A Month and a Half Gone

I have been so busy over this last month.  When I started this blog a few months ago I was determined to update a few times a week with interesting tidbits of my life.

Instead I managed to get so busy not having a life that I didn't have time, or anything interesting, to post on here.  I'm going to blame it on school.  I have finally past midterms and am a little over a month before graduating.  School has been keeping me on my toes.  Projects and exams every week!

The only thing I'm focusing on besides school is NANOWRIMO.  NANOWRIMO is National Novel Writing Month.  Every year thousands of people each try to write 50,000 words of fiction that have never been written/worked on before between November 1st and November 30th.  You get absolutely nothing but a digital badge if you complete the goal but it is a great way to force yourself to sit and write.  So far I have written 16,213 words for a novel I started barely three days ago.

This is the first year I have actually participated.  Normally I get all geared up and ready to write but find that finals and projects get in the way.  This year I have been unable to stop writing for anything so I am determined to earn my badge!

missmandapanda♥

Another Week Gone

This past week has been just as busy as the last.  I have been up between 6 and 7 am every morning, which isn't too big of a deal I know but I only get a couple of hours a sleep a night so I cherish sleeping in when I can, and in almost every occasion I actually had to be somewhere by 7, awake and ready to be busy.

On Saturday morning my dad and I built a fence for our yard.  It was a nice day out and we were up early to go get the supplies and get them home before it became sunny out.  It rained the night before so it was pretty muddy.  On the up side I took a few cute pictures on my phone of some little mushrooms that had grown out of the old fence before we cut it down.

 

So few of the pictures turned out well because my phone, while great, can't take extremely close up shots.

Another big for me this week, I had to keep going back to the dentist because a filling didn't completely stick so he had to replace it.  Good news: I can finally chew on that side of my mouth again without wanting to cry.

I have been doing a lot of novel reading recently and my latest re-read was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.  It is one of my favorite books, and extremely well written.  Within the next few days I'm going to add a review of the book and one of the BBC adaptions (featuring the fabulous Toby Stephens!).

A quick look at a part of the fence we built Saturday.  Pretty good job I think. ;)

missmandapanda

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is probably my favorite play in Shakespeare.  I can  never actually pick which one I love more but this one is definitely in the top three.  Last night I watched the 1996 version and absolutely loved it!  It is about a set of twins who are separated and each thinks the other is dead.  The sister, Viola, pretends to be a man to live safely and falls in love with Duke Orsino, the man she is serving.  Orsino however is in love with Olivia who doesn't love him and sends Viola to woo her in his stead, which causes Olivia to fall in love with Viola in her male form.  Eventually her brother Sebastian turns back up on the scene and hilarity ensues.

The cast was a fantastic selection.  Imogen Stubbs played Viola, Helena Bonham Carter played Olivia, Toby Stephens played Duke Orsino, Steven Mackintosh played Sebastian, and the fabulous Ben Kingsley played Feste.

I was excited when I found that Ben Kingsley was playing the Jester, and that Stubbs and Mackintosh were actually convincingly similar enough in looks to play twins.  Typically I see that the brother and sister look nothing alike and the whole point is that she more or less becomes her brother.  The rest of the cast also does a fantastic job with their roles, adding some convincing mischief to the side stories.

I give it an A!

And not just because Toby Stephens is in it ;)

missmandapanda

Another busy week!

I had planned on updating a few times this week, but life (an impromptu over night trip to Austin and Fashion's Night Out runway show) happens.

Tuesday afternoon my friend and I were planning on chilling and watching Limitless together.  Once all our guy friends started showing up it became more of a random hang out that turned into "GET IN THE DAMN CAR WE'RE GOING TO AUSTIN!"  Since I was the only one who didn't get to go home and pack clothes, I borrowed a dress and we left.  We finally got there around 11 pm and went straight to 6th street till Last Call.  After one of the best meals ever, we headed back to the hotel so they could get some sleep (I got about an hour and a half!).  Then on the road asap back home because my friend and I had class that day.

