Nottingham and Astronautalis

My best friend messaged me late last year saying that Astronautalis was playing up in Derby would we like to go and see him live and spend the weekend with her and her wife. I said YES any excuse to go and spend time with them both! I was really looking forward to it, but I caught an awful cold virus thing at the beginning of the week and was off work for a few days and then lovingly passed it onto Matt. Hurrah, sharing is caring.

This cold is still hanging around over a week after I got the first symptoms but I didn't let it stops us and we headed up to Nottingham on Friday morning/afternoon as I left much later than I have planned....

We got to her house around 4pm and hung out for a few hours, as we were all feeling a little delicate we headed to the venue for 8:30pm just to watch Astronautalis. I am really glad we went as he was as good as he was when we saw him a few years ago. I don't know all of his songs but I really enjoyed the show and his free style was amazing too!

I danced a little in-between coughing fits and then we headed home straight away afterwards because we are all super crazy 20 something year olds haha!

On Saturday we headed to town where we had Annie's Burgers for lunch. It was SO SO amazing. I tried the big breakfast this time round and was not disappointed in the slightest.

It had egg, mushroom, sausage and bacon in it, with a side for skinny chips. I am sad Annie's is so far away but also grateful as I don't think my waistline or purse would appreciate it.

We then went round the shops and I tell you it wiped us out. 3 sickly people, we were all quite sight haha! But I did get some Yaoi I haven't seen before and Bloody Cassidy POP! Funko which I haven't be able to find ANYWHERE! And he was like £12.99, bloody bargain I was so excited.

I really like the shopping in Nottingham, their Forbidden planet has so rare things I haven't seen in other store and Page 45 has a pretty awesome and unusual selection of yaoi!

Other than that I spent some quality time with Laura and Sammi which I really enjoyed, I always do as I never get to see them! I think the fact that we were all feeling pretty shitty calls for another trip up there when we are feeling better and maybe some cocktails and a good night out on the town! 

Laura spent the whole time giving me reasons why my life would be better if I moved up to Nottingham, and although it isn't something I would at the moment I do wish I lived closer to them both!

So I think it is a good excuse to go stay with them again asap once we are all feeling in tip top shape!

London Film and Comic Con 2016

I am sitting here with post con blues as I usually do after Comic Cons! The Saturday just gone was London Film and Comic Con 2016 and I had another fabulous day. I wasn’t going to go originally with saving my money this year but when Famke Janssen was announced I gave it and booked a photoshoot ticket with her.

So Saturday morning rolled around. I had done my Con preparation as usual the night before which I wrote about last year. I had ironed my dress, packed my bag and bought plenty of snacks and food for the day. I got up at 6am and headed to get the 7:21am train first stopping for my usually mccy d’s breakfast.

My outfit of the day

This year was quite different with the queueing, you had your ticket scanned on the way in to join the queue and we queued inside this year which was a nice change as previous years I have stood out in the heat or rain before. We arrived just after 8am and got in just gone 9am as tickets were already scanned it was just a case of filing inside.

My first photo shoot wasn’t until 12:40pm so we hit the stalls. This year I really liked how they laid out everything. The stalls were all downstairs spread across two huge halls. There were massive gaps between the stalls which meant the congestion stayed down to a minimum which meant stress levels and the heat was also kept to a minimum. We got round both halls fairly quickly as it was nice and quiet to start with.

I then headed up to the photo area which was on level 1 and queued for my photo with Famke Janssen. I got into the first photoshoot which I was pleased with. Unfortunately this was the first shoot I came out feeling a little disappointed. On my way in the crew stated that Famke wasn’t doing handshakes, hugs or any touching which I was ok with. I am really not a touchy feely person so I didn’t mind. However when I went it I felt this stiff atmosphere straight away. People were just standing awkwardly next to her and then leaving straight away. It was my turn so I gave her my biggest smile and a bright Hello! I got a very sniff Hi back and she looked straight at the camera and then I thanked her with no response and left.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. The photo is quite awkward and I left feeling more of a burden to her than anything else. I don’t mind no touching as I said before but she seemed more annoyed to be there than anything else which left me a little sad.

After that it was only half an hour until Sean Maher’s photoshoot so we finished our lunch and just hung around until it was time to go to his. He was completely different from Famke, I was greeted by a huge smile and a hand shake. He then told me he had the same necklace as me but forgot to wear his and pulled me in for a good photo. My face did something kind of weird in the photo but I don’t mind too much as I was half smiling and laughing as he was so friendly and nice. He was busy playing with peoples props too and posing with them for photos which I thought was fab! I was really glad I meet him he was so friendly and lovely. I’m a bit gutted as he did a free talk on Sunday but I only had Saturday tickets alas.

