Day 1129: It Happened Again

Life works in funny ways sometimes...and often it's more ironic than we might expect too. There is a perfectly good explanation as to why I've started today's blog post with a giant picture of Josh Dallas, and it has everything to do with the autograph that's on it. Almost a year ago I received the above picture randomly in the mail, and it took me a while to figure out that it wasn't so random after all. Nope, it was actually a response to the letter I'd sent him about a year previous. In fact, I sent more than one letter...I sent one to all the main actors on Once Upon A Time, and following the picture from Josh, I figured it was all over.

I was wrong.

Today I was sitting at lunch with my roommates and friend Lauren and happened to tell them the story about how I sometimes get amazing mail from people like Josh Dallas. The topic actually came up because I was headed to the mail center to pick up a new wrist brace for my ever injured right wrist, and I checked my mailbox while I was there because I hadn't checked it since early January probably. I knew for sure that there was a certificate for the Dean's List in there, but when I opened the box and found a giant yellow envelope I was a bit thrown off. And then I noticed the name in the upper corner of the envelope: Robert Carlyle.

That's right, after almost two years, I got an autograph back from Robert Carlyle. Funny how that same paper, which I wrote them about for my fairy tales course, is now headed to a national convention, and while that weekend will mean a lot of traveling and logistic problems, getting this autograph in the mail seems like a sign that maybe, somehow, everything is going to work out just fine.

Have a magical day everyone!

Day 1070: Killian, Killian Jones

I take some comfort in the fact that I'm writing this so long after the initial mid-season finale of Once Upon A Time that I no longer have to worry about spoilers getting out. I mean, after all, I'm pretty sure we all know by now who dies. 

But just in case you don't, you probably shouldn't read any more. 

Regardless, the end of another half season of my favorite show calls for a roundup of the DisneyBounds that helped make Season 5 so interesting! I went back to a few old favorite characters here, but for the most part it was all about the new and original characters that were brought into the storyline this season! 

Since #DarkSwan seemed to be the theme this season, we had to begin with a DisneyBound inspired by our favorite hero turned dark! I actually LOVED putting this one together, and the shoes are to die for. I still call them my "Dark Swan Heels," and ironically enough, that's just about all I bought to put this outfit together! Everything else was already in my closet! 

King Arthur, oh King Arthur. To be honest, I love Liam, but I could do without this supposedly "noble" king. Either way, this DisneyBound brought some interesting additions into my closet, like the cardigan that I now wear all the time or a pair of bright silver shoes!

Lancelot has been one of my favorite characters since we saw him in Season Two, and I was thrilled to see him back on the screen again (and not dead)! For this one I reused those shoes I found for Arthur and added a bright blue shirt and red belt to go along with his crest and colors, as well as my grey leather jacket to symbolize his armor!

I've only ever done a Rumpelstiltskin bound one other time, and this time I had the perfect pants to go along with it! Reusing the Dark Swan Heels and pairing it with a black vest and golden shirt really made this one work out pretty well!

When I saw Emma in her dress in Camelot I knew immediately that a DisneyBound had to be in the works. All it took was locating a flower crown to make this one work, and it offered the perfect contrast between Light and Dark Swan for this season!

Merida was actually my first ever DisneyBound way back in the day, so to be able to revisit her character for a DisneyBound for the show was an opportunity I was certainly excited about! The only problem is her color scheme is pretty hard to be creative with, but at the same time, I love her hair, and I already had the accessories pulled together to make this one work!

Merlin quickly became a favorite character, and ironically enough, I bought the perfect shirt for his DisneyBound years ago. It's been in my closet ever since, and I actually almost got rid of it once. Still, something told me to keep it, and now I'm really glad I did!

An entire episode dedicated to Brave definitely called for another DisneyBound from the characters! After a bit of debating, I just knew it had to be her mother, especially since I already had the perfect green dress to make it work!

It's kind of hard to pick favorites when you love DisneyBounding OUAT so much, but this one may just be my favorite of all time. I may or may not have picked my glasses a few months ago so they'd match Emma's from the show, and when I came across the plaid dress at the store a few months ago, I knew it had to come home. Pretty sure I'll be wearing this one again, preferably to a fan event of some sort! 

And to round out this half of the season, it just had to be Papa Hook! We've been waiting for so long to meet Killian's father, and when we found out we'd be meeting him in the midseason finale I had to make the decision between a Dark Hook DisneyBound and Papa Hook. As you can see, the later won, allowing for me to reuse the shirt from Rumple as well as an old pair of pants I also got for OUAT DisneyBounds! 

But honestly, DisneyBounds aside, I cried a lot, and I'm definitely ready to head to the underworld so we can get Killian back. In the meantime, I'll just be over here eagerly awaiting his return, because really, how long can any of us live without a bit of Hook in our lives? 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 23).

Day 658: Two Years of Hook

While I, surprisingly enough, have yet to rewatch last night's episode of Once Upon A Time, I felt like a blog post on it was necessary. After last season I decided to only blog about episodes when I could come up with a real, legitimate topic about them aside from my regularly scheduled freakouts over CaptainSwan and Colin O'Donoghue, but Colin did tweet something last night that kind of put things into this weird perspective.

