Weekend Roundup - Fire Alarms, Trips to the Valley, & Comic Books

Saturday morning was pretty lazy, until my apartment building's fire alarm went off, and kept going off, and wouldn't stop, despite the lack of flames or smoke. I called the non-emergency emergency line and let them know the situation. They sent over a firetruck, and then I don't know what happened because we left before my eardrums could bleed anymore. I assume they got it sorted out because by the time we got back home 12 hours later, everything was back to normal. Good times!

We drove up to Northridge with fire alarm bells still ringing in our ears. We stopped for a minute at the Northridge Fashion Center and got some goodies from Hot Topic, which was having a buy one, get one 50% off sale, and Claire's, which was having a literally-everything-for-$5-or-less sale. Then we went to the art gallery at Cal State Northridge, where they were having a reception for their new Jack Kirby exhibit. It was pretty cool; they had a ton of his original art from a bunch of comics. Later, we went to Santa Clarita for a friend's housewarming barbeque.

Sunday was another driving-heavy day! We first went down to Huntington Beach for a toy show that ended up being mainly military models, books, and whatnots. 

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Then we drove alll the way up to Granada Hills and had lunch there. I also stopped in a random Hallmark store and found some Itty Bittys I didn't have, as well as a bunch of classic Beanie Babies! 

Most of these are from the late 90s/early 2000s!

Then we went to our second show of the day - a classic comic convention. It was pretty much just a room full of vendors selling mainly comic books and a few other things. I found a couple comic books, and an old Comic Con exhibit guide from 1996. 

Looking forward to the cooler weather this week after the sweltering weekend in LA!

Things I Love Thursday - Oz Naturals Tinted Sunscreen, Slimquick Pure Drink Mix, Fallout Shelter, Alphabears!

Oz Naturals SPF 30 Tinted Sunscreen

This tinted sunscreen from Oz Naturals is great! It makes you look like you've spend time in the sun without actually having to be in the sun. I love that it moisturizes AND smooths out your skintone. It goes on smooth, and it doesn't feel heavy or greasy. Plus, it's non comedegenic, so it won't clog your pores.



Slim Quick Pure Extra Strength Drink Mix

I'm not really a huge fan of things that make my water taste not like water, nor of things that claim to provide energy while making me lose weight. But I tried out Slim Quick Pure Extra Strength Drink Mix anyway, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a berry flavored powder that you can mix into your water, and it will increase your metabolism, reduce your appetite, boost your energy, and reduce stress.

You start out drinking one pack in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then gradually increase it to two in the morning and two in the afternoon. I was not able to increase my intake to 4 packs a day, as just one started to make my heart race. However, just one pack a day was more than enough to feel more energized. It also helped me stay full, so I didn't have to snack throughout the day. Plus, it's zero calories!



Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter is a really popular game from Bethesda that just came out on Android. It's really reminiscent, to me, of SimTower (though not as awesome, RIP SimTower). In it, you build an underground vault to house people in after the apocalypse. You assign your dwellers jobs, based on their characteristics, working in the power, food, or water centers. Eventually, as you earn more 'caps' (the game's version of currency), you can upgrade these centers, and build other things, like a med center, gym, radio center, etc. You also have to keep the dwellers happy, which I've found is the real challenge. I went from 95% happiness to 11% in a day, and I haven't been able to raise it back up yet. I'm still not very far in the game, since my dwellers are so depressed, but it's been pretty fun so far!

Alphabears

This game is kind of similar to Scrabble, plus it's got bears! You combine the letters on the board to create words, while revealing more letters to make words. The bears pop up where the used letters were, and get morphed into ever-largening square bears. With every level, you can earn more bears. Each bear has a different bonus, or makes certain letters appear frequently. There are a bunch of different levels and boards, some timed, some not. I'm still in the early stages of this one, too, but between this, Fallout Shelter, and Tsum Tsum, my mobile games keep me pretty busy!




Disclaimer: I was given the OZ Naturals Tinted Sunscreen and Slimquick Pure Drink Mix in exchange for my honest review.

Weekend Roundup - Mad Max: Fury Road, LA Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con!

