It Begins Friday

Starting this Friday, October 2nd, Discord's Halloween Fest 2015 begins!
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in October a new Halloween theme post will be up.

Anything from crafts, costumes, lists, reviews, cooking... basically anything I can make Halloweenish will be here.

To get things into a more Halloween mood, a list of 31 movies to consider this month.

September Wrap Up

This is a little early but I have Halloween Fest 2015 to prep for.

September has been a odd month, but it always is for me. Having my birthday at the first of the month kind of throws me off. I'm supposed to be Peter Pan and never grow up. At least I made a pretty awesome Harley Quinn cake.

Birthday Theme

I made a little playlist of songs for my birthday. This is my main one though. Thanks to Agents of Shield for introducing this addictive song.

Outings

This month I managed to get to the Philbrook museum in Tulsa on the last day of the "Figure Examined" exhibition. This exhibit featured works from Rodin, Cassett, Dali, Pollock and Warhol and more all showing different representations of the human figure. We ended up going on what turned out to be a Free Saturday. It explains why parking was insane. While it was free I am not sure all the running and screaming children were worth the lack of expense. I think it is great to introduce kids to the arts, but don't just stand back and chuckle while your kids act like terrors. 

I digress. The exhibit was great. Rodin's Adam is so impressive.I even snagged some postcards.

Also if you ever get a chance to go to Philbrook, take the time to explore this gorgeous old house. And don't forget the gardens.

Netflix

Weeds

I finally finished watching Weeds. I really liked this show but I hated Nancy more and more with each season. At first it seems like she is just trying to make ends meet for her family but as time goes on she makes horrible decisions just for the rush without ever considering what this will do to the rest of her family. The other characters were great though. Justin Kirk is fantastic.

Iggles

And finally an awesome Iggle Swap package of stickers. So many cute stickers that I just had to share. The monkeys are my favs.

September Ipsy and Birchbox

Finally received this month's Ipsy and Birchbox. Birchbox seemed to take forever to get here. These are monthly subscription boxes that cost $10 each shipped in the US. I share these with my mom, so anything in Blue are the products she choose.

 Ipsy

A really great glam bag this month from Ipsy. Also Ipsy sends out a makeup bag every month.

• Trust Fund Beauty Elegantly Wasted- Full size lilac nail polish. I looked up the retail and it is $15. Great coverage with just one coat.
• NYX Eye Shadow Trio- Love all the full sized products in this bag. Nice colors in the palette.
• City Color Cosmetics Be Bold 3X Mascara- I am pretty sure this is a full sized product. It is larger than most mascaras sent in these boxes.
• Eau Thermale Avene Soothing Moisture Mask- Considering it is a mask the sample size is not bad. 
• J. Cat Beauty #MOTD Waterproof Eye Pencil- The color is bronze and it goes on pretty easily. Really vivid color.

Birchbox

• Davines Ol All in One Milk- A leave-in treatment to add volume, shine and protect hair. (Also included in this box: A Davines Ol shampoo and conditioner samples, the packets behind the black bottle).
• Wilmac Schumann Skin Care Hydrating Collagen Eye Pads- I haven't tried this yet. They look interesting.
• Rituals Happy Buddah Foaming Shower Gel- This shower gel is orange and cedar. The container is tricky, I meant to get a small amount out to try it and it went everywhere.
• Benefits Cosmetics Gimme Brow- It looks like a tiny mascara but wit is a gel that you use to fill in and/or shape your eyebrows. Actually works really well.
• (Malin+Goetz) grapefruit face cleanser- I like getting cleansers in these boxes but I am a little wary of the grapefruit. Will have to risk this another time. (A sample of face moisturizer was also included)

To me Ipsy won this month. Great products that are also mainly full sized. I do like the diversity and higher end products that Birchbox sends out.

Favorites: Ipsy- Tie between the Nail polish and the Eye Shadow Trio, Birchbox- Benefit's Gimme Brow.

5 Fandom- Favorite Things About Autumn

Autumn or Fall is my favorite season. So this week's Fandom Friday prompt from The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick is perfect. 

