Wondercon Adventures 2013

It's that time of year again, and that sweet, albeit sticky(maybe closer to musky) smell of Comic Conventions is in the air.

This year Wondercon suddenly was here and I hadn't planned anything at all, so I was pleasantly surprised when my old SDCC roomie Jennifer asked to stay with me as she was coming down from San Francisco. I knew I hadn't reserved much energy for the weekend so I was glad she would be there to kick me into action a bit more then I would do for myself.

Honestly, conventions always fly by in such a blur, there's so much to talk about but then suddenly it's gone quicker then it had begun and you just have to attempt to gather all the pieces you're left with.

So instead of any sort of in-depth line up, here's my highlights:

Friday: The first day of the convention is always overwhelming, and since there wasn't much in the way of panels that interested me, I spent most of the time on the exhibit floor. Jennifer brought me to the Jason Palmer booth, where we oogled lots of art and I bought too many buttons. We saw the WB Archives Panel with the legendary Ron Ely (Look him up ladies, he used to be Tarzan) and a writer's panel (we had to see Jane Espenson). After the convention we met up with some of Jennifer's Nerd HQ posse at Umami Burger, where I'd never been. They have some pretty stellar sweet potato fries. Then we headed to The Anaheim Grove to see The Nerdist Podcast, which was AMAZING. I actually won the tickets and the whole experience was fun, I have been addicted to that podcast since it's inception so meeting those guys was a-ok.

Saturday: All I cared about Saturday was getting into the Vikings panel. I've been hooked on the new History Channel series since two minutes into the first episode, and I had a hard time containing my adoration. But Conventions are when it's okay to nerd-out, at-least that's what I'm told. I succeeded, and the rest of the day is a total blur.

Sunday: I wore a Star Trek inspired outfit, got called Star Trek Katy Perry too many times to count. Final day of the convention we spent most of the day in The Arena, The Much Ado About Nothing, Nerdist and Arrow Panels were all entertaining. I didn't manage to get an Arrow signing wristband, but my friend Jennifer did so I just stood inside the DC booth and oogled the cast while I waited for her to get her poster signed. (I'm not complaining) I ran into a handful of great people and ended the night at my favorite sushi place.

Lots of things happened in-between, but really who can remember. I only get through these things with the help of Starbucks, oh so much Starbucks.

An Adventure in Disneybounding

So, as someone who spends their fair share of time traipsing around Disneyland for a while I'd been wanting to take part in the act of Disneybounding. For those unassociated it's basically planning your outfit to be inspired by that of a Disney character. For my first endeavor I had to choose my favorite princess herself, Snow White.

My friend Kate chose Belle, and created herself a lovely yellow hair bow & my red bow headband. My yellow skirt is a California Ranchwear piece I've been hoarding for a few months, and the character shoes I've had for ages, the rest of my outfit was found at Savers for under $10.

There were a few things I would change if I were to tackle her outfit again, but for a first attempt with only a day to put it all together I was quite pleased. I can't wait to Disneybound some more of my favorite characters. ;)

Spring Dapper Day at Disneyland

well, unfortunately again this is a bit late in being published, but I've just been caught up in a whirlwind of preoccupation. I am working on trying to be better about my posts, really.

Anywho, way back in February one of my favorite unofficial Disney holidays occurred, Dapper Day. for those of you who are unaware you should definitely peruse DapperDay.com for a much more eloquent explanation then I can currently muster.

I attended the Fall Dapper Day last year, and was very eager to attend my first Spring Dapper Day in the park I so frequently attend. Although a few days before I came down with some sort of allergy attack/cold that really kicked me in the bum, so unfortunately although I knew I didn't have it in me to stay all day I still managed to stay for most of the morning into early afternoon.

I caught up with one of my dear old Disneyland cast member friends, Tom (who is kind of one of my Disney Dads) and spent most of my time walking around, trying to take photos with characters and people watching, as you do.

I realize this is an awful amount of selfies, but I suppose it's not like I dress-up to this extent for every Disney trip. ;)

Dress: gift from my lovely cousin Alexandra

Fur Stole: hand-me-down from my grandmother

Sunglasses: $20 from The Getty Museum Gift Shop

Belt: hand-me-down from my other grandmother

Hat: $5 Mission Galleria Antique Mall, Riverside, CA

Purse: Street Level, LittleBlackBag.Com ($88)

Shoes: Savers thrifted, Anne Klein ($8) 

Black Gloves & Shoe Clips: Vintage, hand-me-downs

Lipstick: Lime Crime Velvetines in Suedeberry

Finally, A Trip to The Hollywood Museum

Early this month I was very excited to hear a friend of mine from out of the country would be in the Hollywood area for just one day and I was so pleased to get to spend some time with her. Although I didn't have too much time to think of something amazing to do I figured we could adventure to some of the tourist spots in my own backyard I never found time to visit.

So on the agenda for the day I decided to finally see something that had been on my bucket list for ages, the Hollywood Museum. I had purchased a handy dandy groupon a month or two before and since my visitor and I are both huge movie aficionados this seemed like the perfect place to start.


I have heard for years about the beautiful lobby and 'rooms' of the old historic Max Factor building that makes up the entry to what is now the Hollywood Museum and they certainly lived up to the exaggeration. I picked up so many future home furnishing ideas! ;)





Besides just the gorgeous-beyond-words entryway the connecting rooms are all significant places to any fan of Old Hollywood starlets. Including the Blondes Only room where Marilyn first became a blonde, and The Redheads Only room, where the irreplaceable Lucille Ball became a redhead.












As we continued back further into the museum we found walls covered in head shots of all my favorite movie stars of the past, props from films and frames upon frames full of autographs.







Continuing upstairs they had tons of interesting things to see from Hollywood years of the past. During my visit the rotating exhibit was based on the lovely Loretta Young, who I cannot say I'm super familiar with although I've seen one or two of her films. Her collection was so lovely, I was inspired to add some of her films to my Netflix queue once I got home that night.

Some of the other interesting items on display upstairs were costumes from Moulin Rogue, a robe worn by the always dreamy Elvis and the suit worn by the one and only superhero who owns my heart, Superman. We had fun looking at all the photos of celebrities of all eras accepting their stars on the walk of fame and receiving different accolades and such. I cannot wait to go back and oogle all the loveliness again !




After the amazing adventure through the 4 floors of the museum we'd managed to work up quite an appetite and braved the walk to one of my favorite places to people watch and eat some delicious sushi, Kabuki.




As my luck would have it the minute we walked out of the restaurant the wind kicked up and bit and it started to sprinkle and we had to hurry a bit on the walk back to my car, which now seemed so much further away. We made it back safely and decided then to visit The Griffith Observatory, a place I'd seen the outside of so many times, but never stepped my foot inside.

It was so cold and windy and the rain was spitting down, but the Hollywood lights below were still as beautiful as ever, and although our visit to the observatory was short it was lovely. What architecture!