There’s a lot of really great improv companies around Seattle, so I frequently get the opportunity to check them out. It’s a completely different kind of live performance, and my favorite types of improv shows to see are the long-form ones based on a larger theme. I’ve seen a Final Fantasy show, I’ve seen one that emulated being inside a video game with movement tracking “game screens” behind the actors, I’ve seen one that took place on a doomed space mission – but this most recent one (by the Seattle Experimental Theatre) was Doctor Who themed. I wasn’t really sure what that was going to entail, but my friends and I of course bought tickets to see it together, making it a perfect Friday night outing.

The skirt is brand new; I got it from Forever 21 a few weeks ago. I didn’t want to look too fancy (especially since my dang ‘whoops I didn’t shower today’ sock bun really makes a person look dressed up!) so I paired the maxi skirt with a simple D&D t-shirt I absolutely love. Then I threw on my bronze Cathy Jean boots and a black hoodie and that was that! I’ve been playing around a lot with dressing up t-shirts, so this was an interesting study doing the opposite – dressing down a skirt and hairstyle.

The show was interesting. I had a good time, and a couple of my friends were in it, so that is always an added bonus. The premise was that there was an actor that played the Doctor, and a companion. The rest of the cast became either the good guys or the villains. They asked the audience for a location on Earth (we chose Paris) and a problem (lice). Then they made a Doctor Who episode out of it.

The best part of the show was the full sized beautiful Tardis they had on stage. The Doctor ran in and out of it all night (obviously) and waved a sonic screwdriver around and made all sorts of references to the show while still creating something new and unique out of the story. I think we might have been there on an off night, because there were quite a few things that didn’t pan out or didn’t make sense or were totally abandoned, but overall, it was still a very enjoyable experience. Improv is hard. I have no idea how those actors come up with all that stuff so quickly, night after night. I have the utmost respect for talented improvisers.

Unfortunately the show is now over, but if you ever see a themed long form improv show in your area, especially one based on something nerdy and fun, go check it out! They’re a lot of fun, especially if you can make it to multiple nights of the same show. I love seeing how different the shows turn out on various nights.

Have you been to any of these types of improv shows? What did you see? Let me know in the comments!

Got my ipsy bag for the month! This one contained an unusual array of products; it’s probably the most diverse ipsy bag I’ve received yet. I love the design on the bag this month, but it smelled quite plastic-y when I first opened it. It may take awhile for that smell to dissipate, unfortunately.

Anyway I tried all the products between yesterday and today, so here are my thoughts!

1. Deep Conditioning Mask by Briogeo: I’m not particularly picky about hair products, so I am always down to try something new! Generally I switch between a higher end shampoo/conditioner (Joico Body Luxe) and a middle of the road set (L’Oreal Everstrong) but I’ve never tried a hair mask of any sort. I read that it’s good to leave this stuff on for 3-5 minutes once or twice a week, so I won’t know how much I really like it until I’ve used it a few times – but already I can tell my hair is pleased with the results. Especially during the dry winter months I can really see this being something I will likely add into my normal routine, since my hair has felt brittle and sad since it started getting colder. Unfortunately I have nothing to compare the brand itself to, but I at least give hair masks in general a thumbs up.

2. Tinted Lip Balm by MICA Beauty Cosmetics in “#6 Fiesta”: To start, I really love the color and feel of this lip balm. I don’t have many lip products that come in a pot like this one, and I think they’re fine for applying makeup at home, but would be terrible on the go. After applying, my finger was (naturally) covered in the residual balm and I had to hunt down a tissue to get it off. Verdict: Lovely purpley pink color but I’d take lipstick with an applicator over this any day.

3. Smooth Shadow Creamy Eye Pencil by Elizabeth Mott in “Pearl”: This isn’t the first time ipsy has sent me a product like this. It claims it’s a shadow on the packaging, but it’s so thin it has to be an eyeliner. I tried it on my bottom waterline and it’s kind of pretty, but hardly noticeable against my fair skin. Send me brighter colors, ipsy!