We got to our room, bonus points to one of the guys for getting us the hook up, did a little dance, then headed out.  First drinks of the night in that pic.

That food up there is pancakes with an English muffin covered in eggs, bacon, something else I'm sure, and queso!  DELICIOUS!!!  The view from our room (That's the state capitol building right down the street!)  The guys half awake on the way home.  They were mad we made them get up from sleeping earlier.

We also made a trip with these same guys, and a few more, to Fashion's Night Out in Dallas.  It's an event held in a few select cities in the country.  The Galleria, where it was held, has North America's longest runway at a quarter of a mile long.  Some model friends said they walked around five miles over the course of the night!  More on this night another time! :)

Here's a pic I really love that I took at the restaurant we ate at in Austin:

Not extremely clear but my favorite of the night!

Now I need to get some exam studying done so this is where I must reluctantly end!  Ta-ta for now :)


+missmandapanda

Officially the worst updating ever.

So I said in my last update that I was hoping to post a picture everyday for my last semester of college as a bit of a personal documentation of my last few months before I had to go out in to the real world, and I failed HORRIBLY!

My 5 classes are already consuming all of my time and it's only been a week and a half.  I knew this was coming, it is after all my last semester and it consists of my hardest classes, but I was silently hoping I would be able to at least post every other day.  To make it more difficult, almost all of my professors will not allow laptops into the classroom unless you have special permission, translation: I know you won't pay attention if I let you have a computer so no computers!

Some of our drinks.  We we're waiting for our food.

On Thursday, in between class and a homework group meeting, I went to lunch with my friends to celebrate one of them finally turning 21.  So of course that means we're heading to their favorite place, Fuzzy's Tacos, and all having drinks with tacos.  Couldn't see the taco part coming could you?  Anyway, it was a blast and I was sad to have to go back to school to do work.

I had a Margarita Swirl, and two shredded pork tacos, all of which was delicious!

missmandapanda

Tomorrow I start my last semester in college.

Maannnnnnnn.  I'm joining the real world after this semester.  Scary!

For the last semester of my college life, I've decided to do a photo collection of every day until I graduate.  Which theoretically means I should have at least one new post each day the rest of the semester!  I also hope to do a section chronicling my happenings at/around school.  It's going to be my hardest semester ever so here's hoping I have time to even have something to talk about! :)

More on all this later, surprisingly, or not, I already have to get started on studying for class.


ϟmissmandapanda

Shouldn't have, But couldn't help it.

I just bought this Pride and Prejudice fleece from Out-of-Print.

Originally I had wanted to get it in this really pretty wine/violet/plum color, but it was out of stock by the time I was going to order.  I shouldn't have ordered this but I LOVE sweat shirts and this had to have been the most perfect one for me, a Jane Austen one!!!

Even better, Out-of-Print is a web based clothing/accessories store that donates a book to charity for each item it sells.  How can you not want to buy something that helps literacy???

All of the items are recreations of out-of-print classic book covers (Oh! Now their name makes sense! lol jk).  They run out quickly, and most items are a limited run.  If you love to read, or just like awesome clothes, go check them out!


ϟmissmandapanda

Jane Eyre 2011 Movie Review

Yesterday I finally got to see the new Jane Eyre movie starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.
I have been waiting months for it to come to a theater near me (which everyone promised it would soon) and then last Friday I found out it was being released on dvd already! (And at that moment I immediately ordered it off Amazon.)  I was beyond excited!  Especially since the limited theatrical release only came to one theater for a few shows over an hour away and I couldn't go.  Well on to the review!

I read Jane Eyre for the first time over ten years ago and was in love with the utterly human Rochester.  He condemns himself to a sad life of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders for a lie forced on him in his youth.  He is a complex character that no simple actor could pull off.  But Michael Fassbender does a fabulous job.  Mia Wasikowska was lovely as the tragically plain Jane Eyre.  She did well in capturing Jane's little quirks and her wit.  Even better was the fact that the actress playing Jane Eyre, for once, was actually Jane's age, or at least only a year or two older.

