HelloSweetie

Star Wars Celebration was probably my favorite con I've been to. It's neck and neck with Gallifrey One. I had so much fun!! I really want to go to the one in London next year, but money is a thing. I could use fluorescent piping, but I wanna go full throttle with it. And when I have an awesome resource like my roommate who can get wholesale discounts etc from her work, then why not? The hardest part of that costume will be the pattern and using the right fabrics anyway, so having the EL wire detail won't be that much more work.

Did a new cosplay last month as Princess Leia (Bespin/Cloud City) for Star Wars Celebration. Here's a little photo. Next project: Age of Ultron Black Widow in time for SDCC. My roommate is a lighting designer and it going to help me figure out the EL wire stuff, but it should be fun

It was actually really easy, as long as you are precise with your measurements! I followed this tutorial on TheRPF: http://www.therpf.com/f78/captain-america-shield-steel-saucer-sled-189420/ The guy in the tutorial used a steel saucer sled, but since I was shopping in May/June, I could only find plastic saucer sleds. I got this one in black: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00637PUOU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And when they say heavy duty, it's heavy duty. It's about 1/3" thick, the plastic doesn't bend at all. Weighs about 5lbs, but it feels like 20 by the end of a con day. The main difference when using the plastic sled is that you don't need to do the anodized paints like he does in the tutorial. They are semi-transparent and the color won't work on the plastic sled. I learned that the hard way, had to strip it and redo it. I used paint/primer combo spray paints for the red and blue, a gray primer for the silver, with a metallic silver on top. Did 2-3 coats per color, 2 coats of clear shiny spray paint to seal it in. Added a star from aluminum sheet like the tutorial said. The key is patience and letting it dry in between coats because when I transferred the painter's tape when changing colors, some edges came up. I used the gray primer to match the back, used the handles the sled came with for the backing. A later addition was making a cloth padding for the handles and the back of the sled for my arm because I was getting scratched up after a while. Everything is pretty easy to screw by hand into the plastic, I just did a small hammer and nail first to secure the proper location. I've been meaning to write up a blog post on it cause I took all kinds of in-process photos, I just haven't gotten around to it.

Got it at a thrift store like six years ago for $8. I wear it all the time. Just added the corset and done! Captain America.

Here's a highlight from Wondercon this weekend.

FINAL STATS Goals: Stronglifts: complete 18/18 weight lifting days +4 STR +1 STA Yoga/dancing: complete 20/24 days +3 DEX +2 CHA Food: eat Paleo/within calorie count 35/42 days +3 CON Life quest: add money to the treasury +2 WIS Stronglifts: finished with 16/18 +3.5 STR, +1 STA The skipped days were from skipping one day in Week 1, which I intended to make up later on with 4 days a week (still maintaining every other day workouts) and skipping another day in Week 6. I was having problems with my left knee in the last couple weeks and I didn't want to really injure myself. This ended up being a smart choice to rest more, because I ended really strong with my final workout, no pain in my knee with squats and still lifting heavy. I knew that I enjoyed weight lifting, but this program was fantastic. I felt like I was gaining muscle much better than I ever have before. It is incredibly empowering to be able to lift heavy. Especially next to all the dudes in the free weight zone of the gym. I'm really proud of my arms and legs and I've been showing off to my friends. I'm telling everyone I know about Nerd Fitness and Stronglifts. I'm definitely going to keep going with the weight lifting. Final thoughts: - I ride my bike to gym when I go. I have found it makes for a great squat warm-up, plus I don't have to deal with parking. In the first two weeks of this challenge, I was using speeds 4&5 to get there and now I use only 6&7. My legs feel like power beasts. - I also want to say that I'm super proud of the fact that I lift in a skirt. I have one of those running skirts that has the built in shorts. I almost never wear pants in my daily life and I love that I can wear a skirt when I lift too. Final stats in lbs Squats 115 Bench press 75 Overhead press 60 Barbell row 90 Deadlifts 125 Assisted chin-ups 66 Assisted pull-ups 84 Yoga/Dancing: finished with 21/24 days +3 DEX +1 CHA This was easy to do because I love stretching out amongst all the lifting. -1 on CHA because I didn't go dancing as much as I meant to. Food: eat Paleo/within calorie count, finished 28/42 days +2 CON -1 because I could have done better, but I feel really good about what I did. I was able to build a habit and the calorie counting helped me understand the volume and quality of what I was eating. I've done full on Paleo diet before so it was a learning curve I already had under my belt. If I had been trying to learn that at the same time, I probably would not have succeeded as well. Life quest: money +2 WIS Added $500 to credit cards and $600 to savings. I'd call that a win. Getting my finances in better shape is part of a larger scheme to...well, I don't just know yet. To change something. Or maybe everything. I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I really want from life and I'm simultaneous too old and too young not to just do it. But every option I've dreamed up for myself requires that i have more of a financial foundation than I currently have. What's Next I'm giving myself a mini-challenge in the 2 week interim of sticking with this exact program I've been on with the goal of being able to do non-assisted pull-ups and chin-ups by April 20th. At least one of each. Gain +1 STR +2 STA if completed. 20 April challenge will be taking aerial classes, continuing with weight lifting, continuing with eating well. Life quest could be an Etsy store. I don't know if I'm ready for that leap or if I'm just scared. Or maybe I need the life quest to be about minimalizing first.

