Monthly Archives: July 2017

The Awakening of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

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The Awakening of Sunshine Girl (The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, #2)The Awakening of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh boy. Sequels. Sequels have so much potential. I feel like this sequel squandered most of its potential. The book picks up a short while after the first, and it completely glosses over Sunshine meeting her birth father and jumps right into “let’s sit and have a lot of exposition.” Which was kind of a disappointment. And then the book ended up falling into a messy jumble where nothing happens, like when you’re in the middle of knitting and your ball of yarn rolls away and gets tangled up. Sunshine ends up going to Mexico (Mexico?) to a remote jungle where her birth father wants to train her. And of course she leaves Blond Boy Next Door behind and meets Brunet Exotic Bad Boy (the standard YA love triangle). But most of the resulting story is an endless training montage with non sequitor demon encounters that don’t really do anything to further the plot, they just remind you that “scary things are happening but meanwhile let’s talk some more about Sunshine wearing ratty clothes and becoming the best Looseach.

( I know I sound like I hate the book. I really don’t hate it, I was just super disappointed and I’m kind of salty about it.)

It honestly doesn’t feel like anything happened in the book. Like if you asked me to summarzie the book in one sentence it would probably be “Sunshine trains a lot and is torn between two boys.” And mixed into the training montage are lots of weird moments- her mother trying to seduce Nolan for her own purposes, her father being a cardboard cutout of emotionless mystery, her best friend driving from Texas to Mexico and then they drive to Mexico to the Pacific Northwest with barely a mention of WOW THAT’S A LONG TRIP. And then there’s the messy plotline about characters from the first book suddenly reappearing, and the book’s inevitable cliffhanger. Thank goodness there’s a third book, because this book was a hot mess. I still read it, and I’m still glad I read it because it’s a nice little series, but this particular book was very weak. I would never recommend it as a standalone book, and I think it’ll be more palatable once I’ve read the next one. But the jury will have to stay out on that one until then.

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The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

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The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, #1)The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not even going to lie, I read this book because I kept seeing it at Target and the cover intrigued me. I finally picked it up at the local library and gave it a try. It has the same problem I keep running into with a lot of the magical realism young adult novels I pick up- the story keeps me reading but I don’t care at all about the characters. Sunshine is very much a stock young adult heroine- frizzy haired, endearingly clumsy, and obsessed with wearing Goodwill clothing, yet somehow incredibly attractive. Nolan, the male love interest, is another stock photo whose only unique quality was that he wore his grandfather’s leather jacket. To be completely honest, I read this back to back with How to Hang a Witch (another book I initially spotted at Target) and I keep mixing up characters between the books. They’re way too boring and similar. But, also like How to Hang a Witch, I kept reading for the plot. Which, upon completion, wasn’t nearly as exciting as I’d hoped it would be. I didn’t find it very scary and I found myself predicting a lot of the plot elements. I still finished it and still enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the unique horror story that I was hoping for.

(And on a very pedantic level, it really annoyed me that the pronunciation of “luiseach” was spoken by a character specifically as “loo-seach.” It’s…it’s supposed to be from Gaelic, right? So shouldn’t it be “loo-shawk”? Right? Or was this simply a word made up by the author?)

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The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue

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The Stolen ChildThe Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been fascinated by changelings since I was little, and I was immediately interested to see a mainstream adult book about them. (Usually you only see changelings in young adult novels.) It was an absorbing read, bouncing back and forth between Henry Day, the former changeling in a new body, and Aniday, the former boy in a changeling’s body. The book picks up in the late 40s, the day the boy and the changeling switch, and goes back and forth between their points of view. It’s fascinating to watch the changeling slowly becoming more and more human, and vice versa. What adds more depth to the story is the revelation that Henry, before he was Henry and before he was a changeling, was a totally different child. Watching the pieces slowly fall into place make the book a pleasure to read. The pacing is languid and steady, and picks up to nearly frantic as Henry (now an adult) and Aniday (still a child, but one who has lived for twenty extra years) come closer and closer to interacting with each other. All in all, the book is an unexpected, bittersweet take on changeling lore and I will definitely want to read it again.

