Planet Comicon Recap (Lots of pictures!)

Good Morning Everyone, 

It is finally time for my Planet Comicon Recap! 

This year we decided to do all three days and I was so glad that we did! 

Friday: 

We didn't get there until about mid afternoon but honestly that wasn't a problem at all. There weren't that many people there on Friday and that made it the perfect day to wander around and get to look at all the booths without the crowds. Also if you are wanting to meet a celebrity guest Friday is your day to go! We barely had to wait in line to meet the guests we wanted to see...and I super fangirled out. Seriously I have no chill and was totally starstruck by my favorite stars. 

I met Chloe Dykstra (@Skydart) and she was so adorable and sweet and just lovely! One of my Cosplay idols!!!

Michael Rooker! Fans of Walking Dead know him as Merle. Guardians of the Galaxy fans know him as Yondu. He was so nice and sincere! He made fast friends with Kyra and was unbelievably talkative and fun to be around! He was amazing to his fans and we were happy to go through his line multiple times to get another chance to visit with him!

Saturday: 

This is the big day for Cosplay which is honestly my very favorite part of the con. There were SO MANY amazing cosplays this year and these pictures don't even cover half of what was there as I didn't even see some of the ones that my brothers were raving about. However what I did see was truly awesome and inspiring. My youngest brother Dylan and of course Kyra were in full cosplay gear. Dylan looked amazing and his costume was completely homemade. Even the awesome helmet was created by my Dad and it turned out looking super professional...pretty much like all things my parents create.  I am fully convinced that cosplay is something that I need to do...I love every aspect of it and so admire those that create these costumes and then fully commit to the character that they are taking on. Here are just a few (honestly there was so much more): 

 

My Brother's Cosplay---Sokka from Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon!

He found another group of Avatar Cosplayers!

And Another One!

Sunday: 

Sunday was a bit off...mostly because of all the personal things that had gone on Saturday night, but we decided to go ahead and go for just the last two hours of the con. We scored some really great deals on artwork and ended up seeing a lot more cosplays than I actually expected. Sunday is much more mellow and quiet compared to Saturday and doesn't quite have the hype and excitement of Friday, but I still loved every minute of it because well...I love the Con. 


All in all I have to say that this Con gets better and better every single year. It is growing and honestly I love that it is because as it grows more and more people are starting to see that it is totally okay to go out there and embrace your inner nerd! 

My things for next year: 
1) I will be cosplaying at least one of the days. Most likely Saturday. 
2) I will plan better so that I can actually sit down at one of the panels
3) I will be buying the 3 day pass again, possibly the VIP
4) Clear sleeves and a binder for art. Also a poster roll for bigger pieces. 
5) Mark favorite booths on Map to make sure I hit them first! 

I would also recommend buying anything that you REALLY want on Friday. Things tend to get crazy on Saturday and you might find the item your really wanted totally sold out. Now that being said, if there is just something you would like but aren't really into the price and it isn't a "must have" item, then try and wait it out. Sunday and late Saturday are usually the best time for deals as they are trying to get stuff out the door. 

So there is the recap for this year! I also plan on going to another con later this year and hopefully will be adding more and more con trips in the future! Hope you all enjoyed and be sure to check out any of your own local cons! It is SO MUCH FUN !!! 

Returning

Good Morning Everyone, 

First off, Thank You to all that sent me messages and prayers throughout last week. I really do appreciate every single one of them. I know I didn't get back to emails but honestly the whole week I spent mostly in a fog and when not in the fog trying to be a good wife and mother. I felt very closed down the whole week but I am ready to get back to things. 

I will admit to you that I marked all the blogs I missed as "Read" last night. I will get back to reading today but I just missed so much in the past two weeks and it was overwhelming to the point that I was actively avoiding looking at my Bloglovin' Feed. So I marked them as read and was done with it. I'll do better this week. 

This week I do plan to get up my Planet Comicon post, My Confessions and I have so many things tagged for Friday Favorites that I am probably going to have to only do half of them this week! 

Today however I just wanted to get back into the blogging world and to say thank you to all of you and I leave you with this. I am not sure why but this little penguin was a great source of comfort in those moments between grief and stress...when it all felt like too much. Maybe it will help some of you this Monday Morning. 

Big hugs from here.

