First Order of Business

September 14, 2017July 2, 2018 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

I know it’s only September, and December seems like a long ways away, but The Last Jedi will be in theaters before we know it!!! I can hardly contain my excitement, especially since Force Friday II has come and gone. I cannot wait to see Rose and Paige Tico because they’re not just any Asians in space — they’re Asian sisters in space!! IN A STAR WARS MOVIE!!! I actually got really teary eyed when images of Rose were first released. She’s Asian, has bangs, and a round face just like me! I finally feel like I can see myself in a fandom I love so much. Oh, and the Porgs have stolen my heart. My newfound love for them could probably be another blog post on its own, but today’s post is all about General Hux aka my Huxband. I know, I know. I belong in the trash compactor with Captain Phasma. I just have a massive crush on Domhnall Gleeson, okay? 😛

These outfit pics were actually taken last January — I just never got around to posting them. Whoops! Seeing that today is Thursday (#TBT), it seemed like an appropriate time to write about it. At first glance I’m pretty sure you can’t really tell it’s Hux related, or could even pass as a Disneybound/casual cosplay, but I went with an all black motif like his ensemble in The Force Awakens. I wore my striped belt to emulate the ones on his coat sleeves, a red necklace because… uh… he’s a ginger, and my Captain Phasma purse from Loungefly. You can’t really see, but on my lapels I’m wearing a General Hux brooch I made myself and a silver pin of the First Order’s logo (check out up-close photos below).

When people ask if I’m on the light side or dark side, I always leaned towards the dark. I was all about giving into my negative feelings (they work wonders for writing angsty poetry, y’know?), and I can’t relate to the zen-ness of the Jedi. Plus, the dark side is so damn fashionable. Hashtag: Swag for Days! Whoever the Empire and First Order hired to make their uniforms, they are the Coco Chanel of a galaxy far, far, away. But after watching Star Wars: Rebels and Rogue One (Bodhi Rook = other space bae), I couldn’t help but think maybe I’m not on the dark side. Maybe I’m a rebel scum! They struggle with their feelings in wanting to do the right thing; they still let anger and hate consume them for just a bit, and then they get their sh!t together.

Much like Bodhi, I’ve defected. Shhh… don’t tell Huxband. Haha!

Are you excited for The Last Jedi? Are you just as obsessed with Porgs as I am? Did you buy new Star Wars swag on Force Friday II? Let’s talk about it in the comments section!

:: OUTFIT DETAILS ::

jacket: Macy*s | dress: Nordstrom
skirt: Modcloth | shoes: Blowfish Malibu
necklace: Kohls | belt: from another dress
Captain Phasma purse: Loungefly (buy here)
General Hux brooch: made by me
First Order pin: Dagobah Traders (buy here)

Cheers,
Nina

(outfit photos by Jennifer Khut)

geek style

Roses Are Red, TIE Fighters Are Gray…

February 14, 2017July 2, 2018 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

It’s Valentine’s Day and for once in the past three years I’m not bitter about it. Hooray for progress! I’m not doing anything to celebrate since this holiday is like whatever¯_(ツ)_/¯, but I did go out and kick it breakfast style with my friend Cailtin yesterday for a holiday that is superior by far: Galentine’s Day! But y’know, as much as I rag on Valentine’s Day like most other single people, it’s kind of hard to truly hate it because Valentine’s Day decorations are completely my aesthetic. This is something I’ve come to terms with. I love all the hearts and the pinks and reds and golds, the roses, the candy, the cute cards… UGH! I just can’t hate it. Everything is too damn cute and pretty. 😛

I didn’t wear this particular outfit today, but I thought it’d be cute to put together a retro geeky pinup look together to share on the blog for Valentine’s Day. Obviously, I had to go with a floral print skirt and Star Wars accessories! The hair flower is something my sister picked up for me a few months ago when she went to some tiki convention in San Diego. I’m obsessed with hair flowers — apparently at my tutoring gig, students refer to me as “the girl who always has a flower in her hair” — so my sister sent me some pics to see if I might want anything. How cute it is?! It’s a bit gaudy, but so fab! And I added a trifecta of Valentine’s Day-ish Star Wars pins to my red velvet top.