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Posted in cast member life, Disney, theme park life, work by

Hey friends! Today and probably will be a little bit of radio silence. I found out today that my beloved home, the Great Movie Ride, is closing in only a month. I have worked there for nearly four years and have truly loved it, so I’m having a lot of trouble wrestling with the idea of its sudden closure. In the next few weeks I’m going to have to prepare for the close, find a new work location, and take my final bows as Kate Durango and Mugsi Toccata. I’m a stubborn and resilient human, and I’m sure I’ll be fine and ready to chase my new dream soon, but right now I need to take a little time to grieve. I’ll be back soon! Any kind words and encouragement are super welcome right now. 

Coraline

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I wanted a simple Halloween costume to wear while I handed out candy, and I’m not even going to lie, I really wanted to include my cat. Luckily, I found all of the pieces for Coraline lying around my house (and also my sister’s cosplay closet).

The sweater was a Forever 21 find on eBay. Sure, it also has airplanes in the print, but it was close enough to Coraline’s star sweater! The jeans were just comfy jeggings (I was sitting around the house watching Hocus Pocus in between handing out candy; I wanted to be comfortable) and the boots are my actual rainboots from Target. The raincoat was also a lucky find at Target and I wore it until the day Hiccup peed on it. Because of course he didn’t pee on the water repellant outside, he peed on the fabric lining. It’s a good thing he’s cute.

The blue wig was in my sister’s wig storage and did not get any real styling done at all. I don’t think I even wore a wig cap with it, but really, this wasn’t a fancy costume. But it sure did look pretty cute for Halloween!

Book Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

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Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)Where She Went by Gayle Forman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh man, this book gutted me. I’ve read If I Stay several times and loved it, even though on occasion I felt like I was reading a path that had already been covered. Where She Went felt like brand new territory. Seeing everything from the point of view of Mia’s angry, bitter, vulnerable, unlikeable and somehow lovable ex boyfriend not only made for a compelling story, it shed brand new light on everything that happened in the previous book and made it seem that more poignant and believable. Now that I’ve read both books, I don’t think I’ll be able to read them separately. The two together make for one solid story and I will absolutely enjoy reading them again.

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Ariel’s Blue Dress from The Little Mermaid

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So confession time: I didn’t see The Little Mermaid until I was fifteen years old. Sad, isn’t it? I grew up in a very strict religious household and Little Mermaid had three strikes- Disney, witches, and bikini tops. So I didn’t see it until a friend let me borrow her VHS tape sophomore year and I watched it like a million times in one week. I fell in love with the movie in general, but I really wanted her blue dress. It was so sweet and dreamy (and that bow was killer!)

My senior year of college, I decided I wanted to bring that dress to life. And for some reason I decided to make it without a pattern. Why, I’ll never know, but oh well.

The hardest part was matching the colors. Sometimes her blouse looks white, sometimes light blue- I decided to go with light blue. I found the most magical sky blue cotton sateen and bought a bunch of it. The skirt, though, was a harder find, since the blue is just a shade or two off from the blouse color. I ended up buying a royal blue organza to layer over the cotton sateen, making it just a little bit darker and also adding a little bit more of a princess feel. For the bodice, I bought a navy blue suede and used some navy blue cotton in my stash for a lining.

The blouse was easy. I used McCall’s 4948, their Alice in Wonderland pattern, but cut the neckline at a deeper scoop and eliminated the collar. I also took some width out of the sleeves and lengthened them, then added an elasticized cuff. The blouse pulls right on, so no closure. Super easy!

The bodice…not so easy. For some unknown reason, I decided to cut the navy suede into multiple rectangular panels and then take it in to fit. Somehow…it worked. It wasn’t necessarily the most perfect construction, but it worked, right down to the notch at the top of the bodice. I didn’t want to invest a lot of time and money into making the bodice perfect (obviously) so instead of using punched metal eyelets, I used eyes from hooks and eyes and threaded the eyes with narrow blue ribbon. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked!

