I am the WoMan from Nantucket!

Hello, dear reader,

Greetings from the cool-and-yet-rain-logged island of Nantucket!

My pretty yard

I swear, even if it's super rainy, I love this island.  I mean aside from the over-priced clothes, lack of cheap family-friendly dining, and parking issues.

Seriously, I can not afford a 320 dollar tunic shirt, or a awesome-looking yacht coat that I will only wear maybe once for 650!  This is a family vacation spot, shouldn't I be able to afford clothes?  Or is that just for all of the rich people not residing in Old Tom Nevers?

Also, they got rid of SIX OF THE BEST RESTAURANTS.  Okay, granted, I wasn't able to get out here for the past two summers so that's on me and I can only remember the names of four of them, but still.  I hop off that plane and I am craving some Even Keel.  And then, oh wait, sorry, CLOSED.  They had the best Lobster Benedict and was a great breakfast/lunch/dinner place, geared to families.  No biggie though, let's go to the Ropewalk for the best calamari you will ever have in your life.  Did I mention it's right on the dock so you have an awesome view.  NEGATIVE, CLOSED.  Well, at least you can count on some typical American cuisine from the Atlantic.  And the architecture and interior is fab.  FALSE, CLOSED.  Let's just grab a burger from the Rotary.  CLOSED.  Hey Victoria, you're finally old enough to appreciate the restaurant located in the cellar of the ol' Coffin House...CLOSED.  Well, the airport has that cute restaurant we spent our snowed-in winter at--CLOSED.

RIP:

The Ropewalk

The Atlantic

The Even Keel

We went to this joint that replaced the Atlantic that had pub food, the Sea Dog? and I was so ready to give them the benefit of the doubt...BUT they burnt our food, were overpriced, and even though we ordered my sister's food right as we sat down, it took them half an hour to get out a couple of burgers.  They even got our appetizers out before the girls' meals (which again, we ordered first).  Also, they charged for every refill.  Seriously?  $2.50 per soda?  Goodbye.  At least the Pharmacy is still open...for now.

Still waiting for food, coloring has lost its charm...

I'm just thankful that Aunt Leah's fudge is still around.  But even they've cut back business hours...  Best fudge in the WORLD I swear.  And that Peanut Butter fudge...I could eat it all day long.

It really is!

Get in my belly!

And well, parking has always been tight because they are the most precious cobblestone roads and everything is all antiquated and I LOVE IT.

So if you're coming for some down-time and are ready to cook yourself some meals for non-fancy situations, this is a great place.  Which is typically my family.

It's the first summer I've spent here with my little sisters, and our last summer in our personal summer residence (affectionately referred to by myself as "Huevos on Huevos"...it's a long story involving a Pat Green reference and some really politically incorrect jokes on a family member's part.  ha...).  My padre and myself are at the local library right now, mooching off internet, as our own personal wifi at the house is spotty and the girls are making a ruckus.  Dad's trying to do work, I'm trying to blog, so we escaped for a few hours.  Later we're going to see The Amazing Spider-man at the newly rebuilt Dreamland Theatre.  It looks gorgeous and I've been waiting to see the result of hard-work and fundraising.

The NEW Dreamland

The theatre has a lengthly history:

"Originally built in 1835 as a Quaker Meetinghouse located on Main Street near Fair Street, it was moved to Brant Point in 1883, where it became the center portion of the Nantucket Hotel.  When the hotel was sold in 1905, the meetinghouse portion of the building was purchased by the Improved Order of the Red Men.  It was disconnected, placed on a barge, and floated across the harbor where it was relocated to its present site, where it opened as Nantucket’s first vaudeville house.  In time, the first floor of the building functioned as a moving picture theater and the second floor was a lodge room and dance hall.  A large addition constructed in 1922 increased the theater’s seating capacity to 600.  The building functioned as a theater until 2005, and following several unsuccessful redevelopment schemes for the building, it was purchased by the Dreamland Foundation in 2007.  Following a lengthy study which deemed the building structurally unsound, the Foundation decided that renovating the existing building would be impractical.  Plans were put in motion to raise funds and construct a facility whose design would honor its heritage through the re-use of some of the old buildings parts as architectural features."

http://www.nantucketdreamland.org/593-593

Then

Now

So, yeah, so very excited to see a great movie like Spider-man again, this time in such a neat, historical building.  

And of course, in this awful weather, I'll be dressing up...not:

Just got this cute new sweater.  Haven't ever gotten one, in all my years visiting the island, so it's long overdue.  Fell in love with the color and text as soon as I saw it but they didn't have a small.  Boo.  :(  

That's okay, I like my sweaters 

BIG AND COMFY!!!

SPOILERS

Okay, SO!  Today's update is technically something I did a few days ago.

Since I was traveling yesterday and already posted about Ancestry.com I figured I'd save this for today's post.

