I love movies, I especially love seeing them in theaters. I think my love of movies and movie theaters comes from my dad. Saturday mornings growing up usually consisted of my dad giving me and my sister a newspaper or driving to the theater and having us pick out a movie we wanted to see. He'd then order a large popcorn and nap through the whole movie because he was really only there for the popcorn and comfy seats, and that was before the seats got really comfortable. Going out to movies with my dad was one of my favorite things growing up so I think that just carried into adulthood because I love going to the theater to see whatever the newest box office hit is. Here is a list of some of my favorites from this year, along with some TV shows that I fell in love with in 2017.  

• Wonder Woman - What can I say, I think Wonder Woman was my favorite movie of the whole year. I cried like at least 5 times during the movie. It was so refreshing seeing such an amazing female lead. In a world where "bad ass" ladies in film are often the "fighting fuck toy"* Diana was a breath of much needed fresh air. Diana's compassion and emotions were part of what made her strong, not weak. She wore armor that served to protect her but also gave her flexibility and movement. Her story was more complex than just falling in love, she needed to save humans and find an end to war and just happened to fall in love along the way. And beyond how much I loved this movie, I love even more how little girls have such an awesome super hero to look up to in film, it's like my co-workers daughter said "I don't want to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, I want to be her when I grow up." 
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Obviously, I love super hero movies. Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorites because it is hilarious. One of the opening scenes of this movie is baby Groot dancing to  Mr. Blue Sky, I mean movies don't get much better than that. 
• The Lego Batman Movie - The Lego movies are also some of my favorite. The style of humor in these movies is just so good, I kept catching myself nudging Connor after every joke and saying through laughter " Oh my god did you hear that one?". This was a really strong follow up to The Lego Movie which was also absolutely hilarious. 
• Thor: Ragnarok - I think at this point you've figured out that the way to my heart is through laughter. This movie cracked me up. And it was so fun to have it be so heavy in 80's music and references.  Plus Planet Hulk was so fun. For a long time I felt like all super hero movies were very heavy and almost sad (eg. the original Spider Man, the original X-men trilogy, and The Dark Knight) so I like this trend of super hero movies where you can sit back, laugh, and cheer for the hero. 
• Murder on the Orient Express - This movie was fun for completely different reasons than the others. First of all, it was beautiful to watch. It spans so many different countries and landscapes, it is stunning to see bustling marketplaces, sunsets over rolling hills, and snowy mountains all in one movie. The train itself was beautiful as well. It made me fantasize about taking a long trip on a fancy train where I can sip tea and eat pastries while looking out the window as the world passes by. It really made trains seem like the most luxurious way to travel, unfortunately I know first hand that that usually isn't true. Another thing I loved about this movie was the quirky and lovable detective. He really made the movie funny even though it was about murder. And finally, I loved that it kept me guessing. I had absolutely no idea who did the murder all the way up until the end, and I am usually very good at figuring movies out. 
• The Greatest Showman - I didn't see this one until 2018 but it came out in 2017 so I'm counting it as one of my 2017 favorites. I wasn't too interested in seeing this but my mom and sister saw it and loved it so I was curious. Holy butts this movie blew me away. First of all the music is amazing! Connor and I have been listening to the soundtrack non-stop ever since we first saw it. And yes, I said first saw it, because we've seen it twice in theaters. To perfectly accompany the music, all of the dancing was just incredible as well. It honestly felt like seeing a Broadway musical with how amazing the music and dancing was. Plus all of the sets were just gorgeous. On top of how beautiful it was to watch, the message is really cool too. The whole theme of the movie was following your dreams and accepting people for who they are and exactly how they are. I'm a total sucker for a rags to riches story so of course I cried multiple times while watching it. I think this is one that we'll end up buying on DVD and watching at least once a month. 

* The "fighting fuck toy" is a hyper sexualized female protagonist that is portrayed as bad ass when in reality they are put in a movie to please the heterosexual male audience. This term was coined by Caroline Heldman and was used in the documentary Miss Representation which I highly recommend. 

