1.15.2019

Year in Review: 2018- longest short year ever

Before it gets too far into 2019, I'd like to do my annual recap of the year before. It's more for my sake than anything else, but I know 2018 was a weird year for a lot of people - full of very highs and very lows. There was a lot of cool stuff I did last year, but there were also so many unexpected challenges, especially as 2018 came to an end. So, here it is in all it's weird glory.



JANUARY
  • Orlando~!  This was one incredibly magical way to kick off 2018. We did a Sisters trip with Justine and Bri to Orlando, FL - where we swam with wild manatees, played at Disneyworld, and ate butterbeer ice cream at Diagon Alley!
  • The Women's March continued to be inspiring.

FEBRUARY
  • Black Panther happened, which was incredible. I also followed up my epic 2017 The Last Jedi experiences with a screening at IMAX HQ, where I got to meet Rian Johnson and tell him just how much Rose Tico means to me.

MARCH
  • Celebrations galore: Eva's bachelorette with a weekend getaway, Pi(e) day with fun Dean Winchester dancing decorations, and winning the Aladdin lottery and getting to see the show at the Pantages from front row, center.

 APRIL
  • Coachella was officially Beychella, and it was beyond epic and beyond magic.
  • Big events: Founding Daddy Eva tied the knot; the Infinity War finally happened - and we had a not-housewarming Marvel party; and I Instagram modeled!
  • Writing/Book stuff: YALLWest was amazing as always, and it was more wonderful because of all the new friends I made or gotten to better know. It was also National Poetry Month, which was productive for me and I had a poem published!

MAY
  • The Footrace was published. I am immensely proud of this poem, and it remains one of the best things I've written. You can read it at Strange Horizons!
  • I finally visited the Ripped Bodice (and it was glorious) for my friend Maurene's book launch!
  • One last time~ for Hamilton. I wasn't planning to see it this year, but the existence of an Asian George Washington made a viewing a must!
  • Miscellany: Family visit to the Reagan Presidential Museum to see an exhibit on Genghis Khan and Mongolia - sort of as prep for our trip in October. I had jury duty where I was actually on a jury for the first time ever. There was a Star Wars movie that I was only mildly excited about. ConSquad visited the King Tut traveling exhibit.

JUNE
  • Monterey/Carmel trip: We celebrated ConSquad Dirty Thirty birthdays, stayed in a probably haunted but definitely creepy AirBnB, and visited the famous Monterey Aquarium and Scenic 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach.
  • Winchester Mystery House!! This is a site on my bucket list, and I finally got to go! It was both smaller than I expected but also huge!
  • My youngest cousin graduated from UC Santa Barbara!
  • My poem BEAUTY ROUTINE out in Liminality!
  • Geekery: using the last of our Universal Studios pass, we rode the old version of the Jurassic Park ride for the last time. We went to a Netflix pop-up, saw Tom Hanks in Henry IV, saw Years & Years, and I got to Instagram model some ElhofferDesign clothes.
JULY
  • Fourth of July was odd, considering my feelings about what's going on in this country.
  • ConSquad visited some costumes from The Crown & then prepped for SDCC.
  • SDCC: way less drama, way more chill. Only did a half-day of Hall H for once, got into Conan finally, met up with so many geek friends, roomed with so many geek girls, had the greatest heist to round out the weekend at a Harry Potter themed party. Go team!
  • SDCC book stuff: I finally met my dear April IRL after so many failed attempts, went to a Scholastic party, actually ran into Diya at con, met up with Sooz and got to fangirl at Victoria Schwab!

 AUGUST
  • Disney fun: finally saw the rebrand of Paradise Pier into Pixar Pier, but most importantly, we finally got to see Nicole! We also spent a full day at the parks later, where we enjoyed the food and photo ops and traumatized one of our friends with the Guardians ride - we didn't know he hated drop rides until we were about to get into the lift. Oops.
  • Asian August: a glorious month of Asian cinema with the landmark Crazy Rich Asians, the irresistibly lovable To All the Boys I Loved Before, and the innovative Searching. I felt so proud, hopeful, and seen. I even got to podcast about some of it - CRA with Crazy4ComicCon and TATBILB with Books & Boba.
  • My birthday - which I celebrated with a To All the Boys Party and all my fave gals. 
  • Oh, and we were cast to be part of a Star Wars Pet Makeover show for Oh My Disney! We filmed at the end of the month for a half day, and all of us got made over in Jedi!