The skirt was constructed as a very full dirndl skirt. I cut the panels as rectangles and sewed them up in three separate layers- white muslin trimmed in narrow eyelet, the sky blue cotton sateen, and the royal blue organza. Then I stitched the layers together at the top and pleated them onto a waistband made of the same blue suede as the bodice, so it blended nicely. I didn’t use a zipper, just a large hook and eye, since the bottom of the bodice covered the waistband.

The bow was the final touch. Ariel’s bow is very large and very poofy, so I used the cotton sateen and literally stuffed it like a little pillow ! I added tails and stitched the whole thing to a comb that slid right into my hair.

I only wore the outfit once- weirdly enough, to a rehearsal. My university was performing the musical Guys and Dolls (I played General Cartwright) and they scheduled a rehearsal for the night of Halloween. They felt sorry for us, so they let us dress up in our Halloween costumes.  So I showed up in full Ariel regalia, complete with Flounder and Sebastian!

Recently, a friend of mine needed a Halloween costume for Not So Scary, so I took in the sides of the bodice and took in the waistband and let her borrow it! It looks super cute on her.

I’d like to go back and remake this costume- at least a new bodice and a new waistband. Maybe I’ll get around to it someday!

Anna Kyoyama from Shaman King

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Full disclosure- this is not the first time I attempted this cosplay. No, the first attempt happened when I was a little weeaboo attending her first con (where I had a terrible time). The dress was ill fitting, my makeup was bizarre, and it was raining heavily so my hair was an absolute wreck. It was…not good.

Since then, I’ve mostly outgrown my anime phase. But I still have some fondness for certain shows and certain characters. Shaman King and Anna Kyoyama are prime examples. I still have a special spot in my heart for that show and that character. So when I needed to come up with a quick and simple cosplay for Akaicon 2016, I decided to give Anna another try.

Anna’s standard outfit is very simple- black dress, red scarf (sometimes worn as a bandana), and sandals. She also wears a blue bead bracelet and a white bead rosary. The beads were the easiest- I’d gotten those together for my first version of the costume and still had them in storage. They were both purchased at Claire’s; the rosary was completed with a wooden bead painted gold and a maroon tassel from the home decor section of Joann’s. The red scarf was the sash taken from my Kristoff genderbent cosplay.

Since I was on a time crunch, I pulled the shoes from my own closet. My Blowfish Garens don’t get a lot of love- I don’t wear heels very often- but they really are surprisingly comfortable! Sure, they’re not exactly like Anna’s slide style sandals, but they worked in a pinch.

The dress was ordered off of Poshmark. Anna’s dress is deceptively simple, but the skirt is definitely flared, so I scoured all my usual haunts for a possible contender- eBay, Amazon, Modcloth, Forever 21. On Poshmark I discovered this super cute scuba knit dress from Boohoo with the tags still on, got a great deal on it, and it arrived just in time! It’s slightly too big at the top, so I’m planning to take it in a little (when I remember, which, let’s be honest, I don’t until I pull the dress out of my closet to wear again).

I opted to go without a wig, which, yeah…usually a cosplay no-no. But this was such a simple costume and I was pretty much only wearing it on Sunday for closing ceremonies, so I didn’t mind too much!

Plus I got some pretty cute pictures with the Akaicon mascot, Jackie (who just so happens to be my sister).

Dapper Day Wendy Darling

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Oh lord. This dress. This dress nearly killed me.

So for starters, my sister and a bunch of her friends were visiting for Dapper Day, and we decided to do a big Dapper Day Peter Pan squad. I was unanimously chosen as Wendy (because really, have you met me? I’m a Wendy.) I planned my outfit pretty quickly-  a sky blue lace dress with a blue sash. Nice and simple, right?

Wrong. I procrastinated. I waited until literally the night before. Oh, and guess what else was also the night before? My first 10k. I was running the inaugural Disney Star Wars Dark Side 10k race, and for some reason I decided to procrastinate.

I used Vogue 2960, which is a vintage reprint pattern, and I’ve used it before to make my Ellie Frederickson dress. I did the same alterations- I cut the front pieces on the fold so that the dress could zip up the back instead of button up the front. I adjusted the shoulders. I checked all my measurements. I cut the pieces from a sky blue lace and a sky blue cotton and had sky blue bias tape to hem the edges.