I can't believe that October is over, mostly because that means this semester is dangerously close to being over, which means it's time to really concentrate on pulling up my grades. 
The end of October also means Halloween! I dressed up two times this year, once as Rosie the Riveter and once as a scarecrow. To me Halloween is all about challenging my make up and hair abilities so that's how I chose my costumes. 

Let me know which costume you liked better in the comments! 
So without further adieu: my October favorites. This month doesn't have a lot of products because I'm on a tight budget and have been trying to limit my spending but have no fear I made up for it by being obsessed with lots of other great stuff. 

This palette is amazing! I know I'm kind of late on this one but I have been using it nonstop this month. What I really like about it is that the colors are very shimmery and they stay on really well. I rarely get creases or smudging if I use a primer, and they stay on all night. 

I am not a soup person. I hate soup. It's chunky liquids which weirds me out, but for some reason I can not stop eating broccoli cheese soup! My favorite is from ABP but it's even good out of a can. I think it's the change in weather that's making me be in a soup mood lately. 

This candle is meant to be part of their winter collection but I think it is just really perfect for Fall. It is really sweet and woodsy so it has a nice balance and isn't too strong. 

Oh. My. Gosh. This season of American Horror story is so intense. I won't say anything else for those of you who don't/haven't watched it but seriously I think this might be my favorite season. For those of you who don't know, each season of AHS is it's own complete story (new characters, new setting, same actors and actresses) and each season is completely unique and seemingly unrelated. I recently saw an article that said that starting this season they will start to unravel how all the seasons are connected and will also reveal some hints for next season. 

I hate to admit it but I've actually never seen Gilmore Girls until it came out on Netflix. I am in love. It is so sweet and quirky and I just want to live in Stars Hallow and drink coffee in Luke's diner. The show is really cleverly written and the cast is just so lovable. Plus strong female leads, whats not to love? 

This website is awesome! I always get nervous shopping for clothes online because it's always so hard to tell what size to buy because sizes vary so much from store to store. And not only that but it looks great on that size 2 model but will it still look ok on me? This website totally gets rid of all my fears of clothes shopping online. They have a really good community base where people post pictures of them in what they bought and review the clothing item. They also have these people post their size and whether it fit true to size and all that jazz and it just makes it so much easier for me to buy clothing when I can find someone with a similar body type to me and see them wear it first. 

To clear any confusion now, OITNB = Orange is the New Black, and I will refer to it as OITNB from now on because it's way shorter. If you are on any kind of social media you probably know that Season two just came out and it is amazing! So to celebrate here is a list of the reasons why this show is the best thing not to happen to TV. 

I love this! I feel like all I ever see is men playing the leads in movies and TV shows. When there is a women lead it's usually in a rom com where her sole purpose in life is to find the man of her dreams and crack some jokes along the way. Or a semi-naked superhero women who acts more as a sex symbol than a heroine. Or what really kills, me is an adaptation of a book where the main female is supposed to be quirky and awkward and they cast the most beautiful women ever as that character and just throw some frumpy clothes on her to make her "nerdy" or "awkward". Orange is the New Black represents all kinds of women. There are some who are beautiful and some who are not so beautiful. And most of them do not have a romantic agenda. It shows that women have more thoughts and actions in a day than just ones relating to "finding the one". It also shows that there is more than just a cookie cutter idea of what a women should be and they rock it. 

I think it's pretty obvious if you've ever watched the show that it is very diverse. What I love though is that it feels real. Everyone is represented. Not everyone is a cookie cutter or stereotypical idea of what they should be. Some of the lesbians are butch. Some are not. Some of the black women are pretty ratchet. Some are not. There is even a nun. It really shows such a wide variety of characters that everyone gets represented (except for guys, sorry). I think that's one reason why the show is so popular, everyone can relate to at least one character. 

The writers always throw in a little dialogue that mentions a current event or a debated topic. It's always the inmates hearing about things going on on the outside and commenting or just brushing it off as stupid. It's very comical but I think it also gives new perspectives on things and sometimes when an inmate brushes something off it shows how dumb it really is. 

