Wizards and Wands Craft Festival

It's that time of year again!

Every year one of my favorite malls in town holds a Wizards and Wands craft fair, basically a huge Harry Potter-themed extravaganza where I spend way too much money!

I try to go every year because, aside from all the cool merch, there are HP themed snacks, cosplays, and you can support local business which is always a plus.

This year was no different. I had planned to go in full HP gear, but realized, I am SERIOUSLY lacking in Harry Potter clothes. My one HP shirt is a bit too small and I couldn't find my beanie or cloak, so I donned the closest thing to a witchy shirt and a big Harry Potter bow and we headed out.

As soon as we arrived, I saw one of my favorite sellers, Enchanted Enigma Crafts, who makes GORGEOUS fandom charm bracelets. I already own a Wonder Woman one and there was a deal if you bought three so I picked up a Ravenclaw themed bracelet, a Star Trek themed bracelet, and a Supernatural themed bracelet. I'm absolutely in love with them and they make me feel so fancy while repping my faves.

Ravenclaw

Above: Supernatural---Below: Star Trek

Walking around we stopped for some cupcakes to refuel during this journey. Jonathan got a butterbeer flavored one and I got the most adorable Gryffindor-themed vanilla cupcake. The picture doesn't do the Butterbeer justice because IRL the sugar made it look like it was foamy mug at the Three Broomsticks, which was really cool.

I also picked up this really adorable print for the entranceway of my house. I love the Burrow and I think it sums up my home pretty well. 

I of course, had to accessorize. I managed to snag some super cool bows from another one of my favorite vendors. I buy bows from her shop every time I visit, so I already knew I was gonna be picking some up. The Harry Potter one is a leather-like material and is super pretty when you pin it in your hair, so it's definitely going to be one of my staples.

Supernatural

Vanellope

Wonder Woman!

Lastly, I found these adorable earrings with my favorite half-giant, Hagrid, on them.  I'm so in love with these and I need more Hagrid in my life (seriously most underrated character), so I was so excited to find these.

Overall, I spent way too much money but I am so happy with all my purchases and can't wait til next year!

Always, Raineedayze

Why You Should Be Watching Derry Girls

I've mentioned a few times here about how much I wish I would be able to watch more TV the past few years. I have so many things on my watch list and then end up re-watching the same things over and over.

However, the past couple of weeks, I've really been making an effort to watch new things and check things off my list. 

Derry Girls was actually not on my immediate watchlist, but after seeing a few different posts on Tumblr about how amazing it was, I decided to check out the first episode.

I am so happy I did. The show focuses on a group of friends in Derry, Ireland in 1992. The main characters are all distinct and hilarious, but very much teen girls (and guy) in their antics and attitude.

The episodes are pretty short, but so funny. I am partial to Michelle, the tough bad influence, but every character brings something fresh to the table. 

The most interesting thing about this show to me though, is the contrast between light-hearted humor and politics in Ireland. One of the characters is from London and the rest of them constantly rag on him about it. It's played for laughs but throughout the series, undertones of conflict, and the violence are always present, providing a haunting reality of the time.

The last episode is probably the most intense however. 

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The episode focuses on friendship after Claire comes out to Erin and Erin responds negatively. When Orla gets teased in front of the school, the girls decide that their friendship is worth so much and that they can overcome this. Interspersed with shots of the girls laughing, and dancing together are scenes from Erin's house where Mary, Sarah, Gerry, and the Grandfather are watching the news, confirming that a bomb has gone off. 

It's a somber moment and it's something that sticks with the viewer because of how jarring it is, yet this was reality for many people. 
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Season 2 is already confirmed and I am really excited to see how they are going to address this and how the relationship between Claire and Erin will work. 

This show is an absolute must-watch and it's hilarity and history are what make it so unique to TV right now. If you like humor, Irish accents, and friendship, I highly recommend this series.

Have you seen Derry Girls? Let's chat about it?


Always, Raineedayze

5 Year Anniversary

This past week Jonathan and I celebrated 5 years of being together!


We spent the day together, celebrating our relationship by going to our favorite places together, eating our favorite foods, and overall just being together.


Our anniversary always falls at a weird time financially, since it's right after Christmas and New Year's and right before my birthday, Valentine's Day, and Jon's birthday. So while we couldn't splurge too much, the truth of it, is with work and adulting, we tend to not spend a whole lot of time together when we aren't exhausted or busy so just being able to spend the day together was perfect.


I've also been battling a bit of illness, so we didn't want to overwork ourselves. 


We started at our favorite breakfast spot for tacos and menudo.

Then off to Starbucks for some sugar coffee.


After that, it was off to go see Aquaman (which I fell asleep during). But we got to go to the Drafthouse and get boozy and full on some delicious noms. 

