So freaking busy!

So between trying to find a job, moving, writing for myself as well as blogs over at Biscuette.com and still for Lyrics Undercover, I am FREAKING BUSY!

In between packing I've started frequenting goodwill for new stuff for baby girl Johnson, who (I am still tickled pink) is a girl. Had someone tell me this week I really needed to be using Ebates for all of my online buying. So, I signed up, and it seems pretty cool. Unfortunately, I can't buy my ebay goodies through it, but for normal shopping, it's great.

While doing my constant Goodwill trips I found a serious gem! An almost complete set of "My Book House" children's anthology.

These are the "white and rainbow" 1971 version. I'm missing book 3, actually, but otherwise, I have the whole set. $1.50 per book, so $16.50 for the set, and as best I can tell they're worth between $70 and $150. So...THAT WAS A GOOD BUY!

Also started on my Dragoncon costume (assuming I get to go. If not, It'll be halloween). 

http://pinterest.com/marlipaige/costumes-sewing/

That's my link to the costumes that I'm working on, want to work on, find adorable, etc. But I've decided upon Rapunzel from Tangled. I love doing kid-inspired things because I just love how little kids want to take pictures with you. So...I decided to go the disney route. 

Got a wig, 150 cms, and then some extra "extensions" to try and make the braid big enough. Have a pink daisy chain, and I've got ebay offers in on lots of blooms to do the hair. 

The coloring may be different on my dress. I already have a dark purple corset I'm going to use for the corseted part...so the top and bottom will probably be reversed color scheme wise. I've been working on a light purple bottom, dark purple corset, and I'm going to get gold or tan cording for the lacing of the corset. Then I'll just need to make the poofy sleeves, lace around the collar, sheer sleeves, and lace at the end. I will update as I get it put together. 

I waited almost too long to get started on it, but I think I can pull it together pretty effectively in the next month.

In addition to all of that I still have to finish packing, move Sunday, and find a real job.

I also (can't help it) have been starting planning toward Aliya's baby shower. 

http://pinterest.com/marlipaige/showers/

That has not only her bridal shower stuff, but also the stuff for the baby shower. Her theme for the nursery is "Flower Fairies" so...there's a lot of that in there. 

So that's my life at the moment.

River of Geekiness

So for today's post I decided I would go back and re-edit some of my pictures of myself as River Song from Dragon*Con. I'll also include some other fun cosplay just for giggles after my pics.

This definitely goes on two boards of mine both the "costumes" board and the "geek love" board.

For my Costumes board:
http://pinterest.com/marlipaige/costumes/

For my Geek Love board (filled with lots of dr. who goodness):
http://pinterest.com/marlipaige/geek-love/

To begin, my favorite. With the best TARDIS I saw:

She greeted me by saying "Oh Hello Melody Pond! Do you need me to assist you in falling from a building again?"

Just me, and my TARDIS phone cover.

My gun, not made to specs, but still...

Always carry a big gun

And oh my! I took the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver

And i'm not blinking. I'm not blinking. I'm not blinking.

Other Highlights included:

Old Man Bert & Ernie

Meeting my boss, Brian Ibbot

Edward Scissorhands

Miss Piggy

The Beer Warrior

Rimmer from Red Dwarf

(I mean, where besides Dragon*Con has anyone even HEARD of Red Dwarf!?!)

Cat Nurse!

Meh Tardis and CASSANDRA!

Comic Dot Girl

Clockwork from Girl in the Fireplace, and Idris

Steampunk Doctor Who

(yes, this is a screenshot from a G4 coverage of Dragon*Con. I don't own the photo. I just didn't get a pic of them myself.)

Perfect Curls

So I am always on the lookout for how to make my hair perfectly curly like old hollywood glamour. I have a hair board on pinterest that is dedicated to such things. And pulling from that and my own experience, I'll show you how I get perfect curls.


This is a LENGTHY process. So if you're looking for the short version...try someone else. But..I have wavy hair naturally, mostly straight, fine, and difficult to keep curl BUT THIS WORKS.


"Perfect Curls"

So this is a combination of many different pins on my hair board. You can go look at all the tips on perfect curls or you can just listen to what I did.

My hair was a little dirty (24 hours since washing).
I put volumizing mouse in it.
Then I put it in hot rollers.

Hello hot rollers!
As I rolled each piece of hair I sprayed it with medium hold hair spray as it went into the roller.
I left the rollers in for an hour.
As I took each piece out I once again hairsprayed.
Then...I pincurled!

Basically a pincurl is just the curl that already came out of your hot roller, and you just twist it back up around your finger and bobby pin it to your head.

Full disclosure, this is neither my head nor my picture, but I wanted to show you a pincurl. And apparently I have no pictures of myself with them.

See how it's just a nice flat little spiral? This is also the best way to do your hair when wearing wigs because it keeps it flat against your head.

Alrighty. Well you just use a single bobby pin to pin it or you criss cross bobby pins for extra security. And then you go to sleep! (If you don't have time to sleep on them, then just leave them in at least half an hour and continue to follow the steps below. However, for best results, leave them in overnight)

(no, my hair is not pincurled in this picture, but it should STILL BE while you sleep. This was just an excuse to put up a cute pic of my doggie and I snuggling)

Ok, wake up the next morning. Give it a quick all over spray with hairspray again. Take the bobby pins out.

Hi Crazy curly hair!

Ok, so I spray it AGAIN. I know, this seems like overkill, but for people like me whose hair won't stay curly...it's not. Then I turn my head over and run my hands through it and kinda give it a hand-toussle messy tease.

Now, for a Cosplay outfit (River Song from Doctor Who) I continue to tease it because hey! she has crazy curly hair!

BUT if I'm wearing it in real life I just hand tousle it like that, give it a final spray, and use a comb to tame any crazies sticking out. Below are varying degrees of tousling I did. The first instead of tousling I retouched the less curly spots with the curling iron. The second is a light tousle. The third is a full shake out and tousle with my hands.

And my hair will hold up the curl (losing some curl and just gaining body / wave per about every 10 hours) for up to 48 hours without washing it. Different hair will perform differently.

Dragon*Con

Backtracking to fit in what else i've been up to: DRAGON*CON!

So, it was tiring, frustrating, but a lot of fun. My friend Jennifer Teeter was a real on the books performer for the con, which was really exciting. I manned her booth a bit and got a free Teeter button and cd out of the deal. She was amazing.

I tried to do the dress up thing: Rainbow Bright and Steam Punk Lady (such as they were). Next year I will be far more prepared and have as cool of a costume as everyone else did. My favorite I saw this year was Queen Frostine from Candy Land.

There were hundreds of panels I wanted to go to, and I didn't make it to a single one. The lines were atrocious, and I got so lost trying to figure out where I was that I missed most everything I wanted to go to. I managed to make it to the Time Traveler's Ball and both of Teeter's shows. I also made it to the AIE Guild Meetup and TwitTV meetup. I got turned on to my new favorite podcast, Ladies of Leet (which are actually my guildies!). I just wasn't prepared enough to market myself. I really needed a website and new headshots and business cards. I'm just not where I need to be physically, emotionally, or technologically for the amount of marketing I should have been doing.

So goals for next year:
have a hotel room
plan my costumes months not days or weeks in advance
have a fully functioning website, up to date headshots, business cards, and a smile on me
actually map out and follow my daily planner
order my ticket in enough time that it gets mailed and i don't have to wait in lines
be in the parade