ESO Podcast Gaurdians of the Galaxy

New episode of the ESO Podcast is out! My segment "A Geek Girls Take" can be heard on it. This week I talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!

You can listen to it here!

You can also find older episodes of the show there as well! 

Also check out the ESW podcast live from WhoLanta! I was on this one as well. It was recorded live at WhoLanta last weekend! 

You can find it here!

I'm a little under the weather this week, so once I feel better I'll do a write up on WhoLanta! 

DragonCon ESW Episode! What Makes a Good Companion?

This year at Dragoncon I got to be on the ESW panel for the third year in a row for the ESO and the DragonCon Brit Track. It is always a blast to be on panels for the con and to record so many awesome podcasts while there! Check out the first of many podcasts I was part of right here!

[Conventions!] (Re)Generation Who 2

(Re)Generation Who 2 was my 6th convention this year. I work for the convention running their press department, and I love every minute that I am there! Along with running press this year, I also did an interview, played Ukulele for the Davors Variety show and had a book release party for my new Unofficial Doctor Who Cookbook, "Shut Up and Eat 2! The Unofficial Doctor Who Series Nine Ready to Dine Cookbook"

(Re)Generation Who has such an amazing atmosphere. The fans are excited to be there, the guests are excited to see the fans and everything is so inviting and fun! Everyone who works for this con wants to see all the attendees happy and smile about their interactions at the con! It's that simple. And from what I saw throughout the entire weekend, that seemed to be happening!

I arrived at the con on Thursday and did a few con related work things, and also got to see a Pug!!! Like I cannot go anywhere without seeing a cute squishy face puggy!!!

My amazing friend Cassandra who worked for press this year! She was wonderful!!!!

My big work started on Friday, getting press running then recording and taking questions in the Frazier Hines and Companions interviews. Both of these panels were amazing, and once I have a chance to edit the videos I'll post them over on my youtube channel! I also got to have a really fun rehearsal with Cat Smith and Terry Molloy, since the three of us were playing in the Davors Variety Show together on Saturday!

Time to play some Uku!

Saturday was the day I was most nervous about, my first book release party for Shut Up and Eat 2! and the Davros Variety show, plus working for press all day and helping out on some interviews by taking questions.

The book release party was first, and it was so well attended, I had no idea there would be so many people in the audience, I was thrilled and it was a bit nerve wracking having a ASL interpreter repeating everything I said! Ginger and Kara were also in attendance and I was so happy both of the fantastic artists who worked on this book and believed in it could be there! 

After the book release party I headed straight to the Peter Davison "5-ish Doctors" panel. Kara was interviewing Peter Davison for it and it was a fantastic panel! The stories he told were amazing and the audience had a lot of great questions for him as well!

Next up was the "Tea With the Doctors" event. This is such a fun concept, and the fans that attend it always seem to have such an amazing time! I have never seen anything like this at another con. I have seen breakfast with the guests or other inclusive type events, but this tea is such a fun concept.

No photo of me as Osgood, so have one of Melissa holding a drawing Kelsey Wailes did!

After the Tea I sat in on an episode of Captain Kyle's Cosplay Spotlight as Osgood. Sadly I did not get a photo during the filming, but once the episode is released I will definitely post a link! (there is a pretty hilarious part where I am doing charades of Doctor Who villains!)

Another event I was really excited for was the "Davros Variety Show" I was asked to play Ukulele with Terry Molloy and Cat Smith, and of course I jumped on the chance, because I love performing and I rarely get to do so! So many other wonderful acts also performed, and the show seemed to really go over well! 

After the Davros Variety Hour it was some work, then the Dominic Glynn concert, I was very excited for this since one, awesome music, and two, I was interviewing him in the morning! The concert was lovely and even had a special appearance by Colin Baker!

Sunday, the last day of the con, but still lots of amazing panels and events going on! Terry Molloy did his fantastic "Acting for Audio" panel, that is always full of information. I have attended this panel/workshop every time I have been able too and I learn so much every time. 