Lastly, we headed to the mall to walk around and grabbed dinner and ice cream. 


The whole day was a great way to celebrate 5 years, and here is to many more!

Always, Raineedayze

Roswell New Mexico: S01Ep2 Review

It's that time again, where we talk about last night's episode of Roswell.

I know what you're thinking. It's only the second episode and I am already late to posting! Well, that's because Wednesday was my 5 year anniversary with Jonathan (post coming soon) and since I watch on the CW app (a gift from the tech gods), I had to watch this episode a bit later than usual. 

But fear not, because I am here to discuss and review the second episode of this series,

I think for the rest of these reviews, excluding the first one, they will all be pretty spoilery, so if you haven't watched the episode, be warned! 

Synopsis:

This episode continues with the anniversary of Rosa Ortecho's death. Liz is trying to deal with forgiving her sister and enlists Kyle's help by pulling the autopsy report so she can see come to terms with her sister's drug addiction and how it led to her death.

She also asks Max to walk her through his personal memories of Rosa, to gain some more perspective instead of dwelling on the anger she harbors toward her sister.  He reluctantly obliges and walks Liz through his own memories, but abruptly stops after viewing a memory where she pushes him away, angrily.

Kyle then calls Liz and informs her that a false autopsy report was filed and finds the correct autopsy for Rosa, in which Rosa has an alien handprint over her face, leading them to believe she was murdered by an alien.

Liz recalls the memory of Rosa pushing Max and realizes it was the same day she died, making Max one of the last ones to see her still alive. After Max lies and tells her that he last saw Rosa a few days before she died, Liz reveals Max' secret to Kyle.

My Thoughts

LIZ WHY? Okay, I get that Max lied to her, but immediately outing his alien-ness to Kyle?? GIRL NO! Kyle seems on the good side so far, but I'm nervous how this information will change him and hoping it doesn't reach Sgt. Manes, who seems like the ultimate big bad.

The episode also dealt with a lot of racism and had a pretty brutal scene of guys beating up Arturo, Liz' dad, and telling him to go back to Mexico. I absolutely love Arturo, so that scene just broke my heart so much. He's just such a sweetheart and it's awful but a daily reality for people at the moment.

We also had more Alex/Michael (#Malex) scenes and, guys I ship them so much! We got a little more insight to their history, and I really am hoping for more flashbacks to see how this relationship even happened.

Overall, I love how the show is dealing with actual issues in today's climate and the parallels between aliens from outer space and immigrant "aliens". I think may be something that pushes Max and Liz closer to understanding each other. And I am so anxious to see what really happened the night Rosa died.

Tune in next week, where we will discuss Episode 3!


Always, Raineedayze

PAX South Recap

This weekend I surprised Jonathan with tickets to PAX South for our anniversary! We've never been even though it's held right here in San Antonio, and I figured it was time to get out and do something fun.

I bought 3-day passes but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were only able to attend one day. But what a day it was!

Jocelyn as Bowsette

We, along with my friend Jocelyn, took off and as total noobs to the whole scene, were a little nervous about the mob of people but super stoked.

Merch Queen

I ended up picking up some really cool merch, including a D.Va Bunny Blaster, a Tsundere t-shirt and some plushes, including my Stardew Vallew Husband, Shane!

We also got to demo some really exciting games including Wenches with Loot and Arcade Spirits, both which look super cool and had really awesome teams behind them.
 

Wenches!

I had originally planned to do a full Piranha Plant cosplay, but ran out of time so stuck with a very casual D.Va cosplay to rep my favorite gremlin.

Since we really enjoyed ourselves, we made plans to go to two more conventions this year, something that is really out of our comfort zone since we are both total homebodies. I really want to continue getting out and participating in things like this because I have an excellent time when I do it, even though I get super anxious right before.

Con-anxiety is a very real thing, but when you can push through, it's a really great experience that I will treasure forever. 



Always, Raineedayze
 

Roswell New Mexico: Episode 1 Review

I've written a few times on here about my MASSIVE love of the original Roswell series. It's cheesy 90's goodness and ships fuel my angsty heart.

So when they announced a Roswell reboot about a year ago, I was so stoked and also a little scared. I mean how could anything compare to the original? When it was announced that the characters would be vastly different, not only in age but it personality, I have to admit I wasn't holding out too much hope.

However, last Tuesday the first episode came out and oh my goodness, it was so heckin' good!

Liz and Max still have undeniable chemistry in this series and I am already shipping them so hard. 
  

OG babies

New gen

I wasn't sure that aging up the characters would be a great idea at first since the high school hijinks was what made the series. After all, it's based on the Roswell High books. However, I have to admit that it definitely made the situations more believable. The parental cluelessness from the original series was pretty outlandish. (Like in Vegas...)

