12 Days of Christmas: Day 1.

Well, it's 12 days before Christmas, and I wanted to give you guys a little treat for the holiday season. I hope that whatever you celebrate you have a safe holiday season. But I've been thinking about doing a post like this for a while.

So this little gift to you is a post everyday for the next 12 days, most of them being Christmas themed. Hopefully you all can enjoy these posts, and maybe get into the Christmas spirit if that's what you celebrate. However, not all of them are Christmas themed, but a few of them are.

Christmas is one of my favourite holidays, second only to Halloween. There is something that fills my heart with a warm fuzzy feeling over the Christmas season. This year, I want to combine a few traditions from my home in Norway with my home here in Canada. And those are going to be some things you'll get to see.

I have surprisingly put a lot of work into these posts, and some of them did take a little bit of planning and a little bit of work to make happen. I really hope you all enjoy these posts, and perhaps it'll become a yearly thing.

So here is, my first day of Christmas post. It's short, sweet and just an intro, but there will be some nice surprises in store this Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

Yoga Practice Update.

So, I've been doing a 30 day yoga challenge on top of writing through out the month of November, and I feel like I've done a pretty good job with keeping up with it.

I only missed one day, and for me doing any sort of challenge is difficult. I have a bit of a short attention span, so me doing something every day is a little bit tricky. Once it's a habit I'm fine, but it's getting to the stage of making it a habit that's tricky.

But I managed to complete this challenge too, again despite being sick. But being stuck in bed for most of the day, it felt really good to get up and move my body just a little bit.

The challenge was an at home yoga practice video series on youtube through Yoga with Adriene: here. And I love the way she teaches. Adriene is fun, and doesn't take herself too seriously, plus throughout the practice she gives you a lot of options based on where you feel your practice is for the day. And options are always a plus.

Some videos she moves through the poses pretty quickly, other days you sit in a pose for a while. And it's something I really enjoy. On her website you can find a link to this free 30 days of yoga signup, which she sends you an encouraging email along with the video and I believe a link to download the video as well. But to be totally honest, I'm not sure. I just follow all of the videos through youtube. If you do take the email subscription route, let me know how it went for you.

On her website she does have other yoga challenges, but those all cost a bit of money. But if you have the money, I would say why not give it a try.

I do plan on keeping up with the yoga every day thing after this challenge. I love yoga, and I one day would love to get my yoga teacher training. But that's very far off into the future. For now, I'll stick to my beginners yoga, and keep moving forward on my own journey.

I hope you all have a great day. Namaste.

Reading Tag.

So, not gonna lie, I just found this by searching 'book tags' and I found this, so I thought it would be fun to do a book tag! So let's jump right in. I'll post a link below to where I got the questions.

1: Do you have a certain space at home for reading?
I have a chair that I love to curl up and read in. But right now it's covered in clothes. I have a desperate need to do laundry.

2: Bookmark, or random piece of paper.
Random piece of paper usually. I always lose book marks, so I don't want to spend a lot of money on them. A random piece of paper is just easier for me.

3: Can you stop reading at any spot, or do you need to stop at a certain chapter, page, ect.
I like to stop generally at the page closest to the front cover. But other than that I can stop reading at any point.

4: Do you eat or drink while reading?
I make myself a cup of tea, but I always forget about it. As for food, I like having little snacks to nibble on while I'm reading.

5: Can you read while watching tv or listening to music?
I'd rather not have a lot of distractions. I'm okay with reading to instrumental music, but most of the time I would rather read with just white noise. I get distracted too easily.

6: One book at a time, or several?
Several! I love having different stories to jump around to. And if I get blocked on one, I can just jump to another.

7: Reading at home or everywhere?
I take my books with me pretty much where ever I go. I live a little ways out of downtown, so reading on the bus or train is something that keeps me entertained.

8: Reading out loud, or silently?
Silently. Are there people who still read out loud? Hmm, that's not something I've heard of.

9: Read ahead or skip pages?
I often times read the very last page. I don't know why, but it's a weird quirk that I have. I'm generally pretty okay when it comes to spoilers, so I guess reading the last page adds a little bit of mystery.

10: Breaking the spine or keep it new?
I keep it new. Not for any reason other than the fact, I don't need to break the spine if I'm reading. I'm not picky about it, it's just the amount of space I need to read.

11: Do you write in books?
NO! That is my one thing I don't like! I hate writing in books. For classics, and reviews I'll jot a few notes down on a scrap of paper, but I will never write inside a book.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little tag. I may actually do more of them in the future this was fun.
Questions: here

Welcome to Night Vale Book Review.

This book. Oh this book. If you haven't seen it yet, I did a post about the tour event and you can read it here. And with this review, I am going to try very hard not to gush too much. But I loved this book. As well I don't want to spoil it. I'm still trying to find a nice balance of giving you guys enough information, and not spoil huge things.

The book follows two lesser known Night Vale characters Jackie Fierro the owner of the local pawnshop, Diane Crayton a member for the PTA and Josh's mother, and a mysterious man in a tan jacket and a deer skin suitcase, and a paper that says "KING CITY." I am not going to say too much about the plot. But, I will say it's brilliant, and rooted in Night Vale weirdness. The story is mostly about Jackie and Diane trying to solve the mystery of KING CITY, and Josh trying to find his father.

I feel like the book would be better appreciated, and understood by those who are familiar with the podcast. It's not necessary, but as someone who knows the podcast, I think it helps. There is a lot of really long sentences, that make the book more difficult to understand. But once you get the language, it gets easier. The language is quite rambley, think Douglas Adams in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

There are a few short chapters with the podcasts leading men, Cecil and Carlos. And it's so cute. I love them so much, and it makes me happy that they are in the book for a bit. But of course the story doesn't revolve around them. I feel like they didn't need to be included in the book. They were just there for the fans.