People often tell me I look like ScarJo. In fact, the bottom right photo is my Black Widow cosplay from Winter Soldier:

Oh hai guys. Just perusing the forums and found a cosplay thread! I have found my people!! I am a costume designer and a cosplayer. I mainly do Doctor Who and Marvel cosplays, but I am in the midst building Princess Leia's Bespin costume to be ready for Star Wars Celebration in a couple weeks. I'm excited!! I did a photoshoot just last week so I can put up a website with all my info. My life quest for the next challenge is going to be to start my own business and put up an Etsy store like I've been meaning to do for ages. Been thinking over a cosplay name too. I'm always happy to talk shop with costumes and props (I made my Cap shield too). Here's a little sampling

Just got back from today's workout and I think I figured it out. 1) My left knee is the one that hurts, but it's not visibly swollen. This morning I measured both knees to compare and my left knee is actually 1/2" smaller just below and above my knee cap. Same size around the center of my knee cap. Pinching in various areas I actually have less fat on my left knee than on my right. 2) My current squat form is fine, had one of the gym's PT spot me. It's likely my old form contributed, but is not the main culprit. I went down to 60lbs today, but doubled the reps just to rest a little but still work the muscles a bit. 3) While I was on the pull-up assistant machine, I noticed that I was only using my left leg to bring weight back to rest and that my knee ached a little when I did. LIGHTBULB MOMENT. My left leg has been getting an extra workout that my right leg hasn't. My body is very left dominant: handed, vision, gait -- so it was a completely unconscious thing. It really makes me feel better knowing the cause. Plan of action: ice and ibuprofen while resting and recovering. Using my right leg only on the pull-up machine until left knee returns to normal, will then alternate the leg I use. I am going to return to the heavy squats on the next weights day. I'm crafting the next challenge in my head. I bought a Groupon for circus school, so that's going to be the centerpiece. I feel really strong now and at the beginning of this, I never would have thought that I could handle as much weight as I've been doing. I'm thinking in the two weeks in between challenges, I'm going to do a mini-challenge of working to full-body pull-ups and chin-ups so I can jump in with aerial.

Like this

Mostly dull pain, especially if I haven't been stretching as much. The only sharp pain I've felt was when I was sitting on the floor yesterday and had my leg straight out, locked my knee/overextended it. Stairs haven't been an issue at all. I noticed my form was a bit off when I reached 90lbs on squats because the squats didn't work so well at that weight. It wasn't knees going over toes, I've been good about the sticking the butt out part. My feet were pointed too straight ahead instead of turned out slightly. This meant that my knees were trying to go out to the sides when I bent, but the direction of my feet made that a twist rather than a straight bend. I've been really conscious of it since then, but I feel like maybe the damage was done weeks ago and now that I'm at a higher weight my knee is reacting? Flexibility is not a problem, when I warm up, I start with no weight, then half weight, and with both I can do squats with my thighs below parallel to standing without a problem.

I think I've hurt my knee from squats. Any suggestions? I feel like rest is a good idea, but I really want to finish out this challenge.

