2014! Time To Get My Geek Back.

The things I want to see myself do for this new year:

• Get comfortable enough with myself to put myself out there to meet new people!
• Read more comic books:
• Finish "Birds of Prey"
• Read "Fables"
• Blog!
• Play Dungeons & Dragons:
• Keep having fun with my own campaign!
• Have fun doodling and character creating for Tony's campaign!
• Tarot cards:
• Find my deck.
• Memorize cards, positions, and meanings.
• Read for alllll the people!
• Subscribe to Nerdblock (as soon as I can afford it).

This new year is going to be awesome!

HAPPY NEW YEAR~! <3

A Beautiful Fall Wedding.

My Dads' wedding was just gorgeous. The park we were able to do the ceremony was beautiful. The wedding took place in Washington. All of the leaves on the trees in the park were yellow gold and the chilly wind was blowing through the trees and making the leaves fall. The sun was out the whole afternoon. As though it was sunny just for my dads. It was absolutely gorgeous. My dad's have been together forever! So it feels like this happened so long ago, but I'm glad that my dads were able to have a ceremony and that they now get to be recognized by the Government as a couple!

I thought I would share some pictures!

 

 

 

 

My Dads look so happy! It's about time! I love you both!

Happily Married on 11/11/13!

Can't sleep? MUSIC!

I know I haven't written in a while. Things have been so crazy. I haven't been able to sleep very well lately and have noticed me clenching my jaw again. I, however, have been waking up when I'm doing it which is a very welcome change. I woke up at 5:00 AM today and can't get back to sleep. So I decided to listen to Pandora! I feel so much better when I listen to music. I thought I would share how it's going down.

My station that I'm stuck on for life; Here.

This is me right now:

And I dance! Hoping not to wake my roommates who need to wake up soon!

This is for all my lovelies who can't sleep like me.

Dance like no one is watching!

Have your own party!

Don't let the world bring you down!

Even if you feel like a weirdo dancing in the dark!

It's worth it.

<3

Wedding Bells

It's so close! My Dads are getting married! The big day is Nov. 9th! So I need to find a dress for the occasion and I am having a terrible time finding one! I'm debating on pricing, wearability, and fit.

My Dad is going to be in a navy blue and since I was going to be standing on his side, I wanted to be able to wear a navy blue as well. Also I need to be able to save enough money to get to Oregon for the wedding, so I have been looking for cheap options as far as dresses goes.







Found this one at Debs! It's $84.90 and has the perfect colors. I could even wear it with a sweater or jacket. I think the shape would look pretty good on me. I am concerned about the sleeveless-ness of it though. It is also a little more spend-y than I can afford at the moment. It is so pretty though. So it is definitely an option.








So I kept looking and found this adorable dress! It's not nearly as sparkly, but it's really cute! I found it at ModCloth! It's sizes say they run small in some areas but it still comes in my size! I love the shape of it but I'm concerned about the lace edge. I think I may have to manually sew on a ribbon so that the lace doesn't fray. SO MANY CUTE CHOICES, NOT ENOUGH TIME! ACH! Wish me luck on making a decision!

Games I am Loving

So I figured that I may as well start writing about the nerdy things I love. I'm a gamer girl; and yes, we do exist. I grew up with a gamer father and he passed his love of video games to me. I love to play all sorts of games on all sorts of platforms. Lately I've been mostly playing games on my computer but there are so many games right now that I'm obsessed with. So, I'll just mention two this week and go on to talk about some more in the future, 'kay?

The two games I wanted to let you know about are Minecraft and Cube World.

Minecraft
I have been playing Minecraft on and off again for the last several months. I have a lot of friends that play on the same server as me and they keep me coming back! What makes this game fun for me is showing off all the fun and really interesting things that my friends and I create. I'm not much for the battle system in this game. I think the fact that when you die you can lose everything is a slightly harsh reality check.(I fucking hate creepers: Passionately.) I love creating secret areas and exploring underground caverns!

Cubeworld
This game is too cute! I've been playing it with a couple of friends and it is super addictive! The game is made out of tons of colorful cubes! All the mobs are super freaking cute; and to top it off they can be captured as pets! I also love the customization options of your own character. I can create a short, stubby, and adorable character? I AM SO IN!

If you ever get a chance to play or even research these games a bit more, I would totally recommend it!

Realization: I'm a Jelly Belly!

