Aulani: a Tropical Wonderland

September 25, 2015 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

Going though all the snapshots I took while in Hawaii, I realized that I failed to take pictures of my hotel room. EPIC FAIL because that place was sooo nice. Auntie Nelly booked a villa for us that could fit a total of 9 people, but really there were only 6 of us: Auntie Nelly, myself, my sister, her boyfriend, my cousin Brian and his wife. Originally, I had booked us (myself, Auntie Nelly, sister, and Ryan) to stay at the Courtyard Marriott, but Auntie was like, “Babe, there’s no pool. It’s not a resort! I want to be able to relax on my vacation.” She mentioned how she wanted to stay at Aulani for at least 2 or 3 days, and my sister and I were foaming at the mouth about it. We knew that we at least wanted to book a spa appointment and go to a character breakfast if we weren’t going to stay there.

But then bippity-boppity-boo, we were suddenly booked to stay at Aulani for a whole week!!! I couldn’t stop smiling and my sister and I kept texting back and forth about how excited we were! Real talk, Auntie Nelly is my fairy godmother. I wouldn’t have more than half of the things I own, or be able to experience more than half of the things I do without her guidance and support. And my love of Disney comes from Auntie Nelly too. I am so beyond grateful for her (#blesses). I aspire to be an independent baller like her one day, but I’m still trying to figure out how to do that.

Anyhow… upon arrival to Aulani we were greeted with a warm “Aloha” and given leis. Not fake flower ones that you can pick up at any ‘ol gift shop on the island, but a legit one made out of real orchids. I later learned that men were given black kukui nut leis. Fancy schmancy stuff, but I expect no less from Disney. They’re always on their A-game!

Our room was MASSIVE. Here’s a layout of what it looked like:

I shared the master suite with Auntie Nelly and the bed was SO huge that the middle section of it always looked immaculate and untouched every morning. We also had a shower with an enormous shower head that just rains on you, and huge bathtub with jets!! I was determined to find a Lush store to buy a bubble bar to make use of the bathtub. We also had a nice kitchen and a washer and dryer. It was like living in a super swanky condo for a whole week.

Aulani has a fantastic pool area with a lazy river, a coral reef snorkeling area, pools designated for guests 18+, and a private beach where you can paddle board. I only went to the lazy river and beach, but Auntie Nelly rented a cabana for a day and a bunch of my family just hung out there. There’s also a few food places around the pool area including a place where you can get Dole Whip for $4. For one thing, that’s the price of a churro at Disneyland, but the kicker is that you get a cup and you can fill it up with as much Dole Whip as your heart desires. AND they have a swirl option so you can have a Dole Whip creamsicle.

WHY ISN’T THIS AT DISNEYLAND?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Aulani also has a gym that’s open 24/7. I only got to use it twice, but I mean… twice is pretty good considering that I was on vacation. And their spa, Laniwai, was probably my favorite part of the resort! They have you show up an hour before your appointment so you can enjoy the amenities such as their outdoor hot tubs (there’s one specifically for women, one that has jets, and one that’s just just a small pool filled with water at 105°), multiple shower heads (that poor hot water all over you), and a little pool filled water at 45°… apparently that’s good for circulation and recommended to take a dip in before a massage. I just had a facial done because I’m too ticklish for a full body massage.

The facial was FANTASTIC. The woman was like, “If you put your hair down, I can massage your scalp” and I like, “Awwww yiisssss, mother flippin’ scalp massage!” I didn’t say that out loud, but I think my noggin is the only place where I enjoy getting massaged. She also massaged my shoulders which felt nice too, so I guess I don’t mind that either. For the facial, she asked if I had any concerns with my skin and I mentioned the pesky blackheads on my nose. So she shined a bright light on my face to examine it and proceeded to do an extraction. Have any of you ever had an extraction done? If you haven’t, it feels like someone is digging their fingernail into your skin really, really, hard. That was the least relaxing bit, but I loved everything else about it. Like, getting your face and chest wrapped in a hot towel felt soooo good and my face felt so fresh and so clean. Afterwards, I just hung around until the place closed to get more use of the amenities, like the steam room and sauna. Hanging out in a steam room with a cold towel on your face is something I highly recommend.