Roses are red
TIE Fighters are gray
I love Darth Vader
Happy Valentine’s Day!

Whether you celebrate or not, are single or taken, I hope your day is wonderful ♥

Cheers,
Nina

PS: My alternative Star Wars Valentine’s Day poem:

Roses are red
Darth Vader is blue
‘Cause Padme is dead
Nooooooooooooo!
Boo-hoo 😦

:: OUTFIT DETAILS ::
top & petticoat: Tatyana Boutique (buy here and here) |
skirt: Forever 21 (n/a) | shoes: Report (n/a)
hair flower: Fancy Fruit (buy similar here)
bouquet pin: BB-CRE.8 (buy similar here)
TIE Fighter pin: TeeFury (n/a)
Darth Vader pin: Variety Club (buy here)
purse: Loungefly (buy here)

(outfit photos by Caitlin Hamer)

Merry Sithmas, Happy Hothidays!

December 25, 2015 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Merry Sithmas my little ~~ponies~~ tauntauns!!! Here’s the holiday greeting card I sent out this year 😀

I’m off to SoCal to spend Christmas with my dad’s side of the family — everyone is packing up things last minute as I type this — so this is gonna be brief.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you have an amazing day and a happy new year!! And don’t tell me you don’t celebrate the new year because that happens to all of us. 😛

geek style

Walkin’ in a Wampa Wonderland

December 13, 2015 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

I think it’s so cute whenever families put out personalized holiday greeting cards with a nice family photo on them during this time of the year. My family’s never really put them out — not that we never wanted to, I think we’re just lazy. Mother, if you’re reading this, sorry I’m not sorry! You know it’s true. 😛

Even though I’m a perpetually single dog mother, I don’t see why my relationship status should hinder me from putting out one of my own. So this year, after wanting to ever since Rory came into my life 4 years ago, I FINALLY made a holiday greeting card to send out to friends and family with just me and Rory!

But, as you know, I’m a fancy geek, so I couldn’t just make it a “traditional” card with the Christmas tree and usual red & green color scheme. Nuh-uh, honey. As soon as I realized Rory’s not an albino ewok, but a mini wampa, I immediately searched for doggy wampa costumes and once I found one, I knew that the theme of my very first single-dog-mama holiday card would be “Happy HOTHiday!” Next year we’re probably gonna roll with “Merry Sithmas,” since we have matching Vader sweaters, but who knows? I might want to go with another fandom theme next year. But “Merry Sithmas” is obviously in the lead.

I’m going to be sending out my cards tomorrow, and I don’t want to share what they look like quite yet, but I’m really excited about them! So I thought I’d share a couple of pictures from the informal photo shoot my mom did for me and Rory. 🙂

Chewbacca sweater: Her Universe (buy here)
AT-AT dress: Utinni Bikini (buy here)
vest: Xhileration | glasses: Firmoo (buy similar here)
necklace: random boutique find in NYC | hair flower: Icing
Wampa dog costume: Star Wars (buy here)

photos by Carmel Hernandez a.k.a. my Inay

geek style · out & about

Wookiee Wednesday: Season of the Force (Part I)

November 18, 2015 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

This Monday I was lucky enough to go to Disneyland as they kicked off Season of the Force! I’m not sure how long it’ll be sticking around the park, but I hope it lasts for really long time! Disney has basically transformed Tomorrowland into Star Wars Land and I am LOVING IT!!! The Innoventions building has been redone as the Star Wars Launch Bay which houses some props from both the older films and The Force Awakens, along with a gift shop on the bottom level. Meet and greets with Darth Vader and Chewbacca are also housed there. I took a picture with Darth (obviously) since I prefer the Dark Side of the Force. I’d love to meet Chewbacca during my next visit though because I wanna give him a big ‘ol hug! The upper level of Innoventions is now Superhero HQ which is where guests can now meet Thor and Spider-Man, and not Captain America because they replaced him with Spider-Man for who the frak knows what reason? #bitterfangirl

