what i'm listening to (this week)

Hello friends!
I'm sorry I haven't posted, I've been having laptop issues (gross, right?) But I wanted to share with you some music I LOVE right now and think you may love too!


 


At some point I'm gonna post about the video games I beat in 2015 and how they affected me, but for now i'm just obsessed with all the music from the Fallout series! Thank goodness Spotify playlists exist so I don't have to search for all the music!! (Also I'm obsessed with spotify premium, they have no idea i'm writing this so this isn't sponsored in anyway, but yeah, it's just FANTASTIC)

I highly recommend the Fallout playlist, because it's classy as ${!%  (hehe)


Another one I titled "Therapy" because it helps me get through the hard times and just calms my soul when I'm anxious or hurt.







My tagline right now is "Fitness Opera Gamer Gal" so of course I have a workout playlist and a Nerd playlist (several songs overlap between the two). I like to nerd out when I work out ;)







And last, but not least, I'm gonna share the wedding day playlist I listened to while getting ready in the hotel and bridal suite on my wedding day :) (Would ya'll be interested in hearing wedding stories? I've got a few! It was only two weeks ago so I am still processing it all, but I have several fresh stories!)





Feel free to follow me or send me your favorite playlists! I have so many more, I could give you music for days ;) I feel like looking at someone's playlist can tell you a lot about that person. I'd love to get to know you via music!


Have a great week, and may your days be musical forever :)

xoxo,
Alexandra Anne

Tea, VEDA, and Historicon

Hello internet readers!!

Did you know I'm posting regularly on YouTube this month? You didn't? Well, I am! I'm partaking in a challenge/thing called VEDA- Vlog Every Day in August :)

You can stalk find me here! 




It's been fun so far, tomorrow I'm gonna start using Windows Movie Maker (finally) and try to edit my vids a little better! I'm learning. If all else fails, my iPhone take decent quality footage. I just stink at trying to get all my thoughts out coherently in one take. Eek.

I'm hoping that after August I will still vlog regularly about my fitness journey, my wedding planning, and the life I live as a vocal performance major in a small college town in Alabama :) Oh, and my gaming stuff! Duh! I still owe ya'll a picture dump.

Wanna stalk me some more? Check out THIS post written by professionals on the internet who also included me in their live podcast at said event, that event being Historicon :) I love WWPD so much, they are great guys, their podcast is awesome, and I'm honored to ever be mentioned by them.

Michael and I on the ends, WWPD in between :) 

There was much gaming, much booze, and much fun had at this convention. Next year when Michael and I attend we will be MARRIED. WHAT. 5 months left, folks. I'm excited. 

But yeah. 

Here are my some of my historicon pics!

About to head out to Virginia for HISTORICON 2015!

Right after someone recognized me from twitter! Represent girl gamers, ya''ll!

Did I mention lots of booze? Yeah, it was nice.

Vikings!!

Our army for the Flames of War doubles Tournament :) Germans!

Painted me a halfling mini :)

Overall, it was a great trip and I'm ready for Historicon 2016 already. 

For now, I'm serving tea at farmer's markets to local Alabama tea lovers and preparing to move into my own apartment for the upcoming semester (eek! no roommates!)

Our tea is local tea that comes in mason jars, super cute and super yummy

So that's me, follow me on the YouTube for daily updates this month! 

xoxo,

Allie Anne 

Internet Life Blargh

Hello there fellow bloggers and blog readers and internet stalkers alike :)


I got busy. But I'm writing now! HUZZAH.

Also, I have this thing of watching tons of YouTube videos for hours and then thinking "I could do that." Then I just don't. But I'm seriously considering occasionally vlogging! Would ya'll be interested in that? (I say ya'll, I have no idea who actually reads this thing, but I have the hopes that somebody does!)

Speaking of presence on the internet, you know Felicia Day? Well, she's definitely my spirit animal, and I'm SUPER excited for her book to come out next month. Well....SHE FAVORITED MY TWEET YA'LL. Forreals. I cannot stop smiling. I was nerding out on twitter (Follow me! AlexandraAnne27 ) and was sharing this link to an excerpt from Felicia Day's new book "You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost)" and.... she favorited my tweet! XD

Seriously.

