Banda's Grove Overhaul Devlog - Design, Maps, and Terminology

Why are we overhauling Banda's Grove? See here: https://www.tumblr.com/pandiongames/711176177895735296

This will be a series of design deep dives. We want to share not just what we're changing about the game, but why we're changing it. Perhaps it could help someone in the future. I'll be using "#banda's grove overhaul" tag in each post if you would like to follow along.

Page Design

Check out the images if you want an idea of what Banda Grove's current rules are. This isn’t final text in the v2 image by any means, but we’re walking down the path of making new master pages for layout.

A Refreshed Color Palette

The background color is lightened up, and the vibrancy of all the colors is increased just a little bit for further contrast. We played around with changing the palette completely, but after a couple of hours of going back and forth, we decided to tweak the existing one because it feels unique and iconic to BG now.

New and more fonts

We stuck with Oil Can as the header and title font after looking at a ton of different options. This is a special font for me because it is no longer available from Lost Type co-op and hasn’t been for almost a decade now. Back when we started this project, I emailed them to get reconfirmation of a commercial use. I covet and backup the .otf file religiously. That certainly increases the likelihood this will remain a unique look.

But for the body text, we’ve swapped out Courier Prime with three fonts, two of them are on display here. The Paragraph is Bitter from Google Fonts, while the in-game handwriting is KH Sober Draftsman from Kern + Hide.

The callout boxes (post-it notes) in the game will use Ultra-Classified by Kern + Hide - this wonderfully jaunty typewriter/newsprint type of font.

We will be working with columns where it makes sense, but there will be a mix.

This is all to give the book a cleaner, easily readable interior. Previously, I was using different colored callout boxes to differentiate between “in world” notes from Ranger Murie, and game text. Now, however, we can represent that by font styles, which keeps the pages a bit more tidy.

The rectangle and pink triangle in the header is an anchor design and be used throughout everything to tie things together.

Maps, Mapping, and Hexes

We’ve been working the last few days on the mapping system in Banda’s Grove. Please note, things are still influx, and may change more.

Mapping in Banda’s Grove has been tedious at best from the very beginning. It originally had a tetris-style chunk of hexes you could lay down on a massive hex grid. That was replaced with a simpler 19 hex flower, and you started by building out 7 of them to start. But each individual hex also had its detail map of another 7 hexes to track little details. This was a lot to manage, to say the least, and made online games dang near impossible.

I had a big conversation today with another designer on the purpose of a hex on a map, and Banda’s Grove does not have any travel or time mechanics tied to traversing a hex. It is not a hex crawl or point crawl. The purpose of the map is to draw, sketch, and laugh together when you talk about the worlds you’re building.

So, we are getting rid of hex grid and detail maps entirely.

Instead, we are working on implementing a single free form map, plus a shared notebook. We’ll still provide a themed map, but players can also just use the biggest piece of paper they can get their hands on to draw the twisting, winding, Planes converging at the Grove. Players still draw together with Jamboard, Figjam, tldraw, aggie.io, or Miro for online games, or ignore the map aspect completely.

We’ll provide tips on how to setup your shared notebook or gdoc and offer optional templates in PDF and .gdoc formats. We’re investigating other online worldbuilding tools to build templates for them as well.

This change has an additional upside: We can remove an entire technical term from the game, reducing jargon and confusion.

Before, we used the word “Fragment” to denote we were talking about a hex tile in general, and “Plane” to talk about the biome and culture on that Fragment. The word Fragment has now been completely removed from the game, and we only have Planes.

As an example, Maps in Banda’s Grove will become more free form like this, rather than the more bounded hex grid style. And no, I cannot draw. This is why I hire artists!

And this actually opens up some interesting possibilities for using mechanics to add limits, encouraging players to use the Convergence Event move, which also risks adding blips to the map, which in turn causes more narrative friction.

I’m playing with limiting the number of facilities you can build on a single Plane - we have to make sure we don’t overcrowd the environment! However, now a Convergence Event can add a new Plane you come up with yourself, or expand an existing Plane (you still need to roll to see which Plane is extended). Extending a Plane doesn’t add any new overhead to your note-taking now. You just continue adding details and notes under the “Cluthar” section.

When blips occur, you still roll a pebble over the map, and the Plane it lands on becomes shrouded in primordial darkness and is unavailable until mended.

