A Major Award-Part 3

I met up with my friends Sharon and Liz for Doctor Who Night at the British Chip Shop in Haddonfield (Doctor Who Night was on Tuesday, September 17th, I'm a little behind).  We had lots of fun.

As always the food was quite yummy.  I especially liked the Thai take-out noodles, and the Slitheen eggs weren't bad either, once you got past the greenish hue. 

We had beef stew, coronation chicken over rice, and this time, they had fish fingers and custard in a savory version,

and a sweet version.

We also enjoyed a dessert of dalek cakes and TARDIS cookies.  Liz had the brilliant idea to stage our dessert before we ate it. 

Oh no! The daleks have the TARDIS!

And.....I won for best costume!  To be fair there wasn't a whole lot of competition, but who cares, I'M A WINNER!!!!!

See my major award?  It's a TARDIS bobble head that is now displayed proudly on my bookshelf atop my writing books.

We didn't win the trivia.  We finished in 3rd place (which was actually pretty good because,I mean do you remember what was written on the license plate of the car that hit Pete Tyler?),  but we did win a gift card for having the best team name, Ood-les of Noodles.

Sharon, on my left, was less than a week away from having a baby (she had a scheduled C-section the Monday after Doctor Who Night).  We are very excited to welcome little Lilly (Harry Potter) into our geeky fangirl world.

Liz found t-shirts that had our team name on them at Redbubble. We may need to consider those for next time. Go team Oodles of Noodles!

Before leaving to go home, I walked to Sharon's car where she gave me a present.  It was a painting that she made for me.  It was awesome!

We had a great time together hanging out at Doctor Who Night and are hoping to get reservations for Harry Potter Night at The British Chip Shop so we can hang out again and so I can figure out how to dress as a golden snitch.


Note:My very awesome dalek hat was purchased at Geekinout on etsy.  She has Jayne's hat, an Appa hat ,a Bender hat, and many, many more.

A Major Award- Part 2

   I will admit that I cheated on the headwear. I bought a knitted dalek hat on Etsy.

After buying my hat and finding the perfect inexpensive skirt at Burlington Coat Factory, I had to start figuring out...1) what to use to make the dalek bumps and 2) how to secure them to the skirt.

Dalek outfits are a pretty popular cosplay for girls, so I found a lot of DIY blog posts explaining various methods on how to pull off the bumps.  Some girls just used felt or fabric circles with no actual bump.  Some suggested the bottom of plastic Easter eggs, some said foam balls worked well while others used Styrofoam.  Knowing how much Styrofoam costs ($3.99 for just one half ball), I was leaning towards some sort of foam ball.  I decided to head to Five Below one Saturday because I thought they might have something that could work. 

As soon as I saw them, light shown down and I had to control my desire to leap with joy like a caveman who just finished hunting and killing his first t-rex. 

They were metal balls filled with puzzle pieces that easily separated into two separate half bumps. They were only $1 a piece and because they separated into halves, it was like getting each bump for only 50 cents. Perfect!

My first task was to paint them. I don't think a dalek would look right wearing Hello Kitty bumps...although... a Hello Kitty-dalek mash-up would be interesting... some other time. 

According to my dalek making predecessors it is better to hand paint the bumps using acrylic paint as opposed to spray painting them.  I don't remember anyone explaining why, but I wasn't prepared to find out for myself, so metallic silver acrylic paint it was.

 

Of course I had to have some entertainment while I was painting.

 

After painting the bumps, I needed to figure out a way to adhere them to my skirt.  Because they were hollow, there was no back, so I had to create some kind of backing.

I purchased a piece of black felt and then cut the felt into circles.

After cutting out the circles, I used a hot glue gun, mostly on the inside of the half balls, to adhere each bump to a felt backing.

I then glued a piece of Velcro to the backing and adhered pieces of Velcro to the skirt.  I figured this way if I needed to wash the skirt or if I wanted to reuse it for something else in the future, it would be better to make the bumps removable.

