MAGICCATJENNY

Found Favorites #14

My cousin Dianna started blogging again! Her latest Everyday Disney is villain themed so she's dressed as Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.


(via. Dianna Elyse Makeup)

Old school Hanson necklace? Um, yes please!

(via. PIXIandPIXIER)

I should really get on the flower crown trend, they're so pretty!

(via. Nessbowify)

I found Gala Darling's YouTube channel, and now I'm hooked! I would love to be able to go to Blogcademy one day. They have no LA dates on their calendar but man oh man, dream con...for real.

Why has it taken me this long to start watching Video Game High School? Seriously? It's so good!

J.

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Doodle More

It's 9 days into the new year and I have yet to start one super easy goal. Doodling, drawing, sketching, etc. I just want to take look at past drawings and hopefully inspire myself to get back into this stress relieving hobby. The above drawing is called 'Ike recording' and I drew it in 2003. It's Ike Hanson, of course, and it's not really a 'doodle'.

THIS is more of a doodle:

It's the Guild of Good! This is some early concept art for a short film I made in 2008, The Adventures of Merman and Josie. The super heroes are (from left) Back row: Merman, Mrs. Mist, Billdozer, Champ Wilson, Busta' Crimes, Detective Mystery, and Naked Man
Front row: Captain Karate, and Golden Boy (In the actual film Detective Mystery was cut.)

And now something really good:

This is one of my favorite drawings I've ever done. If you don't know who it is, you were probally not a teenager in the late 90s like me. So...yeah.

Anyways, the doodles I've been working on this past summer (and will continue to work on soon!) are not as polished as the silliness of the Guild of Good and no where near the beauty of my Hanson drawings. (If you want to see more...there's more) I'm still warming up. I hope you'll stick with me as I premere my doodle project in the upcoming months!

J.

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2014 Goals

1. JAPAN TRIP 2014!!

Kinda cheating since I already booked my flight...

2. Visit the MOCA.
Still...never been.

3. Premiere (at least) one new product per month on Nerdy Monsters.
(That's 12 new things!) I also want to keep up to-date with current products and eally get serious with my store this year.

4. Make new business cards.
MagicCatJenny & Nerdy Monsters

5. Double my followers on my blog and my YouTube channel.
Blog: 91 to 200
YouTube: 1k to 2k (Push goal: 5k...not sure how that could possible happen though.)

6. Doodle more.
I kinda sorta secretly started a doodle project a few months ago and had to put it on hold for a bit. I want to get back into it and finally show you guys.

7. Do the music thing.
I'm such a failure at this. I never seem to be able to keep up with any instrument and always forget how to play them. This year I'm gonna get back on track with the ukelele and actually record some songs I've been working on.

8. Stop stressing about YouTube.
Lets face it, I'm never going to be a full time YouTuber. It's going to be a hobby my whole life and I should not let my lack of success bother as much anymore. I'll still follow 'best practices' and put effort into my videos but I won't allow it to stress me out. (ie. Uploading every Wednesday; I'll aim for it but if it means neglecting relationships and responsibilities to upload a sub-par video on time, I'll take a break.)

9. Visit the California Science Center.
I feel like I've been here before as a kid but I could just be thinking of the Discovery Science Center which I know I've been to.

10. More fun photo shoots & do (at least) one outfit post a month.
I always love photo shoots with friends. The only problem is finding willing participants. I like doing both (taking photos and being the subject). What I'm going to do is start a list of great locations for photos shoots and try and actually plan these things with anyone who knows how to work a DSLR. (Any LA based friends reading this and are interested??)

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Dax - Star Trek (Deep Space 9)

This makeup was done in August 2008, entirely with a eyeliner pencil. It's Dax from Star Trek: Deep Space 9. All I remember is knowing she was one of Jim's favorite characters and deciding on a whim to try it out. At the time it was my most viewed upload on deviantART. (I have not been on my account in forever, it may still be number one.) Since I did this makeup I've gotten more and more into Star Trek. I'm watching Next Generation right now and I just love it! It's been really exciting going through my archives, finding old makeup designs I haven't looked at in a while. Look forward to more flashbacks this year on my blog. Perhaps we'll even catch up on old cosplay and makeup this year!

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2013 Goals: Results

January of 2013 I wrote down 13 goals. I treated it as a LA bucket list in case I was planning to move the next year. (No plans to do so yet.) So it's time to review that big post and see what I accomplished, revised, and just plan forgot about over the last 12 months.

1. Take a boat ride with Jim.
This was a Christmas 2012 present promise so I had no doubt it would come true. I did not, however, account for the fact I could change my mind. We were all set to go one weekend and we didn't. For one, it was overcast and I did not want the chance of rain. Also, it was going to be more expensive than I had imagined. What we ended up doing was going to the Griffith Observatory instead (see #6) and save our money for Japan instead. (see #13)

2. See Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Nuart, dressed up.
Did this twice! It was weird, but a blast!

3. Eat at 10 new restaurants in LA. - I decided to include bars if I got food there ;)
OK, so I know I ate at 10 (probably more) new places last year, but after number 8 I stopped recording them...so I say this one is completed.