SEPTEMBER
  • Labor Day weekend ended, and I had the worst start to the week back - got into my first ever car accident, and it really just brought me down. I'd been feeling kind of unsatisfied and restless with myself, and this worsened my mood a lot. Thankfully, I had a nice chat with a friend.
  • Cat's birthday and the beginning of our new and intense obsession with Spider-Man thanks to the release of the game. We all fell in love with Peter Parker, and the love is going strong.
  • Saw the Queen B again this year, and got to launch the long awaited VENGEFUL with Victoria Schwab at the Grove.
OCTOBER
  • House anniversary! One year since we got our place, and we finally planned and executed a Halloween-themed housewarming.
  • Family trip to China: it was a glorious 2 weeks exploring just a small part of China, including Mongolia. Each city we went to had its own personality, its own rich stories, and its own set of truly amazing sites. Only in China can you end up at the Forbidden City and be slightly unimpressed to hear the history only goes back a few hundred years versus the thousand year old structures and sites you saw a few days ago in Xi'an, the capitol of the Tang Dynasty.


  • China also marked my first visit to a foreign Disneyland. Shanghai Disney was huge and so cool, both familiar and so different to Disney at home.
  • Geeky miscellany: I was on my first panel at a convention, what! It was at L.A. Comic Con. We got to see Sarah Maas on the last stop of her Kingdom of Ash tour, the last book in her debut fantasy series. Cat and I threw together a last minute costume for us and Loki that ended up being a huge hit. It was Spider-Man themed, of course! Oh, and our episode of Star Wars Pet Makeover was released!

NOVEMBER
  • Harry Potter month - with a new Fantastic Beasts movie out, we headed back to the Wizarding World. The movie ended up being meh, but it was cool to see the cast around on the day we spent drinking butterbeer and taking photos with Goldie in cosplay!
  • Mid-Term Elections: vote vote!
  • Two days after voting day, some asshole broke into my parents' house. Another terrible first time experience for all of us. Luckily, no one was home, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but the house was a mess for days and both sentimental and religious items were taken. I'm still pissed about it, and truly hope whoever did it has had nothing but endless bad luck since they did this.
  • Fun with friends: I was elated to see my dear friend Julie on her book tour and to hang out with her and C.B. Lee. We spent more time with Laura, who helped us meet our first corgi, Waffles!
  • I finally got an Elhofferdesign Hamilton Blue Coat dress!
  • Backstreet's Back - we headed back to Vegas to see BSB and Celine Dion. It was super fun and made even more so by our impromptu hotel-room photoshoot.
DECEMBER
  • Hopping on the Disney train - we finally did it. We got APs in preparation for the upcoming Star Wars land. We did a bunch of superhero photo ops finally, and then we went back to enjoy the holiday decor. It was also Max's first Disney trip then! Our friend also invited us to an early screening of Mary Poppins Returns at the Disney lot, and that was cool!
  • Fashion: Aquaman was a pretty fun movie, but mostly, I was pleased that my long awaited Elhofferdesign Padme sweater could double as a geekchic Aquaman themed outfit, too. I bought a leopard faux fur coat, something I thought I'd never do, but I love it. 2018 was a year of my expanding fashion horizons.
  • Personally, December dealt another blow in that we had a family health scare.
  • Into the Spiderverse: this movie was fantastic and heartfelt and stunning -and it just made us all even more in love with Spider-Man. I literally started a new friendship with a fellow writer over this obsession, and I started reading some Spidey comics.
  • And we sent out our Star Wars Makeover photo as our holiday cards. We had our first real Christmas and New Years at our house - complete with our childhood tree.
  • Rang in the New Year with a couple friends, toasting with sparkling pomegranate juice in Founding Fathers glasses!

And that was my 2018! Like I said, highs and lows, especially some personal lows towards the end of the year. I'm trying to use the energy of the new year to pull myself out of some of the blues I went through, and I'm optimistic about it. I've made some small goals and am working towards supporting my Word of the Year, which you can read about at Girl On the Roam!

How was your 2018? What do you hope for in 2019?


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6.27.2018

Currently... (23)



I found the Currently post at Kate Hart's blog, who got the idea from Amy Lukavics, who found it here. Please join in and link me in the comments if you do!


LOVING: Netflix's version of Queer Eye. If you need a pick-me-up, this show is it!

