WOW! What a Weekend - Day 2

OK so here we are with Day 2 of Star Wars Celebration - London 2016.

After a hearty breakfast and sporting our new Vok'Chi Clan t-shirts we headed over to the Excel arena for another day of Star Wars.

Once again we had made the conscious decision not to spend time queuing for panels and so took our time and made it over to Celebration for about 10.30am. We chatted with a lovely family on our walk over and were able to help take some photos for them when we bumped into this big guy!

"I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee", said me, never.

And before we'd even got inside the arena is was chance to grab some photos with some of the cosplayers outside the entrance...

A shiny ShadowTrooper

There were still queues to get through bag check but these actually moved along quite quickly, although there was a lot of walking up and down barriers in what was essentially a very large warehouse!

Time to catch up with social media!

Once through and into the main exhibition halls it was chance to have a good wander about and take in anything that we had missed from the day before. This did lend itself to a few more photo opportunities!

Star Wars Rebels style Imperial Combat Driver

Not the only one with Mouse Ears at Celebration

He told me that he's just Matt the Radar Technician at StarKiller Base (but he kinda reminds me of someone else)

With Ryi'nock - one of our fellow Mandalorian Mercs

And of course the obligatory selfie while walking the floor!

After a few hours we headed back to the hotel to get changed into our Mandalorian armour as we had our first official stints on the Mercs booth that afternoon. We had learnt a few things from our outing in armour the day before which meant not only was the whole 'getting dressed' easier and a bit quicker but we'd also got a couple of changes; like putting my gloves on last so that I could take them off if needed (or at the very least so I could use my phone!).

All kitted up off we headed once more to the Excel and the long walk round to the entrance but once again we found it to be such fun with lots of high five's and stopping for photos. And this continued once we'd got into the building and through 'prop check' (remember all prop weapons had to be checked before being allowed through).

With a couple of mini-Mandos!

And even a Jedi wanted a photo with us!

Finally we made it through to the Mandalorian Mercs booth where we had duties to perform! Simon had some cell guard duty to attend to...

How did that Wookiee get in there?

...and he even got filmed for Star Wars Show Live!

We also helped out on a section of the booth that was set-up for children to get involved with; there was a shooting game and a throwing 'thermal detonators' target game. These were a great way to involve the children and introduce them (and their parents) to the world of the Mandalorians.

As our 'shift' came to an end fellow Merc Kris approached me and said that she'd like Simon and I to take part in a panel that the Mercs were hosting that afternoon! It was a panel all about building a set of Mandalorian armour and along with a few others Simon and I were to be the 'models'!! This involved us all standing at the front of the audience for an hour...in full kit...helmet on. This was the longest I think I'd ever spent with the helmet on and I have to admit I was a little unsure of how I would cope. The thing is I actually find the helmet to be a little claustrophobic, especially when indoors, but I surprised myself and in fact the longer I wore it the more I got used to it. Now don't get me wrong I was still thankful to take it off after the hour long panel!

Full audience ready for the Mercs armour building panel

Our team busy demonstrating how to shape the armour

A bit of posing going on by us 'models'!!

So the team here were able to shape a set of Mandalorian armour for an audience member in around 42 minutes...just a tad quicker than ours!! It was another fun experience which not only saw a lot more photos get taken but we also had chance to chat to members of the audience afterwards about our kits. I will confess to being very proud of my creative other half as we both received no end of compliments about our armour and although I think I wore it well all credit for it's creation firmly lays with Simon.

After the panel it was time for Celebration to close which meant a walk back to the hotel, a much needed shower, a change into civilian clothes and a very welcome and deserved tipple before our meal...

WOW! What a Weekend! - Day 1

Well, we are back after an amazing long weekend away in London where we attended Star Wars Celebration; three days of all things Star Wars.

We had an amazing weekend for all sorts of reasons that I shall go into as I write this and subsequent pieces. In fact we had such a great time I am struggling to know where to start! But I think the best thing to do would be to tell you what happened in the order it happened.

Now Star Wars Celebration ran for three days at the Excel centre in London. It started at 10.00am on Friday 15th July 2016 and was open for 3 days, finally closing its doors on Sunday 17th July 2016 at 5.00pm.

Now a lot of fans were arriving on the Thursday to pick up their passes so that they could be ready to hit Celebration as the doors opened on the Friday morning...some even queued from the early hours in order to secure their places at the various panels that were running. But we had decided to travel down on the Friday morning and just take things steady rather then worrying about which panels to see or spending hours in queues.