Battle log stats (in lbs) Squats 115 Bench press 75 Overhead press 60 Barbell row 85 Deadlifts 115 At the party I went to Saturday night, I did squats while holding a friend piggy back. She's super skinny, 5'1" so she's definitely under 115lbs. It was really entertaining. I think I found my new party trick.

The ode to drunk eating deserves a little of this But food success for me this week!! I made it to Saturday and was within 100 calories of my 1550 goal every day!! WAAAAHH WHHHOOOOOOOOOO!! Course it's gonna go downhill when I go out dancing tonight with some friends, but at least I'll be dancing it off, right?

Currently lifting in lbs: Squats: 105 Bench press: 75 Barbell row: 70 Overhead press: 55 Deadlift: 100 I've plateaued on everything except squats and bench press. I can feel the squats in my knees, which means a) my form might be off or I need to build core strength. So I've added core exercises as a daily thing. Mountain climbers, hanging leg lifts, V-hold, plank. I also did 5 full-body pushups today!! Callouses have been forming, so I got some weight lifting gloves and they are purple and kick ass. Lifted with them for the first time tonight. I'm really loving stronglifts, but I think next challenge I'm going to shift to a higher rep, lower weight program. I have a friend who boxes, we've had fun talking shop about lifting, and he's going to help me craft my next lifting plan. I've been doing really good with food, keeping things under the calorie count and sugar intake as low as possible. The times when it just does not work is when I am eating with friends and my will power just crumbles. It's not even the food, it's the alcohol. I'm sticking with sipping some red wine or whisky so that way I don't get loaded up with calories and sugars from mixers, but the more I drink the more I crave the junk food. I'm thinking next challenge will be a zero-alcohol policy. Still not seeing any change in measurements or weight, which is incredibly frustrating and feels like it's all for naught. But I have the muscle definition forming. That should count for something. I haven't gone dancing ONCE since I started this challenge and that laziness is ending THIS WEEK. I've been doing yoga at home, but that's just my insecure introverted side hiding from people instead of dancing the night away like I really want to. I'm thinking I need to shift towards classes. I got into yoga last fall because I started with a groupon for an unlimited month of classes. If I pay for it, I will go. Dance classes? Aerial/circus classes? I will need to decide on that. Now that I've built up strength, I think I'm ready for some aerial. (edit: Just checked out Groupon and the school I was looking to go to has a deal!! Huzzah!! Time to run away and join the circus ) I've had some wonderful victories so far, but the biggest beast is my own emotion and my own brain. It feels so good to have fitness become more a part of my life, but I've also been doing a lot of introspection and I am really incredibly unhappy with my career and my relationships and very aware that I can't fix everything all at once. I am especially feeling like there are some things in my own heart and mind that need some work first. My anxiety and my insecurities are all living just below the surface. Maybe it's because of all the change that makes it hard.

DO IT. DO. IT. NOW. All the episodes are on Amazon Prime and season 3 premieres on April 18th. Female-centric, pro-LGBT, excellent writing, the effects are so well done. The narrative they craft and the way they handle issues of identity and ownership. It really doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Tatiana kills it. Every time.

This is why I can't watch The Lego Movie anymore. It's so good, but they really lay it on heavy with that trope. Also, Buffy is my everything. Well, not my everything. But she is such a perfect example of a not-always-perfect-but-I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass heroine. Or how about Orphan Black? Because THAT show is definitely my everything. Tatiana Maslany kicks major ass.

Let's put some more NERD into this fitness. And a little MCU to round it out:

OMG THAT IS THE BEST THING EVER. Also -- I know this guy went viral, but I'm still super impressed

Yeah I'm super into it. My sister started the Body For Life program Jan 1st and I'm already lifting heavier than her. Even though I may not have changed in weight or size I already feel way more confident in my body because I can handle so much more than I was used to.