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Celebrating friends' milestones - turning 30, launching books, getting married, exciting new projects, my cousin graduating from college, and so on.


READING: I just finished Claire Legrand's new epic fantasy FURYBORN. It is a page-turner, immersive, and thrilling. I love how high the stakes feel, how vulnerable and alive the characters are, and seeing just how the 2 timelines relate to each other. This is your new fave YA fantasy. Trust me.

Also, I'm just so happy I finally got to meet Claire earlier this month. I've been Twitter friends with her since her debut (a creepy Middle Grade book called The Cavendish Home for Boys & Girls), and it was a delight to actually talk to her in person and give her a big hug. Plus, she crowned me at her signing.

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WATCHING: The Staircase on Netflix. Need to start Marvel's Cloak & Dagger and Luke Cage. Binge-watched Big Little Lies right before our trip to Monterey and loved it.

Saw way too many movies recently - Incredibles 2 (cute but a little bit like why did this take 14 years as it's very episodic - but the short BAO was ALL THE FEELS), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Blue!), Hereditary - which was not nearly as terrifying as everyone was going on about!


THINKING ABOUT: Comic Con plans - what I'm going to see, what I'm going to wear. What project I'm going to work on next. The need to KonMari my life. Would anyone be interested in buying a ton of my clothes because I need to purge my closet!


ANTICIPATING: Comic Con! More immediately, the 4th of July because yes, days off!! Seeing all the amazing photos @thisdorkynerdgirl took of me for her Elhoffer Design clothing review for Temple of Geek. Here's a few from the Star Wars-inspired collection!



WISHING: For more certainty and less doubt, for more confidence in my abilities, for more kindness in the world. For my country to be less of a trashfire.

  • The SCOTUS news yesterday and today are particularly disheartening. If you're freaking out like I am about all of this, read @celeste_pewter's ACTION thread on Twitter about the incredible importance of DEFENDING the Senate. We need to band together to make sure no Dem Senators lose their seats, and we need to flip some. This means donating, volunteering, and calling. 
    • See @Roadto18 for the necessary info on Senators and commit to helping one or two - it's like those assignments in school where you had to pick a Congress person to study or run a fictional campaign for. We're doing that, BUT FOR REAL.


MAKING ME HAPPY: Pretty much everything in the "Loving" category above. Oh, I recently was invited to an advanced screening of Netflix's movie adaptation of TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han. I'm not allowed to say too much about it, but I LOVED IT and I can't wait until August when everyone else can see it, too!

My newest poem is out in Liminality's Summer Issue, and it's called BEAUTY ROUTINE. It's about beauty and, like so many of my poems, about transformation. I hope you enjoy it and the rest of the issue. Liminality always publishes such exquisite work.

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Q4U: What have you been up to? Tell me in the comments!
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6.15.2018

5 Fandom Friday (29): Follow Friday



5 Fandom Friday is a geek-blogger community building project originally started and hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick. Every Friday, post a top 5 list based on a topic of your choice. Participate as frequently or infrequently as you like. Use the #Fandom5 hashtag so we can all connect!

I haven't updated in a while, but Life has been happening. In any case, here are some cool people/things you should definitely check out!


1) Jordandené x (writer & Space Witch) Sam Maggs' collaboration, The Fangirl Galaxy collection: It's Jordandené's signature hand-lettered style paired with phrases for the discerning fangirl - like fake geek girl and complex female character. Love these ladies, love these designs. I want like everything, and if you do too, use my code ROAM25 for 25% off your order.

2) The poem A View from Inside the Refrigerator by Andrea Tang is skillfully structured and so clever. If you're familiar with the trope of "fridging," you'll really appreciate this poem. I loved it.

3) I'm sure I've talked about FIRST DRAFT podcast before, but in case you need a refresher, First Draft is hosted by YA author Sarah Enni and features interviews with your favorite authors (and other publishing people)! The original batch of interviews were collected on a cross-country road trip as Sarah plotted her move from the East Coast. I encourage you to take a listen if you love books (especially Young Adult) and/or writing, and follow @FirstDraftPod on Instagram & Twitter because Sarah is currently on a new road trip down the East Coast and documenting that on those channels. The interviews she's collecting on this trip will be shared later in the year.