Actions, Phases, & Quantum Events

First, let’s discuss a quick term rename I did. We mistakenly used the name “Action” to represent the special abilities of a playbook, facility, or downtime phase that cost a pebble to use. These are now called Moves. This will free up the word “action” for another mechanic to reduce confusion further.

The other piece I’ve been working on is how Phases work. Phases were always meant to represent the passage of a week, but their naming and how I implemented them muddled that, and it was… confusing at best.

I’ve always had this idea that the “Downtime” phase was the weekday, that’s why you have 5 actions to take. One for each day of the week.

The Update Phase was supposed to represent Sunday Evening, when you’re settling in and taking a moment to prepare for the weekday.

And the Quantum Event phase, was meant to be the weekend, a time of adventure, and shenanigans around the campgrounds.

The phases and quantum events have been renamed to reinforce that weekly cycle concept fully:

The Weekday - You take 5 Weekday Actions. You can spend pebbles to perform Weekday, Playbook or Facility moves, or have slice of life roleplay scenes to gain pebbles.

The Weekend - This is when you go on Weekend Adventures! Time to get into and out of trouble, help peoples, and discover hidden mysteries.

Sunday Night - This is the time to settle in after your big adventures, take stock, reduce your dice, and prepare for the Weekday.

Even though these are just terminology changes, they help reinforce the concepts of the gameplay loop, what it means, and connect the mechanical concepts together better.

And speaking of the Weekday Phase, we have simplified the “Downtime Actions” (now called Weekday Moves). Before, you had Downtime Actions. Some were nestled under a “Grove Projects” action, which itself was several possible actions. Wow, that’s confusing. That is all rewritten and organized, so there’s no nesting. Just a list of comprehensive Weekday Moves now.

Because The Weekend is a cleanly defined phase of free form adventuring and roleplay, but with the limitation of not being able to use Weekday or Facility moves, I can also organize gameplay better.

The biggest one here is Events (previously “Festivals” & “Special Events”, also simplified). They were always a free form adventure. They were designed as roleplay heavy, low stress, celebratory “Quantum Events” with boons and bonuses for your efforts - they have an introduction, complications, and your reward for participating.

But, they didn’t really fit in the Weekday phase’s gameplay, where they currently take place. But that’s where they had to live because The Quantum Event Phase was for Quantum Event. As written, it didn’t leave room for anything else.

Now the Weekend is a phase of adventuring where you just can’t use Weekday or Facility Moves, only your Playbook Moves, inventory, and wit. By default, a Weekend Adventure takes place - either one we wrote, or one you create.

However, now an Event can replace that Weekend’s Adventure. There are some Facility Moves that also initiate Events, like putting on a play at the Stage. That will take place during the Weekend in lieu of a Weekend Adventure now as well.

All these little tweaks and changes are to streamline and organize play, reduce jargon and drastically increase clarity.

Until next time!

-Andy

Shadow from the past Chapter 3

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader,  John Wick x reader, Ethan Hunt x reader

Warning: swearing

Word count: 5,514

Summary: What would you do when the past will start knocking at your door?

Author note: Sorry for the delay. I had real blast writing this chapter and I’m so excited for upcoming ones! Hope you’ll enjoy it. And thank you

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Shadow from the past: Chapter 3

Where the hell are you? We’re at the club. Call me. message from Dean displayed on your phone right above the information about ten unanswered calls. It’s been a few hours now since you left your hotel room leaving only a note on a nightstand and he started to worry. “Looks like Ethan was right,” you thought to yourself trying at the same time suppress guilt and remorse which was rising up inside you. In any other situation you would answer a call from Dean in second, at his first try. You would be happy to hear his deep, husky voice on the other side, you would be smiling at the phone, assuring him that you safe and you’ll be back soon. But this time was not like any other.

The first time he called you were in the middle of a chess game with your past; you couldn’t pick up. The second time he called you were in the middle of enabling all the security in the safe house and making sure that no one will get in; you couldn’t pick up. The third time he called you were on the way to The Pawnbroker where you accessed another safety deposit box. You left your gold coins in the big brown suitcase and instead you took out spare clothes and two switchblades Microtech Ultratech UTX-70 OTF; you couldn’t pick up, you were too busy securing one coin secretly inside your bra. The fourth time he called you were shaking off the weird feeling caused by the one sentence uttered by a broker, “Happy hunting miss Y/L/N”; you couldn’t pick up either.

