#also wanted to include a ton of tiny cute things on the fridge

[inafallsaway]

Drawing time!

[leejungchans]

seventeen as new parents

༉‧₊˚✧ for my 1k event !

requested by @joshuas : i would also like to request hehe for a small parent au headcanon (maybe like when they first become parents </3) with svt </3

a/n: hihi shuawife <333 thank you for the req and i hope you’ll like this hehe 💓 requests open until june 1, see this post for more details/guidelines if interested <3

word count | 2k

pairing | seventeen x afab!reader

genre | fluff, parents au

warning(s) / includes | food mentions (please lmk if i missed anything!)

୨୧ seungcheol

he’d be so fascinated by your baby :(( they’re just so small and tiny and he’s so in love :(((

he knows he’s strong so he’d constantly be worried about doing something wrong, like accidentally holding your baby too tightly or in the wrong position, but you’re always there to reassure him

literally has the proudest dad smile no matter what your baby does. it doesn’t matter if it’s the bare minimum—they’re his child and he will be there to smother them in affection >:(

makes a spit bubble? proud dad. yawns for the first time? proud dad. grabs his hair and yanks? proud dad. takes their first step? proudest. dad. <33

so. many. cuddles. he’d never let go of your baby if he could

he’d love holding them close to his chest as they’re napping so he can quietly admire them, gently tracing a finger over their tiny features and smiling when they yawn

୨୧ jeonghan

jeonghan would not be afraid to make a fool out of himself just to get your baby to smile :(

coos a lot to your baby and playfully squishes their cheeks (see: that video of him and soonyoung with chan)

“peek-a-BOO!” “goochie goochie goo~”

definitely also does the airplane thing whenever he’s feeding them, makes mealtimes more fun <3

he has infinite patience, and even if your baby makes a huge mess he’s never annoyed

“oh, you’re a little troublemaker, aren’t you?”

“i wonder where they got that from, yoon jeonghan.”

he loves lifting your baby up in the air while calling them his little angel :(

jeonghan very much radiates calm excitement, really eager to spend time with them and at the same time always has the situation under control

he’s yoon jeonghan, what else do you expect <3

୨୧ joshua

serenades your baby all. the. time.

your baby grew up in the womb listening to sunday morning <3 they’ll probably be able to recite it word for word eventually

but as much as you love teasing him for his neverending sunday morning agenda, it helps lull your baby to sleep faster so who’s complaining?

gets one of those baby carriers that you strap across your chest so he can go around doing errands while having your baby close to him at the same time :’)

one of his hands is restocking your fridge with groceries and the other is giving your baby head rubs

dad jokes for days, like actually

“why can’t leopards hide? because they’re always spotted.” “joshua, i love you, but oh my god…”

the first time your baby wrapped their tiny fist around his finger, he looked over at you with the widest eyes and biggest smile

“darling, did you see that? they’re so tiny 🥺”

yes, he teared up a bit but can you blame him? he loves kids and loves the fact that he now has one with you even more <3

୨୧ jun

jun’s the fun dad <3

he’d love dressing up as/pretending to be different characters to make your baby laugh

sometimes his performances baffle your baby more than anything, but them staring at him with widened eyes is just as cute :(

whenever something unexpected happens, he’d panic a bit at first, but just as quickly regain his composure and try to find a solution because he wants you to rest as much as possible without being overwhelmed with a ton of questions </3

strikes a perfect balance between letting your baby roam and experience as many things as they can, and spending more tender, quiet moments with them

one moment he’s putting on a one-man puppet show for your baby, and the next they’re napping together on the couch with their chubby cheek squished against his chest <3

୨୧ soonyoung

please, he’s practically overflowing with excitement <3

the thought of you two expanding your family and having mini-me’s running around the house makes him so, so happy

let’s be honest—he definitely wants a ton of kids

two words: tiger. onesies.

you take a short nap and wake up to your baby tiger on your chest smiling at you

he’d be such a positive dad, always there to celebrate your baby’s little wins and to encourage them during an oopsies moment

there’s never a dull moment between these two because he’s always your child’s biggest fan

your baby’s destined to be a dance prodigy: the moment they can stand they’re already bouncing along to the song he’s playing

he spends all day teaching them how to horanghae so that one day they can do it together. sorry, i don’t make the rules <3

୨୧ wonwoo

oh, he’s prepared

of course there are no set rules to parenting, but he definitely knows what to expect

he’d read as many books as he can, so by the time your baby arrives he knows how to help and lessen your stress <3

while his excitement doesn’t always manifest externally, it doesn’t mean he isn’t giddy about welcoming a new addition to the family, because he most certainly is

often, you’ll walk in on a sight that makes you feel fuzzy and warm—your baby snuggled comfortably in his arms as he reads to them in his gentle, calming voice

when your baby starts learning how to grab stuff, they’ll constantly be trying to take his glasses off as he’s cradling them

in those moments, the laugh he lets out is genuine and clear, and he almost always lets them have it for a bit <3 (under his careful watch so they don’t hurt themselves)

୨୧ jihoon

he definitely worries a lot especially as your due date approaches, because he wants everything to be perfect for both you and your baby </3

sometimes his concerns can overwhelm him as he juggles work and being the best father to your child

but they melt away almost instantly whenever he sees you rocking your baby to sleep, whenever he looks into their round, curious eyes; immediately reminded of how lucky he is to have a family with you

when your baby is old enough, he’ll take them with him to his studio so you can have some me-time at home

he’s trying his best to stay focused, he swears, but he keeps getting distracted by how adorable your child looks as they stare at his equipment in wonder ☹️

“do you want to say something into the mic, sweetheart?” [unintelligible baby noises] “thank you, that was beautiful.”

proceeds to play the recording to anyone he crosses paths with

୨୧ seokmin

another member who’s practically vibrating with excitement

his happiness was already contagious even before you welcomed a baby, but after? you can feel it from the next room 🥺

truly rivalling your pregnancy glow with his new dad glow ✨ though he makes sure that everyone knows you’re the main character

100% lifts your baby up in the air like they’re simba, it’s cute and it makes them squeal with glee <3

gently tickles your baby a lot because he thinks the little giggles they let out are the most beautiful thing he’s heard

tries to cheer them up when they're crying by making silly faces :(

insists on singing your baby to sleep every night. sometimes you just like to observe from the doorway of the nursery so they can bond

he cradles your baby in his arms while singing softly, the slow rocking movements and his sweet voice lulling them to sleep within minutes ;-;

୨୧ mingyu

the golden retriever energy is through the roof :( he’s just so, so, so happy to be a dad

he has tons of nicknames for your baby: honey, sweetie, sprout, pumpkin… the list goes on

honestly, there isn’t a thing this man wouldn’t do for you and your baby—he built the crib, he painted the nursery, he packed your hospital bag, he learnt how to change their diapers…

as your baby gets older, your place will be completely baby-proofed

if your little angel will be anything like him (ie: inherit some of his clumsiness), he needs to make sure they don’t bump into sharp edges as they’re exploring 😞

another member who’s extra, extra careful whenever he’s holding his baby, because the last thing he’d want to do is hurt them :(

probably gets teary or cries every time your baby wraps a hand around his finger because they’re just!! so tiny!!!

୨୧ minghao

another member who likes being extremely prepared throughout the course of your pregnancy

he tries his best to stay calm through everything because he doesn’t want to add to your worries :(

even during the worst tantrums he never loses his patience with your baby, simply continuing to rock them in his arms with a gentle smile on his face

when they finally stop, he gives them a little kiss on the forehead to comfort them <3

your baby is better dressed than some people are 😌

he likes to buy cute outfits for them, it doesn’t matter if people point out that babies grow out of their clothes really quickly

bonus if he coordinates his (and your) outfits to theirs so you always look like the best-dressed family whenever you’re out in public together

he’d also like doing something artistic with your baby once they’re older, like letting them try finger painting or moulding stuff using clay

proudly displays their creations all around the house afterwards <3

୨୧ seungkwan

he documents every step of the way so you’ll have lots of photos and videos of your baby to look back on <3

on that note, he absolutely has a photo of you holding your baby as his lock screen

definitely really, really emotional about being new parents with you and swears up and down that he’s going to be the best dad

gives the best reactions to anything your baby does, the “you’re doing amazing, sweetie!” energy personified

sometimes he can be a tad overprotective over his baby, but all for good reason because he never wants anything bad to happen to them :(

he talks to them a lot even if they’re just a baby and can’t understand anything, it still doesn’t stop him from telling them about his day in a soft voice while rocking them to sleep, it’s his way of bonding with them ;-;

“the choreography was a little hard, but uncle chan’s helping me with it… oh, you’re getting sleepy, aren’t you? sweet dreams, little one”

୨୧ vernon

vernon’s the cool dad

in the beginning he might flail around and panic a bit with tasks like changing your baby’s diapers or trying to feed them, but he quickly gets the hang of it <3

eventually he’s completely unfazed and probably bopping his head along to some music while changing their diapers 😭

he’s just so, so endeared by your baby that everything they do makes him grin widely

lets your baby make small decisions for him for fun

“should i order noodles or a burger?” [baby noises] “noodles it is, you’re so right, sweetheart.”

once your baby is older, he’d love taking them on late-night bus rides, your baby tucked securely in his arms as they peer out the window

he points places out to them too <3 “that’s where uncle seungkwan and i go out to eat a lot” “that’s where i got you your cat plushie”

speaking of cats, definitely shows your baby a ton of cat videos :(

୨୧ chan

oh, chan…

he loves kids so he’d be so, so excited to be a dad :(

he’s a very animated storyteller, so whenever he tells your baby a story it always makes them giggle because of how energetic he is

probably calls your child “baby dinosaur” </3 liddol baby crongs </3

they’d have the cutest cheeks and he always squishes them

obviously your baby would show a passion for dancing since a very young age

he’s over the moon when he sees them bounce along to the song playing on tv, immediately showering them in hugs and kisses while proudly remarking to you they’re going to grow up to be an even better dancer than him 🥺

if you bring them along with you to visit him at practice? he’d be even more determined to give it his all because he wants to look cool in front of your baby ;-;

much like how he’s always the others’ biggest supporter, no one’s a bigger fan of your baby than him and he’s always showering them in praises :(

a/n: watched the clip of baby chan with his brother again, -12/10 would not recommend, extremely devastated rn 😞 also this is my first time writing headcanons so please go easy on me <3

if you enjoyed my writing, please take a little time to reblog and give feedback to support it <3 it tells content creators what you like and motivates them to keep creating for you <3

[amive2567]

Snowy sneezes

Class 1a x GN! Reader

Quirk: Snowman ~ can produce snowmen with everything that includes water. They can't melt (only by other quirks, not through natural causes), and they do whatever the host wants. If the host doesn't give any tasks immediately, the snowman becomes a body of its own forever. Unfortunately, they can't speak :( The more water there is in the air, (or any other source of water), the bigger the snowman gets. 

Warning: Crack, Fluff, mention of sexual content (because Mineta), swearing (because Bakugou), a bit OOC Midoriya

Summary: Y/n is sick, and every time they sneeze, little snowmen appear in their dorm. They are listening to music and study. Because of that, they didn't even notice that the snowmen disappeared and caused trouble. 

Disclaimer: My hero academia and the characters belong to Kohei Horikoshi.

Words: about 2.489

Masterlist

Inspiration by Frozen Fever

Your head pouted, and you barely could keep your eyes open. You had a quirk about snow, so why did you get sick from a snowball fight. "L/N-san, could you please lift your head from the desk and focus on the lesson." admonished you Cementos. "I am sorry, Ishiyama-sensei." you apologized. He continued to teach, but you couldn't focus on a word he said. The lesson dragged on like forever. 

After the day ended, you went straight to your dorm room to replicate the knowledge you got taught today. 

After some time, the headache disappeared, and you could finally focus on your unfinished notes. Your nose started to tingle, and with a loud achoo, you sneezed.  A cold shiver went down your spine, but you didn't think much of it. You were so caught up in the work that you didn't notice how a small snowman waddled quietly around the room. Since listening to music helped you while studying, you didn't hear the rustling steps on your carpet.  The cute snowman watched your back and looked around your room. He investigated your plant in front of your bed. His tiny form tried to stroke the plant, but his short snowy arm couldn't reach the plant. The small snowman was determined to stroke the plant, so he tried to climb up at the plant pot. Since he didn't think about the consequences, the plant pot fell over and covered him with the potting soil. Anxiously he watched if you had seen his plight. You didn't seem to notice it. So he tried to clean himself with his tiny arms. 

Another sneeze shook your body, and another tiny snowman appeared. He looked around the room and found his buddy. The two jumped happily around, and the new snowman helped to clean up his pal. The two snowmen happily discovered your room, as quiet as they could. After they were done, your room looked like you had a fight in it.  They also tried to open the door, but they were too tiny. Exhausted, the two snowmen settled in front of the door. 

A sneezing fit hit you, and about five snowmen developed in your room. The two snowmen got right up and wobbled to the new snowmen. They hugged each other like they were old friends. Silently the two older snowmen convinced the younger ones to open the door together. They built a ladder out of snowmen by stacking themself on their shoulders. With a soft click, the door opened, and they left your messy room.

Your classmates were occupied with their interests and tasks. Some were reading, training, baking, showering, or learning. So they were either outside, in their rooms, or in the common room area. This meant that the hallway in front of your room was empty. The snowmen waddled quietly around the enormous building. 

Since they discovered their new skill, they opened another door. In the room was a blond boy, who laid on his back with a manga in his hand, called Snow white with the Red Hair. He was completely caught up in the book, so he didn't even notice that someone entered his room. The snowmen inspected his room. It has the theme of yellow and blue, and on his shelf were tons of All Might figures. One snowman got his snowy hand on a manga and tried to read it. He failed because snowmen can't read, but the pictures were interesting. He wanted to read it later, so he took it with him. 

The gang of snowmen went downstairs to explore the other parts of the dorms. Loud singing caught their attention. They followed the singing and landed in a steaming environment or, to call it something more simple, the bathroom. It was hot in there, and the snowmen were happy that they couldn't melt by natural causes. Since the bathroom was really a boring place to be, they climbed on the shelves and searched through the products. After the other snowmen had left the room, the last one of them was mesmerized by a big red bottle with the label: red hair dye. He took the bottle with him and followed the other snowmen fast. 

The next stop of the seven snowy figures was another room. They used their secret method again and opened the door. The room was cramped with bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Another weird thing was that there was a shelf only for tons of glasses. No one was there. The snowmen wandered around the room like it was an old museum. The two snowmen that stole something hid in the corners of the room, so their misbehavior wasn't noticed. The smallest of the snowmen looked around and climbed up on the shelf with the glasses. Unfortunately, one of the spectacles fell on the ground and broke. No one seemed to witness it, so the tiny snowman grabbed them and hid them behind his back from the others to see. After they discovered every inch of the room, they made their way to the next one. 

The room wasn't much different from the first one, but it had a more pleasant atmosphere. It was bright and happy. Some snowmen were bored because of the All Might figures they had already seen, but one of them got interested by the rarest of all time. The bronze age All Might figure. Only fifty got produced, and the owner of the room had one. The snowman needed this figure, so when no one watched him, he took the opportunity and stole it. 

They went into two other rooms before they finally got to the common-room kitchen. There stood a tall brown-haired boy with a tart pan. He studied a recipe and was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice how a snowman stole his eggs. After the boy wanted to reach for them, they were gone, and he questioned himself if he forgot to lay the eggs on the kitchen counter. He opened the fridge and saw no eggs. But he was sure that he bought them with Koda yesterday. They couldn't be gone, only if someone used them. And he was sure who it was. With angry steps, he walked to the room of a certain angry pomeranian. 

