Runs on Coffee and Cream

It's officially Christmas season! I'm so excited for the holidays this year. I mean, it's a little weird because of the pandemic and not being able to see others. But, I feel like our family is complete this year - we have our two children and Emma is already pumped for "Kissmis". It makes my heart so full. 

There are a handful of things I'm really excited for right now...

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The weather has been dark and dreary the last couple of weeks. Instead of snow we've been getting freezing rain and the afternoons get warm enough to turn our snow to slush. It's gross and depressing. I've been spending more time indoors since going for walks is extremely unappealing right now.

Seconds

I've been reading a lot this month and one book I finally finished was Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley (author of Scott Pilgrim). This book has been on my to-read list forever and when I saw it at my local library I knew I had to take it home to read. I loved it. The art was adorable, the characters were lovable, and the story was very interesting. It was a fast read and I already want to re-read it. Have you read Seconds yet?


La La Land

I've been sharing my love for La La Land all over my social media pages and I'm not sorry about it. I went to see it last week at the theatre and I completely fell in love with it. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were perfection. The soundtrack warms my heart, the settings and wardrobe make me so happy, and the story line was incredibly sweet. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Go see it!


What have you been loving lately?
xo Jen

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is out in theatres today and I'm so excited to go see it! I work all weekend but I'll be heading to the theatre early next week to squeeze in a Fantastic Beasts date. Every trailer released for this movie gives me goosebumps and makes my stomach flip in excitement. I cannot wait to travel back into this magical universe.

In celebration of the movie being released I shared my favourite Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them things, both clothing and books.

This past weekend was San Diego Comic Con and as usual a ton of trailers and news were shared in the convention halls. I always enjoy catching up on all the news, panels, and trailers at the end of the weekend. These top the list of what I'm most excited for:

1. Wonder Woman Trailer - wow! It looks incredibly kickass and I'm very excited for this movie now.


2. Legion Trailer - I knew there was an X-Men show in the works but I didn't realize it would center on Legion, Charles Xavier's son. I'm very curious about this series.


3. The LEGO Batman Movie - this full-length trailer shows just how hilarious this movie is going to be. Will Arnett is the perfect LEGO Batman!

4. New trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - yet another trailer for this movie that gives me goosebumps. I'm beyond excited to be back in that world. 

A lot of the other trailers released looked amazing and I'm pumped for all the new Marvel TV shows and the return of The Walking Dead! What SDCC news has you excited?
xo Jen

3. Decorate! Spread your mutagen icing onto the cookies and add sprinkles!


I love how these cookies turned out! The piping gel was a great idea to make the icing shiny and I think it really does resemble mutagen ooze. I may have to use this idea to make some blue 'water' for future cookies.


We have to wait to see the new movie until next week because of work but I'm really looking forward to it, especially for Bebop and Rocksteady.

xo Jen

The trailer for the new Ghostbusters movie was released last week. There's been mixed reactions but I'm on the 'so excited and the trailer gave me goosebumps' side.


I grew up with Ghostbusters and the original two movies hold a special place in my heart. And yes, Hollywood can't stop remaking and rebooting previous movies, which is annoying. But there's no stopping Hollywood from doing it, so at least this movie has a good director, writer, and cast. There's no stopping this movie. It won't be the same as the original two and there's no point in comparing. I'm looking at this movie as an extension of the Ghostbusters movies I already love dearly. What's wrong with having more of the Ghostbusters' universe in your life? Nothing!

So if you haven't watched the trailer, go ahead and watch it now.


It puts a smile on my face and I'll be seeing it opening weekend for sure.


Needless to say I really want a jumpsuit so I can dress like a Ghostbuster whenever I want. Until I can get my hands on one, putting together an Everyday Cosplay look would be fun too.

We went to see Deadpool this past weekend for our Valentine's date. The movie was so good and they did a damn good job portraying Deadpool very accurately to the comic books. The action scenes were a lot of fun and the writing was hilarious and smart. Needless to say, I'm so pumped for the possibility of a sequel and what new characters they might bring in for it.

Because it was Valentine's weekend and I was super excited for the movie, I decided to make a super chocolatey cake for dessert and to decorate it Deadpool-style.


