Queens Birthday Weekend: Armageddon

I'm not going to lie to you guys - this Queens birthday weekend was pretty much the worst long weekend EVER.

I had my plans laid out - I knew Rich had quite a bit of study to do, so my simple plan was Armageddon with Ria on Saturday, Craft day at a friends house on Sunday and finally a day spent with Rich celebrating our twelve year anniversary on Sunday.

The only thing I was able to do was go to Armageddon, and when I was at that I was feeling a bit iffy.

I'm sick, sick, sick, sick.....I went to the doctor and held told me it could be a virus or an infection? So take some painkillers and keep warm for a few days and if you get XYZ syptoms then move onto the big guns - the antibiotics *sigh*

I'm going to be honest with you guys, because of the "sickness" I didn't enjoy Armageddon as much as I did in past years.

Also I ran out of time to get a "real" costume together, which I was a little sad about. It's always much better when some cosplay is involved.

I took this photo walking to the stadium where the event was being held - those guys in front of me are actually stormtroopers. 

This year was much bigger and busier than previous years - I'm not sure if I like it being so busy, or maybe I didn't like it because I was feeling kind of sick. Who can tell. Anyways this year Ria had a stall with a couple of her friends. 

I'm pretty excited as its not just a stall - she has started her own business called  "Rebel Traders"

Here's some of the pretties they had for sale at their stall - so many fun things!

Look at the tiny legos in this necklace - how cute!

Hair bows to let you live out your sailor moon dreams!

 Look at the tiny pigs on these bloomers - squee! 

 One of Ria's friends was doing hair and make up styling and also putting on elf ears at the stall -this was her impressive kit!

Also there was a very good collection of lollies at the stall - we caught at least one kid stuffing his pockets with lollies!

I decided to take a stall selfie - because reasons. Also I am wearing green horns, because its Armageddon.

I'm going to be honest with you guys, I wasn't as impressed with costumes this year as I have been other years. But I really think its because I was feeling sick and uninspired. 

However, I was pretty wowed when I met Sally from "A Nightmare Before Christmas". Also I have decided never to straighten my hair again - just let it work its wild, messy magic.

I was also lucky enough to meet someone from Gallifrey - impressive right?

This lady made the impressive shoulder thingee with some stuff called Worbla that she bought from Ria.

I nearly forgot Ria's costume was amazing - duh! Although she had multiple costume changes throughout the day.

I did check out a few of the other stalls - but not too much grabbed me. But how cute is this wee guy?

Finally  a quick BFF shot of Ria and I - unfortunately I didn't make it to the end of the day, as I wasn't feeling great and it all became a wee bit too much. Bummer.

So thoughts on Armageddon 2014 - well to be honest, I didn't have as much fun as previous years, but honesty I was feeling SICK and I think that's why. But it was also a LOT busier than previous years and there seemed to be a lot more bought costumes and a lot less DIY costumes and the DIY costumes are always my favourite part of Armageddon! Will I go next year? More than likely yes and I will hopefully be able to set aside some time to make a costume. My Hell Bunny dress is fun - but its no where near as fun as a real costume (lets fact it - I could wear this dress to work - by Wellington standards its not anything too unusual).

Also if I could NOT be sick next year - that would be awesome, actually if I could stop feeling sick right now that would kind of be awesome.

Armaggedon 2013 - Sugar Skull Ladies!

Last weekend was Armageddon - no not the end of the world. The Armageddon Expo is a yearly event of "pop culture" - whatever that means. Basically its the closest thing we have in New Zealand to Comic Con.

So I'm not hugely into Anime or Comics - but I am into dressing up in costume and usually there are tonnes of fun costumes and a general good vibe at Armageddon.

Before I went to the USA Ria and I agreed to dress as Rarity and Rainbow Dash. But I kind of forgot how soon after my return for the USA Armageddon was and I also didn't account for being sick so I just ran out of time to make my costume.

Ria was able to wear her Rarity costume when she went to Armageddon on Saturday with her boyfriend and we agreed to just wear "really cute outfits" when we went together on Monday (which was a public holiday). 

But over the weekend I bought this dress from Cosmic and I had a sudden bolt of inspiration - why don't we go as sugar skull ladies! So that's what we did - not bad for a last minute costume idea.

Ria did her own make-up as she is super good at that kind of thing - Rich did my make up as he's a total rockstar when it comes to this kind of thing.

I'm pretty sure I was the "scary" sugar skull lady - what do you think? 

Here's a few photos of some of the folks we met at Armageddon:

Princess Bubblegum - SERIOUSLY how cute is this girl!

Sarah from Labyrith (how incredible is her costume!)

I also met a lady Tardis - I loved this girls costume, so simple but effective. She told me she picked up the dress for only $3 and then turned it into a tardis. Also the wee hat she is wearing lit up!

