Poppin' Off- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Merchandise

Since today is the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, I thought I would share some of the ultra cute and awesome Spidey merch that is currently available.

McDonald's Happy Meal toys:

I know there has been some bah humbugging over McDonald's decision to make gender specific Spider-Man toys, but there has been some praise as well. Personally, I don't have a problem with it. My daughter adores Spider-Man, probably more than my son does, but she doesn't always appreciate the boyishness of the Spidey toys. Since seeing that she can have similar toys to the boys, but its in her favorite pink and purple, she has been ecstatic. Granted, shes four and doesn't understand the whole concept of gendered anything, but that's the point. Shes four. She doesn't need to worry, she just needs to be happy. 

I think the Spider mask looks awesome, and I think the clutch does as well. I don't always agree with McDonald's separating the toys by gender (like they tried to with the Lego Movie cups....well, there were only two girl cups in the set of eight, how is that fair? Or the toys coming out after Spider-Man, when its the Pokemon and American Girl toys. We will only be getting the Pokemon or "boy" toys, because both children love Pokemon.), but I don't think their intentions were misguided with this one. I think they were trying to incorporate girls into this franchise promotion, not alienate them from it. 

Revlon's Spider-Man Collection:

Its no surprise that Revlon is doing an exclusive collection for Emma Stone's movie, since shes been a long time face of the brand. The collection consists of six nail polishes and three lip glosses. Its not available online, so you have to go to a drugstore to get it. The nail polishes look absolutely stunning and expensive, even though they're only $5.99. 

Source.

Clothing:

Forever 21 and Wet Seal are great places to get comic themed clothing for cheap. Here are some of my Spider-man picks.

Braided Back Tank from Forever 21

$15.80

Spider-Man Floral Tank from Wet Seal

$18.90

Spider-Man Heart Leggings from Wet Seal

$14.99

USPS Stamps and Boxes:

Even the United States Post Office is getting in on the Spider-Man action! They have medium and large Priority Mail boxes available (you can get them at your local post office or order a pack of ten online) with Spidey's picture on them, and stamps that are only available through at select self serve kiosks (you can check that out here).

Do you plan on seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 this weekend? Are you one of the early birds that's already seen it? Let me know what you think of it in the comments section!

Happy Birthday IGGPPC! An Interview and a Giveaway! (CLOSED)

If you've been reading along these past few months, I'm sure you've seen me talk about International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club on more than one occasion. So imagine my great surprise to find out that they are celebrating their first birthday just a few days after my 30th! March is a great month for birthdays, what can I say? Emily Farquharson, co-founder of IGGPPC, recently took the time to answer some questions about the group- where they started, where they want to go, and do guys really sign up for pen pals? Read on to find out!

1.This has been a busy time for IGGPPC! A new site, a first birthday...When you started IGGPPC, what did you hope would come from it?

It's crazy busy at HQ, we are nonstop with the planning for the birthday and beyond! When we very first started Leslie and I really just wanted candy! We never thought it would become this amazing, versatile community that it has become at the time. The best things are those you aren't expecting to happen! -F

2. Do you feel like the response from geeky girls/guys has been largely positive, or have there been some Negative Nellies in regard to IGGPPC and its community? 

You know, we are so lucky, the response to the project has been resoundingly positive and there has been no negativity within our ranks. We've nurtured an environment of support and acceptance that is universally embraced across our members, which just makes IGGPPC a fantastic community to be involved with. There have been a few people who have tried to goad us into petty arguments on twitter but we don't rise to the bait. Internet survival 101: don't feed the trolls! 

3. And speaking of guys... are there any that actually sign up for pen pals?

Yes! They are definitely in the minority but their numbers are steadily growing!

4. Is there anything you'd like to achieve with IGGPPC that you have yet to?

So much! We joke a lot about one day being able to have a proper IGGPPC convention with all the trimmings; like comic con but with more stationery and Lisa Frank stickers. 

5. There are so many fun things going on to celebrate your birthday; a week of giveaways, a birthday video and a House competition. Regarding the House competition, I am stuck between two Houses. I will be House GlaDOS until March 13th, then its onto House Organa. Should I post my awesomeness to both houses or how does that work?

Hot damn that is tricky, as leader of house GlaDOS I am inclined to say stay with us until after the comp because switching teams half way a game is just not cricket. The amount of people who are so generously giving their time and products to help us celebrate our first year has blown us all away. A lot of the prizes for the week of giveaways have come from shops owned by our members which just makes it even more special! 

6. Anything else you'd like to say about the community that we didn't touch on?

I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to express my love for all aspects of IGGPPC. Where would I even start? The beautiful friendships that have blossomed; the candies, mix tapes and postcards swapped; the healthy twitter debates about everything and anything; the generous nature of our staff and members who give up chunks of time to organise, plan and promote the club; the list goes on and on. If I dwell on it too much it kicks me right in the feels because I cannot wrap my wee pea brain around the fact that a project we started on a whim has turned into this magnificent beast! 

If you have never signed up to get a pen pal, do it! You never know you might be a top 5 geek love away from meeting your new best friend!

For those of you that are not IGGPPC members, Iggles and Miggles are broken up into Houses by their age. House GlaDOS houses the twenties basically, and the House Organa is for the 30+. Currently, House GlaDOS is winning the competition. The House competition started March 3rd and is running through April 3rd, 2014. The giveaways are happening March 13th (Happy Birthday to me!)- March 19th (Happy Birthday IGGPPC), 2014. Every day is a new prize, and they're all pretty awesome.