All in all the movie was wonderfully done, the cinematography to die for, and even though liberties were taken here and there they managed to add in some of my favorite lines straight from the book.  I would have loved to see some of the deleted scenes in the movie.  It is a little obvious, if you've seen previous Jane Eyre adaptions, that they took a few ideas from old versions but they were all good parts worth copying.

I give it an A

-I think I'm going to go watch it again now ;)


ϟmissmandapanda

So Sorry!

This past week I have been really busy.  I'm currently working on a better look for this blog and because I am completely untalented in this area I am taking forever to get things up to scratch. 

So in the mean time here is a picture of me being completely retarded a couple of days ago while I was taking a break:

Okay so its blurry and not really that retarded but I didn't really take any retarded pictures that time lol.

Be back soon!

ϟmissmandapanda

Hair day!

So today I'm doing hair modeling for a lovely girl who cut my hair short last month.  She is a student about to finish her courses in hair and makeup and is taking one of her major exams this afternoon.  She has to have a live model so she asked me!  She has already had me doing portfolio work for her so I'm excited to be doing live work for her.

The only sad part is that I think my hair looks great today already and I'm sad to have it changed!  But its like playing dress up when you're a kid and that was one of my favorite things to do.

She likes to do 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s looks for her hair styles, good thing since my hair is so short.  I don't have any pictures from our last portfolio session when she was trying out a hair style she hadn't attempted before.  It was big!  The look was more like early 1900s late 1800s to me than what she originally went for but it was still cute.  I actually liked it better after I took a lot of the top down and just pinned it simply back.  It looked like I had my hair done in a more Regency Style which I adore. 

In the mean time I do have a couple of pics of my hair when I first did hair modeling five years ago at some big hair styling expo in Dallas.  Unfortunately they were both taken by me on my phone so they aren't high quality.

That is from after I got home that day.

This one was from right after I finished modeling at the show (so much lipstick!  I took it off as soon as I got in my car.).  They make you walk around forever showing off the cut and style, so I ran into the bathroom to take a quick pic before it would get messed up when I left.

It's a dark brown with red tint, a little darker than my own hair, and although you can't see it they gave me "hot roots" meaning they made my roots on the crown of my head a much brighter color than the rest of the hair.  It's almost like growing out the color you would normally have on your ends.  I loved the cut but since I have really curly hair I spent a lot of time straightening it since it was cut weird for a curly style. :(

I change my hair on a monthly basis.  Usually I just dye it different or, more often than I should I'm sure, I cut it.  Typically I cut it myself, everything from trimming my bangs to full on cuts like an almost pixie look to bobs, etc.  I have a really hard time finding someone who knows how to cut curly hair and after quite a few disasters in my life I just started doing it myself.  I also do all my own coloring.  When I was younger my sister and I would help do each other's hair for the more complicated dyeing.  One summer we had a wonderfully hysterical time streaking my hair four different neon colors (red, pink, purple, blue) all over so I didn't have any natural hair color left!  It was our first time not doing all over color and we butchered the aluminum foil strips used to keep colors from mixing and instead of folding them we ended up with a bunch of wadded up aluminum balls.  That is something I wish I had pictures from. 

I do have a description from an old (and very unique) high school friend who first met me when I had solid pink hair the year before, one day he tried to describe my hair to someone who had never seen it without a natural color.  This is what he wrote:

"I remember sophomore year I came in and it was a cacophony of epic win and pretty colors, like some one had taken the 60's as a whole and applied the concept as a cranial accessory."

This guy has such an interesting way with words!  I swear that is actually what he wrote.  He also wrote this about my hair, not as beautiful sounding but definitely an original description:

"It's had an unfathomable amount of color. It is as if a rainbow ( a pretty one mind you ) shat color on to her hair. Several times. A hair dye shitting rainbow fairy if you will."

