Sunday and Monday were seriously awesome days. The kind of days that makes me more obsessed with B than ever. The kind of days that make going back to work even harder and the thought of being away from B for 8 hours makes me want to cry.

We went shopping and spent wedding vouchers on two new board games, a candle that smells like Christmas in a pot and a picture frame on Sunday. Then after a super-duper lie in yesterday we went for a stroll round the French market that visits Bath every BH weekend. We ate Paella on a bench and scoffed crepes filled with Nutella (no time for pictures of the crepes. Must. Eat.) and Ben bought a hunkin' slab of nougat.

We got home, crashed on the sofa and watched a movie. Oh such a beautiful day. And oh how I love that boy of mine.

Apologies for the blurry picture. Was in too much of a rush to eat the yummy food.

Sheik Got the Job!

Yes I did. I got the job! I'm super happy to be working now. I will be earnin' my money and earning experience working with children.. eep!
It's going to be an adventure but I definitely need to grow up.

So on the topic of cosplay since this IS suppose to be my "nerdism" blog... I have been really leaning toward cosplay OOT Sheik again. I mean I never let the dream go. I just really think I am ready to make it. I have avoided spandex for a few reasons but I might...just might..cheat and work off an already made zentai suit. I don't know. It depends. I won't work with shiney. At least I'm hoping I can avoid it. :[ Any thoughts on this?

I really love Sheik. Obviously. So I want everything accurate. I will look for the perfect wig and I will get my eyes checked eventually for good contacts so that I can have the red eyes.
I even want to start stretching and perfecting cartwheels so I can do some awesome photo posin'.
I LOVE SHEIK. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. It must be perfect. Or close to that. ;__; She is just an awesome character. Yes, I refer to Sheik as a female. :P

On another note, I started playing Spirit tracks again. It's pretty fun and cute. Kind of annoying dealing with that..tower thing but uh aside from sneaking around bad guys, it's fun. :] I haven't been playing Harvest Moon as much but I'm in Winter of the first year and Julius has NOT asked me out. =__= How will I ever get married at this rate? I've given him soooo many presents and he only has 3 hears meaning we're just friends. This game made becoming more than friends way harder than it really is. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree...seeing as he loves perfume, roses and pumpkins but I dunno. I might have a chance! AHEM.

But ah..yeah. I posted a new video on my youtube today. You can check it out if you'd like. I think I will go now though. My tummy hurts. ;___;

-
Sheik

I have a feeling this was Ben?!

Tyler with Humungousaur and Echo Echo, all in the ties he asked me to make them! (He's a pretty huge Ben10 fan, as you can tell from the PJs!)

Ty's picture of me with Humungousaur

Crafting on Saturday with our two scrumptious nephews was lots of messy fun as always. This week we started decorating birds but quickly Tyler decided to fashion portraits of us all out of felt, googly eyes and pipe cleaners and Coby tried to drink the glue. Ah kids. What fun!

A Day at the Park in Cosplay!

International Cosplay Day. It was fun! Only a few of us were able to attend but we still had lots of fun just goofing around. We had a few stares but there was this one guy who walked by and was like, "Nice cosplay!" and we were like "..... oh....thanks!!!" We weren't expecting anyone to know what we were doing because we live in such a "Small-hick-town"...kind of place. XD Yeah.....I mean I live in Hyrule.-cough-

In anycase! It was fun. We played in the playground area, took pics and made videos. I was going to upload a video but my computer was having issues with the program and was refusing to export the edited movie. ;__; So I can't upload it to youtube yet!!! Made me mad. I wanted it up last night. I'll try again though. I'm sorry. :[


I also texted quite a handful of people wishing them to have a happy International Cosplay Day!! Unfortunately my fiance doesn't cosplay so he said he wasn't celebrating it. I think he gets jealous of cosplay since it takes lots of time and money away... I don't know. He's a very inward person so dressing up + pictures are not his thing. XD It's fine....my friends were lots of fun and hilarious. But uh yeah. What did you guys do yesterday? Did you all dress up? :]

Sorry for the little break in posts. This week has been mental... I've been designing our wedding album and it appeared to slip into being a bit of an obsession! In the last week I must have spent around 30 hours (at least) AFTER WORK designing it. As in get home, design, eat, design, bed. Bless B sitting on his lonesome for the week (our computer's in the living room too, but it's much nicer to squish on the sofa!) However, this did give him the perfect excuse to play Madden on the PS3 for hours, so I don't think he minded too much.

