BYU vs. ND

Yay, second immediate ND reaction post in a row! Whew, big sigh of relief over here. ND pulled out a close win in a battle game against BYU. They are now 7-0 & still in the conversation. ND's fate is in their own hands & if they manage to win all of their games then they WILL be in the National Championship game. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Game of Thrones gif post? Yeah!

I didn't expect ND to come out this flat & sloppy for the game. The stupid & rather unnecessary personal fouls were really driving me crazy. But I'll give it to BYU, they really played a good game against ND. Their QB is really good & made me miss the mobility of Golson. BYU's little cupcake passes were really torching ND for a bit there. I was definitely getting nervous & yelling at my tv a bit too much.

Sometimes ND frustrates me, ok?

Thankfully ND really came through in the second half. The o-line, especially, did a very good job at imposing their will on BYU & eventually wearing them down in the 4th. Riddick had a fantastic game, so did Cierre, with both RBs reaching over 100 yards today. I was, as always, nervous about Rees playing. I think anyone that has watched ND during 2010-2011 gets nervous when Rees plays. But it was a good idea to protect Golson after his concussion last week.  We definitely need Golson in full form next week.

The D really stepped up. It's so strange to have a great defensive after years of having D problems. KLM, Nix & Te'o had really good games again. I was really happy for Spond as well. He has really stepped up this season. I'm glad for that Te'o's that ND beat BYU. Manti has received a lot of heat from that school ever since he picked ND over them. It's as if they believe that because of his religion he was bond to them. It's not like the guy has the freedom to choose whatever school/team that best fit him or anything.

We'd be rollin'.

ND heads to Norman next week to play Oklahoma in primetime. Boy howdy, I have been scared of this game since last year. OU is OU & playing them at home is nearly impossible. This will be ND's biggest test of the season. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I don't know how ND will fair against OU, but that game will for sure tell everyone if ND is truly back. Win that game & silence everyone.

It's just a gold helmet, that's all.

Go Irish!

Stanford vs. Notre Dame

What was that? I'm still in a state of shock over how ND won that game. I'm also still coming down from the adrenaline rush, holy moly. Once I calmed down a little from my excitement, I thought to myself, "I really need to listen to Eye of the Tiger. Haha, I don't know why. It just feels like an Eye of the Tiger moment. Now, you do the same.

Perfect for this moment, right?

Let's get to this immediate game reaction post. Stanford vs. Notre Dame was a hard fought battle kind of game. A lot of turnovers, a lot of dropped passes & a lot of poor passes were plentiful for both teams. It was also full of hard fought runs & great defensive stands. Basically, it's the game that I expected to happen today, especially considering it was raining for the entire game. Like I said a few weeks ago, I love football in the rain. I love the grit of it. Football is rain & mud, when you can tell how good a player is by how filthy his jersey is. But I digress, back to the game.

I would be lying if I said I didn't worry about ND. It was definitely a stressful game to watch. I was really doubting Kelly at the end of the 4th when it was clear ND was going for the tie with a FG instead of trying to punch it in for a TD at the end to win it. I also got really scared when Golson was knocked out of the game & Rees came in. I was really nervous about playing Stanford in OT. Basically I was a bundle of nerves, that's what I'm trying to tell you. But ND fought with all they had the entire game.

ND had the first possession in OT & scored a TD. Then Stanford came back & eventually marches to the 1 yard line. 3rd down & they ran it up the gut, ND stopped them, 4th down. Do or die, game on the line. Stanford runs again, ND stops again. Game over! ND WINS! The ND players are euphoric against a rain soaked background & the ND students start to rush the field. Hold on, the refs are going to review it. Both teams go back to the sidelines & the fans are pushed back into the stands. NBC replays the final play over & over again. Apparently the Stanford player was initially stopped short of the goal line, but he kept churning his legs & twisting. At some point he reached over & it looked like he was able to get his hand & the ball in the endzone, but by doing this he also fumbled into the endzone. The question is if he maintained control of the ball before he broke the line, at least that's what Mayock kept asking. Meanwhile, I kept shouting at my tv about when the ref blew the whistle to stop said play. If the play was already blown dead then it wouldn't matter how much the guy churned & twisted.

& this seals it. His elbow was down before the goal line. This gif was sure made fast.

After it seemed like 30 mins, the ref finally came out & I held my breath the whole way through. He stated that there was no foul on the field for excessive celebration because ND had thought the game was over at that point. I was sitting there like, "there was an excessive celebration flag?". Then he said the call on the field stands & the game is over. ND WINS! For real this time.