FYI

My grandfather passed away Tuesday Morning. I am taking some time away from the blog to be with my family. Thank you to everyone that has been so kind and thoughtful. I hope to be back to posting next week. 

Be safe everyone and hold your loved ones close. 

What's Been Going On....

Hello Everyone, 

So I've been absent from blogland for over a week now, there has been A LOT that has gone in my personal life. 

If you have been around for like a minute you will know that I was so excited about Planet Comicon and that two of my friends were coming in to go with us. That all went fine and I will have an epic post about the awesomeness that was the Con on tomorrows post. However Saturday night things went a little crazy and have been pretty much non stop since then. 

One of my friends was sitting at dinner with all of us, celebrating my brother's birthday, when he had a seizure. He doesn't have a history of such things. This was completely out of blue. It was terrifying. He is thankfully okay and doing much better but at the time it was very scary. 

Also while my friend as at the hospital we got a call from my grandmother that my grandpa was put into the hospital that same night....and that things were not looking good. Long story short my grandpa is now on hospice care and we don't know how much longer he has left. They are just making him as comfortable as possible. 

So yes...things have been very intense around here and honestly I didn't want to blog until I could get a grip on what I was writing and not just put a mess here on the page. However I can assure you my personal journal is filled with all that mess. Writing is the thing that brings me balance and I am very ready to get back to blogging again. 

Thank you to everyone that commented and sent good thoughts and wishes my way. I really appreciate it and cannot thank you all enough. You all make my heart very full. 

Big hugs from here. 

Tomorrow I hope to have my full recap of Planet Comicon up for you all to see all of the awesomeness. I am truly a big nerd and fangirl....also I have no chill....but more on that tomorrow.

Hello Everyone, 

My apologies for not blogging the past few days, life has been a bit of a mess this past week. So much has gone on...lots of personal things. Also I have been sick the past three days and that doesn't help. Actually,  if you could send good thoughts and good juju this way I would appreciate it. 

I do plan on writing a whole post about Comic Con and will try to get back to regular blogging as soon as possible. Right now my Bloglovin Feed is full of unread items and honestly I am just too overwhelmed to even open it up at this point. However I hope to get back to it soon. 

Until then I miss you all a lot and promise I will do a proper post as soon as I am up to it. 

Have a good day everyone. 

Friday Favorites 3/13

Good Morning Everyone! 

This is going up a bit late since I was super busy yesterday and didn't get around to it last night! I'm also crazy busy this morning but I have time to type while I wait for my hair to cool off from styling. 

Today is Day 1 of Comic Con and the beginning of a very busy and fun weekend! My friends should be here soon and I cannot wait to show them all the awesomeness that is Planet Comicon! 

I'm thinking of vlogging the whole thing so if you would be interested in that let me know and I will be happy to post it! 

Now on to the Favorites! 


Beauty Favorites

 

 

Fashion Favorites

 

Nerdy Girl Favorites

Favorite Funnies 

Everyone have an awesome and safe weekend! See you all on Monday!! 

DIY: Play Makeup Pallet

Good Morning Everyone, 

So it is no secret around here that I really love makeup. 

Like...REALLY. 

Well Kyra really likes my makeup too. However since she is only 1 year old she is more into just making a mess. 

Still she really enjoys sitting with me while I put on my makeup and I know how much she wants to copy Mommy and thus this little beauty came into being. 

Here is what we started with: An old makeup pallet and a variety of nail polish colors

Basically after I cleaned out the old makeup pallet I let Kyra pick out a few of my nail polish colors that she liked. She loves telling me all the names of the colors so this was really a fun project for her! 

Once we had decided the colors I poured just a little bit of each one into the empty spaces. 

Then I let it dry overnight. 

In the morning POOF! A beautiful and safe pallet for Kyra to play with! She has her own little brush and she pretends to put on the colors all over her face while we get ready in the morning! 

This was such a fun DIY and honestly Kyra really loves playing with it! It cost me absolutely nothing and I really didn't even use that much polish in the empty spaces. No more than I would have used just doing one coat painting my nails! 

This was a total win in my book and I encourage any and all Mommy's with makeup addicted kiddos to create their own! 

Happy Thursday Everyone!

A Random Confession Day

Good Morning Everyone, 

It's Confession Day! 

I confess that last week I totally forgot about putting up my weekly confessions! Kyra had Story Time and then a Dr. appointment and thus the blog totally slipped my mind! Oops! 

