here) // dress: ModCloth (buy here) // glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy similar here)
—-
FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as oNecklace provided me with a product to review. I was compensated with the aforementioned product. All opinions expressed are my own.

geek style · out & about

Put a Horse On It

April 13, 2014 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

outfit details: cardigan: H&M // dress + belt: Xhileration // necklace: borrowed from Jen // boots: American Rag (buy here) // glasses: Brooks Brothers (buy here) // bracelet: Anna Grace Designs (buy here)

After reading the Harry Potter series, the idea of having a spirit animal (or in the world of Harry Potter’s case, a patronus) has been fascinating to me. I used to think really hard about what mine would possibly be — I finally settled on a unicorn, because I’ve always had an affinity for all equine creatures and unicorns are magical, so why not? I mean, how cool would a figure of a unicorn look bursting out of the end of a wand? SO COOL THAT I GOTTA SAY IN ALL CAPS, THAT’S HOW COOL.

Not too long ago, I took a quiz on Zimbio to see what my patronus would be and my result was a horse, which isn’t very far off from a unicorn, so I’m contempt.

Anyhow, one thing I noticed during my Portland holiday was that there was an abundance of horses. Not particularly in Portland itself, but on the way there we passed by plenty of farms and all these horses were just out there, doing their horsey thing (and by that I mean they were looking all regal and whatnot). I made it a point to yell “PONIES!” anytime I saw a group of them, just because their presence was so beautiful, I had to make it known. I also saw plenty of merchandise in stores with horses plastered on them, especially when Jen and I visited the Lan Su Chinese Garden‘s gift shop as it’s the year of the horse. That’s the location of where all these outfit shots were taken too. 🙂

I found a book about spirit animals at Powell’s City of Books called Spirit Animals: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Animal Companions by Stefanie Iris Weiss; the cover has a horse on it, so of course I had to browse through it. Here’s what it said about the horse:

Personality: Horses long to run free. They are in their element when untethered, galloping gallantly across the plains without saddle or bridle. A wild horse is a wonder to behold; it’s happiest without boundaries.

Guiding Powers: When you feel the need to move, get out, and break free of restriction, the horse is your ultimate spirit animal guide. If you’ve been stuck in a limiting mental sphere or emotionally constrained situation, consult the free-spirited horse. If you want to get away from it all by taking a vacation but are deterred by financial difficulties or personal obligations, the horse will show you how to dissolve boundaries and roam.

After reading it, I was slightly flabbergasted because it perfectly described the state I’m in. And I totally have no business spending what little money I have to go out on lavish vacations, yet I just went to Portland, New York is next in line, and Comic-Con afterwards. I feel so very stuck where I am, and job hunting just isn’t working out in favor, and I just want to get out there and explore… is it weird to believe in signs or make connections to these kind of coincidences? Probably, but I don’t care. My spirit animal is a mutha’uckin’ horse. I mean, I have a tattoo of one for crying out loud.