At 1pm on Sunday I had the honor of interviewing Dominic Glynn for the "Music of Doctor Who with Dominic Glynn." This was such an enjoyable time talking about growing up with music and how he became a composer for film and television. I am so happy I was asked to do this interview. It was definitely a high light of my weekend!

Ly from Pixel Who. <3 this lady! 

The rest of Sunday was spent working for the con. But what an amazing weekend this was! I had been looking forward to it for months, and I was definitely not disappointed! So many of the staff I work with are like family to me, and I am always happy to spend a weekend working with them. I cannot wait until Intervention 7 and next years (Re)Generation Who!

[Top 5] My Top 5 Favorite Lotions!

I use a lot of different products, and some of them work for me and some make my skin break out into horrible red hives. These five will not be the ones that break me out into hives, but the lotions I absolutely love! 

#5: Island Bath & Body Lotion in Maui Tea Rose

This is a great brand that I purchased through ABC Stores Hawaii. It has an amazing rose smell to it and is very moisturizing. They come in two sizes, a regular sized lotion bottle then a small 2 oz. travel sized bottle (that I have and retailed for $5.00) The lotion is made in Hawaii and has Macadamia Nut and Kukui Nut oil's in it. 

#4: Bath and Body Works Hand and Body Cream (Scarlet Pumpkin and Twisted Peppermint)

I do not use a lot of Bath and Body Works products (I love their candles so much more than their lotions.) and generally only get their Moonlight Path items. But occasionally their seasonal fragrances get the best of me, and this body cream is amazingly moisturizing and great for using at night before you go to bed! You do have to give it a good shake before using or it can settle a bit. These bottles retail for $13.00. 

#3: L'Occitanne Rose Body Milk

I have an extreme weakness to three fragrances, Cherry, Bergamot and Rose. Which is why most of the lotions on this list are rose scented, since lotions with a strong Bergamot scent are hard to come by. L'Occitane really has it down with the amazing rose scented lotions. I will come out smelling like a bouquet of roses if I use too much of this, and that is totally OK with me. They also have a body wash that goes along with the lotion.  A 8.4 fl. oz. bottle retails for $27.00

#2: The Body Shop Strawberry Puree Body Lotion

This lotion is amazing! It is made with shea butter and has a glycerin feel to it. It is cooling, so it feel amazing when on the skin! I am sad that The Body Shop got rid of their Cherry lotion, so Strawberry is my go to fragrance for them now. I also love the pump bottle over the squeeze like all the ones above. This one retails for $13.00 for a bottle, but they always do sales and you can get them cheaper normally. 

#1:  L'Occitane Velvet Hand Cream ("Rose" and Jasmin and Bergamote")

I always have one of these little hand lotions in my purse. They travel well and a little bit goes a long way. And L'Occitane is one of the only companies in the US I have been able to find a somewhat decent Bergamot smelling lotion from at the moment (even though the Jasmine is the dominant fragrance in it.) The rose, just like the body milk, will make you smell like a million roses all at once (which to some may be a bit strong, to me it is just amazing.) The Jasmin and Bergamote has a very subtle and pleasant smell to it. These retail for $12.00 

I have extra dry skin so I am a huge fan of lotions, and when they smell good it is even better! But first and foremost it needs to do its job of not making my skin dry and itchy, which all of these above do! The fragrance is just an added plus! 

[Tea Review] Discover Teas "Doctor Whoolong"

Discover Teas is a great tea shop/tea bar in Williamsburg, Va. that has many teas, all made with all natural flavors. For Regeneration Who 2 this year in they blended a special convention tea for the cons event "Tea With the Doctor". Doctor Whoolong  is a special blend that was created for the convention's event, and I was lucky enough to get to try it (and it is also available as a special order through their shop from what I was told!)

 

This tea was FANTASTIC!  It is a Black Tea and Oolong blend with vanilla, and black currant. You could really taste and smell the vanilla and it had a hint of fruity flavor to it with the black currant in it. 