Yet somehow, when I sewed the skirt (a gathered dirndl), somehow the bodice was DRASTICALLY longer in the back, making the whole thing droop and making the skirt hang too low. I was devastated. I honestly could not figure out what was going wrong with this stupid thing. And by then it was around nine at night, and I needed to be up at 3 am to run the 10k.

Luckily my friend Kimberly stepped in and offered to do some work on the dress and to finish the sash. I cried my way home (did I also mention I put myself into a panic-induced asthma attack? I’m a quality human.) carboloaded with some pasta from Panera, and crashed.

Somehow, though, I dragged myself out of bed, got to the race, and did a fairly respectable job! My time wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible, and I felt pretty good about things. When everything was over I drove to where my sister and her friends were staying at the Caribbean Beach resort, showered, and wrestled into this stupid dress. I had preemptively packed my Rapunzel Dapper Day dress from the year before and picked up a blue ribbon as a backup sash,but magically the Wendy dress was wearable! Kimberly had done some magic to raise the waistline in the back and finish the sash. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was going to work, and that’s all that really mattered.

I clipped my beloved cheap eBay weave into my hair and my sister’s friend Torrance styled it into a nice half up-half down for me, and I added my Wendy bow from Ever After Bowtique. I wore black ballet flats from the kid’s section of Target (I wasn’t even going to try with heels) and wore my thimble necklace from Whosits and Whatsits.

Somehow I survived the entire day walking around. I don’t know how. My friends were like “do you want a wheelchair? We can totally push you in a wheelchair” and I was like “I AM STUBBORN I WILL WALK.” I ended up walking 38,000+ steps that day between the race, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom.

And then I crashed. I crashed so hard.

At least I looked cute, right?

(And here’s a closeup of my bow!)

Ready When You Are, CB! My Performances on the Great Movie Ride

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I fell in love with the Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios when I was fifteen years old and went on my second Disney trip (I hadn’t been since I was five!) Who knew that I would start working there as an adult?

I originally trained at the Great Movie Ride as a participant in the Disney College Program. I was only eighteen years old and it was my first job ever (and my first time away from home). It was a huge undertaking, but I loved it so much. In fact, I loved it so much that when I came back to Disney as a part timer, I immediately signed up to cross train there again (I was originally placed at Star Tours.)

I trained for the second time in March of 2014, and have been there ever since. In the past three year and half years (thereabouts) I’ve done probably thousands of shows as a tour guide, a gangster, and a bandit. And within those thousands of shows, I’ve gotten filmed and photographed probably hundreds of times. Sometimes they even pop up on YouTube. It’s a little weird, but kind of cool at the same time!

This is my original tour guide show, before the Turner Classic Movies update. I’ve got to say I miss it! It was a LOT of script to memorize, but I did really love it.

Here’s my tour guide show again, this time after the Turner Classic Movies update. (I also just have to say that it’s always so strange to hear my voice over the vehicle mic! I’ve been compared to Minnie Mouse and Snow White before. And one time a kid just asked “do they pay you to sound like that?” Thanks, kid.)

This is the first video I found of my gangster show! I was gangster trained about a year after returning to the Great Movie Ride. It really was a dream come true- but let’s be honest, it’s super tiring. That’s what happens with you run up and down stairs in heels while firing a gun (and you repeat it every eight to nine minutes).

I trained in bandit about a year and a half after gangster, and it’s SO much fun. The stage show is terrifyingly quick, but still- a lot of fun.

Here’s another take of my bandit show! (Also you can hear me hollering at people. It sucks, but when people don’t sit down or take flash photos, you have to call them out!)

I absolutely love working at the Great Movie Ride (as you can probably tell). I think I have some more videos of my gangster show somewhere, and in a box somewhere I definitely have a video of my very first tour guide show when I was a teenager!

Do you have any questions about the Great Movie Ride or about a job at Disney? Leave your comments below, and I’ll answer them in an upcoming post or a video!