Though the book doesn't focus on Cecil's story, and I like it. It gives the reader a fuller look at the world of Night Vale, and the people inside this weird town. And it makes the town seem a little bit more real.

There isn't a lot of world building in the book. But a lot of the world building is done through the podcast. But there is enough to understand, and imagine the world. Just go into the book with an open eye, and the attitude that really anything can happen. The world that is described is however very interesting. A little unrealistic in terms of accepting other cultures, and sexual orientations. It's more of an ideal rather than how our world actually is.

The characters in the book are very well written, and there is someone that every can identify with. Diane Crayton is a single mom who is trying to provide for a son who is constantly changing, and Jackie is a mix raced teenager trying to find her way in the world. And of course there are the characters podcast listeners know and already love like John Peters, you know the farmer, and Cecil and Carlos, and Dana.

There is just an acceptance in the world of Night Vale that is just kind of there. If you are a fan of the podcast, this book is a great thing to accompany it. If you nothing about the podcast other than what I wrote about, then it's an interesting journey for you to take. As well as an interesting introduction to the world of Night Vale that just kind of shoves you into it.

Thank you so much for reading the review of a book that has very quickly wormed its way onto my favourites.

International Lolita Day Meet up.

So, yesterday was the big international day meet up here in my city. For those who don't know, international lolita day is an event that occurs twice a year, in the summer and in the winter to celebrate lolita fashion. A lot of girls and guys go all out with their coords. Now, I'm not predominantly I lolita, I am more into mori kei, but I like lolita as well.

So my community organized an event at a Christmas craft market that opens up every year in downtown. And this event was a blast. I since I am still kind of new to the city, I don't know a lot of lolitas. So this was a great way to meet lolitas.

The market itself was jam packed with people, but there was music and rides. Things were very much over priced, but with those types of things, especially food and drink is going to be over priced. I did manage to get my hands on mulled wine which is something I haven't drank since Norway. 

After walking around the market for a few hours, a large group of us went out to dinner. This has been the first time I have gone out since I have gotten here. So it was nice to go out and hang out. The food was amazing, and the service was great. I didn't want the evening to end.

I do wish I remembered to take photos. But my hands were so cold, I didn't want to take my phone out. 

I hope you have a wonderful day. 

Future Projects.

I've always loved having projects on the go, I love having things to do. Last month I had NaNoWriMo. This month, I have cosplays, more scarfs, and a few other things that I am going to share with you.

The first project is an etsy shop. I want to be start making things, and share them with you. So, through the month of December, I'm going to make things. I'm going to knit lots, I'm going to start making jewelry, and write more. There are a lot of things I want to make, and hopefully with my holidays, I'll have lots of time.

One of the projects, I want to work on is a poetry book with a CD to go with it. I may or may not start up a donation site to help fund this project. There are a few things that I know I'm going to need, like an external mic, and someone to print it. December is going to be for writing the book itself. The rest of the future will be for putting together the book.

I want to write a lot more, and even begin drawing more. Since Nano ended, I have a few ideas for short stories that I want to write, and I have things I want to create. So on top of the poetry book, I want to write more in general. I think it's important for me to get my writing out there if I seriously want to write for a living.

I as well have cosplays to work on. The things I know I'll need to make this month are the cape and hat for Wirt from Over the Garden Wall. The top hat for Bill Cipher, as well as getting the embroidery on the shirt done.

The final project isn't so much a project but more of a challenge of sorts. December begins my three week holiday from school. And one of those weeks, I will not be on the internet at all. I am finding myself addicted to it, and I spend far to much time on the computer. So, I'll be taking a week off the computer. This way I'll be able to read a lot, write a lot, and work a lot. I have so many things I want to do, and I cannot afford distractions. I will let you know more about the hiatus a few days before.

Hopefully there will be more projects for me to be apart of, and when I get more projects, I'll let you know.

So what do you guys have planned? Any exciting projects?

Nanowrimo wrap up.

This is it, my final post about Nanowrimo until next year. And I am very happy with what I managed to accomplish. This year I wrote a total of 52,057 words, and my novel is still not over. I still have a little less than 10,000 words left to write.

So the big question is, am I going to edit this and try to publish it? The answer is yes. I am going to finish the first draft, and edit it. But I will not be trying to get it published. I know the idea is not original enough for publication. However there is no rule that says I can't publish it online for you guys to read.

So when then novel is finished, I'll be putting it on my figment account and you all can read it there. When it's ready which won't be late into the new year, I'll let you guys know, and I'll give you a link to where you can read it.

After Nano was done I began to realize something. I really want to be a writer. I want to write novels, and stories and stuff for the rest of my life. Due to personal circumstances I am unable to return to school next semester, so the next semester will be focusing on writing, and getting my work out there.

Once I have a lot more pieces finished to my liking, I'll begin posting them onto a tumblr that I will be creating, and I'll give you guys the link to it when it's ready and has something on it.

But back to Nano. This year has been a lot of incredible firsts. I went to my first write in, I won for the first time, I wrote alongside other people for the first time. It's been amazing. I never knew how much I loved being able to have other writers to communicate with, and to work with. I hope to keep those friendships that I made through the course of this month.

It's a little bittersweet Nano being over. I came home from the write in, and I wanted to write more. Instead I went to sleep because it was like two in the morning. But I'll keep plugging away at this novel and who knows. It may be my first finished manuscript. I do have a ton of other ideas I want to write, with more time, those ideas will be my focus.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and happy writing to you. :)