#disney school bags vendor

[lori11hen2ry]

Guide for School Bags

Selecting a school bag matters! Discover in our blog how to pick one that balances comfort, style, and functionality for hassle-free carrying throughout the day.

[simonehqs]

All things considered, Simone felt a little bit like a Disney princess walking through the streets this morning, waving to the vendors all set up for the Valentine's Market as she bounced from one to the other. In a relationship or not, there was something about Valentine's Day that felt a little bit like magic in the air. The tote bag hanging from her shoulder housed her contribution to the elementary school-like Valentine's card exchange she insisted on having every year. Temporary tattoos of mythical creatures and little chocolates from one of the shops that she would tape to the backs of each of them; allergies noted. It was really no surprise that she was too caught up in the festivities to notice another person behind her most recent purchase, a massive bouquet. "Oh god, sorry!" she immediately apologized, moving the flowers so she could see who it was a little better. "They're for me. Somebody's buying me flowers this Valentine's Day, even if it's just me," she said with a grin. "That's self-care in my book. It's possible I should've gone a little less dramatic if it's causing accidents on the sidewalk, but hindsight's 20/20. Oh man, did I spill your coffee?"

open starter!

It definitely wasn't her favorite time of the year. Not only had Daisy been single for the past three years, but she also had very few thoughts about dating and doubted she would anytime soon. Still, all the local shops had set up their stands and Daisy could use a pink latte before work. She was just turning around from the coffee stand with her caffeinated and candy-colored beverage in hand when she nearly collided into another customer holding a big bouquet of flowers. "Woah," she stepped back, laughing awkwardly in apology for almost bumping into them. "Who's the lucky guy or gal?" She cocked an eyebrow at the bouquet. @aurorabaystarter

[dimitrescus-bitch]

Getaway (Alexa Bliss x Reader)

“So long as I’m here, the next era of WWE will be known as the Era of Greatness.” You smirked as you finished your promo. You walked out of the ring to a mix of boos and cheers. When you had been discovered on the indies, you were a great babyface that everybody had loved. Eventually, you got a winning streak that got you a WWE contract without the audition. That got out and suddenly, you were an entitled brat who got lucky with bookings. Those who had worked with you at the PC or in the ring knew better than that, but it had gotten you a good rep as a heel. You played off of that, with the occasionally humbling loss, to build up a fanbase in the WWE, quickly becoming a fan favorite. 

“Era of Greatness, huh?” Alexa, your girlfriend, questioned. “Was that one creative or you?” 

“Yours truly. At this point, they give me a direction and Steph lets me go at it.” Your eyes widened comically at “go at it” and Alexa rolled her eyes at you. “It’s working pretty well. Well enough for both of us to have the next week and a half off. I have an NXT appearance. Possible tag team and reassignment.” 

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Alexa told you. “Something tells me that you’ve got plans for that week and a half.” 

“Oh hell yeah babe!” you excitedly exclaimed. Alexa gave you a look and you calmed down a bit. “Sorry, I got excited. So, um, I have a little getaway planned. No, it isn’t Disney-related.” 

“You could have easily gotten laid if it was,” Alexa teased you. You shrugged and leaned down to kiss her. “I mean, anything you wanted for like, the entirety of our stay.” 

“Don’t be so sure that I won’t be getting laid after this getaway. I’ve taken the liberty of packing you a bag so that we can just jet on out when you’re ready,” you told her and Alexa rolled her eyes at you. 

“If people heard the way you talk away from cameras, nobody would think you’re cool. Absolutely nobody,” Alexa said and you pouted at her. She kissed the pout off and then followed you out of the building. You signed a couple autographs on your walk to the car, which wasn’t in employee parking because it was closer to the street vendor where you had gotten breakfast that morning. “Why do you always park all the way out here?” 

“Because there’s always something over here. Sometimes it’s Javier or Melody,” you told her. Alexa muttered something about of course you know the people who own the food trucks where you constantly eat. Despite having a good amount of money, you didn’t really know how to spend it, so you didn’t. You might splurge on getting a nicer shirt than you would have, but you lived your life the exact same way that you had before. 

“So, what are we doing?” Alexa asked you. 

“Going on a getaway,” you said and Alexa huffed. You drove while she slept and then you told her to follow the GPS while you took a nap for a few hours. When you woke up again, Alexa was parked outside of a hotel. “What are you doing?” 

“You can’t drive to Ohio without getting some real rest,” Alexa told you. You slept in the bed and then woke up extra early in an attempt to make up whatever time you had lost at the hotel. Alexa had you stop a couple times to look at something or get a souvenir. You turned the GPS off when you got to Ohio and started driving towards where her parents lived. You visited with them for the first day of your vacation and she talked you into staying the night. 

“Man, your room makes me sorta want to vomit,” you said as you laid back on her bed. “It’s like you were emo and preppy at the same time.” 

“What do you have against emo kids and preps?” Alexa ran her finger along your sternum. 

“Neither crowds were friendly with me in school babe,” you admitted and Alexa frowned. “I wasn’t popular, which is why it blows my mind when people cheer for me. Even if it isn’t me, me.” 

“Sometimes you say things that are really sad, but it’s okay. You need to say them, this is a getaway for you too. We’re in Ohio, why don’t you take me to meet your family?” Alexa batted her eyelashes and you sighed. 

“Family moved to California like five years ago. It’s why I do Christmas in Mexico every year. I was planning on taking you up to my family’s cabin. If that interests you, super secluded and possibly romantic,” you suggested and Alexa nodded. The two of you went to bed after that and then in the morning, you went up to the cabin. Alexa wasn’t super outdoorsy, but she seemed to like the seclusion. The two of you went on a hike up the side of a little mountain, had a picnic, and then camped out there. The next week was a mix of relaxing and outdoorsy things before you went back home to enjoy some quality time there as well. 

“Thank you for this,” Alexa said to you as the two of you laid down in your apartment. “It was nice. I liked being able to spend that much time with you like that.” 

“You could always move in or something,” you suggested. 

“How about you move in. I wouldn’t want to uproot Larry.” Alexa smiled at you hopefully and you nodded. “Really, you want to move in?” 

“I’d love to. If our trip taught me anything, it’s that we’re ready for it.” You smiled and the rest of your time off was spent moving yourself into Alexa’s house and letting the pig adjust to you being there more often. 

[chaes-tea]

Life Changes [Bad Boy! Joshua]

[original date of writing: 20.01.27]

This was sitting in my drafts for almost eight months, so I decided to publish it. I wrote everything in one day and never looked back, so this is unedited besides the formatting of the text itself. This is inspired by another Seventeen fanfiction written by someone else, so that’s why the synopsis sounds similar to another oneshot on a different Tumblr blog.

Bad Boy!AU, Joshua x Reader

[oneshot, angst/”slice of life”] [word count: 1214]

[warnings: one or two cuss words?]

[synopsis: “Seasons change, and so did you.”]

We lived in the same apartment complex, you being on the floor above me. Our parents knew each other; almost everyone in the complex knew each other.

I remember when you first moved in. You were a shy boy, about twelve, and never did anything to upset your parents. My mother brought me with her when she went to welcome you to the neighborhood, and that’s when I first met you. My mother had decided to show your parents around town, and they had allowed us to stay at the park across from the complex. 

It was a nice spring day. The sun was shining and the grass had the slightest touch of moisture on them. We walked past the sandbox full of freshly built sandcastles, and walked past the grandmothers doing their morning walks until we reached the swing set. 

“So… What your name?”

“I’m Joshua, yours?”

“(Name).”

After swinging around and playing multiple rounds of twenty questions, I had thought you were an interesting person. You liked eating chocolate pizza with milk on the side, and you thought that chicken heals hearts from hard work. 

We went to the same school. Everyone already had their own friend groups, and weren’t very open to new people. Ever since you moved here, we were stuck together like glue. No one ever questioned why you were friends with me or how we knew each other - they just left us alone and that was how we liked it.

We enjoyed each other’s company. Every summer we would go down to the ice cream vendor in the park, and every weekend we would watch the same Disney movies on repeat. When autumn came, we would gather leaves together in a big pile at the park and jump in them. During the winter, we made snow forts and had snowball fights. 

