Happy Halloween

Toyed with wearing my Tink costume to work, but decided it wasn't work appropriate. Wore some themed leggings and my Steampunk minions instead.

The boss decided to put a bowl of treats on my desk for clients. Halloween candy in a Christmas bowl...not sure how I feel about that.

First attempt done!

7 hours in costume, aviators hurt my head, wing harness worked fine but wingspan needs to be adjusted for bigger crowds, I need a holster with fairydust jar and a side bag, a different shirt and new necklace. Otherwise it was a success! I considered trying the jetpack again, however for the Expo I have someone willing to wear a steampunk Peterpan costume so he will be the one with the jetpack to keep up with me!

Planning stages have started, Pan and Tink will be day one of the expo. I was also asked to do a gender bender Little Mermaid themed play. I will be Flounder and will accompany a gender bent Ariel...this will be something new for me and exciting. Already contacted my costume designer and will start more attempts at making a lot of it myself.

Dress rehersal!

Doing a trial run for the costume. Glad I did as there was a lot more too it than I expected. My wings have a heavy metal frame that is designed to slide into the back of a corset. As my costume has an underbust instead of a full corset it is too low for the wings. I did some research and brainstorming and decided the best would be to tie them directly to my body. So using ribbon I created a network across my body, then put on my shirt and slid the wings down the back neckline into the harness I'd created. I then went under the bottom of my shirt and attached ribbon to the base of the frame and secured that to my waist. Then tucked my shirt into my pantyhose (which I will say I haven't worn in over 15 years and doddled around the store for 20 minutes when I picked them up as I had no clue what I was doing) which secures the shirt from the frame popping it up. Then the skirt over top, and underbust over everything. Arm cuffs, necklace, aviator goggles, steampunk wing earrings, pixy shoes and I'm good to go!

I had intended to use a jetpack as well, which I'd created with water bottles. It was looking pretty neat, then I started figuring out the logistics of attaching it to me. I felt I needed a leather harness or something to attach it, it didn't quite fit right between the wings and with my long hair. It also covered up the laces of my underbust which look quite awesome. I decided to pass on the jetpack this time around, but may start the idea fresh in the new year in preparation for the expo. So excited! As always I'm open to creative criticism. 

 

I wish I could dance!

Dragon cuffs!

A friend made me these awesome dragon cuffs. Oh, and I changed my hair!

Groovy

Needed some groovy music to get me through this day...

New shirts!

Last ones for a while, nothing on it's way...I have too many! Just couldn't pass these up. 

Press

Arm, shoulder and back day...going to be sore tomorrow! 

Oh book club...

I enjoy book club because I read books I would never normally pick up. However, I haven't loved any of the choices in a long time. Hoping for a winner soon! At least I get little giggles now and then...

Ransom Riggs - MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

Yes...

Love my days out of the office, get to wear my shirts! I should wear every single one some day, layered on top of each other. Every 20 minutes I'd take one off revealing the next one!

Perfect

My idea of a perfect Monday morning, quite coffee shop, coffee, this amazing egg/hashbrown/spinach/bacon muffin thin, and personal computing time. Well some of the time is personal computing, need to get started on a crisis response manual for work. Looking forward to it!

Can't wait...

Getting things ready, 6 days and counting and a few things to still put together. Every time I walk into my closet I get a little excited. So scared they are going to get trashed before Saturday!

Sunday mess of me...

Joined by Gaige today. My favorite Mechromancer.

Ouch

Putting on my sweater tonight I feel a pain in my arm, take a look and see the bruise? I can only assume it was from the times I had bad posture while doing archery and the bowstring hit my arm. Can't wait to go back!

True love...

Love this game...

Exploding Kittens

I work for it...

So I had someone tell me recently I'm lucky to the have the body type that I do. I said no, actually I'm not. They then proceeded to tell me I looked great and they wished they could reach the same point. I was angry, and told them they can, as this is not my "body type" and I work very hard to even just maintain what I have. I wanted to stress, to those that know me, how hard I actually work and was going to share something motivating on social media. "If I can do it, you can too!" Blah blah blah... But then I remembered how I've had a few people tell me they hate my posts about working out and my progress shots.

So instead, my loyal blog readers, I rant to you. I am still 10 lbs from my goal weight, however I've reached my goal weight and it was too skinny. My hip bones jutted, my ribs stuck out farther than my breasts, my face sagged and it was hard to maintain. I have struggled with my weight since puberty, tried every shake, supplement and fad diet. I wanted the easy fix. Then, almost 4 years ago I added exercise into my routine. I am in better shape now than I have been my entire life. Like a fine wine, better with age!

That being said, I like food. No...LOVE food, and am quite addicted to it. I general do OK, choosing healthier options, make most foods from scratch and eat mindfully. However, life is too short, and I want to enjoy what I like and with my slow metabolism and "body type" I workout to maintain my weight. I workout a lot. Below is a look at my week, my exercise has become a priority in my life and I get up between 5:00 and 6:00, six mornings a week to make sure I do it. Then I also do evening workouts when time and body allow. I track each one separately and am doing a lot of weight training to tone now that I've lost the weight I wanted to. So my workouts vary quite a bit in calorie burning. If I do a short cardio routine, I'll do a second short routine or add 20 min of yoga in after it. So no, I'm not lucky to have my "body type" because I have to work fucking hard to stay in shape, way harder than a lot of people. But to me, at this point in my life, it's worth it and I feel awesome when I stay on track.

