A New Opportunity

I found this new website a couple of days ago and it is a really interesting find.  It is a website that provides goods and services, starting at five dollars, from independent sellers.  For example, I started selling my writing skills on this website.  I have a few different service options, and I offer extras if you want them.  I would also be willing to negotiate for other writing related services. 

So go ahead and check out my profile!  There are a lot of other great services offered by fiverr sellers on the website as well. 

 https://www.fiverr.com/chelseabug18 

The End of a Good Thing

All things in life inevitably come to an end.  

Due to this unfortunate fact, there are those things that when they do end, just truly break your heart.  A few things that tend to end, just too quickly are books, TV shows, and book and movie series. Whether you're a reader or you prefer movies and TV, everyone can understand this pain.  I recently experienced this as a TV series I watched ended.  While the ending was fantastic and the writers did a marvelous job with the story, it still ended.   Thus, it was a sad, sad day. 

Tea By Bridget

This evening my mother and I attended a 'High Tea' at the Yesteryear Antique Center of Hanover.  The Yesteryear Café is one that we have gone to numerous times, the food and service is always great.  Bridget Weaver is the new owner of the café in the Yesteryear Antique mall.  Today from 4-6 she held a High Tea with five courses.  Each course was carefully selected and home made by Bridget at the Café.


When asked why she decided to do the High Tea, Bridget said that she just decided to try a High Tea.  Adventurous as that may seem, the Tea was highly successful and Bridget was very excited to fill up all of the seats. 

A ticket for the Bridget's High Tea was $17 per person, but as you can see by the menu here, it was well worth the price.  Especially when noting that Tea Houses in the area charge, on average, anywhere from $24-$30 per person. 

The food was simply delicious!  Pictured to the left are the first three courses in the order in which they were given. First was a Cinnamon Pecan Scone with Honey Cream.  Then, we had Curried Cream of Squash Soup and to follow that, we had a Ribbon Salad with Vinaigrette. 


 

All three of these first dishes were delicious to say the least.  I have never had any of these before and I'll be honest; I was very nervous to try the Cream of Squash Soup.  But Bridget did not disappoint, it was very good, as was the Cinnamon Pecan Scone and the Ribbon Salad.  The Vinaigrette on the salad was very well made and as you can see from the picture, there were pieces of olives, onions, cucumbers, and peppers on the salad as well. 



The two pictures to the right are of the fourth course which consisted of Shrimp Salad on Cocktail Rye and Welsh Rarebit Croustades (the first picture) and Canadian Bacon with Hot Pepper Jelly and "a Touch of BBQ Sauce" on cornbread (the second picture).  I was a bit apprehensive about tasting the hot pepper jelly as I am not a fan of very spicy foods, but it was paired perfectly with the "Touch of BBQ Sauce" that it was delicious and definitely not too spicy.






At this point in the courses, I was getting rather full as was my mother and the friends we were sitting with at our table.  So, when dessert came we were worried we may not have enough room for it.  Thankfully, this was not the case.  Pictures below are the three little desserts that we were given.












These three desserts in the picture on the bottom were sweetheart truffles, Raspberry truffles, and Petit Fours.  These little desserts were the perfect way to end this wonder tea.  They were light and sweet and just hit the spot.  I would definitely encourage everyone to go to the Yesteryear Antique Center of Hanover and visit the café.  Bridget does a magnificent job.

Here is a link to Yesteryear's Facebook page and their information: https://www.facebook.com/YesteryearAntique
There is information on the cafe's hours and a picture of the menu as well.

I know that Bridget is planning to do more High Tea's in the future and I for one, can't wait to see what she has in store for next time!

Pure Art

What is Pure Art?  This is a debate that goes on in the minds of artists, authors, and musicians alike.  Many people have different views on what pure art is.  Is it just any new piece of art or composition that's produced?  Does pure art need to be new and unique and stick the rules of culture?  Can pure art break the rules of the standard human understanding of art?  Is there actually any pure art, or do artists just complete pieces to make money and achieve fame?  All valid questions, but what are the answers? 

Simple.  The answer is whatever you want it to be.  In one way or another you are an artist, the answer is whatever you want it to be. 

Saturday Lunch: Aunt Nettie's Kitchen

For our 42nd week having Saturday lunch we went to Aunt Nettie's Kitchen in Spring Grove, Pa.  I have known about this place for a while and have been wanting to go for some time. So today we made the trip there, and it was well worth it.  I had the Club Wrap and it not only my lunch, but will be my dinner as well.  The portions are great for the price of the food and it is nearly all homemade! I suggest trying the club wrap, it had French fries in it!  Or the bacon Mac and cheese burger; it too was delicious, that was what my boyfriend had and he loved it. (The Bacon Mac and Cheese Burger is pictured below).  We will definitely be returning for another visit sometime soon and we both highly recommend Aunt Nettie's Kitchen to anyone.  It is a family owned restaurant  and the service was great, they were extremely attentive and kind.  I would definitely give this restaurant 5/5 stars.

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month and it is fast approaching!  I am very excited to participate this year.  This will be my first year taking part in the month long event, more like a writing marathon.  For those of you who don't know about NaNoWriMo, it is a non-profit organization that encourages creative writing in a fast-paced and fun way.  They run several programs to encourage writing and expanding creativity for all ages.  I support the expansion of creative arts in all forms from a very young age, so I think that NaNoWriMo is a great organization and I am extremely excited to be involved in it this year. 

If you'd like to check out more about NaNoWriMo here is their website:

http://nanowrimo.org/about

Otakon at the Baltimore Convention Center

This past weekend was the Annual Otakon at the Baltimore Convention Center.  I attended this three day event with a group of friends this year.  It was August 8th, 9th, & 10th.  This was my first experience at an event like this and it was very interesting.  There were about 35,000 people at Otakon.

 For those of you who who may not know, Otakon stands for Convention of Otaku Generation.  An Otaku is term for someone who either draws manga (Japanese graphic novels), or someone who is very invested in reading manga or watching anime (Japaneses cartoons). 



At the Convention:

There were a lot of different activities to do at Otakon.  There were many panels and guest speakers, there also a lot of anime viewing sessions.  There were opportunities to get autographs from voice actors and actresses, as well as Maid Cafe Performances.  There was a very large Game Room with a plethora of video games ranging from, Smash Brothers, to Just Dance, to tables set up for playing Magic The Gathering and other card games. 

One of the biggest attractions however, may be the Dealers' Room.  This is an immense room filled with any kind of otaku and gamer merchandise you can think of! There were posters, plushies, stuffed animals, costumes, DVDs, books, comics, wigs, key chains, pillows, t-shirts, and so much more. 

Saturday The Big Cosplay Day:
[Cosplay is when you dress up as a specific character, its a combination of Costume and Role Play]

These two pictures below are one example of just how many people not only attended Otakon but also how many of those people actually dressed  up!  There were all kinds of different costumes as well.  If you look through these photos you can see there were people as Elsa, there is a TinkerBell, there were people from video games such as Final Fantasy and Halo, there were Storm Troopers and Disney Villains and Princesses.  There were also people dressed up as people from more well known animes such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Fairytail, and many more. 

 

Here are two examples of some amazing costumes.  One the Left is a very nice Elsa costume, she even has a little Olaf doll.  To the Right is my friend Hannah, she found a picture online and decided that she really wanted to make a costume for; and  right there is the beauty of Otakon.  You can dress up as anyone you want.  You can express your creativity like Hannah did or you can be that Princess you'd love to be like this Elsa cosplayer did.  

 So, if you have any questions about Otakon or want to see more pictures just leave a comment and let me know!