Cruise

     86 days from today, on June 26th, I'll be leaving from Port Canaveral and going on my second cruise. My last cruise was when I was 14 years old and it was during the summer between my freshmen and sophomore years of high school. It was fun and exciting to see St. Thomas, St. Maarten/Martin and the Princess Cays. This time we'll be going the opposite direction and hitting up Jamaica, Haiti, Grand Cayman and then Cozumel before heading back home. It'll be exciting seeing new places this time around and it'll also be a little up-lifting since I won't be the dorky girl with braces and big glasses. Plus I'll have the love of my life with me this time. 

     Now before we actually head out for this adventure, I do have a goal in mind that I really would love to achieve. Even though I was 14 years old, back then I weighed about 120 pounds. Though it's been 7 years, I haven't grown in height since I was 13 but I now weigh between 135-140. I know that's not bad and some people would tell me to stop complaining, that I look fine. I don't want to lose weight so much as I want to tone up my body. I know it'll be hard to even achieve 120 again because of the weight of the muscles I've acquired over the years from marching band and working retail. So, my goal that I must reach in 86 days is to have toned my body as much as possible to where I'll be confident to wear a bikini while on the cruise and possible do a photoshoot. Think I can do it, guys? ^^

Brazbrue?!

     I still can't believe I pulled this cosplay off! This one is now my skimpiest cosplay; the previous one being my bunnysuit Anya Alstreim.
     So as some of you know, I attended Megacon 2011 this past weekend and jeez, what a weekend! I'm still so mentally tired from this con, I don't think I've ever had this feeling after a con. Usually I'm sick with some kind of sinus infection but surprisingly this year, nothing! I didn't even get my regular stomach pains and I actually ate A LOT!
    Though I had fun, I realized this weekend that doing detailed costumes for cons isn't very fun for me anymore. So, from that thought, I'll be saving detailed costumes for cons that I am entering the costume contests in and for photoshoots through the year. I will, however, be wearing more simple costumes at cons and possibly playing "photographer" once I get my camera. I've been looking at the Nikon D3100 for my first SLR camera, I just need to save some money for it. I also still need to learn a lot about photography before I can really take some detailed shots. I also plan to set up some photoshoots with photographers around Florida and doing some non-cosplay modeling. I've already done a photoshoot with Kendra Paige with my friend and coworker, Christina. That shoot was fun to do and hopefully I'll be able to upload some shots up here soon so you all can see.
     Anyway, I'll leave you guys with this little update and hopefully I'll be able to update a lot sooner for you guys! See ya later!!

First post!

Welcome to my first blog! I'm quite excited to begin this actually. I was actually asked by a friend named Pierre to start a blog about my progress for Megacon and about what I'm learning along the way prop-wise.

Anyway, I figured the first post I would make as a "get to know me" kind of post. So here it goes:

I'm a cosplayer located in northern Orlando, Florida but I've practically lived all around the state except for Northern and South East Florida. I'm actually from Michigan but I've been living and growing up in Florida since I was almost five years old (I did all my schooling in Florida).
     I've been doing this hobby since 2006 when I was a junior in high school. However, I've known about cosplay since 2002 when I was just starting eighth grade and beginning to know what anime was (thank you Adult Swim and Inuyasha!). I never got to start making costumes until I was in high school because my parents had the usual reaction that most parents start out with; "what is cos.....play? why are you making yourself into a cartoon character? blah blah blah"..
     Yeah, I went through that... however, my parents saw that I loved making costumes very deeply when I was working and then proceeded to help me; my mother bought me my first sewing machine as a late 16th birthday present off of a friend (sadly it broke the first time I used it, resulting in quite some tears...). My mother then proceeded to surprise me within that month with a brand new basic machine. You can say that my eyes lit up like a little kid's on Christmas morning!
     And that is where everything spiraled to where I am now. Now, even though I have been cosplaying for five years, I have yet to go to my first out of state convention. Hopefully within this year or next I'll be able to make that goal come true, either with Anime Weekend Atlanta, Dragon*Con or another bigger one like Katsucon or Otakon.
     Now you're probably thinking as of what conventions I have been to these last five years. Well, let me see if I can remember them all. My first one was in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and was Houkocon 2006. From there you have Janicon 2007, Megacon 2008, Metrocon 2008, Megacon 2009, Anime Festival Orlando (AFO) 2009, Orlando Anime Day #2 (2010), Megacon 2010, AFO 2010, and EXPcon 2010. As you have probably noticed most of the conventions I attend are around Orlando. I tend to go to conventions nearby because I haven't been able to save up for ones that are further away (that and work likes to throw hissy fits when I ask for more than a day or two off...).
     Now out of those ten conventions, I tend to have a new cosplay for every day, sometimes two. I even make cosplays for others; I've started taking commissions within the last year as a way to get my name out there as a costume designer. Most of my clients are close friends but because of them wearing the cosplays they have been telling others who made their cosplay and where to find me online. To be honest I'm quite a shy person so when someone is showcasing my work I tend to be very modest. (Still not fully used to getting complimented by people I don't know).
     Probably at this point, you are wondering (or not), who I have cosplayed. For those wondering, here's the list of the ones for myself and then the ones I've made for others:
1. Kairi - Kingdom Hearts 2
2. Ashley Graham - Resident Evil 4
3. Winry Rockbell Travel outfit - Fullmetal Alchemist
4. Winry Rockbell Mechanic - Fullmetal Alchemist
5. Mikuru Asahina uniform - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
6. Simca - Air Gear
7. Aryll Pink skull dress - The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
8. Rinoa Heartilly Blue duster - Final Fantasy VIII
9. Rinoa Heartilly dress - Final Fantasy VIII
10. Kyonko - The Genderbender of Haruhiko Suzumiya
11. Ty Lee - Avatar: the Last Airbender
12. Medusa Gorgon - Soul Eater
13. Yuki Nagato punk loli - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
14. Chibi Medusa Gorgon - Soul Eater
15. Bunny Anya Alstreim - Code Geass
16. Sakura Kaede - Kampfer
17. Winry Rockbell Travel redone - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
18. Ekaterina "Katja" Kurae - Seikon no Qwaser
19. Mafuyu Oribe - Seikon no Qwaser
20. Saya Takagi - Highschool of the Dead
21. Makoto Nanaya - Blazblue: Continuum Shift

Commissions:
1. Moogle - Final Fantasy
2. General Marian Cross - D.GrayMan
3. Firelord Ozai - Avatar: the Last Airbender
4. Toph Bei Fong (overshirt) - Avatar: the Last Airbender
5. Dr. Franken Stein - Soul Eater
6. Ling Yao - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
7. Brendan - Pokemon Emerald
8. C.C. - Code Geass
9. Aleksander "Sasha" Nikolaevich Hel - Seikon no Qwaser
10. Elizabeth "Lizzy" - Seikon no Qwaser
11. Bridget - Guilty Gear
12. Ragna the Bloodedge - Blazblue: Calamity Trigger
13. Jin Kisaragi - Blazblue: Calamity Trigger
14. Hazama - Blazblue: Continuum Shift
15. Carl Clover - Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (assisting Mikachu in assembling it)
16. Litchi Faye Ling - Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (assisting ExileFayt in assembling it)

Wow... I never really sat down and had to really think on who I've made for myself and others, though it was fun remembering all the times in cosplay. Anyway, this post is getting to a tl;dr length, so I'll end it here. Hope you guys enjoyed my first blog post and I hope to have some of you continue visiting and reading as to what is going on. Thank you again! See ya!