Does any of this make any sense? Sorry, I'm still so excited & I'm writing this rather rushed. But hey hey, ND 6-0! BCS tomorrow. & I'm outta here. Have a good weekend, internet!

Halloween: Xena's Chakram Tutorial

This is a DIY Xena's Chakram Halloween post, I'm pretty excited about it.  This was one of the reasons why I wanted to start a blog in the first place.

Hello, Lucy Flawless.

 I was Xena for Halloween 2 years ago (yay!Xena!) & I was able to find her costume pretty easily. I tried it on at Party City & then bought it for $30 cheaper on Amazon. This is the one I bought, but it was cheaper 2 years ago, figures. I think it's a really great costume & it's pretty good quality too, especially considering it's a basic pre-packaged one.

Pretty badass, aye?

 & that's my costume in all it's full accessorized glory. The cape & the arm bands were included with the dress.The sword is just a cheapo one I found at Party City & look, it's still in stock! It's a good deal considering the how big it is & the fact that it comes with a sheath. I wore black leather over the knee boots with this, but forgot to take a picture of them.

Now let's get to the gritty here. Once I had the costume, I needed Xena weapons in order to properly represent her. Yeah, I'm that kind of Halloween person. I like to research my characters & have fun with it for a reasonable price. While I'm in awe of cosplay people & their incredible skills, I just don't have the funds to create the costumes they do. Maybe one day, but not today. In order to be Xena you have to have a chakram, right? That circular throwing thingy is her trademark weapon. But two years ago I couldn't find a Xena chakram for sale online, therefore I had to make my own. So I did what I always do when I need to get crafty, I searched online for a tutorial. Much to my dismay, I couldn't find any picture/video tutorials on how to make a chakram. I was on my own. Wild west frontier on my own.

This was my goal.

First I went searching for pictures of Xena's actual chakrams, so I could have a design plan. Then I went searching for plain metal chakrams & I was able to find one on Amazon, but it cost too much. Considering I didn't need an actual working weapon & I wanted to make this as cheaply as I possibly could, I decided to use what I already had in abundance at home: aluminum foil & cardboard. The only thing I bought for my homemade chakram was gold paint.


Materials:

• Cardboard boxes
• Aluminum foil
• Gold paint, I used this one in Glorious Gold
• Drawing compass
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Pen
• Scissors
• Box cutter
• Elmer's Glue
• Black permanent marker

& here's what I was able to come up with.

My next step was to create a template. Initially I thought it would be a grand idea to trace pots & pans in order to get perfect circles, until I tried it & couldn't trace pots & pans for the life of me. So, I rustled through my office supplies & found my old drawing compass from elementary school. Hey look teachers, I actually used math in real life! Ha. I made an outer circle & then an inner circle. Easy enough. Then I needed to figure out the chakram design. It's basically a series of 18 equal sized rectangles, 9 gold & 9 silver. They need to be equal or else it will be very obvious. In order to find the exact needed length of the outer lines of the rectangles I figured out the circumference of the outer circle & divide it by 18. Then I found the circumference of the inner circle & divided it by 18 in order to find out the exact needed length for the bottom rectangle length. More real life math! Disclaimer: math was always my worst subject, so I'm sure there is probably an easier or more precise way to figure out how to do this, but this was the only way I could think of. Please don't laugh at me, mathematicians.

Once I had the measurements I needed, I went at it with my trusty ruler & compass & made all the rectangles. I measured out the outer & inner (or top & bottom) rectangle lines with a ruler & then drew them with my handy compass. Then I drew the side rectangle lines straight with a ruler. Finally I used a pen cap & traced a small circle in every other rectangle to complete the design. Template complete.

It's like the cardboard Olympics.

I cut out my template & gathered a couple cardboard boxes I had laying around. Three layers of cardboard were the perfect amount of thickness needed so I used the template to trace out three cardboard chakrams & cut them out carefully. I used a box cutter & scissors. Then I glued the three cardboard chakrams together with standard Elmer's glue, piled on a few heavy text books on top of them to press them together & left it out overnight to dry.

The back was pretty wrinkly, but what can you do. No one sees the back anyway.

The next step was to wrap the cardboard in aluminum foil. I had to wrestle with it a bit to get it to work (the inner circle was a challenge), but I eventually figured it out & Elmer glued the aluminum foil to the cardboard chakram. Again, I piled on a few heavy text books & let it dry overnight.

Hello, first coat of paint.

Now time for the design fun, or the design, "do or die, is this going to work or will it be a complete disaster?" fear part of the project. I didn't take a picture of this step, but I cut out the gold rectangles part of my paper template laid it on the aluminum chakram. I then fearfully drew out the design with a black pen, using my compass & ruler again, to make sure I had perfect lines.