I WANT TO GO BACK. Stick around the blog, because I’m not done talking about Hawaii yet!

You’ve Got Me in Stitches

September 21, 2015 Nina Penalosa3 Comments

I can’t believe how quickly my Hawaiian holiday passed by. And now it’s Monday, which means it’s back to reality. All together now: BLUUUUUGGHHH.

Despite the mosquitos and the endless tummy aches from all the sweets I ate, I really didn’t want my vacation to end. Staying at Disney’s Aulani resort was probably the most luxe experience I’ve had to date! I’ll talk more about that later though. Last Monday, a bunch of my family members got to go to Aulani’s character breakfast at Makahiki! It’s similar to Goofy’s Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel which I went to back in January. We got to take pictures with Mickey, and Goofy and Minnie walked around the restaurant to take pictures with diners. I was hoping Stitch would be there since my sister Disneybounded as Lilo’s doll Scrump and I wore my Stitch ears and Hawaiian Stitch dress that I got at Hot Topic earlier this year specifically for this trip! We did run into him at the wooden Stitch statue though and he was so surprised to see my Stitch ears and started playing with them. But we didn’t get to take pictures with him because a cast member was escorting him to go somewhere else.

— heavy sigh —

Uuuuggghh… I wanna go back! It’s seriously so fantastic and magical over there. And the food at the breakfast… oh my gaaaawwwwd. I love Disneyland food, so naturally the food at the breakfast buffet was all kinds of deloycious! They had Stitch waffles, pulled pork, miso soup, tons of pastries with tropical fruits… I seriously considered smuggling some guava pastries into my purse because they were that good.

I’ll be sharing more of my adventures from my Hawaiian Holiday, so stay tuned!

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dress: Hot Topic (buy similar here) | cardigan: Old Navy (buy here)
Stitch ears: DIY’d by me | flats: deflex Comfort (buy here)

geek style · out & about

Under da Sea

September 10, 2015 Nina Penalosa7 Comments

The title of this blog post is somewhat misleading because I am completely the opposite of being under the sea. Right now, I’m up in the air on my way to Hawaii! Or maybe I’ve already landed. I don’t know. Hawaii is 3 hours ahead of my usual time, and I suck at even the most basic of math problems so trying to figure out where exactly I am at this very moment is giving me a headache. Anyhow, I’m really excited since I haven’t been to Hawaii since I was 15. My cousin is getting married this weekend on Oahu, but I’ll be staying there for a whole week. Weeee!!!

Tropical locations aren’t completely my thing (yes, I know I’m weird), but we’re staying at Aulani! Disney magic all day, every day!!! Y’know what I’m sayin’? I am going to be eating ALL THE DOLE WHIP.

Since today is Thursday, I decided to post a little throwback outfit to something I wore to Disney’s California Adventure last month. My dress has silhouettes of Ariel all over it and I just added my crinoline to give it some extra oomph. Now that I think about it, it probably would’ve been better if I wore a lavender cardigan and my orange-y/yellow flower clip to emulate Ariel’s color palette more. But oh well! I like the way this ensemble turned out, and I think it’s pretty clear that it’s an Ariel Disneybound outfit, right?

I also packed this outfit for Hawaii sans the crinoline — I heard that it’s kinda rainy and hot (uuggghh) so I think I would be insanely uncomfortable if I walked around wearing it. Don’t be surprised if you see it on the blog again!

