Spooky Travels: San Diego Mini Get-Away

San Diego's Museum of Man at Balboa Park

Apologies that I have not been updating as much as I would like here, but things have been so busy lately (in a good way) that I haven't had much spare time to do things I enjoy, like write here! I did want to share with you a mini get-away I was able to take last month. I recently got promoted at work, so I decided to treat myself to a quick weekend get-away in San Diego. San Diego isn't very far from me (about an hour and a half to two hours), but I hardly ever get down there. I had been wanting to try some new vegan restaurants down there, so I booked an AirBnB for Mister Spooky and I and we took a Friday off to visit SD.

10 Must-Try Eats at the LA Vegan Beer + Food Fest

The Los Angeles Vegan Beer and Food Festival is almost here and I cannot wait! This Saturday, June 18th hordes of vegan and veg-curious folks will descend upon the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to eat and drink all the vegan things! I have been drooling over all the photos from last weekend's Portland Vegan Beer and Food Fest (I MUST go next year), and I am so, so excited for this weekend to get here! I've been stalking a lot of the restaurants that will be serving up delicious food in just a few days, and a few have really popped out at me as being "must-try" eats! FYI - I'm in it for the food rather than the booze, so I don't have any beverage recommendations for you (though I am looking forward to kombucha and cold brew!).

Stay Home Alone Club: An Introvert's Perfect Weekend

Join the Stay Home Club [image source]

Do you ever have one of those weekends where you just want to draw the blinds, cozy up on the couch, and do nothing/see no one/go nowhere? As an introvert/recluse/misanthrope, I feel that way every weekend day, and let's just say my natural state seems to be avoiding all human contact by electing myself president of the stay home alone club and lazing around the house in my pj's with no plans besides binge-watching the latest Netflix series and hanging out with my cat, Havoc (he is anti-social himself, so he is fully supportive of my stay at home weekends)!

Below you will find a quick guide on how I prepare for my perfect stay at home weekend and why I look forward to spending time alone. Join the recluse revolution and stay home this weekend!

White Trash Weekend at Hicksville Trailer Palace

Three trailers at Hicksville Trailer Palace - 

The Ingratrailor, The Fifi and The Lux

I finally got the chance to go back to Hicksville Trailer Palace for a friend's birthday a few weekends ago! I positively adored celebrating my own birthday there a year and a half ago (read about it here), so I was super-excited when our friend (go check out his web comic dot problems!) rented the whole place in honor of his birthday!

Hicksville is a small resort tucked far off the beaten path near Joshua Tree, California. They feature amazing restored Airstream trailers, each decorated in a different theme. They have a pool, archery, BB guns, fire pits, ping pong, a library, a jukebox loaded with cool tunes, and much more for their guests! I love going there and relaxing in the gorgeous desert! 

Let's start at the beginning of the trip, shall we? We went to Hicksville in late July, so I knew it was gonna be hot, hot, hot! I packed a cute sundress, new sunnies, and a witchy hat to protect my paleness from the sun, plus tons of sunblock (I use Trader Joe's cruelty-free 50 SPF sunblock spray, which is cruelty-free and vegan)!

Celebrate Women in Horror with Viscera and Bleedfest Film Festivals This Weekend

If you are in LA, do yourself a favor and check out these two awesome film festivals focused on women in horror!

On Saturday, July 17th, 2010 you've got the first annual Viscera Film Festival (first reported HERE). Viscera has been celebrating women in horror for years (check out our reviews of their short film selections HERE and HERE), but this is the first time they are holding a physical film festival. The festival will be held at the Downtown Independent located at 251 South Main Street, Los Angeles, California starting at 4 PM with a Bloody Carpet Event followed by six hours of horror films by women, including Q & A's with special guests and an awards ceremony. Following the festival will be a KILLER afterparty where you can mingle (and mangle) with the hosts, special guests and fans. You won't want to miss it!!

This year's Viscera Film Festival is being hosted by The Chainsaw Mafia's Shannon Lark (interview) and Pretty-Scary.com's Heidi Martinuzzi (interview). Among the attendees are many women in horror that we interviewed for our amazing Women in Horror Month!

Tickets are only $15 and available now online. Show support for the event by joining Viscera’s Facebook page, making a donation, and purchasing the newly released 2008-2009 Viscera DVD.

The second film fest in honor of women is Bleedfest, hosted by indie filmmaker Lis Fies (interview), director of The Commune (review). Bleedfest is scheduled for Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at the Two Roads Theatre located at 4348 Tujunga Avenue in Studio City, California and will boast three feature-length films from women as well as short films and Q & A's with the filmmakers!

See the schedule below:

Noon-5:30pm

$10 for all day admission. There will be DVD giveaways as well as opportunities to buy the filmmakers' movies.

12 pm In Memorium
1:20 pm Jenine Mayring's short Simone
1:30 Q&A with Mayring
1:45 The Soskas' Dead Hooker in a Trunk (review)
3:15 Q&A with The Soskas
3:45 Lis Fies' The Commune (review)
5:15 Q&A with Fies
5:30 Mingle (and mangle) with fans and filmmakers over drinks and dinner next door at Aroma!

If you are in the Southern California area, you really don't want to miss either of these great film festivals celebrating the talents of the biggest and brightest women filmmakers!

For more information visit Viscera Film Festival's official site and Bleedfest's Facebook page!

July 5th: Recovery Day

Had a ton of fun yesterday with friends, food, drinks and loud, sparkly thing that go BOOM!

Today's overcast day calls for snuggling on the couch watching movies and just chillaxing, but not before I share some fun firework photography I did last night. Enjoy the show!

Starting things off with a BANG!

Burst and bloom

Halloween colors - green, purple, orange

Fires of Hades (my personal favorite photo)

Apocalypse

Sweet & Tender Hooligan

Firestarter

Lost Souls

Mwahahahaa...mini monster!

All of the fireworks above were the dinky ones you can buy at any fireworks stand, but I love how the photographs make them look so much bigger than that! Definitely loving my "fireworks" setting on my point-and-shoot camera! 

I'm off to do some more lounging, but I'll see you spooks later this week when I have more to post about! 

Hope you all had a safe and fun 4th of July!

Banana and Brown Sugar Pancakes

I've been craving pancakes recently, so when I got out of bed this beautiful Saturday morning I was determined to make the perfect vegan pancakes.

And I've succeeded!

Feast your eyes on this gorgeousness:

YUM!