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Geeky Fashion

“Ladies Night” Wallet

Lately I’ve been trying to pare down my need for a gigantic purse and go for smaller clutches instead. This “Ladies Night” hinge wallet would ensure I always left the house with something tiny. It’s the perfect size to store a few things when grabbing happy hour with my friends, but also cool enough to use as a standard wallet when I need to use a bigger purse. Plus, it’s one of the few geeky and girly items I’ve seen that isn’t over-the-top cutesy.

Ladies Night – Hinge Wallet, $14.95 at NeatoShop.com.

Weddings

Harry Potter Themed Wedding Invites

Want to add a geeky, Harry Potter flair to your wedding while keeping it classy? These invitations are where it’s at.

Inspired by the Marauder’s Map, the designer creates a special map sharing the timeline of your love story, intertwining its way into the main invitation. The invites aren’t cheap, but are likely to be treasured by all of your guests (and would look great framed on a wall once you’re a newlywed!).

“Romance Managed” invitations, $7.24 each. Available at OneLittleM.com.

 

(Source: When Geeks Wed)

 

Books, Geeky Fashion, Hunger Games, Lifestyle, Movies

Geek Beauty: Eyelashes ala Effie Trinket

 

In the above ad for China Glaze’s “Hunger Games” nail polish, Effie Trinket is shown sporting some PaperSelf Lashes. Her makeup and lashes would be right at home in the Capitol, where whiskers and body paint are normal beauty trends. But could they be worn around today?

I sported the smaller versions of the lashes around for a full day to see how noticeable it would be. I made sure to try these out after a Laser Hair Removal session for my eyebrows. To keep things fashionable and not too over the top, I kept the rest of my makeup subtle and paired it with a black dress and grayish sweater.

The lashes themselves were pretty easy to put on and stayed really well throughout the whole day. I lined my lids a bit heavier than usual and amped up the mascara to make the lashes feel more at home.

Throughout the day, I went shopping, attended an event, and attended a Job Hunters meeting. People didn’t seem to notice (or at least comment on) the lashes at first, especially if I was just walking past them quickly on the street. They seemed more surprised that I was wearing a short dress and heels in Seattle when it felt like winter out! When I had face-to-face interactions with store employees, they would often comment on the lashes, or do a double take. If you didn’t know what I was wearing, it apparently looked like I just had a mascara clump or something stuck to my eye. The rest of the day was pretty similar. I noticed people staring at my face a bit more intently when they spoke to me, most likely trying to figure out what was going on.

It was fun to wear the fake lashes, but it seemed as if I either needed to go bigger, or not wear them at all. If I were to wear them again, I would pair them with a standard pair of false eyelashes (eyelash extensions) and wear my hair up to really play up the eyes. I can see these being a playful addition to a more formal outfit or fun night out, my only critique is that they weren’t quite the huge ice-breaker/attention-getter I thought they would be.

Would you wear these lashes? How would you style them?

If you want to try them out, You can get your own pair at Sephora, on sale for $9.

Have a fashion/beauty trend you want me to try? Let me know at tara@geekyhostess.com!

A Geeky Home

BSG Coasters

Today, QMx announced a new product available for pre-order: BSG coasters. These coasters are 3-D sculpted and hand-painted recreations of the Colonial seal that hung in the Galactica’s CIC. At $40 for four, this is a BSG item that serves a purpose and isn’t too pricey. Basically, I’m sold. Now to find some sweet glasses, a good bottle of whiskey, and some Viper pilots to share it with.

You too can get on the wait list to pre-order by visiting the site here.

Geek Etiquette

Geek Etiquette: Driving

The Geeky Hostess is gonna help you get your manners on! Each Monday, we’ll focus on a topic of etiquette. We’ll take a look at the classic rules (using Emily Post as a guide), and then evaluate the rules for our daily lives, creating a guide to “Geek Etiquette.” Have an etiquette question or topic suggestion? Email tara@geekyhostess.com!

When I ask people what etiquette topic I should cover next, one issue comes up more than any others: driving. It may not be geeky, but it’s at the top of Seattle geeks’ minds: we know how we should behave, yet everyone is guilty of committing some driver etiquette no-nos. Just the other day, I encountered people cutting me off, tailing me, merging over multiple lanes without a turn signal, not stopping at stop lights, stopping in the middle of the road, putting their car into reverse suddenly, driving too fast, and driving too slow. It’s a miracle my car and I made it home in one piece!

Emily Post has some great advice on the “Rules of the Road” that I suggest you read–it’ll be a good reminder for yourself on simple driving etiquette rules. But for this post, I thought we’d get our advice from Jess of “New Girl”. Take a look at this one minute clip:

(For those outside of the US, Jess bests a bad parker with a gun using nothing but kindness.)

While I spend a large amount of time in my car angrily muttering at people who cut me off or stole my parking spot, I should stop and remember: they’re people too. When I’m stressed out in traffic because I want to get home, I should realize that everyone else is trying to do the same thing. We all are just trying to get somewhere safely, and we don’t know if the person who didn’t use a turn signal is dealing with a breakup or if the person driving too fast is bringing someone to the hospital. I once had someone back into me in a parking lot and instantly start crying about her horrible day. She didn’t leave a scratch on my car, and the only thing she left with was a hug from me.

Granted, sometimes people really are just the worst. And for them, there are “You Park Like an Asshole” citations. Print a few out to keep in your glovebox, but while they’re funny, you should only use them if you truly know the situation. Sometimes it’s best to give drivers the benefit of the doubt, and learn from their wrong-doings.

Call Motor Lender Bad Credit Lender for your car purchase.

What piece of driving/parking advice would you give drivers?