I’m bringing my laptop with me since I still have to work on things for Wear Your Voice Mag, but I’m not sure if I’ll be updating the blog throughout the week. I’mma be on vacation afterall! You can count on me to upload tons of pictures on Instagram though. If you don’t follow me on there yet, you can find me via @lefancygeek. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

dress: Hot Topic (buy here) | cardigan: Old Navy (buy here)
earrings: Betsey Johnson (buy here) | crinoline: Tatyana (buy here)
shoes: deflex Comfort (buy here) | hair flower: DIY’d by me
sunglasses: Charming Charlie (no longer available)

5 fandom friday

5 Fandom Friday: My Favorite Swag from SDCC

July 17, 2015 Nina Penalosa15 Comments

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since Comic-Con happened! I’m still trying to recover from it. Going back to work was R O U G H, you guys. There were a few times I woke up in the morning feeling like a sack of garbage and was tempted to call in sick to sleep a bit more. But I didn’t. Thank goodness I don’t work Fridays though. WOO! So today’s theme for 5 Fandom Friday is to share some of our favorite pieces of swag we got at a convention. Since SDCC just happened, I’m sharing the best things I scored!

1. Agent Carter poster

This is the one freebie that I truly cared about obtaining, and it was bitch trying to get it. I went to the Marvel booth a few times, but they never had it when I’d go there. I asked the workers if they would be passing them out, and each time they answered with, “Yes, later today. I don’t know what time, but check back later.” UGH. I always asked very politely too (because I’m a Hufflepuff, duh), but they were quite bitchy. It’s like, okay, I understand that this is probably the millionth time you’ve been asked that question today, but if someone is being polite as hell the least you could do is try and be courteous. Am I right?

I went to the ABC booth on Sunday and my friend asked one of the workers if they had any Agent Carter posters there, and they were super nice about it and checked for us. And they did have them! So I finally got one after I did the photo booth thingy that they had at their boothw. YAY!

2. Photo booth pictures

I took A LOT of photo booth pics during SDCC. Pixster was at both the Geeks Go Glam and SherlockeDCC parties I went to, and my bloggy buddies and I had way too much fun hamming it up in front of it. And at the ABC booth they had photo booth with a random generator — characters that you could possibly take a picture with were Miss Piggy, Animal, Fozzie Bear from The Muppets or Regina from Once Upon a Time. I was freaking out because I was so worried that I’d get Regina. Although she’s one of my favorites on the show, I REALLY wanted to take a picture with a Muppet. I was beyond relieved when I got Animal. 😀

3. Pins/buttons

I got some really cool buttons and pins this year! At the Tsum Tsum booth they passed out envelopes with pins after you take a picture at either of their photo ops. There were a total of 24 pins that you could collect, but who has time to do that? I managed to get Minnie and my absolute favorite Lady. I also got some free Star Wars pins from Loungefly (only Darth Vader is pictured), a button from Sam Maggs’ book signing that says “I’m the Doctor, Not the Companion,” an exclusive AT-AT pin from Think Geek with my purchase, and an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Secret Warriors pin. 🙂

4. Legend graphic novel by Mari Lu

My sister is a huge fan of Marie Lu’s Legend series and I decided to go to book signing with her since she’d be signing free copies of the graphic novel adaptation of Legend. I love graphic novels, especially since my attention span isn’t as great as it used to be when it comes to reading (I get SO distracted), so I’m really excited to start reading it.

5. Personalized Coke can

Over at Nerd HQ they had a machine where you can personalize your own Coke can! You could make two at a time so I wanted to make one that said Peggy Carter and Captain America… except it wouldn’t let me. RUGH. So I made one with Peggy and kind of panicked for the second one and just did my name. After I left I was like, “I COULD’VE MADE ONE THAT SAID STEVE” (for Captain America’s civilian name). Oh well. At least I now have a little Coke can with my name on it (despite the fact that I bought a Diet Coke bottle bearing my name last month).