4. Mark Fading Pads by Proactiv: They sent me four little testers of this product, though it’s definitely one of those items you’ll want to work into your daily facial regiment to see any real results. I used to be one of those people who had an entire arsenal of acne-ridding products I cycled through each day, but the more I research acne prevention the more I’m starting to come around to the “less is more” mentality. I still have problem skin but I have been experimenting with just a gentle cleanser morning and night and exfoliating once a week or so with a sea salt scrub. It’s been working relatively well for me. This has been a long tangent basically to say I’m hesitant to try this product because I have been trying not to overdo it with my skin and if this one aggravates it, I’ll be setting myself back. So I won’t be trying this one, at least night right now.

5. Moisturizing Face Lotion by Nourish Organic in “Argan + Rosewater”: Seems to be another standard moisturizer. I tried it this morning. It smelled a little off, but felt nice enough on my skin. I use Clean and Clear Dual Action Oil Free Moisturizer (surprisingly great product) but this one seems good enough to toss into my travel bag.

It’s felt a bit, lately, like I’ve been more unhappy than excited about the contents of my ipsy bags, but I realized lately that I actually enjoy testing products regardless of whether or not they make it into my official makeup bag. I still consider myself a bit of a makeup n00b, and I’m very inexperienced with many types of products. This subscription is cheap enough that I feel like I am doing something productive by learning about products even when ultimately the verdict is “never buy lip balms that come in pots”. As long as I like 1-2 of the products in each bag (which I always do) then personally, I still consider that month a success.

If you want to subscribe to ipsy, you can use this link here, which will give me ipsy points for the referral that I can trade in for fun new products!

Mine and Joe’s birthdays are less than a month apart, so we decided to find a way to celebrate them both (with each other) around the same time, creating two fun-filled days of nonstop celebrating. It started with a surprise bloody mary and brunch early on Tuesday, organized by Joe. I used the outing as an excuse to wear my brand new dress from Forever21 and my favorite Bandmate Bootie in Red from ModCloth. Also pictured is my brand new iPhone case, which I love, from DandyCase on Amazon. 

We got to try 3 different bloody marys – this one is called the “Bloody Pirate”. See the sword? And the cannon ball?

Joe knows me so well – I saved Tuesday night for whatever he had planned, but he told me to leave the morning open instead (because he knew I’d love breakfast food and bloody marys even more). He was right.

His birthday party was next (which I put together) and it included a homemade game he pretended to roll his eyes at but I think he secretly loved it. I was quite proud of my creation.

My only regret is that I didn’t take an “after” picture. Not a single person even got close. It was a facial hair travesty, believe me. Overall it was a relatively low-key birthday, but I think everyone had a really great time. Good friends, good food, games, and music – sometimes the best parties are simply the ones where all of your favorite people end up in the same room. I’m so thankful to have the friends I do and I’m glad I have Joe to share these important moments with.

A couple of friends of mine decided to throw a Disney themed birthday party, and I’ll admit – they gave us ample time to work on costumes. We’re talking somewhere in the two month range here. But naturally, nobody started working one their costumes until the morning of the party.

Hence, pretty much everyone decided to Disneybound. I headed to the mall that morning with not a single idea about what I wanted to do, but almost instantly upon walking into Forever21, I found this amazing floor length teal green skirt. I knew what I had to do.

I scoured the store for a purple crop top (again, nailed it) and then called up Joe. “Do you have blue jeans, a white button down and some sort of red thing to put around your waste?” I asked him. “Umm.. yes?” he responded in his Kristina is scheming again so I probably shouldn’t argue with her voice. “Great. You can be my Prince Eric.”