4) The world continues to be a trash fire, but @celeste_pewter on Twitter is still helping us fight the good fight. If you feel lost on current political events, need to know what issues to focus on, and/or need call scripts for calling your U.S. representatives - Celeste provides info and scripts daily! If you have the funds to spare, maybe drop a tip for Celeste for all the hard and often thankless work she does for free - ko-fi.com/A012IFW

5) Recently, Jordandené has also launched THE SARTORIAL GEEK which includes a newly launched magazine (Issue 2 is out now!), a podcast, blog/Twitter/Insta, and an online community! If you're in the NYC area, they also started hosting a monthly in-person meet-up in Brooklyn. Their first event was an Avengers: Infinity War wake, in which yours truly contributed a sad poem for the program.

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Bonus: This is waving my own flag, but in the last month, I've had 2 poems published. Would love it if you took a look, and I would super love to hear from you if you enjoyed either of them.

  • MY TEARS ARE NOT FOR YOU in L’Éphémère Review's National Poetry Month Anthology Beyond the Shallows – April 2018. This is short and angry. Don't doubt your own strength.
  • THE FOOTRACE in Strange Horizons. I also read this poem on Strange Horizon's poetry podcast. It's linked at the top of my poem's page.
    • I wrote about this poem's inspiration and my year-long struggle to write at the Girl on the Roam blog: Anger, Art, and Atalanta.


Q4U: What are some cool things I should check out or who are some new people I should follow?


P.S. I've crossed off a few items from my The 30 List, so hopefully will have some write-ups on that soon. But in my recent trip to cross off one of these items, I stayed in a creepy AF Airbnb and have lived to tell the tale! So... I will probably tell the tale sometime soon. Look forward to it!

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5.23.2018

Guest Post: Why One Style Won’t Fit All

Can you believe we're already almost halfway through the year? I've got a few blog post ideas in the works, so hopefully things will be a little more active here soon. Until then, I'm pleased to have this guest post from Ashley Lipman, who runs a blogger network called The Blog Frog!

Since A Nudge has evolved to cover topics outside writing/reading to include geek fashion, I thought it'd be appropriate to have Ashley write a little bit about personal style. So without further ado, here's Ashley on style.

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Why One Style Won’t Fit All

Photo credit/site- https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-casual-collection-fashion-296881/
It goes without saying that all people are different. Even people who wear the same size clothing wear them differently. This has been a challenge for fashion designers for generations. While they provide their styles with various options, it's up to the wearer to select the right style and size for them. Herein lies the problem.

How do you know if something doesn’t fit?

This sounds like a silly question, but it is a very real issue. People often go for style and comfort without stopping to see if the clothing fits them properly. The fact that you can put it on doesn’t mean you should.

The very first thing you must accept is that the size printed on the tag means nothing. Designers and brands are often sized differently. If you get hung up on the size on the label, you will miss out on some fantastic looks. Use the size printed simply as a starting point and nothing more.

The trick is using fashion to accent your best features and to camouflage your problem areas. Fashion is the tool you use. You do not conform to fashion; it works for you.

Below are some easy tips to help you determine if your clothing fits you well:

  • You cannot hug someone with your jacket on. 
  • Your shirt gaps open between the buttons. 
  • The waistband of your pants or skirt is so tight that you cannot slip your fingers behind it. 
  • Your shorts (or underwear) are continually riding up.
    • There is never a time where your clothing should be overlapped with your flesh. 
  • When you sit down, your skirt doesn’t cover your undies.
    • If your skirt doesn’t cover your panties when you sit down, you need a larger size.
  • Bra fit
    • Your breast should not bulge over the cups of your bra or dig into your shoulders. 

Photo credit/site https://pixabay.com/en/jeans-tee-t-shirt-white-blue-1234687/
The World of T-Shirts

 Everyone loves tee shirts. People collect them and wear them for years. They are great for branding and advertising. If you have a corporate event, family reunion, or charity happening, you should consider personalized shirts for your event.

Tee shirts are the one item of clothing you can wear in a size or two larger than you actually wear. People wear them casually and as cover-ups over swimwear, dancewear, and with just about anything. Even so, if your tee shirt will not stay tucked in it is too small.

In conclusion, you can wear fashions that are current and stylish. But you must be honest with yourself. Do not try to impress anyone with the size or cut of the latest trend. Instead, commit yourself to finding clothes that are fashionable and fit you well. If you do, you will always be stunning and beautiful. You are worth the effort.