So we set off from our home in central England and headed South to London.

On our way!

The great thing about the Excel centre is that whilst it is in London it is on the outskirts which makes it very easy to get to if travelling by car like we were. About 3 hours later we arrived at our hotel, which was just to the rear of the Excel. It was a bit early to check-in so we parked up and headed over to the centre. Now the building itself was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel but we soon found out that the entrance was on the opposite side of the building which made it a good 15 minute walk instead!

Arriving at Celebration we were immediately hit by the very friendly and welcoming vibe as well as the number of cosplayers there were. We headed into the main building and had to initially go through 'bag check' before entering the main ticket hall to pick up our three day passes. We then took a steady stroll into the main exhibition halls to get ourselves orientated and find out where the Mandalorian Mercs booth was. We decided to head straight over to the booth to introduce ourselves to our fellow Mercs most of whom we had only ever spoken to via the forums online. Everyone was so welcoming and it was so nice to start to try and put names and faces together. We also collected our official Mandalorian Mercs Vok'Chi Clan t-shirts as well.

We then headed off in the search for food; now there are lots of places to eat at the Excel but there were also lots of queues! We ended up grabbing a couple of coffees and sharing a baguette - now those of you that have followed the 'Get Real' page on this blog will know this was not my usual sort of food and I really didn't enjoy any of it!! But while we were eating Simon decided to text a very old friend of ours who we knew was visiting Celebration just for the Friday, and lo and behold she responded by saying she was at the Mandalorian Mercs booth! We then quickly headed over there to surprise her. We chatted away and the conversation turned to our Mandalorian armour and how she was gutted that we weren't in costume...well that sounded like a challenge so off to the hotel we went to check-in and get changed!

In order to get all our armour safely to London we had bought a rather large black trunk...in fact we had bigger luggage for our armour than we did for our 'civilian' clothes! Although it must have looked rather strange rolling this large trunk through the hotel foyer and into the lift...thankfully we weren't the only guests with unusual luggage as most of it's clientele appeared to be Celebration guests.

This was probably only about the second or third time that both Simon and I had got dressed into our armour together and the first time we were taking it out in public. It probably took us a good 45 minutes to get kitted up as we had to figure out which order to put things on making sure that we could assist each other with tricky belts and gauntlets etc. But once we were all complete we headed off once more to the Excel centre and the long walk round to the entrance.

Instantly we became aware of what great fun being in cosplay was; we were stopped for photos, high fives, knowing looks, smiles and compliments and all before we got inside the building.

Although we had our passes we had to go through 'bag check' once more, or more specifically 'prop weapon check'. Both Simon and I as part of our armour have fake blasters; all made from bits of Foamex, MDF, piping and general household objects. But security (quite rightly) was tight and very specific about what items would and would not be allowed into the building. The guys on the prop check were great and very efficient; they simply placed a coloured zip-tie around each of our blasters to identify that they had been checked and given the OK. We were then free to make our way through the exhibition halls to the Mandalorian Mercs booth and this is when we discovered a slight hitch with our kit! Operating a touch screen mobile phone with leather gloves (me) is impossible and only just possible for Simon with his cloth gloves, this resulted in a very short and to the point text to our friend to let her know we were back and in full kit just for her.

We even threw her in the jail cell!

See it is us really!!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon between hanging out at the Mercs booth and exploring what else there was on offer. Simon was extremely happy that we got to meet James Bruton of XRobots.co.uk over on the Bladez Toyz stand. Simon has been watching James' videos of building robots and stuff for ages, and it has been these videos that have inspired and helped Simon with the armour building process over the last year.

But before we knew it it was 7pm and Celebration was closing for the day, we had had a fab first day and spent a substantial part of it in our armour which hadn't been our intention at all. It was much later than we had planned by the time we got back to the hotel and changed out of our kit...even taking it off had to be carefully planned as help was needed for each of us to get out of certain bits! Our plans for a meal quickly became snacks and red wine in our hotel room followed by falling asleep to the TV...it's hard work this being a Mando!

Star Wars Celebration

Hello, well I can't believe it's been such a long while between posts! I guess life has been busy as usual and I just haven't found the time to write.

So what have I been up to? Well, it's a busy time of year at work as we say goodbye to those children moving onto 'big school' and we get ready to welcome new faces in a few weeks time. I've been doing my bit on the Disney Dream Girls podcast too and we are now on episode 115! And then there's been the small matter of getting ready for Star Wars Celebration.

