Dark Side of the Garden

February 29, 2016 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

Hey my little, ponies! I archived these outfit pics I took a few months ago and think now is a good time to bust them out. It is Leap Day, after all! This is the outfit I was supposed to wear to my cousin’s wedding in Hawaii back in September, but the material of my dress and shoes didn’t mesh very well with the tropical climate. Thank goodness I packed another dress that worked out well! And how perfect does my little Darth Vader purse go with it? 🙂

Tomorrow I’m supposed to start another Whole 30 again. Either that or I might start during the weekend so I have more time to prep for it. Either way, I’m going to be doing a more modified version because you’re not supposed to have breath mints or gum since it contains added sugar. I refuse to walk around with travel sized mouth wash or just suffer with stinky breath. I’m gonna keep on poppin’ my Altoids, thank you very much! I’m going to continue to drink all my teas too. I got some new ones from Riddles Tea Shoppe that are absolutely delicious, but they contain some ingredients that are Whole30 no-nos. Nothing too crazy though, so I think I should be okay.

Happy Leap Day, y’all! Hope you found yourself making the most of the extra day we got this year. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and figure out what book I want to read next!

dress: Heart of Haute (buy here) | glasses: Firmoo (n/a)
purse: Loungefly (buy here) | ring: from a cupcake!
shoes: Deflex Comfort (buy here)

PS: Jennifer told me I should start including bloopers from our photo shoots, so here’s me making a stupid face. 😛

photo credit: Jennifer Khut

geek style

Yoo-Hoo, Minnie!

March 14, 2015 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

My love for Disney only intensifies as I get older and I always try to find ways to sneak elements of it into my everyday life, whether it be through household items (my Disney mug collection is getting out of control), beddings (stuffed animals count as pillows, right?), clothes, or accessories. What can I say? I’m a Disnerd for life!

LeSportsac released another line of Minnie Mouse bags and accessories last fall called “Minnie’s Floral Park.” I’m absolutely bonkers for anything with a floral print, so I’m utterly head over heels for this specific collection! LeSportsac makes their purses out of heavy duty, lightweight nylon, which is perfect because who likes throwing a bulky purse over their shoulder that’s already heavy without putting anything in it beforehand? Not this girl. This is why I love using LeSportsac bags for everyday use, and they’re particularly great for a long day at Disneyland!

I put together a Minnie Mouse “Disneybound” with the LeSportsac Minnie bag and my navy blue and beige polkadot dress, hot pink belt, and hot pink Blowfish flats. Usually when I see people Disneybound any character, I notice that they’re faithful to the original color palette that’s associated with the designated character whose style they’re trying to convey. I try to do the same, but other times I like to breakout and just draw inspiration with little details. For example, my friend Brianna made this cute little daisy ring for me (pictured below) and I thought it fit the vibe of my Minnie inspired outfit since she was originally drawn with a hat that had a daisy on top of it. I’m super anal-retentive when it comes to details. Some of you may have noticed from past outfit posts. Hehe. 🙂

Are you a Disnerd for life too? Do you Disneybound? Let’s geek out about it in the comments section!

PS: LeSportsac just released a new Minnie Mouse collection last week called “Minnie Rocks the Dots” — you can check it out here.

13932753164_59cedb28ab dress & belt : Xhileration // glasses: ModCloth (buy here)
shoes: Blowfish Shoes // ring: handmade gift
Minnie ears: Disney Store (buy similar here)
iphone case: Lizzy’s Dreams (buy here)
purse, wallet, & cosmetic bag: c/o LeSportsac (buy here & here)

FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as LeSportsac sent me these items to review. All opinions expressed of the products are honest and my own.

photos taken by Brianna Torres

geek style

National Snow White Week

October 19, 2014 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

A few days ago on Instagram I found out that it’s National Snow White Week! For someone who claims that Snow White is their favorite princess, I feel like I should’ve already known that that was a thing. Oh well. I’ll be more prepared for next year!

Usually when people find fashion inspiration from the fair princess, they pull from her classic red-blue-yellow combo that Disney made so iconic and synonymous with Snow White. For this outfit, I started with my rose gold Snow White locket that I got from the Walt Disney Family Museum to guide me for a different color palette. With it’s green gems, I thought incorporating pink would be perfect because green and pink is one of the best color combinations (in my opinion, anyway because it reminds me of flowers!). Plus I’ve seen other iterations of Snow White where she wears pink, so why not? I dug through my closet and found this white dress with a pink floral print that I got from Target ages ago and paired them with my old forest green cardigan and hot pink Bass saddle shoes. I found the shoes at the Bass outlet earlier this year and I had to have them! Anyway, for the rest of my accessories I threw in a faux pearl pink bracelet and a pink chunky fox ring to represent the forest animals that she befriends.

