Phoenix Comicon 2015

Me and my fellow Zelda cosplayers were featured in the Phoenix New Times blog!

After many weeks of anticipation, the big day had finally arrived: Phoenix Comicon 2015. Last year had been my first time at Comicon and I had cosplayed as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service which was a big success. This year I decided to go as a character who I have loved since I was a little girl, the venerable Princess Zelda. Since I was a wee one I've always thought I'd make an adorable Zelda so this year I decided it was time to finally realize that dream.

Pretty much since last year's Comicon I've been on the lookout for the perfect hot pink dress that I could use for this cosplay but it wasn't until about 4 or 5 months ago after much searching that I managed to stumble across the perfect dress at Forever21 (and for only $15!). As much as I hate to admit it being a fiber artist, I never learned how to machine sew so I had to find something that was already made that I could embellish. When I chose this costume I didn't realize how much of a challenge it would actually be. I started accumulating all of the pieces I would need in the beginning of April (ears, spirit gum, wig, fabric, etc.) but was so intimidated by the prospect of sewing this entire costume by hand that I didn't actually start sewing until the beginning of May. Once I started working on it I felt pretty overwhelmed tbh but since I had already invested so much money into building this costume I knew I had to see it through. Luckily, May is a slow month in the crafting business so I was able to dedicate most of my free time to working on my costume. Each day I got a little closer to achieving my goal but I wouldn't end up finishing it until 11:30pm THE DAY BEFORE COMICON! Talk about cutting it close. As it would turn out the most difficult part of the costume was styling the wig. I searched and searched for a decent tutorial on it but didn't really find anything useful so I ended up just using clear elastics and magic tape to secure the ribbons but I would find out the next day that wasn't enough. (D'oh!)

The morning of Comicon was not a happy one if you want to know the truth. I'd been having a lot of family drama the week before and just wasn't in any mood to dress up and be around zillions of people all day. But after all of the hours and hours I'd put into this thing I knew I had to go. It ended up only taking me about an hour to get ready (shocking!) and after I took a few quick selfies I was out the door. Since all of my companions were already at the convention center and the panel I wanted to see started at 12pm I tried as best as I could to haul ass to the light rail station. I got there around 10:20am but had just missed the train so I had to wait (what felt like forever) for the next one. While I was standing there melting (it was 102 that day) I looked at the back of my wig and the ribbons had come undone!!!! I hadn't even gotten to Comicon yet and I was already having a wardrobe malfunction! When I got on the train I fished out my emergency kit (which consisted of a hand mirror and scotch tape) and had to completely rewrap my hair. The entire time I'm doing this two little girls were staring at me and making me very uncomfortable. When I got to the convention center I thought I'd just zip over to registration and get my badge then zoom over to the main hall and meet up with the gang. Well, to my surprise, registration wasn't where it was last year and neither was the hall where Jason Momoa was supposed to be. Being directionally challenged this was not the best situation for me to be in. Somehow I managed to find the North Hall and from there I just let Jesus take the wheel and magically walked right over to where my friends happened to be :/



Jason Momoa (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Heather and Jackie had managed to score us primo seats (second row) and soon we would find out that Jason's mother was actually sitting directly in front of us. I was only familiar with Jason's work on Game of Thrones so I didn't really know what to expect from his panel but he was HILARIOUS. He told great stories and was such a genuine person and extremely likeable. I'm really glad I got to see him. After his panel I had wanted to see a discussion on the work of Vic Mignogna (the voice actor) but by the time I managed to find the room it was in it was already full. There wasn't really anything else I was interested in seeing so I just walked around and continued to get lost. While I was wandering around I got fist bumped by numerous little kids which was pretty cool. I personally think Skyward Sword is one of the best Zelda games to date but I guess it was mostly kids who bought it since most of the adults didn't seem to know who I was supposed to be. It was really cool bumping into other Zelda cosplayers and getting pictures with them. After I walked around the exhibition hall for an hour I decided to take a break and eat my snack (I'd just brought a protein bar since my stomach gets upset when I'm around crowds). By about 4pm I was feeling pretty lonely and decided to go find my friends again. I thought if I waited outside the main hall that eventually someone I knew would come out and I was right. Lauren found me and said that she was meeting Maddie to see an author speak. I didn't know who he was but I tagged along anyway. Boy, am I glad I did because this author was the best part of my day. His name was James A. Owen (the author of "Drawing Out the Dragons") and he was delightful. As soon as he came in the room he said that unlike other authors, he wasn't going to just pitch his book for an hour, instead he was going to talk about how he became successful in his career and how it might inspire us to follow our dreams too. As you might remember earlier in this post I started my day feeling pretty down and by the end of Mr. Owen's panel I was feeling 100%. He was so inspiring and had overcome so many obstacles in his life and I was hanging on his every word. My favorite thing that he said was, "If there's something you really want to do, no one can stop you. If there's something you really don't want to do, no one can help you." I felt like the Universe had led me to this discussion and I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Since then I've been in such a better mood. We all have the power to achieve whatever we set our minds to and that includes me :)

After that we went back to the exhibition hall again. I was really good and only bought fries and a Gatorade (I was mega dehydrated). We were burned out around 7pm and on our way out we saw a little kid dressed as Link. Maddie and Lauren told me to go over and get a picture with him and he was SO CUTE. While we were taking our picture 3 other Zelda cosplayers asked if they could get a picture with me too. I remember a whole bunch of people taking a picture of us at once but didn't really notice who they were since people rando people had been taking my picture all day. Two days later my friend Julie messages me and tells me that our pic was featured in the Phoenix New Times blog. I was so stoked! It made me feel like all of my hard work on this costume had really paid off. Now I need to get back to brainstorming ideas for next year's cosplay. Thanks for reading! XOXO!