I love that the "good guys" usually end up winning. Or at least a small amount of justice is served. But this happens in almost all movies or TV shows so what makes OITNB special? The good guys always win but it's not easy and sometimes really bad things happen along the way. I think it's representative of real life. In general in life, good guys win more often than bad guys, but it's not always cut and dry. Things get messy, people get hurt, justice isn't always served but karma is a bitch. 

Who ever the make up artists for this show are really deserve an award. The make up in the show is so brilliant. Why? because you can barely tell when it's there. And I'm not taking about in a way that "Kim Kardashian looks so natural with that smoky eye" no I'm talking, this girl has been in jail for years with only cool aid as lip gloss. Because you know what, sometimes that how girls look. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE make up., but it's nice to see a show that accurately represents what most women look like when they aren't at their peak. 

I could go on about this show all day but I will spare you. If you want to talk more just comment below. :) 

I've seen probably all of the Friends episodes on late night Nick but I want to watch them all in order and from the beginning. 

Sex and the City is like crack to me. I have seen the movies about 100 times at least and I've seen all the episodes and having the one touch access to them would be wonderful. 

I always hear about how much people love this show and I never got into it while it was on TV so it'd be sweet if they were put on Netflix. 

I could watch Scooby Doo all day every day. Since I don't have Boomerang at my apartment it'd be sick if they were on Netflix. 

I just love these movies! 

Classic high quality 90s TV show. If you've never watched it you really need to. 

I've only seen two episodes and they were hilarious and so I have to catch up!! 

I've heard Girls is amazing. 

Obviously I really missed out on this one. All I ever hear people talk about is Game of Thrones so I want to watch them all so I can know what the hype is about. 

TV dramas is kind of my catch all TV category. I mostly use it to describe shows that are an hour long instead of a half hour. Sooooo here it goes! 

1. Walking Dead - I absolutely love survival and post apocalypse shows. What I love about this show is that it doesn't just show the initial trying to survive problems like acquiring weapons and food but it shows the long term survival stuff. It also explores how a zombie apocalypse effects humans on an emotional and moral level, not just physically. Definitely an addictive show. Heads up it's very graphic. 
2. Orange is the New Black - Netflix originals are great. This show is funny and sad and happy and chock full of drama. Heads up there are some intense lesbian scenes. 
3. Bones - If you're an NCIS fan this is a good show for you. It's got all kinds of nerd stuff in it but is also really funny and you grow to love the characters. This is a really good mystery type show. Another warning that this is really graphic, I used to watch it while I ate meals but I cant really do that anymore without getting sick. (the premise is dead bodies so I don't know what I was expecting.)
4. Lost - This is an oldie but goodie. If you've never seen Lost I feel like you have to watch it now. It's really good (another survival show) and it's a TV cult classic.  
5. American Horror Story - The best thing about AHS is that every season is a complete story. New characters, new setting, new time period, and new element of horror, all the same actors. Heads up, if you can't tell from the title it is scary, probably the best TV horror I've ever seen. 
6. Bates Motel - If you've seen Psycho you should watch Bates Motel, if you've seen Bates Motel you should watch Psycho. Bates motel is the modern day back story to Psycho. It's really interesting and they do a good job of incorporating elements form the original Psycho movie. You probably know what I'm going to say, heads up it's graphic. 
7. The Vampire Diaries - Ok, TVD is one of my guilty pleasures. I was so anti vampire when Twilight came out that I didn't even give TVD a chance until one of my friends made me watch it with her. These are no sparking vampires in this show, they are blood thirsty murderers. If you like action and not a lot of romance you'll probably enjoy TVD because the romance stuff is kind of minor even though they play it up a lot in the advertisements. 
8. Gossip Girl - Another cult TV show. People go nuts over Gossip Girl and I totally understand why. There is so much drama that you can expect from people who are too young and have too much money. Makes me want to be an Upper East Side elite. 
9. Pretty Little Liars - If you like mysteries and shows that give you answers to only open up 100 more questions that will probably never get answered then this is the show for you! This show is my addiction. 

Sorry this is such a long post, I just have to do these shows justice! As always, let me know if you watch any of these and let me know what you think!