Anyhow, Disney also turned Space Mountain into Hyperspace Mountain, where it feels as if you’re riding along a band of Rebel X-Wing pilots amongst TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers, and Admiral Ackbar even yells, “IT’S A TRAP.” I had the dumbest smile plastered on my face the entire time I rode it for the first time, and then cried tears of happiness the second time I rode it. Who knew a roller coaster could evoke such emotions out of a person? I certainly wasn’t expecting to react like that. Disney, can you just keep Space Mountain as Hyperspace Mountain forever and ever? It’s SO MUCH better than regular Space Mountain. Star Tours also has a brand new scene with appearances by Finn and BB-8, and the theater in Tomorrowland also has a new show called “The Path of the Jedi.” There’s also new Star Wars themed food and Star Trader (my favorite store to shop at in the park), has tons of new Star Wars merch. Notably, new Her Universe swag… which was really dangerous for my bank account.

I’m still so overwhelmed by all the cool stuff that they have there now! I always find Disneyland to be truly magical around this time of year with all the Christmas decorations and the special holiday stuff going on, but with the new Star Wars film coming out in a month (29 days to be exact), Season of the Force felt especially magical! I saw Stormtroopers walking through the crowd, I got to friggin’ meet and interact with Darth Vader (he asked me if I had any plans from Rebel spies to take down the Empire, and when I said no he told me that he sensed that I was being truthful) and I got to feel like an X-Wing pilot. :: crying happy tears ::

Here are some pictures I took while I was there! For next week’s Wookiee Wednesday, I’ll be sharing a few more 🙂

I look a little too happy to be meeting Lord Vader, huh? 😛

geek style

Nerdvember: Week One

November 8, 2015 Nina Penalosa7 Comments

Hey my little ponies! The ladies over at Set to Stunning are holding their second annual Nerdvember contest over on Instagram, and I decided to participate this year. The gist of it is is that participants are supposed to wear a geek inspired outfit — it can be a casual cosplay or an outfit with geek clothing/accessories — and post it on their Instagram account. Towards the end they’re going to pick a bunch of winners and give out fun prizes! I thought it would be a fun challenge, plus my blog’s emphasis is geek fashion, so it only made sense. 😀

Check out their post to find out more about Nerdvember here.

Every Sunday I’m going to share my outfits of the week on the blog with a little blurb about each one. So let’s begin!

Day 1: R2-D2

I remember thinking, “Oh, Nerdvember is gonna start soon!” during the last few days of October. And then all of a sudden it was November and I didn’t even realize it until the middle of the day. So I just took a selfie of me wearing my We Love Fine R2-D2 pullover and my Han Solo necklace with a denim vest. Not pictured is my pink, baby blue, and navy floral skirt. Oh well!

Day 2: Winnie the Pooh

It was a blustery day and a little rainy, so I thought it was the perfect time to bust out my Pooh Bear pullover. At first I was wearing jeggings, but felt so weird wearing them, so when I went home during my lunch break I changed into this long red circle skirt. 😛

Day 3: More R2-D2!

I wore my R2 pullover again and went all out with the matching accessories!

Day 4: Wookiee Wednesday

Like I mentioned before, on Wednesdays I always wear a Star Wars themed outfit no matter what. I paired my Chewbacca raglan top with this pink and black floral skirt from H&M and this light pink cardigan, because Chewbacca and flowers are a winning combination.

Day 5: Soot Sprites

This was a super lazy day and it was cold as f*ck that morning! But I paired my soot sprites dress with some thick black nylons, ankle boots, a zip-up hoodie, and my faux leather motorcycle jacket.