How was your weekend? My weekend was not a terribly busy weekend. I didn't peel myself off the couch until late Saturday afternoon, when we trekked all the way up to the valley to see Mad Max: Fury Road for 3 bucks at a second-run theater in North Hollywood. BTW, still just as good the second time around. And luckily, the theater did not disappoint. The last time we went there, there were kids running around and being loud, people talking through the whole thing, just all the worst things you can experience during a movie. This time, people were pretty chill. I mean, you can't expect too much from a 3 dollar theater, but still. 



On Sunday, we went downtown for the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. It was just 10 bucks to get in, and they had a decent amount of aisles full of various exhibitors selling action figures, random toys, lots of books and comic, tons of random Comic Con collectibles that are too cheap to sell on eBay (as I know from experience), and all kinds of good stuff like that. A lot of boxes to dig through in hopes of finding gold. I ended up buying a Hulk Buster Mini Mystery Funko and some Lego figures. I also caught a glimpse of Hayley Atwell, aka Agent Sharon Carter! 

The poster!

Pretty much what it looked like.

This is a handheld massager in the shape of Garfield, who is saying, 'I'll rub you the right way.' 

Buzz Lightyear will arrive at infinity and beyond, shiny and chrome.

This exists?! I need this. Because reasons.

So many Hulk legos!

They made Interstellar action figures?! Why didn't I know about this??

My little Hulkbuster and Lego figures.

Things I Love Thursday - Nail Envy, Lay's, iPod Nano, Hipster Mermaid!

Here are a few things I've been loving lately!

OPI Nail Envy!

I've always had really thick strong fingernails, but lately the nails on my index fingers and thumbs have been splitting, which makes them really thin and even more easier to break. I read some reviews online about OPI Nail Envy and decided to give it a try. After just a couple weeks of putting on a few coats of this, my nails were noticeably stronger! 

I use it as a base coat, and a top coat, and then I reapply it every few days. This stuff is amazing!


Lays Southern Biscuits & Gravy Chips!

I love that Lay's has been releasing a bunch of random flavored chips, and I've tried quite a few of them. There are definitely some hits and misses. These ones, though, I can't believe how much these chips taste like the real thing! They're so delicious, I could probably eat a whole bag in one sitting!


iPod Nano!

Recently, my old 5th generation iPod Nano broke (dropped it too many times, then accidentally exposed it to some liquid, then tried to fix it myself, made it worse, etc.). I thought about buying a brand new one but a) they're expensive! and 2) the new line doesn't include a purple one. I had gotten my old iPod Nano used from eBay, and it worked great and didn't even look used, so I decided to go that route again. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good purple one, so I settled on classic black. I found one for a great price, and it really doesn't even look used. 

It's so teeny tiny, I feel like I might loose it! But it works great, and sounds great, and it's the perfect size to put in my pocket or wherever. 


Hipster Mermaid, aka Traci J Hines!

This is perfection. A hipster mermaid named Helvetica? Yes. Traci's channel is EVERYTHING. Go check it out, right now!

D23 2015 - The Disney Expo!

This weekend, we attended a convention we've never been to before - D23! Held at the Anaheim Convention Center (like many other awesome conventions), D23 Expo had it's 4th show ever this weekend. It started in 2009 as an extension of the D23 fan club, and is held biennially. 

We headed down to Anaheim on after work on Friday. As soon as we arrived and checked into our hotel, we walked over to the convention center to see the last couple hours of the show for the day. The first thing we saw was an enormous Buzz Lightyear balloon that had bee in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007. 

The exhibit hall was NOT very crowded at all, and we were able to see a bunch of stuff that would have been too crowded or had a long line other times of the weekend. And there was a lot to see! More than just the regular aisles of booths selling stuff (though there were a few of those) there were a ton of attractions throughout the hall. There were huge displays for Shanghai Disneyland, Pixar, Disney Fine Art, Disney Interactive/video games, ABC/Muppets, the upcoming Avatar-land, Star Wars, Marvel, pretty much all their properties, both old and upcoming. Not to mention, the 3 huge Disney stores with accompanying long lines, and a Disneyland Archives museum.