Aaaand I recently did the math and got my hotel $$ figured out and, I AM GOING TO DRAGON CON THIS YEAR. I just have to get my ticket sometime in the next month, haha, and then I'll be able to officially say I'm going. But it's in my plan and budget, and it is happening.


I've never been, and have always wanted to go! I think it was last summer, Michael and I were cleaning stuff from my old bedroom/house, and I found journal entries from middle school where I wrote about wanting to go to Dragon Con and how I planned to cosplay as Agatha Clay from the Girl Genius comic series. I still totally would/could! But would anyone even know who I am? Maybe.

Michael will be attending as Captain Malcom Reynolds from Firefly, because he IS the captain.

I'm marrying a handsome fellow, aren't I? 

Anyway. I would LOVE to do something of the Browncoat realm, but...there aren't a whole lot of blondes in Firefly :( I mean I still could do a blonde version, or wear a wig. 

I've never cosplayed before...and I have a little over a month to pull something together. 

Heh, now that I've grown up since that middle school entry I could do Lara Croft from Tomb Raider ;) Or a female assassin from Assassin's Creed?  Or my original idea of Agatha Clay pictured below:

Isn't she cool? She's what got me into steampunk before I knew steampunk was a thing! (hipster much? oops, but seriously though, it wasn't a word/style I knew back then!) 

I'm gonna have to learn how to deal with the masses of people that attend this convention, hello anxiety attacks, but I have gone to three conventions now (of a smaller stature) and am getting the idea. Heh, after this con I should be a pro, right? 

The other con I've been to is Space City Con (which is now Space City Comic Con, I believe) in Houston/Galveston, where I met a whole ton of Babylon5 actors! I didn't cosplay, but I made myself a Psi Corps pin that only lasted me that weekend... I'm a noob, ya'll. I'll get it eventually. (Oh, I also met Gil Gerard who played Buck Rogers. BUCK ROGERS YA'LL)

I think later this week I'm gonna post a Historicon (speaking of conventions) update/review since that's where we were at last week! I will also include an awesome photo dump, Historicon is such an amazing event for me though, honestly. 

I cannot speak for the world of gamers, but the tabletop gamers that I have met in my time are some genuinely amazing people, and I would trust most of them with my life! (I say most, because there are always some butt-nugget-self-centered people out there, so I can't just say "all") 

Speaking of nerdy things, we recently (and by we I mean my awesome engineer fiance) updated my computer so now it runs Windows 7 not XP, so I had to wipe it completely (sad day, but thank goodness for external hard drives!). Since I lost/wiped most of my files, I had to pick a new background. I had been sporting an awesome picture of Serenity for the two years of having this computer. Now it's time for my first gaming fandom to be the background: 

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was my absolute all time favorite game of the series, and still is to this day! 

For a personal udpate: I've been hitting the gym yo! I'm feeling stronger and more energized all the day (it helps to have a free fitness center right next to the apartment, and when I go back to school I will have an even larger gym also for free! Well, paid for by student fees...blegh) 

But yeah, I'm feeling good, thanks endorphins!!!

I think that's enough rambling, don't you? ;) 

Are you on twitter? Let's be twitter friends!

Are you going to DragonCon? Let's try to meet up!

Got any suggestions for what I should cosplay?

Have you ever had a celebrity moment on the internet you'd like to share? Comment below! 

And as always, have a lovely day and lovely almost weekend! Huzzah!

xoxo,

Alexandra Anne 

Best Friend's Day (fiance version)

I'm really lucky. No, I mean super duper lucky. I have had a wonderful day with my best friend; we hung out at NASA On The Square downtown, we got sushi, and we traded in some video games for the Mass Effect series on xbox360. We've just been hanging out and gaming all day long, being our fabulous nerdy selves.

The best part? I get to kiss him between battles and I get to hug on him while we learn new tactics and derp around.

I've been a gamer girl my whole life, but my fiance has unleashed a monster in me. See, I wasn't allowed to have video games as a kid, but I could play tabletop games (i.e. Dungeons and Dragons, that sort of thing) and some computer games (Tomb Raider WAS my childhood, which might explain my love of firearms). I never had a gameboy, or playstation, or xbox.

So now that I'm an "adult" and have been with the fiance, I have access to allllll sorts of games. He even gave me his old gaming computer when he upgraded to a newer one. And a few years ago I bought my own xbox360.

Monster = me.

Do you know how many games I'm playing through right now? Oh good grief, it's too much. And I'm SO happy about it.

