Click Clack Click Clack

Dress: Simply Vera via blog sale; Belt: Luci Boutique; Shoes: ModCloth; Necklace: ?; Watch and Bag: Michael Kors; Sunglasses: Target

The little rubber piece of the heel of my right shoe has worn off, which is causing the annoying "click clack, click clack" sounds whenever I walk. I recently learned those can be replaced by a cobbler, though, which would've saved me from throwing out some shoes over the years. Unfortunately, I probably won't find the motivation to take them in anytime soon. I still have a pile of clothes from March probably that need to go to the dry cleaners.

This secondhand dress is a new purchase from Meggy. I bought it because the painted design of the dress kind of reminded me of this Kate Spade one except it's actually Simply Vera from Kohl's. And while I'm linking to things, the inspiration for the outfit as a whole came from this Style Block post. I'm in the market for an edgy belt like the one in that post, but the one I'm wearing works for now.

Lots of Outfit Changes

I have two monochromatic looks for today's Everybody, Everywear challenge, and here's why...

First, I tried on the white outfit for Inspiration Monday:

T-shirt: Express; Dress: bridesmaids dress; Shoes: swap

But I just wore this shirt last week, which was also my last outfit post. I washed it in between, but still. Also, this skirt - it's actually a bridesmaids dress I wore in '09, and I need to drop another 10 pounds before it fits comfortably. It zipped almost all the way, which was impressive, but I valued breathing too much to wear it while sitting at work all day.

So I attempted to stay monochromatic and changed into this:

Top: Luci Boutique; Pants: NY&Co; Shoes: Payless

The last time I wore this top, I was 6 months pregnant, so the bottom was a little stretched out, which is why I tucked it in. The pants are starting to get a bit baggy, too. Looks like it's almost time for me to go pants shopping again. Yay/boo.

Finally, I knew it would be too chilly in the office for a sleeveless top today, so I added a cardigan and called it a day. After changing pieces of my outfit half a dozen times, I got into work an hour later than usual. Whoops. Thank goodness for a somewhat flexible schedule. I don't know what I'd do without it.

And I just added this last one because I think my dog's expression is funny.

Inspiration Monday

Week Twenty-Four Weigh-in

Current Weight: 187.6 (down 3.8 lb this week, 17.4 lb overall)

It's a fluke. It has to be. There's no way with going to the state fair on Wednesday that I lost that much weight this week. Granted, I was pretty good the rest of the week, but still. Four pounds is unheard of unless I have the flu. It has to be  fluke.

But for now, I'm going to pretend it's not a fluke and that eating healthy this week will at least let me maintain that weight next week. Unfortunately, with this big loss of poundage, my daily allowance of points went down again. Ugh. Looking forward to a week of starving...

By the way, if true, this means that I'm down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Woohoo!!

My First Comic Con Experience

My friend E and I arrived about a half hour before doors opened for Wizard World Chicago Comic Con Saturday morning. Not knowing what to expect, we traded our daily tickets in for a hand stamp, accepted a bag full of World of Warcraft cups, and followed the enthusiastic con workers' directions into the general admission line.

A few minutes into our wait, they let in the VIPs.

At a couple minutes after 10:00, they began filing in the general admission folks. Although we were probably in the middle of the very large line, divided into rows, the line moved very quickly. That was pretty much the theme of the day - impressively efficient lines.

We decided to head to the photo op area first to get in line for our Joey Lawrence photo op at 11:15, and so that I could get checked in right away for my Tom Felton one at 11:30. On our walk, we spotted our first celeb of the day - Luke Perry, who was hanging out at his autograph table.

Once we found the photo op area, I asked the man there what I should do about my back-to-back photo ops. He recommended getting in line for Tom Felton's first. Or, he said, we could get in line for Joey first, then hurry to Tom's line. I decided the second option was a much better idea, but I was still nervous about them cutting of Tom's line. It turns out it was the right decision; Joey was long gone before Tom even started.

While we were (first!) in line for Joey Lawrence's photos, we heard some woo-ing and commotion from the other side of the photo op area. I popped up in time to see William Shatner walking in and waving to fans.

A little before 11:15, we saw Joey Lawrence walk by and behind the photo op curtains. I started getting inexplicably nervous. Maybe it was because he was super hot, buff, tan, and wearing a deep V. They led us to the opening of the curtains, and we chatted with the one of the security-type people while a couple people got photos before us.

The security guy said, "No crying now! But you can hug and kiss!"

I asked, "What about lick?"

He replied, "That's OK! ...Man, I should've been a celebrity!"