/rant

Tunes

Having a rough day. Which makes me thankful for a nostalgic moment when I'm reminded Our Lady Peace and I Mother Earth are touring. Sadly they are going nowhere I can catch them, but it still reminds me of younger days. I actually met Raine Maida and Duncan Coutts from Our Lady Peace when I was 16. They happened to be sitting behind me at the movies the night before they performed in town.

Anyway, I was reminded how much I love this song...and now it blasts in my kitchen as I stress eat PB & J. Mmmmmm...

Ew

When a friend gives you a Reeses Peanut Butter cup and you open it to find this blob of orange chocolate, I mean pumpkin. Kind of took away from the enjoyment!

Finally

I finally had a chance to try it on! Not perfect but still so awesome. Need to make a few adjustments, figure out how to strap my wings to my body as the underbust is too low to stick the metal framing of the wings into. Then to figure out how to make my jetpack! I have a week to figure out the rest...

Bucket List

Scratched one thing off my bucket list today. Tried Archery, was quite fun. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Poor spider...

I cohabitate with a lot of spiders. Ones who are established in good spots in my basement to catch unwanted bugs get to stay. Others I put gently outside.

Board games

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards is always a fun time. I recommend this game as it is easy to pick up, can be competitive but also leaves a lot to chance and is hilarious. It is a small deck-building game where you use spells with crazy artwork and interesting names to attack your opponent, damaging them and stealing 'blood'. You get boosts by collecting treasures and creatures to help you fight and stay alive.

For example, I am Angelica Angel Face and I attack my opponents with Goldie-Lock's Boulder-iffic Bung Burner.

Slightly traumatizing...

It took me a few minutes to realize what I was looking at, and that his arms are actually nipples being stretched across! Yikes...

Oh Tom

Tunes

Love the groovy tunes, better when I didn't know what he looked like...that voice deserves a much better matching body!

Mandalas

My newest Mandala, #9. I wanted to do a steampunk themed Mandala, which ended up more difficult that I thought it would be. The Mandala turned out to be very simply so I figured I better do a good job coloring it. Turned out pretty good in my opinion! Yay for art therapy!

Eek!

Look what arrived today! So wish I had a chance to try it on!

Love this

Source unknown...sadly.

My mess of me on Sundays...

This is epic...

Wait a minute...

A local painter asked me to come and take pictures of her paintings in hi-rez. She wanted the pictures for her website, which after seeing I told her I'd work with her to redo completely. As I'm self taught in photography and web design and enjoy both, I told her I'd help her for free.

Confirmed our appointment this AM, and prepared for my 20 min drive to the next town to meet with her. She then asks me to bring her coffee and food. Wait a minute, I'm volunteering to help you and I have to pay for and bring YOU coffee? Hmmm...

** Update

I ended up bringing coffee...it was my excuse to have a treat coffee on my day one of getting back onto my diet and not having treats! No self control...

Stitching...

Thank you Wonder Woman

Made it through today...I'll assume it was my shirt that made that possible!

Tunes

I want to choreograph a Burlesque routine to this song. Love it.

Hair...again...

My hair is getting long. Really long...

Out and about this morning I had 3 people compliment me on my hair, which made me think there is something wrong with it. Yep, that's how my brain works.

I never know what to do with it, so I kind of rotate between down and straight, braids or pigtails. I wish I had a better ability of actually doing my hair. Again the temptation to chop it off arises.

      

I should pick one thing a day and practice. I could probably make a bow out of my hair! Hair stylists love me and tell me I have 'Pinterest hair'. The perfect hair to try anything with. I realized today it is long enough to choke myself with. Too bad I'm not into erotic asphyxiation! At least then it would serve a purpose!



I mean business...

The face I make when people argue with me at work regarding something that it's my job to know through and through.

Pretty much

The Hangnail

(Don't mind my very un-manicured fingers.)

I had a small hangnail, went to put a document into a large envelope, end of the envelope caught my hangnail and ripped it up my finger. OUCH! Reminded me of this:

Leggings

It took me years to get onto this leggings bandwagon, I'm sure I've stated that before. As they are comfortable I was never a fan, constantly worried about how they looked, what they showed, fabrics they were made of and so forth. Last year I bought several pairs of the cheap polyester leggings that are going around and started wearing them. They were comfortable and as long as I followed my own rule of my shirt covering my bum, I was confident.

A lot of my other clothing are made by 2 companies, Nomad Hempwear and Maha Devi Designs. I tend to buy things at their end of season sales as these brands are so pricy. Anything by these companies is absolutely worth the high ticket price, nothing like wearing bamboo and hemp. Well I couldn't resist these leggings, and I will never go from wearing hemp, bamboo and organic cotton leggings back to the cheap polyester kinds (I will however adorn my expensive polyester Deadpool, Master Chie and other themed leggings, shhhh). Such a difference in comfort, quality, wash/wear and designs. I love rocking this Digital Bark!

It is Thursday...

At tad close

Only spot left, no time to walk a few blocks, I squeezed in. I could still get out! I hope that guy doesn't need to go anywhere anytime soon.

Augh...

Why do I feel like I've been hit by a truck? Slept from 9:45 to 6:00, missed my workout, sore muscles, blah...vitamin C here I come!

Best directions ever

Read the third line.

"To maximize your eating enjoyment, place all macarons inside your face within 4 hours of purchase."