Jeanine Mason plays Liz Ortecho, and gives her a whole lot more sass and fire this round. Plus, Latina representation what up!! From her introduction calling out (perceived) racial profiling and her badass background in science, I am already so excited for this kick-ass main character. 

The rest of the cast is decidedly different from the originals but not in a bad way. Michael is still a hothead from the wrong side of the tracks, but he's not stupid, outscoring Liz in high school.

Max is not as angsty but still has a little brood left inside, making his smolder...well...smoldering.

Maria is still into her spiritual side, reading cards and palms, but is embracing a lot more confidence than her neurotic counterpart.

Kyle, Alex, Sheriff Valenti, and Isobel are multi-faceted and in typical CW fashion, holding secrets that I cannot wait to discover.

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Now let's talk about THAT ending...

Bi-con Michael Guerin and Alex Manes gave the best kiss of the year and it's only January. I am so excited to see how their relationship plays out and I am hoping so much for cute flashbacks from high school.

As an avid Michael/Maria shipper, I am conflicted but I am already so in love with this series and cannot wait to see how it goes.

Along with that, Max and Isobel hinted that Rosa's death was not as it seemed. I need to know what happened because the amount of hate the Ortecho's got was hella unjustified.
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Overall, this show was not the original, but it was excellent in it's own right.  I definitely feel so much love for both the original and the book series and I'm so stoked to continue with the show. Expect reviews every Wednesday, as the show airs on Tuesday nights!



Did you watch it? Let's chat about it!



Always, Raineedayze

 

My Worst Reads of 2018

We talked about the good...now to talk about the bad. 

And by bad, I mean the WORST reads I read in 2018. Obviously, this is all ~my OPINION~ so if any of these are your faves, more power to ya! These just were not the books for me. (Plus I read tons of trash so you can roast me about that).

So grab your teacups kids, because it's gonna be a doozy.

In no particular order...

10. Things I'm Seeing Without You by Peter Bognanni

  This book...was trash. I'm sorry. The characters were awful and the story was so boring that I was almost gave up on it about 50 different times. I could barely make it through a page without getting tired because absolutely nothing in this book was interesting. Not only that, the things that did occur were so wildly unrealistic that it just made no sense to write about them. Just not a great read.

9. My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

  I feel like this book was more disappointing than anything else. I went in expecting a creepy thriller a la Gone Girl and instead I'm just given an annoying protagonist, bad parenting, and nothing interesting. The book got better towards the end but it took so long to get there that it couldn't save the story for me.

8. None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

   Ugh this book...so this book was just really...something. I'm not intersex so I can't really speak for the representation provided in it, but it came off pretty derogatory. The main character, who is intersex, uses a lot of slurs even after being told to like, not. Also this book normalizes not getting a period as being okay because you are an athlete. Which is not accurate and super dangerous. 

7. Scream All Night by Derek Milman

  This book wasn't the worst book I read, but again it was more of a disappointing read than anything. I had been really excited to read this book in October hoping for some spooky story but instead got a lot of angst and oddness. I loved the background cast but the book was just a miss for me.

6. Reality Check by Jen Calonita

   This book did not go through an editor or a proofreader or anything. Besides a really weak plot and 2-dimensional character, so many grammatical errors took over this book and many times there were passages printed twice within two pages, just worded slightly differently. i.e. she walked through the door to the cafe sighing....*three pages later*..Jane walked through the cafe door, sighing to herself. WHAT EVEN??

5. Jay's Journal by Beatrice Sparks

  Okay, okay I do not read Beatrice Sparks' books, ahem I mean ANONYMOUS, books for good writing but more to read some sad after-school special and just enjoy it. Well...this book was actually compiled from a journal and the editor turned this depressed kid into an occult member on drugs. Besides that insanity, the book was just incoherent and had no real timeline. If you want to look more into the scandal behind the real story of Jay's Journal, you can read more here.

4. Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

   Not gonna lie, I had to look this book up again to remember what it was about. Basically, it follows a girl whose girlfriend dies. After her death, she finds out her girlfriend had been cheating on her with another girl and then more starts to come out about who her girlfriend really was as a person. All the characters were absolutely terrible, and Swanee (yep that's her name) was abusive and manipulative even before the cheating. Plus one of the characters is in a pretty sketchy situation that is just swept under the rug and the story is so ridiculous.

3. Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

  I really wanted to like this book. I loved the main character and really connected to her bookish tendencies. However, this book DRAGGED so much. I felt like it was almost over and then realized I was only halfway through it. Which, in a good book, would be great to have more story. But so much of this was filler. The love interest was absolutely terrible and the book had tons of grammar issues as well so it was just not for me.

