Creativity Fuel

Hey, all you magnificent people, you! ❤ I’ve been trying some different things this past week to spark my creativity and keep the flames a-going. It made me wonder if you guys ever decide to “set the mood” so to speak for your creative endeavors? Do you find that certain things seem to lend themselves to making for a better creative day?

If I’m not making any sense, which I very well may not be, bear with me. 😉 I’ve noticed that certain times of year, like the fall or during rainy/stormy days, I tend to feel more inspired. Another element that is, more often than not, very crucial in my writing utility belt is caffeine. I’ve noticed that good writing days often revolve around a variety of things that I find comforting so I figured why not make a point of setting up several of these things all at once?

As I get ready to venture forward into today’s writing journey, I’m surrounded by pillows (seriously, we have a major pillow/throw blanket addiction in this home), I have two candles burning so that the room smells like hazelnut coffee and cinnamon baked goods, I’ve got my caffeinated beverage, and I’m playing some lo-fi rainy lazy ambient music in the background. I’ve noticed I tend to write better while listening to strictly instrumental music (hence why I have an extra fondness for video game soundtracks). 😛

I’ve also got the ceiling fan going so I can feel a slight breeze. Basically I’m attempting to emulate a rainy autumn day, I suppose. Luckily, it is nice and gray outside, which also helps. 🙂

Anywayyyy, that’s it from me today. What are your thoughts? What do you do to feel inspired? Do you have any sort of creative ritual or do you prefer to dive right in and just go for it? 🙂

 

 

Advertisement

Happy Halloween, My Dears!

What a wickedly wonderful October it has been! Now that we’ve finally arrived at this most excellent of holidays, I just want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Halloween! ❤ November is nearly upon us, which means my month long blogging hiatus I mentioned previously is about to commence. It’s all in the spirit of NaNoWriMo and I will miss each and every one of you in November, but I shall return come December. (Hopefully with news of a successful NaNoWriMo.) 😉

To those of you also participating in the challenge, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing how you do when the month comes to an end.

Now, let’s get back to the Halloween talk, shall we?? 😀 This Halloween was basically a month-long affair for me. Between doing Halloween-related activities all throughout the month at work and nomming on ALL the pumpkin goodies, I also squeezed in some ghastly good times binging on horror movies/shows and partaking in frightening festivities. The highlight of which has been, without a doubt, the big halloween bash that is Detroit’s very own Theatre Bizarre! Mr. Moth and I attended the event, hosted in the Detroit Masonic Temple (the largest Masonic temple in the world) where they transformed eight floors into a wonderland of curiosities and Halloween delight.

With burlesque performances, live bands, fire dancers, contortionists, body suspension, a ghost train, and so much more, we wound up being up well into the early hours of the morning hustling around to see as many of the sights as we could.

One of the rules for entry into the event is that costumes are absolutely mandatory. We decided to go in matching black and white attire and dress up as skeletons for the night. Originally, the plan was to get our makeup professionally done, but the makeup place was booked the day of the event so I sucked it up and bought the needed cosmetics and ended up doing our makeup myself. I’ve never tried doing face paint before, but I’m pretty happy with how our makeup turned out. We got a lot of compliments throughout the night from people. 🙂

The Gruesome Twosome (Mr. Moth and I) in our costumes.

It was utterly amazing seeing the way they transformed the historic building into a sort of hellish vaudevillian escape. It was something I’d been wanting to experience for myself for some time, so I’m beyond happy that we went.

 

I hope each of you has been having an equally fun October and has a wonderful Halloween! Looking forward to catching up with everyone come December when NaNoWriMo and my month-long blogging hiatus come to an end. ❤ Take care, everyone!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Oh, and here is my final Inktober drawing. Wish I’d had time to do more of them throughout the month, but it is what it is! 😛

Plague Doctor

 

 

The Eclectic Blogger Award

It is always an honor and literally brings a smile to my face whenever I get nominated for a blogger award or tagged for one of the many fun tags floating around out there. Despite how much I always appreciate being nominated for tags/awards, I must confess that I am a forgetful master of procrastination who is normally horrible about getting around to actually doing them.