So this coming weekend Simon and I will be spending three days in London enjoying all things Star Wars!  This years Celebration is being held at the Excel centre in London and is a chance to celebrate and embrace all that is Star Wars; so lots of exhibits, lots of panels, movie showings, shopping and even tattoos!!

But the main thing for us has been our journey over the past 12 months since making the decision to attend this years celebration. So just to recap...a little over a year ago Simon and I were talking about what to do to celebrate Simon's upcoming 'milestone' birthday year and at the same time I had just found out about Star Wars Celebration coming to the UK. So, knowing how much Simon loves Star Wars I suggested we could have a long weekend in London and visit Celebration. Fast forward a couple of hours and tickets for all three days were booked. Then Simon said..'well if we're going to go we might as well do it properly and go in cosplay'...to which I replied 'well that's fine but no way am I wearing the Princess Leia metal bikini'!!

So what could we go as? What wasn't going to cost us a fortune to buy? Or was it something we could make ourselves? The idea of making something ourselves really appealed to Simon's creative side and it didn't take us long to come up with a character that we could both adopt. After all if we were going to do this we wanted to choose characters that would either compliment each other or that were the same or similar.

So what did we decide on? Well we went for Mandalorians...which for those of you unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe are based around the character of Boba Fett. The great thing with adopting Mandalorians was that whilst there is a basic form to follow we were free to be creative with the final look and style.

Simon began his research and came across the costuming group called the Mandalorian Mercs; a group set-up to help people create their own 'Mando's' whilst ensuring that the essence of the Boba Fett character still shines through. Having never ventured into the world of cosplay before it has been a real pleasure to discover a whole new world of people all embracing the same passion with no judgements, just simply a desire to enjoy and celebrate something they feel a passion for and a connection to.

So armed with lots of Star Wars reference material from the amazing Dorling Kindersley books to the movies and the wealth of the internet we set off on our creative journey. The online forums of the Mandalorian Mercs opened up a whole new world and gave us a community that would ultimately help us through our creative process.

Now the really great thing with all of this is that the actual cost outlay for both of our costumes has been relatively small. We have bought some pieces, like our 'soft parts' (or the clothing that goes under the armour) along with a few trips to the local DIY store to buy pipes, screws and bolts plus reaping the benefits of EBay and Amazon when it came to buying paint or material . We have invested in a few key pieces of machinery too; namely a sewing machine, hot glue gun and a Dremel! And then lots and lots of saving everyday objects that would have usually been thrown away. Things like plastic lids off ketchup bottles, tubes from inside soap dispensers, plastic chopsticks, pieces of milk carton...in fact you name it and we've probably used it. In fact nothing now gets thrown away in our house without first asking 'can we use this for something?'!!

The past twelve months have seen us transform plain pieces of MDF, Foamex board and everyday household objects into something that looks like it belongs on a movie set. Well, I say 'we' but I really can't take any of the credit for the fantastic costumes that have been created as it is all down to the amazing talents of my wonderful husband, Simon. I have merely assisted; I have held pieces still, helped mould a few pieces and learnt how to use a heat gun and a hot glue gun. I have provided refreshments as and when needed and been a sounding board for ideas but all the truly hard work and skill goes to Simon.

For Simon it has been chance to go back to his childhood and 'build stuff'; the only difference is now he has the tools, the knowledge and the creative force to transform ideas into reality. Simon has loved every minute creating our cosplay; he has researched techniques, learnt new skills and shared ideas with our new found friends on the Mandalorian Mercs forums. It has truly been a transformative experience! And having a whole year to build our costumes has all helped with the anticipation to Celebration and given us both that 'something' to look forward to, which after a good couple of years of no vacation time has been much needed!

The aim through all of this hard work, time and creativity was not just to create our costumes ready for Star Wars Celebration but to get accepted as official members of the Mandalorian Mercs by then too! In order to be recognised as official members our kit had to meet strict guidelines that have been set-up to ensure that the essence of the Star Wars universe is maintained and that the quality and attention to detail matches that which you would expect to see in the movies. The forums were a great help with this giving us a wealth of information, experience and support on which to draw to help us towards getting that all important approval. And by the end of June this year Simon got the thumbs up and then just a couple of weeks later so did I. Both outfits passed first time and now means that we are official members of the Mandalorian Mercs and specifically of the Vok'Chi Clan which is the UK arm of this worldwide organisation. As official members we can now 'troop' or 'invade' with our clan which means that we can help out at conventions, fundraisers and other charitable events with our first being Celebration! Yes over this weekend we will be helping out on the Mandalorian Mercs booth as well as helping out in Celebration's family area. So not only do we get to dress up in some pretty kick-ass gear we also get to help with the amazing charitable work this group does.