In the meantime, the snowmen discovered that everyone had stolen something. They laid their stolen objects in the middle of their circle. The items they had stolen were a romance manga, red hair dye, a pair of glasses, a rare All Might figure, eggs, lipstick, and a book. All of the snowmen had a panicked expression on their snowy faces. The humans aren't dumb they would soon find out, so they have to hide their items somewhere. Fearfully they collected the things and quickly set about hiding with the stuff in a nearby room. 

It was a dark room, and it got lit by a small source of light. Unearthly sounds could be heard from the computer screen in front of a short, purple boy. The older snowmen tried to cover the eyes of the younger ones. So they couldn't see the horrific show that played on the screen. It was dangerous to be in such a gross environment with young snowmen, but it was better than getting caught. 

"I didn't steal your lame eggs. Now leave me alone fat lips." cursed Bakugou as Sato confronted him. "But I am sure you know where my manga is, don't you?" Bakugou questioned harshly with a raised eyebrow. "Why would I want a manga from you?" Sato asked him. The blond one scoffed and pushed Sato out of the way. "I bet shitty Deku got it," he grumbled and stamped in the direction of his room. Without knocking, he kicked the door open. "Oi, shitty nerd. Give it back," he yelled. But what he didn't notice that the room was messy as hell. "Ah, Bakugou, I wanted to talk to you," Midoriya spoke slowly. His expression was horrifying. Even when Bakugou wouldn't admit it, he was scared of the shorter green-haired boy. "Now, where do you have it?" Bakugou asked, unimpressed. "What should I have? I wouldn't even give it to you. You stole my All Might bronze age figure." Midoriya yelled. He activated his quirk, and before he could Detroit Smash Bakugou into nirvana, Kirishima intervened. "Wait, that's not really manly of you, bro. My hair dye also went missing. I think someone is stealing from us." Sato followed the red-haired. "I think he's right," he said. "Let's meet up with the other ones and think about it before we hurt each other." mediated Kirishima. Still, with rage in his eyes, Midoriya let got of his powerful quirk and noded. "Alright, but I am not done with you, Kacchan." proposed Midoriya. "Whatever you say, shitty nerd." scoffed Bakugou.

As they got everyone except two persons in the common room area, the yelling began. "My lipstick went missing. How can I be able to rock my hero costume." Mina cried and hugged Uraraka desperately. The short brunette patted her back, comforting. "A book of mine also went missing," noted Momo. "Did someone saw my pair of glasses? I need to find Marry the third. Without her, my collection is incomplete." Iida yelled and made his typical hand gesture. At his comment, more than half of class 1a had to suppress a burst of laughter.  "My hair product also went missing," said Kirishima. "My limited All Might figure in his bronze age is missing," said Midoriya grumpily. "You look a bit scary, Midoriya. Is everything ok?" Todoroki asked. "Yeah, of course. I didn't need my All Might figure anyway." he sarcastically answered. "It's just a figure," Todoroki mentioned, and every chatter died down. "Dude, does he have a death wish?" asked Kaminari quietly. "Maybe," answered Sero noiselessly. "A figure... A figure..." Midoriya yelled and wanted to charge for a punch, but a frustrated screech interrupted the argument. 

You finished the last sentence of your work. So you turned around and stretched yourself with closed eyes, but as soon as you opened them, you were met with a tremendous mess. "The sneezes and the...oh shit," you yelled out in frustration. You were so occupied with work that you didn't even notice that you let go of a bunch of snowmen. Your steps stormed to the common-room to start the search for the tiny, snowy trouble makers. The yells in the common-room got louder and louder as you got nearer. "Guys," you yelled over the screeches of Midoriya. "I let go of my quirk, and some snowmen are probably starting some trouble. We need to find them." you got straight to the point. Everyone looked at you with expressionless faces. "Why is even every one of you here?" you asked now, confused. "Your tiny snow fuckers stole our stuff," Bakugou grumbled. "What was actually stolen from you, Kacchan ?" Kaminari asked.  "A manga," answered Bukugou grouchily. "Uh, which genre?" questioned Kaminary. "Shut it, dunce face," Bakugou yelled. "Just asking." waved Kaminari away. 

"Do you know where they possibly went, or how we can get rid of them?" asked Momo calmly. "I don't know where they could be," you answered, a bit disappointed. "If we find them and want to get rid of them, we need to destroy them with fire quirks. They don't melt of natural causes," you explained. "Alright, I think we build two teams. One team goes with Bakugou and the other one with Todoroki," suggested Momo. "Why do I need to be in one team. I can do this on my own." Bakugou protested. "Do you want your manga back asap?" Momo asked after that the ash-blond boy was quiet but still grumpy. "I am not going with Kacchan." Midoriya angrily said. "I don't want to go with you either," shouted Bakugou. "Just like an old married couple." laughed Kaminari. "Shut it, dunce face." yelled the blond boy. 

After you build up the teams, you started to search for the cold troublemakers. The team of yours consisted of Todoroki, Aoyama, Tsuyu, Iida, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, a grumpy Midoriya, Tokoyami, Shoji, Ojiro, and you, of course. The other ones had fewer patient people in their team. Bakugou got Sero, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Jiro, Sato, Koda and Hagakure in his team. Your team searched on the second and third floor for the stolen things and your snowmen. 

The third floor was clear now you searched on the second floor. "Waa, how did snowmen came into my room?" a high-pitched yell caught the attention of your team. You neared the room and opened the door. Mineta was standing in front of a bunch of tiny snowmen. Everyone in the room turned, slowly their hats to the door. "Yeah, gotcha," you shouted happily. The snowmen suddenly let go of the stuff they hoarded and ran in different directions. "We need to catch them. Todoroki, Tsuyu, Iida, Momo, and I are catching them, and the rest of you secure the missing stuff," you ordered. During this time, Momo produced earpieces for communication. The people named ran with you to catch the snowmen.

Since the snowmen were fast and not as dumb as you wished they were, you had to separate. The snowman in front of you ran fast, and you yelled after him. As the snowman had to take the elevator, you could easily catch him. "I got one. Does someone else has one?" you asked in your earpiece. "I've got one too." answered Iida "Me too," said Tsuyu. "I have already burned two," said Todoroki in his calm demeanor.  "I am currently trying to catch one," yelled Momo hectically. "Thanks, guys, that means only one is missing," you said. A loud explosion roared through the dorm-building. "Now, I think only one is left." you corrected yourself. "I got the penultimate snowman," said Momo proudly. "Great." you cheered. As the elevator stopped at the ground floor, the snowman in your arms tried to wiggle himself free. "We need to met up in the common room, so we can get rid of the captured snowmen," you said to the others. 

After you got rid of the captured snowmen. Bakugou stormed into the common room area. "We found only one, are all gone?" he asked grumpily. "Only one is missing," you answered as you watched the penultimate snowman melt. "I got the last one he was hiding in the fridge," said Sato and brought you the last one. 

"Thanks, guys, for helping. I am so sorry that my quirk got out of hand and caused such trouble," you apologized to your classmates. "No problem, that could happen to every one of us. You don't need to apologize." Midoriya said reassuringly. A small smile spread across your face, and you were relieved that everyone agreed and wasn't angry with you. Except for Bakugou, but that was to be foreseen. 

[haljordangreenjedi]

okay so somebody asked me to rank the green lanterns a couple days ago and i just did it based on the general Vibes i got off each one because i don't know enough about the lanterns and now i want to hear from an expert SO: RANK EACH OF THE GREEN LANTERNS (the human ones but if you want to include others go crazy) FROM NOT-SO-BEST TO BEST AND EXPLAIN WHY

OKAY SO, first off, i love you. you should know that. second off, there’s good and bad sides to all four human green lanterns and really this is just personal preference, and 3/4 of these are subject to change at some point, but this is where we stand as of right now:

4. Guy Gardner

first off, he was Hal’s case worker in Emerald Dawn II (1991), because Hal got in trouble for drunk driving and got sentenced to a maximum security prison for 90 days to be used as an example. And I just, I don’t like this plot in Hal’s life, it doesn’t make a ton of sense with his character or his profession (it would literally end a pilot’s career.) anyway, enough about Hal Jordan because I’m supposed to be talking about Guy here. Guy’s trying to help Hal out which, gets him points in my book, but he also ends up like hating Hal at the end of this arc and it’s just like, I’m sorry, that’s unoriginal, pls try harder. 

I also don’t understand this whole Vuldarian DNA plot that’s a thing with him, but his time owning a bar is cool. I just, I haven’t read a ton of his comics and i haven’t gotten attached to him yet, so that’s that. He’s in 4th, sorry Guy. Better luck next time. 

3. Kyle Rayner

Kyle gets third place for two reasons: he has some pretty great interactions with Hal, with some key points of believing in Hal when he needs it the most (and that panel with the stacked rings and Hal taking Kyle flying. That panel gives me life for reasons I can’t fully put into words.), and his girlfriend was literally murdered and stuffed into a fridge. I have to respect the trauma. 

Reasons I don’t like Kyle: you know how in middle school there was always that kid who would show off in gym class? or like your favorite teacher would pick some new kid to champion and you just kinda... hated them on instinct? Kyle’s an artist, but he has that vibe. He’s the kid in school that suddenly everyone has decided is the Best and it’s annoying. I get it, he’s meant to be like the “best green lantern,” the one to restore the corps when Hal and Parallax tore through it and then he’s a white lantern. I just... idk, he’s nice, he’s cute. I want to read more about when he was teamed up with Jason and some people have made it so that Hal has become his bother father figure which is also adorable, it’s just instinct to not make him my favorite. I’ve already done the whole phase of liking the ‘Chosen One,’ I don’t need to go back to my Harry Potter phase. idk, please universe don’t hate me for this.

2. John Stewart

okay, I have mad respect for John Stewart. It’s also instinctual. He’s the brains of the human Green Lantern operation. No, like, literally. If the four of them have one collective brain cell, John has it at least 89% of the time. He’s an architect and a former Marine, he punched Hal in the face in a bar before they were both Green Lanterns, which is hilarious because as far as I’m aware, it’s never touched on as being something either of them remembers. Kudos for not holding onto that rage, John. Hal has something to learn from you. 

There’s also an interesting change in his way of thinking from when he was a Marine to his duty as a Green Lantern, and I like that growth even if it’s not always acknowledged. There is a bit during the Color Spectrum War arc where they go over his guilt at the destruction of a world, and it felt remarkably deep for a DC comic, even if it was technically part of a Hal series. He’s just one of those guys that you can’t help but respect because he seems to have all of his shit in one basket, and it’s a good counterbalance.

1. Hal Jordan

you knew this was coming. if you didn’t, then you need to go look back at what my username is and think for a while. I love Hal Jordan almost more than life itself and it might be because of how well i can relate to this man. he is the most cocky, depressed, stubborn piece of shit in the galaxy, and I LOVE HIM. okay, like, there are so many different arcs about Hal and I know people have a tendency to not like him because like he’s the modern OG and he can be a piece of shit, and like, he was the bad guy but he came back from it and I just want to say: my dudes, that’s the POINT.

Hal has flat out stated that HE doesn’t even like himself, and you think that you as a reader are supposed to like him all the time? The man's life is rife with trauma, okay. Not everything he does is going to make perfect sense if you’re not paying attention and it’s just like. Honestly I can’t explain it all. Hal runs on spite and coffee and the list of people he lives FOR is very short, but the list of people he lives IN SPITE OF is very long. 

The dude runs with his gut constantly because that’s what keeps him alive. Even Sinestro has pointed out that HAL DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. He acts on instinct, he doesn’t plan out a shitload of battle strategies, and that’s how Hal manages to keep besting these people over and over. 

Also just, he’s sad boy. He wants to protect people, even if it means staying away from them. He’s willing to take the blame and appear to go rogue MULTIPLE TIMES for things he believes in and to find the root of the problem and it’s just like... you really think a guy that was happy-go-lucky and didn’t sit awake at night because of how prominent his failings are in his mind would be willing to do that? you’re wrong. sorry. you don’t designate yourself as public enemy number one AFTER ALREADY FIGHTING TO COME BACK FROM THAT ONCE if you don’t have a part of your brain saying you deserve it.

ALSO HIS GRIEF FOR COAST CITY WAS JUSTIFIED AND THERES A LONG LIST OF PEOPLE THAT COULD HAVE HELPED PREVENT HAL FROM BECOMING/SUCCUMBING TO PARALLAX AND A LOT OF THEM ARE ON THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OR TINY ANCIENT BLUE SMURFS. 

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK, GOODNIGHT.

(also i’m not sure if my answers were coherent towards the end but yeah!! send me asks about green lanterns because I have a lot of feelings. Anyway; Hal Jordan.)

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch22 Cooking Cat Returns With Mustache Girl

(I headcannon Mustache Girl's actual name to be Muriel. )

You know. It feels a lot better sleeping on a bed than it was sleeping on a hard cold wooden floor. Also much better to wake up with having sore muscles for a second time. Slowly waking up, blue eyes peered out awake to the world, blinking away the blurry vision that came with it. Where was she again? The first thing she saw was the blue canopy of Hattie bed......And slowly she started to remember what happened last night. Groaning, the grown woman slowly sat up on the bed and reached a hand up to push the long messy hair out of her face. Vision slowly focusing and seeing the large pillow pile and diving board attached to the top of it, and the bookshelf with all those children books on it. Yawning, Poppy stretched out her back the Starella story book tumbling off her lap and onto the bed beside her, not that she noticed. She was a little busy smacking her lips and rubbing her face before standing up and sluggishly walking her way towards the tiny door. She was hungry and you know what, some apples in the morning didn't sound too bad anyways. As her ma would say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Right? Well not quite. As she tired crawled(dragged) herself into the control room, the sweet smell of fried eggs and cheese filled the air and when she sniffed, Poppy found herself turning in the direction of the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food and she stood to her feet again. Mind blank as she tiredly trudged her way towards the ramp up to the kitchen area. Passing Rumbi who was happy to be back in the control room and not carried around room to room anymore cleaning. Up the ramp and past the big vault door, she could smell the food getting closer and closer until she pushed open the doors without a second thought.

"....Well, good morning to ya," a cheering slightly southern accent called out, "I was wondering when I would see you again."

The voice seemed to finally wake up Poppy as she blinked and turned her head in the direction of Cookie who smiled and was standing on a chair to reach the hot stove. Something was sizzling on the stove in front of her and that's what was making the delicious smell. The girls were there too, all dressed in the same outfits as yesterday but these ones were different colors. Same design and style, different color. Hattie was wearing a dark blue and white out fit and hat( dark blue being her shirt and pants, and white being anything else from her cape to hat), and Bow was wearing a similar dark blue and white attire(with her dress being dark blue and everything from her Bow to shoes were a white). The girls happily waved at her in between eating what looked like friend eggs into their mouths. A third short person was standing off in the corner of the room behind Cookie looking bored.

"Oh. Uh.....*YYYYAAAAWWNN* H-Hello again, Cookie." She proceeded to rub her face again. "W-What are you doing here?"

Cookie smiled turning back to the stove to flip the yellow almost cresent shaped egg. "Well, since the last episode of my cooking show for this season was finished, it means I get a few months to take a load off and prepare for the next season after the Annual Bird Movie Award Ceremony is over."

"Bird ....movie awards?"

Cookie nodded. "It happens once a year, but unfortunately since one of the three judges not awefully sick from bad bird seed they had to push it back a few months this year. Now the deadline is the week before Cupid's Day, that's why the theme for this year's contest was romance. Poor Mr. Grooves is having an awful time trying to find suitable actors for this fairytale romance theme he has going on. I would've volunteered myself, but I was really looking forward to some rest." She smiled shyly and pointed to herself. "And I wasn't exactly what he was looking for in the fair maiden role."

"I think you're beautiful Cookie!," Bow piped up, "The prettiest cat in the world!"

"And the best cook, too!," Hattie added.

Both making Cookie giggled and waving her paw, "Oh stop! Ya'll are making me blush worse than a kitten with a puppycrush."