It may not be so blatantly obvious that this outfit was inspired by Snow White, but I’m quite happy with the subtlety 🙂

Who’s your favorite Disney princess or Disney leading lady? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers,
Nina

cardigan: Kirsh // dress: Xhileration (no longer available)
shoes: Bass (buy similar here) // necklace: Walt Disney Family Museum
ring: Goodwill find // bracelet: thrifted

geek style · shoppin'

Wishful Wednesdays #4: I Don’t Wanna Grow Up

August 21, 2013 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

floral LeSportsac hobo // Neapolitan glasses // “Looking to Tomorrow” dress
Snow White iPhone case // “It’s a Small World” doll // Bass saddle shoes

Today’s Wishful Wednesdays post is filled with items that remind me of my childhood!

As you may know, I’m crazy for anything that has a floral print! Roses aren’t necessarily my most favorite flower, but my family’s house has always had a hot pink rose bush by the front door, so roses often remind me of home and Beauty & the Beast, naturally. And the shape of the bag may look familiar to you kitties — it’s LeSportsac’s Heather Hobo in their “Royal Rose” print, just like the one I’m giving away in this post! I felt my eyes widen in awe when I first saw this print debut a few months ago and I’ve been lusting after pretty much any of the bags they have in that print ever since.

One of my favorite ice cream flavors as a kid was Neapolitan because it had the best of 3 worlds: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry all in one! I first saw these adorable chocolate and strawberry wayfarers by Rivet & Sway on Diana’s blog Our City Lights about a year ago. One can never have too many glasses (Tim would totally disagree), so I hope to add these to my collection someday 🙂

This dress from ModCloth is called “Looking to Tomorrow” which is a clear nod to one of my favorite gingers, the lovable orphan Annie! I remember my Auntie Nelly bought the VHS (totally dating myself) for my sister and I and we watched it sooooo many times. Part of the reason why I love this dress is because if I were to wear it around it would be like a secret cosplay. All I need is a gold heart shaped locket from Tiffany’s and I’m good to go… except that sh!t is expensive so I’ll settle for something secondhand or faux vintage.

And this installment of Wishful Wednesdays wouldn’t be complete without any Disney items! The illustration of Snow White on this iPhone case is so pretty, and a perfect way wave my Disnerd flag all day, err’day. She was also one of my favorite princesses as a kid because she has black hair, and I have black hair (oh, vanity). The little can-can dancer doll is from Disney’s Animators Collection of Small World dolls. I’m stupid and didn’t pre-order it and now it’s sold out online. SACRE BLEAU! I went to the Disney Store in Modesto yesterday and asked about them and the Cast Member told me that they haven’t heard anything about getting a shipment in. *le sigh* I want the french doll in particular because the can-can dancers were my favorite part of the ride when I was little. I loved them so much that my answer to the age old question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was “a can-can dancer.” So the doll is basically a physical form of my childhood dreams and I WANT IT. Did I also mention that she sings “It’s a Small World” in French?

Rounding up my wish list are a pair of classic saddle shoes by Bass. I had a pink and white pair when I was in pre-school, and I recall passing by Stride Rite all the time and I kept saying how much I wanted the “50s shoes.” One day Auntie Nelly and my grandparents took me to get a pair, but they didn’t have black and white ones anymore so they brought the pink and white pair out for me. Unfortunately they were too tight, but I got them anyway — I started real young on the whole these-shoes-hurt-my-feet-but-they’re-so-cute-I’m-gonna-get-them-anyway trend that’s so popular among women. I insisted that they didn’t hurt because I did not want to leave without them! I’d like to think that I’m a bit wiser these days and only get shoes that semi-hurt if I know they’re going to be okay once I break them in (does that even make sense?).

What’s on your wish list these days, kitties?

Cheers,
Nina

geek style

The Burpateer

November 14, 2011 Nina Penalosa5 Comments

forever 21 floral dress curvy — I wasn't sure if I matched or not before I headed out the house, but I think this ensemble turned out quite cute.

I’ve had this urge to watch The Rocketeer for over a year — it’s a childhood favorite of mine and I had the biggest crush on Cliff Secord (played by Billy Campbell). Did you know that The Rocketeer celebrated its 20th anniversary this year? God, I feel sooooo old. Anyway, when I went to Rasputin (a used music/movie store) with Tim yesterday and found it for $8, I was SO EFFING EXCITED. I even did a little happy dance! I also found a copy of Remember the Titans, which is what I originally wanted to go to Rasputin for (and also because Tim said he almost bought 101 Dalmatians the day before and I demanded that he buy it). Afterwards we headed to Target to grab some A&W Cream Soda for our burping contest… I know, we are so classy. I kicked Tim’s ass by the way. Hehe.

the rocketeer alan arkin billy campbell — Alan Arkin was in the this movie too, and he has hair! Terry O'Quinn was also in it, and he had hair as well! It was so weird. x___x

Tim had never heard of The Rocketeer and I was so appalled (or shocked, whichever sounds better), so I made him watch it. I was a bit worried that it was going to suck because you know how when you revisit things from your childhood, like movies and TV shows, you have all these high expectations, but then when you re-watch them they suck and suddenly it feels like your childhood was a complete sham? Yeah… thank God The Rocketeer holds up. It’s a cult classic for a reason!