Wild Wild Life

Jeepers creepers...again it's been an age since I updated this blog. But don't blame me. It' s not my fault...really! Since last time I posted someone new as come into my life, someone very special. His name is Netflix and I must say that we are very very happy together. Happy as clams. Peas in a pod. However, he takes up most of my evenings, leaving little time to update this sorry excuse for a blog. 

So...since last post I had my senior show, went to Disneyland, and had a birthday. Let's start with the show. Well, it turned out to be a GREAT success and I'm very pleased with how smoothly everything went. My children's bedroom installation came together just as I had imagined. Hanging my pieces was a bit tricky and I must admit that I had nightmares that entire weekend that involved my pieces crashing down but luckily that didn't actually happen. The opening reception was scheduled from 6-8pm and it was surreal how quickly the time zoomed by. I was very touched by how many of my favorite people attended; a support system is key to an artist. An unexpected thing happened at the aforementioned show as well...I attracted the attention of an AGENT who is going to represent my work! I'm very very pleased with this arrangement and am very much looking forward to creating new work. I've even decided to start selling prints and plushies on Etsy so I might score some extra cash this summer :) Here's some pics from the show:

So yeah...lots of exciting things going on these days. Let's move on to the birthday...To be honest, I was DREADING this birthday since I was transitioning into the last leg of my darling twenties. I know I don't look old and I certainly don't feel old but I guess I just don't feel like I've accomplished as much as I thought I would by this age. Don't get me wrong, I've come a LONG way in the past 7 years, in fact 7 years ago I never could have imagined I'd be doing all of the things I'm doing today but...I had dreamed of having a book published by now and had assumed that I would've found that elusive Mr. Right by the ripe old age of 27. But...some wisdom I've gained in my "old age" is that you can't plan your life. It just doesn't work like that. However, I do feel like I'm getting closer to wear I'm supposed to be and then the rest will fall into place. *Hopefully* Now back to the birthday.

Since I was feeling morose about my looming birthday I had an idea. I should have one last party. I hadn't had an actual birthday party since I was 18 so I was long overdue. Also, I wanted the chance to get as many of my friends in the same location as possible since my time in Arizona has become limited. For the theme I chose to do a costume party...an ANIMAL costume party since most of you know I am very found of the critters :) Since I have very limited funds at the present, I had to concoct a cost effective costume so I bought some bunny ears from the dollar bin at Target, fished out my face paint from Halloween and selected an adorable white party dress from my closet that had been anxiously awaiting to make its public debut. My lovely friend, Ashley, offered to host the party at her house since my house wasn't an option. I thought this was a very kind gesture and am very thankful to her for offering to help a sista out. We started the evening out with a little Mario Kart action. I chose my Mii and the Magic Cruiser if you're curious. As to be expected, I won all of the cups...minus one. Hannah somehow managed to beat me by one point at the very end. 

After that we moved onto Pictionary. We did boys vs girls and I'm proud to say that Team Estrogen was victorious. I find it very interesting to observe the variances in how men and women play this game. Men start shouting out nouns before you've even started to draw while the women wait patiently for you to complete your drawing before they start their guessing. Next we moved onto my very favorite party game. This game turned out to be the highlight of the evening and I'm still giggling to myself just thinking about it. We played a game called "Telestrations". It's basically a combination of Pictionary and Telephone. Everyone gets a sheet of paper and a pencil and you gather around in a circle. You then think of a word or a short phrase and write it down. Then you fold your paper and pass it counterclockwise and the next person has to illustrate your word. When they pass it along the next person has to then write what they think your drawing is. After every turn you have to fold over what you wrote or drew so the next person doesn't know what the first word was. Here's an example:

Nonetheless, it's a HILARIOUS game and if you're looking for a good belly laugh, which are hard to come by, I highly recommend this game. Just be sure to sharpen the pencils beforehand :) Here's some photos from the evening:

 

 

As for upcoming events, graduation is May 12th. I simply cannot believe how quickly the past 2 years have gone by. It feels like I just came back to Phoenix and in less than a year I'll be off again onto my next great adventure. But I'm very happy with my decision to come back home and finish my degree. It's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've grown so much and met so many incredible people since I came home. I'm going to miss everyone so much. Great...now I'm getting all nostalgic. Well, I must have some lunch and squeeze in some reading before I'm off to work but I'll *try* to post again after graduation. 

Toodle-loo!