With unique hair comes very unique friends I guess?  Haha This guy is a great man, and probably one of the smartest people I know.  (Seriously, who do you know that made almost a perfect GED score over a year after dropping out of high school and without studying?  Amazingly ridiculous how smart he is.)

I may do a bit of a timeline of my hair styles if I can dig up enough photos.  One thing people always remembered me for was my hair, always different, always unique.  Haha.

And with such a long post already written I'm going to stop here and get to work on some other projects of mine!  Till next time!

ϟmissmandapanda

Foodie Friday

 
I have been terrible about updating this past week, what with all of the problems with my internet being off and other matters.  So here I am doing a brief catch up before showing my new Friday theme!

I have been pretty busy getting school set up for my FINAL semester.  Buying my parking permit and uselessly hoping I can find suddenly open classes so I can rearrange my terrible schedule and have class at a decent hour everyday, and waiting by the mailbox for my lovely check from my loans to arrive. (It hasn't gotten here yet either :/) I also spent some much needed time with my wonderful mother Wednesday for a 'Mother Daughter Day'.  We had lunch, visited a Borders for some of their closeout books, and spent the rest of the time thrifting!  I love thrifting and grew up wearing and using things bought at resell/thrift shops.  My mom is a firm believer in not having to pay full price if at all possible, no matter how much it already costs or you want it.  For proof I turn to the thousands of dollars in name brand (Ralph Lauren Polo being her favorite) clothing she bought on her own in high school and college she NEVER paid full price for.  I have inherited this wardrobe, which could easily fill a whole closet, and her lovely thrifting skills.  BUT this topic is probably best for another day/post, so lets move on to today's project!

Foodie Friday!

I eat a lot and often take pictures of everything I like.  So on Fridays I shall post my eats for the week, what I had and what I wish I could have. 

                             Luna Lovegood frapp                                  Butterbeer frapp

I drink a lot of Starbucks.  I usually go a few times a week and read or work on something.  This week I was bound and determined to try a frappuccino floating around online that was supposed to taste like a cold butterbeer from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I was going to try one yesterday but when I went to a Barnes & Noble Starbucks cafe to get the frapp the staff had made a Harry Potter themed frapp of their own!  It was called the "Luna Lovegood" and was a combination of the mocha and strawberry frapps.  It was delicious and funky (like Luna).  Today I ventured back out to my favorite Starbucks to get the butterbeer frapp and no surprise it was delicious as well! 

When the average temperature is from 105 to 111 degrees frapps are the Starbucks drinks of choice.  But every once and a while you get a free venti white mocha when another customer forgets their drink.  Bonus for being a regular. (The secret is that they have to remake a drink fresh if it has been sitting on the counter for more than a couple of minutes and isn't claimed.  Often they just give it to whoever is paying attention and wants it!)

Wednesday I went to Steak n' Shake with my mom.  I had the Spicy Jalapeno Chipotle burger (top) and she had the Mushroom n' Swiss (bottom).  Sweet tea is a must on hot days in Texas, or any day really.

Yesterday I had 5 Guys for lunch.  It's a burger joint with a bit of a following (like In-N-Out but not that famous) and it's really good.  Looks real messy but I promise it's worth it!  I've only been twice, the first time on my birthday in June, and the card I made is still on the board!

 

I usually have a pretty big midnight snack/meal every night.  Chai tea with an orange.  Grilled cheese, Oreo's, and a bottled root beer (on a Little Mermaid plate!).  Sushi my sister got but gave to me.  A root beer with vanilla, Cheez-its, Trolli Sour Bite Crawlers, Oreo's, Pay-Day, and an apple (2 am gas station run).

 

Slurpee!!!

Well it's already getting late so I should hurry and post this before it's Saturday!  Night!

ϟmissmandapanda

I'm gonna beta test POTTERMORE!!!

