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Sunday, May 25, 2014

Tentatrio Plush Pals Kickstarter

Hey everyone! Just wanted to make a small post about a Kickstarter project that I'm very excited about.  I discovered inki-drop at Sakura-Con this year, when a friend showed me her booth in artist alley.  Shelly Rodriguez, the artist behind the name, had prototypes of her newest plush toys she was hoping to produce for people to look at.  The close, practically perfect translation from drawing to plush is really incredible, especially in regards to Ika.

Monday, May 19, 2014

365 and Counting

It's been a  year since I've started my second List for the 101 Things in 1001 Days and it's been six months since my last update on my progress. Here's how things are looking:

See at least one ballet - I got tickets to see Sleeping Beauty from my sisters this past Christmas.  It was really great; some parts were really quite funny.

Go to 33 new food establishments (I feel like I've gone to more, but can't remember)
Black Bottle Postern - went here to celebrate some friends' birthdays. We probably tried about a 1/4 of the menu (the dishes are great for sharing); the pork tacos were our favorite. 
Peaceful
EXP
Black Crow Tavern
Molly Moons - a ice cream shop that I went to the first time after karaoke on my birthday.
Boiling Point - hot pot.  This is where I went for my birthday.  They have 10 different flavors and you can have as many add ons as you like. I got the beef soup, requested no tofu and added a side of beef and udon noodles.  So good.  Only downer to the whole thing is the cabbage got so soggy to the point of being uneatable.

Clean make up brushes on a regular basis - This I've gotten much better at. I'm currently using a cleaner that I got from Sephora which is generally used for quick cleans; I need to sit down and do a deep clean on all my brushes.

Read 150 books
Got farther along on this goal, though I've gotten lazy about keeping track of what I've read.  I just finished reading the Jim Henson biography by Brian Jay Jones and have started Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott.

Save 10% of monthly income (once consumer debt is gone) - though I technically still have consumer debt (my car) I am now credit card debt free and will finally get to see my savings grow again.

Complete 52 week money challenge twice - I restarted this challenge at the beginning of the year, and I just passed week 20 (have saved up $210) and I'm still going strong with this second go around.

Try out bangs again - while I haven't gotten my hair cut in almost a year, a wig I wore at Sakura-Con featured bangs and really convinced me to go for this.  Not sure when I'll actually get my hair cut (and it really needs to happen as my hair is riddled with split ends) but I think it'll be a fun change.

Get a new job - The search has begun. Already applied for a few different positions, but no luck so far.  I kind of feel guilty sometimes, almost feeling obligated to stay where I'm at, but it does feel like it's time to go.

I have to admit, I feel like I've got nothing done on my list since I last talked about it. I'm going to be fulfilling two more goals in the next couple of weeks if everything works out but I need to get more proactive.  I also think that I'll go back to making individual posts about goals that I'm successful in completing.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Topic #10: Hair - Bar Shampoo

I was a bit stumped on what I was going to talk about when I read that the next topic for #2014BC was going to be on hair.  I have a love/hate relationship with my hair.  It's rather fine (which I love) but I'm hopeless when it comes to styling.  I love curls but unless it's a perm, curls don't last very long.  I let my hair air dry and almost never use styling products.  So I thought I would talk about the current shampoo and conditioner that I'm using.

In January, I bought a couple of of bar shampoo and conditioner from Basin White during my Disney trip.  I've been a fan of bar shampoo since trying Lush's Jumping Juniper bar shampoo but since I was almost finished with the current bar I had, I thought I'd try something new.  I got the bars in Iced Cherries and Oatmeal Honey.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Rainbow Honey Mystery Bag May 2014

As soon as Rainbow Honey had the sign ups for the monthly subscription of their mystery bag, I signed up for the full size version.  I've been a fan of the brand for a couple of years, but only placed my first order a couple of months ago. I had gotten the March mystery bag free and was very happy with it, so I was thrilled when they announced that they where giving us the option of a subscription.

Everything comes securely wrapped and I love the super adorable sticker design.  There's a card that lists everything that you receive.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Sakura-Con 2014 *pic heavy*

Finally getting this post up! I had a really fantastic time and loved that pretty much all of the panels I went to were really great.  Compared to the past couple of years, I felt there was much more 'content' in terms of panels this time around.  After a very stressful nine days of working the spring break rush at work, it was such a relief to go downtown for the sole purpose of having fun for three straight days.  I went to see a really fantastic Alice in Wonderland themed burlesque show, which was a great start to the weekend.
While everyone else was getting ready on Friday, I headed over to the convention center for opening ceremonies.  They opened with a taiko demonstration which was a lot of fun - I love when the more traditional and cultural aspects of the con are brought to attention.  After guests were announced, a performance by the Mary Ohno and her academy, as well as a bit of kareoke, the convention was 'officially' started.  I immediately headed to the dealers hall and straight to the h.Naoto booth (and then proceeded to spend of all of my spending money at said booth).  The girl who was helping run the booth was super helpful and a lot of fun to talk to and I got to take a picture with MINT.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Topic #9: Music - Opening Themes

Getting back on track with the #2014BloggerChallenge.  I missed the last one due to being way to stressed from work to really put energy into it. However, I'm determined that that will be the only one that gets skipped.  I also love that music is the latest topic.  Since Sakura-Con has inspired me to get back into watching anime again, I though I would share some of my favorite opening theme songs.  Opening and closing themes are a great way to discover new artists and what really got me into jpop and jrock.

First song is [crossing field] by LISA, the first opening to Sword Art Online.  I just marathoned all 25 episodes of the series in two days and plan on ordering the first volume of the light novel.  I discovered the show thanks to an AMV shown at the contest at con, and would highly recommend it (though I personally enjoy the first half of the series more than the second).
Next is Connect by ClariS for the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  Another series I marathoned after watching the first couple of episodes with a friend; a really fantastic, darker take on the magical girl genre. All of the music in the show is great and I would love to get my hands on the OST. You also should definitely check out Magia by Kalafina, one of the shows closing themes. Sorry for no video, couldn't find one that I liked.

One of my favorite openings for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is Again by YUI.  I first learned about her from her song Rolling Star that was used as an opening for Bleach.  She's currently still on hiatus, so there's been nothing new from her in over a year, but a good singer to check out.
So, there's a very small selection of some great songs that came to mind.  Generally, the longer the anime, the more opening and closing themes there are. Opening themes also tend to be more energetic than the closing themes.  If you have any suggestions on anime I need to check out, please let me know! I'm fairly behind on the newer stuff that has come out in past the past couple of years.