I finished it at about 1am this morning and have spent the morning uploading the designs and sending it off. Now we have to wait 7-10 days. We're so freakin' excited about it arriving I can't tell you.

In other news I had my first weigh in yesterday. I was feeling pretty slim and was pleased to see i'd lost 1lb. Despite my Nan giving us a box of shortbread (AKA my favourite). It's not much I know, but I don't have too much too loose and so I'm expecting it to come off pretty slowly. 1lb a week means a stone by Christmas though and that's my goal. I'm still feeling nice and motivated so I have high hopes of achieving this! I only ate two tiny slithers of shortbread over the week, which is a miracle. How are you other lovely "health kick" ladies getting on?

It's a Bank Holiday here on Monday, so three day weekend! Crafting this afternoon with my nephews and B and I are going on an actual shopping trip tomorrow. I can't remember when we last did that. We have vouchers from the wedding still to spend so are heading to Bristol on a spree. I seriously can't wait.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend too xx

Bedroom Tag!

Kisa Sohma it is!

The wig isn't perfect, or made for her but it will do. IT WILL DO.

I can say I'm rather excited about tomorrow. I haven't been in cosplay out in public for quite some time, especially not here in this tiny town. I know people will look at us but we don't care! We love to express our individuality and creativity! Nothing wrong in that and no harm either.

I know my friend Kay-chan will be going as Shigure. She's working on the Kimono tonight! Talk about over night cosplay! w00t. I think Ne-chan will be Noodle from the Gorillaz~ I'm not sure who else is going. My sis might join us but she doesn't have a costume. I gave her some suggestions but I don't know....if anything she likes taking photos (she's the one who does my photoshoots) so she can at least get some nice shots of us. ^___^;

Well, I should get back to working on the ears....I'll update tomorrow on how it goes. Hope you all have FUN TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

THIS FRIDAY. COSPLAY. AHH.

Sorry for the lame-o caps! I'm freaking out. Okay not freaking, but I am reaaaaaallly NOT sure who to cosplay as for "International Cosplay Day".

I have a few options in mind but I don't know. I kind of just want to make one before Friday. I think that's a bit insane though considering there's only 2 days before Friday. Ugh. Why did I wait this late?

I think my friends and I are going to get into our costumes and hit up a burger joint or something then probably take pictures / make videos for the heck of it because of the "holiday". I think it's going to be fun and neat! ^__^; Tonight I hung out with some of my friends. It has been a while but it was nice. Although we have a nice handful of differences, we have cosplay that is usually the main topic. Actually, it's all we talk about. Or mostly what we talk about. I'm fine with not talking about cosplay though... I mean I've been fine knowing I'm not really working on anything. Perhaps once I start having an income I will jump into some crazy projects. I don't want lots of simple costumes. I want epic costumes. Costumes that scream "I TOOK A LOT OF TIME BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!" XD Ahhh perhaps it is the artist in me.


Anyway, I'm pretty tired now. I think I will sleep. Let me know if you'd like to see me in a certain costume.......

What are you guys (my followers..hehe) going to wear on International Cosplay Day? :]

Yup! That's me and my guy right there. In a published magazine. In all our wedding glory! Ok, so I write for this magazine and have had a column in it revealing the process of planning a homemade budget wedding ever since we got engaged, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Everyone at work swooned over the pictures, which was very lovely and I've popped a whole stack in the post to family and friends who were all desperate for a copy.