Buuuuut, when the lovely Shameful Narcissist created, and was kind enough to nominate me for The Eclectic Blogger Award, well, of course I am going to participate in that! 😀

So, what is The Eclectic Blogger Award you may ask? And what are the rules, you also ask? Allow me to bestow you with the answers to those burning questions:

“The Eclectic Blogger Award is presented to those blogs that are both eclectic and engaging, where conversation flows freely, where new and different ideas are always welcome.  It’s to recognize blogs that always have interesting content to match the amazing, creative, and hard-working creators that make them possible.  These are the blogs that inspire you to read, watch, play, and/or create content to further enhance not only the blogosphere but also the general zeitgeist, because they themselves enrich it with their existence.”

THE RULES

• Nominate whomever and however many bloggers you want for the award.
• Share links from your blog for some of your favorite (or most eclectic!) posts.

So, that said, let the nominations commence!!

Read Rant Rock & Roll: Flower Fridays, Music Mondays, book reviews, Breakfast and a Book posts, adorable pets, this blog has a lot to offer and definitely falls under the category of eclectic. There’s always a fun variety of posts to enjoy and topics to discuss.

The Happiest Pixel: Tasty recipes, creative writing tips, and a variety of other types of posts, there’s a lot of different things going on at this blog. Speaking of their tasty recipes, this blog is a bounty of meatless recipes, so if you just so happen to be vegetarian or vegan you’re bound to find some delicious ideas for things to make at home and promptly stuff in your face! 😛

Imperial Rebel Ork: The passionate hobby of creating and painting miniatures is a big focus at this awesome blog, but IRO also presents a variety of questions and topics meant to get us bloggers talking, like his recent “Real Life Vs. Hobby Life” post. Creativity and hobbies are definitely the fuel that sets the blog ablaze and it’ll no doubt inspire you to make more time to enjoy your own hobbies as well. I’m always blown away at the variety and creativity in his work.

All the Trinkets: This amazing feel-good blog is just filled to the brim with inspiration, motivation, humorous and endearing writing, as well as tips for personal growth. She also shares her own struggles, triumphs, and creative endeavors with us in the process, making it extremely relatable and a great place for discussion among bloggers!

Invisibly Me: This is another inspiring blog that I just can’t help but admire. 🙂 Spanning topics like invisible illnesses and awareness, Frugal Friday posts, and product picks, there’s always something to be discussed. I’m also always impressed by this lovely bloggers openness and fantastic and inspiring outlook on things.

Aaaand even though I always tag these 2 ladies for things when I actually do tag people and even though one of them MADE this award, I gotta mention my BFF and partner in crime and general mayhem Cupcakes and Machetes along with the always-awesome and impressively organized The Shameful Narcissist. If you enjoy honest book reviews, yummy recipes, adorable pet photos, and only the cheesiest of puns, these blogs are for you! 😀

There are so many other blogs I could (and want to) nominate, but I’ll spread that love on another day because after this dreadfully stressful day I am amazed I’ve managed to keep my eyes open long enough to make this post. Sleep calls to meeee . . .

Thanks, as always, for reading. ❤ This is a snazzy new award, so if it looks like something you’d like to participate in just jump on in, and help spread this baby across the blogosphere. 🙂

 

 

 

2017 Scrapbook Tag

One of the interesting things about the new year is always reflecting on the one we just left behind. I was tagged by the awesome Read Rant and Rock & Roll for this fun 2017 Scrapbook Tag. If you already aren’t acquainted with their spectacular blog, you should definitely stop on by and change that, because you’re missing out. 😉 There’s always fun posts about books, movies, music, and other goodness.

TV Series:

Movies:

Albums:

I am so drawing a blank at this category for some reason. I listen to music all the time, but I got nothin’ right now. Sorry!

Books:

Celebrities:

Like the “album” category, this was another tough section for me to answer, but I couldn’t drop the ball twice in one post, could I? 😛 Some of these people may not be “celebrities” in the traditional sense of the word, but this is my blog and I do what I want! 😉

I Tag:

I normally am lazy and don’t actually tag people, but what the hell? Let’s do this!