I AM SO EXCITED!

After staying up most of the night the Pottermore site finally opened and, 14 hours ago, I managed to solve the clue, find the quill, and get my account email!  It's OFFICIAL!  Now everyone has to wait until they decide to officially open the site before we can actually mess around with Pottermore.

I am hoping to get a chance at another account because I'm having trouble accessing my email account.  BUT I still have access to the account so I have everything read to go!

ϟmissmandapanda

Pottermore

THIS IS ALL I'M SEEING WITH TEN POTTERMORE WINDOWS OPEN!

I'm so sad right now.  I had to go to my grandmother's so I could use the internet since mine is still down at home.  I wasn't sure if the website would open at midnight my time or midnight UK time and I'm assuming with all of this traffic it's already open in the UK.

Please let me in Pottermore!!!

ϟmissmandapanda

So my internet is down...

As of right now I have no internet at home so I'm updating quickly from Starbucks.  We are getting new equipment and at the earliest it will be here by Monday. :(

In the mean time I'm going to show a really quick diy project I did before I head out of here to see the Captain America movie with my dad.

I was trying to be more organized in my room and every time I do that I try to find some new way to rearrange the furniture and do crafts to make my space look cute instead of cluttered.  I LOVE earrings.  I like statement earrings a lot and when I wear them I keep them the focus of my jewelry.  I usually throw them on my side table or in a jewelry box where they become cluttered and I start forgetting about older pairs with them hidden away.  So I decided to make them more of a visual display and decoration in my room.

Supplies: A wire (any kind will work) hanger, pipe cleaners (10 to be safe, more if you have a thicker hanger)

Step 1:  Wrap the pipe cleaner around the wire and twist it around 5 times to make the desired width.

Step 2:  After the 5th wrap make a circle with the pipe cleaner and twist the top of the circle a few times so it will make it keep its shape.

Step 3:  Keep repeating Steps 1 and 2 until finished.  When you finish with one pipe cleaner twist its end with another new pipe cleaner to keep it from looking patchy.

Viola!  A cheap, but functionally cute earring holder.

Here is a look at a sad first experiment at using paper clips (which hold well but slide around).

Well that's all I can get posted today so I'm heading out!  Till later!

ϟmissmandapanda

Dumbledore's Army DIY Shirt

I made this shirt for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 showing.  We saw DHp2 the day before its release, and spent a good amount of time in a crowded line with a bunch of other 'Potterheads' all decked out in costumes and hand made fan shirts.  A few times I was asked where I bought my shirt, only to surprise them and say I made it a couple of days before.  It's a real simple design and the hardest part is making the custom stencil.  It was a pain in my bum.

Supplies: shirt, fabric paint, brush, computer/printer, exacto knife, clear tape, and something to measure with.

Step 1:  I picked the font I wanted to use for the lettering (Collegiate Heavy Outline) and typed up what I wanted: 'Dumbledore's Army,' 'Potter,' and a '7.'  Then print.  Before you print make sure you have the lettering the size you want to have it on the shirt.  Measure the shirt, best if you have the shirt on so you can see how things are spaced on the shirt once you're wearing it, and then use the ruler on Word (or whatever program you're using) to roughly size it to your shirt measurements.

Step 2:  Since I just printed the stencil out on regular paper I put a layer of clear tape across the design so it wouldn't rip and would be a little bit more stiff so I could cut it and not have the paint stick too much.  I then cut out all of the letters with an exacto knife (THE TEDIOUS/WORST PART), careful to leave small pieces attached to the center of letters like 'o' and 'b' so I wouldn't fill in the parts when I painted over it.  I wanted to paint the thin outline of each letter as well, but when it came time to cut that out or paint it very carefully freestyle I decided it was 4 in the morning and it looked cool enough (I get way too creative around midnight and start projects like this).