I started with a devil's food cake mix (you have to go naughty for Deadpool) and baked it in two 9" pans. Once cooled, I used strawberry jam in between the layers to attach the two cake pieces. I thought the jam would make a nice oozy, blood-like center. Though, the jam is so dark against the chocolate cake, there's no way to photograph it well.


After that, I frosted the entire cake with homemade chocolate buttercream. And not to toot my own horn, but my chocolate buttercream is to die for!


Then I had my amazing husband help me with free-handing the Deadpool logo onto the cake with coloured sugar sprinkles. I'm super impressed and happy with how well it turned out. After cutting into it last night, I can vouch that this cake is insanely good and I look forward to eating more of it tonight.


Did you head out to see Deadpool yet? If so, what'd you think?
xo Jen

Deadpool comes out on Friday and I'm so incredibly excited to see it. Like many Deadpool fans, we will be seeing the movie as our Valentine's Day date. What better way to celebrate a romantic day but with Deadpool?!


To get ready for the movie I came up with a Deadpool Everyday Cosplay that I'd love to wear! Mixing a cute and sweet dress with tougher accessories is one of my favourite styles.

Even as an adult I have moments where I feel exactly like Buddy the Elf. This is probably why Elf has become one of my favourite Christmas movies.

On Christmas Eve, this is me ALL day...


I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

xo Jen

This week has been pretty crappy here... I've developed a full blow cold since the con last weekend. I actually slept through the entire night last night which is the first time I have all week. I ended up napping with the kitties late morning today as well. I'm hoping a day of relaxing will get me feeling back to normal again.

Outside of work, I've been busy with other things this week. I'm officially confirmed for two more comic conventions this year:
* Art-O-Con - May 5
* ConBravo! - July 26-28



I've already started to feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of shows I'm doing this year so I need to get my butt in gear and start sewing!!

Me and Adam had a date night last night which was very needed. We went to the movies to use one of our movie coupons from Christmas. We saw Dark Skies. I didn't realize the movie was about sci-fi/alien stuff. The trailer freaked me out and I just assumed it was a horror movie but Adam assumed it was about aliens which is why he was interested in seeing it. Either way, it was a good movie. I love Keri Russell so I'm a bit biased but the movie did its job and creeped the hell out of me.




The rest of March is looking to be quite busy for me. We have Easter dinners to attend, I have a One of a Kind show date, a game night planned, and I'm hoping to squeeze in a hair cut.

I've been growing my hair for a solid 2 years now... but I'm tempted to go a bit shorter again. Maybe a long bob? I don't know. I love some of the photos I've found, but I have no idea if I'll regret cutting my hair that much.

Anyways, I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I'm heading to my parents' tonight for some visiting and board games. I'll be spending most of tomorrow prepping some sewing projects until my shift at work!

xo Jen

Today I went to see Twilight: Break Dawn Part 2 with Mary. We've seen all the other Twilight movies together and it was nice to finish the saga with her.

Personally, I enjoyed how the saga ended. I never read the books so I can't compare them to the movie. I have heard that the movie ends differently than the book though. Either way, it was an exciting and interesting movie from start to finish. I really wanted to see how some things (won't give away any spoilers) turned out. Like all the previous Twilight movies, there was a good amount of 'cheese' in this movie... over the top sappy lines, sparkly vampires, and some pretty insane fight scenes. I did enjoy some of the other vampires that were in this movie that come to support the Cullen family. My favourite being played by Lee Pace. Though I'm biased because of Pushing Daisies.



Now, ever since seeing the first Twilight movie, I have been made fun of for watching these movies. Not only have the men in my life made fun of me, but some other females as well. It doesn't bother me since I will watch whatever movie or TV show that interests me. I could care less what others think. Plus, since I've been a huge fan of Harry Potter from the beginning and now The Hunger Games, I'm getting used to movies that have a huge fandom surrounding it. The young girls and middle age woman can annoy the hell out of me at the theatre when seeing these movies, but so do all the geeks when I sit in the theatre when I see any superhero movie. Everyone has an opinion and these huge fans of these specific movies become even more opinionated when discussing the movie. But I'm ok with that.