Now for my giveaway! As my way of saying goodbye to House GlaDOS, I am giving away some Portal gear. If you subscribe to Loot Crate, it may look familiar to you. And it should, as this came from September's (I think) crate :) Also, I am giving away a super cool measuring cup that looks like a beaker and an ice cube tray that resemble a tiny elements chart. Now for the rules:

This is open to US addresses only. Once the giveaway is over, a winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received within that time frame a new winner will be chosen. No giveaway accounts can be used for entries in this contest. That means, if you do what the widget says and one of your entries is chosen, and I can very obviously tell that you use that FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/BlogLovin account for contests only, your winner status will be thrown out and a new winner will be chosen. This contest is not sponsored, and is not affiliated with Loot Crate, Portal, IGGPPC or Target. I purchased everything for this contest.

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Mail- International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club Version 2

I have written about the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club before (you can read it here) and how great I think it is. If you follow me on Instagram though, you may have recently seen me bitch about the swaps that go on through the site. Basically, I've had horrible luck with their swaps- always sending stuff out and rarely receiving anything in return. It was frustrating, especially when all the other Iggles were posting pictures of all the great stuff they were getting. I felt a little hurt and left out. And I almost let those experiences ruin the site for me. Almost. But I've decided that I will probably will just forgo the swap aspect of the site from here on out in favor of all the positives it has to offer. (Also, I'd like to point out that Kara sent me a super sweet surprise Christmas package as a way of making up for my bad luck with the swaps. She didn't have to do that, and that's just the type of greatness that can occur through the site)

I love signing up for Rounds- I've met some really great ladies through them. Their blog, +5 Charisma, has a variety of topics that suit every type of geek interest, and the forums are equally as varied as well as active. The IGGPPC has recently moved to a new site- just in time for Round 10 of pen pal sign ups- and its amazing! Along with a redesign, they've added something I think is totally cool- achievements! They're kinda like the achievements in WoW (and I'm a huge achievement whore), but a little more difficult to find. I think the achievements add a little something extra (those Chief Iggles were channeling their inner Elle Woods) to the Iggle experience, and it might awaken the competitive giant in some of us ladies. Sign ups for Round 10 (with a cute Monsters theme) begin tomorrow, but if you just can't wait- you can donate $5 to the site for VIP registration that allows you access to the sign ups now! I hope you'll join me for Round 10 and see you around the IGGPPC site! And make sure to tell Kimberlee congratulations on her Ninja status with the Iggles. You may remember her as a contributor to the BlizzCon 2013 recap post and she was also my very first WoW player profile.

 A

PS Don't forget to enter my Datevitation giveaway! Or visit the Datevitation website and use code MISSTELLS for $10 off your order and free shipping.

Happy Mail- International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club

So I think my Monday Mix Ups will be on hold for a little bit. I don't have as much time to search the Internet for awesome things right now, but once I do, MM will be back in action.

Something I want to share with all of you is the International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club, or IGGPPC. I found them back in June, and I was so thrilled. I love pen pals. When I was younger, I used to find my pen pals through a magazine called Girls Life. To be published in the magazine, you had to have a PO Box (which I didn't), but you didn't have to have one to start writing to the girls. They had new girls every issue, so it was nice way to constantly find new pen pal prospects. While most of my pen pals only sent a few letters before I got the regrettable "I just got too many responses so I have to choose and its not you" letters, I did make one friend. We were pen pals from about eighth grade until....about a year ago (so, that's about 12 years). I missed the thrill of getting letters (being an adult now, all my mail is bills and sometimes magazines), but didn't know how to get pen pals again. Finding IGGPPC was like a dream come true. Not only was it a place to find pen pals, but nerdy pen pals! My heart rejoiced.

I have already made one pen friend through the rounds (more on that in a sec), and I've been able to join some groups that do their own swaps and things. Its a pretty sweet deal. Round Six opened registration on August 15th and open until.....the end of the month I believe. Each round has a theme, and you are matched with someone based on the nerdy loves you list during your registration process. You register every round, so you can change your nerdy loves, email address, whatever you need to chance with each round. After you're matched, they send you and your match an email, and its your responsibility to respond and exchange mailing info. I am having so much fun with this group and I feel really lucky to have found it. If you think you'd like to give the ancient art of writing an actual letter and sending it through snail mail, then I encourage you to sign up today. You won't regret it!

Poppin' Off- Operation Morale

I don't really know how to categorize this post; Poppin' Off is usually reserved for music, movies, places, etc. But I really love what Operation Morale is about and I just had to share. So here we go:

Yesterday morning I was flipping through my Instagram feed and I saw a few different bloggers that I follow post screen caps of Operation Morale. I was eager to find the originating source, and a few more scrolls down my feed, I found it. Erin Loves Earl (@candykirbydesigns on Instagram) is the genius behind Operation Morale, and the gist is, sending care packages overseas to our men and women in the armed forces. You might be thinking, that's been done before, and it has. I come from a long line of military, and the most recent is my brother, who is fresh out of basic in the Army. I've sent care packages before, but haven't done so in a really long time because I don't have any family overseas right now. And that's really something that Operation Morale touches on. It puts the idea back into your head to send something that soldiers not only need, but might make their day a little more cheerful. And it doesn't matter if you're for or against the war, or anything like that. Its about caring for other people, plain and simple. So please, please check out the link and hopefully you'll be touched to send a care package too. It doesn't have to be huge or expensive, or anything that might be stopping you from sending one. It really is the thought that counts.