I'm an adult, yes. But my summer is consisting of: planning my wedding, getting a job (interview on Wednesday, fingers crossed!!!), learning music for my recital in the fall, and gaming gaming GAMING.

Here's a list of games and series I'm loving or have recently finished and wish I still were playing...

Bioshock (beat the 1st one, playing Infinite now)
Assassin's Creed series (I'm on Revelations)
Mass Effect
Battleblock Theatre
Red Dead Redemption
Tomb Raider (any/all of them)
Deus Ex
Half Life 2

yeah, it's a good summer so far :)

But I'm just grateful to get to spend my day of nerdiness with my best friend and true love <3

----




What games are you playing?
Follow me on twitter and instagram at AlexandraAnne27 to see more of my gaming adventures!

xoxo, alexandra anne 

Stuff...?

Ciao blogworld!

I'm gonna post...I'm gonna post... YES! I am!!


I need to commit to this writing thing, ESPECIALLY since I will be attempting NaNoWriMo this year!!! Have you ever tried to write a novel in a month? I have, and have not succeeded. I always give up like halfway through, I need to not do that!!

But...I have no story in mind! I have 12 days to figure it out!!! I'll be a-brewin' for sure (or something like that).


Also, how would you like me to do vlogs every now and then? I want to get myself on the youtube world, I love watching youtubers and want to be part of that community. I've loved the blogworld, time to expand I say!


As far as generic updates, bullet point time!

*I love Montevallo! Tiny towns fit me; I can walk just about anywhere, except major grocery stores which are outside of main street or campus. If it's on main street or campus I usually walk to it.

*I'm taking TEN CLASSES. But that's normal for music majors here; it's 16 credit hours. I just have to sing a lot a lot and show up to a lot of places.

*On the singing note- would you like music major/profession vlogs or blogs? Give me your thoughts!!

*I've been on the Whole30 diet this month! I would say go Google it or Youtube it because I cannot give the definition justice. The gist of it is: no processed foods or sugars or grains or dairy or legumes. If you can't hunt it or gather it, you can't eat it. Ok, it sounds super strict, but there are a LOT of yummy foods you CAN have! And I feel SO good eating good natural foods. AND on a college student budget! If I can do it, YOU can. Look it up :) I'll post more about it once the month is over (it's only a month long program, but I want to incorporate it into my lifestyle after this month).

*I re-subscribed to Elder Scrolls Online! Find me, Chandelier27! :) I'll be trying out some other games and blogging about games soon!


*I got a part time job! I'm a cook at pizza hut :) Yeah, I love cooking and love pizza, so this will be a fun way to spend my weekends!

*Michael and I hit 3 years this month, my longest relationship ever! (And his too!) I love that man so much, he visits me frequently. It's another perk of living closer to home now. Gosh I love Alabama <3 and I love my Michael!! (Mushy pictures to come!!!)

*My cat is just as adorable as ever; she's a year and a half now and adjusting fine to living with a dog in the house (my roommate has a sweet pitbull). Today Zoe, the cat, kneading my stomach for a good 15 minutes straight! I thought it was cute so I let her. From what I've read, that means she sees me as a maternal figure and the kneading is like babies asking for milk? Anyway, I'm her momma and that's how it should be!
Again, pictures to come ;)


*I'm LOVING the temperature drop and would love for it to be 50-60something all the time! It's so crisp and beautiful, and the trees change colors, and oh yes I am so cliche and mushy gushy about it. I don't care! I love fall :)

*I'm a redhead! I have been since the middle of the summer, I love it :) I'm still getting used to it though! I look at old pictures of blonde Alexandra Anne, and think to myself "who was that? Oh right, me."


*Oh hey, I'm 21 now!!!!!!!!!!! So my roommates joke that I look like an alcoholic because I stocked up on some yummy wines and mixers. But really, I hardly ever drink. It's just good to have it there for when I do :)

Pictures as promised!

What's going on in your lives, dear blog friends? 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo,
Alexandra Anne 

One Month Later...

Ciao amici! (Hello friends!)

I sincerely apologize for the complete lack of posts this past month; life is too crazy! But Christmas break is close, therefore, I can write more :)

Some quick updates:

*This girl is finishing up her first semester fulltime college living away from home! This means I have 15 credit hours under my belt! (Next semester it appears I will take 13 hours: Music Theory 2, Aural Skills 2, Vocal Diction [French], Piano 4, Voice Lessons, Choir, and American History; super excited!!)