About the author:
Ashley Lipman is a super-connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.
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1.25.2018

Year in Review: Whirlwind 2017

In some ways, I'm getting a late start into 2018. We're already nearly through January and I'm just doing this 2017 review. I almost didn't do it this year, but I do like having a document of the year before - and 2017 was the first year of the Resistance. And we're still here! The world has been a weird place.

So without further ado: 2017 - a year.

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JANUARY
  • Celebrations: Kicked off the new year with Rogue One & hot butterbeer at Wizarding World. We celebrated Founding Daddy, Gennia's upcoming bb with a pinterest worthy baby shower. Unicorn birthday treats. Lunar New Year.


  • Resistance: the first annual Women's March - 750K showed up in Los Angeles, and I couldn't have felt more inspired and hopeful. Getting a crash course on active democracy & calling my reps all the damn time. Protesting travel bans at LAX.

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FEBRUARY
  • Author friends: Saw so many of my favorite writer people this month & met a few others. Worked on writing with the LA YA crew. Received a lovely pre-order gift from Julie. Finally met my writer-crush poet-sister Roshani.

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  • G's baby arrived in the world!


MARCH
  • Iceland: I could write a million blog posts about it, but it was one week in the most magical place on earth. I could myself supremely privileged to have seen some gorgeous places in the world, but Iceland takes the cake. It is evocative, awe-inspiring, untouched, and straight up poetic. I danced on a frozen lake, floated in a hot spring under the dancing Northern lights, rode fluffy horses, hid behind waterfalls, and slept under the stars.

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  • Writing / Books: I wrote a lot of poems in Feb & March - quite a few fueled by rage. I don't want to hype it up too much because you might hate it, but I also finally finished a poem that had dogged me for a year! It'll be out in April! Also, SKIN was nominated for a Rhysling. Oh and I finally met Lori, who I've known online FOREVER, and Garth Nix, author of one of my all-time favorite books SABRIEL! EEEEEEEE!!!


  • Girl-time: Spent time exploring LA with the Daddies and ConSquad, celebrating birthdays and women's history.

APRIL
  • YALLWEST: Maybe the most fun YALLWEST I've ever experienced. I was adopted by a group of sweet book bloggers, who helped me get in lines for signings and ARCs. I also got to hang out with and/or meet up with all of my favorite YA author people.
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  • Poppy super bloom: We didn't make it out there last time, but the Sis and I played hooky and drove out the Antelope Valley to catch a little of the California Poppy super bloom. It was windy and glorious.
  • Bodhi Brigade: some of us met up to see the Swet Shop Boys and our space bae Riz Ahmed perform at the Echo.

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MAY
  • Benvenut Wedding: my dear college roommate Shelly got married! It was nice to be back in NorCal, and it was so fun getting together with all my old apartment mates again. Benvenut love!
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  • San Francisco: While we were in the Bay Area, the Sis and I finally did some tourist-y things like see the Golden Gate Bridge, visit the Yoda Fountain, go to Pixar! Oh and we saw the touring cast of Hamilton, too - 3rd row seats right before the wedding, lol.

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  • Book releases: So many book releases from my writer friends, but I was especially excited about Maurene's I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE. Such a delightful, funny book!
  • Misc: Celebrated Mother's Day with my mom & also G's first Mother's Day. Commissioned my first icon portrait from the superbly talented Kate Trish & I'm in love with it still. Received my comp copy of the Rhysling poetry anthology. Museum of Ice Cream!! (It needed more ice cream)
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JUNE
  • Disneyland: First Disney trip of the year was courtesy of a friend. Thanks to her we got to try the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride, which replaced The Tower of Terror.

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  • NIGHT SWIM was published in Liminality's SUMMER ISSUE.
  • Geekery: Wonder Woman happened, and it was actually mostly good, and I was definitely all kinds of emotional about the Amazons and Diana. It was so wonderful to see. My dear friend Jordan sent me a bunch of Jordandene shirts and I ended up briefly as a model on her page!
  • Founding Daddies Las Vegas trip: Middle school dreams come true - we went to see BSB, and it was the best night ever. It was so. much. fun. The rest of our time in Vegas included a visit to the small but lovely Neon Museum, the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show LOVE, and food (best lasagna ever). Oh, and after the trip, our Mr. Burr-lesque, Eva, got engaged!