Ria met up with one of her friends from costuming school - I don't know what character she was (I think its something from a game) but I DO know it was amazing!

Finally I met a lady Jigsaw and her costume was incredible - we took this super creepy photo together because I love being creepy!

So that was my Armageddon 2013 - I have to admit I was tired and run down and recovering from illness and travel but I am totally glad I went and I think our costumes were pretty awesome. Also I love being creepy xoxox

Fun Weekend Times - Including Armageddon Photos!

Hello Folks! I am finally doing a blog post! Phew! The last week was crazy in every way - work is very busy at the moment and last week I went extra hard at the gym and I saw three movies at the cinema (as the World Cinema Showcase is on at the moment) and one play.

I thought first up I need to answer a few questions people had for me - first of all a few people asked where I bought the blank shoe clips to make these. I bought them off Ebay - I think I got about 10 pairs for $5, I can't remember the name of the store but I don't think it would be too hard to find some cheap shoe clips on ebay to make your own version.

Secondly, people asked what play we went to see - well it was one at Bats which is one of our local theatres here in Wellington. The play we saw was "Nucking Futs" and the byline was "Some people just shouldn't have the internet".

Finally CB asked if I would do an outfit post which included the Strawberry Dress I wore in a recent post about Singapore. I would love to do that - but I recently gave that dress away to a friend, sorry. You seen I had already taken the dress in twice over the months as I have been losing weight. It got to the stage where if I took it in any more it would have just looked plain weird. So I decided to give it to a good friend of mine who I knew would love it.

Finally onto this weekend, we after the craziness of last week I really just wanted a chilled out Saturday. My friend Emi came over in the afternoon for a "Crafternoon" and I finished up my Princess Bubblegum costume for Armageddon.

In the evening Rich and I went out for dinner at an "Eat out Asian" night that was happening less than five minutes down the road from us. Very close to our apartment is a group of shops called "Willis Village" which has a Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurant and last night they had a food event where you could try food from all three different restaurants in one night. Plus they had lanterns and lights, outdoor seating and music.

Rich and I bought something from each country - the rice paper spring roll from Vietnam, Teriyaki Chicken from Japan and soondubu chigae from Korea.

This morning we woke up and the sun was shining so decided to take a walk in the botanical gardens - there was suppose to be a Harvest Festival on at the gardens, but really that just meant a couple of pretty small display tables. I was a little disappointed as I had read they had a "biggest pumpkin" competition and I thought I was going to see some crazy 100 kilo pumpkin, but there was nothing quite as exciting as that. But it was a beautiful sunny day so it was hard to be too disappointed.

After the gardens it was time to head home and dress for "Armageddon" - I was excited! My first ever cosplay costume - I kind of felt like "I am now a sewer - because I can make a costume". First up here's a couple of photos taken back at our apartment of the Princess Bubblegum costume.

Then next up its onto the main event - Armageddon!!

 I met up with my friend Ross at Armageddon - yah! 

 I also met this Avatar dude - now that's commitment to your costume! 

 I met a "mini-Finn" his Mum and Dad REALLY wanted this photo - I'm not so sure that he was keen though.

 We met Totoro and it was so exciting! Totoro chased after Ross to give him a big hug as well.

 There were loads of people dress up as Anime characters - I know very little about Anime but I thought these two looked pretty amazing.

Yah! It's ADVENTURE TIME!!

I had a great time at Armageddon, I was a little bit nervous before I left as I thought that my costume might not be "up to scratch" but I think it was pretty rad. I was expecting to see at least one other Princess Bubblegum - but there wasn't any others. Well, not that I saw anyway.

I did make a few purchases from Armageddon - the first is this adorable "Ninja Bear" it's made locally in New Zealand by Chibi Crafts & Designs in Auckland. This Ninja is "Sushi Ninja" but you guys may have already worked that one out.

 Next up is some Hello Kitty goodness (of course) - I bought this one as part of a "mystery box". Basically when you buy the box, you don't know which kitty you will get. This series included 10 different Hello Kitties all dressed in different national costumes. My Hello Kitty is Kenyan Hello Kitty - Rich's Dad is Kenyan and he visited Kenya as a child and he is unconvinced at the authenticity of the national costume. I still think it's pretty cute though.

 Finally (and this is my favourite) GLOOMY BEAR WRITING PAPER! I love Gloomy Bear, its the ultimate in creepy cute. I was so excited to find this, I almost don't want to write any letters on it because I love it so much.

Finally - Rich, Ross and I finished off the afternoon with a coffee (well a tea for Rich and I) at "Memphis Belle". When we sat down I saw someone had done this drawing on the chalkboard and I thought it was pretty amazing.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend - mine isn't quite over yet, Rich and I have one final movie to watch tonight at the World Cinema Showcase.