"What are you cooking?," Poppy asked shuffling closer to them.

"Cheese omlets," Cookie replied happily. Reaching over and grabbing a plate laid next to her, she expertly flipped the omlet up and onto the plate in her paws with ease before turning to Poppy smiling and offering it out to her. "I hope ya'll don't mind me stoppin' by. I had nothing else today to really do, and I thought that I'd drop by and spend some more time visiting like I promised. And I wanted to see for myself if you were settling in today."

Poppy gladly took the plate from her stomach rumbling and mouth watering at the sight of it. "Uh. N-No. It's perfectly fine. In fact it's very kind of you to do so." Smiling she took the fork handed along with her and dug in......OH MY PECK!! Whatever a cheese omlet was it was SO delicious! Once again her cooking amazed her again. " SO GOOD!!"

Cookie ended up chuckling again turning off the stove. "I'm glad you think so, honestly it was only a few eggs and slicing a few pieces off that cheese wheel, the fridge is practically empty. Why didn't you go restock yet?"

Poppy stopped mid bite and looked at her for a moment staring. "Restocking?"

"Y'know. Shoppin'? All ladies like to shop, don't you?"

"Uh...Actually I don't think I could. I haven't exactly been paid by anyone yet so I don't really have much to buy any fancy things." She continued eating and eventually a movement to her right caught her attention, blue eyes looked down to meet gold ones as the two made eye contact and her brain quickly registered it to be another little girl in a red hood with her hair in two ponytails. Swallowing down some food, Poppy smiled at her. "Well hello there. I don't think I've met you yet. What's your name?"

"Mustache Girl!," the tiny girl proclaimed pointing a hand up, "Defeater of bad guys and savior of the world!"

"More like almost destroying it," Hattie shot back shooting her a dirty look witch this ...uh...'Mustache Girl' shot back with equal annoyance.

"Says the one who messed up by making it rain dangerous hourglasses everywhere!," the blonde yelled back pointing a finger, Hattie just stuck her tongue out at her.

The little girl continued to look slightly annoyed and Cookie reached behind her to pat the child's head. "This is Muriel. But we call her Mu for short." She gave a scary mom smile down to the children. "And we're not going to fight today are we?"

"No, Cookie!," all three girls agreed under the cat's gaze.

Poppy wasn't gonna lie, she was slightly scared and kinda impressed and this cat woman's skills to mother these three with ease within just a few seconds. And Mu huh? She giggled. It was pronounced the same way as 'Mew', like what a cat would say. And honestly it was kinda cute of her. Mu noticed the way Poppy was giggling and looking at her and frowned. Before shooting an accusing hand and face at her.

"And what are you laughing at?," she asked and Poppy noticed she also had some kind of accent. "Are you a bad guy too?!"

"MU!," Cookie scolded giving her a stern look and Mu instantly froze, eyes shooting sideways to the cat, "What did we talk about with minding your manners? Now you apologise to Ms. Bloomington this instant!" Her gaze turned apologetic to Poppy. "I am so sorry. It's hard for her to break old habits from Mafia Town, but I promise you she's a good girl."

"There's no need to apologize." Poppy smiled wider before kneeling down slowly to Mu's height. The little girl pulled her hand back to her and watched as Poppy stopped eye level smiling at her like Cookie would. "It sounds to me like you're a very brave little girl."

Mu paused for a moment. Looking Poppy up and down suspiciously as if trying to decide if she was serious or not about it, but took it as a compliment. Smiling proudly and puffing out her chest, pointing at herself. "Absolutely not wrong! I'm the bravest crime fighter in the world!"

Poppy chuckled again and sweetly nodded. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if ya was. Such pretty eyes too. They look just like gold and honey."

"YEAH! That's exactly what I am!" She puffed up prouder at the strokes to her ego. "Gold and honey! The best gold and honey in the universe! Finally someone who gets it." Behind her Hattie rolled her eyes stuffing the last of her breakfast in her mouth, and Cookie seemed to be happy with the way the two stopped arguing finally.

Poppy chuckled again. "Well, it's really nice to meet you, Mu."

"Likewise, Bloom-in-Tons!"

"Call me,Poppy!" She smiled as she stood up to finish eating her food as she smiled. "Why don't you all go play?"

"Yes," Cookie agreed nudging Mu forward a little bit, "Why don't you all go and play with that pretty gold castle they showed us and be nice while the adults talk for a little bit?" The children were a little apprehensive at first but agreed to do so with Bow quickly stuffing the rest of her breakfast into her mouth and both her and Hattie tossing the dishes into the sink as one after another they ran to the doors with a few shouts of- 'I call being the Gold hero!' 'No you don't! I'm the best crime fighter!' "No you're not! I beat you remember!' 'Yes way!' 'No way!' 'Yes, Way!' and Bow following after the first two as they left. Cookie sighed shaking her head and grabbed the frying pan and spatula she had been cooking with hopping off the chair before looking up at Poppy. "I'm sorry for that. Those three may fight sometimes, but Hattie was quick to forgive everyone including her. They are friends I swear, but they argue worse than Conductor and Mr. Grooves at times....Mind being a dear and dragging over that chair there?"

"Hm. Oh! Sure." Plate in one hand, Poppy used the other to drag the chair across the room right behind Cookie to the sink following. "And it's quite alright. Kids will be kids after all, I don't blame them at all. Hmhm." She scooted the chair over where Cookie silently pointed and watched as the plump cat impressively jump onto it and faced the sink with the already dirty dishes in it. Going back to eat the other half of her breakfast as she watched Cookie roll up her sleeves more and turning on the sink. "Thank you for the..omlet by the way. I really appreciate it. "

She nodded not looking at her and instead turning on the hot water to the said sink. "Well it wasn't trouble at all. I was a little surprised you hadn't gotten up yet. Aren't you supposed to be the little dumplins' new babysitter or somethin'?"

Poppy sighed through her nose swallowing again. "Uh, well. Yeah that's my new job I guess. Being a maid and nanny to 'em. But to be honest with ya, I don't know the first thing about where ta go or even start with whole thing."

Cookie paused for a moment in her movements to look over at her...Yellow eyes roaming up and down eyeing the tacky dress on her and the messy bed head she had. "Well, by the way you look now ya'll are having some trouble settling in."

Poppy groaned allowing the cat to take away her now empty plate. "Tell me about it. With all the darn crazy things that's happened in the past few days I'm about ready to burst. And even if I knew where ta shop, I couldn't exactly pay for anything being broke."

Cookie looked at her confused. "Broke? But I thought all those gold do-dads were supposed to be your payment? The children seemed awefully proud to have them and Hattie said something about buying a whole bunch of things with some of it."

........OH!! THE GOLD!! OF COURSE!! She had completely forgotten about all of that in favor of being hungry and getting herself some food, but now that she remembered that didn't sound like a half bad idea to use it for food and some clothes that weren't so tacky.

"That doesn't sound like a half bad idea ya got there!...But. I'm not really sure where to use it. Haven't visited many places around here."

"Hm...I got an idea!" Cookie's smile widened at her. "Mu and I were just going around to do some errends after visitin'. Why don't ya'll come along and we'll make a girls trip outta it? It'll be fun to show someone around my favorite places! And I know just the place in Express City where you can trade gold for pons."

Poppy blinked. "W-Wha- N-No! I-It's fine. You're too kind really. We'll be just fine just how we are right now-"

"Nonsense," Cookie cut her off giving her a look. "Staying here all the time isn't going to magically put food in your fridge or nice clothes on your back. I insist. Besides, some time stretching your legs will be good for you."

Well. That didn't sound too bad to be honest. She could definately get a change of scenery besides haunted woods or an alien space ship, plus some actual soil under her feet sounded nice instead of floating in outer space. But Cookie wasn't exactly about to let her just waltz out with a bed head like hers. Luckily there was three little girls who gladly got very excited when they were asked by the cat to play 'make over' with Poppy, and by that she meant tidy up her hair. To say it hurt quite a bit with all the tangled built up ever since she crash landed in the swamp was an understatement. IT PECKING HURT!! Didn't help her hair was very long so it would take quite a while, in the meantime Cookie was nice enough to gather some of the gold objects they definately could put to better use. Of course both Bow and Hattie were very reluctant to let any of the buried treasure they found go, and once seeing all the gold Mu certainly was not willing to let 'any potential evil doers get their hands on it'. But they all came to a understanding with the stern gaze of the cat thrown at them. They would the girls each keep one, leave one or two pieces of gold for back up just in case of any emergency where they needed money, and the rest was coming along with them. They agreed reluctantly. No surprise Hattie chose the golden Roach King. Bow chose the castle as she enjoyed having it while playing her games. And Mu chose the cookie. Why?....She pouted and said because it reminded her of someone before shoving it into her cape's pocket with a huff. It was decided the golden skull would be the thing to be left behind and was hidden under Hattie's bed for safe keeping. Which left the golden gear, trophy, potion, pencil, Mafia Man, Cheese pieces, and candle would be all the things to go. But they all wouldn't be easy to carry as solid gold was a sure heavy thing. Luckily Poppy was just what they needed, who else to carry them but the strongest gal here? So into the pockets of her trusty leather apron they went. The weight was a bit much but she'd manage, like the light pain in her head right after the girls got done with her hair finally, leaving it in that signiture long braid and pretty blue bow tied at the end by Bow. She was ready! But the trip all the way down to the planet was another thing in of itself.

She was NOT about to risk free falling from space again, and these two weren't exactly known for their iron grip the last time. Cookie, being the genius cat she was suggested she just come along with them to Moon City to catch the next chip taxi down to the planet with them. Poppy hesitated at first, but she agreed afraid of falling from the sky again. Bow and Hattie coming out with umbrella's in their hands presumably going on their own to follow them all. Making sure they were all comfortable the cat lifted her sleeve again to reveal the same watch like device she had used the last time she was there and instructed Poppy to hold onto her paw now, as it would be a really quick trip there. She wasn't sure what to expect when she nervously grabbed Cookie's paw, but she did slam her eyelids shut when Cookie pressed the button on there. Before quickly grabbing Mu's hand with her other paw.

.....

........

"Uh..Ya'll can open your eyes now," came Cookie's voice.

Were they there already? Poppy's hand was released by Cookie and the human slowly opened her eyes. ....And what she saw both surprised and calmed her. Looking up the starry sky of outer space shown down at her live the time she free falled, but without the falling to the ground this time. The pretty stars shown brightly before those blue eyes blinked around at everything else. It was a CITY alright. A BIG ONE!....Well, she guessed any city would be big to her, as she's never really been IN a city before, the only one she's known to be in the city was her distant cousin who had a Fruit Stand somewhere in the Subonette City Marketplace. He'd sometimes tell them all the tall buildings that were so close together and the giant skyscrapers the rich fatcats lived in and their fancy carriages being pulled by giant beautiful black stallions. He always said the place was always too big and crowded for his liking but he didn't leave because the market always brought the best customers to his food. But she'd didn't think any city would be this.....Flashy. The tall buildings were decorated in massive lights and music blasted from everywhere and all kinds too. Rock, jazz, blues, techno remixes. You name it. It was almost enough to hurt her ears and her eyes. And all around them were...There was....PENGUINS!! Moon Penguins. They all didn't seem to mind or care that they just showed up in the middle of the town square and didn't care. Beeping was heard as a car zipped by them all and Poppy jumped staring at the weird mechanical beast that just went by. Gigantic signs were everywhere decorated with lights. One said 'Hats', another had a picture of a fedora and said 'Nuthin' Cooler', one Said 'Hats and Buy'. She giggled at one that read 'Penguin Suits Clothes Store'. There was even a giant glowing sign of piano keys with the words "Feelin' Lucky? Casino Hall'. It was...AMAZING!! Even if her senses were being attacked right now. But then she stopped to stare at the fountain they were standing right next to. It was in a giant shape of a music note and like most everything else, was bedazzled in lights as water poured from it.

"Are you alright?" Mu was giving her a strange look as the grown woman gawked at everything. "You look like you've never seen a fountain before."

"I've never been in any city before! Let alone on the moon!" Poppy smiled excitedly at the two of them. "This is amazing!"

Cookie chuckled and grabbed Mu by the hand gesturing for them to cross the street to the right.....Then proceeded to grab Poppy's hand to drag her along behind them as she still stood and gawked at everything but jumped at the tiny cat pulling her along across the street to the sidewalk. Another red car driving by them. As they walked Poppy noticed there was tiny bush plants in pots everywhere also covered in lights as they passed. These pengiuns really loved lights huh? Speaking of them she saw a lot of them. Moon penguins wearing suits, fedoras, and black sunglasses, they were all listening to music or talking to one another, or driving those big machines they were riding in. At one point she saw a lady penguin dressed in a pink outfit similar to the others, waddling around with a baby stroller with an egg carefully placed inside of it. She giggled at the sight of a tiny fedora on the egg as they passed, how peculiar- BAM!! Bright yellow light! Suddenly hitting her straight in the face. Poppy had to slam her eyes shut again at the sudden bright yellow flashing on them, only being guided by Cookie still holding her hand but Poppy did blink her eyes open and look up to where the light was radiating from when she felt cookie tug her in a different direction before stopping. While she got her hand back, Poppy held it up above her as her eyes adjusted and she was finally able to make out the blinding light up above. There was three gigantic blinding signs on top of the biggest building she's ever seen. Two were saxophones and one in between them were bright yellow letters saying GROOVES.

"That's Mr. Grooves moon studio," Cookie explained noticing her staring up at the signs. "He built it right by the entrance to the metro so he can just waltz on in and start workin' if he decides to shoot on the moon for what ever reason." Her yellow eyes also squinted up at the sky above and pointed up to two little stars floating down from the sky. "And here come the little darlins' now. I told them to meet us as soon as possible at the metro here before we go down to Express Town."

"Express ....Town?"

"It's the first town before you get to Express Owl City. Millions of birds ...mostly owls, live there. But Express town is big enough to have everything we need, and to be honest I'm not a fan of cities. I've gotten used to a small town life as it was."

Poppy continued to gawk at the bright lights, slightly impressed by it all...but then slowly shifted over to two little things floating down from the sky towards them, it was hard at first to see them thanks to the blinding yellow light from the sign but eventually she was  able to see the forms of Hattie and Bow floating down towards them. Hattie was holding onto her hat with one hand and smiled down at the three girls below when she noticed they were staring at the three of them.

"I'M MARY PENGUINS YA'LL!!," she called down from the floating umbrella waving her hat.

Mu huffed crossing her arms. "Show offs."

Poppy chuckled at it all and watched with a smile as the two girls gently floated down closer and closer, until they were right in front of them.  Standing on the ground smiling and putting away those magic umbrellas into...Well magic thin air she guessed and smiled up at them all.

"Are we late?"

Cookie shook her head, and gestured to the stairs leading down into the ground, turning as she did and starting to walk down said stairs. "Not at all, Sugarplum. Come along now everyone. The evening train's 'bout ta leave any minute now. And we don't want to miss that now do we?"

Shaking her head no, Hattie followed right behind her with Bow and After rolling her eyes, so did Mu. Poppy slowly followed after them down the stairs, but surprisingly she wasn't greeted in darkness. Instead she was met with a secret underground tunnel of concrete under the city and ....HOLY COW!! A train! There was a train smack dab right in the middle of the room, a few penguins climbing onto it or off it as the many doors on the long thing was open. Thank goodness it wasn't as flashy as the city outside as she looked around in wonder. The place was still pretty big even for small penguins, about five or six houses wide and height if you asked her. There was one penguin who wore the same thing as the other penguins only had on a conductor's hat and a small mic in his flipper, Poppy watched from the bottom of the stairs as this penguin looked at a watch on his other flipper before bringing the mic back up to his mou- ...Uh...Beak.