Everything was normal, until high school started.

We were in different classes, so we had to work with different people. You started to spend time with your new friends, and I with mine. Slowly, you started changing. I didn’t realize how much of an influence those new friends of yours had on you, and I didn’t realize what kind of people they were. We didn’t walk home together anymore; you were always with your group of friends. We didn’t have our weekly movie nights or our annual snowball fights. 

Another year had passed, along with four more seasons. We passed by each other while walking down the stairs to the lobby. Your hair was orange and slicked back, your left ear had two piercings and what you were wearing was definitely going to get you sent to the principal’s office. 

During school, girls were gossiping about the hot guy that got sent to the dean’s for breaking dress code. I knew it was you. 

I kept seeing less and less of you as the seasons passed. Every summer night, you would be out partying with your friends, and I would hear someone stumbling up the stairs at three in the morning. 

One morning, I was bringing up a package that was mistakenly delivered to my door to someone who lived on the same floor as you. It just so happened to be your neighbor.

I was about to leave when suddenly you were pushed out of your door.

“Come back when you learn how to behave!” Your mother had said to you. 

You just shrugged, stuffed your hands in your pockets and walked away, not even sparing me a glance, and not looking back. You never went home after that night, from what I heard. 

A few weeks later, I decided to stop by the store and grab some late night snacks. I had to walk past a group of motorcyclists standing by the lamppost next to the store, the strong scent of smoke came from them. Someone spoke, and I immediately recognized it.

It was you. I hadn’t seen you in weeks, and you already dyed your hair into a different color. You didn’t seem to notice me, so I walked into the store. 

While I was paying, I heard the engines of the motorcycles roar. A number of them drove past me as I walked through the door. 

However, there was one left. 

You hadn’t left - you hadn’t even turned it on yet. You leaned against it, as if you were waiting for something to happen. I was about to walk past you, until you spoke up. 

“(Name).” I stopped in my tracks and hesitated to face him. After all, he hadn’t bothered to talk to me for years. Why had he suddenly wanted to talk now?

“What do you need? I would like to get back before it gets too late.” 

I heard him walk behind me, the scent of smoke lingering on him. 

“I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I would appreciate it if you could give this to my mother.” He grabbed my wrist and slipped the letter between my fingertips. “And also…. I hope you’ll allow me to do this just this once.” 

I felt my body be pulled back towards someone else’s, arms encircling my waist and I felt him lay his forehead on my shoulder, his hair tickling my cheek.

“Thank you.” He said, before letting me go. I heard an engine roar again. “Goodbye…”

And that was the last time I saw Joshua Hong.

~~~ // ~~~

After giving Joshua’s mother the letter, I returned to my apartment. It was silent, as my parents were out on vacation visiting their school friends. I placed the bag of snacks I bought from the store on the table, and began taking them out.

Instead of feeling the wrapping of a bag of chips, I felt something soft. I pulled it out and realized it was a letter addressed to me.

“When did he…?” I mumbled.

I opened the letter.

Dear (Name), 

I know I haven’t been the best person to you over the past few years. I was reckless, and I know how much I fucked up whatever relationship we had left. All those times we walked passed each other, I saw the disappointment in your eyes. 

I’m sorry I changed; I realize it too. Every time I see you, I remember all the times we spent together watching movies and eating ice cream. I remember the puddles, the piles of leaves, and the snowball fights that always ended in a tie. And most of all, I would remember your smile in all of them. 

I liked you, (Name). Ever since the day I met you, and even now. If I could turn back time, I would tell you what you meant to me. How much I cared about you. How I would go to the depths of the Earth and back just for you. Like probably isn’t even enough - I love you. So fucking much. I hate how I abandoned you like that. I hate how I was too scared to tell you how I felt about you, and I hate how I can’t tell you this in person. 

I’m so sorry (Name). I truly am. 

I love you. Thank you for the memories.

Joshua Hong

A tear slipped onto the corner of the letter. 

“Oh, Joshua, how you have changed.” 

[prcttylittlethings-a]

💘 + Zeo

headcanon meme - dating edition ! zeo / what is you is me verse ~ 

where they first met and how - they’ve known each other their entire lives ; their parents were friends, their grandparents were friends, there was never a chance for them not to meet. as for when they became actual friends, it was probably in grade school when zelda & avery would bully him into hanging out with them ( and zelda would dare avery to kiss him before going “no I’M going to kiss him he’s MY prince!!!” ) 

how long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involved - zelda has known she’s been in love with leo since the third grade, when they were ice skating in central park and he helped her up when she fell down. as for when leo discovered it, it probably wasn’t until zelda kissed him for the first time and he went ‘oh damn. yeah, okay.’ because he’s an idiot. 

who fell for who first ( if applicable ) - definitely zelda. she’s a hopeless romantic and she spent their early years both mocking him endlessly and flirting with him shamelessly. she just couldn’t figure out how he didn’t know they were totally MFEO. 

where their first date was and what it was like - their first Real Date was something leo probably panicked over a lot. they’ve hung out their entire life but when does it count as a date now ???? we go to the zoo is that a date ?? we went to tiffany’s is that a date ??? but they both count their first real date as a movie at the angelika and eating at a shitty diner in midtown they’d normally never get caught dead in where they talked for hours  and a demure kiss at the door of her apartment building, it was the cliche date zelda always wanted and never knew how to ask for. 

who asks who out and how ( with a sign? spelled out on a cake? just a simple ‘will you go out with me’? ) - zelda and avery attempted to tank his date to cotillion by being naked in a hot tub and making out in an attempt to seduce him. except then avery chickened out and went to kiss someone else to act like it was nbd she just made out with her best friend and zelda was like my time has come. after that he was her Boyfriend and no one else was allowed to touch him again. 

who proposes first - oh boy that would have to come waaaaay down the road. like, after college when all three of them are in the city again. avery and zelda have been trying to figure out what the Fuck they’re doing, and leo would have to be like “why can’t i just have both of you” and it would be super confusing. zelda definitely talks about it the most - in the end, they’d probably decide on “ this is my wife zelda, and her girlfriend avery who sometimes we have a threesome with so i don’t feel left out “ 

if they keep / kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away  - if it wasn’t tacky, zelda would have put a billboard up in times square. 

where the proposal happens and how ( kiss cam at a baseball game? on a hillside surrounded by ducks? at a disney park? ) - zelda has planned her proposal since she was thirteen. the ring was picked out at harry winston and she knew exactly what she wanted. leo and avery take no part of this because the thing they both know she likes most about both of them is their spontaneity. so on a vacation to visit her dad in france, leo proposes at the vineyard during a small, intimate party - enough attention for her to feel like all eyes are on her, but small enough that she feels its exclusive and not broadcast to everyone until she’s ready to announce it. 

if they adopt any pets together - zelda has a cat, but when they’re in their 20s living together, they definitely have her cat and leo just walks home with a dog one day. “it was following me.” 

who’s more dominant - zelda 100% because she is Bossy and likes things a certain way. but leo can surprise her and she loves when he makes a decision or stands up for her or tries to boss her around. she thinks its cute. 

where their first kiss was and what it was like - instead of their first kiss ( because, duh, already talked abt ) lets talk about their first kiss when they get back together after the avery drama comes out - they spend most of senior year broken up and they’ve both missed each other the entire time despite neither of them acknowledging it but she’s a big sister again ( her mother has a fucking baby i swear this is a real plot in the books ) and she looks so happy and light and he hasn’t seen her like that in forever and so he just goes for it and it’s the first time he’s really initiated things between them and it Feels Perfect but it’s familiar and warm and it’s when zelda finally loses her virginity 

if they have any matching couples stuff ( mugs? sweaters? pillowcases? ) - pLEASE matching yale sweatshirts !!!!! even when he ends up going somewhere else ( brown ? HARVARD imagine a harvard!leo and yale!zelda the tension ) she still makes him wear the yale hoodie all the time at the house because the navy looks Very Good On Him 

how into pda they are - Image Is Everything so quick kisses and hand holding and hugging is acceptable but she is Not about to let him grope her in public. that being said she’s also an attention whore and an exhibitionist so there are times in college / etc where she lets him get handsy in clubs or bars because she loves it. 

who holds the umbrella when it rains - lmao leo obviously. as if zelda isn’t busy with her bag and her phone. leo ! my hair ! hold the umbrella straighter !!!

where their usual ‘date spot’ is ( if applicable ) - they go to various restaurants and bars, but they spend most of their time in central park. it’s right there, and zelda loves how romantic it can be ( if you ignore the tourists, pigeons, and hot dog vendors ). 

who’s more protective - zelda would think she is, but leo does a lot to protect her. he knows how to distract her and make her relax and when people talk shit about her or gossip about her he’s usually the first to defend her. 

how long it is before they sleep together ( can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’ ) - they’ve been sharing a bed since they were like eight on random sleepovers, and it never really meant anything until they were dating. but she’s a ball of insecurity, even if she doesn’t show it, and doesn’t sleep with him until right before their high school graduations. 

if they argue about anything - they argue about everything. or, zelda argues and leo just thinks about when he can get stoned again. the crux of most of their problems is really avery - she thinks he’s in love with her ( he is, a little ) but he also thinks zelda puts avery first ( she does, usually ) but instead they fight about things like where to get dinner or why he’s not listening to her 

who leaves more marks ( lipstick, hickeys, scratchmarks etc. ) - lmao zelda of course. leo is Hers and she will let the world know. this makes him leaving his mark on her ( hickeys and scratches sometimes, usually not until college ) even sexier. 

who steals whose clothes and how often - zelda has an entire drawer of his clothes at her house. she has for years. she wears them to bed because they’re comfy and smell like him. when he stays over he loves to see it. he has definitely accidentally put on her sweatshirts sometimes in a rush, though. she thinks its cute. 

how they cuddle ( spooning? facing each other? ) - if they’re sleeping, they usually start spooning ( zelda is the little spoon, obviously ) but they’ll spread out throughout the night and sometimes they wake up with him as the little spoon. if they’re just on the couch or the bed watching tv or something she usually rests her head on his chest or shoulder so he plays with her hair, or vice versa. they’re very physical and touchy. 

what their favourite nonsexual activity is - leo loves sailing, so they go out and do that whenever they can during the summer. but despite zelda’s constant demand to be Seen, they really just love quiet nights in with take out and an old movie playing. 

how long they stay mad at each other - zelda will hold a grudge forever. leo has never understood this concept. it confuses him and he buys her a present so she’s not mad anymore. it almost always works. unless he sleeps with her best friend and keeps it from her for a year, y’know. 

what their usual coffee / tea orders are - caffeine makes leo jittery, and while her friends have all these complex ‘girly’ orders, she just likes coffee, one sugar, splash of milk. sometimes at night she’ll drink some herbal tea to help her sleep. 

if they ever have any children together - zelda has had the Dream of children since they were kids, and in the end the three of them end up with twins - it’s a strange parenting system they have with all three of them, but they make it work. besides, leo is never more grateful for avery’s partnership in their throuple than a pregnant zelda. can you even imagine. 

if they have any special pet names for each other - typical cliche things - babe, sweetie, baby. zelda and avery call each other ‘z’ and ‘a’ and leo likes to think of himself as the bookmark in the middle of the bookcase ( get it. a - l - z ? its cute. ) but they don’t usually have anything too unique. 

if they ever split up and / or get back together - once a week ? jk. they’re pretty stable until avery comes back from boarding school, and then they break up for most of the year. they get back together before graduation just to break up a few weeks alter, and college is a mess of ‘i love you / i hate you’ and trying to figure out avery’s place within the three of them before they all collectively figure out their shit in their 20s. 

what their shared living space is like ( messy? clean? what kind of decor? ) - very clean, but not like, super organized crazy. zelda likes things picked up and clean ( and they have maids, obviously ) but she doesn’t like, color code her wardrobe. they’d hire an interior designer when they got their own place, but it would be a little chaotic like they all are - a crazy colorful bedroom but a muted living room, a bright vibrant kitchen and a dark bathroom. a mixture of all three of them all over the place. 

what their first christmas / hanukkah / etc as a couple was like - they always went to see the nutcracker as kids, and once they’re dating, they start going Together as a date. they split cigarettes during intermission and walk home through the snow together. they pick out a gift to exchange on christmas eve if they’re in the city, or before they’re forced to separate if they have to go with their family. in college, she spends a winter break with him in maine, and once they’re old enough to do their own holidays, they throw huge parties a couple days before to celebrate with everyone they care about before the three of them have their own, quiet holiday. 

what their names are in each other’s phones - if leo has it as anything other than ‘zelda’ he’d never find her, but she does force a heart emoji on there. she likes her phone organized correctly, so he’s also labeled ‘leo’ but it does have a matching heart emoji. their groupchat name, however, changes based on zeldas mood and if she’s angry or enamored with them. sometimes she deletes it entirely and that’s when it’s time to go to tiffanys. 

if they have any ‘couple traditions’ ( buying a new mug for their collection every year? baking every friday evening? ) - after he discovers the heart in his sweater, there’s small exchanges of little trinkets like that. they’re definitely into present giving - it’s the way they were both raised to show love - and they have annual traditions ( the nutcracker, sailing, etc. ) but most of their habits are just engrained in them from their own environments. 

who falls asleep first and who wakes up first - leo falls asleep if you let him sit still too long and zelda has never heard of sleeping. 

who’s the big spoon / little spoon - both of them at any point in time - it’s really just a matter of who’s more emotionally unstable at the moment. 

who hogs the bathroom - zelda has a thousand beauty and hair supplies and leo’s just like ‘guess ill go use the guest bathroom then’ 

who kills the spiders / takes them outside - the maid, obviously. 

[its-r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s]

Call Me A Freak- Chapter 1: Welcome To My Wicked World

Words: 1,946

Warnings: vandalism, gang activity, mentions of death, manipulation

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my rewrite of Descendants! I wanted to see a darker take on the Disney story (one that follows the lines of some of the grim tales they’re based off of). You can find my summary on the wip intro, if you’re interested, but basically be warned that this is a look at the story from the perspective of abused and lonely children who feel powerless against their villain parents.

Intro | Ch 2

~ ~ ~

My boots held me steady on the patchy stone walkways.

There was a thick layer of smoke that lay heavy on the streets that morning. Perhaps a nearby gang had gotten angry and burned down another house. Or one of the experimental types had caused an accident. Or maybe I was imagining things and the smoke was as it had always been… lingering.

Shouts rang out down alleyways. Stupid people who had left the house with something valuable on them and lost it a minute later. Or maybe one of the core villain kids had lost their temper and taken it out on a passerby or a shopkeeper.

It didn’t matter to me. I smirked, taking in my hometown.

I was a bit out of my neighborhood, but no one would touch me here anyway. These streets were full of lowlife villains who never made that much of an impact. I could have someone murdered on the spot just for looking at me.

And even if it weren’t for my status, I was very resourceful. Everyone knew it. My mother would have never let me leave the house if I wasn’t. She wouldn’t have let me live if I wasn’t…

I glanced to my right and found exactly what I was looking for.

I pulled off the street, veering towards the empty, carved out area between buildings. There was just enough room there, and it was smooth.

I dropped my bag to my side and pulled out my spray cans. It was time to go to work.

~ ~ ~

I didn’t keep track of time as I worked. I never did. I was well aware that I was supposed to meet up with Evie, Jay, and Carlos, but it was of no consequence to me if I was late, so I didn’t worry about it.

Lucky enough, Jay found me fairly soon after I had finished.

“Nice work!” he shouted at me as he approached. Jay knew to warn me that he was approaching while I worked on my art. I often got lost in my head and my defense instincts went onto autopilot. So, if I sensed someone around that I wasn’t expecting I would happily spray them in the face with my paints.

I didn’t turn to look at him, just began to pack up my belongings. The bottles were covered in different colored splotches from my dyed fingers.

As I stood up and threw my bag over my shoulder, I noticed Jay standing next to me, admiring my work. It was a simple design. I had made a silhouette of my mom in black, then surrounded it with green fire. Inside the silhouette were the words “Long Live Evil”. I had put up many similar signs around, ones I knew Jay had seen before, but he still liked to appreciate each design for its differences.

“Earth to Jay,” I muttered. “I assume you know where Evie and Carlos are?”

He nodded, bringing his focus back to me. “You up for an adventure?”

I crossed my arms. “I guess.”

I followed him out of the alley silently and back onto the main road.

“Carlos is pissed,” he explained.

I went to answer, but got distracted as he grabbed a piece of sheet metal along one of the walls and pushed it aside, revealing another alleyway.

“Alright,” I responded. “Is Evie also upset?”

“Nah.” Jay stopped suddenly and looked at me. “Evie was flirting with some salesman when I left.”

I rolled my eyes, then mumbled a quick, “Why are we stopped?”

Jay smirked, then patted the ladder attached to the wall beside us. “Because we’re going up.”

I groaned inwardly, watching him climb, before pulling myself up to the rooftops with him.

~ ~ ~

“We’re back!” Jay shouted, then slid down the side of someone’s roof and landed in front of Evie and Carlos.

Jay was a smooth sort of guy. Socially and physically. I had to wonder where he got it from, considering his dad was a slinky snake of a person who sat around in his early life trying to steal power from a senile sultan.

I rolled my eyes, stomping down far less gracefully

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the latest of them all?” Evie jabbed.

I didn’t respond as Jay helped me get down from the edge of the building.

“What do you want me to say? I’m rotten to the core.”

Neither Evie nor Carlos was amused by this response.

I simply pushed past them and into the large warehouse. We had gotten word that some of Wonderland’s best were hanging in there. Jay had convinced us that it was worth raiding because of some of the strange and antique goods they collected. Jay lived for stealing things and the rest of us didn’t mind. The more mischief we caused, the happier our parents were with us.

People didn’t take notice of us as we strolled through, splitting off in different directions.

As I walked through, I started to callously knock things off tables and destroy stands.

“Freak!” someone shouted.

I turned around and winked. No point in getting angry. I had heard some pretty foul words. This meant nothing to me.

I reached into my bag, pulling out a random can and shaking it. As I passed through I started spraying certain vendors and curtains purple.

A couple people ran after me, but froze when they saw the green dragons on my back. I reached the back of the warhouse and noticed Carlos riding by on a wagon filled with hay.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!” he snarled, before jumping down next to me.

Jay and Evie were quick to follow, leaving commotion in their wake. Jay was carrying a dirty teapot as he shuffled past and opened up the back door for them to escape.

“Welcome to my wicked world,” he chuckled to himself as we all ran out and made our way down the road.

As we went, we created a formation of sorts with me front and center. The three of them flocked me, looking around as we went.

People watched our gang walk by. We had all the confidence in the world. After a moment, we stopped, deciding to talk about what our next plans were.

The people around us lessened by the minute. I wondered if we frightened them off. Four of the most powerful teens in all of the Isle of the Lost, with connections to the most dangerous villains the world had ever seen.

But the hope of such distinction was lost as the rest of the stragglers disappeared and left our gang facing a group of men in the same, ratty, brown outfit they’d worn since I was born.

I clear my throat, trying to signal to her goons that I recognized them, before mumbling, “Hi mom.”

I would never drop my demeanor in front of my friends or my mother. I need their respect, their fear, for my own survival. But this isn’t good. My mother doesn’t step out of her “castle” just to visit her daughter. She had a reason for being there. An important one.

She pushes through the two men who were previously guiding her through the streets and faces me.

Those who had met my mother would never forget her face. She was all angles, as if made of slabs of metal. Her expression was never changing. It seemed as though anything you could say or do would ricochet off of her like it was nothing. I was perhaps the only person in the world who had truly seen her react to something and survived it. And that was only because she wanted me to see her like that. She wanted me to know what true fear felt like, coming from her eyes.

My friends didn’t move as her guards, who previously surrounded her, moved to surround the five of us. 

“Hm. What have the four of you been up to?” Her voice is deep and steady like a long drag from a cigarette. “I hope more than simply walking the streets and stealing from children.”

I didn’t respond. Why give her an answer she doesn’t want to hear?

She doesn’t question my silence and continues. “You know, Mal, when I was your age I was cursing entire kingdoms.”

I do my best not to roll my eyes. As if I hadn’t heard that one a million times.

My mother liked to remind me of her power at all times. The barrier that surrounded the Isle of the Lost prevented any use of magic while inside it. But that only stopped some of her cruelty.

“Oh! There’s news!” she finally said. “You four have been chosen to go to a different school,” she points between all of us, a smirk lit up her face, “in Auradon.”

The three behind me tense up. Carlos looked seconds away from running for his life.

“What?” I exclaimed. “I can’t go to some boarding, full to the brim with prissy, pink princesses.”

My mother looked almost excited, though. Her eyes were lit up and I realized that this is something she wanted. All that arguing would get me was pain at this point.

My friends refused to say anything. A look from my mother would silence them, even if they tried.

“You’re thinking small, pumpkin,” she informed me. “It’s all about world domination.”

She always carried her head as if there was a crown on it. I suppose those thick horns had some weight to them, but whether or not it was necessary, it gave her a sort of regality. It forced her to look down upon those around her and made the snarl of her teeth that much more frightening.

She swung around and left, her goons quick to follow behind and surround her once more. That was their main job. Protect her in the city. Because people like these would happily murder her to take her place. Not that they could if they tried.

I didn’t move from my spot. I was happy to watch her walk away and get some distance from her.

Jay slid up behind me, leaning over my shoulder, before saying, “She’s joking, right?”

I laughed at him, but there wasn’t any humor in my face. “You obviously don’t spend enough time with my mother. She would never joke. And by the look on her face… she’s got ulterior motives.”

“Why would we be invited to Auradon?” Carlos asked, walking around to face us.

I shook my head. “Who knows.”

Evie was basically straining every muscle in her body to contain her excitement. “Think about how many castles there are in Auradon! And princes!”

I scoffed, and almost immediately her face dropped to match my disgust.

“Listen,” Jay added. “I don’t do uniforms. Unless it’s leather, you feel me?” He joked, holding up a hand to Carlos, but he was far too distracted to reciprocate the high five.

“I read somewhere that they allow dogs in Auradon. Mom said they’re rabid pack animals that eat boys who don’t behave…”

I rolled my eyes at Carlos’s naive comment. It was fairly well known that Cruella de Vil, Carlos’s mother lied constantly to Carlos as a way of manipulating him. He was so sheltered that he hung off her every word about what the rest of the world was like.

“We’re not going,” I insisted. “I just… need to find out why she wants us to go so bad and convince her she’s wrong.”

It was Jay’s turn to laugh. “You? Convince your mother, the ‘Mistress of all Evil’? I doubt it.”

I glared at him. “Let’s see.”

[rivertellsstories]

Newsies as things that happened during the one week exchange my school had with another school in Italy.

Albert: *looking at a glass floor* Do you think that’s safe to walk on?

Teacher: I wouldn’t try it if I were you *turns around*

Albert and Race: *look at each other and immediately start jumping on the glass

-

Jack: *spots a huge garbage can with one small hole instead of a lid that you can tilt open* That’s so handy! (Not sarcastic)

Crutchie: Yeah Jack, garbage cans usually are. (very, very sarcastic)

-

*first day with the exchange group*

Race: So, I’m still a virgin no thanks to someone *looks at Spot*

Spot: *glares at Race*

-

Race: *puts Virgin (Race) as his Kahoot name*

-

Teacher: So if you turn around three times on the bull’s balls, you’ll lead a lucky life.

Race: So I won’t be a virgin anymore? *enthusiastically stomps and spins on the bull’s testicles*

-

Davey: *wins Kahoot quiz he wasn’t even supposed to be part of*

-

Guide: Did you all pay attention? If so, please tell me what the name was of the second family that lived in this castle.

Davey: Sforza.

Guide: *confused* That’s true, but I’ve never seen you before? You weren’t part of my group.

-

JoJo and his Italian host:  *both staring at candied fruit while knowing what it is in their native language, but forgetting the English word for it*

-

*at a mass*

Priest: *sings terribly*

Elmer: If this was The Voice, I would’ve turned for him.

Henry: I’m gonna make a fan page for him.

Elmer: *snickers* The Vatican is hella rich, let him be your sugar daddy

-

*playing truth or dare with the Italian students*

Katherine: *has to rub her boobs against one Italian guy for a bit*

Italian student: *holds out hands in confusion* (he only understood the word boobs lmao)

-

Teacher: So you have to take interviews. The Italian students ask the questions and the others have to use their ‘Italian for beginners’ book to understand the numbers. So if they say quattro-

Katherine: four

Teacher: Indeed. And when they say sette-

Katherine: seven

Katherine’s Italian host: *shouts proudly through the room* é la mia!!!

-

Teacher: Shit, someone forgot their bag.

Smalls: *yells louder than anybody thought she could yell* HEY SOMEBODY FORGOT THEIR BAG!!!!

-

Smalls: *has to shout every time the group is in danger of splitting up (thanks traffic lights) because she just screams the loudest out of everybody*

-

*during a trip in Verona*

Specs: Miss, could you tell me the name of the building?

Waitress: *doesn’t speak English and prepares to leave*

Romeo: WAIT! Il nome di *gestures wildly at the building*

-

Sarah: *absolutely destroys everyone at dodgeball. Doesn’t know what ‘mercy’ means*

-

Race: There’s a window in the bathroom door of my host family and now I can’t shit in peace. And I really, really have to go to the bathroom.

-

*at a really fancy bathroom in a new shopping centre (it had a fountain in the fucking bathroom, when I say fancy I mean really fancy)*

Albert: Man, there’s no way I could shit in a place this fancy

Race: *guilty silence*

-

Davey: Where’s our other teacher?

Teacher: He is feeding his inner self.

Elmer: Is he masturbating?

Teacher:… No, he is just eating….

-

Blink: *gets drunk even though the rules explicitly stated that students weren’t allowed to have alcohol*

-

Albert: *sends a snap of a joint on a table* lol my Italian has weed

-

Crutchie: *sends a snap of his stuffed animals* Let’s all introduce our stuffed animals to each other via Snapchat!!*

-

*at a happy hour*

Henry: This drink is good, can I get another?

Teacher: Yes, but you’ll have to pay though.

Henry: *angry scowl*

-

Mush: *eats too much pudding because it was free and good*

-

Jack: *dances very enthusiastically but not very good. Kind of terrible actually, but looks cute while doing so*

-

Buttons: soco soco bate bate soco soco vira vira (all the damn time)

-

Street vendor: *tries to sell something*

Blink: *in angry German* NEIN

-

Street vendor: *puts bracelet on Davey’s arm*

Davey: *competely and utterly lost about what’s going on*

Race: NO DON’T FALL INTO THE TOURIST TRAPS *zooms at inhumanly speed and pulls Davey away*

-

Crutchie: *visits only the Disney shop on the free day*

-

Finch: *climbs in tree, knowing fully well that it’s illegal and puts pictures of it on Snapchat*

-

Race: *teaches the Italian kids weird English curse words*

-

All the Newsies: *teach the Italian students the dances that they also teach to the younger Newsies (those dances you do on the playground or at camp)*

-

Bonus:

Pulitzer: *makes a girl cry by bullying her and leaves the student he was supposed to host behind in the midst of Milan*

[mid-something]

2020 Year in Review

I wasn’t going to write one of these this year. I wasn’t sure what the point was, normally they’re a list of accomplishments, places I went, projects I worked on, events I planned. But I feel like I didn’t do anything this year. It was a year that felt more like college, with long days that melded together into walks and work sessions. I loved it, but it also lacked the intensity that usually pumps through the months. As I started writing this though, it was surprisingly easy to fill, even without my usual go-tos like travel filling it in. 

Speaking of travel

Okay, I did hop around the east coast a bit. In January I went up to Montreal for Synchrony once again. I spent the trip up making a PICO-8 sketch of the snow falling around our train up north. 

Later, in February, I went up to Pennsylvania to volunteer as a performer for a LARP for the first time. I played an animal, a cult member taking part in a sacrifice that included biting into a giant cake heart (that everyone was touching, so much for that world), and played a hellhound bringing people back to a mystery portal in the middle of a field. We camped and hiked and took day-trips to Wawa for lunch.

My last trip was to Nashville Tennessee for a library conference. I loved it, library conferences are much less vendor-focused than ed-tech ones. I got a suitcase full of free books that I’m still reading my way through. My co-worker and I stayed in cool Airbnbs and found our way to a speakeasy inside an old phone booth. I had never been to Nashville, but thought it was like a cool weird Disney land with great food and incredible music around every corner.

Afterwards I headed down to Florida to see my grandparents for a week, and then went back to New York... and didn’t go anywhere for the rest of the year. A couple weeks after I got back to my Brooklyn apartment I packed a bag and headed upstate for the next three months to play animal crossing and hang out with my parents and dog.

Coding Club

When schools shut down, a couple things happened. First, we put our school product available online for free. Second, I started a coding club for kids who were home from school. I met with kids for an hour twice a week, and really saw them grow and experiment with code. It grew to a few hundred kids each week, all meeting up to code along and share their work. I was able to get a better feel for how teachers used our product, and was able to test out project ideas live. It was such a joy, and my favorite part of my job during that time.

Livecoding in Space

I co-organized Livecoding in Space at the start of shutdown. It was a day of workshops and an evening algorave that was originally going to take place at the Kennedy Center. I made the website, ran the lineup, and managed the Twitch stream the whole day, and somehow got a p5 workshop and performance livecoding visuals to a series of poets in there at the same time. It was wild, super fun, and I’m really glad I did it. 

Performances

I continued the Twitch streak performing with musicians at sPaCYcLoUd Livecode Thursdays, bringing in what I was learning at monthly shaders workshops. Working in GLSL was a completely different experience than working with Hydra, I was much more limited with a much higher chance of things going wrong. I moved more slowly, and was really able to get lost in the performances in a way I hadn’t before.

NYC

Back in New York City in the summer, everything was boarded up. Bars had tables outside, and people were in scattered groups around Astor Place. We went out one night on St. Marks and bought pre-bottled drinks from a place that had once been an impossible to get into bar. Cop cars were driving up and down the street announcing for us to stay apart on their loudspeakers. The whole thing felt very apocalyptic. We played tennis in courts without nets, with piles of leaves that no one had cleaned up since all the parks were technically still closed. I spent time walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn, more than I ever did before. I walked 13 miles to the dentist and back, walked over the Williamsburg bridge over and over again. I met up with friends to practice skateboarding, I walked up to the Williamsburg park for a picnic with friends, I walked to Bushwick for the same. I got better at electric unicycling and did yoga in different parks staring at the trees. And when I settled back into my Bed Stuy apartment John would come over every weekend and we’d cook and get work done. I’ve never been happier in my life.

Art?

I got much better at painting this year, which is something I had wanted to experiment more with for a while. I finally understand the difference between supplies and the benefits of good paper and brushes. I took part in virtual figure drawing sessions and around the world painting lessons.

I did a lot of figure drawing this year, most of it was online. My favorite, however, was at a place called Outerspace in Brooklyn. It was an hour walk from my apartment, and I loved the walk there through Bushwick and back. I went a few times, sometimes walking back in the dark past the largest church in Brooklyn, sometimes grabbing food in one of my favorite parts of the city and taking an uber after. Figure drawing online gave me the space (literally, usually I’d be too close to other people to have them out) to start experimenting with paints, something that followed my practice throughout the year.

In March, my friend who’s an elementary school art teacher started posting her prompts for her class online, which was an awesome first way to get back into traditional sketchbooking on the floor of my bedroom upstate. Above are some of the elementary-school art prompts that kept me occupied this Spring.

I also followed along with someone I had followed on Instagram, Travel Write Draw. The whole thing was definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, my sketchbooks tend to skew stranger and she comes from the fashion world, but I had always wanted to paint more and took part. The paintings above are in the order I did them, I think I got a lot better as we went through. The places are in order: Rome, Marrakesh, Capri, Cartagena, the Serengeti, and Paris at Christmastime. 

Over the summer I took part in Arsiliath’s Intro to Biological Simulation with Compute Shaders. The above are some of the experiments from the class. I read math papers and implemented them for the first time. 

&...

I applied to grad school, which took up most of my free time and energy this fall. Nothing to share here yet, I’ll know what’s up around March/April. I took the GREs as well, and did surprisingly well given I haven’t taken a test in about a decade. 

I’m heading out to Mars now, a remote spot in Southern California, to wait out the winter and try and make the most out of a weird quarantine world. I wonder if this should be longer or more interesting, end in bullets of things I can feel proud of from my 20′s. I don’t know. When you come back to this 2021 Leandra, I hope you’re happy and have finally found your footing in a world that feels like it’s constantly trying to drown you with the next wave.

[the-record-newspaper]

Grand Marshall Announced for Halloween Parade

Jessie Jackson will be the Grand Marshall for the 4th Annual Historic Wilkesborough Halloween Parade on Saturday Sept. 28. Jessie suffers from Gangliosidosis-1 (GM-1) a progressive neurological genetic disorder.The photo on the left shows Jessie at 5 years old. "As you can see GM-1 can take all it wants from her...it hasn't touched her joy for life. She is amazing and teaches daily what true determination is all about. Jessie's the true hero, I just push the wheelchair," said her mother, Merlie.

By HEATHER DEAN Record Reporter

The 4th Annual Historic Wilkesborough Halloween Parade (HWHP) will take place on September 28, 2019 in the heart of downtown Wilkesboro. The Child Abuse Prevention Team/ Our House is this year’s chosen non-profit, and all funds raised through parade entries and vendor fees as well as through other fundraisers will go to this organization.

Every year, a local with a special story is chosen as the Grand Marshall. This year’s recipient is Jessica Jackson. She loves motorcycles, music, horses, and traveling- her favorite places so far being Disney World, NASCAR races,  App State football games and Pigeon Forge TN. She was diagnosed at 18 with gm-1 gangliosidosis; a disorder so rare that she is the only known child in NC with this diagnosis.  

Gangliosidosis-1 (GM-1) is a progressive neurological genetic disorder caused by the absence of a vital enzyme. Jessie started showing signs around age 5, and slowly progressed to being totally dependent on her parents for all care around the clock. Jessie is now non verbal, in a wheelchair full time and unable to stand or walk  

Speaking with Jessie’s mom, Merlie, she said it was an honor to have Jessie as the Grand Marshall for the parade this year. “She always has enjoyed watching parades over the years; this will be her first opportunity to be a member.” In her role as Grand Marshall, Jessie is dressing up as Sleeping Beauty, and her wheelchair will be turned into a Princess carriage.  

“One thing Jessie has taught our family is that no matter what challenges life throws at you, giving up and losing HOPE is not an option, and that you always have the ability to help those around you. All a parent can ever dream of for their child is that they grow up and make their mark on the world and make it a better place for others and Jessie does that every day. Jessie is determined to LIVE life and it is our job as her parents to help her achieve that each day,” Merlie said. Jessie has been tubing down the Yadkin River, gone up in a hot air balloon, ridden horses and motorcycles since being confined to her wheelchair.

Jessie had been invited to be in the parade in years past, but it conflicted with Jessie's Ride of Hope, an annual benefit motorcycle ride with event proceeds going to the NTSAD (National Tay Sachs and allied diseases) research. “Each September across the country NTSAD families host their own "Day of Hope" events in their area to raise funds for the NTSAD but also to raise awareness for children like Jessie fighting a monster disorder that most people have never even heard of,” Merlie said. This year Jessie’s ride happens the weekend before the Halloween Parade, September 14.

Jessie’s Ride:

The idea of having a motorcycle benefit ride happened after the family moved to Wilkes  from Boone after Jessie graduated high school. Merlie said “We did not know anyone here; but because she loves motorcycles and music we started attending events at CrossRoads Harley Davidson and there Jessie not only found fun things to do, she found friends that quickly became her "Harley Family", and who accepted her and loved her unconditionally. When ever we would post her adventures on social media, other special needs families would say to us "We sure wish our child had biker buddies like Jessie" and that’s how the Facebook group “Riding for You” started.”

Her husband David suggested they create a Facebook group and match bikers to special needs individuals so every child could be blessed with "biker love" across the country.

Merlie said the group has been amazing and the start of several incredible friendships, with almost 2,000 around the world, including Italy, Norway, and even Australia, where the little girl there has GM-1 just like Jessie. .

Her Story:

As a child, before her disorder stole a lot of her abilities from her, Jessie loved going on adventures, like climbing to the top of the climbing wall at Footsloggers in Boone and ringing the bell at the top. Then she began to get clumsy, and her foot started turning inward.

It took 13 yrs of searching with several doctors and hospitals before she was successfully diagnosed by the National Insititute of Health (NIH), in Bethesda Maryland, which is the government's premier medical research facility, with a small group of scientists, led by Dr. William Gahl, devoted to unraveling and finding cures on only the hardest of the hard cases in the Undiagnosed Diseases Program; these are illnesses so rare they don't appear in any medical book. So far, Gahl and his team have solved cases eluding elite institutions across the U.S., discovered two new genetic diseases, with a dozen more under scientific review.

 Jessie was featured on 60 minutes program “Hard Cases: Investigating rare & tough diseases” with Dr, Gahl. In the interview Dr Gahl’s definition of “rare” is different than the legal one. A rare disease in the United States is “one that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals out of the 350 million citizens” in the United States. To a scientist, that doesn’t classify as rare. He said “When we're talking about rare diseases, (it’s) affecting between one and 50 people in the world.”

Dr Gahl personally reviews 150 to 170 cases a year and decides who gets in and who gets rejected. Since genetic diseases often appear early in life, as they did with Jessie, 40 percent of the cases he accepts are children.

 For nine years Jessie has been a vital part of their research for GM-1, and these recently lead to the first clinical trials for a cure. Although Jessie is too old to take part in the trials, she was integral in making it available for younger GM-1 patients. Her family holds onto the hope that soon the trials will expand to include the older children like Jessie fighting GM-1 so bravely.

 Jessie is one of three across the globe with this disease that had outlived expectancy, and the only female. The oldest is Jorgen, 31, Eric, 29, and Jessie, who is now 27. When she was diagnosed at age 18 the NIH told her parents she would most likely pass within a few years, in her early 20’s.  At her visit this past January, they said they never dreamed she would make it to 27 years of age.  

Jessie has faced two major surgeries this year which currently have her in three casts (one on her hand and two on her feet) Her feet were curling inward and her big toe was under her foot so surgery, fusing joints and inserting pins was needed to straighten it all out. The hope is when she is all healed there will be less day to day pain and she will be able to stand again and wear shoes. Her mom says she still gets up every day with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye ready to enjoy the day.  

Even all this hasn’t stopped Jessie from doing a project to help children in the High Country by collecting stuffed animals to give to the Guardians of the Children of the High Country to give away at their events. “We recently attended one of their bike nights and they gave Jessie a cute little Harley bear and we witnessed the joy it bought her as well as the other animals given to other children attending, and saw a perfect chance for Jessie to make a positive difference,” Merlie said. Jessie will be delivering her second donations of stuffed animals to the Guardians on July 21 at their next bike night in Wilkesboro, and will continue collecting them throughout the summer. She has already sent five large bags to the group.

About the Halloween Parade, Vendor Faire, and Games:

Saturday, September 28th, 2019 the fun begins at noon with food trucks and vendors opening for business. You may also purchase kids game tickets before the parade. The parade line-up starts at 12:30; where vehicles and floats can be decorated. At 1:30 p.m. the Mayor of Wilkesboro, Mike Inscore, will judge parade entries. There will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Mayors Choice awards. At 2:00 p.m. the parade begins with Grand Marshall and the Little Brushy Mountain Railroad leading the parade. Walking groups will go next, followed by entry winners and all others. After the parade ends, games open for kids. Tickets are $5 per child and allow them to play all games and take a train ride.

Costume contest will take place at 5:00 p.m. Free Zombie Walk led by Digger the Zombie through downtown at 5:30. Event ends at 6:00 p.m.

This year, the HWHP is holding a tee shirt design contest. The organizers wanted to get the kids involved in the process, the thought being since the games are geared to kids it would be great fun for the kids to design the shirt fronts. Event Sponsors go on the back.

Contest  Guidelines:

•Open to ages 15 & younger.

• Shirt design needs to be Halloween themed, must include a Child Abuse Prevention Team/Our House pinwheel somewhere in the design.  

● No copyright infringement allowed; must be original artwork.

•Entry Deadline is July 21, 2019.

•Winner will be announced August 1, 2019.

•Email your picture to historicwilkeshallows@gmail.com

For more information about how to enter the parade, be a vendor, or provide a game or entertainment, email historicwilkeshallows@gmail.com. Follow the Facebook page Historic Wilkesborough Halloween Parade for updates.

[puff-pink]

Ah man I had this really cool dream. My old high school was having some sort of fair. Not science fair, but I remember there was a lot of like science, and toy sort of things.

Maybe it was a toy fair, but there weren’t really many dolls?

Anyway I remember seeing Woke Girls or whatever those were called, had a booth and making a note to maybe snag one.

But then I got lost. And somehow ended up by more dolls, but they were like booths reselling collectable Barbies. Which didn’t really fit with the theme of the school’s fair.

And it sort of became more and more of a convention center in size.

But next thing I knew I was wandering into more doll/toy start up booths that looked bigger and more official than stuff at the school.

Like minor toy fair sort of things.

And my friend realized we weren’t at the school thing anymore, they were sharing a space with a big official vendor’s convention/fair. And we found like this booth stacked full of Disney dolls, most of them the newer ones. Like I remember seeing the Bridal Ariel.

But also this “new character” who was supposed to be from the upcoming Frozen movie, who was like a younger girl who was like completely icy and frozen and really cool looking.

But I remember commenting I could wait til it actually showed up in stores.

Then were was like the Monster High section, that was just full of dolls I’d already seen. Nothing quite new, but they did have miscellaneous things I’ve never seen. Like a loose bagged Bee CAM. And this sort of 10 bag fashion pack, except at first I thought it was fabric samples. It was like a bunch of random clothes, like skirts and leggings from various lines, some rare. Some looking like prototype samples.

And it was like $90 and I remember mentally trying to do that math on that one. In my dream it was still like $2 per thing so I guess I can’t do math while asleep.

So I wanted all the unofficial stuff that seemed more like a Mattel HQ garage sale sort of thing.

Then there were a bunch of other things, like more Disney, including some sort of zombie Prince Eric. But as I was trying to explore more because I didn’t mind being lost at that point. I remember getting sort of pulled out by my boss who was like, we aren’t supposed to be over here. Which is weird bc irl she woulda probably been down. 

Sigh anyway.

On also in the bathroom they had these strange Kelly Pinkie Cooper knock off things. But they were like free and I still didn’t want them bc they looked bizarre.

[lori11hen2ry]

Tips for School Bags

Learn why choosing the right school bag matters for your comfort and ease of carrying. Dive into our blog now!

[markacaserta]

Reflections and so much more from historian and Free State Patriot associate editor, Doug Smith.

Huntington’s East End Suspension bridge

San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge

  Doug Smith: Historian and Free State Patriot associate editor

October 1, 2018

  Although I spent many years away from her, the River City of Huntington, WV is my home town. I spent parts of my boyhood there, but my Father’s moves pulled me far afield and I also grew up in Ohio, Virginia, and California. After High School, I became a Navy sailor, and, as one would expect, saw even more of the world and country. These travels give me a somewhat different perspective on my hometown than those who spend their entire lives hanging their hats on a hook in Huntington.

As a boy, there came the point when I was deemed able to take a bus to downtown on a Saturday to walk around and explore. I can remember (Always!) getting a bag of nuts from the Planter s store, sometimes a BLT from Whites, or a Milkshake at the lunch counter at Kresge Department Store, exploring the stores for Christmas gifts, even enjoying a Disney movie and a box of popcorn.  I loved the smell of the bus fumes (a matter of contention: some did, others despised it. To me, it smelled like Huntington) I remember going with my Dad to watch the Thundering Herd, (or the Blundering Bird, as we called them when they blew it started to lose) play Bowling Green.  There were trees to climb, dirt to dig, pop bottles to collect and sell for pocket money. All in all, it was not such a bad place to be a young boy in the late 50s and early 60s.

In 1977, the US Navy sent me off as a 21-year-old young sailor to Mare Island, California, on the North side of the San Francisco Bay, for a 2-month school. I left my young wife and 18-month-old daughter (who imperfectly understood Daddy’s travels: for her I was on the airplane to California for 9 weeks) in WV and went off to further my education as a Submariner. While I was there, I took advantage of my travels to visit Sacramento, Vallejo, and San Francisco. San Francisco was quite the experience.

I had fresh seafood on Fisherman’s Wharf, saw the Ripley s Believe it or Not Museum, went aboard a replica of The Golden Hind; Sir Frances Drake’s ship, had lunch in Chinatown, and took a cab down Lombard Street, one of the curviest in America. I heard street musicians playing bagpipes, string quartets, jazz Saxophone, you name it. I bought an Aran sweater from an Irish import shop. It was quite a place to visit.

I also saw, somewhat to my surprise, a young man with a long raincoat, with many pockets, strolling along and singing, like street vendors his wares: heroin, cocaine, marijuana. Say What?  I had an inkling then that something was not quite right about San Francisco.

Looking at San Francisco today, they are a city which just committed $ 750,000 a year to cleaning up human feces from the streets from their homeless population. They put out maps of where the poo builds up, so you won’t step in it. A medical convention that had been hosted for years cancelled.

San Francisco is far down the path of decades of extreme progressive rule. They have the sort of mind set that rewards failure, undergirds bad mistakes, and punishes hard work and achievement. And they are a living, or perhaps, dying ongoing experiment proving the premise that what you pay for and encourage, you get more of. So, San Francisco becomes a scofflaw city, welcoming illegal aliens with criminal records, rejecting law enforcement, and achieves notoriety when one of their aliens murders a tourist, and is then acquitted by a jury of San Franciscans.

If you were considering visiting and spending your money in San Francisco after hearing of my adventures in 1977, think again.  San Francisco has chosen to be warm and welcoming to IV drug addicts with free clean needles, violent citizens of other countries, homeless street dwellers, while driving off hard working citizens and businesses with high taxes, over regulation, and the highest cost of a place to live in the country. At the same time, they have looked down their elitist noses at the military, which has a long history in the San Francisco Bay area, cops, and business and condemned them and made them feel unwelcome.

Rudy Giuliani took the approach that what you accept, you get more of and proceeded to instruct the NYPD not to tolerate low level crime such as the “squeegee “guys or broken windows. The result? NY under Rudy became one of the safest big cities in the world, as crime overall took a nose dive.  

And San Francisco? Well, ask Kate Steinle. Wait, you can’t, she was murdered in broad daylight on a busy street in San Francisco. In 2017, SF lost more population (moving, not murdered,) than any other city in the US. 46% of current residents plan to move away. Companies have been bailing in droves. Even the Raiders (from Oakland, just across the Bay Bridge,) are moving the franchise to Las Vegas after this season. (Aside: The Las Vegas Raiders? That conjures all sorts of images.)

Pardon the puny allusion to the Poo Problem, but San Fran is circling the drain.

And as for my erstwhile hometown? If you work there, you get to pay an extra fee each week to the City. If you shoot up there, the City will provide you a nice clean needle, since they are all about the safety of IV drug use. Heaven forbid we let it be dangerous or spread disease. Business does not seem high on the list of Huntington priorities. Huntington manages to lose long time businesses to other locales when the choice in Huntington or virtually anywhere else. Once we could beam with pride seeming a bottle from Owens Illinois, or (if one is a Submariner) seeing a Main Sea Water valve stamped DeLavel, Huntington, WV. Not anymore.  

Can you imagine a parent today letting their 10-year-old repeat my adventures on the bus? No peanut shop for them. Nor would they feel safe to wander the streets of Huntington. Nor do businesses feel safe or welcome, in their revenues or hiring employees nor in the safety of their facilities.

Now, how much of this is a result of the liberal, grasping policies of Huntington political leadership?  I’ll leave that as a thought exercise for the residents of Huntington. Walk down pothole filled streets, past boarded up buildings with desperate “For Sale” signs, consider the ¾ million-dollar poop patrol out scooping up what so far, we still deposit in porcelain and send to a treatment plant in Westmoreland, and pause to wonder: Are we doing the same things? And if we are, how far are we from the “poop patrol” and half the population, the working half, fleeing the old town?

Huntington used to be a heck of a town, not the Big Apple, but not so much wrong with it. Not so much anymore. Maybe it is time to alter course.

  Doug Smith: Is Huntington, WV. headed down the same path as San Francisco? Reflections and so much more from historian and Free State Patriot associate editor, Doug Smith. Doug Smith: Historian and Free State Patriot associate editor…

[pittsburghweddingphotographer]

Disney Magic Cruise Vow Renewal

Reese and Clarissa renewed their vows in a February 16th ceremony on the Palo Deck of a Disney Magic Cruise ship back in 2018. This was such a magical experience for everyone involved!

Clarissa And Reese: Destination Vow Renewal

For their 10-year wedding anniversary, these two decided to do a big vow renewal—and what better place to do it than on a magical cruise? Their friends had invited them along to the Disney cruise, so they decided to take advantage of the opportunity to renew their vows and make a big party out of it.

I went along as a solo shooter, but on the day of the ceremony, I was still able to spend time with Reese in the morning and get in all the pictures of both of them that they wanted. Afterwards, we were able to use the ship itself for some fun photos! My favorite images were the ones right after the ceremony where we used the edges of the ship for sunset pictures. And, of course, we had to get iconic Disney Cruise photos with the ship’s big red funnel!

Disney Magic Cruise Wedding Photography

I can’t say enough wonderful things about how much Disney threw into helping these two have an unforgettable vow renewal ceremony. They took care of most of the details like the cake, the champagne, and the flowers—though Reese and Clarissa did also bring their own music as well as monogrammed shot glasses and gift bags.

But for as fun as it was to be on the cruise, I have to say that my favorite moment 1000% had to be when they said their vows. I was honestly choked up as these two high school sweethearts promised themselves to each other all over again—this time in front of their two princesses. It was beautiful to witness, and I loved how their daughters got to see this celebration of true love.

Beyond the wedding, we all honestly had such a great 4-day vacation. We even got to see the world premiere of Black Panther, since Marvel is now owned by Disney! We all really got to know one another after spending all our dinner times together at the wonderful restaurants, so we were much closer than we would have been for a one-day wedding shoot. It helped me to be able to capture the day in a more intimate way!

Clarissa & Reese, thank you for letting me be part of your vow renewal! Thanks also to Disney for making this one magical week!

Featured Disney Magic Cruise Vendor

Disney Cruise Line: Disney Magic

source https://krystalhealy.com/2019/11/disney-magic-cruise-vow-renewal/

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Jelloman is a music festival hustler and Kurt Vile's brother

LAUREN SCHNEIDERMAN / Staff Photographer

Jelloman Paul Vile with one of his Jello murals.

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Meet: Paul Vile, a West Chester mason who sells Jello shots and t-shirts to music festival goers across the country — a hustle that’s earned him the nickname “Jelloman.”

Say when: For a garnish, Vile often brings a pepper mill filled with Pop Rocks to sprinkle on his Jello shots. “It makes quite the presentation, if you will,” he said.

Backstage pass: Vile creates giant signs he calls “Jello murals” that spell out bands’ names, which often gets him invited backstage. Having famous Philly musician Kurt Vile as a big brother doesn’t hurt either.

Paul Vile wanted a hustle.

It was 2008 and Vile, a trained mason, was looking for a way to make some extra scratch when he stumbled upon a young woman selling Jello shots at a Dave Matthews Band concert in Camden. She told him she’d made $400 in just a couple hours.

“I knew that was the perfect hustle,” he said.

He was living on his own in West Chester, but Vile made his first batch in his parents’ kitchen. His mom, who doesn’t drink, helped, describing it as “stirring the cauldron of sin.”

Today, Vile, 33, buys his Jello in 50-pound bags, mixes his shots in five-gallon buckets and spends his summers traveling the country illegally selling Jello shots and T-shirts at music festivals like Firefly, Bonnaroo and Coachella.

Colin Kerrigan

Paul Vile places lids on a batch of his famous Jello shots.

He’s become such a fixture on the festival circuit that he’s earned the nickname “Jelloman.” Vile is also the subject of an upcoming documentary by Philly filmmaker Colin Kerrigan (a former Philly.com photographer) called “Jelloman, if u will.”

Vile knows selling booze and bootleg tees is against festival rules, not to mention numerous liquor and trademark laws. He doesn’t check IDs, obtain liquor or vendor licenses, or have rights to sell the tees. He’s no stranger to being kicked out of festivals, and he once had his van impounded and spent the night in jail when authorities found a T-shirt printing press inside the vehicle.

“I almost want to get legit with it all, somehow,” he said. “I got so good at something that is almost a dead-end road.”

But compared to some of the harder drugs and other illicit activities circulating at festivals, Vile said, his business is “like the Disney Channel.” And for now, he said, the risk is worth the reward. He won’t say how much his hustle pulls in, except that “it’s extremely lucrative.”

Born one of 10 children, Vile grew up in Lansdowne and graduated from Penn Wood High School in 2003. He then attended trade school for masonry.

Today, he oscillates between a “regular square life” of working in masonry and “that Jello lifestyle.”

>> MORE WE THE PEOPLE: Delco man can catch marshmallows, with his mouth, thrown from the Ben Franklin Bridge

But Jelloman doesn’t party like he used to.

He wakes up at 6 a.m., “ninja folds” the shirts he wants to sell, grabs some sunglasses and packs his bag with 500 Jello shots. By 9 a.m. he’s walking through campsites, ready to sell.

“These little Jello shots are the perfect sale. You can have hundreds in your backpack and they just fly like poker chips,” he said.

For $20, Vile will sell you a Jello shot, a bootleg festival shirt he designed himself and a cheap pair of sunglasses. The Jello shots alone go for three for $5, seven for $10 and 15 for $20.

“You’re probably thinking: ‘Would I buy a Jello shot from a random person?'” Vile said. “You might say no right now, but when you’re at a festival….the Jello shot is a weird hook.”

To make the shots, Vile boils a large amount of water and surrounds himself in a circle with 24 five-gallon buckets. Then, he puts the water, 7.5-pounds of Jello mix and four handles of bottom-shelfvodka in each bucket and stirs. Every bucket makes about 400 Jello shots and he needs about six buckets for each festival.

Instead of transporting the shots cold, he leaves them in a liquid state and dumps ice on them once he arrives at the festival to congeal the mixture.

He usually transports his Jello shots in his Jellovan, but he’s checked them at the airport, too.

Colin Kerrigan

Paul Vile prepares his Jello shots en masse in a hotel room.

Vile also makes his own bootleg tees, complete with festival line ups. Before his older brother, alternative rocker Kurt Vile, began touring, Paul Vile would sneak his brother’s name in his shirt lineups.

“I remember going to festivals like ‘What if Kurt played one of these festivals? That would be insane, wouldn’t it?'” he said. “Then it started creeping up and all of a sudden he was playing Sasquatch Music Festival … and I got to put his name in the lineup” for real.

>> MORE WE THE PEOPLE: At $1 a photo, this South Philly man’s dogs earn their keep

For those times Vile ends up in his brother’s world, hanging out with bands like The War on Drugs, he creates Jello murals by spelling the band’s name in Jello shots he hot glues to a large piece of Styrofoam insulation.

Colin Kerrigan

Paul Vile with the Jello mural he made for the band, Cage the Elephant.

The coolest band to invite him backstage with his Jello mural so far? Cage the Elephant.

Kerrigan said his documentary, “Jelloman, if u will,” which he’s raising money for on Kickstarter, will feature a lot of musicians, a lot of Jello shots and a lot of character.

“It’s a weird story,” Kerrigan said. “And he’s also a mason.”

Know someone in the Philadelphia area whose story deserves to be told — or someone whose story you’d like to know? Send suggestions for We the People profiles to Stephanie Farr at farrs@phillynews.com or call her at 215-854-4225. Send tips via Twitter to @FarFarrAway.

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July 17, 2018 — 5:00 AM EDT

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