It’s the heart of summer right now, which means beach days, lazing around in the sun and my personal favorite… POPSICLES! I have always been a popsicle fiend, and recently went on a little Etsy adventure to find the cutest popsicle related things I could. I was amazed at how much there was! Clearly I am not alone in this love of frozen treats.

Here’s a little compilation of some of my favorites, with links to the stores they came from down below:

1. EyelashJewelry // 2. FushichosGallery // 3. AlbrightIllustration
4. pigletminiatures // 5. Ploosh // 6. LushTartApparelShop // 7. acookiejar 
8. bearandrobotstudio // 9. HappyKawaiiSupplies

What is your favorite summery dessert? Let me know in the comments!
And check my previous Etsy Roundup on Sailor Moon here!

I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of different clothing companies recently, among which Sheinside, Choies and Dresslink. These are the three online stores featured in my most recent clothing haul video, the MEGA HAUL!

Not much else to say about it; click above to see a lot of pretty new clothes and my thoughts on them. Thanks!

So… I may have done something crazy.

What could you possibly done that’s so crazy, Kristina? you might ask.

I may have committed to attempting the Book-Tube-A-Thon starting on Monday, July 14th. For those who don’t know what the Book-Tube-A-Thon is (like me, 3 days ago), all the information about it can be found here. It’s sort of like NaNoWriMo, but for reading. This is scary for a number of reasons, but mainly because I already know I can handle NaNoWriMo, even if I undergo small amounts of insanity in the process.

But Book-Tube-A-Thon is terrifying. Book-Tube-A-Thon is the unknown. Book-Tube-A-Thon is gonna be GREAT.

The thing is – writing 1,667 words a day, in a vacuum, is pretty easy. It’s really the challenge of doing it EVERY SINGLE DAY that starts to make you lose your mind. But reading SEVEN BOOKS in SEVEN DAYS? Coming from a slow reader, well, let’s just say it’s going to be a challenge.

BUT I AM SO PUMPED.

I’ll be announcing my full TBR list in the first video check-in on Monday (oh, did I not mention? On top of reading seven books in seven days, there are also daily videos. With challenges. Sure, no big deal, next week is going to be a piece of cake) so make sure you’re subscribed to my channel if you want to witness the madness first hand.

I will end this blog post by revealing the first of my seven books, though:

The Selection by Kiera Cass! I’ve heard nothing but good things about this series, even if most of the people reading it were slightly ashamed by how much they liked it. Not gonna lie, I can be a total sucker for those kinds of books.

You’re probably wondering, after all this, why I am doing this. If it’s so scary, why do it? Well, I have a few answers for you.

1. “Because it’s scary” is one of my favorite reasons to do anything. It’s why this year will be Year 9 of NaNoWriMo, it’s why I have a YouTube channel at all, and it’s why cave hiking is one of my favorite new hobbies. Nothing helps you grow as a person quite like attempting something that terrifies you, and coming out the other side a victor. Or, alternately, failing miserably. Both are okay options! Both are good for you!
2. I’m really pumped on books lately, and the BookTube community seems amazing and welcoming and fun. What better way to try to assimilate myself with them than to tag along on their craziest adventure? I hope they like me. Fingers crossed they like me.
3. How ELSE am I gonna accomplish any of my reading goals this year when there are so many distractions everywhere? I love the idea of a militant reading challenge. I write the most during November and it really works for me. Why not try the same with reading?

I likely wont be blogging much (if at all) during the Book-Tube-A-Thon, but who knows. It’s only a week though, so be sure to check back after for my thoughts on the whole experience. And if it sounds fun to you at all… feel free to join in the fun! I’ll be talking about it a lot on Twitter, especially since it’s just perfect for #JulyReading.

See you on the other side! Two and a half more days before THE CRAZY BEGINS!!!

If you’ve spent this morning under a rock and haven’t heard the news – JKR PUBLISHED A NEW SHORT STORY THROUGH POTTERMORE THAT GIVES INFO ABOUT A DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY REUNION AT THE 2014 QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP.

A hem. Sorry, I’m quite excited about this news. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading this short story (which came to us in the form of a Daily Prophet article written by none other than good ‘ol Rita Skeeter) pop on over to Pottermore, or click here for a direct link to the text.