I went to every jewelry store in the mall on the hunt for some kind of shell-related accessory, but apparently Seattle in the winter isn’t the place for nautical apparel. Actually, I take that back – there were anchors flippin’ everywhere. But not a shell necklace/earring/bracelet to be seen. I couldn’t even find any sort of generic fish. I found goldfish earrings at one store, but those were a bit of a stretch. I ended up with the starfish earrings pictured above (not my first choice by any means but they would have to  do) and a purple bow I already owned.

I had to pull it together with the makeup, then, since jewelry shopping had failed me. I used the brightest green and purple from my actual Ariel palette from Sephora – as well as pulling off my very first winged eyeliner attempt! Also, I must admit, Joe looked quite dashing as Prince Eric. I can’t wait to look on Etsy for a REAL shell necklace so I can try this Disneybound out for real at the park someday.

2014 has been a great year so far not only for starting new projects, but also for picking up old projects and dusting them off. OneUpMakeup was of course one of these such projects – but the other is Answerly!

Answerly was and has been an advice channel I made weekly videos for, discussing the ins and outs of being a nerd. My co-hosts were Joseph Birdsong and Hayley Hoover, discussing love and college life, respectively. We made two straight years of videos before we decided it was time to give the channel a face lift.

As we rounded the corner to the new year, we relaunched the channel with all new branding as the Answerly Book Club, a place to read books together and talk about them and interact much more than you ever could before with Answerly. Joe’s reading comedy books, Hayley’s tackling books by women, and I will be finding out what’s new and hot in the Young Adult genre.

My first book is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and I’m immensely enjoying it. I hope you’ll join us with these first books of the year, and stick around to see what we’ll be reading next!

I am so glad we found a way to take our tired old channel and really breathe some life into it… as well as encouraging ourselves and others to make more time for reading! God knows we all could probably use a bit more reading time.

When OneUpMakeup first started, I took on more of a producer/technical/model role in the project. Really all the jobs except doing the actual makeup, because I knew very little about applying makeup to my own face (let alone someone else’s!). But over time I’ve picked up a good number of tips, I’ve grown my own makeup collection and I’ve done a heck of a lot of practicing. Before this I’d made a video showing you my personal daily makeup routine and I did a sort of simple 1920’s look, but today I give you the first look I am really actually kind of proud of… Anna from Frozen!

This look was the follow-up to the Elsa look Mallory demonstrated on me in the previous week, and I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun with a OneUpMakeup collaboration. Mallory is adorable and fun and probably my biggest makeup influence (I’ve spent hours in the chair while she made me look fabulous for Job Hunters). I hope you enjoy this video and I also hope my makeup skillz are improving!

I’m very happy OneUpMakeup is back. Being part of this all-female run production is incredibly empowering and I’m glad the people who watch our videos seem to be having as much fun as we are.

For the past week, my friend/roommate Eia and I participated in something called a “Fiscal Fast” – a term we learned from watching Extreme Cheapskates on Netflix late one night. Now obviously, this is a show is meant to put “cheapskates” in a relatively negative light, but not everything you see on the show is a terrible idea. I’m not going to start enforcing reusable toilet paper in my home anytime soon, but a lot of these people have some ingenious hacks to save money and live on a budget. It made me realize there’s a lot of things I blow money on that are totally unnecessary and impulsive.

We picked up the idea of the fiscal fast from a guy who also eats food he finds in the dumpster, but I don’t think that makes the concept any less brilliant. Basically the premise is that you don’t spend any money for an entire week. Like no money, at all. I was intrigued by the idea… there were a few things we had to exclude: gas for our cars (but only for necessary trips), bills, and pre-planned activities. But as we were just coming out of the holidays, I didn’t actually have a lot going on, so it was relatively easy to not spend money for seven straight days. The places I slipped (or almost slipped) were extremely eye-opening as to what I blow my money on.