"Attention passengers." His voice boomed through a speaker above them all. "The Evening Train to the planet below will leave in exactly thirty two seconds. Those boarding please have your luggage in hand and board immediately. Last call for the evening train. That is all."

"Oh, that's our ride. C'mon ya'll. Don't want to be late now."

Cookie hurried the three little girls in front of her towards the nearest open doors on the trains, Poppy trailing behind. Passing penguins going in or out of the tram Poppy gazed up at it as she stepped in. She had to lean other a bit to not hit her head on the ceiling. The weight of the gold in her heavy duty leather apron making her lean more from the weight of it. It had white painted walls with poles and handles on the ceiling to hang onto along with benches the perfect size for Poppy and the girls to sit in. Poppy being obviously taller ended up taking up a seat and a half next to them, but there wasn't many penguins on board so she had plenty of room to herself without having to worry about taking up space for anyone else.

"Last chance of boarding. I repeat last chance,'' the Conductor Penguin's voice sounded out. Poppy glanced over at the doors as they all closed with a loud click ceiling them as the girls and Cookie all sat on either side of her. But gave a small yelp when the train lurched wobbling everyone in it and slowly started to pull forward, Poppy glancing out the window behind them and seeing the station move as the train started taking off. "We are now leaving Moon City Metro. Please remain your seats and enjoy the ride. Thank you for choosing PenCo Express Services for your space travels."

As they picked up speed, Poppy kept staring out the window and her eyes widen seeing the out side of outer space and suddenly the sight of the moon after a few seconds, it was silver and round like a moon would look like but a good CHUNK (like half of it) was alive with lights bright enough to be seen from her spot on the running train. The lights making the buildings look shadowy, it was kinda pretty in a monochrome way. As she turned her head in the opposite direction to look forward, the planet from what she could see from it was getting closer and closer. Well.....Here she goes.

[faustonastring]

I just wanna say your headcannons are so SOFT and wholesome. I loved your stuffed animals ones. I was wondering if you could do some dim headcannons for an MC with a dinosaur hyperfixation. Like they secretly have a jar in their bag full of the tiny plastic dinosaurs. Their favorite ones are the ones with moving parts. And NESSIE. Plesiosaurs. Thank you so so much in advance. I’m sorry if this is hard considering that they probably don’t know what dinosaurs are yet.

Hi thanks for requesting! For the sake of this headcanon I’m going to do this in a modern au, because it’s a little easier and makes a little more sense, I hope that’s okay! ( I can change it if you want, just let me know!)

Also if anyone’s interested in my stuffed animal headcanons you can read them here!

My Request are open!

Main six with a Mc with a dinosaur fixiation!

Asra

Let me get one thing straight. Asra makes and wears, crazy earrings in a modern au. Some of his faveroites are: worm on a string earrings, juul pod earrings, calico critter earrings, and the dinosaur earrings he made for you.(he made an matching pair for himself) he also has a thing for tourist traps, and everytime he travels he makes sure to check one out, so dinosaur tourist traps are a must.

It’s also canon that his faveroite character from Jurassic park is the dinosaurs (via ask the arcana) so he fully endorses your dinosaur fixiation, and starts to develop one himself (but he’s not complaing, it just brings him closer to you.) and before you know it you’re shop is decked out with dinosaur themed furniture, and toys, and stuffed animals.

The two of you make it your goal to watch every movie with dinosaurs in it, no matter how bad, how old, how cheesy, or how little of an appearance the dinosaurs have. You also have a tier list where you rank all the movies you’ve seen. Wether this teir list is on your phone, or a sheet of paper you tape to your fridge is up to you,but it exist and you can’t tell me it doesn’t.

Nadia

She is just a tad confused, but as soon as she gets over the initial confusion, she supports your interest 100%. Besides, dinosaurs are a great thing to be interested in! And she’ll only admit this to you, but when she was younger she had a thing for dinosaurs as well.

Museum dates are a must! She’ll take you all over the world with her so you could look at diffrent dinosaurs in exhibits, no matter how cliche or touristy trapish they are. (She’ll stick her nose up but she’ll keep her complaining to a minimum. She just wants to see you happy more than anything else.

You know those hard plastic dinosaurs you can get from places like michaels? (Or toy stores if they sell them...?) she’ll buy you a couple of those and tinker with them to make their limbs move. She’s happy because she gets to tinker and your happy because you get a moving dinosaur so a win win if you ask me. (Shes happy that your happy as well)

Julian

He finds it endearing and cute. Espically if you know a lot about dinosaurs. He’ll ask you tons of questions about dinosaurs just so you can go on about them and how intresting you find them (Portias new nickname for you is blathers. Sorry I don’t make the rules.) not only does he find it cute, but it also slightly turns him on so have fun with that.

Everytime he has to travel away from you, wether it be business related, or he’s going to visit family and you for whatever reason couldn’t make it, he’ll stop by the nearest museum and take shakey pictures of the exhibits and/or face time you if you’re not busy, and buy you a shirt or a mug, or a tiny replica of you’re favorite dinosaur (he always checks to see if there are any moving ones for you don’t worry)

Cheer him up by leaving tiny dinosaurs in his jacket pockets, bags, books, mugs, anywhere, when he finds them at first he’s mildly confused, but when he realizes it was you, he laughs to him self and hides them of you to find once you get home.

Portia

She likes learning things about you, so she’ll want to know what you like about dinosaurs, what you’re faveroite types are,etc etc more etc, you’re faveroite Jurassic park movie, etc.

For you’re birthday, she makes you a dinosaur cake. A cake that looks like a dinosaur, and gifts you this book,and a a whole bunch of other stuffed animal themed stuff, including a stuffed dinosaur she sewed herself that pepi destroyed in about a week, so she makes you another one

You can’t leave tiny dinosaurs around her cottage because pepi will eat them, so hide some in the secret parts of the palace next time you go, she’ll be pleasntly surprised, but happy nonetheless

Muriel

He smiles to himself about it, it’s cute, it’s endearing, he even brings himself to ask questions about dinosaurs, he thinks it’s cute how much you know about them. Plus he’s a great listener and will remember every little detail

Where I live we have a dinosaur themed hiking trail, so I feel like Muriel would love to go somewhere like that, and having a little picnic somewhere off trail, where he will listen to you talk about dinosaurs all day long.

He’ll also whittle you little dinosaurs that move, and some that stand still for decoration, he’ll also crochet you little dinosaur stuffed animals if you like sleeping with them, and his face lights up every time he sees that you like them

Lucio

He thinks it’s so cute when he finds out, he covers your face in kisses and tells you how cute he thinks you are, and how much he loves you, and your little obsession with dinosaurs you’re just absolute perfection to him

He buys you any kind of toy, figure, stuffed animal, anything dinosaur related, he doesn’t care he just wants you happy. But don’t expect him to sit through all the Jurassic parks with no break. Hell he can’t even sit though the first one with no break.

He isn’t the biggest fan of museum dates because he finds them boring, so expect him to break or steal something not even half way though, but hey how was he supposed to know you couldn’t touch the dinosaurs?!

Hi! I’m really tired, so this one fell apart towards the end but I hope you liked it anyway!

Next headcanon: main six reacting to Mc disappearing

Request are open!

[marshmallowgoop]

Sushio’s latest Kill la Kill fanart got me thinking.

[Image description: A sketch. Ryuko walks briskly, her hands in the pockets of her jacket. She smiles at Senketsu beside her, who appears to be very happy.]

See, Senketsu... doesn’t exactly get a ton of stuff like this. Kill la Kill animator doujin and Twitter accounts won’t include much content featuring him.

And that’s totally fine, of course! These are drawings the staff do for fun, and I completely understand if drawing Senketsu ain’t as fun as drawing human characters.

But I actually got the Kill la Kill Starter Book recently, which was originally sold at Comiket 84 and then included as a purchase bonus on Aniplex+:

[Image description: The cover of the Kill la Kill Starter Book. It's an illustration of Ryuko Matoi and Senketsu by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Ryuko stands, smiling, wearing an untransformed Senketsu and holding her Scissor Blade.]

And flipping through the book, I was reminded that while Senketsu may not get a lot of animator fanart, he does get some good official art.

Now, I dunno how "official" the Starter Book really is. (I mean, it was sold at Comiket originally, so maybe it’s more in the “animator fanart” category, but at the same time, it is also a product kind of featured on the official Kill la Kill site, and, like, the SSSS. Gridman Starter Book was sold on Trigger’s online shop....)

But if you do consider the starter book to be official merchandise, then Sachiko Yajima's piece is not only my favorite in the collection but one of my favorite pieces of official Kill la Kill art, period.

The image is very simple; it's an illustration of Ryuko holding her bag behind her, smiling down at Senketsu. It’s nothing elaborate, but its sweetness means the world to me. With Kill la Kill’s fast pace, we rarely get those quiet moments where these two are just happy together.

And there’s more good stuff where that came from! Here are some more of my favorite pieces of official/semi-official Kill la Kill artwork that feature Senketsu!

1. Hug

[Image source]

[Image description: Ryuko hugs Senketsu, naked, smiling. He looks up at her, his mouth around her arms. Sparkles surround them, implying that they're Synchronizing through the hug.]

First, the final Blu-ray/DVD cover, by Sushio (sushio_)! So sweet. This is what Kill la Kill ultimately wants you to take away from it. 

The recently released Promare Blu-ray/DVD cover gave me flashbacks:

Two characters and a representation of their synchronized way of fighting together. My heart.

2. Waving Goodbye

[Image source]

[Image description: Three characters are pictured. On the top, Senketsu waves goodbye. Below them, Ryuko smiles in Senketsu-Kisaragi and waves goodbye, winking. At the bottom, Guts sleeps with a big snot bubble coming out of his nose.]

Then, also from the final Kill la Kill volume, the adorable side art by Mago (magodesu)! Ryuko and Senketsu happy in Senketsu-Kisaragi, and Senketsu waving goodbye? My heart. Again.

I love Ryuko's winking. Her hand covers Senketsu's right eye, she's closing her left... the symmetry....

3. Date

[Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4]

[Image descriptions: The first image depicts Ryuko in a yellow bikini, smiling as she holds Senketsu’s sleeves. The second image is of a figure designed after this image. The third and fourth images are cards made from this image, called “Swimsuit Ryuko” and “Senketsu’s Date with Ryuko.”]

And of course, I can't talk about favorite official Senketsu art without mentioning Akira Amemiya's "Senketsu's Date with Ryuko"! An illustration, two cards, a figure... this is one image they really want you to see. Kill la Kill is actually adorable.

4. Don’t Look...

[Image source]

[Image description: A double-sided dakimakura, with one side featuring Ryuko in Synchronized Senketsu and the other side featuring Satsuki in Overridden Junketsu. Ryuko looks bashful and tries to cover Senketsu's eye. Satsuki looks angry and ready to attack with her sword, Bakuzan.]

Next up, I don't think I'd call this a "fave" exactly; it breaks my heart. But I appreciate (?) that Senketsu is acknowledged in the semi-official dakimakura.

Ryuko and Senketsu were drawn by Shota Iwasaki (tarou2), and Satsuki and Junketsu were drawn by Mai Yoneyama (yonema).

5. Shocked

[Image source]

[Image description: Official Kill la Kill breast mousepads. There is one for Ryuko in Synchronized Senketsu and one for Satsuki in Overridden Junketsu. Both girls have their arms up. Ryuko looks bashful. Satsuki looks angry. Senketsu is shocked.]

On the same note, I could say similar things about these official mousepads found on Trigger's Kill la Kill site. Why is it that fanservice products pay more attention to Senketsu's character than a lot of discussion on the show? I cry. 

6. Bath Time

[Image source]

[Image description: A figure. The description on the site reads, “This figure captures the Kill La Kill protagonist at an awkward time, as she's just getting out of a hot spring. Water drips down her body, and the only thing keeping her from being totally exposed is a tiny, soaked towel. While she looks shamed and demure, she still has a chance to take it out on you with severe prejudice. Her trusty Scissor Blade is just mere feet behind her, and Senketsu, her sentient uniform, is grasping onto her thigh, ready to help her suit up and unleash all her power towards any peeping toms foolish enough to sneak a peek.”]

And I’ve already talked up a storm about the bath figures, but to keep it short, let’s just say that I’m glad Senketsu is included because he wants to cover Ryuko and prevent any creeps from peeping on her. And also Synchronize with her so they can take out the creeps together. He is drinking all the Respect Women Juice.

7. Stickers!

[Image source]

[Image description: Ryuko and Senketsu stickers sold in Trigger's online shop. There's a sticker of Ryuko in her tracksuit wearing scarf!Senketsu. There's a sticker of Ryuko in untransformed Senketsu. There's a sticker of Senketsu posing and a sticker of Ryuko posing. There's also a plain sticker of Senketsu looking forward.]

But on the more adorable side, these stickers by Sushio! The artwork is from SUSHIO CLUB LOVE LOVE KLKL, which has tons of cute Kill la Kill content. Of all the stickers from the book sold in Trigger's shop, these are the only ones sold out....

8. Dressing Up

[Image source]

[Image description: Senketsu has become a red dress, and his eye and eyepatch are integrated into a ruffled design. Ryuko wears two red bracelets on her left wrist, red lipstick, and brown boots. She has her jacket slung over her shoulder, and her hair is styled with a clip.]

Another Sushio piece, Ryuko and Senketsu being fancy together! The art was done for an Aniplex display at AnimeJapan in 2014 and is also included in SUSHIO THE IDOL. 

See that extra bit of red in Ryuko's hair? It implies they Synced to make that dress!

9. Bikini!Senketsu

[Image source]

[Image description: A sketch. Ryuko wears bikini!Senketsu and sandals.]

I also totally headcanon that Senketsu can transform into other outfits, and the official manga adaptation with art by Ryo Akizuki (akizuki072) includes a snippet of Ryuko in bikini!Senketsu in the third volume! The full image (above) was posted on Twitter.

10. Nendoroid Love

[Image source]

[Image description: Chaos. Aikuro sits at a table and has a huge glass of wine. Next to him, Tsumugu cleans... something? Shiro scowls at Houka, who has perhaps taken Mako's laptop, as its adorned with a bunny image. Mako opens a fridge; a chicken comes out. Satsuki has her arms around a horde of Nendos of her, Ryuko, and Mako. Nonon and Uzu are scowling in the back. Ryuko smiles at her Nendo.]

This next one is more minor, but Sushio's art for this Kill la Kill Radio CD just gets to me. Ryuko's admiring her Nendoroid... which features her and Senketsu. She's like, "We look so good together, don't we, Sen?" 

 Idk, I think it's cute....

11. Into the Stars

[Image description: My photo of the “ambiguous” and “Sirius” album art. Both are star themed. For the “ambiguous” art, Ryuko smiles in Synchronized Senketsu, up in the stars. Below her, Satsuki, Soroi, and the Elite Four (with Mako on Ira's shoulders, looking up in awe) watch. For “Sirius,” Ryuko and Senketsu shoot up towards the stars. The Mankanshoku family try to run after them, their arms outstretched, but can't keep up.]

And on the topic of CD art, the "ambiguous" and "Sirius" album art by Sushio are adorable! My photo isn't great, but I get so emotional at Ryuko and Senketsu flying up into the stars together. Nobody can keep up with them. They are on a whole 'nother level. So precious.

12. OT3

[Image source]

[Image description: Ryuko, Senketsu, and Mako hold each other, posing for the camera.]

For this next one, a WonderGOO purchase bonus for the Kill la Kill game drawn by Kengo Saito (kengo1212), I know Senketsu is often ignored. But I was so happy to see him acknowledged and posing for a photo with his loved ones. So cute. I bought this bonus!

13. I Don’t Think He’s Her Dad...

[Image source]

[Image description: A poster of Ryuko transforming with Senketsu. She is naked, her eyes shut as strands of Senketsu's fabric wrap around her.]