Cupcakes and Machetes

Imperial Rebel Ork

Reads and Reels

The Shameful Narcissist Speaks

The Maniacal Unicorn

Luna @ GamersUnitedGG Blog

Touch My Spine Reviews

 

Getting Festive

Happy Holidayyyys! ❤ Today is Christmas Eve and with all the recent and upcoming festivities I wanted to squeeze some time in to pop in and say Merry Christmas since I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to tomorrow. 🙂

Last night we met up with my boyfriend’s family’s for their annual bake-a-thon, where we baked and decorated an arsenal of Christmas cookies. Shapes ranged from reindeer to unicorns and everything in between. Seriously, I mean everything in between. We also had an armadillo-shaped cookie and a penis-shaped cookie because inappropriate baked goods are funny. His mom also made these delicious pastries called Rugelach.

We’re celebrating tonight’s Christmas Eve at my boyfriend’s parents’ house, and Christmas over with my family so I’m pretty excited. I feel like I did a lot of holiday stuff this year. More than I think I usually do, so while all the running around can be stressful and tiring at times, it did make for a particularly festive holiday season so far. 🙂

Some of the holiday highlights included:

Visiting a historical village’s Holiday Nights event. It was really cool walking around after dark, learning some interesting stuff and seeing the rambunctious “murmurers” in action. I didn’t know anything about this old “murmuring” holiday tradition, but apparently it involves revelers of the season dressing up in disguises to go house-to-house for food and drink and partying it up. So, it’s kind of like Halloween at Christmas for adults, except you get booze instead of candy. Not too shabby, in my opinion. Why the heck did we do away with this awesome tradition?

Goings to an outdoor Kringle Market and shopping around for lots of goodies, including my new favorite dessert, The Christmas Kronut. This was my second year going, and although the crowd can be a bit much, I plan on going again next year. It was a lot of fun. 🙂

Christmas shopping for my loved ones is always a fun thing to do. I love when you find someone the perfect gift and then seeing the look on their face when they open it. I will say, though: I normally quite dislike wrapping the presents. It’s just tedious. lol My attention span has never been in it. I moaned and groaned the whole way through it, but I think I actually did a decent job wrapping gifts this year. I’m not known for my wrapping skills, in fact, I’m known for purposely wrapping the gifts in a manner that makes it look like a toddler did it. Or a drunk uncle. One or the other.

The work holiday party was also a lot of fun. I’ve mentioned before that I work as a program instructor at a day program for adults with special needs. I love my job every day, but seeing all their faces light up when they got to meet Santa Clause and taking our room caroling around the entire building was just so nice. We sang fun, upbeat songs like Jingle Bell Rock, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, etc. and had a bunch of fun instruments for everyone to play. We did a big potluck and since I baked a bunch of stuff for the last couple work parties I decided to take it easy on myself for this one and brought in rolls and made a some delicious Garlic Parmesan Butter to go with them.

Minus some stressful family medical issues that have luckily since been improving, the last month of 2017 has been a pretty good one. 🙂 I’m excited to see what the new year will bring. I hope you guys all enjoy what’s left of the holiday season and have plenty of festivities of your own! ❤

The Christmas Tag!

I’m feeling festive this year, so when I saw this cute little Christmas tag posted by The Happiest Pixel I decided to join in on the holiday fun! 🙂 Fun Fact: I used to be a total Grinch til Cupcakes and Machetes made it her personal mission to show me the joys of the holiday season. I was skeptical at first but have slowly come to enjoy Christmas and the chaos that comes with it. 😛

1.) What is your favorite Christmas film?

I actually have a few. 🙂 It’s no secret that I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s definitely a holiday staple. I’ve also always enjoyed Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration and the more recent Krampus film from 2015.

Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration

2.) Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

It’s always been fake, except for one year. That was the year my cat turned into the Hulk and took down an entire pine tree, bringing it and all it’s decorations crashing to the floor. Cats seriously up their dickhead game this time of year.

3.) What is your favorite Christmas song?

Carol of the Bells has been my favorite for a good while now. 🙂

4.) What is your favorite Christmas scent?

Hmmm . . . I really like cinnamon scented things, especially around Christmas. It reminds me of when my mom helped my brother and I make cinnamon ornaments for the tree when we were kids. For several years I was pretty obsessed with Bath & Bodyworks’ Vanilla Bean Noel scent, but I kind of burnt myself out on it.

5.) Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

It’s usually pretty laid back. I pretty much just enjoy the company of who I’m with and we open one present that night. I’ve always done that since I was a kid. I think a lot of people do it, too.