The times I slipped: Only twice! Once was to buy Joe a very inexpensive birthday present I couldn’t pass up (to supplement the other present I had already purchased for him BEFORE the fast began) while waiting for my books to be counted/totalled at Half Price Books. The other was to buy (big surprise!) another present for Joe that I might actually save for Valentine’s day since it’s right around the corner. It was something that was only available online for 24 hours, so I couldn’t wait until the fast was over. Looking back neither of these purchases were necessary, but I don’t regret them because I at least was doing something nice for someone else.

The times I almost slipped: There were a number of times I ALMOST spent money, particularly when I went to Half Priced Books. Usually I sell a big bag of books and replace them with 2-3 new ones using the money I made. Not a bad system to be honest, but it was also interesting (and difficult!) for me to actually walk out of the store having made money. I also cashed in some winning scratch tickets I had gotten for my birthday – usually I use winning scratch ticket money to buy more scratch tickets (why not, right?). But during the fiscal fast, instead of spending money that day, I went home having MADE $18 on scratch tickets and used books. It felt really good, but I won’t admit it was difficult to break those ingrained spending habits.

I also felt the pang to stop for fast food on the way home from a Job Hunters meeting, though that urge was a bit easier to quell. It’s really not too tough to just continue driving your car home rather than stopping at Arby’s. Before the fiscal fast I easily gave in to these fleeting urges because I tend to value convenience and quick reward turnover over, you know, being smart about food/money. If I was craving McDonald’s, I could easily get McDonald’s. But being on the fiscal fast, I found I valued having a strong reserve more than I valued these empty rewards. I craved the challenge more than I craved french fries.

Sometimes it was tough to figure out what to make for meals at home, since I couldn’t just pop to the store to pick up eggs or milk or Cap’n Crunch. It made me more inventive in the kitchen, and I managed to clear out some of the stuff that’s been taking up space in my cupboards for weeks that never quite made the cut when I could just order in Chinese food.

I think the absolute hardest part of the fiscal fast for me was two-fold. The first was online shopping. I get so many Groupon emails and ModCloth sale notifications delivered right to my inbox at all hours of the day – it’s honestly amazing I ever get any work done! It was actually alarming how difficult it was for me to keep from getting sucked in to those “deals” while trying to not spend money. I literally had to unsubscribe from a few of them, which was probably a good long term idea anyway.

The other was app-based micro-transactions. I play a number of games that gently encourage you to spend money to improve your game experience, and while I didn’t fall prey to these during the fiscal fast… I was definitely not so innocent in months prior. Those purchases add up if you can’t keep a handle on it, and sometimes it was physically painful to not beat a level I was so close on when I knew a quick 0.99 cent purchase would get me there. That’s not how gaming should be. The fiscal fast made me realize how much of a sucker I’ve been about that.

I am writing this on the the day after my last non-money spending day. It was a crazy week, but I am super proud of myself and Eia, because we didn’t just not spend money. We took an active step toward becoming more responsible about money, cutting out unnecessary purchases and impulse buys or at the very least making ourselves aware of those urges. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying Groupons or going out to eat or buying yourself new clothes every now and then, but it’s also good to look at why and how often we do those things. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my habits, and it’s almost kind of exciting to be coming back into the world of spending money with this slightly different outlook about it.

Have you ever gone a whole week without spending any money? It’s a lot harder than it sounds! Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever successfully tried, or if it sounds like something you might want to do.

For those of you not in the know, my girlfriends and I have a fun little makeup channel we created together called OneUpMakeup that we used to post weekly videos on. It was part excuse for the six of us to get together for girl’s nights, part a method of learning a bit more of the technical side of running a channel (directing videos, setting up lights and multiple camera angles, etc.) and part a chance for ALL of us to grow and develop and learn from each other as makeup artists.

The channel did surprisingly well, except for the fact that filming Job Hunters last summer (a project five out of the six of us are heavily involved in) caused us to take a much needed six month hiatus from uploading anything.