Fifth and sixth time he called you were changing your outfit buried deep inside your thoughts. Everything was happening way to fast. You wanted it to slow down, to pause, to give you time to think. But you knew it was just a fool’s wishes. You jumped on the train which won’t stop now so you had to act on your instinct not on your thoughts. “He was tracking me all this time…all this time he was keeping tabs on me. Why? What is his end game?” you were asking yourself in your head. These questions were bothering you, the fact that Ethan new everything was shocking yet at the same time you were feeling strangely calm. Like the image of him secretly looking after you was somehow calming to you. “After everything that happened, he was still looking after me. Or was it just another assignment from Brandt?”

Seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth time you didn’t even bother to look at the phone. You knew that even with all your skills and all your tricks and all your training you won’t be able to fool Dean this time. I’m on my way you typed shortly. You order a cab driver to take you to Skyfall club and you let yourself relax for a moment.

To your surprise you were not over-analyzing the last few hours like you tend to do. You were just sitting there in the back seat of the New York cab, calm, numb even. Streets were passing by, city lights were putting you in some kind of trance and all you could do is to trace with your eyes small raindrops running on the windows of the cab.

I can neither confirm nor deny detail of this operation without the Secretary approval the sentence was echoing loudly in your head, sentence which you were sure you will never hear again. God knows how many times you said it yourself and it surprised you how oddly natural was to say it again. The felling of the words on your lips was like a taste of candy from your childhood, sweet and sour, comforting and upsetting at the same time. Like some part of you was longing to that time of your past. You closed your eyes and you could feel another flashback coming your way. You could see Ethan’s hazel eyes and you could smell Code in the air like he was standing right in front of you. You gathered all your will to block it, you couldn’t bare another vision at the moment, there was no need for another visit in the past now when all you needed was to stay cool and composed. You were tired of these glimpses of memories, of Vienna, of London, of a motorcycle ride, of the feeling of blood on your hands, of a taste of the bourbon on your lips. You remembered all of it way too well, you didn’t need to feel it, to smell, to taste, to see it like you were there. Because that is what it always was. Every vision, every glimpse of a memory was like a short visit in a past accompanied by all the feelings, all the smells, all the emotions that you felt at that moment. You couldn’t allow yourself to be thrown off balance now when you were so close to your destination.

“Miss Y/L/N we’re here.” You heard like from far away. You thanked a driver, you got out of the cab, and you head back straight to the alley behind the building not even noticing that driver new your last name. You had a role to play in the scene which was coming next. Even if you knew that there was no hunting and there was no case only a bodies that most likely he left behind you had to be convincing. Now, you had to be a hunter.

***

“Where have you been!!?” Dean run up to you, anger and wariness mixed in his eyes “You forgot how to use your phone?!” he gave you a questioning look.

“I’m sorry Dean, I meet a friend which I haven’t seen for ages!” that was only a half-lie “you know us girls, we started talking about old times, I completely lost track of time.”  

“And a sense of reality apparently. I called you like ten times!” anger was spiking in his green eyes, he wasn’t buying it.  

“I know I know hun,” you decreased distance between him and you and placed both hands on his chest “don’t be mad on me” you smiled charmingly “c’mon…there is no point of arguing over such a silly things” you smiled again and kissed him slowly letting the pressure come off from his muscles to his hands and lips. He didn’t need any more encouragement, he placed one hand on your back and another on your cheek and returned the kiss prolonging it a bit.

“I was just worried about you” he said with his lips still on yours.

“I know” you whispered through the kiss. After all these years he was still making you week in your knees. “We should go inside and caught up with Sam” your lips were moving over his.

“Mhmm…you’re absolutely right” he said without breaking a kiss which with every second was becoming more and more passionate.

“Dean..”

“I know I know”  

“Dean, stop!” you finally broke the kiss and laughed brightly “we got work to do remember?” you grabbed his hand and started dragging him into the building.

“Well I know better ways of spending a rainy night in New York city” he smirked.

“I can imagine” you smiled fondly on bare thought of some alone time with Dean “But sorry hun, work first, pleasures later” you said and open back door which was already cracked by Sam.  