 

The tea also smelled wonderful and looked lovely!  The leaves were fresh and had a vanilla tea smell to them. Find out more about Discover Teas here!

Check out the video I filmed last year at Regeneration Who 1's Tea With the Doctor

"Tea With the Doctor" is a special event that (Re)Generation Who 2 attendees had the option to purchase along with their badge to have tea with some of the guests at the convention! The Doctor Who Guests move from table to table, giving the attendees a rare up close experience with these wonderful actors!

Photos from RegenWho 2's Tea With the Doctor by Megan

I also got to use this lovely mug from one of the dealers in the dealers room at Regeneration Who. It was made by Jen Snyder Photography and they can be found in Bel Air Maryland at Urban Pearl. The lovely TARDIS tea towel is from Mage Creations, they make all sorts of items and you should check them out!

Find out more about Regeneration Who here and Intervention, its sister con!

[Tea Review] Tea and Absinthe "TARDIS-Nine- Fantastic" Tea

Tea and Absinthe was at RegenerationWho 1 last March, and I picked up some of their TARDIS-Nine-Fantastic tea! It comes in a super cute package with a TARDIS sticker on it. They have a ton of different varieties of tea, some themed, like the Doctors ones. 

The tea I purchased was TARDIS-Nine-Fantastic. It has a light floral/spiced smell to it and a floral/spiced taste with a lemon state as well. I enjoyed this tea hot, but really enjoyed it once it had cooled as well. The rose hip taste came out a lot once it was cooled. This tea had a light taste to it and very refreshing!

I really loved the packaging for this tea! It was simple, but very cute and fit the Doctor Who theme for the tea! 

The loose tea is also very lovely looking! You can see why it has floral scents to it. The chamomile is what stood out most to me when I was putting the tea in my infuser. 

Tea and Absinthe also had a lot of fun tea accessories and fun containers like this blue tin that they made to look like a TARDIS! I have been using this to store some of my tea bags in! 

I would highly suggest checking out Tea and Absinthe's webpage or visit them at a con! They visit a bunch all over the U.S.

[Geek Girl Makeup Review] Geek Chic Cosmetics "Timey Wimey EyeShadow Set"

On Black Friday, Geek Chic Cosmetics had a fantastic sale. So I decided to try out their Timey Wimey eye shadow set. I love eye shadows and Doctor Who so why not? I also picked up some of their solid fragrances, but I'll write about those in another post.

I decided to order the bundle that came in a really cute tin with all six colors in 1 gram containers. The front has a cute TARDIS design on it, and the back has each color shown with the name of the color.

I really like this container for storing the loose pigments, since depending on how much comes through the sifter, they can get a little messy (which is the case with most loose eyeshadows. The 1 gram containers are a perfect fit for this little tin too!

The packing for the containers are also cute, with a sticker for the set they are a part of!

And the backs have the color name listed on them, very clearly printed.

The colors in this set have a great range of lights and darks, and the names are gloriously Doctor Who! They colors are also great for daily or nighttime looks! 

The quality of the eye shadows are also great! I wore "We Are Coming" and "Don't Blink" to a movie premiere a few weeks ago and it stayed on all night (I also used eye shadow primer.) I loved the color and it went great with my outfit for the movie premiere! 

I would highly recommend checking out Geek Chic Cosmetics and their eye shadows! They have a bunch of great geeky themed sets and colors (including a lovely color for the month of January called Krampus!)! They also have other products as well! You can find them online here at Geek Chic Cosmetics or find them on Facebook Here

[Geek Chic] Fun Geeky Leggings For the Cost Savvy Geek Girl

I love my leggings! And while I cannot afford Black Milk, or the more expensive brands, I have found a few different brands of high quality tights that come in a lot of really fun geeky prints that almost anyone should be able to find!  I also have one dud to stay away from!