Afterwards we just spent the rest of the afternoon looking around all the stalls and spending far too much money. Matt actually got more than me this time which I was pleased about as I hate leaving with bags full of things for me and nothing for him.

I managed to get a SDCC exclusive iZombie POP Funko and the amazon special captain America too. I also got a new backpack and some candy. Matt got some quite rare Vocaloid POPs and an Overwatch one too! They had some Gundam bits as well and he picked one of those up along with a new wallet which I am quite jealous of!

My haul

Matt's haul

All the POP Funkos we got!

In total we were there for 9 hours (10 if you include the queuing) and stayed till it closed. I had such a good time again and it only felt like we were there for a few hours not the whole day. We headed home exhausted where we ordered a take away and then fell sleep pretty much straight after dinner.

I can’t believe another year has come and gone! That was now my 5^th year at LFCC! I really hope they do another one before Christmas, if not I will have to hold out for DST and MCM!

June POP! in a box!

So we are into June now and I am sitting here feeling sorry for myself in silence as I have lost my voice due to an awful sore throat. It is awful, the Brand New lyrics 'Oh, my tongue's the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart' I always felt was quite fitting for me, so not talking is like hell. There are so many conversations I want to join in and people I wish to yell at.

However this isn't a post to rant and list my complaints, this a a POP! in the box post woo yeah. So we are officially half way through the year and I received my POP! in a box June

You can view my previous POP! in a box surprises here

And don't forget if you want to get this fun surprise every month then you can save 20% by clicking here!

So moving onto the POP! I was SO EXCITED to open it up and find a..... drum roll please....

RIVER SONG! Seriously I have been pining over this one since the new Doctor Who ones came out so I was ecstatic to get her!

The box was in good condition no damage on it at all and River looked fab, even from inside the box!

I wasn't at all disappointed with her, I love her hair and her outfit. I think her character has been encapsulated nicely into this POP!

The POP! herself is high quality with no visual pain defects and she came on a new style stand that was actually attached to her in the box which is different to previous ones I have had with stands. 

So my Doctor Who collection is now in full swing so I will defiantly be collecting more of them in the future, fingers crossed that maybe I will get a Jack Harkness for July's POP! in a box. 

Welcome to my home Billy. Billy the book case.

What do you do when you love to collect things, but you run out of room. Perhaps you say to yourself, now is a good time to stop, or even perhaps lets see what I own and see what I could get rid of to make more room.

Matt and I went to Ikea and bought a Billy the book case instead. Haha! If you read this blog you will know I am a huge POP! Funko fan and since moving to my own flat Matt and I have been expanding our collection. I reached a point where I no longer had enough room for my POP!s and my OCD mode kicked in when I could no longer keep all the POP!s from the same fandom together. They started to become and a mess of what can I squeeze in here and what I can move there. I wasn't happy and I wasn't happy at the idea I could no longer buy any more.

We already had a 6 square shelving unit (you can now see it on the left hand side in the picture below) so we planned to getting another one of those to put beside the TV unit. While browsing around ikea we came across Billy bookcase. It was pretty much the same size (and price) as the other shelving unit but much taller and had the option to add extra shelves in. Also the bookcase isn't as deep either which was one downfall when displaying items on the other unit so this seemed like a perfect option.

It should of gone together really easily, my advice would be to NOT IKEA late at night because when you are tired you make mistakes like we did and then spent 2 hours fixing said mistake. Luckily there is minimal damage that you can only really see if you know it is there.

I am super happy with how it looks and I can't wait to get more funkos to fill the gaps. It also means I can now display my favourite films and books too, which makes me really happy as they were hidden and tucked away just to fit them in.

My funko collection looks a lot less now they are nicely spaced out on the shelves which is a good thing I think as it means I have lots of room for lots more without looking too cramped. 

I think it would look great to get a second bookcase too in the future, but for now I have lots more room for lots more of the things I love!

I would love to see your funko collection if you have one and how you display them if you have one!

May POP! in a box!

I feel like summer has already arrived it has been so warm and sunny and we are only in May, I REALLY hope this continues. In the mean time though it is POP! in a box time

You can view my previous POP! in a box surprises here

And don't forget if you want to get this fun surprise every month then you can save 20% by clicking here!

I have now ventured into the vlogging world and you can see the unboxing video below, if not continue past for my photos and review.