I only put on three rows of bumps, because using metal, if they were all around the dress, it would be impossible to sit (that was the reason some girls used foam balls).

Once the skirt was completed,

 

I moved on to the shirt.  The skirt took longer than anticipated to finish, and since I was running out of time, I didn't put as much creativity into my shirt.  It ended up being a $6.00 black tee from Old Navy and some shiny duct tape. 

 

 

I completed the outfit with a plunger with a silver painted handle and a whisk, and of course, a girl needs her accessories.

 

Now I was all ready to go to Doctor Who night at The British Chip Shop.

 

 

Note: My super cool dalek bracelet was purchased at All Things Fun.

A Major Award- Part 1

As a little girl, like most other children, I loved dressing up in costumes.

 

I loved putting on an outfit and becoming someone else. I think that was one of the reasons I liked doing plays as a kid and teen.  Once I had on a costume I was no longer an awkward shy girl who lacked confidence, I was

 

an angel,

 

 

an orphan named Anne,

 

 

a crazy murderer,

 

 

and of course what girl wouldn't want the chance to wear puffed sleeves?

 

 

It seems that for most, the desire to dress up declines the further a person strolls down the path of adulthood.  I can only assume that it is because most adults find dressing up to be a silly endevor that will end in no other consequence except for that of looking stupid. Except for the occasional Halloween shindig, grown-ups hardly ever get dressed up anymore.  But geeks, adult geeks, are of a different breed. For geeks, dressing up has developed into an art.

 

There were only two years, first and second grade, where I did not make my own Halloween costume (with help from my mom during my younger years).

 

My Aunt made me and my cousin ballerina outfits for Halloween one year

 

Not only was wearing a costume fun, but it was just as much fun designing, planning, hunting through thrift shops and craft stores and putting together all of the things I had made or found. Costume making always helped to quench my never ending desire to create.

 

I must admit that as an adult there have not been many occasions that have involved the need to wear a costume.

 

A few years ago our friends had a fun little Halloween get together so I put together a simple little steampunk airship navigator outfit.

 

 

 That was the last time I had a reason to make an outfit, until now.

 

The first Doctor Who night back in April sprung on us rapidly so there was no time to create something to wear. This time I was ready. 

 

Since I can't sew (I took a class once and learned that it is a talent that I am completely lacking no matter how hard I tried) I had to come up with something that did not utilize sewing skills.  I also wanted something that wasn't too difficult or expensive to make and would be comfortable and non-cumbersome enough so I could wear it and still enjoy my evening, and so my creative wheels started turning as I began to plan a Dalek outfit.

Fancy Pants

Last fall my husband asked if I had any ideas of what I might like to do for my 35th birthday.  At the time I mentioned that I'd like to go to a Phillies game and sit in the "fancy seats."  Of course this would have been hard to do since my birthday is in January but my husband did say that maybe we would look into doing a game with fancy seats next season if the price was low enough.  I was hopeful as words like, if and maybe were used.  They are much better than, "we'll see," which is just another phrase for, no. 

Although it has been sad that The Phillies have had such a disappointing season, it worked to our advantage. Tickets are no longer being voraciously snatched up like in past years.  My husband kept an eye on Stub Hub and found the right tickets at the right price so we could be fancy pants people and sit in the Diamond Club.


From the moment we entered the Diamond Club's lobby we felt special.

The staff were so polite and kept welcoming us and telling us to have a good game.  We looked at each other and said something to the effect of,

"Tonight we are not mere mortals." (Okay that's exactly what I said).

After getting our tickets punched we descended the super special stairs and received fun bracelets that let everyone know that we were special diamond people.

The Diamond Club has its own restaurant that is only for Diamond Club ticket holders. Nice! 

Even the menu was friendly and polite. 

The restaurant had different stations that you could choose from.  You told your waitress/waiter which station you wanted and she/he gave you a little card that you took to the station. The chef at that station then makes your food to order right in front of you.  I chose the Stir-Fry station and got the Thai Stir-Fry.

