Runs on Coffee and Cream

People would call both me and Adam 'collectors'. We have an abundance of movies, TV boxsets, books, comics, and video games. When I say an abundance, I mean approximately 7 bookcases filled with everything we collect, and some things are actually hidden in boxes still because we don't have room.

I'm ok with this. I like surrounding myself with things I love. It makes our home feel comfy to us. And we both are constantly watching things, reading, or playing games.

Being in an apartment makes it a little hard though because we don't have as much room or much storage. One of the things I'm looking forward to most when we eventually buy a house is putting shelves up everywhere! Taking entire walls and just lining them with bookcases and putting all of our 'collections' up.

I have found that I've accumulated quite the Pinterest board filled with shelving ideas.

It's almost comic convention season! The first convention I'll be doing is in less than 2 weeks! I'm excited, nervous, and stressed out as usual. I'm sewing like crazy and over-preparing like normal. Our home is covered in thread bits, fabric scraps, and freshly ironed bags and pillowcases.

I'm focusing on the three biggest comic conventions I've done in the past this year. I want to have a huge selection at each of these shows, meet new people, make contacts, and just have a blast.

Comic Convention Schedule: 

Toronto ComiCon 
March 7-9, 2014
Table - A225

Niagara Falls Comic Con
June 6-8, 2014
Table - Artist Alley ?


Fan Expo Canada
August 28-31, 2014
Table - Artist Alley ?

There's a couple smaller conventions in the Fall this year I might want to check out as well, either as an exhibitor or spectator.

What conventions are you attending this year?
xo Jen

Lately I've been finding a ton of inspiration from movies and television shows I'm watching. Me and Adam have been squeezing in a lot of movies since it's just so cold out and it gets dark so early. And with the Olympics on, a lot of shows we watch are not airing currently. So I've been left with my specialty channel shows - The Walking Dead and HBO's Girls. But first up, my favourite thing at the moment is...

The Lego Movie

Please tell me you've seen this movie?!? It was great! Visually, it was amazing to see how much work went into this movie and to see all the little Lego bricks making up every scene. The voice actors and characters were hilarious and matched up perfectly! I really enjoyed the movie from start to finish.


Girls

I've really liked HBO's Girls since it first started. I really enjoy the writing and how close to home some of the characters and situations hit for me. But the third season has been really awesome so far. I really like every character's story at the moment and I like where the show is headed.



Donuts

Don't get me wrong, cupcakes still have my heart. But I've been seeing recipes everywhere for the yummiest-sounding donuts. And then we picked up some delicious donuts on our road trip last weekend. The simple and fun design of a round donut with sprinkles has been a favourite of mine since I was introduced to My Paper Crane 10 years ago. But it's making a comeback in my life again. Like this Kate Spade tee for instance - adorable!


I hope you're having a fantastic weekend!
xo Jen

The past week has been pretty busy for us. After celebrating Valentine's Day last Friday, I spent Saturday at work, doing some errands, promoting IGGPPC, and packing for a quick Hamilton visit.

Round 11 of the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club opened on Saturday. Registration is still open and you can sign up here. There's a giveaway happening on our Facebook page right now as well.

Then really early Sunday morning we headed off for Hamilton. It was a nice drive. The sun was out and being a Sunday, the traffic was light. We spent the afternoon at our niece's third birthday party, then I had a dinner of frozen yogurt with two of my best friends for one of their birthdays. Afterwards we drank Italian Soda and played Big Bang Theory Clue.


We finished off our day with a few games of bowling with some family members. It was a long day but bowling was super fun. I started off strong and got worse as the games continued. I guess my tiredness was catching up with me.


Monday morning we headed home after breakfast with my Mom and a quick visit at my sister-in-law's. Again, it was a gorgeous day. The sun was out, traffic was light, and we stopped for a treat at Tim Horton's. We picked up coffee and doughnuts and admired all the snowmobiles hanging out in the parking lot and the brand new ones that one of the stores was selling.


These pictures are blurry since we were driving on the highway, but the ice on the rocks was just crazy to see.


Since getting home I've been taking care of some chores and working on more comic convention prep. I'll be spending my evening working on pillowcases.

How has your week been?
xo Jen

Growing up I took figure skating lessons. I did it for years and really enjoyed it. Since then, I've skated on and off at public ice rinks and it's crazy how quickly and easily I remember how to skate. And now we live in a city that is full of outdoor skating rinks. You can skate on the lakes or on one of the man-made rinks. We checked out a track that they flooded to make into an ice rink a couple of weeks ago. I was nervous about skating after not doing it in years. But I quickly got into the rhythm and not once did I fall.


Our next ice skating adventure will be on Ramsey Lake. I've never skated on top of a body of water so I'm excited to head out on the lake!

Recently we also took a walk through Nickeldale Conservation Area. The walk started off with me trying to climb through 2 feet of snow to get to the trail. I lost my footing and fell into the snow bank. And then I couldn't get up because I was laughing so hard. Anyways, it was a great walk. The snow's incredibly deep throughout the conservation area now. But there are snowmobile tracks everywhere which luckily packed down some of the snow so we had a fairly stable path to walk along. Though, we did have our feet fall through the path a few times and we'd almost fall over.