1. Cooler Weather

I cannot stand the heat. I do not like snow or ice. That makes Summer and Winter in Oklahoma a pain in the ass because it seems we only have extreme temperatures. Then factor in Spring tornadoes. Fall is the only comfortable and relatively safe season.

2. Jackets

With cooler weather comes Jacket and hoodie season. I just like these. I have a black jacket I got last year that I never got to wear and I'm oddly thrill about wearing it. I also have a collection of theatre and geek hoodies that are so comfortable. 

3. HOT Coffee

I like my coffee hot. To be specific, I like White Chocolate Mocha Lattes from Starbucks. I have tried to get these in the summer but having a hot drink in 100 degree temp is just not worth it. My dearest latte, I am looking forward to having you again.

4. Fall TV

I already have a list of primer dates written down in expectation. Shows I am most looking forward to; The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, Agents of Shield, American Horror Story, Big Bang, Heroes Reborn and possibly Doctor Who. 

5. HALLOWEEN

My favorite holiday. Already some stores have their Halloween items out and it makes me so happy. I plan to have another month long Halloween fest on the blog this year. So much pretty.

Soon...

Prep for Halloween Fest 2015 is underway!

Lots of things planned this year. Thankfully started stocking up on supplies last year, since I'm rather broke this year.

How I love Halloween!

5 Fandom- Broadway Roles I'd Love to Play

This weeks 5 Fandom comes from @m_williams316, via The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick.

And this is the hardest one yet!!

I consider myself an actress no matter how long I go between performances...even years depending on how my life is going. I literally have a giant list of parts I would love to play. I almost made this into a list of my favorite roles I have played but then changed my mind.

I even tried to narrow this down to musicals or straight plays. That didn't help.

Here goes the random list of the first 5 roles that come across my mind...eek

1. Maggie the Cat

Sometimes I feel like I am already living in a Tennessee Williams play so wanting to be Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof doesn't seem unrealistic. The movie version has Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, I love this film and they are amazing. In fact one of my audition monologues comes from this play. 

"No neck little monsters!"

2. Ado Annie

I'm from Oklahoma, so of course I want to be in the musical Oklahoma. I've known all the songs from this musical since before I can remember. Just outside of my home town there used to be this outdoor theatre every summer that produced Oklahoma and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was call Discoveryland. I went almost every summer, multiple times. Unfortunately the owner died a few years ago and between this and the oppressive heat these past few summers, Discoveryland has close indefinitely. I regret I never even got to audition for this.

3. Magenta or Janet

I'm a massive Rocky Horror fan. My nickname used to be Magenta to my friend's Riff Raff. While I would love to play Magenta, Janet is also up there on my list of roles. The whole musical is amazing, a little dirty and so much fun. We are lucky here in Tulsa to have a yearly production of this musical with some of the most talented local actors playing these iconic roles. I try and go see it every year.

4. Anything Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet introduced me to acting. The 1968 film is one of the reasons I wanted to start acting. Shakespeare comedies tend to appeal to me the most, but I would not ever say no if the opportunity to be in anything Shakespearean.
I have played Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost back in High School.

5. Titanic the Musical

The first touring production I ever went to was Titanic. I was such a fan of the movie that my mom took me to see this when it came to the Tulsa PAC. We had never seen a touring production before, I doubt we even knew about them at that time. I actually liked the musical more than the film. There are so many great characters in the musical it would be hard to choose one, but Kate McGowan would be at the top of the list.

To be honest I could continue this list into the 100's 

5 Fandom- Fandom Deaths I Am Still Upset About...SPOILERS

This week on 5 Fandom Friday it is 5 Fandom deaths that I am still upset about. Thanks once again to The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick for these lovely weekly prompts.

1. Amy and Rory

I have said it before I know, but I love the trio of the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory. For me they just worked. So of course having that trio broken up was upsetting, even though I knew they actors were leaving. I am glad that Rory and Amy managed to stay together and live out their lives, but watching 11 lose them was brutal. 