For another poster, by Sushio (thank you for confirming, @dont-lose-your-edge​!), I wouldn't say Senketsu is characterized exactly, but I think it's one of the most sensual pieces of official Kill la Kill art. It really makes the “Senketsu is/is like Ryuko’s dad” reading very implausible to me....

14. Best Box

[Image source]

[Image description: An image of the All the Anime Collector's box. The right side has the Kill la Kill logo, the left side has art of Ryuko and Satsuki looking at each other, and the spine has Ryuko hugging Senketsu. The three volumes that All the Anime sold the series in can be placed inside the box.]

I don't have much else, but since I love that final volume cover art so much, I have to say that I so appreciate All the Anime for placing it on the spine of their collector's box. 

That is what Kill la Kill is all about, y'all. Not fighting. Not fanservice. Shirt friendship.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Ko-Fi Commission: LeaseBound

Leasebound is a “gender-critical” (TERF) webcomic that attained notoriety after releasing a chapter with hateful depictions of trans people, leading to it getting banned from Smack Jeeves. It’s currently self-hosted on a comic press site without a cast page, archive, or even menu, and doesn’t appear to have a patreon (and likely won’t, given its content). It’s a small enough comic that I wouldn’t normally feel comfortable reviewing it, except that the creator explicitly encouraged me to and appears to be getting off on the bad press. 

The story starts with two characters finding out that they both rented the same apartment because the landlord was incompetent and double booked it.

And this particular landlord doesn’t have any other rooms available. There’s a host of logical objections to this set up, such as

Isn’t this fraud on the part of the landlord?

Wouldn’t a major deception like this void the lease?

Why don’t the women move to some other landlord’s apartment and sue the shit out of the woman who sold them a single apartment and surprised them with a roommate?

How does a huge apartment complex with at least 18 rooms have two people booking rooms that don’t talk to each other?

Is the groundskeeper also doing the paperwork and background checks? You don’t buy an apartment at the apartment store, it’s like a whole process.

Isn’t this just the fanfic “but there was only one bed!” trope taken to an even more illogical extreme?

But that road leads to becoming CinemaSins, so let’s just acknowledge that the premise is ludicrous and all the characters are morons so we can move on with our lives. Anyway, the characters introduce themselves as Jaden and Riley, and casually accept sharing a bedroom. They exposit a bit about how Jaden dropped out of college and Riley never went, and

Uh

RILEY: Sorry- I wasn’t trying to pry. JADEN: All good. Earlier you said you had a “few things” in mind RILEY: Right, yeah! I thought it was be good to set some ground rules. JADEN: You can add’ “more organised” to the list then too. Haha. RILEY: Wait, really?  JADEN: Stories for another time

What the fuck? What list? What is Jaden talking about? Why is there an apostrophe hanging out after “add”?

You know how in PS1 JRPGs the translation would be really bad and sometimes people would just say weird shit that didn’t seem to have anything to do with what was just said?

That’s how Leasebound dialogue reads, bizarre punctuation and all. The add’ with an apostrophe is baffling, but I also like how “Haha.” is it’s own sentence with a period at the end.

 Anyway, the rest of the chapter is about how Riley owns a cat but has to keep it a secret because she doesn’t know if the landlord allows pets and I guess didn’t think to ask when she was applying for the lease.

So, the status quo is established. Jaden and Riley wanted to buy a single apartment but got foisted with a roommate, but they’re happy because that means the rent is cheaper. Personally if I wanted a cheaper apartment and was willing to have a roommate I’d get an apartment with a roommate in the first fucking place but we really can’t keep complaining about how stupid the premise is we have to move on. So Jaden is in the living room and, hold on, sorry

This living room is massive. The kitchen has a fridge, and oven, and two matching sofas. In chapter 2 Riley’s going to fit in a four-seat table in here. This is supposed to be a studio apartment in Downtown City

Y’know, City. Not any particular specific real or fictional city with a name, but City.

And Jaden and Riley, neither of whom have college degrees, are so hard up for cheaper rent that they’re comfortable with the surprise revelation of having to share a bedroom with a stranger. But they’re also in a huge apartment in the middle of a metro area? This living room is nearly as big as mine, and I have three roommates and live in Cheaper Suburb. Why are you buying all this space at City square foot prices if money is tight? Get a smaller apartment, or if you really need the space get an apartment that’s not in the middle of City? The author of this comic is 23, has she not looked into getting an apartment? Bigger ones are more expensive.

Okay, okay, the premise is dumb. Let’s move on. Riley and Jaden make sm-

Why are you sharing a tiny bedroom if your Living room is party sized and has multiple sofas? Why not partition off some of the living room with room dividers from IKEA to make a faux bedroom with privacy?

Ahem, Riley and Jaden make small talk and order a pizza and it takes a long time and it’s not super interesting but it’s supposed to be cute and I can’t really fault a slice of life comic for taking its time. Riley’s worried that her girlfriend won’t like that she has a roommate (Riley why don’t you move in with your girlfriend?), and Jaden gets a call from work that they’re shortstaffed.

They’re so short-staffed that they’re going to send an employee out to go pick up Jaden. Can Jaden not get to work on her own? That seems like the kind of thing that would make her not want to move in to this specific apartment. Why would you move to an apartment that you couldn’t get to work from? You’re in the middle of City, and your job is a big nightclub in City, and City has public transit. You previously did not live in City, meaning you used to live further away from work than you now do. How did you get to work before? Isn’t picking up a Jaden a tremendous waste of an employee’s time? Even if the club is aware that Jaden can’t get in on her own and is willing to bend over backwards for her here, why not “Jaden, we need you at work pronto. Take a uber over, we’ll reimburse you”, which is dramatically easier for all involved? Why is everyone in this comic so fucking stupid?

Sigh

Well, Jaden goes to work, and that leads us off into the infamous chapter 3, “The T is for trouble”

We open the chapter with a bad-faith trigger warning that looks like a real content warning but is actually designed to get trans people really mad as Jaden heads to work and-

Hey hey, Rusty started putting links to her tumblr in the comic pages. Someone was expecting pages from this chapter to go viral, wasn’t she? Was the chapter where Riley and Jaden spend a few pages ordering a pizza not giving you enough engagement? But now that you’re the official #2 Terf Webcomic you get lots of angry people in your tags that you can reblog and be snarky at. Bet that makes you feel powerful. I know the feeling. I built my tumblr following by writing reviews and advice columns for five years, but you went from zero to hero in like a week and all you had to do was say mean things about trans people oh my god I figured it out

You’re Mary. Rusty Hearts is Mary Bradford from Dumbing of Age. You want the validation of the “wrong” kind of people giving you shit. That’s why you made sure all your transphobic comics had links to your tumblr and your getting pizza comics didn’t. That’s why you keep reblogging my ads for my comic that I place in your tags. That’s why you see me post the review and make a response like this

And you know what?

Nah.

I’m not going to include chapter 4. I’m not going to read it. I’m not even going to include chapter 3. There’s nothing that I can add to it that hasn’t been said by a ton of other people. I can post your anti-trans stuff and get the vapors about how bigoted you are, but at the end of the day I’m not the Social Justice Report. I’m The Webcomics Review. And your webcomic sucks. It’s boring, it’s stupid, it doesn’t make any sense. Your premise is ludicrous and quickly abandoned to bait and switch people into reading a political polemic (I did skim chapter four, it’s literally people standing around in a circle talking about how trans people are bad like a terfy Ayn Rand novel). Your characters are all morons in order to get to plot points you want to get to, and your first two chapters are a mountain of pointless exposition and characters being vaguely cryptic about their backstories.Your art is bad not just in that you can’t draw well, but in that you don’t bother to include details to give your world a sense of place, and the details you do include like that luxurious living room actively undermine your alleged story (to the extent that there’s a story at all).

But hey, you got your 15 minutes of fame (and zero patreonbux) from the anti-trans stuff. You got people to read your comic. Good hussle. Well done. Tatsuya Ishida does it better.

Leasebound gets zero genders out of a spectrum.

Like this review? Follow me on patreon, or buy me a Ko-Fi! Or even just read my own webcomic, Saffron and Sage!

[ericadownunderpart2]

The Great Barrier “Ralph”

Tuesday and Wednesday I checked off one of my bucket list activities.  I took an overnight boat and snorkelled thr the Great Barrier Reef.  We visited one of the Outer Reefs, the Thetford Reef, 3 hours out from Cairns.  One of the ost spectacular sites ever!

So full disclosure, this might be one of my least visual appealing posts because I did not have an underwater camera and really didn’t use my phone too much because everything on the boat is soaking wet all the time.  Most of the pics from topside are mine, but all the fish/coral pics are courtesy of the internet.  They are all things I really saw though..Anyway, sit back, put your comfy pants on, get a glass of wine...cause this is a long one.

My Great Barrier Reef (GBR) voyage was aboard a small 65 foot motor sailing schooner called the Rum Runner. It was advertised as "an affordable reef experience for backpackers and budget-conscious travelers" (You know how I love a deal) It lives up to it's no frills expectations. The boat is owned by a man named Richard who is also known as Rum. He also owns the hostel I am staying at...another no frills frills experience. Rum is a kind of wiry frantic man, who when I told him that the door to the refrigerator fell off when I opened it, he said  “Oh yeah, that...well, you can put your stuff in the other fridge.”  Hmmm.  No frills indeed.  But it is actually a nice room with my own bed and A/C.  All the basics covered.

Anyway, back to the reef...the captain of the Rum Runner was also quite a character.  His name is Jace and he looks exactly like what you would imagine a grizzled sailor to look like (only he’s on the small side).  Long, unkempt hair and covered in nautical tattoos,.His personality is a grizzled as his exterior would suggest.  Classic! (No photo, use your imagination)

A motley crew

We were at full capacity on the small boat with 16 passengers and 5 crew.  (I actually think we might have been over capacity, but its not the kind of boat that is concerned with that kind of thing.)  My fellow passengers on the trip were a fun and eclectic mix of international backpackers hailing from 9 different countries including Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, New Zealand, France, etc.

The ride out to the reef was a 3 hour trip.  It started with fun a chatting and general excitement.  Things quickly turned sour.  The reason I named this post The Great Barrier “Ralph” was due to the rough seas heading out to the reef and the puking/ralphing fest that ensued.  Of the 16 passengers, at my best count 9 were lined up along the side of the ship throwing up for most of the ride out.  A seasickness extravaganza.  I was shockingly one of the only people not throwing up.  Considering my general aversion to water for most of my early life, I was shocked to be one of the ones who had my sea legs.  This air of cockiness would catch up to me later, but more to come on that...

By the time we got out to the reef, most people, although a little sad, queasy and haggard had stopped ralphing over the side and it was time to get our diving/snorkeling on.  Most of the passengers were certified divers.  There were only three of us who opted for the snorkel only package, which proved to be the best decision.  My snorkel buddies are my new favorite travel friends, Sophie & Oscar.  Sophie is a “Kiwi” (a person from New Zealand) and Oscar, Sophie’s BF, is originally from Sweden.  They would turn out to be my travel companions for the rest of my time in Cairns.  

Snorkel buddies

The three of us had nearly free reign of the reef on each dive, as the crew was preoccupied with the divers.  On day one, we did 4 dives at sites around an Outer Reef known as the Thetford Reef.  Although the GBR is in danger due to global warming, it is absolutely huge and some parts of it are still flourishing.  We were on just one of over 3,000 reef groups that make up the GBR!

So what is it like to snorkel in open ocean?  Absolutely terrifying.  Thanks for asking.  If I’m being totally honest my entire first & maybe second dive I was freaking out.  I made them give me floaty because I was scared I would drown and never be seen again.  As it turns out, it is salt water and we were all wearing wet suits so, I was so buoyant I couldn’t have drowned if I wanted to.  It took a few dives for me to realize this.  Most of the reefs we saw were shaped like giant mountains or mushroom clouds under the water.  You can snorkel right over the top of them and the corals are only a few feet from you.  Once I got over the initial fear of drowning or being eaten by sharks, I discovered it is one of the most magical experiences ever.  You can swim with schools of beautiful, iridescent fish.  There are so many of them.  The fish and the reef are ever color imaginable and they are so close to you!  One of the best experiences is when you swim over the top of the reef and get to the edge...all of a sudden it drops off into huge caverns, sometimes hundreds of feet deep.  It feels like you are flying.  You’re first instinct is that you are going to fall off the edge, until you realize you are floating above the void.  It is literally like flying above mountains and valleys, except they are underwater and made of coral.  

In the deep dropoffs there are schools of large fish, we saw Tuna, which are huge and Unicorn Fish, which are hilarious.

Again, disclaimer, I did not take these photoss, but this is what they look like.

“Unicorn Fish” -  Naso brevirostris

Tuna

In the shallows of the reefs, we found Nemo!!  (Clown fish are the cutest), these crazy neon blue worms that hide when you splash water at them, and other smaller fish.  Some of my other favorites below:

Butterfly fish.  So cute, they were always swimming in pairs.

Five banded Damselfish.  I could just swim right in the middle of a school of them.

Blue Puller Damsel Fish

Bi-color Clown Fish Nemo!)

Coral Trout

Giant Clams

Table Coral

Brain Coral

Blue Coral

Each dive was about an hour and I didn’t want to come back each time.  It was beyond words...]

Pics from rear of the Rum Runner at dusk 

The other thing that is amazing about being out on the reef  is the sunset and at night there is almost no light and we were out on a clouody night.  We had dinner and a beer and headed to bed in our tiny bunks.  I don’t think I have ever been so tired.  I’m pretty sure I was asleep by 8pm.

The next day we were up at 7am for our morning dive.  The first of two for the final day.  On each dive the reefs got progressively more amazing (maybe because I could finally fully relax and enjoy them) The abundance of fish chasing each other around the reef and hiding in little reef caves was phenomenal.  On our final dive of the day, we swam out to a large, shallow thin reef, with deep crevasses running through the reef.  I was swimming a little further away from my companions, near a crevasse, and all of a sudden a HUGE fish came out of the black of the crevasse and swam right past my face.  It was what is known as a Humphead Wrasse.  They are one of the largest fish in the reef.  The one I saw was easily 4 feet long.  

Humphead  or Maori Wrasse (They can live up to 30 years, but are currently on the endangered species list)

Of course, I immediately thought it was something that was going to eat me.  I panicked and swam down to avoid it, this led to me taking in a ton of water into my snorkel and completely forgetting how to blow it out again.  I ended up swallowing a TON of salt water in my panic.  I eventually pulled myself together and figured out the fish was completely harmless.  I then took off in pursuit of it.  After sprinting after it for several minutes I finally caught up to it and swam alongside of it for what felt like hours, probably a minute or so.  Then, it hit me...I had just swallowed an inhumane amount of salt water and was completely wiped from chasing the fish.  My bravado in being one of the non-pukers caught up to me.  All of a sudden, I just lost my cookies and puked in the ocean.  I had officially left my mark (and my breakfast) on the Great Barrier Reef.  And that friends, was my final hurrah on the Reef.  The Wrasse had disappeared back to the depths of the ocean and it was time for me to swim back to the boat.  Epic, right?

Anyway, the conclusion of this story is that I continue to leave my breakfast in the GBR for the rest of the 3 hour trip back to Cairns.  Seasickness is no joke, folks.  Lesson learned, don’t eat a giant breakfast, swallow a ton of salt water and then ride on rough water for three hours.  Was it worth it?  YYYYYEEEESSSSSSS!  In fact, I couldn’t ask for a more hilarious and epic final hours on the Reef.  This will probably go down as one of the best experiences of my life.  It was also one of the best moments ever to stand on solid ground, take a shower in my hostel, take some anti-nausea medicine and sleep!

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/beautycounter-lead-conference-recap-the-fitnessista/

Beautycounter LEAD Conference Recap - The Fitnessista

and WE SAW MICHAEL BUBLÉ.