I have been wanting a new iPhone case for some time.  Something that would properly display my nerdom in a cliche and yet totally neat, original, handcrafted way.  So I started by ordering myself this:

A SmartBook (or rather a BookBook knock-off) iPhone case.  

I love the idea of this because it:

• Looks like a book
• Holds mah phone
• Holds mah moolah

I bought the knock-off (aka: cheaper) brand because I knew I was about to paint all over this thing.

The objective though was to turn this SmartBook into this:

Oh, sorry, don't know what I'm talking about?  Not a whovian?  Let me catch you up...

This chick, River Song, has this diary.  She keeps her encounters with the Doctor in it.  Keeps all the Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff a little more straight.  But that's all you're getting outta me.  Sorry.  Spoilers.  ;)

Let's take a closer look:

I love River Song.  And I love the idea of my phone case being her journal.  Would make cosplay opportunities very neat-o.  And if I were to go as anyone, it would be River Song, because let's face it she's one tough chick:

Look how she handles that gun!

Okay, gotta stop...spoilers.  ;)

So again, started with the SmartBook.  I was afraid the brown leather wouldn't take on the color blue I wanted, so I coated it in white first.  Then a second coat of the same.

Then I coated it in blue.  Like BLUE.  And again, two coats.

Once the blue dried, I coated the whole case in ModgePodge.  Gave it some nice texture and postponed any chipping by a good while.

Next was the tricky part.  Drawing on the pattern.  Not too daunting of a task (I just carved it in with a permanent pen).  But.  When I ordered my SmartBook, I didn't anticipate the binding to come so far out onto the front for some reason...my bad.  So I just scooted everything over and adjusted.  And you know what...?

After drawing the front, that didn't look half bad!  So I finished it up and...

Voila!  A Tardis Diary iPhone Case

I love it so much.

Stay tuned for my Minnesota trip breakdown, film memoirs, and Nantucket Getaway!

Until next time...

Geronimo!!!

So it's been awhile

In the past couple of weeks I lost my grandfather, drove up and down the length of this country, acted in a small feature length film, bid my guy farewell as he goes off to grad school, and am now traveling to Nantucket Island for what I consider a well deserved break.

I feel crummy for not updating more but every time I have some down time I just want to collapse. I need to get back to it, though. So here we go.

Back in the saddle!

Tree of Life

So I'm sitting at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington D.C. Mid flight to Nantucket. This of course makes it difficult to post anything (considering I'm not willing to pay to use their wifi). So I figured I'd do something simple.

I have gotten very addicted to ancestry.com lately. They do a fourteen day trial and after that point they charge you a year subscription to either the U.S. or World version. I went with U.S. because it was cheaper but I already wish I did World because so much of my family is overseas...

I was set on taking full advantage of my free trial period. My trial just ended and I have 81 members in my family tree so far and 6 hints to dissect once I get wifi.

 For those of you unfamiliar with ancestry.com, you type in whatever you know already about your family and the site double checks names against their own records. It's amazing. I get so giddy when I'm on it.

For instance:
I found out that my grandfather was born under the name of Feltmann before his father changed it to Felton to ensure job security post-WWI. See my great-grandpa was losing jobs due to anti-Semitic views during the depression, and changed it to sound less Jewish. Crazy right? I knew that story before but I didn't know my papa had to change his name too. I figured the name change happened before he was born...wow!

*The name Feltmann is actually where I got the title for this blog.*

 *I figure since we're the Feltmanns I might as well be the FeltWoman...Bad pun, I know...*

Anyway I ALSO found out that that same great-grandfather traveled with his first wife from Bermuda to New York. A cruise trip? Neat-o! I even got the name of the ship: the Fort St. George. And after I got that information I found pictures online!

Then I found out that my great uncle got a full ride to the University of Texas for football. Funny because that side of the family is full of Aggies!

Playing for the Palacios Sharks

Ancestry.com even has an iPhone app so you can discover as you go and share your discoveries more easily with friends and family around you.

 

Have I sold you on it yet?

BADWOLF Mug

So I started my crafting journey featured in today's blog in hopes of obtaining this...

 OH MY GOD IT SAYS BADWOLF I LOVE DOCTOR WHO SO MUCH!!!

If you know me, you know that my favorite show right now is the new series of DOCTOR WHO (oooooweeeeoooooooooo).  Love it love it love it.  I even got BADWOLF put on the back of my department jersey for Baylor Theatre.

GET IT???  10???  Because Tennant is my favorite.

I am kinda obsessed.  If I had money to blow, I'd buy all of the memorabilia ever made...but I'm a po' college student...

Oh right!  Back to the project!  I found this on pinterest...

AHHHH IT'S SO COOL

But it's 18 bucks.  I didn't wanna pay 18 bucks...I'm po'...

