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)

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They See BB Rollin’, Darth Hatin’

January 24, 2016 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

‘ello, my little ponies! Like I said in my last post, I have more awkward moments with Darth Vader to share with you all 🙂

The day before my birthday I decided to wear my BB-8 bomber jacket and scarf, and Darth Vader wasn’t too thrilled by it. When we went, he had us line up and examined each of us. He saw my sister’s jacket said “Boba Fett” and said, “Good” to show his approval. Ryan’s Chewbacca tee was covered by his sweater, so Darth was kinda like I-don’t-know-about-this-one. And then when he got to me he said that he sensed that my allegiance was not with the Empire, which absolutely flabbergasted me! I mean, HOW DARE HE. How many times have I said on this very blog that I’m all about the dark side??? And it’s not like I could point out my Stormtrooper purse to him because I set it on the floor across the way. So I giggle nervously as he tells me that I can either align myself with the Empire or join the Rebellion and be crushed. You can see him telling me that I will be crushed in the picture below.

And then we got to meet Chewie! This was actually my first time meeting him since I only met Darth when I went to the meet & greets back in November when they launched Season of the Force. I met Chewie for a second time on my actual birthday. Anywho, it’s a good thing I wore my BB-8 jacket because when he was about to hug my sister he stopped when he noticed her jacket said Boba Fett. Then he began to guide her towards the exit. It was so funny! My sister said she’d like him win if he let her stay, but as we left he looked at Ryan and growled in a way that said, “Watch out for that one.” 😀

I also got to meet Boba Fett this day too, but he was a dick. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that. -_-

dress: Planet Gold | bomber jacket: Her Universe (buy here)
belt: A|X for Women | shoes: Vans (buy here)
BB-8 scarf: Bioworld (buy here) | purse: Loungefly (buy here)

(photo credit: my seester & Disneyland cast members)

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I Sense a Disturbance in My Wallet

September 3, 2015 Nina Penalosa5 Comments

Happy Force Friday to all my little tauntauns!!! I know I usually call you all my little ponies, but for Star Wars related things I will refer to you as my little tauntauns. ☺

It’s not quite Force Friday in California yet, but I know it’s happening for some of you already! I AM SO EXCITED FOR ALL THE NEW MERCH. Jen and I are heading over to Target in either Elk Grove or Modesto in hopes of picking up a few pieces from the new Cover Girl Star Wars collection (I mainly just want a couple lipsticks), and I also want a BB-8 and Captain Phasma action figure. If there’s any General Hux stuff I will want that too because Domhnall Gleeson. ♡♥♡

— fingers crosses —

I’m really anxious to see what Her Universe and Hot Topic come out with, but at the same time I’ve been sensing a great disturbance in my wallet. Uurrrrgggghhh. I can’t go spending all my monies on Star Wars stuff, especially since I’m going to be in Hawaii from the 10th t0 the 17th! Oh, and Fifth Sun (who is sponsoring a giveaway for 2 of you guys to win a geeky tank which ends tomorrow @ 11:59pm PST BTW) is having a labor day sale AND they’re coming out with new Star Wars tees and tanks. We Love Fine and Lounge Fly also showed a few new things they’re releasing including a cowl neck Sith dress (my sister got the Jedi one at SDCC and it’s super cute!), and BB-8 and Captain Phasma bowler bags. Whhhhhyyyy?!

— crying because I can’t get ALL THE THINGS —

Anyhow, in honor of Force Friday here’s a Darth Vader inspired outfit I threw together! On Wednesdays my friend Brianna and I decided to start wearing Star Wars themed outfits and are calling it “Wookiee Wednesday.” We used to do it on Tuesdays, but since we don’t see each other at work on Tuesdays anymore we had to settle for a different day. Neither of us discussed nor reminded each other to wear a Star Wars outfit yesterday and low and behold, we both ended up wearing Darth Vader tops (technically my top is a dress, but whatever), cardigans, flared black skirts, and a braided metallic leather belt. Like… WTF? When I walked into work and saw her outfit I just looked at her and said, “Are you f*cking serious?” Her and I come to work dressing in similar outfits 95.5% of the time, it’s not even funny. It’s scary. We’re 85% sure that an experiment was done on babies born in the late ’80s that somehow made their brainwaves in sync like Lance Bass and Joey Fatone.

I hope you all have a magical Force Friday and that you get all the cool stuff that you want! Speaking of which, what’s on your must-have list? Geek out with me and tell me in the comments section!