Hello, world! I have been a busy busy bee. So the fact that I have checked in is actually a good thing because I was prioritizing my challenge goals over the forums. See how I turned that around? But for serious -- let's do a check-in. Week one was a little hit and miss, I only got one weights day in because I was at my mom's for the weekend and she is a 45 minute drive from pretty much everything. The other problem with family is that they try to shove lots of food and sweets at you and it feels so rude to say no. My sister was much better at doing that than I was. But I signed up for a 24hr Fitness to do the weight training! Unfortunately, it's a popular gym, so when Stronglifts should only take 30 mins, it takes an hour waiting on other people. I find great amusement doing weights next to vain, burly men though. Stronglifts: I've logged 3 workout A's and 2 workout B's so far. I'm using their app, which is soooo helpful because with all the waiting in between sets I forget how many sets I've done or whether I've waited long enough. I am loving the weight lifting. Feeling strong makes me feel more confident in my body, even though the losing fat part seems to be a slower process. Last lifted in lbs: Squats 75 Bench press 65 Barbell row 70 Overhead press 50 Dead lift 80 I'm also doing chin-ups/pull-ups. 72lbs of assistance for chin-ups. 90lbs for pull-ups. My measurements haven't changed all that drastically. My waist is maybe a 1/4" down? But I'm seeing definition in my arms, shoulders, thighs, and stomach even with the layer of fat lying over it. My doctor's scale said 198 during the week I started this challenge, but my at-home scale said 190. And I've stayed at 190 with all the muscle I'm building, so I take that as a good sign. Any suggestions on what to do while waiting for other people to finish their sets on barbells? Sometimes I've done the workout in a different order, but it ends up feeling weird. Yoga/dancing: I've done way more at-home yoga than I have dancing. So I need to step up my game with that. But I'm very conscious of the fact that with the weight training, I need to stretch a lot to keep from tensing or cramping up. I have been doing 10-20mins of yoga post-weights in addition to 45mins on the other days. Food: I'm doing pretty well here and I'm slowly moving into Paleo. I'm using MyFitnessPal to track my calorie intake. When I've done this before, I've gotten obsessive and dishonest with myself, but I'm not doing that this time. Not sure what has changed mentally about it. I'm not entering in exercise into the app, because no matter what exercise I do, I want to stay within a certain range and it subtracts calories with exercise entries. My limit is 1500 a day. I count it as a successful food day if I'm within 100 cals of that and if I ate one serving or less of non-veggie carbs (bread, pasta, etc). Giving into sweets has been about once/twice a week. I usually do intermittent fasting on days that I work, just chugging tea all day at the office. I haven't played to many RPGs in my lifetime, so I'm learning about the points system and leveling up. Here is what I landed with for this challenge: Stronglifts: +4 STR +1 STA Yoga/dancing +3 DEX +2 CHA Food +3 CON Life quest (money) +2 WIS

I'm a new Assassin!! Newly assassinated? This is my second challenge on Nerd Fitness First challenge is here, which was focused on building a workout habit. This 6 week challenge is all about leveling up on strength and kicking my bad eating habits in the ass. Accountabilibuddies wanted. Workouts Sun, Wed, Fri: Stronglifts 5x5 program Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat: yoga, swing dancing, or BOTH Goal: 18/18 weight days, 20/24 yoga/dance days Food Paleo as much as possible Non-veggies carbs are okay 2-3x/week, but cannot exceed more than one meal in one day Added sugars/desserts not allowed (72%+ dark chocolate okay) Fruit okay, but not too frequently 1 free day a week is okay, but try to avoid it Goal = 35/42 days Paleo Life Quest Financial stability and time management My nerdom: Doctor Who (and any other British TV show) and the MCU. I also cosplay and table top. Future goals: aerial silks and pole dancing Really excited to get strong!! Love weight lifting, love dancing, now's the time to commit to doing it right instead of half-assing it. Encouragements, advice, critiques are all welcome.

Finished with: - 1in lost and kept off - Consistent 3x/week workouts with Beginner Bodywieght - Consistent yoga 1-2x/week - Food goals could have been better - Did not do any sprint training - Went swing dancing twice over the 6 weeks - Discovered that pull-ups/chin-ups are in my future All in all, could have pushed myself more, but I'm happy with my successes. Feeling stronger is a significant improvement. I disappeared in the last two weeks because I was super busy with the Gallifrey One con and I got sick immediately after. Working on crafting the next challenge goals is difficult for me. I feel like I'm juggling too many things at once and I need to just focus and taper down with what's important.