MegaCon 2013

Hello Again!

Long time no blog! I have been swamped lately, but I wanted to share some of the geekery and good times that is MegaCon. 

What is MegaCon you ask? It is a massive Comic/Pop Culture/Geekfest held annually in Orlando, Florida. Our business, Twisted Heroes, has been setting up at this convention for many years now. It's an 11 hour drive from Tennessee, and a lot of hard work, but we love it.

We did have a difficult time even making it to Florida for the convention this year. Honestly, there is no one to blame for this except Ryder Trucks. I am not one to call out a company on my blog, but I feel it is warranted on this occasion. 

We have been renting Metro Vans from Ryder for a few years now (they are called "Sprinter" vans by other companies). They are the perfect size for the butt load of merchandise we have to haul, but they handle well and get OK gas mileage. We rented our van over two weeks in advance. We go to pick the van up, and the check engine light was on. No big deal, right? They can fix it, or get us another van, right? Nope. Well, they found us a comparable truck, right? Nope. We end up losing a day of travel time, and have to get a last minute truck with crappy gas mileage from a competing company.

What did Ryder do to make things right? Well, first they offered us our next rental free. In a follow up email, that was reduced to one day of a free rental. I honestly have never received such crappy service from a company. They left us stranded, and really couldn't have cared less. 

OK, enough venting. We packed the truck like champions and were on our way home to the Sunshine State!

This is the truck 1/3 of the way full. Seriously. 

We completed about half of the drive on Wednesday afternoon/evening. There was the near death experience going down Mount Eagle. The brakes were giving out due to the weight in the truck....or they might have just been crappy brakes. Either way, we almost died on that mountain. I'm glad we didn't :)

We stayed the night at a Hampton, then drove the rest of the way Thursday morning. I was never so happy to see this sign.

The land of sunshine, palm trees, and orange groves. I miss it so!

We made it to the Orange County Convention center and waited in line to unload out stuff and set up the booth. 

Aron is excited for the load in to begin!

We have such great friends that helped us unload that beast of a truck, and helped set the booth up. Steve, Davida, Tom, Trina, and John-we are forever grateful for all your help that weekend. 

We headed back to The Hampton after load in, and found this little towel bunny waiting for us. He kind of made my day. 

Friday was the first day of the convention. We made it to the convention center early, and finished setting up the booth. I managed to snap a few pics. 

The Crew: Steve, Davida, Me, and Aron

Booth Side One

Booth Side Two

We took a moment to walk around before the con opened.

Plush Llamas were big deal this year. I'm not sure why, but they are cute. 

Poison Ivy and a Dalek.

Me and Aron, and a pretty floating dress.

Friday was pretty busy, so we treated ourselves to dinner at Don Pablos. We spied the most awesomest thing in all of creation in a nearby parking lot....

How is this real? How did this happen? A giant crustacean mounting a VW Beetle? It's just too good to be true. 

Some of my fashion peeps might ask-what did you wear to MegaCon? Comfort is key, but I do my darndest to look somewhat cute as well. Here are the only two documented outfits I have. 

I'll be posting a Fashion Nugget on the black bow dress shortly.

Saturday was beyond busy at the convention. Here is a pic before they let the crowds in....

This is a pic from our booth after they let in the masses of people. 

We were swamped that day, so I couldn't snap too many photos. But the ones I managed to get were epic.

I mean, dude! The best Thor cosplay EVER, hands down. Aquaman was pretty tight as well!

Shawna and Chris came down from Jacksonville to visit, yay!! I'm always up for hanging out with my BFF. 

Love her!

We all went to Mings that night. Mings has become somewhat of a MegaCon tradition. Their food and drinks are amazing!

Shawna and Chris

Sipping on our fab drinks!

Trina, Tom, Davida, and Steve

Tom and Aron: The Bromance Continues

Sunday was a busy day for us as well, and I only took a couple of photos. Or heck, these might have been taken on Saturday. I don't remember anymore, haaaa. 

 Bob's Burgers Cosplay

American Horror Story Cosplay

 MegaCon 2013 was our best show to date. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and we wouldn't have made it with a little (ok, A LOT) of help from our friends! Much love to you all.

Next up on the blog: Our post MegaCon day at Disney!

Thanks for stopping by,

Adrienne 

Full Moon Tattoo & Horror Festival

Hello Again!

I apologize for the lack of posts this week. We are still playing catch up from our epic MegaCon/Florida trip. I will post some geekery nuggets soon, I promise!

We (being Twisted Heroes and Lola-Rocks Clothing) have been busy gearing up for our next convention, Nashville's Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival! I look forward to this show all year. There will be fab celebrities, tattoo artists, and vendors. 