I finally got to watch Crazy Stupid Love too, which was pretty good. I spent most of it saying, “Uh… lucky bitch. I hate her!” <– referring to how Emma Stone got to cuddle with Ryan Gosling. And I’m confused by how Ryan Gosling was able to make eating pizza look incredibly sexy. I mean, look:

Do you get? I don’t get it.

inside joke sausage pizza — Pizza with sausage. Om nom nom.

So yep, that was my Sunday.

Oh yeah, I also sold 2 necklaces yesterday! 😀

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outfit details:

dress: Forever 21
cardigan: Mossimo
tights: Hue
boots: Madden Girl
purse: Cynthia Rowley
necklace: Disney Couture

geek style · shoppin'

Walrus of the Sea

November 9, 2011 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

Today is my best friend Jen’s birthday! WOOOO!

She would kick my ass if I posted a picture of her on here, so instead, to honor her on her special day, I am shamelessly plugging her fantastically awesome Etsy store Walrus of the Sea where she sells nifty hair bows and knitted goods all handmade by her.

In the picture above I am wearing this bow:

Here are a few of my other favorites from her store:

This one is TARDIS blue and the gold is quite reminiscent of regeneration residue. 🙂

When we picked out fabric for Rory’s bow ties (which can be seen here), I REALLY wanted this fabric. But alas, I picked a paisley for him instead.

Bit bigger than the other bows, but just as cute.

Jen also makes fingerless gloves out of bamboo silk yarn. There aren’t any listed currently, but keep an out for those! She made me a pair of purple ones and they are all kinds of cozy.

Happy Birthday Jen! 😀

bloop

Purple Stuff

September 18, 2011 Nina Penalosa5 Comments

Tomorrow I’m heading back to Lowes with my dad to pick up some spackle and purple paint! I’m hella excited to paint over the dreary white walls in my Fortress of Solitude — they’re kinda icky looking since they have tons of thumbtack holes and sticky tape residue from the days my sister and I wallpapered the place with *NSYNC pinups. Haha…

I’ve been on the fence about my color choices though. I figured that the slightly darker purple shade would mostly be covered by my dresser and bookshelf, but my mom told me she thinks that it’s all a bit too My Little Pony-ish. And you know what? She was dead on…

my little pony purple cookies — I bought that My Little Pony a few years ago because I felt if I were a MLP, I would look like that. 🙂

My mom suggested that I keep one of the purples (I like the one on the left) and then paint one wall eggplant so it won’t look so overwhelming since both shades are quite similar.

I’m hoping to find a shade of eggplant like this:

I’ve never had a crazy colored room before, so I’ve been Googling to see how others have decorated their purple rooms and I’m totally loving the antique gold frames/mustardy yellow accents in the examples pictured above. My comforter is magenta with dark purple, green, and orange accents so I’m focusing on that bit.

You know how Target has that special Missoni collection that is flying off the shelves like crazy (which I find weird since I only think a handful of the things are cute)? They have this floral shower curtain that I want to get to close off my closet since it doesn’t have a doors. I don’t know if it’s vinyl or nylon, but if it’s nylon I think it’d be perfect! The curtain I have covering my closet is kinda fug (white with a beige leaf print thing… I didn’t put it there, it all happened when I moved to Daly City!), I want to find something that fits in with the purple, magenta, green scheme. I want the Missoni comforter that’s the same print as the shower curtain, but it’s $99.99 so I’m gonna have to pass. 😦

kurt halsey when we sparkle — courtesy of Kurt Halsey

I’ve been drooling over this Kurt Halsey poster for damn near 2 years! It’s on sale at Art Star Philly for cheapsies, so I think I’m gonna have to pick it up really soon. I think this would look nice over my vanity or near my bed.

So many changes are about to happen — my room’s getting a facelift and then my baby’s coming home! AHHH!!! I’m all anxious now. Thank God my professor gave everyone one “late” pass to use on any assignment. Our first big essay is coming up and I’m kinda worried that all this make-over, puppy prepping stuff might get in the way. o___0

bloop · geek style

Sloppy Joe

June 14, 2011 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

My motto is, “If I feel like shit, it doesn’t mean I have to look like it.”

I woke up around 5 am this morning, but couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed until 8, which left me with an hour and a half to get ready for work. I ended up wasting time eating my bowl of Cheerios and watching a bit of a celebrity reality show I’d rather not admit to viewing. So after all that I was left with 45 minutes to get ready. AHH! Even after breakfast, I was still feeling pretty sluggish, so when it came to getting dressed I was a bit lazy. Somehow I managed to whip this look together in time to not be late for work. My boss even complimented my outfit! I really didn’t feel like putting any effort into my hair or make-up, hence sloppy high ponytail and glasses. But ya know what? I don’t think I look too shabby.

Work didn’t really wake me up as it seemed to go by at a glacial pace, but I did get a lot stuff done AND I got paid, AND The Voice is on tonight, so YAAAAAAAY!!!! Does anyone else watch The Voice? I like it a lot better than American Idol, the quality of talent is more impressive. Plus I’ve been a Meg & Dia fan for quite awhile so I’m obviously rooting for Dia (who effing ROCKED last week). And it helps that Adam Levine is a coach. :Swoon:

Hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday. ❤

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outfit details: