Ladies is Pimps too! Go on brush your blog off...

It's been a while. Time to commit to actually using this thing!

Going to start reposting my GoodReads reviews here on books.

What's that? You like strong BAMFF (bad ass mo-fo female) characters? ME TOO! Let's find and read new books together!

Hit me up with any recommendations and stay shiny!

Women's Snowboard Review NS Lotus and Gnu Ladies Choice

Rental Board! Dec 2010

There isn't a lot of input from ladies on boards/bindings, which as a lady rider makes me sad. Thegoodride.com is pretty awesome for comparing gear and getting a bit of input and backcountry.com usually has excellent user reviews but still, there's not a lot from the ladies' side. While I'm no pro, I figured I'd share my experiences... I grew up in FL wakeboarding and snowboarded maybe 5 times (once per year on a family trip or something) so I wasn't a complete newb but I was still baby-girling it when I moved to NM in 2010. 2010 was my first real season of snow <3. Rented from Outdoor Recreation on the Air Force base for most of this season...they had really sweet NS boards! Boots sucked though...I digress.

Ride set up Dec 2011 popping baby ollies

In 2011 I bought my first board at a ski swap. My first board and bindings were both Ride. It was an inexpensive demo board (and pretty tiny at 139cm) and the bindings (RX4?) were decent. I think board and bindings was $280? It should also be noted that I'm 5' tall and 130lbs so the tiny board wasn't really a big deal. I also bought some fl0w BOA boots that I still wear to this day...they've been through the ringer but are so comfy and sturdy. Haven't found a comparable new boot that I'm ready to buy >_<. Anywho, I outgrew this board in under a season out on the snow.

Never Summer Lotus and fl0w Primas - Wolf Creek, CO

So towards the end of the season 2011 I found an awesome deal on a Never Summer Lotus at the ski shop in Taos, NM. It literally had never been ridden because most people ski rather than board at Taos. It was a 151 which is kinda ginormous for me but I knew I could handle it and the board has some really sweet tech. Epic edge hold and control. This board took me through powder, park, ice, slush, bombing runs etc and never let me down. The only draw back was as I progressed as a rider I wanted to goof off more in the park and do butters and ollies. I had some Fl0w Prima bindings on this...and this was when the step-in bindings were still newish and I'd never seen anyone wear them. I freaking love these bindings. If you can touch your toes np...I was always the first one ready to go off the lift and no frozen crusty bum from sitting on the snow to strap in! Warning though, it is trickier to strap in/out in super deep powder with these bindings so be prepared if you've never ridden pow. This board is now my powder board <3. Wicked fast old girl!

Snowboard kung fu should be a thing...

Flash forward to Feb 2014. I made some extra cash doing odd sewing projects for friends and family and I decided I needed the Gnu Ladies Choice board. Needed. SO I found it at a great price and snagged a 145.5 before an awesome trip to Utah with friends. I initially rode it with my fl0w bindings. It was a bit of a learning experience switching from a traditional directional board to an assym/sym board.

Durango Mountain, CO March 2014

What this means is: my NS board was meant to point one way down the mountain, sure you can ride it switch but its not going to go as fast because the board is bigger at the nose/front than in the tail/back. The Gnu is asymmetrical but equally asymmetrical on both sides so it can be ridden normal/switch with no big deal. The asymmetry refers to the different diameters on the front and back edges that work to make switching to toe-side to heel-side easier with respect to the female anatomy. Toe-side diameter is slightly larger than heel side diameter so it isn't perfectly round at the tops. Once you realize you don't have to work as hard riding as on trad boards this board is like butter. It's pretty forgiving on landings and bumps too while still holding a great edge when you need it to. This board is super poppy and fun and easy to butter whereas the NS is stiffer (faster!) and you had to fight her to get her to butter. This board is the tits. Great for freestyle riding and baller in the park. Not great for deep pow or backcountry!



So in March 2014 I bought some Burton Cartels in blood orange (because they matched the board so perfectly I couldn't resist!). My husband uses these bindings and so do like 90% of my dude friends so they came highly recommended. They didn't let me down. They are so responsive but cushy for landings! They are super adjustable, which is why I think I like them so much. It took a fair amount of adjusting them to be comfy and fit my stance but they do and I love em.

Soooo that's basically my ramblings on my gear. Let me know if you have comments or questions down below. Hopefully this can help out some ladies who are newer to the sport or looking to get into riding :). HAPPY RIDING!!! <3

Wolf Creek, CO Dec 2014

Legend of Korra Cosplay

Korra Cosplay - Horse stance

Figured I'd dust off my blog and type a bit on my latest cosplay! Korra from Legend of Korra! I loved ATLA but I've also really enjoyed this sequel. It's got some powerful life messages and totes isn't just a kids show!