I very excitedly opened May's POP! in a Box and I got.....

My first Doctor Who POP Funko hurrah! And what better way to start of my collection than with a Dalek. I know they are the enemy but I have a secret soft spot for them so I was so happy when I opened the box to find this little chap inside.

The box was pristine and undamaged and the POP himself was well painted and really solid too. I expected him to be much more hollow feeling but was really happy to find a very well made and painted POP inside. 

He is really cute and I find him even more adorable than I usually find Daleks.... haha I guess that isn't quite right considering we are meant to be afraid of them!

I can't wait to buy some more Doctor Who ones now, what a great excuse! 

April POP! in a box!

Can you believe we are in April already? Nope, me neither. Anyhow we are and that means APRIL POP! in a box yay!

You can view my previous POP! in a box surprises here

And don't forget if you want to get this fun surprise every month then you can save 20% by clicking here!

So on to the fun! I very excitedly opened the box to discover *drum roll....*

MIRROR UNIVERSE SPOCK! Hurrah! I am really pleased with him especially considering the sewing project I have been working on! I already have Spock and Scotty and very regrettably missing Kirk so mirror universe Spock is a great addition to my collection. 

Box was in good condition again so no complaints there from me at all. I really like the detailing on him and his uniform He is neatly painted and feels really sturdy which is always a plus!

I am now looking forward to see what comes in May! Hurrah.

March POP! in a box!

How on EARTH are we already in March. I swear I was waving goodbye to the summer and looking forward to the Christmas build up.

But here we are going heading into spring 2016... but not only is it Spring but a new month means NEW POP! in a box! This morning I woke up to a knock at the door and the postman handed me my March POP!

I am really enjoying getting these every month, and upon opening it I couldn't see it was indeed Star Wars related and when I took it out I was excited to see I had gotten:

Han Solo! Woohoo! I am really happy with this one as the most recent Star Wars really turned me round and into a fan. Before then I had been very much a trekkie and no interest in Star Wars but now I realised I had been very much missing out all these years! 

So I am very happy to get an older Han Solo. I can't wait to get even more and add to my Star Wars collection!

The box was in ok condition again, no real damage to it. Han is great quality and is painted well I can't see any defects on him. He is a bobble head which I do kind of find bizarre how some are and some aren't, I have to say I prefer when they aren't and have regular heads.

I am happy again with what I got and I can't wait for Aprils surprise :D

Don't forget if you want to get this fun surprise every month then you can save 20% by clicking here!

February POP! in a box!

So just to recap in case you have missed my previous review or you have no idea what POP! in a box is:

A monthly subscription where you receive POP! Funkos to your door. The great thing about this is you will never get something that you do not want. You update your list of what you currently own and thumbs up and thumbs down all the POPS! you like and dislike. You can save 20% when you sign up!

I am now in procession of Febrary's POP! Funko and I got DRUM ROLL PLEASE......

MICHONNE from the walking dead.

The box was in much better condition this time with no visible damage and also arrived quicker than January's one. I am really pleased with her, and although I think I would of preferred one of her not in a police uniform I am still happy.

I really like her hair the detailing is nice and the paint is neatly done too. My only complaint is that she doesn't stand up very well at all and doesn't come with a stand! Luckily I can prop her up against a box. 

I am glad to add to my walking dead collection as I only had two and Michonne is one of my favoruite characters so I am super happy to have her!

Have you had any February POP!s? If so let me know what ones!

Don't forget you can save 20% using this link on your first month!

POP! in a box newbie review

After debating for some time I have decided to sign up for POP IN A BOX! If you are unaware of what this is, it is a monthly subscription where you receive POP! Funkos to your door.

To sum it up quickly in case you missed my previous post:

The great thing about this is you will never get something that you do not want. You update your list of what you currently own and thumbs up and thumbs down all the POPS! you like and dislike. POP! in a box will then try and pick something off your wish list or if that is unavailable it will pick a pop that you haven’t said if you like or dislike any and if none are available they will just refund your money.

So it is win win you can’t get one you don’t like as long as you thumbs up or thumbs down the pops on the list. You also have the possibility to get limited pops or large ones all for the price of £8.49 a month plus p&p. And once you have signed up any pops you order separately you get free p&p WOO!

If you fancy giving this ago you can save 20% on your first order by clicking here

So I joined at the end of January and made it in time to get my first POP in a box in Jan! EXCITING!

I have to say it did take quite a while to come (apparently sent on the 25th Jan and arrived on the 4th Feb) but it arrived on Thursday and I excitably opened it!