(I’m not even going to hide my creeper status. And don’t worry, my mouth didn’t actually touch the poster.)

Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I’m just getting back from a whirlwind trip to Phoenix for the Beautycounter LEAD conference… and to see Michael Bublé, my favorite ever.

I got into Phoenix on Thursday morning, and met up with Arsy and Tina at the adorable Airbnb where we’d be staying. It was my first Airbnb experience and I was beyond impressed with the whole thing.

Check out the cuteness! 

It was in a neighborhood filled with unique older houses, and they completely gutted and redid the interior. The wood floors and tiling in the bathroom were gorgeous, along with exposed brick, modern art, and unique touches (like the book selection in each bedroom). 

Arsy surprised us with little goodie bags on each of our beds, with Hu chocolates, travel Cote nail polishes, Bee’s wrap, the best hair ties, a Beautycounter pen, and a sweet card. She also stocked the fridge with some healthy essentials, cold brews, and waters.

I’ve been working with Arsy for almost 3 years and it was my first time meeting her in person. Of course, she was just as kind and lovely as I expected, and I had such a great time hanging out with her and Tina all weekend. 

Thursday night, we had our team dinner at True Food, and then Friday morning, it was straight into the official festivities. We had quite a few sessions on Friday, and each one left me feeling more inspired, motivated, and grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to work for such a respected and innovative company. (Beautycounter is the #1 Googled beauty brand of 2018 and the top clean skincare brand in the world.) They generally care for the health of all living beings on this planet, and are constantly working to impart change in the beauty industry, which is severely unregulated. The last federal safety law for cosmetics was passed in 1938!! We’re actively working to get this changed and make clean products accessible to everyone. This means no matter what store you go to and what brand you purchase, you should be able to have have the confidence that they were manufactured without endocrine disrupters, known carcinogens, and harmful preservatives. 

My very favorite quote from the weekend:

– The greatest gift you can give anyone who loves you is your own wellbeing 

While there was a lot of motivational talk, they also addressed burnout and importance of paying attention to what truly matters: your family, your health, and your relationships. I love how much they emphasized balance and taking the time to share your life with those you love and make yourself a priority. 

We also had the opportunity to hear Gregg Renfrew speak. She’s our CEO and the Founder of Beautycounter and she’s so.darn.real. The entire room of 1700 was captivated the entire time she was talking. She was so encouraging, humble, and generously shared her knowledge and inspiration with us all. 

They also had some pretty solid snack breaks and lunch in between the presentations. 🙂

Friday afternoon, the Pilot picked us up from the conference and we headed to the house to get ready for the evening. The girls went to another team dinner at a downtown hotel, while the Pilot and I enjoyed a sushi date at Moira Sushi before Michael Buble.

(Shoes are here // dress is here — got it from Rent the Runway and was so pumped it actually fit. I feel like it’s so hard to tell what will work from the sizing but the S was just right)

We arrived at the arena, ordered wine in a can for me + beer for him, walked to our awesome seats (!) and I buckled up for the best concert experience of my life. I’m a HUGE Michael Bublé fan – I sporadically listen to his music all year and just switch to his Christmas album for November and December – so I was expecting a lot, but it was beyond anything I could have imagined. His perfect voice, the set design, the orchestra, his backup singers, everything. Just.SO.freaking.good.

(He started off with “Feelin’ Good” and I screamed like a teenager at a BTO concert.)

#1) He is HILARIOUS. He was cracking a ton of jokes in between songs, many of which were gloriously inappropriate, and the Pilot and I were laughing our faces off. I had to keep myself from breaking into the full-on dinosaur cry during Home and one of his newer songs, Forever Now. If you want to get a glimpse of what I was feeling, listen to the song, and then picture in your mind a child’s bedroom and how it changes from when they’re born (a nursery with sweet printed wallpaper, a crib, and a rocker) until they MOVE out (a large bed and a room strewn with moving boxes, to completely empty room). That’s what they flashed on the arched screen above the stage and I think they pretty much wanted to pull my heart out of my body. Of course, all of his lighthearted jokes and the fact that he doesn’t take himself too seriously kept me from crying too hard.

2) He is so grateful to all of his supporters. Multiple times he thanked us for spending our money and our time to be at his concert. He said that his supporters lifted their family while they went through something absolutely heartbreaking, and was so heartfelt and genuine in thanking the audience. You can just tell he’s a really good guy.

3) I tried to meet him but I failed. So here’s the thing, in college and my early 20s, I got backstage after concerts if I wanted to meet the band or singer. It’s not because I’m cool or had a VIP pass, but I’d just casually go to the side of the stage and ask security if I could just go back and get a photo with whomever. You’d think it would be a fail but it worked every time! I would just be chill about it and I think they saw a young non-threteaning kid and were like, “Go. Live your dream.” I didn’t know if I would work for Michael Bublé because, I don’t know, I’m like 15 years older now, BUT I figured this was my only chance and went for it. Unfortunately, they did all of the meet and greets before the show, not after. So when I went to ask if I could pleeeeeease go back and take a pic, security told me they did all of that stuff earlier. It’s NBD, but I did try. #shameless #dontcurr

The Pilot and I stayed at Westin, which was lovely, and then Saturday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Coronado (a cute vegetarian cafe!) before he hit the road back to Tucson and I headed back to the conference.

I got there just in time to learn about the new products from our Product Development team, and get excited! There’s so much good stuff on the way, including a face cream that supposed to feel luxurious and gorgeous like La Mer, but with clean ingredients. So pumped about this! I’ll definitely share more info when it’s on the way, but our new line was modeled after Asian skincare rituals (yas yas yassss) and is going through clinical and client trials now. I’ll also have the chance to try it out before it’s released and will absolutely share my experience.

Beautycounter is also transitioning to more glass, less plastic, and are going to include refill options. 

We attended sessions on social media and coaching, and then had a delicious lunch. 

When I left the conference, I felt energized and excited to implement various action plans in my team and with my business. As you guys know, I’m very particular about brand alignments. For everyone I say, “Yes” to, there are at least 20-30 “No, thank you”. When I first joined Beautycounter, I knew I liked the products and I loved their mission to get safer products into the hands of everyone. I didn’t know that it was so much more than that, and that it would have such a huge positive impact on my life and business.

(Jumpsuit is here // shoes are here. Jumpsuit is also from Rent the Runway and I wish I could have kept it!)

Behind this mission, there are thousands of women working hard to change the beauty industry, sharing the products with those they love, and taking their success into their own hands.

I was so thankful to FINALLY meet Teri, who feels like my BFF after all of these years and I still hadn’t met in person! I also got to chat with Lexi, Juli, Cassy, and so many lovely women on our team.

Having this blog has been one of the biggest blessings in my life because it’s enabled me to connect with a motivating, incredible community of women (and dudes!). One of the best parts: I can do it anywhere! As a military wife, this was critical since we were moving every 2 years or so, which this makes it very hard to get and keep a traditional job. Beautycounter gives that same flexibility to those who want to work on their own schedule, wherever they want, and carve their own path. It has been one of the best things I’ve added to my business, and it’s fun, easy, and I get to meet with connect with new people. The money potential is bananas – if you want to talk about it, please email me – and it’s cool to be able to make an income while supporting a company that’s championing for change. If you’d like to make a transition to safer skincare products, or a tiny voice is telling you that consulting may be for you, please email me: gina@fitnessista.com

Well, I’m off to unpack my suitcase, only to RE-pack it for a short trip to Portland for a brand meeting. I hope you have a happy Monday!

xo

Gina

Tell me, friends: first concert experience? If you could see anyone live, who would it be?! My first concert was Boyz II Men in 5th grade. “Motown Philly back again….” Also, has anyone met Michael Buble?! Please tell me everything. 

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[annebrontesrequiem]

I would give you my legs if you did the rfa and the minor trios reaction to MC being very short! And very much so a guy

As a person who’s 5ft I approve of this!!! This sounds so fun!! YAY!!!!! May the short people rejoice, because I got them! Yeah! Lolol! Okay, I’ll start now, moment over…..

Note, the whole thing deleted and I thought my computer was broken, wow I’m crappy at this lol! Anyway again sorry it’s been so long, I feel so guilty >~

Zen

He’s so surprised

HOW ARE YOU SO SMOL OMFG!!!

He finds it ridiculous lol

Gets you everything you need

Always getting things that you can’t reach

Snuggling you all the time

Totally loves being big spoon

Your hair just smells so nice!!

You think he’s the sweetest person to ever walk this earth!

You obviously don’t see when he watches you try to each something

He feels kinda bad, but it’s just too cute, eventually he’ll help you

One day he saw someone at a party making fun of your height

The rest of the time you had to watch Zen “I’m going to kill him” idiot McGee

You actually thought it was super sweet

He just wants to make sure you’re happy all the time

No matter what

He’ll go to the ends of the earth and back for you his angel

You in turn treasure all of his company

You two are perfect together, like a duet of happiness and sunny days

Yoosung

Oh my goodness!

He thought he was the shortest dude in the RFA?

Apparently not!

He’s so unsure what to do

You have to convince him to not go out and buy every stepstool he can find

You assure him you’ll be fine

You guys can’t decide on who’s big spoon

So you face each other

Or sometimes lay on top of each other when it’s not tbh

Shhh!

One day an ex of yours was making fun of you

“Wow, I never thought you’d be into guys you piece of shit! You’re about as close to Hell as you can get, especially considering you have the height of a dwarf!”

You’re obviously very distressed

YANDERE YOOSUNG ACTIVATED

He punches the lady in the face

And you have to pull him back from doing something he’ll regret

He eventually calms down, but not before the woman runs away

You say good riddance

Since then he’s super protective of anyone who makes a comment on your stature

You’re grateful

Jaehee

She was the shortest person in the RFA before

But you’re super tiny!

Like wtf!

She’s so surprised!

There’s only one stepstool in the house

So everything is a battle for you guys

One day she catches you climbing up on the counter

She freaked!

But later you see her doing the same thing

Hehehehehe

One day someone at a park bumped into you

And they tried to make you feel better by saying some really shitty things about your height

Yeah, he’s an idiot

Because Jaehee is amazing at Tae Kwon Do

And you’re amazing at kicking anything below the belt as hard as possible

Yeah, no one messes with you

Even Seven knows if he goes to far…  stuff’s going to go down!

Jumin

Okay, so before we get into your height something needs to be clarified

He makes sure everything is accessible to your height

The first week while it was all getting set up he found you climbing up to get something in the kitchen

On the fridge…

“MC GET DOWN THERE YOU’LL KILL YOURSELF!!”

“It’s fine! I’ve done this loads before!”

“YOU’VE DONE THIS BEFORE?!”

Yeah, he’s a total worrywart

But the sweetest worrywart ever

Also best cuddler goes to this guy I swear to god

Super aware of your feelings about being 5ft

One time you were with him at a party and this guy was making fun of your height

You had to stop Jumin from hiring Seven to wreck his life

“Not the answer babe.”

But the minute you visit the men’s room he’s getting this guy out of the party

You notice, but by then decide not to talk about it

It ended up being a pretty good night

With lots of lovey dovey moments when you get home

IfyouknowwhatImean

Saeyoung/Seven

Okay, let’s be honest

There’s no way in Hell he’s not going to make fun of you

Just because he’s in love with you doesn’t mean he’s going to give up the meaning of life

Totally grabs whatever you want and holding it above your head

You got so frustrated once you pulled him down and screamed in his ear

In response he began tickling you like crazy

Yeah, you spent a lot of time cleaning that up under Saeran’s eye

Sometimes when Saeran and Seayoung are fighting pettily Saeyoung will yell out; “MC’s MY ONLY BROTHER NOW!!!”

You made him apologize

But in all serious he won’t take it too far

One time someone approached you because apparently you bumped into them at the store

And began saying the most horrible things about your height

Yeah, hack God 707 wasn’t go to let that slide

The guy ended up blowing all his recent paychecks on buying Vegemite

Yeah, it was pretty funny

You guys had a good laugh about it

And lots of hugs afterwards!

V

Nearly runs into you the first time you two meet I swear to God

He felt so bad about it!

Apologized profusely, but you just laughed and said it was fine

“Can you feel the love tonight…..”

It was a magical moment

He isn’t really sure where stuff is, so you spend a ton of tiem climbing up on things

When he realizes this he gets you a super tall step stool for each room

So worried about you honestly

What an innocent bean!

Super duper big spoon!!!

His hair is super tickly, and it’s super relaxing

He doesn’t tolerate any form of harassment at all

Someone makes one short joke at you and he’s there

For someone who can look in a mirror he’s mastered the death stare face

Yeah, people tend to stop after that

Always kisses you tons after

You mean the universe to him!

He’d do anything for you

Saeran

Much like his brother

Lots of stuff over your head

Your tactics don’t work on him

Sometimes he’ll throw you over his shoulder

It seems all ridiculous

You take it in stride though, because you know that he’ll give it to you eventually, and that he’d go to the deepest parts of the earth for you

You guys alternate who’s big spoon

When Saeran has a night mare you’ll be big spoon

But usually he is

It took him a while to get used to snuggling, but he loves it

Unfortunately it’s not perfect

During one of his attacks he became sadistically horrible, ripping on your height

You ran away crying that day

Thankfully you figured it out, and he hasn’t had a bad attack in a while

He’s amazingly grateful for you staying with him

The least he can do is do the same for you

Whenever someone else teases you about it Saeran gives them the death stare and a few choice words

Then ice cream for you

You guys spent the rest of the night watching the ducks and hugging each other in the cool air

And your height didn’t matter

You were an endless supply of happiness

Also Saeran thinks you’re the darndest cute thing that’s ever walked this planet

Vanderwood

Very chill about it

Doesn’t understand why it’s a big deal

It’s only a few inches, how bad could it be?

How bad could it be?

They realized it could be pretty bad when you told them about how you were brutally bullied about it

Another thing is getting things, from at the drugstore, to a book on the shelf

So they’re now constantly around you

There for you all the time

You guys sleep forehead to forehead, so there’s no real spooning

But when you’ve had a crappy day they’ll do it a bit

They don’t mind it

You’re soft

Sometimes someone will make a comment on your stature

And they will shoot you them like nothing else

There for you

And when someone has the audacity to stalk you and continue to harasss you about it they hack into all their accounts, lock them, and post random crap, including a profile pic of a rotting vegetable

Yeah, no one touches their loved one

You find it a bit over the top, but happy you’ll never have to deal with them again

I know this was kinda short, but I hope it was sweet enough. This was something interesting for me, because I’m short, and have been caught climbing on counters and cupboards so yeah. Hope you like! Sorry for the delay again, and see you guys tomorrow hopefully!!!! Until the I wish you all the sparkles in the world!!!

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch22

(I headcannon Mustache Girl's actual name to be Muriel. )

You know. It feels a lot better sleeping on a bed than it was sleeping on a hard cold wooden floor. Also much better to wake up with having sore muscles for a second time. Slowly waking up, blue eyes peered out awake to the world, blinking away the blurry vision that came with it. Where was she again? The first thing she saw was the blue canopy of Hattie bed......And slowly she started to remember what happened last night. Groaning, the grown woman slowly sat up on the bed and reached a hand up to push the long messy hair out of her face. Vision slowly focusing and seeing the large pillow pile and diving board attached to the top of it, and the bookshelf with all those children books on it. Yawning, Poppy stretched out her back the Starella story book tumbling off her lap and onto the bed beside her, not that she noticed. She was a little busy smacking her lips and rubbing her face before standing up and sluggishly walking her way towards the tiny door. She was hungry and you know what, some apples in the morning didn't sound too bad anyways. As her ma would say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Right? Well not quite. As she tired crawled(dragged) herself into the control room, the sweet smell of fried eggs and cheese filled the air and when she sniffed, Poppy found herself turning in the direction of the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food and she stood to her feet again. Mind blank as she tiredly trudged her way towards the ramp up to the kitchen area. Passing Rumbi who was happy to be back in the control room and not carried around room to room anymore cleaning. Up the ramp and past the big vault door, she could smell the food getting closer and closer until she pushed open the doors without a second thought.