Haha, he was awesome. When it was our turn, we put our bags on the table and stood on either side of Joey. He didn't say anything, or even really look at us, but he put his arm about E. We both put our arms around Joey's back and felt how incredibly buff he was. Then, we probably said thank you and scurried away. It was all very fast and kind of a buzzkill. I don't know, maybe Joey was just having a bad day. I shouldn't judge.

Picture of a picture, stolen from E's facebook

Anyway, next E went off to try to get an autograph from Holly Marie Combs while I got in Tom Felton's very long line, which was divided up into two VIP rows and probably four general rows. I ended up in the middle of the last row.

While standing in line, I spotted Dean Cain going to his photo op in the other room. He's a good looking man, at least from afar (which is all I have to go on). From what I could see from his photo op, he looked smiley and light-hearted, too. I expected to have to wait awhile for my own photo op, but even with all those people, it only took about a half hour to get through the line. I was pretty nervous again, but at least I kind of knew what to expect. This time, I tried to be more proactive. I stuck my hand out and introduced myself.

"Hi, I'm Rebekah."
"Hi, I'm Tom. Nice to meet you." Haha, I'm always somewhat amused when celebrities introduce themselves. Like I just paid $50 to meet someone I didn't even know. But he was very polite and sweet.
"Nice to meet you, too."

We then took our picture, and he froze a second while the photographer checked to make sure it looked OK. Then we thanked each other, and I giddily walked away. For minutes later, I was shaking while I met up with E and posted about it my experience Twitter and Facebook.

Since we had a little bit of time to kill before checking out the Charmed Q&A panel, we walked around and did a little shopping. I bought a Spock bobble head for hubs, and I think that's all we found during that shopping endeavor. This might have been when I saw Bruce Campbell sitting at his table. I really wanted to get a picture of him for hubs, but I knew I'd get yelled at for taking pictures from the aisle.

We walked in to the Charmed panel maybe 5 or 10 minutes before it started and found a seat near the back. Although I only saw Charmed a couple times, and E's never seen it but is a fan of Holly on Pretty Little Liars, it was still a fun panel. Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause have great chemistry, and they were funny and liked to laugh themselves.

As we were exiting the room, I saw Randi, whom I was planning on meeting up with for lunch. We headed to the cafeteria to grab some food. Randi had already been at the con Friday, and was planning to go Sunday, so we got to hear all about her adventures thus far and about her plans for the rest of the weekend. She and E also chatted about their mutual interest in One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars.

After lunch, E and I made our way back to the programming rooms for Tom Felton's panel. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised that there was a huge line already with a half hour to go before it began. We got in line, and they started letting people in just before 3:00. I was a little concerned that they would have to cut the line off, especially when I heard a couple of girls in front of us talking about how that had happened to them before, but we made it in with plenty of room to spare in the large meeting room. We bolted to the seats on the right side and got about 10 rows back.

I planned on asking a question during the Q&A, so I jumped up and hurried to the microphone when the moderator announced where to line up. Again, I was about 10 girls back in line. Luckily, I had two questions ready to go because someone further up in line took my first one, which was asking about his music career. He said he was just doing it for fun and hoped to do more music eventually. He said he even had his guitar back in his hotel room, to which the whole crowd went, "awwwww." He was like, "I'm not sure why that's cute. It's not like it was a puppy." He's a funny guy. I've been trying to find a transcript or a summary of his Q&A session, and this is a pretty good one.

I was super relieved when no one took my second question, which you can see here (sorry for the blurriness):

So that was my second exciting interaction with Tom Felton for the day. My last goal was to get his autograph.

Our next scheduled event was E's photo op with Luke Perry at 5:30. We decided to finish walking the floor and see if there was anything else we wanted to spend our money on. I saw that Adrianne Curry, whom I was a fan of from America's Next Top Model Cycle 1, was at her table. I got in her line for an autograph. She was really chatty with her fans, which was awesome, but it took a little longer even though there were only a few people in front of me.

When I got up to the table, I passed her the headshot I purchased and told her I was a big fan of hers from Top Model. Not surprisingly, she quickly changed the subject and asked me my name. Since Top Model, she's kind of had a tumultuous relationship with Tyra and the show in general, and I think she's tried to distance herself from it all. She asked me if I had read the novel Rebecca and said she always thinks of that book when she hears the name. She explained that it was a really smartly written mystery novel, and she said she thought I'd like it. When I spelled my name for her, she seemed to think the spelling was pretty cool and held up the personalized picture for her friend at the booth to see. I was like, "It's from the Bible," and she said, "It's biblical!" Haha, it was kind of funny. Then, Adrianne asked if I had a camera, and she came to the front of the table to take a picture with me.