1. Sake House By Hikari B (good sushi, but nothing special)
2. Jackson Market and Deli A+ (amazing sandwiches! It's also a way cool convenience store)
3. Susan Feniger's STREET A- (loved it, but way expensive)
4. E K Valley C (not bad but not great)
5. The Edison A+ (such atmosphere! Only had fries for food but the cocktails were great)
6. Tusquellas Fish & Oyster Bar B (decent fish tacos)
7. Victor Jr's. B (pretty good pizza but not my favorite)
8. Blind Barber A (love the speakeasy/behind an actual barbershop thing & the grilled cheeses are amazing!)

4. Visit the LACMA.
Yes! We did! We also got to see the Stanley Kubrick exhibit and it was my favorite! See photos from that day here.

5. Visit the MOCA.
No!!! I'll be moving this to my 2014 goals for sure!

6. Go on a date with Jim to the Griffith Observatory.
It was so fun! It was my second time there and Jim's first. We did have to park a long ways down the hill and it was murder on my foot, but we had fun and Jim read all the plaques (as always!)

7. Re-start 'The Jemima Project'.
Ha! I don't know if I'll ever complete this goal...I want to, but it's always so far down on my list and that part of my life my just be over...sad. I still have that cosplay channel on YouTube that I'm not sure what to do with, but we'll see. (I'm putting my CATS costuming supplies on watch, if I don't use them in the next year, I'm going to sell them...)

8. Sell something in my Etsy store or another online selling platform.
I did it! I made my first Etsy sale! I wrote about it here.

9. Be more present in the blogging community & gain more GFC and Bloglovin followers.
At the start of 2013 I had 3 Bloglovin followers.
Halfway through 2013 I had 71.
Now I have 91.
Not bad not bad, I'd love to double (or triple, or quadruple!) that number in 2014!

10. Take a photo an hour once a month.
DONE!

January

February

March

April

May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

11. Finish the first book in my 'The London Jellicles' series.
Yeahhhhh no. Uggg. I love CATS, it was my first fandom. I'll always see it when it's in town and never stop loving it...but I just don't know if I'll ever finish that story.

12. Read 25 books, 10 new to me.
I stopped this goal. I love reading for pleasure but with the pressure to do it super fast and not at my own pace. (I read in my head the speed I would read out loud and apparently that's slow?) I did read a ton and enjoyed every moment. Oh how I love books!

13 . Go to Japan.
This did not happen this year...but it will in 2014!!! I can't wait!

I'll be posting my 2014 goals later this week. Thanks for reading!
J.

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4 Simple Goals *before 2014: Results!

One of my favorite lifestyle blogs, A Beautiful Mess, did their 4 Simple Goals tag again a the end of the year. Seeing as it's 2014, lets see how I did! You can read my first post about this here and read my progress post here.

(Image credit: Rikard Fröberg)

1. Buy a succulent. I got one! It was a gift from my dad for Christmas. He got one for my mom as well. He picked out the planter and planted and arranged the succulents. It was so perfect!

2. Inbox zero. I kept getting really close to this, but then Project For Awesome happened and my inbox exploded. (I have a short clip of John Green mentioning my channel in my 2013 Recap video!) I'd like this to happen before the end of the month though.

3. Complete one more 2013 Goal. Done! I'll post about them next week. ;)

4. Rethink my shoes. So, I wore flats to New Years. I really can't wear heels anymore. I got a pair of nice Steve Madden boots from Jim for Christmas and I've been wearing them almost every day. I'm going to count this goal as completed. My foot is not fixed yet, but I'm taking care it it.

Three out of four, not bad. And the reason for the failed goal is actually an achievement, so I'm very satisfied with '4 Simple Goals' this year.
J.

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A Year in Review - 2013

Alright, so I've done a post about my personal year review, now it's time to review the blog. I'm sure everyone's read a ton of these posts already so I'll stick to the hits. If you compare this year to the last, I've defiantly upped my game as a blogger, but I still have a long way to go. Here's to 2014, may it be a grand year for blogging!

My most popular post from 2013 was my post about the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club.

My most popular craft post was these Harry Potter Inspired Winged Key Necklaces.

I started to post old photos from My Makeup Hobby, but there are still quite a few I still need to post.

I premiered the It's So Easy Bein' Me music video I made for the band Artichoke.

My Harry Potter craft fair experience was two days so it warranted a two great posts.

I said goodbye to DailyBooth with a few favorite selfies from the site.

My friends and I went to RenFair.

My cousin got engaged!!! What? This was a big family milestone.

Jim and I traveled to New York City and I captured our time there via photo. Here are the 4 posts I made about our trip. 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

2013 was the year I started doing outfit posts. More than half were casual cosplay, but are you really surprised? I want to do more outfit posts next year, casual cosplay and not. (links below)

1. Snow White and Rose Red

2. T-Shirt and Jeans

3. Jenny Lewis Dress

4. What to Wear to Watch Doctor Who

Thanks for reading, see you in 2014!
J.

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This Year I...

Inspired by Kaylah's "This year I..." post I decided to make my own! I kinda did it last year except I called it A Year in Photos)
Since 2013 is almost over, here we go, This year I...

dyed the tips of my hair pink before chopping it off