Anywho I digress. The costume. Made everything except the boots (Uggs) from scratch! It was a really fun project that gave me lots of learning experience with pattern drafting, fun fur and microsuede fabrics, and necklines and was overall pretty simple. Also....I cut my own wig! Korra cuts her hair in season 4 so I wanted to reflect that change (she's basically like Samson from the Bible...but that's a story for another day). Good news is she cuts her hair with a knife so it could look choppy :).

Flashing the guns and super cheesy posing

Side kick

I've been doing Wushu Kung Fu for approximately 3 years...so that's basically where all the poses I'm doing come from.

Also (much like Korra) I like to think that I'm pretty buff for a young lady (in the words of Bolin and Mako's grandma!).

 I'll probably put up a tutorial if anyone is interested. If not...I'll probably put one up eventually anyway :).

But I guess that's all for now... I mostly wanted to share my awesomely nerdy pictures. Avatar state YipYip!

Oh and I ran into old me at the con

LLAP and MTFBWYA
-Lee Ann

Update and Qarth Pattern Pieces

It's winter time! Yay!

Just a quick update...I'm currently working on my corset for my steampunk Jedi costume (still!) and also just started a Victorian era coat that I'm making out of some amazing forest green velvet <3. It'll be pretty formal and floor length. I'm also about to start a blush pink silk renaissance/medieval era dress to wear to my first SCA event this Christmas-time! Wewt!

Also, I had someone request that I post the patterns that I used for my Qarth dress...so voila!

Above is the shoulder piece that I used. If anything it's a little wide on me. The dimensions are 5"x7.5" for reference.

 Above is the belt which is 6.25" in the front-middle part and I guess the scan is 11" long as standard. Below is more of the pattern but it wouldn't scan the whole 16.5" pattern I made. As I mentioned in my other post, I edited my design so that there was a front half and a back half that connect at the sides as opposed to how I drew the pattern here (which would have an unsightly joining in the front!). My waist was under 16.5"x2 (aka 32") but I drew extra because it's easy to cut off extra but much harder to add it on.

I hope this is useful! Let me know if you have questions/comments/etc and I'll try and help!

May the Force be with you! LLAP

-Lee Ann

General Tutorial for Danaerys Targaryen Quarth Dress

The Lady Rogues -- Dragon*Con 2013

Salutations!

So about a month before DragonCon 2013 I decided I wanted to do one of Dany's dresses from Game of Thrones. I initially was planning to do Stahma Tarr from Defiance, but decided that body paint in the heat and high humidity of Atlanta was a bad idea...SO, since I already had the white wig and it looked a lot like Khaleesi BAM!

This dress happened to be my favorite color and seemed pretty simple to make...so I took a shot. I'll start off with how I made the shoulder pieces and the belt. These were the most time consuming parts and you need the shoulder pieces in order to start the dress. When I was researching the costume, I came across a lot of different ways that these pieces had been done, such as Warbla, laser-cut acrylic, craft foam, hot glue, leather, etc. Since I didn't want to wait for Warbla to get mailed to me and I've never really worked with craft foam or leather I got a little creative and dropped a whopping $2.99 on some plastic placemats at my local base exchange (aka the Air Force Walmart...). The placemats worked great, they are sturdy and hold their shape, and they took the spray paint really well.

First, I made patterns for the shoulder pieces on regular paper (I can scan them and post them if anyone cares...) and then traced them onto the placemat with Sharpie. Next, I used a Dremel tool and a steel all-purpose engraving bit (it's triangle shaped) to cut all of it out. ((Human Factors disclaimer: don't Dremel for more than 30 minutes at a time - take a break - because of repetitive stress injury from the vibrations and awkward sitting and hand positions etcetc.)) I also tried the 561 all-purpose drill-bit but it didn't work as well. Also, it's not shown here but I dremeled really tiny holes at the top and bottom for when I hand-stitched the pleated dress fabric onto the shoulder pieces. I used a ruler and evenly marked the distance with a Sharpie. The holes were about twice the size of my sewing needle.

Placemat material

Top: Plastic Placemat, Bottom: Foam

 
Also, just out of curiosity I had some light weight sticky-backed foam left over from something-or-another so I tried exacto knifing out the pattern and spray painting it. The bottom one on the left is foam and the top is the plastic placemat for comparison. Foam looked a bit too crafty for my liking so I continued on to the belt with placemats. I think needed 3 placemats for the whole project.

 Next, I started the "fun" process of drawing out a pattern to use for the belt. This took a few hours...cutting it out took a few more and was the biggest pain in my arse for the whole project. Again, if anyone cares or wishes, I'll scan and post the pattern to save some time.

I measured my waist and then sketched out ~17inches which was half. In hindsight I would've added some extra length to make closing the belt easier but whateves. I figured I would do half completely and then just mirror it for the other half...which appears to be how her belt is anyway since it is symmetric in the middle.