Colin tweeted this near the end of the episode, and it instantly made me feel pretty sentimental. He's right, absolutely right. Two years ago (two years from tomorrow actually), Hook came onto our screens for the very first time and we were all probably a little bit astonished at the lack of waxed mustache and perm. I don't really remember much about my reaction to Once from back then, other than my usual freaking out (which was no where near what it is today), and when it comes to Hook, a lot of that lack of memory is due to the fact that he didn't become my favorite character until the second time I watched Season Two. Apparently I was blind the first time and was incapable of realizing the amazingness that is Colin O'Donoghue. Boy has my life changed. 

The reason this tweet made me so sentimental is due to a few reasons though. First, it's a connection to that first time we did see Hook. In fact, all of 4x04 was a connection to it. In 2x04, we saw Killian Jones the pirate, we saw Killian Jones in love and we saw Killian Jones loose his hand and become Captain Hook. In 4x04 we saw Killian Jones the pirate, we saw Killian Jones in love and we saw Killian Jones loose his hand and become, well, Captain Hook. And to top it all off, I loved the reprise of the Rumpelstiltskin/Hook rivalry, which I am also dreading at the same time. I love it because of the two brilliant actors. Robert Carlyle and Colin O'Donoghue play off of one another, each as characters that are villains, and as enemies, in a perfect combination of the story the began oh so long ago. I think of all the things I loved in last night's episode, that duo is one of my favorites. 

But even more so, that tweet becomes sentimental for me because I do actually care about these people. It became blatantly obvious this past week when there was an increase of hate in the fandom, especially on Twitter. I won't get into the entire thing, but there was hate send to Colin, and that was the final straw for me. These are real people, just as I am a real person, and I think on some level I probably care so much because I write this blog. I, sort of, know that there are people out there reading, and these a little bit of me that hopes someone out there cares as I go on and on about Disney and Once and Band and Spaceship Earth. This is what I love doing, just as Colin loves acting, and I can definitely relate to that. Plus, somewhere along the line, while none of us really ever truly know one another through the internet, there's still a bit of a connection there. It's the reason many fans, myself included, attempt to get tweets back from the actors. It's because they're just as much a part of the community as we are. And when you care enough about something, you become happy when things are going well and sad when things aren't. 

Once didn't mean as much to me two years ago as it means to me today, that's for sure. I hardly even knew who Colin was until a year ago, and as a matter of fact, I didn't follow most of the cast on twitter a year ago either. But just as Once is important to Colin, it's important to me. It gives me inspiration and hope and happiness, and he's a part of that. So of course that tweet is sentimental for me. The past two years have been a rollercoaster for all of us, and that's something every single one of us can understand, myself and the cast of OUAT included. 

Later in the week I'll have a specific post dedicated to some of my favorite Hook moments to celebrate these two years as well, but I'll explain that when we get to it! =)

Have a magical day!

Day 492: Yes, I'm Alive

Hello to my faithful blog readers, if there's any of you out there. I actually have no idea how any people read this, other than my general stats on views to the site in general, but whether you're just finding me or have been here for a while, just silently lurking, welcome. 

I figured that after about two weeks of silence I should let you guys know that I am indeed still alive, I'm just super busy. Finals this semester is paired with the 2 Hour Season Finale of Once Upon A Time, meaning that I'm freaking out for just about every reason possible. I'm half on a social media hiatus, which will go into full effect on Sunday evening, since I won't be watching the season finale until Monday since my friends and I all have a Monday morning final to study for. Will I probably go insane? Yeah, but somehow I'll make it through the two hours which I'll spend in the library or music building, and then retreat back to my dorm room to will away the hours until I can see it. 

This need for the finale is not being helped by my final research paper in Classic and Contemporary Fairy Tales, since I'm writing mine on the element of hope within fairy tales, specifically in the respect that it is necessary to keep fairy tales relevant in newer adaptations such as, you guessed it, Once Upon A Time. It's like a mix of a psychological and cultural analysis of fairy tales, and I'm actually quite excited to dig in and write it...if I can ever get myself to start. I guess I don't really want to write it because that means that the semester, and freshman year, is almost over, and I'm just not ready for that yet. I feel like I just got here and now I'm almost done with my first year! Crazy! 

Anyways, I also have a bunch of music stuff going on, which is always a joy, and once I finish my paper, I've got reading and studying to do for just about every class before finals next week. In other words, the next 6 days should just be a real joy. But hey, finals. That's a thing. And, since I promised it, here's some Once inspired finals motivation: 

Now, after the last episode especially I'm really not a Rumple fan, but I had to share these anyways, even if I do prefer this one: 

Yeah, that one along with the "Not Studying? Bad Form" one might just be on my desk, although everything's going to have to move in a couple of days when we take our lofts down (NOO!) In general though, yes, I am still in the land of the living, and don't worry, I've got a document on Google full of my upcoming blog posts, once I get around to actually writing them. Every day I've missed WILL be made up (and considering that after finals I'm spending three days watching movies with Megan, I think there'll be plenty to talk about). Plus, I've got another Disney trip coming up soon, and there's still a few days left of freshman year...which is plenty of time for new and random Disney references (like one I'm working on today...which will most likely end up being a blog post on one day or another). 

Until then, note that I'm not on Instagram save for a few minutes on Sunday night to post my Disneybound for the finale (which I'm actually wearing on Monday). I'm also off of Tumblr for the week, and come Sunday night I'll be on NO SOCIAL MEDIA (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google, Instagram, etc.) for a period of about 18 hours. Don't worry, you'll know when I'm back. Oh yes, you'll know. 

Good luck to everyone in my situation, also facing the cruelty of finals, and may the force be with you! 

Have a magical day!