Step 3:   I taped the stencil to the shirt, I put double sided tape underneath it to keep some pieces like the center of the 'o' from raising up and letting paint under, and then I started painting!  You may need to do a few layers of paint, let it dry a little bit before you add a new layer.  I used Tulip Soft Metallic in gold for the paint.  I really liked this paint, it was very gold and shiny when it was done.

 

Step 4:  Let the paint dry for at least twenty minutes to half an hour and then I suggest carefully taking the stencil off while the paint is still a little moist.  This way the stencil doesn't dry to the shirt and lettering.  I would keep the exacto knife handy for this part so you can use it to help pull the stencil off in places it's sticking.  After the stencil is off fill in the spots on the letters where you had to leave a line to hold the center of the 'o' etc.

Step 5:  Let it dry over night.  It says at least 4 hours laying flat on the paint bottle.  I did the front side early that night then did the other side after the front was dry.

Step 6:  Do any touch ups like edging or making sure none of the stencil is left behind.

 

Step 7:  Wear the shirt everywhere lol :)

ϟmissmandapanda

I just got a new webcam!

I'm setting it up later today so I can make my video.  Right now I'm at Starbucks working on random stuff as usual.  (More like taking pics of myself for no reason lol)


My best friend just got on his flight to Taiwan. He is going to teach English for a year (maybe two years) and I already miss him. Good chance I'll talk about him on here, and if he gives me pictures from his stay I'll probably put some up just so I can gush about him.

In the mean time I finally found out who will be teaching which of my classes for my last semester. I'm happy with quite a few, except one. I've had the teacher before and he kind of went crazy after half a semester. He spent the second half finding new ways for us to do ungodly amounts of work because he was mad. But I liked him up until that point. FYI: I am a total teacher's pet. He was surprised when I told him how old I was, I thought it was cause everyone thinks I'm younger than I am, he said he couldn't believe my age because he thought I was older only because of how I spoke. Apparently he thought I was much more mature, well read, and educated sounding than students my age; told you, total teacher's pet. The best part was when he said he wasn't sure what my heritage was, I like to hear that I look like one of a kind, haha. He thought I must be asian (I'm white), at least half because he said my eyes were extremely distinctive (a little weird coming from my teacher but people make this comment a lot). I told him I wasn't, I'm just of regular old school European decent.  Then he decided I must be Irish or Scottish since my eyes were so green, and my hair looks reddish brown. I'm actually both, and Welsh (and all the other European groups), and possibly Native American through a great-great grandmother that looked like the model for Pocahontas.

You know now that I've actually written that convo out from my teacher I'm kinda weirded out by the whole thing. lol

I'm thinking of possibly posting chapters to a story I'm starting on here. I'm not sure if I'll make them actual posts or if I'll just post them by themselves on their own side page.  I'm sure if anyone actually wants to come to this page they won't want to have a huge random story chapter all the time. 

I'm hoping to start getting some basic designs down for some screen printed shirts I want to make.  I'm going to be figuring out how to do the screen printing by hand asap.  I used to just paint or draw everything by hand on to a shirt but I think I just want to try making it a little more professional.  When I get the pictures off my phone I'll post some shots of when I was making a "Dumbledore's Army" shirt for the Harry Potter movie a couple of weeks ago.

Till then!

ϟmissmandapanda

My first post on here!

I had started a blog a month ago but when this name came up to buy as a .com I couldn't help but move it to this page instead!

My name is Amanda (hence the missmandapanda name) and I'm a university student finishing up a degree in Marketing.  I'm always on the internet, usually reading something totally random on wiki/imdb/or some other site.  I wanted to find a place to put more of my personal findings or happenings besides Tumblr where I update 24/7.  This blog will feature many varying topics: food, art, diy, life, photography, random musings, books, and probably movie/tv ramblings.  Time to escape if you don't want to hear about any of the above!

I will soon be doing an about me video post to introduce myself to any one out there who wants to watch. :)

For now you can find me in these places:

Tumblr
Twitter

ϟmissmandapanda