"....Well, good morning to ya," a cheering slightly southern accent called out, "I was wondering when I would see you again."

The voice seemed to finally wake up Poppy as she blinked and turned her head in the direction of Cookie who smiled and was standing on a chair to reach the hot stove. Something was sizzling on the stove in front of her and that's what was making the delicious smell. The girls were there too, all dressed in the same outfits as yesterday but these ones were different colors. Same design and style, different color. Hattie was wearing a dark blue and white out fit and hat( dark blue being her shirt and pants, and white being anything else from her cape to hat), and Bow was wearing a similar dark blue and white attire(with her dress being dark blue and everything from her Bow to shoes were a white). The girls happily waved at her in between eating what looked like friend eggs into their mouths. A third short person was standing off in the corner of the room behind Cookie looking bored.

"Oh. Uh.....*YYYYAAAAWWNN* H-Hello again, Cookie." She proceeded to rub her face again. "W-What are you doing here?"

Cookie smiled turning back to the stove to flip the yellow almost cresent shaped egg. "Well, since the last episode of my cooking show for this season was finished, it means I get a few months to take a load off and prepare for the next season after the Annual Bird Movie Award Ceremony is over."

"Bird ....movie awards?"

Cookie nodded. "It happens once a year, but unfortunately since one of the three judges not awefully sick from bad bird seed they had to push it back a few months this year. Now the deadline is the week before Cupid's Day, that's why the theme for this year's contest was romance. Poor Mr. Grooves is having an awful time trying to find suitable actors for this fairytale romance theme he has going on. I would've volunteered myself, but I was really looking forward to some rest." She smiled shyly and pointed to herself. "And I wasn't exactly what he was looking for in the fair maiden role."

"I think you're beautiful Cookie!," Bow piped up, "The prettiest cat in the world!"

"And the best cook, too!," Hattie added.

Both making Cookie giggled and waving her paw, "Oh stop! Ya'll are making me blush worse than a kitten with a puppycrush."

"What are you cooking?," Poppy asked shuffling closer to them.

"Cheese omlets," Cookie replied happily. Reaching over and grabbing a plate laid next to her, she expertly flipped the omlet up and onto the plate in her paws with ease before turning to Poppy smiling and offering it out to her. "I hope ya'll don't mind me stoppin' by. I had nothing else today to really do, and I thought that I'd drop by and spend some more time visiting like I promised. And I wanted to see for myself if you were settling in today."

Poppy gladly took the plate from her stomach rumbling and mouth watering at the sight of it. "Uh. N-No. It's perfectly fine. In fact it's very kind of you to do so." Smiling she took the fork handed along with her and dug in......OH MY PECK!! Whatever a cheese omlet was it was SO delicious! Once again her cooking amazed her again. " SO GOOD!!"

Cookie ended up chuckling again turning off the stove. "I'm glad you think so, honestly it was only a few eggs and slicing a few pieces off that cheese wheel, the fridge is practically empty. Why didn't you go restock yet?"

Poppy stopped mid bite and looked at her for a moment staring. "Restocking?"

"Y'know. Shoppin'? All ladies like to shop, don't you?"

"Uh...Actually I don't think I could. I haven't exactly been paid by anyone yet so I don't really have much to buy any fancy things." She continued eating and eventually a movement to her right caught her attention, blue eyes looked down to meet gold ones as the two made eye contact and her brain quickly registered it to be another little girl in a red hood with her hair in two ponytails. Swallowing down some food, Poppy smiled at her. "Well hello there. I don't think I've met you yet. What's your name?"

"Mustache Girl!," the tiny girl proclaimed pointing a hand up, "Defeater of bad guys and savior of the world!"

"More like almost destroying it," Hattie shot back shooting her a dirty look witch this ...uh...'Mustache Girl' shot back with equal annoyance.

"Says the one who messed up by making it rain dangerous hourglasses everywhere!," the blonde yelled back pointing a finger, Hattie just stuck her tongue out at her.

The little girl continued to look slightly annoyed and Cookie reached behind her to pat the child's head. "This is Muriel. But we call her Mu for short." She gave a scary mom smile down to the children. "And we're not going to fight today are we?"

"No, Cookie!," all three girls agreed under the cat's gaze.

Poppy wasn't gonna lie, she was slightly scared and kinda impressed and this cat woman's skills to mother these three with ease within just a few seconds. And Mu huh? She giggled. It was pronounced the same way as 'Mew', like what a cat would say. And honestly it was kinda cute of her. Mu noticed the way Poppy was giggling and looking at her and frowned. Before shooting an accusing hand and face at her.

"And what are you laughing at?," she asked and Poppy noticed she also had some kind of accent. "Are you a bad guy too?!"

"MU!," Cookie scolded giving her a stern look and Mu instantly froze, eyes shooting sideways to the cat, "What did we talk about with minding your manners? Now you apologise to Ms. Bloomington this instant!" Her gaze turned apologetic to Poppy. "I am so sorry. It's hard for her to break old habits from Mafia Town, but I promise you she's a good girl."

"There's no need to apologize." Poppy smiled wider before kneeling down slowly to Mu's height. The little girl pulled her hand back to her and watched as Poppy stopped eye level smiling at her like Cookie would. "It sounds to me like you're a very brave little girl."

Mu paused for a moment. Looking Poppy up and down suspiciously as if trying to decide if she was serious or not about it, but took it as a compliment. Smiling proudly and puffing out her chest, pointing at herself. "Absolutely not wrong! I'm the bravest crime fighter in the world!"

Poppy chuckled again and sweetly nodded. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if ya was. Such pretty eyes too. They look just like gold and honey."

"YEAH! That's exactly what I am!" She puffed up prouder at the strokes to her ego. "Gold and honey! The best gold and honey in the universe! Finally someone who gets it." Behind her Hattie rolled her eyes stuffing the last of her breakfast in her mouth, and Cookie seemed to be happy with the way the two stopped arguing finally.

Poppy chuckled again. "Well, it's really nice to meet you, Mu."

"Likewise, Bloom-in-Tons!"

"Call me,Poppy!" She smiled as she stood up to finish eating her food as she smiled. "Why don't you all go play?"

"Yes," Cookie agreed nudging Mu forward a little bit, "Why don't you all go and play with that pretty gold castle they showed us and be nice while the adults talk for a little bit?" The children were a little apprehensive at first but agreed to do so with Bow quickly stuffing the rest of her breakfast into her mouth and both her and Hattie tossing the dishes into the sink as one after another they ran to the doors with a few shouts of- 'I call being the Gold hero!' 'No you don't! I'm the best crime fighter!' "No you're not! I beat you remember!' 'Yes way!' 'No way!' 'Yes, Way!' and Bow following after the first two as they left. Cookie sighed shaking her head and grabbed the frying pan and spatula she had been cooking with hopping off the chair before looking up at Poppy. "I'm sorry for that. Those three may fight sometimes, but Hattie was quick to forgive everyone including her. They are friends I swear, but they argue worse than Conductor and Mr. Grooves at times....Mind being a dear and dragging over that chair there?"

"Hm. Oh! Sure." Plate in one hand, Poppy used the other to drag the chair across the room right behind Cookie to the sink following. "And it's quite alright. Kids will be kids after all, I don't blame them at all. Hmhm." She scooted the chair over where Cookie silently pointed and watched as the plump cat impressively jump onto it and faced the sink with the already dirty dishes in it. Going back to eat the other half of her breakfast as she watched Cookie roll up her sleeves more and turning on the sink. "Thank you for the..omlet by the way. I really appreciate it. "

She nodded not looking at her and instead turning on the hot water to the said sink. "Well it wasn't trouble at all. I was a little surprised you hadn't gotten up yet. Aren't you supposed to be the little dumplins' new babysitter or somethin'?"

Poppy sighed through her nose swallowing again. "Uh, well. Yeah that's my new job I guess. Being a maid and nanny to 'em. But to be honest with ya, I don't know the first thing about where ta go or even start with whole thing."

Cookie paused for a moment in her movements to look over at her...Yellow eyes roaming up and down eyeing the tacky dress on her and the messy bed head she had. "Well, by the way you look now ya'll are having some trouble settling in."

Poppy groaned allowing the cat to take away her now empty plate. "Tell me about it. With all the darn crazy things that's happened in the past few days I'm about ready to burst. And even if I knew where ta shop, I couldn't exactly pay for anything being broke."

Cookie looked at her confused. "Broke? But I thought all those gold do-dads were supposed to be your payment? The children seemed awefully proud to have them and Hattie said something about buying a whole bunch of things with some of it."

........OH!! THE GOLD!! OF COURSE!! She had completely forgotten about all of that in favor of being hungry and getting herself some food, but now that she remembered that didn't sound like a half bad idea to use it for food and some clothes that weren't so tacky.

"That doesn't sound like a half bad idea ya got there!...But. I'm not really sure where to use it. Haven't visited many places around here."

"Hm...I got an idea!" Cookie's smile widened at her. "Mu and I were just going around to do some errends after visitin'. Why don't ya'll come along and we'll make a girls trip outta it? It'll be fun to show someone around my favorite places! And I know just the place in Express City where you can trade gold for pons."

Poppy blinked. "W-Wha- N-No! I-It's fine. You're too kind really. We'll be just fine just how we are right now-"

"Nonsense," Cookie cut her off giving her a look. "Staying here all the time isn't going to magically put food in your fridge or nice clothes on your back. I insist. Besides, some time stretching your legs will be good for you."

Well. That didn't sound too bad to be honest. She could definately get a change of scenery besides haunted woods or an alien space ship, plus some actual soil under her feet sounded nice instead of floating in outer space. But Cookie wasn't exactly about to let her just waltz out with a bed head like hers. Luckily there was three little girls who gladly got very excited when they were asked by the cat to play 'make over' with Poppy, and by that she meant tidy up her hair. To say it hurt quite a bit with all the tangled built up ever since she crash landed in the swamp was an understatement. IT PECKING HURT!! Didn't help her hair was very long so it would take quite a while, in the meantime Cookie was nice enough to gather some of the gold objects they definately could put to better use. Of course both Bow and Hattie were very reluctant to let any of the buried treasure they found go, and once seeing all the gold Mu certainly was not willing to let 'any potential evil doers get their hands on it'. But they all came to a understanding with the stern gaze of the cat thrown at them. They would the girls each keep one, leave one or two pieces of gold for back up just in case of any emergency where they needed money, and the rest was coming along with them. They agreed reluctantly. No surprise Hattie chose the golden Roach King. Bow chose the castle as she enjoyed having it while playing her games. And Mu chose the cookie. Why?....She pouted and said because it reminded her of someone before shoving it into her cape's pocket with a huff. It was decided the golden skull would be the thing to be left behind and was hidden under Hattie's bed for safe keeping. Which left the golden gear, trophy, potion, pencil, Mafia Man, Cheese pieces, and candle would be all the things to go. But they all wouldn't be easy to carry as solid gold was a sure heavy thing. Luckily Poppy was just what they needed, who else to carry them but the strongest gal here? So into the pockets of her trusty leather apron they went. The weight was a bit much but she'd manage, like the light pain in her head right after the girls got done with her hair finally, leaving it in that signiture long braid and pretty blue bow tied at the end by Bow. She was ready! But the trip all the way down to the planet was another thing in of itself.

She was NOT about to risk free falling from space again, and these two weren't exactly known for their iron grip the last time. Cookie, being the genius cat she was suggested she just come along with them to Moon City to catch the next chip taxi down to the planet with them. Poppy hesitated at first, but she agreed afraid of falling from the sky again. Bow and Hattie coming out with umbrella's in their hands presumably going on their own to follow them all. Making sure they were all comfortable the cat lifted her sleeve again to reveal the same watch like device she had used the last time she was there and instructed Poppy to hold onto her paw now, as it would be a really quick trip there. She wasn't sure what to expect when she nervously grabbed Cookie's paw, but she did slam her eyelids shut when Cookie pressed the button on there. Before quickly grabbing Mu's hand with her other paw.

.....

........

"Uh..Ya'll can open your eyes now," came Cookie's voice.

Were they there already? Poppy's hand was released by Cookie and the human slowly opened her eyes. ....And what she saw both surprised and calmed her. Looking up the starry sky of outer space shown down at her live the time she free falled, but without the falling to the ground this time. The pretty stars shown brightly before those blue eyes blinked around at everything else. It was a CITY alright. A BIG ONE!....Well, she guessed any city would be big to her, as she's never really been IN a city before, the only one she's known to be in the city was her distant cousin who had a Fruit Stand somewhere in the Subonette City Marketplace. He'd sometimes tell them all the tall buildings that were so close together and the giant skyscrapers the rich fatcats lived in and their fancy carriages being pulled by giant beautiful black stallions. He always said the place was always too big and crowded for his liking but he didn't leave because the market always brought the best customers to his food. But she'd didn't think any city would be this.....Flashy. The tall buildings were decorated in massive lights and music blasted from everywhere and all kinds too. Rock, jazz, blues, techno remixes. You name it. It was almost enough to hurt her ears and her eyes. And all around them were...There was....PENGUINS!! Moon Penguins. They all didn't seem to mind or care that they just showed up in the middle of the town square and didn't care. Beeping was heard as a car zipped by them all and Poppy jumped staring at the weird mechanical beast that just went by. Gigantic signs were everywhere decorated with lights. One said 'Hats', another had a picture of a fedora and said 'Nuthin' Cooler', one Said 'Hats and Buy'. She giggled at one that read 'Penguin Suits Clothes Store'. There was even a giant glowing sign of piano keys with the words "Feelin' Lucky? Casino Hall'. It was...AMAZING!! Even if her senses were being attacked right now. But then she stopped to stare at the fountain they were standing right next to. It was in a giant shape of a music note and like most everything else, was bedazzled in lights as water poured from it.

"Are you alright?" Mu was giving her a strange look as the grown woman gawked at everything. "You look like you've never seen a fountain before."

"I've never been in any city before! Let alone on the moon!" Poppy smiled excitedly at the two of them. "This is amazing!"

Cookie chuckled and grabbed Mu by the hand gesturing for them to cross the street to the right.....Then proceeded to grab Poppy's hand to drag her along behind them as she still stood and gawked at everything but jumped at the tiny cat pulling her along across the street to the sidewalk. Another red car driving by them. As they walked Poppy noticed there was tiny bush plants in pots everywhere also covered in lights as they passed. These pengiuns really loved lights huh? Speaking of them she saw a lot of them. Moon penguins wearing suits, fedoras, and black sunglasses, they were all listening to music or talking to one another, or driving those big machines they were riding in. At one point she saw a lady penguin dressed in a pink outfit similar to the others, waddling around with a baby stroller with an egg carefully placed inside of it. She giggled at the sight of a tiny fedora on the egg as they passed, how peculiar- BAM!! Bright yellow light! Suddenly hitting her straight in the face. Poppy had to slam her eyes shut again at the sudden bright yellow flashing on them, only being guided by Cookie still holding her hand but Poppy did blink her eyes open and look up to where the light was radiating from when she felt cookie tug her in a different direction before stopping. While she got her hand back, Poppy held it up above her as her eyes adjusted and she was finally able to make out the blinding light up above. There was three gigantic blinding signs on top of the biggest building she's ever seen. Two were saxophones and one in between them were bright yellow letters saying GROOVES.

"That's Mr. Grooves moon studio," Cookie explained noticing her staring up at the signs. "He built it right by the entrance to the metro so he can just waltz on in and start workin' if he decides to shoot on the moon for what ever reason." Her yellow eyes also squinted up at the sky above and pointed up to two little stars floating down from the sky. "And here come the little darlins' now. I told them to meet us as soon as possible at the metro here before we go down to Express Town."