6.) Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?

See the above question. 😉

7.) What tops your Christmas tree?

Well, this year the only tree I’ve decorated so far is the one my room at work decorated, and we have a big beautiful silver bow on top. We’ll see what the other two trees I have yet to help decorate will be topped with this go around.

8.) What is the best thing about Christmas for you?

Spending time with my loved ones and doing all the festive activities with them leading up to the actual holiday. Also, the book club I’m in always has a fun Christmas party to look forward to.

9.) What is your favorite festive food or treat?

As of this year, I’d have to say that damn tasty Christmas Kronut I was just raving about in my last blog post. Other faves include the chocolate candy cane doughnut from Tim Hortons, the Bigby Peppermint Mocha Latte . . . basically anything chocolate and peppermint, apparently.

10.) What is on top of your Christmas wish list this year?

Trump’s removal from office. A girl can dream, can’t she? 😛

If you’re up to doing this holiday tag, have at it, and please let me know because I’d love to read your answers! 🙂

Horror Television Intros

Hey, guys! Hope you’re ready for another horror-related post as Halloween continues to creep up on us. 😀 One of my favorite things about horror-themed television shows, has always been the spooky intros. A good intro/theme song just really sets the mood for the scares about to come. I’m making this post to give some credit where nightmare-inducing-credit is due, so let’s get this party started. In no particular order, here are some of the intros to television shows that perfectly set the tone for the creepy show to follow it. Bonus Points for those of you who get some nostalgia outta this! 😉

---

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

This show may have been aimed for kids, but that intro definitely creeped many a child (and adult) out, with the eerie music and child laughter, and that ugly ass hobo clown doll. Much like the intro itself, the show was kid-friendly, but still managed to slip in some things that were bound to haunt our sweet, impressionable little minds for years to come.

---

Tales From the Darkside

Things start off innocently enough in this intro, with pretty countryside views of the normal everyday world, but then the music and narration takes a sudden turn for the creepy. I loved watching this show, and whether it was daylight or not, that intro always got me ready for the chilling stories to come.

---

Twilight Zone

This is probably the most iconic intro to make my list, and a prime example of an “oldie but a goodie”. It’s an intro theme known by older and younger generations alike, and with good reason.

---

Tales From the Crypt

Speaking of “iconic”, this theme song was enough to have many a child running to hide under their blankets when they heard it come on. A classic through and through.

---

Goosebumps

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit, this show did not age so well, but who cares? Goosebumps may be cheesy now that we’re older, but I loved it growing up, and I sure as hell loved that intro (even with that dog barking along with the tune). 😛

---

So, those are MY picks for my favorite horror-themed show intros, but how about you? Do you have any you think deserve a shout out? Hope you guys had fun with this post and that each of you is enjoying your weekend. 😀

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (No-Spoiler) Review

This was such an interesting story, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to read for quite some time. It had been hard to find (and pretty pricey!) but with the recent (and much more reasonably priced) addition of The Asylum to the kindle, there was no way I could resist snatching that baby up! Emilie Autumn has never shied away from discussing topics like mental illness and the history of abuse women have suffered throughout history in her songs and poems, and her book The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls sure as hell doesn’t shy away from it, either.

“Fight Like A Girl”

It’s hard to categorize this book into any one genre since it is written in a way that reflects the author’s actual time spent in a psych ward, but also tells the fictional and horrific (but sometimes darkly magical) tale of a fictional girl named Emily living in a Victorian era asylum. In the book, our author Emilie learns the tale of the Victorian Emily “with a Y” through mysterious letters she finds during her stay in the psych ward. I guess “Historical Magic Realism with a dash of Nonfiction thrown in for good measure” would be my best attempt at categorizing it? No matter, though, it’s just a really interesting story that discusses things most people choose to ignore concerning mental illness and the Victorian “polite society” so many people are quick to romanticize.

If you’re already a fan of Emilie Autumn’s music, I’m sure you’ll have a fair idea of what to expect within the pages of this story. She’s got a dark and witty sense of humor, and she can weave words in a way that will both enchant you and disturb you. This story definitely reflects that. It has moments that will warm your heart and others that will rip it right out of you again.