***

The inside of the club felt strange all quiet and dark with only you three inside. Place which was usually crowded with people and pulsing with lights and music felt oddly hunted. You spotted Sam in the corner of the main room swiping place with EMF meter right where he left his glass just a few hours ago. You felt the wave of tension coming in and the fact that you were surrounded by shadows and dark corners didn’t help to ease it. “Are you there? Are you watching me?” you started looking around, scouting shadows around you.

“There is nothing there” you heard Sam’s voice “I’ve checked that part already. What took you so long?”  

“Apparently Y/N decided suddenly to be a typical woman and she lost track of time while catching up with an old friend” Dean replied with sarcasm.  

“You guys, I know that maybe sometimes it does not look like it, but I still am a woman and sometimes I need a girlfriend to gossip with” you snapped back.  

“Gossip you say…?” Dean was on the opposite side of the room, but you could hear sass in his voice “about what?”

“You of course! What else?! Women only talk about boys, clothes and makeup isn’t that right?”

“There is nothing here!” Sam interrupted with frustration ignoring your exchange like he always did “Absolutely nothing!”  

“We should check again, maybe we’re missing something” you proposed.

“Honestly, I don’t see a point. While you two were making out outside I swiped place twice already. You know what I’ve found? Jack. There is absolutely nothing here, except small emf spikes caused by power lines. There is nothing in the newspapers, nothing in the history of the area and building was build six months ago. I don’t know you guys, it seems to me that maybe we were wrong” he seemed disappointed.  

“What about the witness?” Dean reached behind the counter and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and three glasses “this is our last lead which we didn’t check” he poured three drinks and handed them over to you and Sam.

“Seriously Dean?” Sam gave his brother a judging look and refused a glass.

“What?! It’s not like someone will notice!”  

“The girl who supposedly saw everything is our last lead” Sam continued “But I’m starting to think that maybe we just wanted to see a case where there was none, to begin with”

“Everything is pointing to the fact that indeed nothing had happened here” you took a sip of an amber liquid hoping to ease a tension rising inside of you. You couldn’t see anything suspicious but the feeling of cold spikes on your back was enough to make you feel nervous. Shadow had eyes and they were tracking your every move, every gesture, every word. Shadow was closing around you and you could feel his presence near. “Let’s check office upstairs” you suggested forcing yourself to stay in character.  

“I already did that” Sam replied “Like I said, it took you a long time to get here” he added seeing your surprised face “but feel free to give it another look”  

You downed the last sip of whiskey and run upstairs. In any other situation you would feel bad about the fact that Sam did most of the work just because you decided to fool around with Dean. In any other situation it most likely wouldn’t happen but you needed to take Dean’s mind of the fact that you’ve been gone all day. You needed to distract him. In any other situation if that would happen you would apologize to Sam but, it wasn’t any other situation. With a cold bump in your stomach, tighten throat and blood pulsing in your temples you closed the office door behind you. You had no intention of checking for any clues you just needed to be alone for a moment. Dark office room felt comforting, at that moment it was exactly what you needed. “He’s here…” you were almost sure. However, there was still doubt in you. For what is worth you made an agreement a long time ago and at that time it seemed the best decision you could take. You suppressed another wave of flashbacks “If he is really here what is he waiting for? Maybe I’m just imagining things. Why would he be here? That does not make any sense” you took two deep breaths trying to convince yourself and calm down a bit. You were walking on thin ice. You knew very well that you can fool Dean only for a short period of time. He knows you too well, he will figure out that something is wrong.

“Anything?” office door rapidly opened and you saw Dean who looked like he already had at least three drinks “well well, this is the cozy spot” he smiled adorably and looked at you with a shiny eyes “so where were we?” he smirked and pulled you closer to him.  

“We should go” cold spikes on your back returned but you kept flirty smile “we don’t want to make Sammy angrier than he already is” you kissed him shortly to his disappointment, grabbed his hand and let him down to the main room.  

You did one last swipe through the place, hid the glasses that you used and made sure that everything is in order before you secured the door behind you.  

“You guys go ahead bring car, I’ll wait” you said stopping in mid-walk.  

“It’s a middle of the night and it’s freezing” Dean looked at you suspiciously.  

“I want to grab a smoke. Or maybe suddenly you don’t mind me smoking in the car” you smirked.  