"Express ....Town?"

"It's the first town before you get to Express Owl City. Millions of birds ...mostly owls, live there. But Express town is big enough to have everything we need, and to be honest I'm not a fan of cities. I've gotten used to a small town life as it was."

Poppy continued to gawk at the bright lights, slightly impressed by it all...but then slowly shifted over to two little things floating down from the sky towards them, it was hard at first to see them thanks to the blinding yellow light from the sign but eventually she was  able to see the forms of Hattie and Bow floating down towards them. Hattie was holding onto her hat with one hand and smiled down at the three girls below when she noticed they were staring at the three of them.

"I'M MARY PENGUINS YA'LL!!," she called down from the floating umbrella waving her hat.

Mu huffed crossing her arms. "Show offs."

Poppy chuckled at it all and watched with a smile as the two girls gently floated down closer and closer, until they were right in front of them.  Standing on the ground smiling and putting away those magic umbrellas into...Well magic thin air she guessed and smiled up at them all.

"Are we late?"

Cookie shook her head, and gestured to the stairs leading down into the ground, turning as she did and starting to walk down said stairs. "Not at all, Sugarplum. Come along now everyone. The evening train's 'bout ta leave any minute now. And we don't want to miss that now do we?"

Shaking her head no, Hattie followed right behind her with Bow and After rolling her eyes, so did Mu. Poppy slowly followed after them down the stairs, but surprisingly she wasn't greeted in darkness. Instead she was met with a secret underground tunnel of concrete under the city and ....HOLY COW!! A train! There was a train smack dab right in the middle of the room, a few penguins climbing onto it or off it as the many doors on the long thing was open. Thank goodness it wasn't as flashy as the city outside as she looked around in wonder. The place was still pretty big even for small penguins, about five or six houses wide and height if you asked her. There was one penguin who wore the same thing as the other penguins only had on a conductor's hat and a small mic in his flipper, Poppy watched from the bottom of the stairs as this penguin looked at a watch on his other flipper before bringing the mic back up to his mou- ...Uh...Beak.

"Attention passengers." His voice boomed through a speaker above them all. "The Evening Train to the planet below will leave in exactly thirty two seconds. Those boarding please have your luggage in hand and board immediately. Last call for the evening train. That is all."

"Oh, that's our ride. C'mon ya'll. Don't want to be late now."

Cookie hurried the three little girls in front of her towards the nearest open doors on the trains, Poppy trailing behind. Passing penguins going in or out of the tram Poppy gazed up at it as she stepped in. She had to lean other a bit to not hit her head on the ceiling. The weight of the gold in her heavy duty leather apron making her lean more from the weight of it. It had white painted walls with poles and handles on the ceiling to hang onto along with benches the perfect size for Poppy and the girls to sit in. Poppy being obviously taller ended up taking up a seat and a half next to them, but there wasn't many penguins on board so she had plenty of room to herself without having to worry about taking up space for anyone else.

"Last chance of boarding. I repeat last chance,'' the Conductor Penguin's voice sounded out. Poppy glanced over at the doors as they all closed with a loud click ceiling them as the girls and Cookie all sat on either side of her. But gave a small yelp when the train lurched wobbling everyone in it and slowly started to pull forward, Poppy glancing out the window behind them and seeing the station move as the train started taking off. "We are now leaving Moon City Metro. Please remain your seats and enjoy the ride. Thank you for choosing PenCo Express Services for your space travels."

As they picked up speed, Poppy kept staring out the window and her eyes widen seeing the out side of outer space and suddenly the sight of the moon after a few seconds, it was silver and round like a moon would look like but a good CHUNK (like half of it) was alive with lights bright enough to be seen from her spot on the running train. The lights making the buildings look shadowy, it was kinda pretty in a monochrome way. As she turned her head in the opposite direction to look forward, the planet from what she could see from it was getting closer and closer. Well.....Here she goes.

[selflovinalicia]

Something I did way back when [2 and a half years ago] before the apartment life was a dorm tour! I loved getting to share my little home with everyone! Dorm, apartment, house, etc. tours on blogs and YouTube are my absolute favorite because I love seeing where people live and what they do with the space they have. I didn’t do an apartment tour with my last apartment [I might be able to if I still have the pictures I took of it] but I wanted to share my space in Greece.

I live in a studio apartment in a suburb of Thessaloniki known as Kalamaria. My apartment is on the top floor of a five-story apartment building with two apartments per floor. I am the only one currently living on my floor but people have been in and out of the other one for the past few days so I have to assume I will be getting a neighbor at some point shortly.

After unlocking the front door of the building, there is a small lobby area with mail slots, one apartment, a set of stairs, and a sketchy elevator. I take the elevator of course because I’m not trying to walk up five flights of stairs after a long day at school or with two arms full of groceries. If the elevator could hold my two 45-pound suitcases, my backpack, me, and another woman, I’m sure I’ll be fine.

When I get off the elevator, my apartment is on the left side of the platform.

The first thing you see when you walk into my apartment is everything. It’s a studio apartment so it’s very very tiny but it has everything I need. To the left of my door is my mudroom or mud area because obviously in a studio apartment we only have one room and then the bathroom. In this mud area, I keep all my shoes, my two coats, my teaching bag, hats, scarves, gloves, my umbrella as well as purses. There’s also a really nice mirror that I make sure to look in every morning before I leave so that I’m not going out looking a mess.

Right next to the mud area that is my bathroom. The bathroom is also pretty tiny, but it also has everything I need. There’s a toilet, a sink, a shower, and a laundry basket. My favorite part of the bathroom is the little counter underneath the mirror where I keep all the stuff that I use each morning and night like my skincare items, toothbrush, toothpaste, my sinus rinse, etc.

Something I love in homes are kitchens. I love cooking, eating, the homey atmosphere that kitchens bring so having this kitchen is a little bit of a challenge for me because it is so small but like everything else, the apartment is only for three months and it has what I need so I’m making it work. In my kitchen, I have a tiny microwave oven, three stovetop burners, a sink, a mini-fridge with a freezer built in and then a bunch of storage space as well. In the weeks I’ve been here I’ve only eaten out TWICE which means this kitchen is getting a TON of use.

One of my favorite parts of this apartment is my little coffeemaker area. I have a 10-cup coffee pot, a water heater, a toaster, as well as another toaster//Panini maker type thing. It’s rested on this cute little table and under the coffee pot I have coffee, sugar, tea bags, etc. Then underneath there’s a little storage area that I keep extra snacks in as well as my first aid kits.

I sort of have a dining room. In my dining area, I have a very small table with two stools that I really don’t ever use to eat. This table is more of my hub for keeping random stuff so when I go grocery shopping I put my groceries on there, after school, I put my laptop on it to charge, etc. It is still a nice little addition to the apartment and there are some days that I use it to eat dinner or breakfast which makes it nice to have.

Next, we have my closet. On top of my closet are my suitcases. Inside of my closet, I have a top-shelf which is where I keep underwear, bras, socks, and pajamas. I also have a shelf on the bottom and underneath that shelf, I have a vacuum cleaner and a couple sweatshirts that I brought. In the middle of the closet, I have a rack to hang things. When I got the apartment it only had a couple of hangers, so I do have to fold a lot of the clothes I brought and put them on the bottom shelf. I could go out and buy more hangers or ask my Airbnb host for some, but I’ll live with only hanging the necessities.

The next thing is my bed. My bed here is a sofa bed so during the day you can have it as a couch and then at night turn it into a bed however I prefer sleeping on the couch, so I usually just keep it as the sofa.

The balcony is by far my favorite part of the Airbnb because it is so big it’s really great to just sit and watch the sunset and sometimes I can watch the sunrise. I could literally sit out there all day. I work out on the balcony, do homework, lesson plan, etc. it is by far my favorite place and view in all of Greece.

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What’s your favorite part of your home? ❤ Alicia

Apartment tour

Something I did way back when before the apartment life was a dorm tour! I loved getting to share my little home with everyone!

Apartment tour Something I did way back when before the apartment life was a dorm tour! I loved getting to share my little home with everyone!

[jonasmaurer]

Beautycounter LEAD Conference Recap

and WE SAW MICHAEL BUBLÉ.

(I’m not even going to hide my creeper status. And don’t worry, my mouth didn’t actually touch the poster.)

Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I’m just getting back from a whirlwind trip to Phoenix for the Beautycounter LEAD conference… and to see Michael Bublé, my favorite ever.

I got into Phoenix on Thursday morning, and met up with Arsy and Tina at the adorable Airbnb where we’d be staying. It was my first Airbnb experience and I was beyond impressed with the whole thing.

Check out the cuteness! 

It was in a neighborhood filled with unique older houses, and they completely gutted and redid the interior. The wood floors and tiling in the bathroom were gorgeous, along with exposed brick, modern art, and unique touches (like the book selection in each bedroom). 

Arsy surprised us with little goodie bags on each of our beds, with Hu chocolates, travel Cote nail polishes, Bee’s wrap, the best hair ties, a Beautycounter pen, and a sweet card. She also stocked the fridge with some healthy essentials, cold brews, and waters.

I’ve been working with Arsy for almost 3 years and it was my first time meeting her in person. Of course, she was just as kind and lovely as I expected, and I had such a great time hanging out with her and Tina all weekend. 

Thursday night, we had our team dinner at True Food, and then Friday morning, it was straight into the official festivities. We had quite a few sessions on Friday, and each one left me feeling more inspired, motivated, and grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to work for such a respected and innovative company. (Beautycounter is the #1 Googled beauty brand of 2018 and the top clean skincare brand in the world.) They generally care for the health of all living beings on this planet, and are constantly working to impart change in the beauty industry, which is severely unregulated. The last federal safety law for cosmetics was passed in 1938!! We’re actively working to get this changed and make clean products accessible to everyone. This means no matter what store you go to and what brand you purchase, you should be able to have have the confidence that they were manufactured without endocrine disrupters, known carcinogens, and harmful preservatives. 

My very favorite quote from the weekend:

– The greatest gift you can give anyone who loves you is your own wellbeing 

While there was a lot of motivational talk, they also addressed burnout and importance of paying attention to what truly matters: your family, your health, and your relationships. I love how much they emphasized balance and taking the time to share your life with those you love and make yourself a priority. 

We also had the opportunity to hear Gregg Renfrew speak. She’s our CEO and the Founder of Beautycounter and she’s so.darn.real. The entire room of 1700 was captivated the entire time she was talking. She was so encouraging, humble, and generously shared her knowledge and inspiration with us all. 

They also had some pretty solid snack breaks and lunch in between the presentations.

Friday afternoon, the Pilot picked us up from the conference and we headed to the house to get ready for the evening. The girls went to another team dinner at a downtown hotel, while the Pilot and I enjoyed a sushi date at Moira Sushi before Michael Buble.

(Shoes are here // dress is here — got it from Rent the Runway and was so pumped it actually fit. I feel like it’s so hard to tell what will work from the sizing but the S was just right) 8883621234

We arrived at the arena, ordered wine in a can for me + beer for him, walked to our awesome seats (!) and I buckled up for the best concert experience of my life. I’m a HUGE Michael Bublé fan – I sporadically listen to his music all year and just switch to his Christmas album for November and December – so I was expecting a lot, but it was beyond anything I could have imagined. His perfect voice, the set design, the orchestra, his backup singers, everything. Just.SO.freaking.good.

(He started off with “Feelin’ Good” and I screamed like a teenager at a BTO concert.)

#1) He is HILARIOUS. He was cracking a ton of jokes in between songs, many of which were gloriously inappropriate, and the Pilot and I were laughing our faces off. I had to keep myself from breaking into the full-on dinosaur cry during Home and one of his newer songs, Forever Now. If you want to get a glimpse of what I was feeling, listen to the song, and then picture in your mind a child’s bedroom and how it changes from when they’re born (a nursery with sweet printed wallpaper, a crib, and a rocker) until they MOVE out (a large bed and a room strewn with moving boxes, to completely empty room). That’s what they flashed on the arched screen above the stage and I think they pretty much wanted to pull my heart out of my body. Of course, all of his lighthearted jokes and the fact that he doesn’t take himself too seriously kept me from crying too hard.

2) He is so grateful to all of his supporters. Multiple times he thanked us for spending our money and our time to be at his concert. He said that his supporters lifted their family while they went through something absolutely heartbreaking, and was so heartfelt and genuine in thanking the audience. You can just tell he’s a really good guy.

3) I tried to meet him but I failed. So here’s the thing, in college and my early 20s, I got backstage after concerts if I wanted to meet the band or singer. It’s not because I’m cool or had a VIP pass, but I’d just casually go to the side of the stage and ask security if I could just go back and get a photo with whomever. You’d think it would be a fail but it worked every time! I would just be chill about it and I think they saw a young non-threteaning kid and were like, “Go. Live your dream.” I didn’t know if I would work for Michael Bublé because, I don’t know, I’m like 15 years older now, BUT I figured this was my only chance and went for it. Unfortunately, they did all of the meet and greets before the show, not after. So when I went to ask if I could pleeeeeease go back and take a pic, security told me they did all of that stuff earlier. It’s NBD, but I did try. #shameless #dontcurr

The Pilot and I stayed at Westin, which was lovely, and then Saturday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Coronado (a cute vegetarian cafe!) before he hit the road back to Tucson and I headed back to the conference.

I got there just in time to learn about the new products from our Product Development team, and get excited! There’s so much good stuff on the way, including a face cream that supposed to feel luxurious and gorgeous like La Mer, but with clean ingredients. So pumped about this! I’ll definitely share more info when it’s on the way, but our new line was modeled after Asian skincare rituals (yas yas yassss) and is going through clinical and client trials now. I’ll also have the chance to try it out before it’s released and will absolutely share my experience.

Beautycounter is also transitioning to more glass, less plastic, and are going to include refill options. 

We attended sessions on social media and coaching, and then had a delicious lunch. 

When I left the conference, I felt energized and excited to implement various action plans in my team and with my business. As you guys know, I’m very particular about brand alignments. For everyone I say, “Yes” to, there are at least 20-30 “No, thank you”. When I first joined Beautycounter, I knew I liked the products and I loved their mission to get safer products into the hands of everyone. I didn’t know that it was so much more than that, and that it would have such a huge positive impact on my life and business.

(Jumpsuit is here // shoes are here. Jumpsuit is also from Rent the Runway and I wish I could have kept it!)

Behind this mission, there are thousands of women working hard to change the beauty industry, sharing the products with those they love, and taking their success into their own hands.

I was so thankful to FINALLY meet Teri, who feels like my BFF after all of these years and I still hadn’t met in person! I also got to chat with Lexi, Juli, Cassy, and so many lovely women on our team.

Having this blog has been one of the biggest blessings in my life because it’s enabled me to connect with a motivating, incredible community of women (and dudes!). One of the best parts: I can do it anywhere! As a military wife, this was critical since we were moving every 2 years or so, which this makes it very hard to get and keep a traditional job. Beautycounter gives that same flexibility to those who want to work on their own schedule, wherever they want, and carve their own path. It has been one of the best things I’ve added to my business, and it’s fun, easy, and I get to meet with connect with new people. The money potential is bananas – if you want to talk about it, please email me – and it’s cool to be able to make an income while supporting a company that’s championing for change. If you’d like to make a transition to safer skincare products, or a tiny voice is telling you that consulting may be for you, please email me: gina@fitnessista.com

Well, I’m off to unpack my suitcase, only to RE-pack it for a short trip to Portland for a brand meeting. I hope you have a happy Monday!

xo

Gina

Tell me, friends: first concert experience? If you could see anyone live, who would it be?! My first concert was Boyz II Men in 5th grade. “Motown Philly back again….” Also, has anyone met Michael Buble?! Please tell me everything. 

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