I really enjoyed this book and by the time I reached the second half of it I pretty much devoured the remainder of the story in one sitting, refusing to pry myself away until I’d finished. I would definitely recommend it, but will warn readers that it does discuss dark subject matter concerning suicide, rape, the horrific treatment people were subjected to in asylums like lobotomies and forced-hysterectomies, all manners of abuse, etc. It definitely takes some artistic liberties, but that’s part of Miss Autumn’s storytelling I’ve always enjoyed, so I embraced the fantasy-like elements along with the more gritty and realistic ones. Definitely glad I finally got to read this one. 🙂

And just for fun, here’s a lyric video of one of Emilie Autumn’s songs that serves as a satire about the treatment of women back in the Victorian era when it came to mental illness (please keep in mind that women could be institutionalized for all manner of things including masturbation, domestic troubles with their husband or family, and other ridiculous reasons back then.) A lot of things in this song might sound far-fetched by today’s standards, but treating those in asylums like zoo animals for the public to behold was a very real and messed up thing back in those days. History definitely isn’t always pleasant, but it is something we can (and should) learn from so we can better treat our fellow man and learn from our past ignorance.

Last Time I . . .

Decided to do a post about recent “Lasts” because why the heck not? 🙂

Last Thing I baked: Last night I had the chocolate craving to end all chocolate cravings so I baked fudge brownies with chopped up Milky Way candy bar in it. I’d never tried making brownies with chopped candy bar in them, but I will definitely do it again. The bits of Milky Way were so melty and delicious!

Truer words have never been spoken.

Last Book I finished Reading: I recently got around to finally finishing Golden Son by Pierce Brown (second book of his Red Rising Trilogy). It was so good! I liked it even better than the first one. 5/5 stars!

Last Photo I Took: Caught Bailey after she had crawled into my travel bag and made a bed out of it. It’s a poor quality pic because I took it with my crap-tastic phone, but it was too cute not to snap a picture of. 🙂

Last Song Listened to: The Birthday Massacre- In the Dark.

Last Movie I Saw In Theaters: Power Rangers! lol Yeah, I went and paid adult dollars to go see it. (Actually my boyfriend did, but still, don’t you judge me.) 😛

Last Food I Ate: Nachos! Had them for dinner earlier. 🙂

Last Outfit I Wore: I’m in my pajamas because whenever you get home for the day and don’t have to go anywhere it is considered “Fuck Pants O’clock”. My pajamas make no sense today, I’ll admit it. I have on an old Cannibal Corpse band T-shirt with light blue Pajama bottoms that have cute little penguins all over them. Murder on the top, Cuteness on the bottom!

If you want to answer the same questions in the comment area, feel free to have at it! Perhaps we have the same tragically mismatched taste in bedtime attire, or both enjoyed a bounty of nachos for dinner? Only one way to find out! 😛

QUESTIONS:

Last Thing You Baked?

Last Book You Finished Reading?

Last Photo You took?

Last Song You Listened To?

Last Movie You Saw In Theaters?

Last Food You Ate?

Last Outfit You Wore?

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

“Tale as old as time . . . Song as old as rhyme . . . Beauty and the Beast.”

Beauty and the Beast (1991) is definitely a favorite among many Disney fans. So when the new live action version of the film opened in theaters this past weekend, hopes were high to say the least. I think a lot of people had their torches and pitchforks at the ready just in case.

I, for one, LOVED it. The film was visually stunning. Emma Watson made a fantastic Belle, and the rest of the cast shined in their roles as well. The movie really stayed true to the animated version, but also added in more backstory and expanded on the relationships (friendships included) of so many of the characters. One of the characters I found much more fleshed out and enjoyable in this version was Gaston’s sidekick, LeFou, a character who has recently stirred a lot of controversy due to *MILDEST OF SPOILERS* his character being Disney’s first openly gay character in one of their films. Kudos to Disney for finally taking this important step in the right direction. To any of the theaters that refused to play this movie due to it having a gay character in it I simply say “Shame on you” and also “Your loss. Because LeFou is the shit.” ❤

The characters were awesome, but so was the music. The film included all of your favorite Beauty and the Beast songs as well as a few new ones. Nearly 24 hours later I still have the songs stuck in my head. And I am NOT complaining. 😉

I just want to gush and gush about this movie, but I will only say one more thing before I end this. If you think you enjoyed the library scene in the original, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!