The only reply you got was Dean frowned faced as he ordered you to wait. You ignored it completely, a long time ago you decided to stop giving a crap and you made the decision that you going to stop smoking if he stops drinking. You both knew it will never going to happen so all you could do was to frown at each other and move on.  

You lid up a cigarette and took deep long inhale realizing how desperately you needed it over the last few hours. Bad dreams were nothing comparing to constant flashbacks and ghosts of your past materializing in front of you. “Ethan…” the last person you thought you will ever see again. You had to be honest with yourself, the way you parted ways the last time you’ve worked together assured you that if you ever cross paths with him again it won’t end well for you. Back then you had your reason which definitely justified your actions, at least in your mind. Of course, there was no way that he knew them, you made sure of that, which begged a question: was he your friend, or enemy? He surely didn’t act like an enemy.   You took another deep draw of your cigarette and hang in your thoughts for a moment on those hazel eyes and snarky smile, there was something dangerously frantic about them. You knew it won’t be long before Ethan will reappear again which meant that next move had to be yours. Because knowing him everything could happen. For all is worth you might even receive a mysterious, self-destructing message in a day or two and that would be very inconvenient.  

You watched Sam and Dean’s silhouette disappear around a corner, and you smiled lightly proud that you managed to play a part perfectly and that they are not suspecting anything. At least you were hoping to. It was important right now, to keep everything hidden from them. It was important to get them away from New York as soon as possible, away from you. You knew deep down that even if now everything was relatively calm the storm was coming and when it comes you definitely don’t want them around. That was the best option, for their own good, for their own safety. Because how could you explain to them all off it? How could you look into Dean’s eyes and tell him that yes, you lied to him for years? What’s more, they were important, they still had a job to do, people to save, and storm like any other force of nature, it can be unpredictable, you never know who might get lost or hurt or killed by deadly lighting.

You lid up the second cigarette, thick smoke was soothing your nerves relaxing your muscles with every inhale you were feeling calmer, spikes you felt couple minutes ago all but disappeared and you started doubting again if what you felt was real or maybe you were becoming paranoid. You looked around you, hoping that some movement in the shadow will clear the doubts but everything was quiet, still. “Calm before the storm” you thought to yourself with a small pinch in the heart.

That feeling you had in there, like someone was constantly tracking your movement, like someone’s eyes were pinpointed on you, that constant cold touch on your back, like he was there watching you from the shadows. “Where are you?”

Your eyes widened suddenly, and all your muscles tensed up again. Cold spikes return to your back and they were more intense than before. It felt like the blood in your veins froze up and your heart slowed down and skipped a bit or two. You wanted to turn around, but you didn’t have to, he was here…Sauvage … it was everywhere. More intense than ever before. It was enfolding all around you closing you in, seducing, intoxicating, luring. You closed your eyes, your hand frozen in the mid-way to your lips. Coldness got stronger and you knew that Shadow behind you was no longer a shadow, it had a face, deep-dark brown eyes, black hair and a name….

“John….” You whispered with your eyes still closed. You felt a feather-like touch on your arm almost undetectable over the clothes. Shivers went through your whole body and you leaned back just a little bit just to feel his chest beneath your shoulder. “John…. I knew you were here,” you said with a barely audible voice.  

“You are in danger….” You heard his voice right next to your ear, deep, dark, thrilling making your heart stop for a moment. He moved your hair away from your neck and gently glossed over your bare skin which made your body shiver once more. “Ditch the tail. I’ll see you at Continental.”  

“John….” You whispered again leaning closer.

“You shouldn’t come back….”

***  

Calming waves were hitting the side of the boat when you took the one last look on the sun on the horizon. You couldn’t recall the last time when you felt so good, so peaceful, like all the problems and all the sorrows disappear completely. You wrapped shawl tighter and let the warm breeze gently touch your face and mess with your hair. You closed your eyes, relaxed you smiled at the felling of arms wrapping around you. You leaned back a bit and placed your head underneath his chin. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t have to, he only pulled you closer to him and smiled to himself. It felt good. You stood there together you with your eyes closed synchronizing your breath with his, he with a gentle look in his eyes and this feeling inside of him, like he was holding the world in his arm.

“You know what John?” you whispered with your eyes still closed.

“Hmm?”

“Sometimes life is good”

“Yes, it is” he said and with a soft kiss on your lips made sure that you will never forget that day.