The one thing I'm not ok with, is that so many people judge movies without watching them. They are turned off by the fandom surrounding something and won't give it a chance. Yes, The Twilight Saga is cheesy and has quite the love triangle in it. But so many people brush it off. If you take away the screaming fans, the Team Jacob and Edward shirts, and the fact that the vampires sparkle, the Twilight movies are alright. The acting isn't the greatest and some of the fight scenes are over the top, but hell, isn't that like most vampire/werewolf/horror movies? I'm always shocked at the cult following of movies like Ginger Snaps. I recently watched this movie last year. I know so many friends who love this small Canadian horror movie. It's bad. The special effects are bad, the acting isn't good, and it's just cheesy. But yet these people won't give a Vampire/Werewolf movie, like Twilight, a chance?



Rant over.

Like I said, I enjoyed the entire Twilight saga. I don't own the movies, but I've paid money for each movie to see it in the theatre with at least one friend. I have found them entertaining and Breaking Dawn Part 2 wrapped everything up nicely.

xo Jen

I'm calling this post part 2 because technically I wrote up the first post on DN! Extraordinaire yesturday. Go check it out!

Anyways, as you know, I recently read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire and completely fell in love with the books (though, I still have Mockingjay left to read). I'm so excited to finally see the The Hunger Games tomorrow afternoon! I have our tickets purchased already so we just have to get to the theatre early enough to get good seats. Also, this is the first movie I've seen in the theatre with my husband since last summer... yeah, he gets pretty serious while he's in school. So I'm also looking forward to a movie date with him too.

I have my heart set on buying myself a Hunger Games t-shirt when we head to the U.S. next week for a day shopping trip. I'm also searching for the perfect necklace to buy as well. I'm thinking the necklace will be purchased on Etsy since there are so many talented people on there. In my search I came across some other great Hunger Games products on Etsy.

There are a few reasons why I'd love to own this shirt:

I had yesturday off which was really nice and very productive. I sewed, baked cookies, and put on a few chick flicks throughout the day while I worked. I figured with Valentine's Day coming up it was the perfect excuse to watch some girlie movies. Also, the hubby was working so he couldn't protest on my movie picks.

Besides Dirty Dancing, one of my favourite girlie movies is 27 Dresses. Whether it's because of the adorable James Marsden or my weak spot for Katherine Heigl, I just love this movie. I've seen it more times than I'd like to admit but it's become a common movie for me to craft to.




I've also always been a big fan of 13 Going on 30. Again, I adore the two lead actors, and surprisingly the best friend in this movie, played by Judy Greer, also plays the best friend in 27 Dresses too.




Marie Antoinette is another typical movie for me to put on while I'm sewing. I love the look of this movie, the music, the feel. I'm not a huge fan of Kirsten Dunst but yet I adore this movie.





Are there any chick flicks that you love?

I actually have tomorrow off so I may have to put another one on while I make dessert for tomorrow night!

xo Jen

I finally started The Hunger Games book yesturday. I'm almost half way through it already. I didn't know if it'd take a while to get into the story and get involved with the characters but I was addicted from the start. I ended up with sore, strained eyes from reading for 2 hours without my glasses.... oh well, it was worth it!

Because I've seen the trailer for the upcoming movie a few times now, I pictured Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss while I read. I think she did a great job as Mystique in First Class. She played her with vulnerability and I have faith she'll do just as good of a job as Katniss.







Has anyone else read this series? I'm sure I'll be finishing up the first one over the weekend. I feel like I'm going to become obsessed pretty quickly with this series.

xo Jen

Have you ever seen the movie Waitress? I've been itching to watch that movie again recently. I adore Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion is cute with her in this movie. Plus, there's lots of pie!



My friend sent me a link to a website with the different pie recipes from the movie. Check it out here.

I so badly want to try some of the recipes. Of course my number one pick would be the Marshmallow Mermaid Pie:

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.
2. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.
3. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)
4. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.
5. Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles.
Serves 8.



Marshmallows, chocolate and coconut?!?! Yum!

Well, I'm off to dream of pie...
Night!
xo Jen

I cannot wait until June 2012 to see this movie. I know the trailer has been all over the Internet lately but it looks so good. Pixar movies are amazing. And I love Merida's wild ginger hair <3


Anyone else excited for this movie?
xo Jen

I love when I watch a movie or a tv show and the wardrobe is amazing and inspires me to try new outfits or make more of an effort when I get ready in the morning.

Tonight we watched Wild Target and Emily Blunt's character did just that. Her clothing was so much fun and I adored that she paired tights with every outfit. Her tights and boots looked wonderful with her colourful skirts.