However, when I went to cut pieces out of the placemat I realized that I would have to do a front piece and a back piece due to the length (18in) of the placemat. So I changed the plan a bit...but it worked out great.

Paper belt pattern

Front belt piece, partially dremeled

Finished Dress at Dragon*Con 2013

 To attach the front and back pieces I stitched one side of the front to one side of the back with gold thread. To close the belt I used large flat hook and eye attachments meant for clothing. I dremeled tiny holes in the edges and sewed  the hooks and eyes onto opposing sides of the belt using gold thread again. This was super sturdy and really easy to get on/off...however I (like Dany) was lucky enough to have the help of handmaidens getting into and out of this costume :)


Fabric was cheap polyester chiffon from JoAnn Fabric (cost was ~$40 for 6 yards with 40% off coupon!). Edges were rolled hem with a serger...some were classy rolled hem with a hemmer foot - but that thing is evil and wicked hard with chiffon and therefore I didn't have the patience to do the whole dress with it lol.

Rolled hem with serger

I hand-sponged the fabric with gold 'soft' fabric paint using a few different small sea-sponge. In hindsight I wish I had been a bit more heavy handed with the gold paint. If I redo this costume with better fabric (actual silk chiffon), I might try hand-laying gold leaf. Just make sure to use something beneath the fabric when you're sponging it on, because it bleeds through like crazy.

The wig was super cheap, from eBay. Again, wish I had gotten a better quality, but for $10 it's pretty decent. I braided the wig to get the crimped look and then wetted and hairsprayed the braids. I should have boiled it to really make it set...but luckily my friend Kat was able to brush it out and style it amazingly <3.

 For the dress itself, I followed the tutorial here: http://www.idothingsilove.com/2013/03/how-to-make-daenerys-qarth-gown.html

The tutorial is amazing...and I probably would've way over-thought this dress without it. Yay for doing research on costumes before you start them! She also has a lot of other neat tutorials so check it out!

I think that's all for now...let me know if I've derp'd and have typos or if you have questions <3

MTFBWYA,
Mother o' Dragons ^_^

And more pictars because it pleases me....

Fit test...with dragon!

MLIA

So I'm prepping my costumes and saving ze monies for my upcoming trip to Hotlanta for Dragon*Con 2013. It's not very adventurous or intersting (yet) hence the title "MLIA" (aka my life is average).

Do you ever feel like your life is boring? Or like even beyond boring to booo-ring? I used to be such a badass. I probably would've been voted 'most likely to die doing something extreme' or something like that in high school. Now I'm married, I don't work, don't have kiddos, I kind of study neuroscience (meh), and I don't feel awesome or extreme anymore. I suppose I do Kung Fu...which is pretty badass...and I have purple in my hair (because I don't want to wait until I'm 80 to do this!).

Anyway, I digress. MLIA.

Costumes I'm planning and trying to finish ASAP (any friends who costume know that they will never be finished! lol) I'm going to do my old Mara Jade imperial costume, going to attempt a Femme Darth Maul, going to attempt a non-slutty Stahma Tarr outfit. The MJ is done but could probably use some updates and new ranks. The Lady DM is within a day or two of solid work to be done (but I need to get material for the robes blargh! Add 1 day). Stahma isn't even started...it will be a pretty ballsy undertaking....and I haven't done anything on it yet since I'm trying to finish the Maul >_<.

I wish my life were a little less average... mais c'est la vie >_<

MTFBWY,
Lee Ann

Swearing Helps.

I'm always surprised by the people who love existential angst...aka drama.

Sure, I keep a "happy" journal and an "emo" journal but they always seem to be getting muddled together. A consequence of existential angst I guess. Or laziness of trying to match a journal entry to my mood...

Whenever I've found myself in interesting or challenging life situations recently, I've been trying to adopt the custom of asking myself "How can I learn from this? How can I grow as a person? How do I use this experience and keep moving forward?" Sometimes it's easy: be more patient, be kinder/gentler with your words. Well hot damn. I don't know sometimes...and then I generally find that swearing helps.

Particularly the eff word in my case. I don't know why but after I've written it out in a journal I usually feel better. Got this message below in my daily emails from "the universe"  -- they usually are cute and cheery...and sometimes eerily true. Don't know how it particularly relates right now...but meh, don't care so much.

Sometimes, Lee Ann, when circumstances or disappointments bump you off track, it's the beginning of an even bigger dream coming true, that could not have come true on the track you were on.

Yeah, always.

Always, always -
    The Universe

Calvin and Hobbes also had a little comic that said "Life's a lot harder to take when you don't know any good swear words." Which I also like. Urgh.

Insert swear words here.
That's all for tonight I think.

MTFBWY...