But! Now that we’re totally wrapped on principle photography, we’re gettin’ the gang back together! OneUpMakeup is one of my favorite little side projects, and I think it’s pretty readily apparent how much fun we’re having in every single video we post on the channel. Each video is a different combination of girls – we’re constantly switching up and doing makeup on each other. No one is just a model, or just an artist, or just a camera person. This is a project where everyone does everything, and that’s what I love so much about it.

Our very first comeback look is probably one of my personal favorites in the history of OneUpMakeup, and I’m not just saying that because it’s on my face. Mallory recreated a stunning Elsa look, inspired by Frozen, and I am quite proud to show it to you:

Keep an eye on the channel and be sure to subscribe to see what we create in the future… especially next week, when I make the companion Anna look to this one on Mallory!

I am super late on this, but I’m still using NaNoWriMo and Christmas as an excuse. The products are still new to me, so let’s do this thang!

November’s Gold Ipsy Bag:

-BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Baked Eye Shadow in “Eclipse”: I haven’t historically been the biggest fan of BH Cosmetics eyeshadow, but I might have to make an exception for this one. The color is a shimmery purple – glittery eyeshadows can sometimes come across as a bit much, but the range of glitter colors in this particular eye shadow really do bring out a distinctly “galaxy” vibe. I don’t know how often I’ll use it, but the color is really neat.

-Be A Bombshell Lip Crayon in “Shameless”: I love the color of this lip crayon. It’s not a color that would jump out to me on a shelf, but I really like it. I usually like my lip products to be a bit more on the lip-stain side, but this crayon surprised me.

-EM Michelle Phan Waterliner in “Royal Amethyst”: I am always down to try a new waterliner. I’ve been branching out to colors other than black, and this purpley hue actually goes quite well with the “Eclipse” eyeshadow.

-Star Looks Gem Pencil in “Topaz”:  I don’t understand the point of light silvery liners. I haven’t found a way to use it yet that does it any justice, though I will say it’s a much brighter silver than most others I’ve tried. I think it will have to be a detail makeup product, because I can’t see it standing out enough on its own.

-Pixi Beauty Bronzer in “Subtly Suntouched”: I am fiercely dedicated to my Benefit blush right now, so it was hard for me to give this new blush a try. I do like Pixi brand makeup a lot though, so I’ll be honest and say it’s a nice, subtle color that I can see myself tossing in a makeup bag for a sunny vacation where I won’t be wearing much makeup. It’s nice. A bit sparkly too, which I like.

Nailtini Nailpolish in “Champagne”: It’s a very pretty color (actually one of my favorite colors ot wear on my nails, so +2 points for that), but I really wish ipsy would stop sending me nail polish. I will never use it all.

December Black Ipsy Bag:

-Pop Beauty Eye Shadow trio in “Smokin’ Hot”: I just can’t get my mind past the fact that the packaging looks incredibly cheap. I don’t know much about Pop Beauty brand makeup, but it’s packaged like a Wet N Wild product. I don’t wear black/silver/white very often, so I’m sure it’ll come in useful when I find myself needing these colors, but I’ll be honest and say I haven’t actually opened this one yet.

-J. Cat Beauty The Big Lip Pencil in “Red Rose”: Super bright, super red, and very easy to apply. If and when I need my lips to be THE BRIGHTEST RED, this product will be perfect. Until then, it will sit in my makeup bag.

-Mirabella Eye Blender: The only blending brush I have and use consistently is more of a short, stubby one, so this brush was sort of new terrain for me. The bristles are so long! I haven’t really gotten a good handle on how to use it yet, but it’s soft and surprisingly high quality and I am happy to add it to my collection.

-Be A Bombshell The One Stick in “Sunset”: I literally have no idea what you’re supposed to use a one stick for. Everything, apparently? I tried using this thing as blush and it worked alright, but as I said, I already have a blush I use pretty much every day. This thing kind of freaks me out, as does most makeup you can use all over.

Okay I just looked it up and apparently you can use a one stick for cheeks, eyes and lips. What!?? What kind of witchcraft is this thing? Apparently I need to go back for further testing.