I was a bit hesitant of including our wedding in the magazine at first, but it's a lovely thing to have and show our grandchildren one day, don't you think. I might even frame it and hang it as a reminder of our five minutes of magazine fame, hehe!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had a nice lazy one, doing random bits and bobs and generally having an awesome time. Rather than our normal Sunday Walk yesterday we hit the park for a picnic with my sister and her guy. It was sunny for once and it felt nice to feel a warm breeze. Many stupid conversations ensued and lots of fun was had by all. A good end to a easy going weekend!

What did you all get up to?

Keepin' busy.

So I'm just chillin' at my laptop that I have set on the bar counter with a little fan blowing in my general direction. It's nice to be able to just relax again.
EEEEEEEEEEEEE.....My mom just started the blender and it startled me XD SO MUCH FOR RELAXATION.... Nah, I don't mind. She's blending up ice and frozen Orange juice to make orange slushies for us. They're really good! ^_____^;;

I can say that today went well for me. I went to church and talked with Kailey's mom about a job that I'm thinking I have a REALLY good chance at getting. I already have her recommendation and I've been a Christian all my life so I am way comfortable sharing about the Lord with the kids. Oh yeah! I didn't mention the job earlier did I? Yeah. It's basically this intern job where I will be a leader for this kids program at the church called KidMo. I will be making sure lesson plans are planned out, help plan out games and lead the children around. I'll also tell them stories from the Bible whenever other leaders aren't able to be there. I'll be on "level one" for a while so I won't be doing TOO much but I will be paid! I'm so happy to be getting my foot in the door. I've been jobless since I took a break from school. This means I can go back to school next semester. I refuse to take out loans so maybe I can get some financial aid too. The job won't pay a lot, it's part time but for now it's experience and such. Never thought I'd be working with kids but a job is a job and I've been praying about this! ^_^;

What else did I do today... well I helped babysit my little cousins for about 5 hours and then I came home and worked on my curtains. I put some new ones up. I kind of gave them my own touch though... but eventually I'll put up even better curtains. After that I took in some jeans because they were too baggy on the legs. I messed up and so they're half way finished..XD One leg came out too tight. I hate having to rip seams...T________T

Ohh my slushie is all ready. Yay. I'm going to go now.

I hope you all had a fantastic day!

P.S.
My Luxray ears are done...they've been done. I'll take pics when I'm done being lazy about it!

-
Sheik

Bleeblaabloo......meh.

I haven't worked on anything lately.

I'm kind of on a break or something like that. I haven't been able to fully function enough to work my machine that well so I'm keeping my fabric in its bag and yeah. This means no Sac Anime.

I've been going through things, as my personal blog says and so I haven't been doin' much. I'll be okay....though.

I really miss my fiance and I'm trying to find a job and my place in the world. My belief in God has pulled me through this, well not the belief in Him. Just that He has helped me, Himself.

I will be better again and I will be better than EVAR D:!!


I just want to apologize that I won't be updating this much with any cosplay stuff.
So...I'm sorry :[


I still kind of upload videos online..sort of.

P.S.
I started on Fado, messed up again and haven't touched it since. T_T


-
Sheik

I’m now going to do something scary. I’m going to announce that I’m on a diet. Crazy, right? I mean, why on earth do I want to give up two chocolate bars a day and all the joy they bring? Tight jeans is why. A husband who’s at the gym at least three times a week and then at footie every Saturday morning, putting me to shame, is why. So I figured a good way to scare myself into stepping away from the chocolate is to announce it to you all and then each week update you on my progress. Yes. A scary thought.

To help me on my way I did something I’m pretty sure is the number one shopping rule you’re not meant to break. I bought a pair of trousers that are too tight. I can get them on and do them up, but they're seriously uncomfortably tight. Rules are there too be broken though, right? And these trousers are damn cool. So cool that the thought of fitting into them is providing me with some much-needed will power. I’m thinking with Converse or my brogues or even heels, in oh-so-cool Parisian way?