Day 6: Batman/Gotham

Another lazy day! I came across my Detective Jim Gordon necklace while cleaning my room and decided to make an outfit around it. I paired the necklace with a Batman necklace my friend Amanda got me for my birthday, my Batman hairbow, sparkly ring, and also had Rory wear his Batman t-shirt. 🙂

Day 7: Harry Potter

Yesterday just so happened to be National Book Lovers Day, so I nixed the Firefly outfit I was originally going to wear and put together this Harry Potter outfit! It was cold and I wanted to wear the Hufflepuff infinity scarf my sister made for me last year, but it is nowhere to be found! So there goes that stereotype of Hufflepuffs being particularly good finders. 😛

I’m excited to come up with some outfits for this coming week because I’m heading down to Anaheim for the Captain America 10k! I just got my top for the race last night, I just need to find some navy blue sweats which are surprisingly hard to find. Everything is black or grey! WTF is that all about? But anyhow…

Are you also participating in Nerdvember too? If you’re not, it’s not too late to start! You can also follow me on Instagram to see what I’m up to here: @lefancygeek 🙂

photo credit: me, Brianna Torres, Jennifer Khut, and my mom ♥

geek style

Wookiee Wednesday: Kessel Run[way] Ready

October 14, 2015 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

Welcome to another Wookiee Wednesday! Ever since Force Friday, us Star Wars fangirls (and boys) have been bombarded with all kinds of superb clothes and accessories from various different companies to fulfill our geeky fashion needs. To say it’s been seriously overwhelming is an understatement. I am constantly having to tell myself to cool my jet-packs (heh) and put my wallet away. There’s just soooOoOoOoo MUCH to chose from! What’s a fangirl to do?!

I started getting a little overwhelmed when choosing which accessories and whatnot to feature, but then I decided to narrow it down on things from the lighter side of the Force. I’m always “dark side this, and dark side that,” so I think it’s time to restore some balance on the blog. 🙂

1. Han Solo purse by Sent From Mars | 2. R2D2 necklace from HSN
3. Chewbacca raglan from JCPenney| 4. Wicket purse by Loungefly
5. BB-8 t-shirt by Fifth Sun | 6. R2-D2 heels by Irregular Choice

I am a self professed bag hag and huge Han Solo fan, so when I saw this Han purse by Sent From Mars my fangirl heart exploded! The details are insane! I am so willing to get rid of all my basic black purses to make room for this one in my collection.
Is this the droid I’ve been looking for? ME THINKS SO. After Her Universe announced that they would have some merch on HSN, I took a look online afterwards and saw that they have some gorgeous Star Wars jewelry, including this blingy R2 necklace. — insert heart eye emojis —
JC Penney is slayin’ it with their Star Wars apparel right now! I have a couple of tees that I picked up there, but this Chewie raglan was nowhere to be found in my size while I was shopping. For now, I shall just admire it from afar.
Novelty purses are so much fun, so I’m so excited that Loungefly has been coming out with tons of cute ones as of late. When I saw this Wicket one pop up online a few weeks ago I nearly choked on my spit from gasping so violently at the site of it because OMG LOOK AT HOW CUTE IT IS!!!!!
Soooo, I actually own this BB-8 tee! I bought it from Fifth Sun after they released a bunch of new Force Awakens tees since they were having a sale. The movie hasn’t even come out yet and everyone already loves BB-8. But really, how could you not?
I’m not a high heels kind of girl. If I’m going to some extra oomph in my step I prefer wedges because they’re more stable. BUT HOLY EFFIN’ SPACE BALLS. These shoes by Irregular Choice have R2 on them!!!! I’ve been a long admirer of the quirky unicorn Irregular Choice heels ModCloth always seems to have in stock, but these R2 ones? Stop it. JUST STOP. I love how they’re so gaudy, girly, and utterly geeky. Those are all my favorite things rolled into one item! Waaaaannnntttt.

Have you discovered and/or bought any awesome Star Wars goods recently? Or maybe have your eye on something? Tell me about them in the comments!