A part of the path takes you behind a cemetery. It looked incredibly beautiful covered in snow.


The only wild life we saw... a gorgeous bird trying to blend into its surroundings.

February is more than half over which means we don't have much more of Winter left. There's still a couple of outdoor adventures I want to go on before the snow disappears. So I have some planning to do!

Have you been on any outside adventures recently?
xo Jen

How was your Valentine's Day? I had a lovely evening with Adam. We went out for a delicious dinner and then spent the rest of the night in. Just relaxing and talking and drinking wine. We also had some of the Valentine cupcakes I had made the day before. I ended up baking cookies and cupcakes this week.

First up, I made White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. I had bought some clearance White Chocolate Peppermint M&Ms after Christmas and I thought the red and white candies would be perfect for Valentine cookies. I added some heart sprinkles to the tops of the cookies too.

Valentine's Day is this Friday. Unfortunately I work all day but me and Adam will be fitting in a dinner that evening. I'm not sure what dress I'll be pulling out of my closet to wear out to dinner, but if I could afford to buy a new outfit for the special occasion, these items would top my wish list!

I've been itching to travel lately. I've always had a list of places I really want to visit in my lifetime. But ever since we moved and settled into our new place, I've been wanting to go on vacation. Maybe because me and Adam haven't really done any travelling together, except for our honeymoon, or maybe it's from chatting to the IGGPPC staff members and I want to see and visit the places they talk about?

Either way, I've been spending more time than I really should searching online for flights and hotel prices. I think we're going to make a point of going somewhere in 2014. Nothing that will cost a lot of money since we're saving for a house. But somewhere.

My first comic convention of 2014 is in one month so most of my spare time has been spent cutting, sewing, and ironing new products for the show. Because of this, I've been flying through audio books and my re-watch of the Gilmore Girls series. Here's some things I love this week...

An Abundance of Katherines

I finished up this audio book a few days ago. I had never heard of it, but because it was written by John Green I thought I'd give it a chance.


The Fault in Our Stars

The first John Green audio book I listened to was The Fault in Our Stars. This book is what made me fall in love with John Green's writing. I find I get attached to his characters quickly. They have real flaws and seem incredibly personable. And the way his writing describes the characters and their feelings, thoughts, and actions, just draws me in.

I was initially turned off by the subject of TFIOS but a friend insisted I read it. Well, I did and I fell in love with it. As someone who's been diagnosed with cancer and went through a time in my life where I was at doctor's appointments constantly, dealt with treatment and all the side effects, this book hit me hard. I had a 'good cancer', which is what my doctor said, and luckily I'm cancer-free today. But certain things that Hazel Grace (the lead female) feels and says about her illness, went through my head at some point. How her relationship with her parents is affected, was similar to my experience. Random points throughout this story caused emotional memories and feelings for me.

But the book isn't just that, which is what my friend had tried to explain to me. It's inspiring. And not because the characters find love while sick. But because they keep living. They don't give up. Whether you've dealt with cancer first hand or not, there's a really positive message in this book.

The trailer for the movie adaptation has been all over the Internet and I will admit, it made me tear up. I don't know how the movie will differ from the book and if it'll affect me differently. But I have a feeling I'll be doing some ugly crying when I see it.

Valentine's Day has never been a big event for me and Adam. Sometimes we exchange a small gift and sometimes we just go out for a meal together. Now, in no way am I hinting this post towards Adam (I swear!), but I wanted to share some of my top picks that I'd be happy to get for Valentine's Day.

Last summer there was a Mario Still Life Print that kept appearing on my Facebook and Tumblr timeline. It was beautiful. I went to Fan Expo Canada at the end of the summer and while walking Artist Alley, I spotted the print on one of the tables. The artist was from Toronto and so sweet. I bought a Mario Still Life Print and it's now hanging in my living room.

Well, Lizustration is on Etsy and you should check out her work! It's incredible!

January was a super quick month for me. We went back to Hamilton at the beginning of the month for a wedding and then my parents came up for a visit for a few days. So between that, work, and prepping for my first comic con of the year, it was a busy month.

I rang in 2014 with the kitties since Adam had to work. I spent my evening drinking tea and coffee and eating chocolate cupcakes that I received for Christmas. It was a relaxing night in.


Snow just keeps on showing up here, but I have to admit that it is pretty. I love the snowy, hilly landscape in Sudbury.


Our drive home from Hamilton was filled with a lot of blowing snow.


I broke into my Gingerbread coffee that I got for Christmas. It's so good!


When my parents came up we went out for brunch at Tutti Frutti. Their crepes are amazing.


I fell in love with all the Valentine-themed goodies I kept finding. I really want this Star Wars book by Katie Cook.


And look at the washi tape and stickers at Target!


The cats continued to be cuddly all month. They were excited but also weirded out to have company over. It was pretty cute how Logan followed my Dad around.


Seymore was a huge fan of the paper bag my Dad brought in with him.


How was January for you? Any big plans for February? I have some things to look forward to this month. A couple of birthdays to celebrate, Valentine cupcakes to make, and lots more sewing!
xo Jen