Were you at Comic-Con this year too? Let me know what your favorite freebies were this year! And if you didn’t go, feel free to leave whatever kind of comment! 🙂

To find out the origins of 5 Fandom Friday, go here. And check out The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick to catch up with the latest prompts!

geek style · out & about

Tsum Tsum Day My Prince Will Come

November 4, 2014 Nina Penalosa7 Comments

When my sister and I went to Disneyland for a second round a couple weeks ago, I decided to do a little Snow White Disneybound since I packed this outfit (the dress was actually in an outfit post last year). It’s not a completely obvious bound, or maybe it’s more of an “inspired-by” outfit… but whatever. I like it! I borrowed my sister’s red bow headband (which she got for her Hipster Snow White costume last year), and brought my little Snow White Tsum Tsum (pictured below). Isn’t she darling?! I had been searching high and low for these damn little Tsum Tsums since they were released during the summer, and my mom surprised me with this cute Snow White one. Fun fact: She had no idea Snow White was my favorite. She just picked her on a whim. I started off with a medium sized Minnie that I got back in August, and then I got Daisy a few days after my mom gave me Snow White — after my trip I added 8 more Tsum Tsums to my collection, and I still want more!

In case you’re scratching your head and wondering what the hell a Tsum Tsum is, let me tell you! They’re these SUPER KAWAII stackable plushies that were first released in Japan (go figure, Japan is like the capital of all things adorable), and they come in three sizes: large, medium, and mini. And of course, there’s also a really fun and addicting Tsum Tsum game that you can download on your iPhone/iPad or Android by Line!

I’ve seen that some of my Instagram buddies are playing/collecting Tsum Tsums too! What about you ponies? Have you started a tiny army of adorbleness too?

Cheers,
Nina

PS: I feel like my Snow White game is on point in this selfie I took the day after my Disneyland trip…

dress: Fun & Flirt // cardigan: Gap // belt: Merona (thrifted)
headband: Claire’s (buy here) // shoes: Bass
necklace: Wonderground Gallery
glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy similar here)
Snow White Tsum Tsum: Disney Store (buy here)

the biblio files

The Funday Post

November 2, 2014 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Salutations, my little ponies! I had an idea to start a weekly post featuring links to things I find amusing, fun, and adorable on the web. Thus, The Funday Post! This’ll occur every Sunday, hence the wordplay. Oh, and don’t be surprised if a bunch of quizzes from Buzzfeed (or anything from Buzzfeed for that matter), Play Buzz, and whatnot show up each week because I basically live for those things. I hope you all enjoy!

♥ I still can’t get over Benjamin McKenzie’s and Neil Patrick Harris’ family’s Halloween costumes. Perfection!

♥One of my favorite bloggers, Diana of Our City Lights, was interviewed by the BBC about her love of Hello Kitty!

♥ Amy Poehler’s Reddit AMA is filled with nuggets of gold.

♥ Doge Weather is the best way to look up what the weather’s like in you neck of the woods.

♥ Literary Starbucks = best Tumblr page EVER! Each post is written in the style of a famous author and how they would order a beverage from the infamous coffee joint.

♥ This quiz to see if you know all the words to “A Whole New World” sparked some controversy in the comments because of one specific lyric. That being said, I got 20/20 correct. 🙂

♥ My sister had me watch the Fung Bros’ “18 Types of Asian Girls” video and nearly died from laughter! Some of them were just so spot on. I identified with 6 out of the 18 types: Good Asian Girl, Geek Asian Girl (some of the things with that one weren’t as spot on for me, but still), White Washed Asian Girl (alt/indie rocker), Hipster Asian Girl, Forever Single Asian Girl (I really need to lower my standards, but single life is what I’m about at the moment), and Foodie Asian Girl (you’ve seen my Instagram account, right?).

♥ Which Badass TV Lady Are You? quiz. My result was Leslie Knope from Parks & Recreation. I identify more with Liz Lemon, but I love Leslie and she shares my love for Harry Potter, ponies, and waffles, so I’m content.

Cheers,
Nina