Today is the official start of hurricane season. I’ll never be “that guy” frantically buying pop tarts and beer at the grocery store the day before landfall. As a lifelong resident of the Texas Gulf Coast (born in Galveston, actually), I had come to realize at an early age that hurricane season is just a part […]
An Anomaly of Clear Water at Galveston
Fun fact: I was born on the island and married on the island. Galveston, Texas holds a special place in my heart, and I visit as often as possible. I love its history and its quirks. Unlike other well known beaches, our waters are brown. They’re not dirty (per se), it’s just that the choppy […]
Costuming at Comicpalooza 2018
Comicpalooza, Texas’ largest comic book, pop culture, and entertainment convention, happened this past Memorial Day weekend (May 25-27, 2018) in Downtown Houston. I attended all three days and treated it as a costume deadline and cosplay dress rehearsal for another convention that we attend, DragonCon, during Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a […]
No Photoshop, No Problem: How I Make PowerPoint My B!tch
I do ALL of my drafting and designing in PowerPoint. I just never had the opportunity or the resources to work in Photoshop, so I made PowerPoint work for me. From maps and other technical displays early in my career at small oil & gas companies to designing my logo, business cards, banners, Pinterest pins, […]
Tunnel Geology: A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Downtown Houston’s Buildings (Red Loop)
I’ve worked in the oil & gas industry in Downtown Houston for over 15 years. Like many others, every day I walk through tunnels on and surrounded by lovely rocks, minerals, and fossils without a second thought. Though we may not have mountains in this part of the state, we have a stunning skyline and […]
Costuming a Jedi from Star Wars
With my new Dark Rey costume and our niece’s new Jawa costume, I couldn’t leave my husband out of the Star Wars fun…so I made him a Jedi costume. I mean, what grown-up wouldn’t want to get dressed up and play with lightsabers? There are a lot of characters to choose from, but we decided […]
Costuming a Jawa from Star Wars
When we started attending DragonCon several years ago, our niece asked for a Jawa costume and I happily obliged. I had just learned to sew and I had no idea there were recommended standards for Star Wars costumes. What I made was…good enough at the time. The hood was oddly shaped, the mask was all […]
Exploring the New Wiess Energy Hall at HMNS
A couple weeks ago some coworkers and I (remember: I work in Oil & Gas in Houston) took a long lunch field trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to check out the newly renovated Wiess Energy Hall. I don’t usually mix work and blogging (except recently I’ve been scouting Downtown Houston building geology at […]
Starting a Blog: Why and How-To
I started Red Shoes. Red Wine. in 2015 with the vague purpose of broadly sharing information, travel adventures, costume/cosplay builds, and really anything I felt like writing about. Why? Because I do a lot of fun things worth sharing. The downturn in 2014 hit my energy industry hard and I felt a creative gap in […]
Skyline Geology: A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Downtown Houston’s Buildings (City Hall Loop)
I’ve worked in the oil & gas industry in Downtown Houston for over 15 years. Like many others, every day I walk past buildings covered in lovely rocks, minerals, and fossils without a second thought. Though we may not have mountains in this part of the state, we have a stunning skyline, and I will […]