What I'm Up To {22.04.2015}

Better late than never I suppose XD How's it going, folks?! Lots and lots of things have been happening lately, and I'm so excited to chat with all of you about it! :) Meant to post this yesterday, hence the wrong date on the graphic, but everything I've written has been edited to apply to today.

Reading: I recently picked up a bargain copy of Hold Still by Nina LaCour from the bookstore, so I've been diving right into that :) Another book I've read by Nina LaCour was The Disenchantments which is hands-down one of my all-time favorites, so I definitely have great expectations for this novel. Also, I started reading When Everything Feels Like The Movies by Raziel Reid during one particularly slow shift, and on Friday I bought my own copy so I could finish reading it and possibly write about it when I'm done. It's such a dirty book, not with content thus far but just with language and narration, I love it XD

Listening To: I put on the Life Is Strange soundtrack on YouTube to finish my most recent English essay, but aside from that I haven't been listening to much music (ever since the death of my beloved iPod Classic... :( ). But I have been listening to the newest lilo + mimo podcasts, because Liz Locksley & Mia Moore are amazing peeps! I was quick to dive in to the first official episode of The Bear & The Maiden Fair to hear about their thoughts on the first Game of Thrones episode. The next BAMF episode will be out today :) Also I happened to email the Fake Goth Girls address, and they actually discussed my email on episode 3! How cool is that?! Thanks you guys, you're the best!

Wednesday Wish Lists #19

Happy Wednesday, folks! We're back to some regular wish lists this week, and I've got some cool thingies listed here that I very much wish were a part of my life :P

#1: "I Would Have Picked Duckie" shirt from Hot Topic! I happened to spy this shirt when I stopped into the Hot Topic in the Eaton Center when me and my friend were in Toronto. When I went online to see if this shirt was available to order, I could not find it :( As a big fan of Pretty in Pink who watches the clip of Duckie lip-syncing and dancing to Try A Little Tenderness whenever she needs a pick-me-up, I would very much like to own this shirt.

5 Favorite YouTubers

You guys know that I enjoy participating in the #5FandomFriday link-ups originated by +The Nerdy Girlie and +SuperSpaceChick, and recently I found out that IGGPPC co-founder +Darling Stewie came up with some DLC content to add to the 5 Fandom Friday fun! If there's one week's prompt that you're not super keen about, then you can go to Stewie's awesome DLC prompt suggestions and pick the one that best suits you! You can find that awesome list right here. Now without further ado, let's get to 5 Fandom Friday on a Saturday XD This week I'm going to tell you guys about my top 5 favorite YouTubers (not to be mistaken with my favorite YouTube channels, that we can get to later).

#5: Mary Kate Wiles! Most of you may know Mary Kate for her role as Lydia in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Since then, she's starred in a bunch of other things on the internet, such as Kissing In The Rain, I Ship It, and her newest venture Spore. On top of those projects, Mary Kate has her own YouTube channel with modeling reels, behind the scenes featurettes from her various projects (SO excited for Muzzled The Musical to be released!) and also subscription box videos. She has also started a series on her channel which I adore, titled Craftversations, where she sits down with somebody awesome (such as Yulin Kuang, Ashley Clements and Sean Persaud) and chats while they work on making some sort of craft. I actually ended up making the magazine flowers she and Ashley Clements made in the 2nd part of this series with my mentee at the elementary school, and she rather enjoyed it. Thanks for the inspiration MK!

What I'm Up To {16.04.2015}

I've seen a lot of different bloggers with their own version of these posts, so I thought it might be fun to try something like this every week! Thought it'd be a cool way to chat with you guys, let you know what I've been up to, and in turn you guys can chat with me in the comments about what sort of shenanigans that you've been up to as well! Make sure to let me know if you like seeing these types of posts from me :)

Reading: Decided to re-read Goodbye, Rebel Blue to remind myself of how much I loved it :) Now I'm re-reading The One to gear up for the next book in the Selection series.

Listening to: I've put on the soundtrack from the first episode of Life is Strange recently while I've been working on finishing school assignment or when I'm just relaxing at home. The music from that game is so amazing!

Wednesday Wish Lists #18 - Cosplay Edition

I recently came up with a new idea for a cosplay I'd like to attempt for Anime North 2015, and even with the limited amount of time I think I might be up to the task, even if a lot of this costume will be put together through crafting and a bit of thrift store shopping. I've started thinking about the things I'll need to get/make for this costume, and I thought I'd share the list with you guys. The one thing I do own is the wig - the rest I'm still on the hunt for.

Cosplay Objective: Chloe Price from Life Is Strange.

The Chocolate Book Challenge!

Big thanks to Ari Carr from Comics and Cookies for tagging me in this challenge! This was pretty fun to write, and I can't wait to tag some other bloggers to join in on the fun too :)

So here is how it works: There are prompts for each "type" of book that relate to chocolate, 7 in total. All you have to do is pick a book that best fits each prompts and write about why you think it's a good fit. And if writing and reading these posts doesn't make you start eyeing that Easter chocolate you've been trying to resist lately, then that's only because you don't have any Easter chocolate left XD

Dark Chocolate: A book that covers a dark subject.