I don’t want to loose much and I’m not going crazy. But I think a bit of cutting down is a good plan. I’m determined, so wish me luck. I need it.

Oh, my first weigh in is next Friday. I need to tell you that, so I can’t chicken out and hope you all forget…

I’ve mentioned here before that B and I are Board Gamers, and over the past few weeks we’ve managed to entice my Bro and Sis into the coolness that is Cranium Wow! Last Monday we gamed and lost…beginners luck for my Sis, I reckon. So last night we had a re-match. And lost again. Dammit. If you’ve never played this, you must. It’s awesome fun. Even when you loose. Twice.

Hello! Did Chinti and Parker sneak into my dreams last night and make exactly what I'm craving for winter? I think so. Check out their Autumn/Winter lookbook. Seriously awesome clothes. I'm desperate for this grey t-shirt. Pricey, but I'd wear it forever and it'll only improve with age. Plus you can feel good about spending your money with these girls - all their pieces are fairtrade and ethically sourced. That makes it OK to spend. Right?

I’ve done something crazy and bought our first Christmas presents. I know, I know. It’s only August. But B and I have decided that this year Christmas has to be different to ensure it fits in with our saving and trying not to spend too much money, and that means being more organised.

I read on someone’s blog a few months ago about having a handmade Christmas (I can’t remember who’s though, so let me know if you do and I’ll add the link!) and I really like this idea. B always makes chutneys and jams that we bundle up in hampers for yummy presents, but this year we’re going one step further and I’m adding some knitted goods to the mix. And anything we do buy we’re going get from charity shops where possible. Unless we find super duper bargains.

So this weekend I found our two beautiful nephews some awesome presents that will perfectly accompany the knitted hats and scarves I have planned. Some Thomas the Tank Engine booties for the winter for Coby (an aforementioned super duper bargain - £2.50 in the sale!) and some wicked dinosaurs for Tyler. He’s loving the dino’s right now and these crazy creatures were 50p each in a charity shop! And I got something for my sister…but that has to be kept secret!

So three presents down. Better get knitting now I suppose…

Another week gone, another Sunday walk. Distracted by cheesy films, lie-ins and mooching round town, this week’s walk turned into an early evening stroll which meant the tourists had gone and the parks were eerily quiet. And with pinky purple Converse on, the pinky purple flowers grabbed my attention and stood out against all the greens and browns.

MONEY~!!!!!!!!

I've been making some money lately and it feels good. I don't even want to spend it! It's in the bank now and I feel at ease. I have some in my piggy bank too. I'm really happy people like what I make and want to buy it! I recently sold one of my bags to someone in New York! Maybe this is a way of getting my designs out. I don't know ^-^; I just love design and making things. It's not something I could live off of (not right now anyway) but it's definitely a way to earn money while I don't have a "real job." My family has been helping me too. They give me their clothing to fix (like aunts and uncles..). If I fix my mom's, I don't charge her at all. She's giving me a dang place to live!

Aside from this, I've been growing closer to God again and I feel like myself again. I've been struggling with some anxiety/depression so I went back to my bible reading and encouraging music. It has definitely been helping. I just need to find a home church I feel really good in. You wouldn't believe how different churches can be and how hard it can be finding one! o-o; Ahhh.... I've been missing Robby a whole lot too. Sometimes I wish I had friends around here who were either engaged or in a long distance relationship, like mine..and by "like mine" I mean they've been with the person for quite some time. It gets rather difficult..and it's good to see other people being strong in theirs too.~ I think the only reason, aside from our strong love, is that God has helped Robby and I through our tough times and we've survived! Ahhhhhhhhh how I love Babidee soooooooooooo much and I love God soooooooooo much for blessing me with Robby. (Babidee = Robby XD!).