I confess that when I saw new followers in my Bloglovin feed I just about died. Hello Newbies!!! 

I confess that I went back and followed each new person and have been spending the last few days commenting on their posts from last week...which makes me feel like a creeper. 

I confess that two of my friends are coming into town Friday to spend the weekend and go to Comic Con and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED! 

I confess that I opened all the windows, wore flip flops, and whined about the weather yesterday. I HATE THE HEAT. 

I confess that I now have about eleven billion books on my library holds list thanks to the linkup from yesterday! Seriously SO MANY BOOKS...it's like heaven.

That's it for me today. Happy Wednesday Everyone and Don't Forget to Linkup!

Show Us Your Books: February Reads

Good Morning Everyone, 

First off thanks for letting me vent a little yesterday. I just had things on my mind that I had to get out and see in print in order to deal with them! 

Today we are on a much more fun note with the monthly book linkup! 

So here's what I read last month: 

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

I have read several books by Holly Black before (author of the Spiderwick Chronicles)  and I have to say that this book did not disappoint! It did have some slow going toward the middle but it more than made up for it by the end. It honestly did not end up where I thought it would have.

Hazel, the main character was really enjoyable to get to know. She was brave and strong and also a little damaged. Immediately a character with whom you could relate. I liked that she was never too far between completely believing in herself and utterly doubting herself. I also adored her brother Ben and felt like their relationship was really amazing.

The romance in the book was really well done for a YA book in my opinion. It wasn't too full of angst or just overtly sexual in nature. I liked that it wasn't the main focus of the story as well. Too often the "love interest" is what pulls the story forward and with this one it was definitely character driven. 

I really liked the idea of an entire town being completely aware of the magic around them and yet choosing to ignore it as if it would just go away. As long as you follow the rules you are safe...if you slip up then it is your own fault. For some reason this just really seemed like a plausible way to have magic fit in with the modern age.


Where She Went by Gayle Forman

This was the sequel to If I Stay which I read back in January. I was so looking forward to this book as I fell absolutely in love with If I Stay and I really wanted to know what happened to Mia and Adam. 

This book takes place three years after the first book and honestly at first I was a little bit irritated with it. Not to get too prosy here but the first book was all about Mia and played just like I imaged her cello playing. Smooth sailing and quick to read. 

With this second book however since it was written all from Adam's point of view I felt like it was like his guitar and very jarring and leaping from one point to the next. However once I got into the story and began to get to know Adam better (he was VERY underdeveloped in the first book) I fell in love with the story. 

Even though there were times when I wanted to scream at the characters and times when I didn't want to finish the book because I was getting so frustrated with how it was going...by the end I was completely satisfied with how it turned out and honestly I will miss the characters a lot.


The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

 

This one I picked up on a whim while browsing my libraries online book selection. It looked like something I might be interested in and admittedly the sample section of it had me hooked. However as I read...I was less hooked. This isn't a long book and it wasn't a bad book either...it just...didn't thrill me? I was hoping for more from Nicholas Flamel which is who I thought would be the main focus...however most of the book is written from the point of view of Sophie and Josh, two modern day teens that work with Flamel. I think that was probably the part I disliked the most as they are pretty unlikeable characters and are very...basic? I suppose that word will have to work. They just didn't do if for me. 

However the action parts of this book...which unfortunately are spaced out between LONG and tedious bits...are very good and left me intrigued and hoping for more. I feel like there is a lot of potential in the series...if only the characters were likeable.   


So there you have it! My reads for February! See anything you might like to try? Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the Comments! 

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Holding Back, Holding In, and Letting it go

Morning Everyone, 

I know today is normally a weekend recap kind of day and that Mondays (especially Mondays after daylight savings) are not really the place for a "heavy" post but honestly I have to get this out there and nothing else is going to get written until I do. 

Saturday I went jean shopping. I had lost weight last week and when I had gotten ready Saturday morning my jeans had slid on with no effort and since they are the only pair I have in that particular size I thought I would pick up another pair for backup. So off we go in the 67 degrees that it was and I grabbed about ten pairs of jeans in the size and headed to the fitting room. 

I tried on pair after pair and each one had something wrong. Too tight in the hips and wide at the waist. Too loose in the butt. Too tight in the butt. I will never get these buttoned/zipped. Pair after Pair. 