JULY
  • Convention season: kicked off the summer with Spider-Man: Homecoming with our line-friends turned real friends Esther and Laura. We also just resolved to see more of each other since we live in the same area.
  • D23: our first time at this Disney convention! We went for 1 day, and though we didn't make any panels, the show floor was fun to explore. The random parade down the center was weird, but brought me weirdly close to a handsome pirate (Colin O'Donoghue), and we got to jump into Scrooge's money bin.

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  • SDCC: my worst Comic Con ever in that nearly everything that could go wrong did the first day we were there. However, the best part of SDCC is always meeting up with friends and dressing up and all the photo ops. Most of the Bodhi Brigade assembled (and we were acknowledged by Riz Ahmed weeks later online, like OMG), and I met so many of my geek fashion gal pals - like Jordan, finally!



AUGUST
  • Game of Thrones: For the first time, I watched this show at a weekly watch party with a few of the ConSquad girls. Such a fun time! We ended the season with a game of epic pies.

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  • Disneyland again: Thanks to Jenn, we did an all-day trip where we were Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. It was fun having people recognize our Ducktales Disneybound. Got to see the new Fantasmic, which is always wonderful, though I do think some of the sequences in the older version were still better.

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  • Birthday: I went lighter with my hair, turned 31, and Hamilton opened in Los Angeles on the day of my actual birthday. I went out to the Pantages to enter the lottery and be part of the live Ham4Ham crowd. It was lovely.
  • Misc: There was a solar eclipse! I fell in love with porgs and Rose Tico. A Star Wars heroine played by an Asian American actress?! FUCK YES. My overseas lipstick gal Rebecca Barrow had her book debut: You Don't Know Me but I Know You.

SEPTEMBER
  • Force Friday: I only mention this because I was so excited to buy Star Wars Action Figures of not one, but TWO Asian women characters, and they're sisters!! *weeps*
  • Sriracha: We joined Esther and Laura on a trip to Huy Fong Foods for their seasonal open house for sriracha sauce's chili grinding. We met the founder and had spicy ice cream!
  • Disney Halloween time: the Sister's favorite holiday is Halloween, and September is her bday month. So we went to Disney to enjoy all the fall and spooky decor. I took my first pair of hand-made ears from @twodapperdames for their park debut and did an appropriate Disneybound. We also found out later that night our space bae Riz Ahmed won an Emmy.

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  • Level-up adulting: we closed escrow on our first home!

OCTOBER



  • Apple-picking: we missed New England fall, and especially the apple cider donuts. So we found out where there was apple picking out here and went with ConSquad to pick apples and eat donuts and BBQ. It was way too warm for Fall but a lovely time.


  • Geek fashion: I joined a geek fashion group - the Geek Fashion Blogger Alliance. We do style challenges every month, and I've loved the challenge. (January's theme is Disney!) The first challenge was, appropriately, Stranger Things, which also gave me my Halloween costume.




  • Halloween: Esther and Laura invited us a Yelp event, and the Sister super last minute DIYed a brilliant costume to go with my Eleven; she was an Eggo waffle. I wore the same thing to work, and we made Loki into a demogorgon. We hadn't watched Season 2 yet, so we didn't know then how on-the-nose that costume would be, lol.
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  • New neighborhood: started doing house stuff - fixes, furniture, checking out the neighborhood. It's how we discovered one house nearby builds a pirate ship every year for Halloween. We visited on the 31st, and it was incredible.


  • Geekery: I also went to Stan Lee's Comic-Con, my hometown convention, for the first time thanks to Danielle of Little Petal! It was great meeting her IRL and seeing her incredible convertible dresses in person. Also got to say hi to Tony at Hero Within and Katie at Elhoffer Design - all wonderful geek fashion small businesses doing awesome things!


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NOVEMBER

  • Ragnarok: My most anticipated Marvel flick and it was amazing. Taika gave us so much. We went to see it opening night at the El Capitan. It also gave me an excuse to wear my ElhofferDesign Loki dress. Thor was also the style challenge for the month, so 2 birds.


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  • Hamilton: 5th time at the show, 1st time in my town. How lucky we are to be alive right now.
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  • Thanksgiving: I celebrated a lot of birthdays in November, and I celebrated Thanksgiving. November was a month of reflecting on 1 year since the election and a month of joy for my friends. I changed up my traditional hedgehog potato dish for Porg-potatoes.