Darth Vader dress [used as a top]: Her Universe (buy similar here)
skirt: Moon (buy here) | shoes: deflex Comfort (buy here)
belt: A|X Exchange (no longer available)
cardigan: Old Navy (buy here) | earrings: Hot Topic (buy here)
button: Ninjabot (freebie from SDCC) | hair flower: Icing (n/a)
purse: thrifted and decoupaged by me

PS: Here’s a pic of Brianna and I being twinsies.

geek style

How to Decoupage Your Own Geeky Bag

August 20, 2015 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Hey my little ponies!

My latest article on Wear Your Voice is a D.I.Y. tutorial on how to revamp an old bag by decoupaging fabric on it. I originally planned on strictly using floral material, but I saw this amazing Stormtrooper and glow in the dark Star Wars fabric with tie fighters on it at JoAnn’s and was like, “NEVERMIND!!” You all know how much I love mixing floral prints with sci-fi stuff anyway. ☺

To see how I did it, check out my tutorial here. 🙂

dress: Hot Topic (buy similar here) | sunglasses: Kate Spade (n/a)
belt: A|X Exchange (n/a) | hair flower: Icing (n/a)
Han & Chewie pins: Disney Pin Trading from Disneyland
(buy here)

geek style

May the Fourth Be With You

May 4, 2013 Nina Penalosa12 Comments

outfit details – skirt: Xhileration // belt + cardigan: Merona // t-shirt: Super7 // Peter Pan collar necklace: MStyle // Stormtrooper bow: Abby’s BowTique (buy here) // Stormtrooper ring: it was on a cupcake! // shoes: Dirty Laundry // glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy here)

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!!!

In the nerd world, May 4 is Star Wars Day as it plays a pun on the famous saying, “May the force be with you.” To celebrate Star Wars Day I wore this outfit to work — all clad in my Star Wars gear, complete with Stormtrooper hair bow and ring! It’s not exactly “business casual” (our dress code), but I got tons of compliments from some customers and co-workers! One of them said, “So all I need to do is wear a cardigan and I can wear my nerdy shirts to work too?” Somehow I managed to get away with wearing my Luna Lovegood shirt by Megan Lara a few days before, so yes. Cardigans + nerdy shirt + nice skirt (or whatever fancy bottoms) = work appropriate. Huzzah for loopholes!!!

May the Fourth be with all my fellow geeks and nerds on this joyous holiday. YUB YUB!!!

Also: Happy Free Comic Book Day and Happy Birthday to Audrey Hepburn 😀

Cheers,
Nina

PS: Here’s a fun little ditty to celebrate the day.

@(*__*)@

geek style

Dark Side of the Garden

March 15, 2013 Nina Penalosa8 Comments

outfit details – dress: H&M // belt + cardigan: Merona // boots: Dirty Laundry // purse: Coach // r2-d2 pouch: Target // Stormtrooper ring: from a cupcake! // Darth Vader necklace: Once Upon a Smorgasbord (buy here)

OMG, an outfit post! I haven’t done one of these in awhile, so I suppose it’s time to fix that, right?

This is what I wore on Tuesday, so it’s not exactly an OOTD, but it’s coo, baby. It’s coo. I tend to wear dresses, cardigans, and boots A LOT because it’s pretty much my fail safe. I don’t know what I’m going to do when the weather gets warmer though. Ugh! I don’t even want to think about spring!

With this particular outfit, I was feeling very Lisa Loeb-y circa 1994… despite the fact that I’m not wearing my glasses. I misplaced them on Tuesday morning, buuut fun fact time!: they’re reading glasses, so I don’t particularly need to wear them all the time. I just like wearing them a lot because I love glasses and things look a lot nicer when I wear them. And of course, I had to add some geeky elements, so I threw in my Stormtrooper ring that I got on a cupcake, and I found this super rad R2-D2 pouch at Target last month! It came with a bunch of Lemon Head candies, but I just gave those suckers away. It has a little clip on it, so I attached it to my purse and stuck my chapstick, lipstick, and a compact mirror in it for easy access. I don’t know what else it could possibly be used for besides that. o__0

Also, I just added the Darth Vader necklace I’m wearing with this outfit to my Etsy store, Once Upon a Smorgasbord! I thought it might be a good idea to incorporate some of my pieces into my outfits just to show y’all how they can be worn and whatnot 🙂 Darth Vader looks quite lovely amongst the floral print of my dress, does he not?! For a better view of it, you can check it out here.

Star Wars + Floral prints = EPICAL GEEKY GIRLYNESS!!!