It's funny how a book with such bright colours can cover such dark subjects XD I read this book upon recommendations from one of my coworkers who had listed this book as one of their Staff Picks. The two main characters in this incredible YA novel, known as Finch and Violet, meet while standing on top of the school/s roof/bell tower, both of them up there at the same time by pure chance. There are of course darker themes of suicide, but this book also tackles other dark subject such as a family's struggle with the sudden death of a loved one, and other subjects that aren't necessarily dark but are certainly heavy, such as various forms of mental illness. That being said, this is so far my favorite book of 2015.

Everyday Cosplay - Max Caulfield from Life Is Strange

Continuing on with my current obsession surrounding the episodic video game series Life Is Strange, I thought I would put together an Everyday Cosplay layout for the main character Max Caulfield, just for fun!

Life Is Strange Part 2 - From The Gaming Enthusiast

Yes, yes, I have written about this game before, I am aware of that. HOWEVER, with the second episode's recent release and with replaying both episodes and discovering even more features that this game contains, I felt compelled to share some more information with all of you.

In my first post where I discussed this game, I spoke about the game's main mechanic of being able to rewind moments in time, my excitement of playing a game in which Ashly Burch does the voice acting for one of the main characters, and about the fun of locating the Optional Photos in order to earn achievements, as well as chatting about the general aesthetics and the fun of flipping through Max's journal. But there are even more fun details about this game waiting to be discovered.

5 Times I've Totally Fangirled

What's up, you happenin' Friday people? I know this week's theme is actually 5 Magical Items I Would Love To Own, and while I could take the term "magical" literally and list things like magic wands and cute accessories from Sailor Moon, if taken figuratively the theme reminds me of my Wednesday Wish Lists, which I already do once a week, so I thought I would jump back a week and indulge in a little story telling with you guys. Time to share with y'all some major fangirling stories - here we go!

#1: The Very First Convention I Ever Went To! This might be an obvious fangirl moment for anyone, but it's still something I'll never forget. Anime North 2009, I was 16 at the time. The only real cosplay I had was of L from Death Note made up of a simple white shirt, jeans and the black wig that I borrowed from one of the co-founders of the Manga Club at my high school. I also had a voice changer so that my voice sounded like L when he was still just a voice from a computer. I used the voice changer near two con-goers that approached us. They squealed so loud and then hugged me XD That whole weekend was amazing, and now I try and attend Anime North every single year, and it keeps getting better and better.

Dorm Books - A Little Light Reading

While I wish I could bring my entire collection of beloved tomes with me when I relocate to Toronto and move into my very first dorm room, it is very much that: a dorm full, low on space but high on opportunities and independence and dreams. That being said, I wouldn't last very long, especially while studying in the Creative Book Publishing Program where I will constantly be reminded of my favorite books, if I didn't bring along some reading materials with me. Right now I have the list narrowed down to 10 books, which is pretty impressive for me. It is likely I will add a few more titles to this list, but I will try to not have it exceed 15 by the time I get ready to pack up my things for moving day. So here are the 10 books that will be coming with me to Toronto and an explanation of why I chose these particular titles :)

#1, #2 & #3: The Selection - The Elite - The One by Kiera Cass! One big reason that these three titles are coming with me is because the 4th installment of this series, The Heir will be released the day after my orientation, May 5th. Also, these are 3 books that I have no trouble re-reading, and that I enjoy just as much the 3rd or 4th (or 6th in the case of The Selection when I pick it up again) time around.

Wednesday Wish Lists #17: Grad Gifts Edition

What's up guys? For today's Wednesday Wish List I'd like to do something a liiiitle different. As some of you might know if you follow my blog on Facebook, you'll know that I am completely done with all my undergraduate classes at Brock University, which is the weirdest thing ever XP As of today, I have 26 days until my orientation at Humber College, and 25 days until I move in to my dorm.

My family has always embraced the tradition of graduation gifts. My mom has promised to get me a class ring from Brock for my grad gift, but I started to think, if I wanted her to use that money on something aside from a ring, what would I want her to get me? That's where this list comes in! Here are some things I would love to get that I would have a definite use for at Humber.

#1: FAIRY LIGHTS! I know that "fairy lights" is more the UK term, but Zoella has spoiled me, with her whimsical speech as well as her book XD When looking up dorm decorating tips on Pinterest it seemed that pretty much every dorm room (at least girls' dorm rooms) have fairy lights in them, and I would absolutely love to get a couple strings of fairy lights for myself. I keep trying to convince my mother of the necessity of fairy lights in a dorm room but so far no dice. I think it'd be fun if my readers wanted to send me some fairy lights, hint hint :P