Here is a sneak peak of some items Lola-Rocks will be selling:

Sourpuss Sugar Skull Bag

1) Sinking Ship Tee

2) Lula Top

3) Scorned Camisole

We will also have our original Cherry Bomb design for sale!

If you plan on attending, stop by the Twisted Heroes booth and say hi! 

Check out this video for more info. See ya there!

Adrienne 

Happy Spring!

Hello Again!

We just returned from selling our wares at MegaCon in Orlando, and are beyond exhausted. Not to mention I have roughly 50 boxes of funny books to inventory! But, I couldn't resist wishing you all a Happy Spring!

How many of you are excited for the change of season? Spring is my favorite of all the seasons, it brings me such a feeling of peace and renewal.

Spring is also my favorite season to shop for. I love the possibility of ditching my boots and tights for bare legs and flats (though it is still pretty chilly here in Tennessee).I gravitate towards more fun, colorful items in the warmer months.

I wanted to share some items on my Spring wish list. As usual, I am obsessed with polka dots and retro style :)

Here are a few of my favorite dresses:

1) Torrid Stop Staring Billion Dollar Baby Dress

2) Pinup Girl Clothing Heidi Dress

3) ASOS Curve Skater Dress

Here are a few of my fave seperates: 

1) Forever 21+ Polka Dot Skinnies

2) Sourpuss Sinking Ship Tee

3) Torrid Striped Belted Pencil Skirt

Here are a few of my favorite accessories:

1)  Modcloth Lace Flat

2) Vintage Pink Cats Eye Glasses

3) Fred Flare Key to My Heart Necklace Set

4) Lux de Ville Purse

Stop by next week, and I will share all of the fun MegaCon 2013 geekery with you!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Adrienne

An Early Spring

Hello Again!

I was beyond excited when eShakti contacted me to review a dress from their Spring line! Spring is my favorite season, and I am hoping it is an early one, and that the frosty days are coming to an end. 

I chose to review this gorgeous polka dot number. It is still chilly here in Tennessee, so I paired the dress with this cropped red jacket. 

Dress: c/o eShakti 

Jacket: Deb Shop

Shoes: Naturalizer

Hair Flower: Lola's Lovelies

Lipstick: MAC Russian Red

eShakti offers gorgeous clothing in sizes 0-36, and offers custom measurements on all of their items. As a plus size lady, I respect a company that caters to women of ALL shapes and sizes. eShakti also offers customization on most of their garments. Would you like a shorter skirt, or a different sleeve option? They can do that, and more. 

I simply love this dress. I chose the standard size 20, and it fits like a dream. I adore the quality fabric, and the full, A-line skirt. I might even pair this with a crinoline for a more 50s feel! 

Would you like to try one of eShakti's fab frocks? What Lola Wants' readers can use coupon code LLRCKSCLTH for 20% off, valid until March 20th. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Adrienne 

Chocolate Mint Cookie Goodness

Hello Again!

I had a fab time at a Valentine's Cookie Exchange a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share this recipe I made. These cookies turned out fairly well, which is saying quite a bit. See, most of my baking experiments taste like burned vitamins. So the fact that these were even edible says a lot about this recipe!

I love wasting time on Pinterest, so it figures that is where I found the recipe. Here is a link to the original source; it looks like this blogger has a thing for baking!

Lets start with your ingredients. You will need:

-1 chocolate cake mix
-8 tablespoons of butter, melted
-1 egg
-1 teaspoon of vanilla
-4 oz cream cheese
-1 1/2 Cups of Cool Mint Oreo cookie chunks
-1/2 cups of crushed Andes Mints (or chocolate and mint baking chips)

1) Start by blending together your butter, egg, cream cheese, and vanilla. The recipe states to"whisk" together, but even with softened cream cheese, I needed the muscle of my little hand mixer.

2) Add half the cake mix and mix until somewhat smooth. Then add the remainder of the cake mix and the chunks of Oreo Mint Cookies. 

3) Stir in the Andes chunks by hand. The recipe calls for chocolate and mint baking chips, but I couldn't locate those, nor crushed Andes Mints at my local store. So, I crushed these bad boys myself. 

4) Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes (yes, this odd number was the perfect amount of baking time). Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then move them to baking racks to finishing cooling. Makes about 36 cookies.

I made these cookies first for Tracy's birthday jam, and they turned out much prettier.I think it was because I tripled this recipe because I needed a ton for the party. They still tasted pretty yummy :)

 I've recently started the DASH diet to try and control my hypertension, so cookies and the such will be off limits the majority of the time. Maybe I will actually share some healthier recipes in the future!

Thanks for stopping by!
Adrienne