So let me share some photos with you...this first one shows various elements of our costumes at different stages of completion from raw MDF cut-outs to skate helmets being modified to even some clothing aspects!

The next  photo shows a good proportion of our 'armour' all primed and ready for paint and effects.

And here we have a finished helmet (or what is affectionately known as a 'bucket') - this one is Simon's.

We even have our very own custom 'weapons'...non-working of course!! But boy do they look real!

Simon's blaster

And my more dainty blasters!!

And here's the full effect...first we have Simon..

And then there's me!!

Oh and my one condition on doing this...

...I had to have Mickey ears for my helmet...and these are even detachable too!

So there you are Simon and I all ready, kitted up and official members of the Mandalorian Mercs ready to take on this years Star Wars Celebration. May the Force be with You!!

Bringing Disney Home

It's been nearly three years since our last visit to Walt Disney World and so some days I do feel a little home-sick. And while it's great seeing friends posts on social media or reading the latest news coming out of the parks it can only make the longing to be there even more intense.

So little things can sometimes mean a lot, especially if there's a bit of Disney involved. Like the obligatory stop by the Disney Store while out shopping or adding a Disney twist to an outfit or looking forward to the next instalment on your Disney tattoo!

And today was one of those simple moments when we finally managed to hang all of the posters that Simon had bought me for Christmas 2014. The posters are a set of 12 that recreate the attraction posters that you see as you enter the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and walk under the railway, past the locker area. I'd always loved these posters and we'd tried many years ago to buy an odd one or two but the logistics of getting a full sized poster back home had always prevented us. Then Simon came across this set online - perfect!

Over the last few months we bought the frames a few at a time to spread the cost and today we put the last few in place. We have a long hallway which seemed the ideal place to hang them.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Orange Bird & Tropical Serenade (the original name for the Enchanted Tiki Room)

Big Thunder Mountain

Walt Disney World Railroad

Haunted Mansion

It's a Small World

Snow Whites Adventures

Pirates of the Caribbean

Space Mountain

Country Bear Jamboree

Monorail

Plus one more which was a gift from my fellow Disney Dream Girl Michelle...

Splash Mountain 25th Anniversary poster for Disneyland

So I now have my very own Disney entrance way...well kind of ;)

Eating Healthy...and Proud of it!

So there I was this morning perusing my Facebook feed, as you do, when I came across one of those 'suggested posts' and the title caught my eye! I don't even know why it caught me eye...it read 'What Jennifer Aniston Eats in a Day Will Make You Sad'. But something made me click on the link.

What I found was a blog piece wrote about an interview that Jennifer Aniston had given to 'Elle' magazine. As she is renowned for 'looking good' she was asked about what she did to keep herself looking as slim and as good as she does!

I then preceded to read the article and found myself getting rather annoyed. Jennifer Ansiton had simply explained her healthy eating plan...no gimmicks...no quick fixes...just simple healthy eating. But what annoyed me was the blog authors attitude that in some way her choice to eat healthy was 'sad', that she was somehow 'depriving' herself of something. The whole blog piece really slammed her for choosing this lifestyle, and was wrote with heavy sarcasm and an attitude that was full of criticism. How can someone's decision to make healthy food choices be treated with such disdain?

Now I am all for freedom of choice (and opinion for that matter) and as a consequence someone's choice to eat a certain way or live their life a certain way should be their choice and their choice alone. It doesn't mean you have to agree with it or follow what they are doing but the least you can do is respect their choice.

I changed my way of eating nearly two years ago; I lost nearly 2 stone in weight and dropped 2 (sometimes 3!) dress sizes. I have never felt better about my body and how I look. I still have bits of me I don't like and still worry about how I look but I know that I am in better shape than I was 2 years ago. And I am proud of what I have achieved and proud of the fact that I have made a change to my lifestyle that I have stuck to. And along the way I have helped and supported others to make changes to their lifestyles too.

So if (and when) people ask me how I've lost the weight there is no quick fix or gimmick to tell them about I'm afraid. It is simply a change to my lifestyle that involves cutting out the processed foods and eating healthy clean foods. But I have to admit I kind of dread it when people ask me because I know what their reaction is going to be most of the time. As soon as I explain what I have done people usually say 'Oh I couldn't do that' and for some reason I then feel guilty...I know...why??