Also, since I started YouTube as a Harry Potter vlogger, it felt only right to film my reaction to reading the new story. I immediately turned on a camera and began discussing my thoughts, which you can watch below:

What did you think of the story? What else would you like to find out about? Personally, I was a bit affronted at the lack of Draco mentions, but I suppose he wouldn’t be very welcome at a Dumbledore’s Army reunion. I’m sure the Malfoys have a VIP box at the World Cup, though!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

I’m just filled to the very brim with Sailor Moon love lately – from re-watching the old series with my friend Eia to gushing over the release of Sailor Moon Crystal last Saturday… I am on an all time Sailor Moon high right now. What a time to be alive.

Anyway, in honor of this glorious Sailor Moon resurgence, I thought it might be fun to kick off a new series of blog posts I want to make called Etsy Roundups. I’ve seen a number of other bloggers do these and I always love them to bits, so I think it’s time to pay it forward and feature some lovely artists making stuff on Etsy.

I spend enough time browsing that site… might as well make something useful of it.

So here we go! 9 beautiful Sailor Moon inspired items I love and have in my favorites:

1. FondFawn // 2. hellyeahsweetnsour // 3. theblankwall // 4. YYKawaii // 5. IkaBoushi 
6. WatercolorPrintShop // 7. ThePaperPonyPlace // 8. TheGr8Pretender // 9. sooyunart

Have you watched Sailor Moon Crystal yet? What did you think?! Let me know in the comments!

1. It’s my first official “booktube” video.
2. Even though I’ve made bookish videos in the past (ie. book guilt, accio books tag, etc.) this is the first video I am making actively trying to join the booktube community.
3. I have forever wanted to incorporate reading back into my life in a big way. Like I learned with Team Hypercube… if you want to make time for something you love (video games, reading) — make videos about it!

So, a couple things. If you’re not already following my #JulyReading hashtag on twitter, you’re missing out on some awesome inspirational tweets encouragement, and an all around amazing support group for people striving to read every day. Even if you can’t commit to every single day, you should still follow the tag! It’s been a lot of fun so far.

Second is that I have a goodreads account! Follow me there for up to date info about what I”m reading, what I thought, and what’s coming next.

I hope you like the new video, and happy reading!

Okay so. The July Reading Challenge. This is just a little idea I had yesterday while thinking about making time for reading. I pitched the idea on Twitter and when the reaction was positive, I kind of got carried away with it.

The premise is simple: Just read every day. But the idea is to really pledge to do it, and to hold yourself accountable for it. I’m organizing a little support group for readers on Twitter, so if this idea sounds interesting to you, join in! Use the hashtag #JulyReading and respond to other readers whose posts you find! Encourage each other, share favorite lines from what you’re reading and recommend books to others.

I was going to make a whole list of questions to answer each day on twitter, but maybe I’ll do this challenge again sometime with more rigid rules. For this first run at it, let’s just keep it casual.

Make sure you’re following me on Twitter to follow along – I’ll be asking for check-ins each day, asking questions and sharing what I’m reading. I’d love it if you’d respond as well!

Let me know in the comments if you pledge to read every day in July. We’re going to get so much reading done!

Okay, I’m a little late on this. It’s July 3rd already, which means I’m already well into figuring out what new things to get into for this month. I’ll chalk this delay up to being out of town for VidCon, and hope you’ll choose to watch the video anyway. There’s a lot of really great stuff in this one!

As always, let me know which new books, games, TV show, snacks etc. you’re digging right now, and maybe your suggestions will find their way into next month’s favorites!

Disneybounding as Bo Peep, complete with a tiny sheep necklace and one of the only items that exists in the world that’s white with pink polka dots. I’m not even kidding.

This past Sunday I was at Disneyland with a whole group of my friends, and we decided it was time to take Disneybounding to the next level. We put a good amount of pre-planning into this trip to the park, but picking a single movie, assigning roles, and managing quite the impressive group Disneybound.

We chose Toy Story. It was a good choice, since it spans three movies and includes more toys than I can even count. We didn’t even begin to cover every character with our group, but we did a pretty good job!

I also managed to convince Joe to choose Woody, which was almost more fun to help put together than my own outfit. His little cow-print bow tie (which I found here!) is just too cute. We’ve done a “couples” Disneybound once before (Ariel and Prince Eric, as blogged about here) but this newest one is by far my favorite.

Overall it was an amazing day, everyone looked great, AND we hosted a big meet up over my Small World that an amazing amount of people showed up to! If you stopped by and said hello, thank you! I was so impressed by everyone’s outfits and I’m just so pumped on costumes right now that it really was the best way I could think of to end VidCon. What a great trip.

Have you ever Disneybounded? Who did you pick, or if you haven’t done it – who would you LIKE to Disneybound as? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!