2. Top Ten by Katie Cotugno

  Katie Cotugno has been kind of a hit or miss (I guess they never miss huh?...sorry...) author for me and I wrote a full review of this book here that you can check out, but in short, this book was just...meh. Nothing great about it, the characters were the absolute worst, and they were always fighting. It had some high points but not a real winner for me. 

And the worst book of 2018...


1. Ship It by Britta Lundin

  Honestly, did you guys not see this one coming? I DESPISED this book which sucked because I was so, so, so hyped for it. I wrote a full review here about it, so I won't rant too much here, but iasudhfaisdhfakljsdfh this book was just a huge NO from me. In the review I said I gave it 2 stars but I had to drop it to one because I am still so salty about this book and it's been months since I read it. So there's that.


Those were my worst reads of 2018. Did I roast any of your faves? What were your worst reads of the year? Let's chat about it!



Always Raineedayze

 

My Best Books of 2018

Let's all pretend that I'm not super late to this post okay? Cool.

2018 was a pretty great reading year for me overall. I was able to read so many different books and genres and even though I didn't hit my reading goal (by 7 books!!! *sobs*), I still had a total blast pushing myself to read books that were out of the box for me. 

So, to honor some of the best books I read in 2018, I decided to name my top 10 reads of last year! These aren't books that were exclusively published in 2018, just books that I happened to read in 2018.

And don't worry, my salty readers...I will also be making a Most Disappointing Reads of 2018 post VERY SOON, so keep an eye out for that!

In no particular order...

10. Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

  This book was one of the last books I read in 2018 and it was absolutely fantastic. I love fairy tale retellings and the story was so wonderfully written. It was dark and heart-wrenching and dramatic and overall just a fantastic read.


9.  Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
  

Grady Hendrix quickly became one of my absolute favorite writers in 2018 and I am so stoked to read more of his work. This book sounded hilarious and weird and like a perfect Halloween read and I absolutely devoured it. It was creepy and spooky and wacky, just like a cheesy horror flick. 


8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

  I know this is a huge book but until last year, I had never read it. This book was haunting and Ray Bradbury is just an incredible writer. As a person who works in maintaining free speech, this book really tugged at me and I was in LOVE with it as soon as I read it. The movie was pretty disappointing so I definitely recommend picking up the book instead.

7. Animal Farm by George Orwell

  Again another book that it seems like everyone but me has read. I was in an alternative school when my class covered this book in high school so I never got the chance to read it until last year but as a MASSIVE Orwell fan, I knew I had to finally read it.  I am so glad I did. Without getting too political, I feel it really summed up a lot my feelings towards modern day America and was a great, chilling read.

6. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

  This really was the year of reading books on my forever TBR and I was so grateful to get through so many of them. This book was SO beautifully written and I could not put it down. I experienced an immense mood shift when I finished the book, so much that I had to just lie down for a bit. This book hit me hard and I loved it so much for that.

5. IT by Stephen King

  I really love Stephen King and I wanted to make sure I read the book after seeing the new film last year. This book was absolutely incredible and is probably one of my favorite books of his. One thing I like about his books is that the normalcy of things makes them so much more disturbing. If you are looking to pick up a Stephen King novel, I highly recommend this one.

4. Save Me, Kurt Cobain by Jenny Manzer

  It's no secret, I am a HUGE Nirvana fan. They've been my favorite band since I was young and I have always been fascinated by Kurt Cobain. This book was a fictional tale of a girl who reminded me so much of me in middle school/high school and it brought back so much nostalgia for me. This is probably one of the most personal choices on this list for me, as it wasn't impeccably written or an instant classic like the other books here, but it resonated so much for me personally that I had to include it.

3. All We Have Left by Wendy Mills

  I still think about this book so much. I went into this book knowing nothing about, just picked it up from the library with no prior knowledge. This book deals with 9/11 and is told in dual narrative from different time periods, so even though you know part of the ending from the beginning, you cannot put it down just to see how the story will play out. Also, it made me ugly cry. 

2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

  Neil Gaiman is essentially THE writer extraordinaire. You guys know my love for him is insane so I finally read this and was so in love with the story, the characters, the setting....everything. I really love books based in mythology so this was already going to be a huge winner for me, but his writing style just immediately gets me. Plus the show is FANTASTIC and I can't wait for Season 2.

1. Geekerella by Ashley Poston

  This list wasn't really in any order but this was absolutely my favorite read of the year. I fell so hard for this book and wrote a more detailed review that you can check out here, but in short, this book was everything a fangirl could ask for. I needed so much more from that universe when I read it and definitely consider it one of my favorite books of all time.

Have you read any of these? What were your top books of the year? Let's chat about it!


Always, Raineedayze