  • Infinity Rooms: reunited with the Mischief Managers to stand in mirrored rooms and look at polka dots at the whimsical Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Broad.


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  • Taika Waititi: I was going to put this as part of the Ragnarok bullet point, but OMG I MET TAIKA WAITITI AND IT WAS AWESOME. So it's here by itself. He is hilarious and charming, and 3 times over, Ragnarok was still so freaking funny. Thanks IMAX and Collider for the screening.
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DECEMBER

  • Puppy party: Diana's birthday was in November, but we threw her a surprise puppy party / tea party in the first weekend of December. Definitely one of the most successful parties ever.
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  • Hamilton again: Hamilton for the 6th and final-planned time. Who knows what 2018 will bring, but 2017 is the year I saw it 3 times, and I'm still not over it. I will never be satisfied.


  • 29 Rooms: this was mostly an Instagrammer's heaven, but it definitely had cool installations - like the Dreamer's Den and Make Yourself the Masterpiece.



  • Christmas: Long-awaited catch-up and farewell with Maurene before her temporary move. Caught-up with another friend and saw her new house. Annual Founding Daddies holiday brunch and gift exchange. Family Xmas potluck. Work gift exchange, which resulted in the face-off of BB-8 and BB-9E at my cubicle.

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  • STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI WORLD PREMIERE: I blogged about the experience at Girl on the Roam (In a galaxy far, far away post), and it is still the most ridiculously epic thing that has ever happened to us. Red carpet. Early screening. After party. WHAT.


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  • Geek Blessings: Other geek blessings included going to Wizarding World for hot butterbeer and seeing the new light show (super cool!). When we were there, we were chosen for the wand ceremony!! At the end of the year, the Sister won the lottery for the Broadway show SOMETHING ROTTEN, which I'd been wanting to see. So we got to see that from like 4th row center. It was SO FUNNY.

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So yeah, it was a WHIRLWIND end to 2017. I'm still catching my breath from it, and to be honest, the beginning of 2018 has been nothing short of non-stop. So it's appropriate that my newest jacket arrived just in time for the New Year.

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Because that is exactly how I feel. But I'm grateful!

Head over to Girl on the Roam next week to see what my One Word Resolution for 2018 is!


Q4U: How was YOUR 2017? What do you hope for in 2018?


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12.19.2017

ThreadedPages Booknerd Gift Guide

We are getting down to the final days before Christmas (if you celebrate)! If you're still looking for ideas for your gifts for your favorite booknerd, may I make a few suggestions?

If you follow my bookstagram account on Instagram (threadedpages), you know it's themed around books and fashion. I love coming up with themed outfits for books or clothes book lovers might enjoy. Likewise, this gift guide will follow that trend.


1) Literary or language-themed sweatshirts.


I found this sweatshirt at Target and I had to have it - literally.


2) Out-of-Print Clothing shirts


Out of Print has been providing shirts and small home goods for the book-inclined for a while now. They've expanded their catalog of book designs, and I fell in love with this THE ODYSSEY shirt from their The Gilded Collection of shirts. Look at that gold!


3) Bookish looks for your Baby Bookworms


It's never too early to get those kiddos into enjoying written worlds or to at least dress them like they are. The designs from Equip Clothing* are fun, literary, and empowering - and they're a new small business with a great mission statement! You think I could fit into a kids' size XL?


4) Statement Enamel pins


Pins are all the rage right now, and they're fun an easy ways to nerd up any of your outfits or bags. There are so many great book-related ones, but I loved these clean, vintage-y ones from Rather Keen.


5) Bookworm tees


And of course, I have to mention Jordandene's Bookworm shirt because I love her shop and this shirt. It makes a simple statement that you love books and are proud of it.

Equally fun are the designs from The Colorful Geek, whose tees range from book-loving to pop culture. The orange Camp Halfblood shirts look like they're straight from the Percy Jackson book covers, and I got one of my very first Harry Potter shirts here (oh, so long ago!), featuring the Marauders' names in the now ubiquitous Helvetica List design style.



Hope this helps you with those last minute gifts and stocking stuffers. Even if the gifts arrive a little late, I'm sure your resident reader will love them!

Q4U: What are you hoping to get for the holidays this year?

*Disclaimer: I know the folks behind Equip Clothing and think this new venture is awesome and wanted to share. I'm not otherwise affiliated or sponsored by them.
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