Raggedy man, goodbye

2. Toshiko and Owen

The end of the second season of Torchwood concluded with the deaths of Tosh and Owen. Tosh is dying of a gunshot while talking to Owen as he is about to die from nuclear radiation. She doesn't tell him that she is dying as he is venting his anger and fear at her because he knows that he is going to die. She stops this rant by saying "he is breaking her heart". They say good bye and Owen says "It's okay, it really is." Which is word for word what Tosh says in a recorded message found by the others after her death, as well as a confession of her love for Owen. 

The feels!

3. Wash

The movie Serenity ties together many loose ends for the series Firefly, but at a cost. Funny, sweet and playful Wash dies from a harpoon launched from the Reever ship. This death is really upsetting because it comes without warning. He doesn't even get a chance to fight back. 

4. Beth

The Walking Dead is a show where anyone can die at anytime. Basically watching this is like putting yourself through hell weekly but I can't stop. Beth was a character that I was really starting to like. She started out weak then went a bit strange ie oh my boyfriend's dies...too bad. But after that she started to become a stronger character, her time alone with Daryl was really great to watch. She become a survivor because of him and she brought out some good qualities in him. So of course she has to die. And to be killed by a delusional cop. I still hate you Dawn, I'm glad Daryl killed you 

5. Paul Ballard

Having finally binged watched Dollhouse I was shocked by the death of Paul. It happened so quick and without much reaction from anyone at the time, even Echo. Yes I know they were running for their lives, but wow. Later Echo mourns and has his memories and personality implanted to keep him with her. Better than nothing, I guess.

Honorable mention: Fred from Angel. Whedon I love your work, but come on.

Harley Quinn Birthday Cake

I could probably call this post "How Not To Decorate a Cake". I made many mistakes this time around but I'll explain as I go.

For the past few years I have made my own birthday cake in the theme of something I am like. Last year Hunger Games, before that Logan's Run and a Tardis cake. I had planned on having an Avengers theme party this year but that just wasn't going to happen. Instead I decided on Harley Quinn. I thought it would be a perfect theme to attempt my first ever icing transfer.

First off I love to bake but things tend to go wrong. A little bit of the edge on one of the cakes burned, but I just cut that off and frosted anyway.

Can you frost a cake better than that? No, really, because I can't seem to.

To make an icing transfer you need the pic you want to copy taped on an old baking sheet with wax or parchment paper taped over that image. I didn't have wax or parchment paper so I went with plastic wrap. This was the first incident where I substituted things I shouldn't have.

Disclaimer: I got this image online. No copyright infringement meant. Please tell me if this is in violation and I will remove this post.

I had two containers of white icing but I  used all of one and a little of the second one to ice the cake itself. I took the remaining icing and divided into three; one for red, one for black and one for white.

Here is the 2nd bad subsitution choice I made. Instead of using pastry bags like any sane person would, I used small ziploc bags with a hole cut out to put the couplers in to attach the tips. As I started piping the icing it oozed everywhere. 

I piped the outlines and details first including the diamonds in both red and black before putting the baking sheet in the freezer for a few minutes. Basically any detail that needs to be on the surface of the image goes on first.

Then I filled in the larger parts in black and red. This is when the icing started to fight back and I ended up making some gaps in the image that I didn't see until it was too late. After this step back in the freezer. 

The final icing part. Building a thick layer of icing all over and around the transfer image. This is where I ran out of white icing and tried to spread it out as far as it would go without getting it too thin to move later.

And once again back into the freezer. I let this sit about 30 minutes this time.

Carefully taking off the tape from the plastic wrap and flipping the transfer on the cake was daunting. Once the transfer is on the cake you cannot move it. I lucked out here and it landed roughly where I wanted it.  I was relived as I remove the plastic wrap that it did not fall apart in the final steps. I added the black and red diamonds after. 

I am pretty proud of this cake. Is it perfect? Nope. 

I ended up with a nice birthday. I played video games and watched American Horror Story: Asylum with my mom. Both of my parents were with me when I blew out my candles. Not a bad birthday at all.