For those of you wondering (my husband was), yes, it was a little awkward taking a picture with a nearly naked lady. But I was just excited to meet someone from Top Model. There were quite a few scantily clad ladies there.

At some point, E also found a 90210 shirt to buy; and soon after that, she went over for her photo op, and I circled back and joined Tom Felton's autograph line. Because it was nearing the end of the day, the line was pretty short. Before I even had time to get my camera out and snap a couple pictures in line, it was already my turn to pay and get my wand box out to sign. I'll try remember what we said, but it won't be exact:

Me: That's not mine. (There was a photo with a post-it note that said "Allison" sitting in front of him.)
Tom: You're not Allison? I'm sensing...Rebekah. (My wand box was also in front of him, with a post-it note with my name on it.)
(He finished signing the picture, which for the girl in the booth with him.)
Tom: OK, Rrrrebekah.
Me: I was listening to your music on the way down here today.
Tom: Oh no, was it bad?
Me: No, I liked it. It was good. I thought the Hawaii songs kind of had a country western feel.
Tom: Yeah, maybe a little. They were supposed to sound Hawaiin, but they really didn't.
Me: Well, they kind of did.
Tom: They had the strings.
Me: Yeah, so are you ever going to do a tour?
Tom: No, no.
Me: You can play in my basement. That would be fine.
Tom: I'd like that. If I do a show, it'll definitely be in America.
Me: Awesome.
Tom: (pushed my wand box back) There you go. Use it wisely.

I think that was about it. I thanked him for the last time and went back to the photo op area to meet E.

The autograph line moved so quickly that I was back before the Luke Perry photos had even started. I chatted with E until she went in and then stood by the exit of the curtained area to peek in. Luke Perry seemed so nice from what I saw. He looked right into the eyes of everyone who approached as he shook their hands. He also helped a couple people in wheelchairs out of their chairs to come stand by him. What a guy. A few girls before E hugged Luke in their pictures, and I was excitedly waiting to see if E got a hug, too. Which she did! It was so cute! I've never watched 90210, but yet, I'm now somehow a Luke Perry fan.

Picture of a picture, stolen from E's facebook

It was a great way to end the day. We hung out at the charging station, sharing a beanbag chair, while we waited for her Luke Perry photo to be ready. It was ready a half hour later when we checked back, and then we headed home, getting a little lost on the expansive floor as we tried to find the exit.

I must say, if you were there for the comics, I don't know how you found anything. There were tons and tons and tons of comic stands with tons and tons of boxes at each one. It would take all day, at least, to go through all of them. I guess that's why it's a four-day event.

I will definitely be back for other comic cons in the future. Next time, depending on who's there, I may do the VIP option instead. For example, Tom Felton's VIP was $225, and it included admission to all four days. I paid a total of $135 for a single day admission, photo op, and autograph. It might be nice to pay extra for all that plus the perks of getting in lines first, and to have admission for more than one day. We'll see. Like I said, it probably depends on who's there at the next one.

But I'll definitely be back. Thanks to Wizard World, some regulars who answered all my questions beforehand, and especially Tom Felton, Luke Perry, and all the other celebs we saw! It was tons of fun!

I'd love to hear about your experience if you went this year.

State Fair 2012 Food Retrospective

Next year, I need to be a little more strategic. My plan this year was to eat very little during the day, then eat a ton at night. While good in theory, this plan actually caused me to get full pretty fast, which meant I couldn't  fully enjoy my two favorites that I saved for the end of the night. So my plan for next year is to eat the deep-fried Oreos first, then maybe something dinnery, then the cookie dough on a stick. Or even maybe skip the cookie dough on a stick next year (gasp!).

Anyway, my friends T and E and I decided to start the night with dinner-type food. E got the Reuben roll from Slim McGinn's I think, which she tasted last year and loved. T tried ravioli on a stick from Miller Lite Sports Bar, and she said it was just OK, but it didn't hold a candle to the toasted ravioli at the Big Screen Bistro inside the Marcus Majestic movie theater. My first food of the night was the Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. Machine Shed also had a bacon cheeseburger option, but I figured this was crazy enough already.

T was kind enough to take pictures of my first reaction (stolen from Facebook).

We tried it without ketchup first, and it tasted weird and not great — just how you would expect. It tasted like a doughnut on top of a burger. The ketchup really saved it. The condiment served as a nice buffer between the doughnut bun and the burger patty, and the sweetness of the doughnut just made the ketchup taste a little sweeter, a little like barbecue sauce without the tang. I would actually not be opposed to eating it again that way except that I'm sure there will be something else I want to try more next year. Also while we were at Machine Shed, T tried the deep-fried PB&J on a stick, and she loved it. I'll definitely have to get that next year.