*Next week I head back home to Alabama!!! WAHOO!
*This week I move into my newest place in Houston! WAHOO! (Gonna rent a room in a house! No more dorm life, super duper excited for this change).

*Lindsey Stirling is coming to Houston in February; definitely NEED to go to this concert. She's just amazing. Seriously.

*I love granny smith apples. This isn't new, so it shouldn't fall under my "update" list, but this is  my personal writing space where I make the rules and I can break them! ;)

*Thanksgiving was crazy, busy, but loads of fun! Michael (the boyfriend) came with my family to Edenton, North Carolina to visit the grandparents. My family is a crazy bunch, and I miss them terribly. Our roadtrips are always fun fun fun. :)

*I'm QUITE excited for Christmas; I'm singing at the Christmas eve service at my church (such an honor!) AND I am pretty darn excited to give my people's presents. Seriously. I am just giddy about this :) :) :) (you're gonna love your presents, ya'll, truth!).

*Being healthy is hard. I don't mean to sound whiny, but when you live in a dorm and eat cafeteria food all the time, it is difficult to be healthy. This chick definitely gained a wee bit between orientation to Thanksgiving. I'm trying, ya'll. Trying to get fit and healthy again! Gotta be strong opera gal ;)

*Lately I haven't been a great long-distance communicator, so I feel like a terrible friend. But hopefully ya'll understand, and I promise to write over the break!

*My break is only a little bit over 2 weeks honestly...but I'm okay with this fact. My break ends earlier BECAUSE I come back to Houston a week earlier for opera rehearsal week :) :) :) My first opera with Moores School of Music! (And my 8th opera overall, in a 3 1/2 year period......crazy!)

*God is amazing. Again, not an update, just a fact. :)

*I should probably do my laundry this weekend, I'm running out of socks and undies. (TMI? Apologies. It's all real-talk here).

*I'm a gamer girl. Not an update per se, but I am definitely spending my free time catching up on gamecube and pc games. Just found out that all the original Tomb Raider games are now available on Steam for only $10 each!! Also, I desire more gaming consoles....all I have is my boyfriend's gamecube, which is wonderful, but now I want more ;) Thanks to a music friend here, I also have my own tv! (This is good for study breaks, fyi). So yeah. Gamer girl. This chick. <3

*Music is the hugest blessing in my life lately. On Thursday I woke up very very sick, threw up four times, and had horrid violent dizzy spells. I eventually made it out of my room, and to the music building, because I absolutely had to meet with my pianist. (Friday was my voice lesson final, Thursday was my last chance to practice). Singing was actually what made me feel better! It was the best part of that day, and I am convinced that music is God's personal gift to me. Music is full of healing, and that is a wonderful fact.

So yeah! That's my crazy life in a quick (ish) glimpse :)

Picture time! I'll write more later, promise ;)

xoxo, alexandra anne

The aforementioned Gamecube (well, controllers haha) I'm in a phase. Gamer phase. mhmmm...

Josh's recital; music majors go to a lot of recitals. Since we're random friends, I went to his :)

the man and I on the drive to North Carolina for Thanksgiving <3 

yep, we were color coordinated for Thanksgiving dinner. I love this guy and his handsome face :)

hanging with my little sister (whom I miss a lot a lot!)

right before I visited Huntsville; was SO excited! 

that's my man. no, you can't have him. I'm too darn happy with him <3 

Terrific Tuesday

Hello ladies!
While still a bit sick, I am hoping for a wonderful Tuesday.

What do I have planned?

Well. First off, I get to meet Taylor, another Houston blogger who happens to go to U of Houston too!

After our little lunch, I might go volunteer to be in a choir video thingy. We'll see how I feel.


Tonight? This chick has a comp ticket to see her voice teacher's dress rehearsal with HGO. Yeah, that's Houston Grand Opera. My teacher, Hector Vasquez, is wonderful and has given some students free tickets! I'm super excited to see him on the stage, and just to see an opera in general.

:)

How's your week going?

Oh, I'm still obsessing over Zelda music.




Please watch this video. And listen. Ohhhh my word just listen. Yes, that is my current obsession.  :)

xoxo, alexandra anne <3