So today I decided that I really wanted to go to the Jelly Belly factory since we live soooo close to it. I dragged my Shannon along with me because I didn't want to go alone. She wasn't expecting much and she wasn't too excited when we got there either. After the tour though, she did say that she had fun! (Yes, that is her not impressed face in that picture.) We got to learn a little about Jelly Belly history! Did you know that they started their business in Portland, Oregon? But because of the humidity and amount of moisture that Oregon gets, it wasn't a very good place to make candy. So they moved their operation down to California. I can totally relate! There is way too much rain up there for my tastes! We also got to see the making processes for the jelly beans and how they got packaged! We also got to see some really cool Jelly Belly art! I definitely want to go back sometime soon! There were so many goodies that we didn't even get to try while we were there. Like Jelly Belly soda, and Jelly Belly chocolates, there was even Jelly Belly ICE CREAM! Yes. Ice cream. It looked SO delicious. They even had a cafe on site and the food smelled really good. I had so much fun. We will for sure go back soon!

Mourning Isn't My Style

When life hits you; she bitch slaps you. Then it's up to you to decide how to react. The last couple of weeks have been really hard on me, physically and emotionally.

Shannon and I had shared a cat for... it seems like forever. Maybe around seven years? Shannon has a really intense job that she strives for; which causes her to move around a lot. While she had to move around she would leave the cat with me so I wouldn't be so lonely and so she knew the cat was with someone she trusted. Our cat Lilka, the cute monster in the above pictures, died a couple weeks ago. I took the news really hard. I'm still trying to recover. It's hard not having her right next to me but the experiences and the memories I have of her will always be with me. So I am doing my best to remember how much I love her instead of remembering how much I miss her. I decided that celebrating the good times I had with her is better than mourning the time I wont be able to spend with her. That view has been helping me through it.

I also have been dealing with dental stuff. I woke up in unbearable pain in the middle of the night. I thought that maybe I was grinding my teeth again and caused a tooth to break. I talked to 14 different dental places and only one was able to get me in as soon as possible to find out what was going on. I found out that I needed a root canal; which is total ouchies. I have been on pain killers and antibiotics for about 3 weeks now. I was searching around for a cheaper option and finally found a Dentist near me that I trust. Today, I finally got the first part of the root canal done. It was about $140.00 out of pocket. It was totally worth it to not be able to feel the pain. This temporary filling they used will last a few months until I can go in to finish it and put on a crown (which will cost almost $1,500.00). Let's just say that I wont be looking at expensive Halloween costumes stuff anymore (even though I want to).

With all that being said I am hoping to keep posting on this blog as much as possible about the things I love and continue to interact with some of my favorite bloggers. I have some really neat ideas about things to post in the future! So look forward to it.

Bang! Bang!

Yay! I got bangs! After debating wether or not I wanted to keep them long for the last year. I finally pulled the trigger and cut them! My personal opinion and a little nudge from my co-worker, Jeani, helped me decide that bangs were needed. I love having bangs! It's just that when they start to get long they become a hassle. So I'll really need to keep on them and make sure they stay the same length. I also trimmed about two inches or so off the rest; to make the ends look healthier and to help it grow!

I've been getting all sorts of great compliments about my hair at work lately! I had violet peak-a-boo highlights in my hair at one point. The violet color has faded and now it is this red/gold color. Since my hair cut a lot more people have been noticing the color. I think it's due to the small layers that I did in order to make my hair seem thinner. I really want to re-dye my streaks to get the violet back but I may not be able to do that with this job. It's just soooo tempting though.

I recently went to Sally's and noticed that their bleaches, developer, and dyes were on sale! It was so hard to turn away! They had some amazing colors available by Color Brilliance! The Aqua and Purple colors are AMAZING! I think the lavender color is absolutely beautiful! I'm pretty sure though that if I did the lavender with my dark hair it might lose its luster with such a dark natural hair color as a backdrop. I'd have to bleach the heck out of my hair to try to get it light enough so that the color would end up the way it's supposed to. I think the aqua is too-cool-for-school and would look awesome with my skin tone! There's no harm in me daydreaming about having crazy awesome hair colors, right?

“Like some winter animal the moon licks the salt of your hand,

Yet still your hair foams violet as a lilac tree

From which a small wood-owl calls.”

― Johannes Bobrowski

DECODEN ALL THE THINGS!

I recently finished a tokidoki decoden iphone 4S case! Jeani at work wanted to get something special for a friend of her's for their birthday. I had shown her what decoden was and she instantly needed it. This is what I created for her! (curious about decoden? Sophie & Toffee is a shop where you can buy the essentials and they even have their own blog with simple tutorials.)