Time to paint. Again, I used this paint from Joann's in Glorious Gold to carefully paint the gold design. I painted 3 layers & let it sit out to dry for a few hours in between each layer.

Whoomp, there it is.

Finally, I outlined the gold design with a black permanent marker. & yes, I did use a compass and a ruler with the black permanent marker. Perfect, perfect. Have to be perfect. I free handed the little circles though, I got lazy at that point. & done. Whew. I was really pleased & proud with how it turned out. It was actually really fun to make it too.

I must admit that I really love this thing & I wish I could carry it with me always.

 I attached the chakram to my costume using one of those Velcro thingys (technical term) that come with laptop cords in order to keep them neatly bundled. I just looped it through a couple of my belt holes & then looped it around to my chakram in order to hold it into place.

Not only is it functional, but it's fun! You try whipping out a sword attached to your back & not feel like a boss.

 I also used two other Velcro laptop cord thingys to secure my sword to my back & be like Xena. That way the sword could easily slide into place & be held by the Velcro loops & I wouldn't be forced to carry a sword around in my hands all night. The back of the sword sheath has holes, so I looped one of the Velcro thingys through them & then over the left shoulder strap of my costume, securing the Velcro. Then I sewed the back of the second Velcro strap into the back of my belt near the right side of my waist, making it so the sword would be attached diagonally across my back, just like Xena! I told you I'm one of those Halloween people.

 & that was it! Thanks for sticking with me through this long picture post.

Miami vs. Notre Dame

Time for my late in the week ND recap. I say this with a lot of caution, but I'm a little excited about this team. I'm a little scared about this team too, so scared that I'm scared that admitting that I'm a little excited is going to unleash some kind of evil purple smoke, Once Upon a Time curse on ND. ...or reinvigorate that curse back on to ND, whatever way you look at it.

Let's make this an Evil Queen gif post, ok? Ok.

That Miami vs. ND game did not go the way I thought it would. I admit that I haven't really paid much attention to Miami this season. I don't really pay that much attention to them at all. In fact, whenever the ESPN talking heads drivel on about how ND is irrelevant, I always use Miami as an example of a truly irrelevant team. Let me explain. I understand the force that Miami became years ago & I understand their importance to college football. I also understand their NFL factory. All of that demands respect, but no one talks about Miami when they're not good. No one goes to Miami games when they're not good. Their football seasons usually start off pretty strong which generates some media excitement, but once it's clear that they are not fielding a national contending team that season it goes silent. Silent. No one talks about them. That's true irrelevancy. Compare that with ND's recent past, where regardless of how poorly the Irish have played, the media has never shut up about them. Even ND's woeful 3-9 2007 season caused a media frenzy. ND was the most talked about 3-9 football team in history. That is not irrelevancy. You're not irrelevant when people spend hours talking about how irrelevant you are, year after year. You are irrelevant when no one even mentions you. My biggest fear as a ND fan is becoming Miami's brand of irrelevant. When no on talks about you, then you are truly over.

Serving you up some vintage Disney realness.

 
Now, I'm not saying Miami is over. I'm sure that they will be fine, given the talent-rich land of Florida football recruits. Rumors are definitely circling about the sanctions that the NCAA will hit them (via they're own bounty system paid for by a large booster) with once the season is over. If you haven't, definitely check out the investigative reporting article done by Yahoo Sports on the Miami scandal, it's a really good read. I'm really loving the fact Yahoo Sports actually investigates & brings to light sport scandals. It's refreshing compared to other sport "journalism" outlets. But I digress.

Because this one is cool, that's why.

Back to the game. What was that? I feel like Miami just quit. They hit a bunch of bad luck, early dropped TD passes, questionable/bad calls, etc. & then they just seemed to lie down. I'm certainly not complaining, but it was pretty strange. Believe you me, I know ND isn't perfect. There's still a lot of problems. Unlike many of my fellow ND fans, I do not believe ND is a championship contending team this year. I do believe that they will still lose a few games this year. I do not think we are Bama & I shudder to think of what would happen if ND ended up playing Bama in a bowl game. However, I have no complaints about the ND team that showed up to play Miami. I lied, I'm still wondering when we're going to return a punt, but besides that I was a pretty happy & relaxed fan during that game. The Irish are 5-0 & are ranked #7 in the country, so how much can I really complain? But I'm still trying to keep my hopeful excitement down. It's more of a fearful excitement right now.

I see you not having a care to give, Evil Queen.

Please don't lose.

Go Away, Cold Weather.