So let's ask me the same question that was asked of Jennifer Aniston - what do I eat most days? Well, breakfast tends to be sausage, egg and bacon. Lunch will be a salad with either chicken, ham, cheese or tuna followed by a yogurt (as low sugar as I can find - avoid all the low fat rubbish!). Dinner will be chicken, fish or meat with a large salad or plenty of veggies. I will probably have a bowl of greek or natural yogurt with some berries and most days I will have a couple of squares of very dark chocolate. Snacks will be either nuts with some dried fruit (not a fan of nuts but getting better with them) or cheese or some dark chocolate.

I don't worry too much about the number of calories each day but try to ensure that processed foods and foods marked 'low fat/fat free' are avoided. I don't eat bread, pasta, rice or white potatoes, nor do I drink diet drinks or fruit juice. And so far it seems to be working for me!

I find myself wanting to learn more about the relationship between food and our bodies and understand the effect that food can have on us. I have come across some great books and articles and am beginning to know more about what happens when we eat certain types of foods. I am passionate about what I am learning and will explain it the best I can to anyone who is truly interested.

And that is the other key to all of this you have to want to make that change. There is no point wishing you were slimmer or weighed less or wanting to look like Jennifer Aniston unless you are prepared to do something about it. It's very easy to come up with excuses but if you want something bad enough then you will make that change. The next thing is then sticking to that change; I initially made the change for a 90 day challenge but found that after the 90 days I really didn't want to go back to my old ways. The foods that I thought I would miss I actually didn't and never have since. Now don't get me wrong I will allow myself an indulgence every now and then, but I don't let that one indulgence become licence to fall back into old ways.

But with all of this I made a choice to change what I was doing, for my own reasons. And whilst I don't expect everyone to do the same, or even like or agree with what I have done, I at least hope that people will respect me for my own choices.

If you are interested in making a change then please feel free to comment below or message me via Twitter @JaynePhipps. Also check out Gary Taubes - Why We Get Fat & What to Do About It & Dr Mark Hyman - Eat Fat Get Thin & The Blood Sugar Solution for some great reads too.

Overdue post...

Well it's been a while since I put finger to keyboard so I thought I'd better get my act together and write a post!

So firstly apologies for such a long time between posts...I'd always wanted to get at least a couple of posts done each month but time seems to have run away from me of late.

So what have I been up to? Well, unfortunately, nothing exciting to report I'm afraid it's just been the day-to-day life of a working mum and wife. So the typical juggling of work, home and getting children from one place to another!

As far as work goes pre-school is a continually evolving place and we are never ones to sit still for too long! We have been re-looking at what we do and how we do it to make sure that we provide the best possible care and education for the children that come to us. So this has meant working lots of extra hours as we plan ahead for the future. Plus we have been busy fundraising and in the last few weeks managed to raise £117 with a cake sale and then our Easter Eggstravaganza rasied another £560! We also celebrated World Book Day so I couldn't resist the chance to go dressed as a Disney character...

As you can see in the above photo work has started on my latest Disney tattoo as I embark on a full sleeve! I have now had two sessions with the lovely and very talented Rachael Huntington at Rampant Ink and I will be seeing her next week for the next instalment. I promise I will devote a blog post to it soon!!

Simon has been extremely busy with his work and I can now reveal that he is working on a video game called Dangerous Golf which will be the first release for UK game developer Three Fields Entertainment. Working for a small start up company is an exciting time for Simon, and we're all looking forward to their games release in a couple of months time (June 2016-ish!) and fingers crossed it gets the success that everyone working at Three Fields Entertainment deserves!

And the other thing that has been taking up our time has been the ongoing creation of our cosplay outfits for Star Wars Celebration this coming July. Simon's kit is almost complete with this weekend seeing us fit armour to legs!! Next is creating the armour for my outfit!! Once we are nearing completion I shall put a post together, with plenty of pictures!!

So as far as Disney goes I am still recording the Disney Dream Girls podcast with the lovely Michelle and I shall be living vicariously through her as she travels to both Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World this year. Whether we will make it to a Disney park this year is a complete unknown and as much as I would love it to happen I think realistically it probably won't, fingers crossed that 2017 is the year for us!

Oh and I just remembered I did manage to complete my Disney villains jigsaw.

And I've just started another...

Should keep me out of trouble for a little while!!