I recently broke one of four coffee mugs resembling this exact shape though.  And what do you get when you take four and subtract one?  Three!  And three is an odd number.  And I can't do that.  I'm a tad OCD, coffee mugs should have pairs, they should be even.  That's that.  So I had a spare mug to do whatever I wanted to with.  

I chose to do this.  I wanted a BADWOLF mug.  The original crafter used paint, but I know an easier way...

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Coffee Mug
• Sharpie
• Oven

1.  Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.  Take your Sharpie and Coffee Mug.

3.  Draw your design.

4.  Place your Coffee Mug (with design drawn) in the oven, and heat for 30 minutes.

5.  After 30 minutes, turn off oven.  Let mug cool before removing.

YAY OH MY GOD I'M SO HAPPY!  BRILLIANT!

Awesome new mug for me!  Money saved!  All things I had lying around already!

I'd say this craft was a win.  So to celebrate I brewed up some tea, poured it in my mug and watched some Doctor Who.

BADWOLF I'M SO LEGIT

If you'd like to keep this on hand in an easy to access way, here's a little photo I found somewhere online.  

Not my own creation.  Not claiming authority over it.  

Enjoy.  And most importantly...

Allons-y!!!

Flirty Fun Dress

So my next refashioning project has been eating at me for a while...

I got this skirt initially for the fun retro pattern and light flowy material.
Then it ended up being reversible to boot!  

Unfortunately it isn't exactly the height of fashion.
My biggest complaint is that it's just too long.
It would have been easy enough to shorten it,
but I really didn't feel like chopping it off.
Mainly because I couldn't think of a cute top to go with it anyways.
I tried gathering it in places to show off the second layer,
but that didn't really work for me either.  

It ended up being super easy to fix actually.
I guess I was so caught up on trying big solutions that I missed the simple one.
Pull it up and make it a dress!

The retro polka dots and flared hem really gives the dress a flirty feel.  

I really love it now.  And the best part...?

IT'S STILL REVERSIBLE!

If I want to be a little more subdued or classy, 

but still want a little flirty polkadot or two showing, I just flip it inside out!  

Plus, the black gives me the opportunity to wear my favorite Betsey Johnson heels.  

SUPER CUTE, RIGHT???

So all in all, simple solution, two dresses, 

and if I'm ever in need of a little-more-than-knee length skirt, I'm not out of luck.

The Amazing Spider-Man Midnight Premiere

My friend and I have been gossiping over and anticipating the release of the Amazing Spider-Man for a little over a year now.  Of course we were set on going to a midnight premiere, in IMAX 3D, but the day of I got the sudden urge to dress up.  I've always wanted to do that sort of thing.  I've always been in silent awe of Comic-con and supercon and all the personalities with the guts to cosplay at them.  Every year I attended a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movie premiere, I wanted to dress up.  I used to as a young girl for the Harry Potter book releases, but I guess I let myself feel like I outgrew it.  I've done a little bit more with dressing up this past year, wearing Hogwarts inspired clothes last summer at HP7.2 and making shirts for Hunger Games.  This day though, I wanted to throw caution to the wind.  I had a blonde wig lying around, so I texted my friend and asked if he would dress like Peter Parker if I dressed like Gwen Stacy.  Agreed.  

I started with this awesome picture of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield from the new movie.  

I love this picture.  They're so wrapped up in each other.  :)  And this look is so good for Gwen.  Transfers perfectly to the comics too.

So we start with my wig.  I knew I'd need a headband too.

The wig ended up a bit too dark...okay, a lot.  But I'd just have to deal with it.  And anyways, I'm a little darker myself so it looked pretty good.  As for the headband, I wanted something a little less comical...I'd stop by a Walgreens for a thinner one later.

Next was the clothes.  I couldn't really see much other than Emma Stone's coat, skirt, and boots.  And I was not about to wear a turtle neck like the drawing - especially not in Texas in July!  So I went with a knit to keep with the texture, but a sleeveless boatneck collared cut.  I had this cute Anthropologie skirt and some brown tall boots, so the hardest part turned out to be pretty simple.  All I was missing was her trenchcoat.  I have a modern looking tan raincoat, but the cut is a little wrong...  I wasn't the biggest fan of it but, since the sky looked cloudy and gray, I took it along.

So I headed to Dallas, helped my friend pick out his outfit after he got off of work and soon enough we were at the theatre!  We stood in line for about two hours, and they gave us free T-shirts and posters!  We were the only people to dress up.  Well aside from a little boy in a spidey suit...but he was a kid so it was different.  

THE MOVIE WAS SO SPECTACULAR.  I have no complaints.  Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are two of my favorite actors of this generation and the rest of the cast was flawless.  I was so sad to walk out of the theatre, knowing it was time to put Gwen Stacy away...at least until next time!  I can't wait for the sequel!!!  I'm definitely dressing up for premieres more often.  I'm so glad my friend and I could share this experience.  It was a great night and well worth the wait.