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!

Weekend Roundup - Geek Girl Brunch, Fantastic Four, Scare LA

I had a really busy but great weekend! What did you do?

On Saturday morning, I headed up to Sherman Oaks to the bar/arcade/barcade The One Up for a Geek Girl Brunch meetup! GGB is a fun group of like-minded nerdy girls that meet up in various cool, nerdy places around LA. I've been to the One Up before and it's pretty awesome - they have a ton of classic arcade games (from Space Invaders to Mario to Pac-Man) in cabinets, and it's all free! It was a perfect location for our Gamer-themed brunch. This was the second brunch I've attended, and it's such an awesome time getting to talk to a bunch of fun girls with similar tastes in awesomeness. We even got goody bags filled with pins, a pencil and eraser, a Mario themed tin, and a starter set of Cards Against Humanity!

That night, we went to the Westfield Century City AMC to see Fantastic Four. It honestly wasn't nearly as bad as all the reviews have been saying. There were definitely some cheesy and cringey parts, but the first 2/3s of it were not bad. It was mostly enjoyable, and certainly not anywhere near the worst movie I've ever seen. It won't be my favorite movie of the summer, but I had a decent time seeing it.

Sunday started strong with a Taco Bell breakfast. From there, we went over to Pasadena for ScareLA, a horror/Halloween themed convention. Horror is generally not really my cup of tea, but I love conventions, and it was cool getting to see a bunch of booths that I don't typically get to see at most of the cons we go to. There were a lot of panels and haunted-house-type things that we didn't even check out, so there was a lot more to this convention than just the exhibit floor we saw. I kind of wish this happened closer to Halloween-time, so I could really get into the mood of it. The only thing I ended up buying was a Harry Potter Funko, but I got it for $10 so I was pretty pleased with that.

I've got a busy work week coming up! Let's make it a good one!

Things I Love Thursday! - Sea Infused Moisturizer, Exuviance, Eldritch T-Swift

Oz Naturals Sea Infused Moisturizer 

This is my latest favorite moisturizer! It's really light and nice, and doesn't smell weird. It's a beige color, and I feel like as soon as I put it on, it's somehow smoothed out my skin tone. I like to use it on the weekends when I don't wear much makeup. It's got vitamin C, and keratin extract, and all that good crap that supposed to make your skin look better and shit.


Exuviance Daily Protector SPF 50

It's so important to wear suncreen on your face during the day, and Exuviance Daily Protector in SPF 50 is perfect because it's so weightless, it won't interfere with your makeup. Besides protecting your delicate facial skin from the sun, it also prevents aging and helps keep skin healthy. Exuviance is holding a contest where 25 lucky winners will be able to win a full size bottle of their Daily Protector!


Eldritch T-Swift Twitter account!

Oh my god, I love novelty Twitter accounts so much! @Eldritch T-Swift parodies Taylor Swift songs. Here are a few gems:

*saw you there, and i thought, oh my god, look at that face. how magnificent it would look in my face collection.

*got a long list of ex-lovers; they yearn to tell you i'm insane. unfortunately, none of them have mouths anymore.

*heartbreakers gonna break break break break break. the earth is gonna quake quake quake quake quake, shadows erupting from tectonic fissures.

There are several others for other singers/bands, like Lana del Rey, Nicki Minaj, and the Beatles. But this is the best one.



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Workout Wednesday!

Recently I've been waking up early in the morning before work to do some cardio. This is incredibly out of character for me. But we often have plans after work, which is when I would typically work out, so I figured I would try this as an alternative. It's been surprisingly awesome! I don't really have to wake up that much earlier, and it gives me a nice energy boost for the day. Let me tell you about my routine.

I wake up around 6 AM 3 to 4 times a week. I'm lucky enough to have a small gym in my apartment building, which makes it a lot easier than trying to get in the car and go to a gym. Pretty much all I do is 3 rounds of: 
2 minutes on the treadmill
2 minutes on the bike
1 minute on the stairstepper. 
And then, depending on how much time I have, sometimes I add in a quick ab session.

One way I get myself motivated is that I have a book on my Kindle that I only read when I'm working out. It's a pretty good book that I'm super into (Beautiful Creatures, if you're interested, it's a really fun series), so it really makes me want to work out, and sometimes for a little longer than I originally planned, just so I can read more of it!

I also try to get a strength training workout in the evening when I have time. I'm loving waking up early to do some cardio, because I know at least I'll be getting some exercise in a few days a week. I highly recommend it!

Weekend Roundup! Rocky, KBBQ, Ice Cream!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and managed to stay cool! My apartment doesn't have air conditioning, so it's been a challenge to not be sweaty all the time. Luckily, we have a portable AC unit that helps a lot. Central air would be a lot better though...

On Saturday morning, I did these exciting things:
*worked out
*washed my hair
*painted my nails
Thrilling, I know! I also worked on some eBay stuff. I have a bunch of swag from Comic Con (both my own and my friends') that I need to get listed right away. Gotta strike while the iron is hot!

Later in the evening, we went to Backstage, a dive bar by the Sony lot. It is super dive-y, and they have a great happy hour!

For breakfast on Sunday morning, we went to Corner Bakery. I got a Truffle Mocha coffee that was short on caffeine but huge on taste! After that much caffeine, I figured I'd be bouncing off the walls, but I felt pretty normal. It was delicious, though!

Throughout the weekend, we watched various Rocky movies. I've met both Dolph Lundgren, aka Ivan Drago, and Carl Weathers, aka Apollo Creed, at my boyfriend's events at the Egyptian Theater. So it was pretty cool to watch the movies and be like, hey, I know those guys!

We met up with some friends for lunch in Koreatown for some Korean BBQ at Road to Seoul. Twenty pounds of meat later, we went to nearby Mateos for some ice cream. As if we hadn't had enough to eat for the day!

It was a good weekend! Hopefully the week will be just as good!

Things I Love Thursday - SK-11, OPI, Magnum Mini Ice Cream

Here are a few things I've been enjoying recently!

SK-11 Essential Power Cream Moisturizer!

I just recently started using this moisturizer from SK-II after I got a sample tub of it from Influenster. It's nice and creamy, but very quickly sinks into your skin. It feels really smooth and luxurious, and it doesn't have a strong scent. Nothing worse than having a weird smell on your face all day! A little of it goes a long way. I can just barely dip my finger in and have enough for at least half my face.


OPI Lost My Bikini in Molokini!

As usual, my newest favorite nail color is from OPI! This one is, again, from their Hawaii collection. It's just the most perfect eggplant-y purple color, super vivid and bright. It's a pretty thick formula, too, so I only needed one coat. I think it would look beautiful on both toes and fingers. This one is definitely getting put into my regular rotation.
Magnum Mini Classic Ice Cream Bar!

We randomly picked up this ice cream during while buying groceries last week. They are the perfect little size - just enough to fulfill your ice cream craving, but not a huge amount. They are super tasty, and the chocolate is very decadent. It's a lovely treat, especially since it's been so hot out!