There were several costumes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens on hand:

Captain Phasma, played by Gwendoline Christie

BB8!

Please note the ugly stepsisters checking out the Stormtroopers...

And gotta have that Marvel stuff as well!

We were there until it closed down at 7 and since it wasn't very crowded at that time, we were able to see practically everything!

I can't wait until these Tsum Tsum figurines hit Target stores in the fall!

Hulk is SO ANGRY he can't make a strike in his little Hulk car.

Needs more Sorcerer Mickey!

They were giving away these Pixar balls at random times throughout the day. I wasn't lucky enough to get one, though. :(

Posters of two of my favorite movies growing up - Polyanna and The Parent Trap!

There was tons of super awesome Disney art from various artists.

I need dis (but not for 40 bucks):

There was a whole wall full of maps from the various parks throughout the years!

Life-size Sven! (looking a bit chunky, might want to lay off the carrots!)

Lego Hulk is ANGRY!

Real life Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story!

Posters from the upcoming Pixar films!

A tiny model Cars Land!!

Oooh, the claw!

Olaf and the Snowgies!

This guy! He looks tiny, but is actually like 6 feet tall. The statue, that is, not Yoda. 

We stayed until it closed at 7pm, and then we Uber-ed over to the Lazy Dog Cafe, an Anaheim-convention-time favorite!


The next morning, on Saturday, we walked over to the convention center around 10:30am and were able to walk right in. We got in line for the Disney DreamStore, first thing, only to find out that the Tsum Tsums I was searching for were in another castle--I mean, store. Ugh! I did get a D23 t-shirt and an R4-D23, so it wasn't a total loss!

We did a few of the things that we didn't get a chance to on Friday night, such as check out the Avatar exhibit, which included a scale model of the planet Pandora from the movie, which is coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

We randomly walked past a Girl Meets World thing that was going on, and saw Ben Savage, aka Cory Matthews!

At one point in the afternoon, I got a Twitter alert from Parks & Cons announcing a swag bag drop! My boyfriend figured out where the location of it was, and we motored over there, and lo and behold, the swag bag was still there! It was very exciting. Parks & Cons is one of the best blogs/podcasts out there for all things conventions and theme parks! I've been following them for a while and have always gotten incredibly good and valuable information from them. They go to practically every convention and theme park in the area, both large and small, and their reporting is always very thorough. Thanks again, Parks & Cons!

That evening, we went to this place called The Ranch, which was a saloon and restaurant (seperate things for some reason) housed in a 7 story office building. When we got there, they were teaching line dancing, and later, a country band took stage.

On Sunday, we went straight to the Disney Archives line. It took maybe about 45 minutes; I read that it was much longer later in the day, so we picked a good time. There was a ton of really cool historical Disney stuff, it was a really great exhibit!

The very first Disneyland ticket!!

Some of the animatronic heads from Pirates!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this was a scale model of the entire Disneyland park during the electrical light parade and it was super cool and detailed!

Glad to see this guy's getting some work since he got fired from Star Tours!

A yeti and bobsled from Matterhorn!

A terrifiying anime-ish Ben Franklin costume from an old parade.

It's hard to see, but this is a letter from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to Walt Disney, thanking him for his hospitality (which Burton hilariously can't spell) and praising the park.

These will be featured in some of your upcoming nightmares.

A dragon head from Fantasmic! This looked really cool in person and was huge!

A bunch of old Disneyland tickets!

A badass Maleficient costume from Fantastmic!

We also checked out the exhibit for the new Disneyland park in Shanghai! They're so lucky, it looks like it's going to be awesome!!

I need any and all of this:

A super blurry picture of what the castle will look like:

A Tangled ride!

I don't even know.

Fancy!

There was a ton of great cosplay at D23 this year. I would say that this convention maybe had the best cosplay I've seen in a while!! Good job, Disney fans! Unfortunately, this was the only one I took a picture of, but it was probably one of the best ones anyway.

I'm Mrs. Nesbit!

This maybe doesn't count as cosplay, but this dress made of Tsum Tsums was awesome!

Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm, awkward hugs!

Is there something on my head? Get it off, get it off!!

See you in 2 years, D23!