Geeky Fashion

Geeky Glitter Shoes

A huge thank you to Lisa for showing me these amazing shoes, handmade by Etsy seller Aisha Voya. The shoes are adorable, glittery flats that can be worn with jeans or dressed up for a night out on the town. With designs from Mario, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Star Wars, My Little Pony and more, there’s something for every geeky lady.

Shoes range from $60-80 and are custom made in your size. Visit Etsy shop aishavoya to see everything available!

Entertaining, Gift Ideas

Dinner Party with UncommonGoods

One of my resolutions this year was to have more “grown-up” dinner parties. This means less people over, cloth napkins, and meals that don’t involve calling Domino’s.

However, it’s me, and I still like to have a fun theme or activity planned. UncommonGoods came to the rescue with some fun products for me to review, and I thought it was the perfect chance to invite some friends over and make a night out of it.

UncommonGoods is an amazing shop, featuring tons of unique home goods and gift ideas–perfect for a host/hostess gift or a unique wedding/shower gift. They allow you to vote on which products you think they should carry next, ensuring that everything they sell is actually wanted. They also make gift-giving super easy by sorting their most popular items into gift guides based on the recipient: check out their “Gifts for Wife” section here and their “Gifts for Husband” section here. (I’ve actually found great gift ideas in both of those for men and women of all marital statuses!).

Mr. Geek and I, along with our friends Katrina and Rob, enjoyed cheddar and beer fondue while catching up and playing with some of their items. Take a look below for the items, our reviews, and a chance to win a $50 gift certificate!

Fortune Teller Napkins

Although these are called “napkins”, I wouldn’t recommend actually using them as such. They’re way cooler as a toy, and make a cute table decoration/ice breaker. We started dinner by reading each other our fortunes, and had a great time reliving the “cootie catcher” days of our childhoods. The fortunes are more friendly pieces of wisdom, and seem to be appropriate for all ages. They were ok, but not super compelling. The most interesting part of this was calling the images shown on the catcher by the longest names possible, making our friends spell it out on the spot.

Table Topics: Original

We’ve never had trouble starting conversation with our friends, but Table Topics made it even easier. The attractive cube (that now resides on our coffee table) is full of ice breaker questions that can lead to some quick laughs or a thought-provoking discussion. We went through a majority of the cube in one sitting because we just kept wanting to talk and explore more questions. A favorite from the night was the question, “if you could change one thing about the way you look what would it be?” While the rest of us gave standard responses regarding trimming down parts of our body, Mr. Geek was adamant that he would have a third arm growing out of his chest. It would be very practical and never in the way, he argued.

Our dinner party ended up going hours longer than we expected as we got caught up in conversation and delicious food. Thank you, UncommonGoods, for helping make it a wonderful night!

Want to throw an amazing dinner party of your own? I’d highly recommend checking out UncommonGoods for that little something extra. If your dinner parties are less beer and more sippy cups, they even have some fun things for kids. Check out the adorable Construction Plate and Utensils!

Ok, the moment you’ve been waiting for:

Enter to win a $50 Gift Certificate!

You can enter by doing any (or all) of the following things–leave a comment for each thing you did so they can count as a separate entry! A winner will be randomly selected at noon PST on Thursday, March 8th and announced later that day.

  1. Tweet a link to UncommonGoods’ “Gifts for Wife” page.
  2. Sign up for the UncommonGoods email list.
  3. Vote on a product using UncommonGoods’ voting tool.
  4. Follow The Geeky Hostess on Twitter.
  5. “Like” The Geeky Hostess on Facebook.

Good Luck!

EDIT: We have our winner! Random.org selected comment #52, which was Monica Hudak! Congrats Monica, I’ll be in touch over email!

Disclosure: UncommonGoods provided me with the products shown above and the $50 gift certificate in exchange for a review. The review is my own opinion.

A Geeky Home

Dinosaur Sheets From Pottery Barn

Every once in a while I flip through catalogs for Pottery Barn Kids and Teen. Let’s face it–they have the cooler stuff. Most recently, I found this set of “Dino’s Attack” sheets and jumped for joy when I saw they were available for Queen-sized beds. That means us grown-ups can have fun sheets too!

The sheets are only a 200-thread count, so they may not be the best for everyday use, but would make for an amazing guest room.

Pottery Barn also carries sheets with more realistic illustrations of dinosaurs, available here.

Robots more your thing? They have those too.

Basically, Pottery Barn, just take my money.

Dinosaur and Robot sheets, $109 for a Queen sheet set (flat, fitted, and two pillowcases). Available at Pottery Barn Kids, in catalog and online only.

A Geeky Home

“Man Table”: Amazing Side Table for Lazy Geeks

In an intense gaming session or movie marathon, and not in the mood to get up from the couch for another beer or Mountain Dew? With the Man Table, you don’t need to. This unassuming side table holds a hidden fridge, ensuring your next beverage and snack is never too far away.

My only complaint: the name. Unless it can chill a man for me, it shouldn’t be called a man table. Ladies like cold beverages too!

Man Tables are available in colors Tobacco, Espresso, and Black and range in price from $329-359. You can purchase them at their site, www.mantables.com.

Geeky Fashion

Hello Kitty Shoes for Grown-Ups

Every once in a while, I’ll see a little girl with amazing Hello Kitty shoes on and think, “How come they don’t make those in an adult size 9?”

Twenty10 Footwear apparently heard my cries and are now selling some amazing Hello Kitty shoes on Fab.com.

The shoes range in price from $45-$65 and include boots, sneakers, flats, and heels. I’m in love with the Luisa Peep Toe Red, as shown above. It’s sassier than you usually expect Hello Kitty to be.

Check out all of the shoes available here and let me know which your faves are!

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