-Salon Perfect False Eyelashes in “53 Black”: I was very pleasantly surprised to get falsies in this month’s ipsy! I don’t wear false eyelashes that often, but I do really like them. These ones, believe it or not, are actually kind of on the smaller end for me. I’m glad to have another set though (perhaps to wear to more sensible events), and I love the brands that include eyelash adhesive.

You can sign up for ipsy as well if you want to receive these fun little makeup bags each month! It’s just $10 a month and you definitely get much more than $10 worth of products. Here’s my referral link; if you sign up using it I’ll get ipsy points I can use to try more products!

Welcome, blog readers, to the Camlann Village Experience. What is Camlann Village, you ask? Well, only the quickest way to be transported back to 1376, to rural life in England. WHY would you want to experience rural life of the fourteenth century? Um, fun, obviously.

Last month my friends and I donned our warmest Renaissance gear (mind you, we go to Renaissance Faires usually in the general sweltering range of ninety to on hundred degrees, so this was no easy task) and piled in the car to head out to Carnation, WA, to the medieval living history museum known as Camlann. It’s a 501 non-profit educational corporation and it’s also the coolest place you’ll ever go. It’s also delightfully weird.

Let me preface this review by saying there is no technology of any kind allowed inside Camlann Village. This place takes itself TOTALLY SERIOUS with a capital “Thee”. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the owner felt a little twinge when patrons come in wearing glasses. That picture at the top of this post is so strange because we were literally asked to go outside to take it. In the rain. At night.

So, Camlann Village is open for various over the course of the year and their restaurant, the Bors Hede is open year round. We, however, were attending one of their choice Medieval Feasts, an event I recommend to all. This particular feast was of the Yuletide persuasion; myself and Ariana had been before but none of our friends had. Forty people sit around a large circular table set up in the basement of the restaurant to enjoy a three course meal served on trenchers – round slabs of bread used in the stead of a plate. If you eat your trencher, you’re out of luck for the remaining three courses of the meal. Also, there’s not really any silverware. I truly wish I could have taken a picture of this for you, but you’ll have to use your imagination here. Just like we’re back in the 1300’s! There was no way I was risking taking my phone out down there. I don’t for one second doubt they had some sort of medieval torture room for technological transgressions.

I would say about half the people in attendance dressed up. For the rest, there was either a costume rental area or the knowledge of sticking out like a sore thumb. No, I’m joking – it’s totally fine to not dress up, but it really does complete the experience.

The food was awesome and perfectly period appropriate. The queen of course got to taste everything first, and then dishes were passed around to her right and left after she deemed them worthy of our meal. We alternated between sawing into a whole boar, sampling strange almond puddings, and sneaking seconds of the delicious fenberry pie. My personal favorite was the almond fritters. There was spiced wine poured between each course and I found it delightfully strange as well that whole spices were given out to cleanse the palette near the end of the meal.

Of course no banquet feast is complete without a show, and the mid-course entertainment was surprisingly good. We had minstrels and storytellers and strange instruments I had never heard of before. Most of the entertainers and drink pour-ers didn’t take it quite as seriously as the guy who runs the place – but in a good way, in a “we’re all experiencing this strange thing together” kind of way. I got a few winks. Right after noticing my cup was filled to the very top. Score!

In conclusion, going to Camlann Village is one of my favorite things to do with a group of friends around the holidays. I can’t speak for everyone, but I love putting myself in vaguely strange and unusual situations, and the Yuletide Feast doesn’t disappoint. You will feel uncomfortable, you will eat things that look strange, but overall you will have an amazing night you’ll never forget. And at the end of it all, I promise, you really wont miss your phone all that much. Because strange as it is, it’s nice to just experience things every once in awhile. Don’t get me wrong: I love me some phone pics to commemorate everything I do, but I’ll have the memories of Camlann forever either way.