AND I GOT! *drum roll please* BB-8 WOO YEAH!

I am super happy with this! I don't have any Star Wars POP!s yet so I am super happy to start my collection and what better way than with BB-8!! This was a great first POP! in a box!

I was actually really excited to open the box and I really enjoyed waiting for my POP! to come. I have to say the box was fairly damaged, and that something I have seen in a lot of reviews. Luckily I am not interested in the boxes so I am happy for it not to be pristine but I could see how people might be unhappy as there was a few dents and a small rip.

BB-8 is a lovely POP! and I am really happy with him. He has a little bobble head which I am usually not a fab of but on BB-8 it's adorable! He is a little small compared to the rest of my POP!s but I guess that adds to his adorableness! 

I really really enjoyed getting this surprise box and I cannot wait to get Februarys box!

So YAY POP! Funko you can sign up here

January blues and Friday Favouites

January blues are in full swing now for me. Monday was a really tough day going back to work and I headache all day. Well actually to be honest with you I have had a headache all week. On Sunday I had planned to go get up early so I would be tired that evening and get a good night sleep. That failed horrible and I eventually fell asleep around 2am. I then missed the gym and ordered pizza as I felt so crap. FAIL!

I am however back on the clean eating and gym and I am so excited about the weekend!  I just need to stop picking at the chocolates at work ugh!

I am looking forward to the year ahead; although I don’t have any life changing plans like I did last year I also don’t have a desperate need for the year to go as quickly as possible to achieve them. In actual fact I hope this year just plods by and I can enjoy it.

I am hoping to hit a few cons this year too, with the ‘spring’ comic con and the Brighton comic con too, I hope to go to these as well of course as the big Summer London Film and Comic Con! Hopefully there will be some exciting guests that I am interested in!

After the Christmas break and being content with staying indoors in my jammies all day I am also hoping to take a couple of weeks off to do the same again during the year. I might even take a week off for Matt’s birthday in March as we are going to see Video games live and it might be nice to take a week off or at least a few days around then.

I have been trying to be good this January as well. I find I end up buying a fair amount of ‘junk’ in the January sales. Things I wouldn’t usually look at but hey it is such a good price who can say no!?

After investing in BB-8 I made an agreement with myself to avoid the January sales as much as possible. The only things we have picked up were a new jacket and work shirts for Matt, and another naughty Silly Old Sea Dog dress in the sale reduced to £30! HECK I wanted to so much and it sold out in my size alas, but they have one back in stock in my size reduced to £30... I really really couldn't say no!

However as per usual there are plenty of things I wish I could afford so I will join in on the Friday favorites and make a little ooh I wish I could win the lottery list!

1. Malcolm Reynolds Pop Funko

2. Kaylee Pop Funko

3. Jayne Cobb Pop Funko

4. Will Riker Pop Funko

5. Worf Pop Funko

6. Deanna Troi Pop Funko

7. Data Pop Funko

8. Futurama complete boxset

9. Sterl​ing Silv​er Harr​y Pott​er Gold Snit​ch Ring

10. Clarks brogues

So I am glad it is Friday, I cannot wait to chill out this week and we are seeing 'Daddy's Home' at the weekend... it was that or Star Wars again but might wait a couple of weeks to see that again so it has more impact! I want to make sure I see it again before they take it out the cinemas.

I hope your weekend is peaceful and enjoyable too!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

This is just a quick post to say HAPPY CHRISTMAS. As another Christmas rolls to an end I am full of food, sleepy and throughly spoilt again.

I got some wonderful presents and ate some wonder food. I got to wear my brand new jumper today (the last few Christmas's I have gotten dressed up only to regret it half way through the afternoon when I feel like a prized potato.) So this year just casual and comfy!

Matt and I got up early this morning around 7am and we opened our gifts. It is our first Christmas in our flat so it was all new experiences but it felt great to be here with him!He got me Narwal slippers, a heated fox cushion and most awesome of all a large and a baby unicorn lamp. I of course got some awesome geeky gifts too including Crimson Peak pops and Firefly leaf on the wind necklace which is just beautiful! Also the Harry Potter blu ray set, yankee candle and some amazing boots.

I also got some vouchers and a bit of money. I was hoping to get enough money to buy a BB8 droid but alas I am a little short.. maybe a Christmas present to myself? haha? Maybe!

I now am back at home and I plan on watching Dr Who and vegging out for the rest of the evening/week!

I hope you had or are having a wonderful Christmas!

Comic Con in a new but very familiar place.