This is the time of year that seemingly every girl becomes really excited about being able to wear fall fashion again. Layers, coats, boots, etc. But I'm the opposite of that. I prefer summer fashion. I just think that it is so much easier to throw on a dress & look put together, rather than having to pair a ton of pieces together. Also, I really hate wearing coats. I just feel so restricted in them. I'm one of those crazies that wont wear a coat unless the temp. dips below freezing. Hey, I'm from Chicago, I can take the cold.

I'm also not a layering girl. I feel like some odd duck, but I really don't like layering clothes. I like clean lines & layering is the opposite of clean lines. I feel like it disturbs/breaks up the natural flow of a garment. Especially when you wear a cami under a low cut dress. I certainly understand trying to keep an air of modesty, as I am very well-endowed, but a cami under a low v-neck dress just looks bad to me. It breaks the pattern, if you know what I mean.

I also hate leggings. Like REALLY HATE LEGGINGS. I only own one pair of leggings that essentially came free with a pair of shoes I bought at DSW. I've never worn them, but if/when I do, it's only going to be with a sweater dress & tall boots. I don't like the break of flow leggings cause on legs. They make everyone look stumpy. At least when you wear them with tall boots, there isn't that pesky break of flow. Let's not even get into detail about people that wear leggings as pants. They're not pants, period.

The one cold weather staple that I do love is boots. Every year I buy boots, but yet every year I still want more. I have muscley, athletic calves from a combo of genetics/working out, so I have to be super careful with tall boots. My shoe size is only 6-6 1/2, which only makes my problem worse. All regular sized boots are too small for me, thus I've had to give away a beloved, but too small pair before to my little cousin. I bought a pair of black knee high, lace-up boots last year thinking that the laces would make the boots adjustable. I was wrong, the laces were basically just for decoration. I still have them, as I'm planning on getting an elastic extension sewn into the back of the boots. I really wish most companies would just make adjustable tall boots. I know a lot of skinny calf-ed (is that a word?) girls also have problems with boot fit.

Any, to end this post about fashion complaints, I give you what may be my last warm weather outfit of the year. Because ending a post with a summer outfit makes sense when the post started off about fall fashion peeves, right? I wore this when it was still in the 70s, I'm holding on to summer as long as I can.

Come back, Summer. Come back.

 This is just a simple coral tank from Victoria's Secret. This one comes close. It's a little short, so I only wear it with high-waisted skirts, otherwise it drives me nuts having to pull it down all the time. The skirt is from Tulle & it's sadly not in stock anymore, but here is a link to their skirt sale selection if you're interested in a similar style. I love Tulle, they have great high quality clothes at reasonable prices. They're sale events are second to none, I got that normally priced $50+ skirt on sale for $6. It's a bit longer than I prefer, so I'm planning on hemming it myself once I get the time.

For when you want to sacrifice comfort for cuteness.

 I got these shoes last summer at DSW. I was able to find a couple pairs on Ebay if you're interested. They are really cute, but not at all comfortable. I only wear them if I know that I will be sitting down a lot.

Old, made to look old, new.

 & finally the accessories. The gold watch is actually one of my dad's old watches. His parent gave it to him for his 8th grade graduation, so it's about 45 years old. I really like the look of men's watches, so I asked him for one of his & he gave me this one. I think it's cool to think that I'm wearing a watch that my grandparents gave to my dad. I got the necklace from Francescas a few months ago, so again, it's not in stock anymore. I was able to find it here though. It's a clock necklace with an Alice in Wonderland background & it was such an exciting find. You can also find embellished versions of it on Etsy. Finally, the bracelet is from a store I can't remember, but it's just a simple basket weave beaded bracelet. You can find these anywhere.

& that's all I have for you today. Look, I didn't mention football once! Oops.

ND vs. Michigan

Hey there! So, this is where I apologize yet again for taking nearly 2 weeks to blog. It's pretty much my theme here.

Anyway, did you see that ND vs. Michigan game? It was an ugly one for sure, but man did it feel good to finally be on the other side of a game like that. For so many years ND has been the team that suffered incredibly bad luck (or play, depending on who you ask), especially when we played Michigan in recent years. I have become so accustomed to it that I was waiting for some monumental football type catastrophe to happen in the final minutes of the fourth, but thankfully that didn't happen. Michigan, however, won't be able to run that Denard for Heisman campaign this year.

