Merry Christmas Photography!🎄🎄🎄

Hi all! Merry Christmas! I know that this post is a little bit late in the day, but I hope that everyone has had a wonderful day with their loved ones. I would like to share with you all a few of the photos I received from my first ever Christmas cosplay, so I hope you can enjoy that as a present from me. Eat, drink, and be merry as we end our Christmas night in the United States.  Also, just one more week left until 2018, so try your best to make 2017 end on a positive note. End this chapter of your life full of greatness! Without further ado, here are my Christmas Morrigan photos from various photographers during the Inland Empire Cosplay Gathering. I'll also post a couple of the photos I took at the gathering as well since I am a cosplaying photographer as well. 😊

Photography courtesy of Shameless Self Photography

Photography courtesy of Matthew Keiser

Photography courtesy of John Matter

Photography courtesy of Shameless Self Photography

Cosplayer - "Casual Goku" MVious Cosplay

Cosplayer - "Gijinka Ninetales" Kira Masquerade

Cosplayer - "Kuzan" Snazzy Jazzie

That's all for now you guys! I hope the photos were to your liking. If you guys ever need a photographer, I'm free for cosplay gatherings, photo meets, and conventions due to personal preference, but all private shoots start at 25$/hour, cheaper than most because I am just starting out. Anyway, I hope your Christmas is amazing and if I don't post before the new year have a happy start to your 2018!!💖💖 Let me know in the comments below how you intend to ring in the new year.

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Poisonous Kisses to my little Ivy leaves

Hi all! So sorry for the delayed post. I've been waiting for my cosplay photos to show up before I posted a new blog post. I hope everyone has been well and had a happy February, especially that one extra day. Any Leap Year proposals out there? ;) My February went decently, but these last two months have gone by so fast that it's basically all a blur. I kind of wonder if the rest of the year will be that way. School has been slightly busy with group assignments, and we all know how annoying those can be. All you really need is a good partner. :) Well, let me stop rambling on and post some cosplay photos! These photos were done at Fairmount Park in Riverside, CA on Superbowl Sunday during a cosplay photoshoot day where cosplayers, models, and photographers collaborated with each other. At this photoshoot, I only cosplayed as Poison Ivy from Batman and these photos come from a photographer called James Ortiz and I'll post his info now. He can be found on IG under the name: fkimagery , and on Facebook as Photographer James Ortiz . He's a great photographer and really nice guy, and I recommend him if you're in the Inland Empire area. :) Here's some of the photos from this shoot:

My next major cosplay will be Tira's feathery costume from Soul Caliber V, along with minor projects. So look out for that in the upcoming months. :) Does anyone have any cosplay they are working on?  Let me know in the comments below.

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

My, oh My! Mini Apple Pies!

Hi All! I am getting ready for my trek up north for the holiday today. That should be an adventure. Before all of that, I am doing some winter cleaning, and finishing up some baking. Here's a post of my mini apple pies recipe :)

Mini Apple Pies

While I made my own dough (which I will add in a later recipe), store bought dough will work just as well. :)
Here is a conversion chart from U.S. to metric units too.

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package of store bought pie crusts - should have two dough rolls in it (room temperature)
• 1.5 - 2 apples (chopped/sliced/diced -whatever suits you)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (add a few dashes more if disregarding the nutmeg) (or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon / 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (or less depending on your tastes)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of sugar for sprinkling on the pie tops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees (F)
2. Grease a baking sheet with either butter, or baking spray (lightly)
3. Roll out your dough to 1/8 inch thick and using a 2.5-3 inch diameter cup (or cookie cutter) cut out 24+ circles.
4. Refrigerate the circles for 15 minutes
5. Mix together the cinnamon (or cinnamon/nutmeg), sugar, and cornstarch in a separate bowl.
6. Mix the dry ingredients with the apples. (You might have extra filling left over if you choose to make more pies later.)
7. Beat the egg and set aside
8. Add 2 teaspoons of filling to each bottom circle and lightly dab the egg wash to the edges of each bottom circle.
9. Cover with the top circle and pinch to seal.
10. Poke or slice four holes or slits in the top circle
11. Lightly cover the tops with egg wash.
12. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.
13. Bake 20 minutes

I hope my recipe made sense to you. If you made some, post a picture of your creations in the comments below :)

Merry Christmas (eve)!

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Quick Updates! Happy Holidays :)

Christmas tree at Fashion Island

Hi All!

