Eerie Ogden

Have I mentioned that I live in the coolest town!?

I live in THE COOLEST TOWN!! 

Picture via Eerie Ogden Tribune Facebook

A writer friend of mine, Randi, has started a quarterly newspaper for kids called the Eerie Ogden Tribune.

This isn't your ordinary newspaper for kids, Oh No! This is a paper filled with stories about mermaids, ghosts, witches and other supernatural creatures.

The best part is that all the settings are local!! That's right, the stories are set here in Ogden and the surrounding areas of Northern Utah!!

HOW COOL IS THAT!!??!!

Now, this paper is totally grassroots and needs help. Please, please, please go to their Kickstarter and give a little if you can! Any help is appreciated!!

Pictures via Eerie Ogden Facebook

Here is an adorable Word from Barnabas Wolfbeard! (For some reason I couldn't put the video on here. Just go to the link. It's totally cute!)

You can also find out more information on their Facebook page. While you're there be sure to enter one of the many contests going on! I won this awesome mug! They just gave away some werewolf ears! Seriously, this is so cool!!

Harry Potter Nails

It was one of the things that got me started on the road to nail polish addiction and I've tried four times to get it looking decent.

I finally pulled off Harry Potter inspired nail art. *Cue the angelic choir.*

I did striping on my left hand. I used two pieces of nail striping tape to mark off the area, then I pulled the tape off right after I added the accent color.

When I was done I knew I'd never get the tape straight on my right hand so I did dots on my right. I really can't decide which I like better.

My thumbs have the symbol for the Deathly Hallows.

I went by the colors in the books. If it isn't in the books, on Pottermore, or from an interview with J.K. Rowling herself... Well then it just isn't true. There are lots of fun things in the movies, but I don't take them as true canon. For today that just means that Ravenclaw colors are blue and bronze, not blue and gray or silver or light blue or whatever that is in the movies.

I spent a lot of time looking for good colors. I wanted them all to compliment each other and have the same slight metallic sheen. Here's the breakdown of what I used:

Pinkies are Slytherin, green and silver. Green is Sinful Colors 926 HD Nails and the silver is Wet 'N' Wild Fast Dry 236C Silvivor.

Ring fingers are Hufflepuff, yellow and black. Yellow is Sinful Colors 928 Let's Meet and the black is Sinful Colors 933 Secret Admirer.

Middle fingers are Gryffindor, crimson and gold. Red is Wet 'N' Wild Wild Shine 463 Jezebel and the gold is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure 110 Wedding Glitters.

Pointer fingers are Ravenclaw (YAY!!!), blue and bronze. Blue is Wet 'N' Wild Wild Shine 443D Bijou Blue and the bronze is Revlon Parfumerie 100 Autumn Spice. Quick note about Autumn Spice, it smells. After it dries it has an autumn spice perfume that lasts as long as the nail polish is on my hand. It's weird, but not unpleasant. I looked for months to find a polish in the right shade of bronze. There are plenty of copper polishes out there, but bronze is hard to find.

My thumbs are done in white, Sinful Colors 112 Tokyo Pearl, and Deathly Hallow nail decals from Nail Thins. I used the original, regular sized ones since I was using them on my largest nail.

All my fingers have two coats of OPI Natural Nail Strengthener as a base coat and one coat of OPI Top Coat to finish it off.

Geek.

I'm a geek.

If you've read this blog at all then you know this to be a fact.

Part of Geekdom is the Gathering of Geeks known as Comic Con. From what I can tell this is a convention where many people from all the many fandoms come together to celebrate their geekiness with like-minded geeks, meet the people who create the subject of their geek-love, and attend panel discussions about different geeky subjects. 2013 was the first year that such a convention was held in my area.

This year I really wanted to go. I started following the 2014 Comic Con Fan Xperience on Facebook, I was plotting what kind of Cosplay I would do, dreaming about who I'd meet, generally geeking out over the whole thing.

Then in December it seemed all my dreams would come true! I won a free pass!! I cannot tell you how excited I was.

Then I got sick. This winter was a bad one for illness, so I didn't get any kind of costume done. I was a little bummed, but I just thought I'd make myself a Deathly Hallows shirt and still have fun.

The closer it got to the big days, the more information I was getting. Wonderful news about what stars would be there, what the panels would be about, great things.

Then I started to realize that the logistics of actually going were pretty difficult. The day I wanted to go, to see the people I wanted to see, was today: Friday, April 18. This is, of course, a school day. I spend most school days commuting back and forth to my kids' school which is 15 minutes away in each direction. Half-day Kindergarten is the bane of my existence. In order for me to use my free ticket I'd have to make my husband take the day off work. Not only would that mean I'd have to go to Comic Con alone, it means that we'd lose the money he would have made by working. We're po' folk, we can't afford to be losing pay like that!

Then I started looking at the prices. These people are asking quite the chunk of change for an autograph and even more for a photo op. I'm the kind of person who wants photographic proof, so I'd need lots of money. Add in my transportation costs, food (if there was anything gluten free I could eat), and the physical issues I'm having.... Well, it all adds up to a great big Nope. 

I ended up taking that free ticket and transferring it to my cousin's name. I get to cuddle her puppies while she's away and Eric says he'll take me on a trip to IKEA to ease my disappointment.

Of course, there's always next year! Now I have lots of time to save up and really plan an excellent costume!