^___________^ Soooooooooo anyway. Today I already ran some errands. I sent off some stuff, sent off a letter to Japan and then put my money in the bank. I am tempted to buy a wig but I think I'll wait until I get even more money and know I can afford to buy it and some other things. For now I'm going to save my money. :] Meaning---AVOID BURGER KING O___O!! Small meals, and cheap things do this thing we call...ADDING UP..... I had less in the bank than I thought and I looked at why...and it's because I bought food here and there. =__= When I could have waited until I got home!

Okay well. I think I've ranted enough. I'm going to go look at some stuff I could possibly make.

-
Sheik

I love where we live and I think we’re very lucky. It’s a two minute stroll into the hubbub of town in one direction, and two minutes in the other direction to the park and botanical gardens.

After a week of rather rubbish weather, yesterday bought some warmth and sunshine. It was good strolling weather. But it does feel more like September than August, with cooler temperatures and brown leaves lining the pathways. I love autumn. It’s my favourite time of year. Layering up in the chillier weather, the browns and oranges of the trees and the anticipation of Christmas. Bring it on I say.

I hope you all had an laughter-packed weekend. Ours was manic. But fun. A family trip to see Toy Story 3 in 3D on Friday (we all loved it!) Then back to my sister’s and a very late night indeed. Especially considering we were then up 4 hours later to head to Devon for another wedding.

We travelled down with my best mate Em and her awesome husband and got stuck in a lot of traffic. A lot. Another couple we know missed the wedding because of the queues. Savage. It was a fun day though and our friend Lizzy looked very beautiful and happy. The food was good. The company was good. Drunken husbands were mostly funny. As the designated driver, the long journey back at midnight was not so good though. But hey ho. We got to have a lie in on Sunday and sleep in our own beds, so it was worth it.

Sunday we popped into town and got some tasty treats for dinner, and we went for our Sunday walk. Which we haven’t done for a while, what with all the day trips, weekends away and weddings we’ve been to over the last few months. But now our schedule is clear of advance bookings. Awesome news. Time for impromptu lunches, meeting up with friends, shopping trips and more walks in the park. Hoorah.

FOOD THAT MAKES GIRLS HAPPY

THE RECIPE: Tomato, garlic and basil soup.

1. Peel enough tomatoes to line the bottom of your baking tray (sometimes I do this, sometimes not. It depends if I can be bothered).
2. Quarter them and place them in the tray.
3. Peel the skin off 3/4 cloves of garlic and place them in the tray.
4. Grab a good handful of fresh basil and chop. Then add it to the mix.
5. Chop a small red chilli and throw that in too.
6. Add a couple of grinds of salt and 10 to 15 grinds of pepper (I’m anal, so always go with 13)
7. Then glug a load of olive oil over the top.
8. Time to get your hands dirty and mix it all together so everything’s covered in the oil.
9. Place in the pre-heated oven (between 130-160°c) for about 1hr 30 mins. Or until it looks like the picture.
10. While that’s cooking, chop half a white onion and soften in a pan with some olive oil.
11. Add another clove of crushed garlic (yeah, we’re massive garlic lovers in our house)
12. Add a tbsp of tomato puree.
13. And if you want to, some chopped celery. Although I find that this leaves the soup a bit stringy, so nowadays I tend to leave it out. Whatever rocks your boat though, right?
14. Take it off the heat once it’s all soft and lovely.
15. When everything’s cool, it’s time to put everything in the blender. Add a sprinkling of sugar (to help even the acidity of the tomatoes) and a good splash of vegetable or chicken stock. Then whisk it all up until it’s smooth and lovely.
16. Pot it up and it lasts in the fridge for about 4 days. Oh, and tastes yummy.

Food is a massive love in our lives (B loves to cook it and I love to eat it) so I think I might make recipes a part of this blog. Recipe Corner maybe. Or something else just as cheesy and 1970s sounding. Any recipes you have conquered and made your own? Send ‘em over.