Our next stop was Rupena's, where I bought deep-friend stuffing (pictured below), and E bought deep-fried mac and cheese (not shown). The deep-fried mac and cheese was sooo good. I would definitely get that again. As for the deep-fried stuffing with its side of gravy, it tasted just like Thanksgiving. I thought if they found a way to put turkey in there, too, it might be even better. Otherwise, for me, trying it once was enough.

We took a little break from food and each got something to drink. I got a Blue Moon, which tasted weird to me for some reason. Apparently Blue Moon doesn't pair well with stuffing on a stick.

Although we were all pretty full already, I had a couple more things I had to cross of my list. We located the deep-fried cookie dough at Emma's Cookie Kitchen and shared a plate of that. It had a wonton-like shell with the warm, gooey cookie dough in the middle, then was topped with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar with ice cream on the side. It sounds heavenly, and it was good, but we concurred that we preferred our cookie dough more solid and on a stick, in this case.

My phone died after this, and I didn't think to have the girls take pictures, but our next food picks were my still current state fair favorite – deep-friend Oreos – from some random stand and deep-fried pizza on a stick for E from Brew City. She intended to eat the pizza earlier, but we couldn't find where it was. I loved the Oreos of course, and the bite of pizza I had was pretty good. It wasn't something I'd get myself since sausage is one of the only pizza toppings I don't really care for.

I debated for awhile whether I actually wanted to close the night with the cookie dough on a stick or skip it. After walking around for awhile and letting our food settle, I decided to go for it. I went with chocolate chip dipped in butterscotch without nuts or sprinkles. Even sharing it among the three of us, we still couldn't finish it.

So that's it for this year! I'm definitely over fried foods for awhile.

How Tall Can You Get?

That's what hubby said to me yesterday morning while I was walking around in these tall-for-me wedges. This is why I have a height complex. We're the same height, and I may even be a hair taller but never admit it, so I tend to shy away from heels. I would say these are probably the tallest ones I have, and they're not even that high. You can see them from the side better in this post. I'm sure if I wore heels all the time, everyone (including myself) would get used to it, but yeah...no thanks.

T-shirt: Express; Skirt: ASOS; Sunglasses: Target; Shoes: NY&Co; Bracelet: Kate Spade

Besides being paranoid about the height thing, I was also a little self-conscious about my choice of wearing a sequined T-shirt to work (except you can't really see the sequins in the pictures), but I thought it was the best option among the three other tops I tried on. Then, I was exponentially more self-conscious when I ran in the VP of our division in the kitchen while getting hot water for my tea. She's always nicely dressed and corporately stylish, not just matching business suits, but still. We politely said good morning to each other, and I smiled as I walked out. When she didn't smile back, I was even more self-conscious. Normally, I just hide in my cube most of the day, and I'm thinking that may have been a good idea yesterday, too. Then again, maybe I'm overreacting...

The skirt I love, though. It's a new purchase and my first purchase from ASOS. I saw Lynzy from Sparkling Footsteps wearing it, clicked the link, confirmed that the skirt was on sale for $31, hesitated for a few minutes because I really didn't need another skirt, and ordered it in the end because it's yellow. So you're welcome for the commission, hehe. I love how she styled it, too. Next time, I'll have to try wearing it with my white lace top. That top must be in the laundry because I couldn't find it yesterday morning.

And yeah, I know these photos are terrible. This is after much editing and adjusting of settings, too. That's what I get for taking pictures under a tree.

Week Twenty-Three Weigh-in

Current Weight: 191.4 (down .6 lb this week, 13.6 lb overall)

Here's the problem. I never feel like entering points on the weekend. And I always feel like eating everything in sight on the weekend. Basically, I have to start saving all my points for Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen this week with state fair tomorrow (!!!).

To make up for my inevitably bad eating week, I decided to go for a run this morning. Not that it helps that much, but it's better than nothing. It does help me feel more energetic during the day. My knees hurt like crazy during today's run, and the dog was annoying as usual, but I'm still glad I did it. Depending on how late I stay up tonight, I may go again tomorrow. We'll see.

Speaking of energy, I've been coffee free for a week now. I got caffeine headaches the first two days; but by the third, I was good to go. Although I'm not sure how much difference it's making, I might as well continue with the lower caffeine content green tea. Maybe that's what helped me lose the half pound since I did kind of gorge myself last weekend.