We Love Fine

We Love Fine is a go to for fun ladies and mens geeky clothing. They have monthly design contests for T-Shirts and are on top of great dress, scarves and cardigan fashion that is party ready or office ready. They also make fricken fantastic tights! I have two pairs of their tights, a regular pair and a shiny pair. 

Spider Gwen Tights

I bought my Spider Gwen tights at DragonCon this year, they are fantastic, thick stretchy material that does not look thin or see through when you are wearing them. I can wear these tights in the winter and I will be comfortable being outside or inside. They are also very comfortable around the waist. They washed well too, the color did not fade and they did not shrink at all.

Cost: $37.50

5/5

Doctor Who TARDIS Iridescent Tights

These were also a pair of tights purchased at the We Love Fine booth at DragonCon. They are not as thick as the Spider Gwen tights, however they are really comfortable, and I love the way they look when I am wearing them. The TARDIS design is so fun and there are even Dalek and Doctors peaking out of the TARDIS. They are super stretchy (even though I had to buy a size up because their shiny tights seem to be a bit tighter than their regular tights due to the type of fabric they use.) The only downside to these tights are the small area on the back that the finish came off so they have a small sticky area on them. They have been washed a few times, they faded a little, but they are still fantastic to wear!

Cost: $34.00

4/5

Mighty Fine Star Wars Leggings

JC Pennys has a lot of great Star Wars clothing right now, including a whole bunch of Mighty Fine Star Wars Leggings. These are made of a thinner spandex fabric than the We Love Fine ones, but are at a lower cost point. They are very comfortable (You will have to fix the waist on them throughout the day wearing them.) They are very soft, and the pattern does not stretch out horribly when you put them on. The thread is super sturdy, and doesn't seem like it will pop when you pull them on. If you catch JC Pennys when they have a sale you can get them for around 15$ which is a GREAT price for such wonderful leggings!! They also have a lot of other great designs other than the one pair I bought, so they really fit any taste. They also washed well (line dried them)

Jc Pennys has also started carrying some Disney, Minions, and marvel tights as well depending on your store and what they have, all for the same prices as the Star Wars leggings.

Cost: $26 ($15 when on sale) 

5/5 

Marvel's Clothing Line

Marvel has been releasing a lot of really fun clothing in a lot of different stores. These leggings were found at JC Pennys. They are a Cotton/Spandex combination so they are not as sleep as the other leggings in this post, but are so incredibly comfortable. I loved the design of them as well because Black Widow WAS on them! I have seen some stores that still have them, so they are hit or miss if you can find them, however JC Pennys has a WIDE variety of Marvel tights. However if you follow their Style  by Marvel instagram you can find out where they have other Marvel inspired clothing on sale at.

Cost: $26

5/5

TeeFury

I love Teefury for their daily shirts, and when they started making tights I fell in love with a bunch of their designs that they had. They have a wide variety of designs and geeky series designs (Doctor Who, Disney, Comics, Pokemon, etc.) they also have skirts made out of the same leggings material with the same designs. The material is thick and incredibly soft. They feel amazing on your skin. The design does lighten when you wear them, but it is not super noticeable. I seriously cannot say how much I love these tights, they are so fun, comfortable and I love wearing them! The ones below are their Lavender Town Leggings.  They have also been washed many times and their color has not faded and are still as stretchy as the first time I wore them.

5/5

Cost $37

        

Palicy Leggings

These are by far the worst quality tights I have ever seen. They are around $5 on Ebay, so I was not expecting much as it was, but holy cow (they are also on Amazon as well). You try to put your leg in them and they rip at the seams. The spandex is super low quality and the thread is incredibly weak. I would not suggest these to anyone! They are for the most part knock off tights from other brands with fantastic quality, but the only thing they have in common is the design on the fabric.

Cost $5

0/5

There are many other brands out there that make great leggings. These are just the ones I have been able to purchase/ have been gifted and wear. All are under $40 and to me that is a reasonable price. But if you are really on a budget and still want those cute Geeky leggings I would stick to JC Pennys or Target (which has a very limited selection.)