It was quite the process! I went to hot topic and bought one of the larger tokidoki collectable unicorns because I thought it would be cuter than just having small tokidoki things on it. The unicorn ended up being larger than I had intended. So I actually had to cut 1/3 of the unicorn off so it wouldn't be really bulky on the phone. It took a whole hour to cut it. I used a thin hand saw and an X-acto knife (I went through two blades). Then it took about 30 minutes to pick out all the cabachons and colors that I wanted to use on the phone. I had to add the sparkles and jewels! Took about another hour to put everything together with the silicon and everything! It turned out to be suuuuuper cute though! I really love the colors on the unicorn so I tried to play with them. I also really like how the stamp on it's head says tokidoki in Japanese! Too cute!

After all this sweet talking I have to go watch Wreck-It-Ralph! I love that movie!

"What's going on in this candy-coated heart of darkness?" -Ralph, Wreck-It-Ralph

Panda Cosmic Power, Make-Up~!

Lilka being all worried and cuddling with me.

I was feeling totally down today. I felt like all of my energy was gone from my body. I think it was a combination of all the work I've been doing lately and stressing out about the old apartment stuff. You know that feel that you get sometimes when you are really lonely even though there are plenty of people around you? And all you need is a hug? Yeah... It was that feel. I slept in and made my best friends worry. Even my cat was laying down on my chest meowing at my face. I'm a horrible human being sometimes. Shannon came and woke me up cause she was worried and wanted to see if I was okay. It was really sweet of her she's the best. Then Tony kept trying to actually get me up by showing me YouTube videos. Then Aaron sent me some positivity by text and made me feel better. I'm a very lucky person to have so many people who care and worry about me. I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss my family. However, being around these people makes me so happy that missing my family isn't nearly as noticeable as it usually would be.

Yay! Make-up!

After talking to my friends for a little bit, I finally got my ass out of bed, took a shower, and put on make-up. Putting on make-up always makes me feel better. Even when I mess it up!I found that I like bright pinks on my cheeks but not so much on my lips. That may be more of a fact that I'm not used to wearing it.

Our cat Lilka is still all over me and worried. Even while I'm writing this entry. She's so cute sometimes. Long story short, I'm feeling better now. I think I just needed to remember that I still have amazing people around me that support me and want me to be happy 24-7. I think that it's also okay for me to be down sometimes, as long as I remember to bring myself back up by the end of the day.

"Its just a spark| But its enough to keep me going |And when its dark out, no ones around |It keeps glowing" -Paramore, 'Last Hope'

My Knight in Wool Armor

Oh... Dear... Lords and ladies. Keep me away from Etsy. I spent a good 30 to 40 minutes drooling over all the cute things... I can't even handle. Etsy is like: creativity+art+cute+shopping+fun= way too mathematical for a poor Panda to handle!

Like this adorable hoodie I found. All I have to say is "OH MY GOODNESS!" I was looking around for some creative hoodie ideas and came across this! The shop is called iamknight. They have multiple styles of armor in different colors and sizes... that I will totally save up for! It's the perfect cross of geek and chic. I want it! I don't even care! Just shut up Etsy and take all of my hard earned cash. All of it!

I think I might even use the excuse of buying it as part of a Halloween outfit. It's just too amazing to pass up. Also it's totally sly enough to wear on a regular basis! I better make sure that I payed all my bills for this month before I go spending all my monies.

"Knighthood lies above eternity; it doesn't live off fame, but rather deeds." -Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

Hello, Blog World!

So... I'm Panda. I figured having a blog would be tons of fun but the only reason I actually went and created it was so that I could help my friend Jeani get some coding and layout stuff working on hers. Which is a great motivation to get this started! I have so many craft like things that I do and I figure it is a great way for me to make sure my family can see how I'm doing. So it's just a positive thing I guess.

A little about me:

• I love art. If it includes being creative in some way, I consider it art.
• I love comic books. I'm geeky and I'm not afraid to show it.
• I love contemplating metaphysical stuff.
• I love ghost hunting but avoid scary movies.
• I love video games. Yes, I'm a girl gamer, we happen.
• I love cute things and strive to be adorable. 
• I love fashion but... fail at it.
• I love my family and friends. I would do anything for them.
• I love Halloween and any excuse to dress up!
• I believe in love. (All types of it).
• I believe that to be truly happy you have to do what you love and what excites you.

"Live your dreams instead of merely dreaming about living." -Bashar