In our house B is the cook. He’s very clever when it comes to such things and in comparison I’m a total looser. But then he did a degree in food development, so this isn’t really surprising.

B owns the kitchen. Sunday afternoons are spent cooking up a storm. The dining table is covered in his favourite cookbooks/recipes. The iTouch gets hooked up and the kitchen becomes a hive of activity. No-one rocks the Cooking Dance like B.

He has taught me a few tricks of the trade. Not many I admit, but that’s more to do with my utter happiness with having food cooked for me rather than his unwillingness to pass on the secrets of yummy food.

I whip up a mean garlic butter that gets slapped on some fresh bread if we’re starving and want a real treat. It basically rocks. And I make a wicked tomato soup. B taught me how to make it and now it’s my thing. He loves it. I love it. And it’s practically calorie free, making it a pretty tasty treat if I’m being weird and trying to “cut-down.” My next post is going to be a recipe for this awesome dish. It’s insanely easy and I urge you to try it. If I can make it, a monkey could make it. Not that you’re a monkey. Obviously.

So, you know when I said a few posts ago that i'd finished the bobble hat i'd knitted and I joked how i'd be moving onto a jumper? It turns out that the next project (after a few practice workshops) in the awesome book i'm using to learn how to knit is in fact a child's cardigan, so I wasn't far off.

It's a pretty simple design and i've bought a very soft, very pink wool to make it in and have started with success. Now I just need a small child to give it to.

I'll keep you informed of my progress...

Inspired by Anna and Kathryn I'm playing along with my list of ten things I like...or want! Being the good girl I am I haven't been doing much shopping recently, so the chance to go on a fictitious shopping spree was pretty awesome.

1. This necklace... or this one...or this one - the perfect anniversary gifts, one might say (wink wink, nudge nudge)
2. The cooler than cool backpack
3. The much discussed yellow Converse
4. My absolute must-have camera
5. A genius photobook packed full of hen&stag weekend/wedding/honeymoon pictures from here
6. I have a bit of an obsession for anything with two little love birds on so would love these
7. Nothing better than a slouchy jacket like this to take you from summer to autumn
8. A yummy cupcake from here
9. This knitting pattern...and the ability to knit this well (not sure if I can buy that online though)
10. Finally, one day when I can afford to buy him such an insanely awesome gift I will buy B of these. He. Would. Freak.

Wow, it’s been a week since my last post! Whoops! Time is going crazy quick at the moment and last week was a very busy one for us at work, giving us only enough energy in the evenings to eat, laze on the sofa and sleep.

The weekend was cool though, kicking off with a surprise trip out for food - a real treat at the moment, so thank you B! Saturday was spent catching up on much needed sleep (we’d nearly forgotten what a lie-in was!) before an awesome, very late night out on the town. Then Sunday was spent eating BBQ thanks to my genius Papa before a round of Boules in the sunshine. Pretty sweet weekend really.

I also finally got round to chucking my Chucks into the washing machine for a much needed wash. I was pretty chuffed with how clean they came out and it’s helped me resist buying another pair (we’re pretty Converse obsessed in our house!) I am still desperate for my yellow high tops though...

I also gave B’s hand decorated Converse a bit of a dusting. I got my sis to decorate these awesome trainers as an anniversary present for B so he rarely wears them in case they get wrecked. I figured they were cool enough to deserve a picture.

Lazy, lazy bwutt~

I've been lazy. Sooo no new cosplay stuff.

Fail. Right? T__T

Still on the fence with Sac Anime! Kind of leaning toward the Yes side

but I still don't know.

Ahhhhhh.

Some of you already know of this but I added a new video to my youtube.

I sing. Sometimes. Not well but I really do like to sing! (Who doesn't? D:)

I'm not a shower singer though, I'm DEFINITELY a car singer XD

I LOVE L'arc~en~Ciel. Hyde's voice is love to my ears~