So sorry for another random hiatus! School and life have just been crazy these past two and a half months. I hope everyone has been well.  I am on winter break right now for the next 5 and a half weeks so that should be fun. I hope that gives me more time to blog. I miss it! This will be a quick update and the next post will be about my holiday baking adventures. :)

• Just finished my first complete year of grad school! YAY!
• I'll be attending Anime Los Angeles, next month and cosplaying as a Fairy Tail character. So expect a cosplay post as well, next month. :) 
• I'm starting to get back into gym life again, and would like some tips on proper lifting form, if anyone has it.
• Just finished another tutoring job at a different community college; that was an adventure.
• I've found a new passion for driving through the canyons of Southern CA (mostly Orange County). 
• I did my longest drive in my car yet (North OC to San Diego). 
• Still applying for research conferences: 
• I also went to a research conference in Chicago, IL during the week of November 17th. 
• That was great. I saw some of my old research labmates from undergrad and my former mentor. 
• I also saw some of my paternal family that I haven't seen in over 12 years for some and over 20 years for others.
• I've experienced the loss of one of my college friends during the San Bernardino attacks, and had a great support system to get me through that. 
• I also just celebrated my 26th birthday, last week.

That's about it for my update, I had some very good things occur and some very bad things occur in life these past two months.  Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope everyone has a great holiday season. :) Also, comment below and let me know how life has been for you recently. I hope well!

I tried out some pin curls, and failed haha

Snow in Chicago, IL 11/2015

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Cosplay Project Haul - Yoruichi Shihouin

Hi All! :) This is my first blog post of 2015! Happy New Year to you all, even though I said that on my Facebook page on New Year's Day. Today was a decent day for me. I went around to the shopping centers in search for cosplay materials. Currently, I am working on Yoruichi Shihouin (四楓院 夜一) from Bleach and Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop for Winter/Spring. I might add more projects if time allows though. So my first stop was Michael's. I didn't find anything I was looking for there, which came to be a bit of a disappointment. Afterwards, I went to JoAnn Fabrics, and found my safe haven. I was able to gather some cream white fabric, some soft'n flexible sew on Velcro, some purple ribbon, and some white thread. I had a good deal too. I bought the fabric at 3.695YRD for 28.78$ at 7.79$/YRD. Originally, this would have cost 48$ so I saved a little over 20$ on my fabric. Something that is AMAZING for cosplayers! I am thrifty and cosplay on the cheap, but I still make it look nice. That is key.:) I used a 50% off one regular priced item on Beep'n Go, which brought my Velcro down from 3.99$ to 2$. My ribbon was 3$ and my thread was 3.49. I also got my wig in the mail today! It is a little lighter than Yoruichi's hair, and a bit shorter, so either I will get extensions to add to the length, or just hope people get who I am cosplaying as, which they should from her outfit.

A small review on the hair: it was only 10.97$ on Amazon, yet this is one of the better quality wigs I have had in a long time. When I got my Mirajane wig from Cosplay Magic for almost 60$, it was falling apart completely from the moment I took it out of the package, a lot of hair came out and it was shaped awkwardly for the head. This hair, I have only seen two strands fall out, which I expected, but it wasn't tangled or matted up at all. Also, it was easy to run my fingers through and it is able to withstand heat. So far so good, 8/10.

I will do a blog post about my Faye Valentine cosplay once I start prepping for it. I am using an app recommended to me by my friend Taylor (you can find her cosplay page by clicking on her name) called Cosplanner. I recommend it. It saves paper, helps you keep track of percentages done, and of amount for the purchases. I will include a picture of how it looks. :) Without further ado, here are my purchases and viewing of the wig!

All of the purchases, including the wig

Fabric

Ribbon

 Velcro

Thread

This actually has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to show how my TV stand is organized.

Cosplanner

This is the look I am doing for her cosplay, instead of the orange one.

The wig, and yes I did add purple eyeshadow to my eyebrows so it'd match the color lol Eyebrows on fleek! jk

The wig from the back. See why it seems a bit too short?

That's all for now! As stated earlier, this was only some purchases for Yoruichi's cosplay, when I start Faye's, I'll make a new one, and I'll keep you posted on my crafting process. Do any of you cosplay? We have such a wonderful community, a family full of diversity, if I have ever seen one. I will also reiterate that "cosplay is not consent" so please respect us, and we will respect you back.

Till next time!

-Hachi

Merry Christmas :)

Hi all! Sorry for a slight delay of posts. I've been a bit busy with my research and winter house cleaning.  Right now, I am back in Northern California visiting family for a few days and then it's back to Southern California to await the start of graduate school.  So to keep this post short, I'll wish you all a nice and safe Christmas day and a happy holiday season :)

 Till Next Time!

 - Hachi