It was yummy and tastier than a semi-warm hot dog wrapped in foil, not that there's anything wrong with the occasional ballpark frank.  My husband had a Cuban pork sandwich. 

They also had a salad bar that was included with your entrée.  It was a very nice salad bar that had marinated olives, dolmas, baby corn and a lovely bowl of fresh berries, just to name a few things. 

After our meal we went out to our seats.  We were in the 12th row behind home plate.  We were so close to the field and the Phanatic.

We were in stadium falcon territory.  For those who do not know about stadium falcon, I have lamented that all baseball stadiums should have a stadium falcon that patrols the area behind home plate.  When people who are sitting behind home plate are on their phones chaotically waving to the camera and saying things that I can only guess are,

"Hey, do you see me (wave, wave, wave)?  Look, I'm waving. Do you see me waving (wave, wave, wave)?  Yea?  Here I'll wave more (wave, wave, wave). Make sure you DVR this so I can see myself waving on t.v. when I get home..."

See in this instance the stadium falcon would swoop down and yank that guy's phone from his hand  and maybe give him a light non-injurious tap on the head.

The Diamond Club has staff that walk up and down and up and down the stairs in their areas just waiting for the moment when you might need something.  I wish I had wanted something, but I was stuffed from dinner and was happy to sip on my water.  I did enjoy watching other people summon the staff who returned minutes later with boxes filled with treats. The Diamond Club also has its own Diamond Club bathroom that is nicer, cleaner and lineless.

It turned out to be a good game and everyone was excited when Cody Asche hit a home run. It was an added bonus that our fancy pants game was one the team actually won.

The other great thing was that it was free hat night, and I loved the hat this year. My current collection was lacking in hats with ear flaps.

The Diamond Club was a fantastic experience.  It made me want to hunt down and thank the person on Stub Hub who sold their tickets at a significant loss so that we could afford to have such a special evening.  Our only regret was that the game, unlike the never ending fireworks game (where we sat in the 400 level), went by too quickly and we wished it had gone on longer so we could have savored the experience of being among the special fancy pants fans for just a little more.

The Demise and Rebirth of Bathroom #1

There were two things that sold us on our townhouse.  1) The wood burning fireplace and 2) Two and a half bathrooms.  We knew when we moved in that the bathrooms would need A LOT of work.  We started with bathroom #1. This is the cat's bathroom as well as the bathroom that I use to get ready in the morning so in some respects it is also my bathroom. I wanted it to be a happy- friendly place to remind me of the adventures that my day could hold.

The original bathroom had an odd combination of mauve and brown. The fan was wonky and never worked properly so the moisture and humidity caused the wallpaper and border to peel.

The humidity also caused the paint to chip.

The bathroom had terrible fluorescent lighting.

Since the house was built prior to moisture and mold resistant drywall, we decided that the best thing to do was to strip the bathroom to the studs and start over.

The inspiration for the bathroom all started with a shower curtain.  I walked by it in Target one day and loved it.  In case you are wondering, yes I did buy two just in case something unfortunate should happen to the first.  

Emma approved of our new shower/tub. Sometimes we still find her napping in the tub.

Goodbye fluorescent lighting, scalloped sink, and gigantic impractical medicine cabinet! Thanks to Paulette and Scott for giving me the perfect nightlight.

We went with shadow boxes instead of regular shelves and of course there is the awesome topography.

I'm not a fan of traditional  towel racks, and to prove that Pinterest is useful and not the waste of time many people believe it to be, I implemented an idea I saw on the site in place of a normal towel rack.

I'm very excited about how bathroom #1 turned out.  It was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's the perfect place to take a bath and to get ready for my day.

Now onward to bathroom #2.

Thanks to:

Our contractor Phil for doing such a great job

Saber and Sons where we purchased our shower, vanity, sink and medicine cabinet

LUCIUS ART where I purchased the typography

Vinyl Wall Décor and Mor for our vinyl tree

The rest of the bathroom was a combination of Loews, Home Depot, Amazon and Target