This weekend saw Brighton host it's very first Comic Con! I had planned on attending in London until they moved it down to Brighton. I wasn't going to complain, Brighton is easier to get to and I also don't hate it like London. Actually quite the opposite I do love Brighton!

I ended up booking the tickets a few days before in hope they would have a guest I would be interested in, but alas they didn't. We got up on later on Saturday and headed out for breakfast about 10:30ish, much later than the summer cons! Usually I am up at 6am and on a train by 7!

But I had bought general entry tickets as I had no real plans there and no guests to see, plus I knew it would be much quieter than the London con so I was in no rush.

The weather was GOD AWFUL, and I had gotten dressed up so decided against wearing my rain mac (dear past self that was the WORST choice). I was determined to wear my new coat as it looks amazing on, but it doesn't have a hood. The drive down through the relententless rain and wind was almost enough to make us turn back home.

By the time we got down the rain had eased slightly but the wind by the sea was so fierce! I was still getting wet but I had no idea if it was rain or the wind blowing the sea in. Horrible! Matt said to leave my umbrella in the car, thinking back now it was probably best or I would of ended up with just a pile of twisted metal! The walk wasn't too far maybe 10 minutes but it felt like hours and the wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet. When we arrived I had awful ear ache and my hair was ruined and to be honest I was damp and annoyed.

That soon disappeared I was greeted by a sea of nerds, cosplay and stalls selling all manner or geeky knick-knacks. I was throughly impressed with the amount and the quality of stalls. There were your usually stalls I have see 100 times but lots of different ones this time too! I really didn't want to spend any money as Christmas is fast approaching but I ended up parting with £60+ whoops.

Does anyone else find when you get out a wad of cash with intention to spend it all you find nothing, just when you are broke you see an never ending list of things you want! waa!
Lets have a look at the mini haul shall we!

My mini haul!

Harry and Snape Pop Funko!

First are yet more pop funkos for the collection.. I got some Harry Potter, pops for my birthday so I have started on collecting HP. I wanted Harry but I wanted the quidditch one. He seems a little hard to find now, but I found in on one stall for a reasonable £15 so I just grabbed him! I also picked up Crimson Peak figures Thomas and Edith too but they are a christmas gift for myself from Sarah, but the deal was £10 each or 3 for £25 so Matt said well why don't you get 3 seems silly not to. So I picked up Snape too for £5! WOO!

I couldn't resist these at £3 SERIOUSLY! How could you?

This Elders wand necklace is amazing and comes in an amazing box

The earring above I spotted on my way out and were £3! They are silver plated and seem to be ok in my rather sensitive ears. I spotted them on our way out and was gutted when I didn't have any cash for them! (completely forgot about cash while battering through the wind and rain) but luckily I was able to pay via paypal! I'm actually gutted I didn't get two sets in case I loose one!

The necklace was one of the first things I noticed.. They seem to be Christmas pre order but I think they had some to buy there at the con. It was £25, which seems really reasonable as it is a weighty piece of jewelry and looks really stunning! It also comes in an Ollivanders box just like the real wands, I just fell in love it was gorgeous. I really wanted an Elders wand but I couldn't justify £28 on a wand that would sit in a box on a shelf! But in a necklace form I cannot complain I will get lots of use and enjoyment out of that!

HUGADABUGA

And I couldn't resist these two necklaces. The mask is the Hugadabuga man from Crash Bandicoot, if you're a 90's kid you will most likely remember him. I have fond memories of the mask and making the noise when you got him and the fish was just way too cute. I love buying from little arty stalls! 

Next to the Iron Throne

We were only at the con for an hour or so and we went back outside and continued to battle through the weather.

We had a little poke down the laines and headed to the shopping centre and after it got dark we then headed to Pizza Express ( I had doubled my clubcard vouchers again) and had a lovely 3 course meal.

We had planned on going to the cinema afterwards and the fireworks, instead we just headed to the fire works as Matt wasn't feeling 100%. We missed the first 5-10minutes but saw over 20minutes worth and they were awesome. I love fireworks and I would of been sad if we hadn't seen any this year!

It was a really good end to a really enjoyable day!

I really enjoyed Saturday but like all good days it flew by and it was just poof gone! That is the last day out for me and Matt now until our Christmas break. We have a trip to London and we are seeing Warhorse on the 23rd.

Before then though I have Elektra awards, Christmas party (i've been nominated for an award!!) and Mumford and Sons with my sister.

This is defiantly my FAVOURITE time of the year, so much to do and so much to look forward to!