Notre Dame has it's own Heisman candidate this year though, Manti Te'o. Even though it's near impossible for a defensive player to win the Heisman & no linebacker has ever won it, I think Te'o may have a good chance. His play has just been so out of this world the past two games. He plays inspired & he inspires as he plays. He's ND's Tebow, except you know, he has NFL talent at his given position. Like I had stated in my previous blog, tons of ND faithful wore leis in honor of Manti's grandmother & his girlfriend's recent passing. It was such a nice sight to see & I can't imagine how special it was for Manti, his family & his girlfriend's family to see so much support.

I did my part & wore a lei with my ND jersey even though I watched at home.

ND had a bye week this past weekend & they play Miami in Chicago at Soldier Field on Saturday. Even though I am from Chicago, I am not pleased with the decision to play there. Soldier Field is the smallest NFL stadium in the league & they seat 20,000 less than ND stadium. I don't see the point of playing at a smaller stadium when your own home stadium is 1 1/2 hours away. Now, I understand the concept of barnstorming & unlike many traditional ND fans, I actually like when they play in different stadiums. But I only like it when ND plays in unique venues. ND played Army in the first football game in New Yankee Stadium. ND played in Ireland vs. Navy this year. They are also playing ASU in the Cowboys stadium next year. One of these things is not like the other. Sure, a game at Soldier Field is exciting if you're Northwestern or Iowa, but Notre Dame is Notre Dame. If they wanted a nearby NFL stadium they should have went for the Colts stadium. But hey, I don't make the decisions (even if sometimes I think I should).

Moving on with football. How about them Patriots? Whew, thankfully they beat the Bills. I was getting nervous & I never get nervous about the Pats. The Pats organization is the only sports organization that I completely trust to do the right the ship & fix their problems. Hopefully this will ignite their fire & they can get back to complete domination. Hopefully it also makes Tom Brady angry. Angry Tom Brady is my favorite kind of Brady. He makes me scared & attracted to him at the same time, haha. Oh yeah, he also plays like he's possessed.

It's been awhile since I posted an OOTD, so I'm posting my warm weather Pats outfit now, considering this may be the last time I'll be able to post this & have it be believable. Winter is coming.

Blurry pic of my Pats outfit, oh yeah.

This is the full outfit. I got the shirt from Victoria's Secret about a year ago. I just checked out their new line & I'm pretty disappointed in it. But I do like this shirt. That would be cute layered over a tank. I'd also like these shorts, I'm really feeling mesh mini workout shorts. This long sleeve top is really comfy cute too. I'll have to wait until they go on sale, & you know, I actually have the money to buy them.

Oops, I got sidetracked with online browsing, haha. The shorts in the pic are from Forever21 & I got them a few months ago. I LOVE these shorts, they were only about $10 & they came in a ton of bright colors. I ended up getting another pair in coral. Seriously these are my favorite shorts, comfy & cheap. Sadly, they don't seem to have them on the website anymore, but these seem to be very similar Essential Woven Shorts (Google Affiliate Ad). These are less bright, more neutral.

My Patriots purse is very sophisticated.

Yep, you saw that right. I have a Patriots purse! I love this little thing. I really don't like carrying my expensive leather purses to places where I'd watch football. There's so many gooey kind of hazards to avoid when you're in a stadium or a sports bar. It's so nice to carry something you don't have to worry about, but with added team spirit, haha. I got it at NFLShop but they don't seem to have it in stock anymore. I did a little searching & found it here but it's out of stock. Amazon has a few similar ones, but they are in blue & have different detailing. Sorry about that. Hopefully you can find it somewhere if you're interested in it.

If you don't like boat shoes then I don't like you.

These are my Rock & Candy boat shoes. I got them from DSW last summer & look they're still in stock! Haha, finally I can give you guys a good exact link. These are really cute, like a little slice of Americana in a shoe. However, they can be so-so on the comfy scale. The sides & the back of the shoes really gave me a problem until I was able to break them in.

No, you're not too good for Forever21.

Finally, my jewelry. I've posted the necklace before, it's Forever21 & this one comes pretty close. The bracelets are also Forever21. These were the closest that I could find for you, which sucks because the ones I have were only about $1 for the set of three bracelets & they came in a ton of fun colors. I'm actually wearing a yellow set right now & I also have a purple set. I'm a big match my outfit with a bracelet kind of gal, so I have a ton bracelets in different colors. I'm always on the hunt for cheap bracelets in new colors/materials & these were a great find. I noticed that Forever21 often brings these back every now & then, so keep a lookout if you're interested.

Yikes, this got really long. I get really talky when football & fashion collide, I guess. I feel like all I talk about is football & I swear to you guys that I have more interests, but tis the season. I want to do a few beauty/fitness posts & a Halloween costume series, so be on the lookout for those. That is, if I can actually churn out the amount of blogs I want to, haha. See ya later.