The experience was not one I want to repeat any time soon and I legit ugly cried right there in the fitting room.

You see even though I had been feeling slightly decent on Saturday morning I haven't been feeling all that great in general. I put on a smile and try to push my way through but honestly things haven't been great. At least in my own head they haven't been. 

I noticed it when everyone started talking about summer and swimsuits. Talking about the heat and then suddenly the weather is changing and it's almost spring.....and I'm over here having a slight panic attack. Not a good sign. 

I don't want warmer weather. I don't want swimsuit season or short shorts. (which BTW I saw at least 20 of them on Saturday and tube tops....you'd think we had been in an eternal ice age the way people were acting...) But why? 

Because I am not happy in my body. 

I feel like I don't know it anymore. I've always battled the weight thing....I've always felt like the "fat friend"....and I have missed out on things because I was so self conscience...but lately things are worse. Maybe it is because my whole body changed after I got pregnant. Maybe it is because I really want to Cosplay and being a plus size cosplayer is not a "popular" or "accepted" thing. Whatever the reason, I don't feel like myself anymore. 

My mom actually took a picture of me the other day and I picked it apart with all my flaws. That isn't okay. 

So I'm putting it out there....that I'm not happy. That things are not okay. I'm tired of holding it all in. Even if this post just goes out into the void at least it is out there...and out of my head.

I am going to continue with my weight loss journey but I am going to try to be less hard on myself about it. I will try to fill my head with good thoughts about my body. I have to start letting the poisonous thoughts go and move forward...I can't be the crying girl in the dressing room again. 

Friday Favorites 3/6 #LLAP

Good Morning Everyone, 

This week has been just a mish mash of crazy for me. Birthdays everywhere and Kyra had a doctor appointment and running errands and blah blah blah. It's just been a bit overwhelming! I have gotten to read some of the blogs and comment a bit but I promise I will be responding and commenting more this weekend once things simmer down a little! 

Now....Time for some Favorites! 


Beauty Favorites: 

Essie "Under the Twilight"---Loving this shade!

I love this color...however they didn't have this one in stock so I got a different one...but this one shall be mine eventually! Nyx "Spice Cake"

Fashion Favorites:

Since you all insist that summer is coming...I guess I will try to think forwards....

Nerdy Girl Favorites: 

Leonard Nimoy passed away last week. He was a favorite of mine. He began the movement of being okay with being a nerd and embracing all the nerdy things about you. He will be greatly missed. Live Long and Prosper friends.

Yes. I need this in my life.

I know I'm a fangirl but c'mon....Helloooooooo Aquaman!

Favorite Funnies: 

 

 

Be sure to join the linkup! Happy Friday Everyone!  Have a safe and fun weekend!!

Creativity....In Progress

Good Morning Everyone,

It's time for the Choose Your Adventure Linkup!!

February's Goal: CREATE

 1) I want to create a costume for Comic Con in March.---Well....not so much. Kyra has a costume that I picked out and my mom created that I will reveal after Comic Con next week...but as for me? Yeah...nada. It has a lot more to do with my own self esteem issues than actual creativity...but still a big NO on this one.

2) One piece of artwork for my home--This is actually an "in progress" one. I have the piece I am working on...it just isn't done yet because it has been too cold to really work on painting it. So I only get half a point on this one.

3) Does more work on the novel count? I'm counting it. ---Yes! Major edits were done but still not out of the editing phase yet. I have a whole section that still needs a rewrite in order to fix some plot holes. Half a point again.

March's Goal:RELATIONSHIPS

1) A half hour to hour of stretching/fitness/wellness- Relationship with Self and with Kyra (she's been doing my morning stretches with me! So Cute!)

2) Plan get together with friends for the upcoming months--Friendships

3) One date night just Robert and Me- Husband and Self 

4) Bedtime Story Time- Kyra, Self, Husband 


I'm looking forward to March's goals! I actually am working on a post about Number 1 on the list as it is something that Kyra and I just started! That post should be up on Monday or Tuesday! 

So how did you do last month? Were you Super Creative or kind of give it a miss like me? Be sure to share in comments! 

Happy Thursday Everyone! 

P.S.- A BIG Thank You to all those that wished my Mum a happy birthday the other day! She had a really great day!