***

“Can’t sleep?” Sam asked placing himself right next to you on the bench. You were sitting outside of the hotel, with steaming coffee cup in one hand and cigarette in the other. His question yanked you brutally from your memories. And reality wasn’t that pleasant especially cold morning sun which was hurting your eyes.  

“What, the smell of my cigarette is so strong that it got to your room and woke you?” you attempted a sarcasm.  

“I was planning to go jogging before you two wake up but seem that my plans had changed” he smiled lightly.

“Sammy, I don’t want to stand in between you and a healthy lifestyle! At least one of us needs to lead with an example.”

“What’s up with you lately?” he asked ignoring your sarcasm. Ignoring bullshit and pursuing as he planned it seemed like he mastered that skill to perfection.

“What do you mean?” you attempted the innocent smile, but you knew it was a poor attempt of mind games from your side, you were too tired.  

“Ever since we arrived in New York you seem to be on edge, all the time. And if you aren’t on edge you zone out. Apparently, you can’t sleep to” he pointed at you with his opened hand “and you smoking like a chimney.”  

Your only response was a snarky smile and rolled eyes which you used for covering the irritation raising inside you. You were so focused on Dean, on making sure that he won’t suspect anything that you almost forgot that Sam was observing everything from a distance, and he wasn’t so easy to fool. Especially since you could not use the power of flirt and charm on him.  

“Don’t give me that look, you know I know this look. And I know this state,” he continued “I’ve seen it way too many times on Dean. Same snarky smile, rolled eyes and cool pose. The only difference is that you’re not reaching for a beer at 7am. Something is eating you up” he stated with confidence.  

“I’m alright, really,” you interrupted his little tirade “you have nothing to worry about”

“Mhm…. I’ve seen this face before. Remember when we first met? You gave me exactly the same look when I’ve asked you if someone was chasing you. Exactly the same.”  

“Sam, I appreciate you caring and all but really you have nothing to worry about. It’s just this city, it brings back memories. That’s all” you tried your best to sound convincing but with a corner of your eyes you could see clearly that he wasn’t buying it.  

“You never told us anything about New York” he pointed out.

“There is nothing to talk about. It was a long time ago. In a different life.”  

“Yet you still have friend here” his words rose a red flag in your head “I’m sorry for saying this but I ain’t buyin’ your little story about you spending your whole day with an old friend” you looked at him sharply perfectly aware of an angry look in your eyes “Dean maybe does, or he chooses to, but I don’t. So maybe you would like to tell me what is going on? And before you start with another ‘I don’t know what you mean’ believe me when I say it I know, I get it. Sometimes you just don’t feel like telling him something and I get it. God knows how many times I made some decisions and I decided not to tell him, or I did something behind his back. Because at that moment, in that situation that seemed to be the best decision that I could have made. And you know what? Every time it turned out to be a huge mistake. And I’m pretty sure if he would be here now, he would tell you exactly the same thing, because he also been there, he also went behind my back and consequences of these decisions were let’s say, pretty bad. So, whatever you doing I’m sure you have good reasons, but maybe if you don’t want to tell him, you could tell me.”  

Uncomfortable silence fell between you two. You knew that there was truth in his words, and wisdom earned from experience, but you couldn’t tell him. You didn’t want to tell him. Even if you wanted to, what would you say? “Well within the last 72 hours I met my ex colleague/co-worker/it’s complicated government secret agent/spy and my ex-fiancé hitman/assassin and I have a bad feeling that some insanely bad shit is about to go down. So I’m kinda fucked and I don’t want to drag you two down with me because I love you, you my family and I wouldn’t forgive myself If anything would happen to you.” yeah, that doesn’t sound right. You took a quick puff of your cigarette reminding yourself quickly that the next move must be yours.  

“Let’s pack our bags and leave” you said strongly “There is no case here anyway. Let’s go to Roadhouse. It will be good for all of us. We haven’t seen Ellen, Jo and Ash for such a long time”

“You want us to drop the case?” Sam looked at you suspiciously.

“Sam, there is no case” you looked him in the eyes trying to suggest him without saying that you know what you talking about “We’re here for four days and what did we found out? Nothing, zero, zilch, nada! We can get ready before Dean wakes up, and hit the road right after breakfast”  

“First you were so eager to take this case and now you suddenly want to leave? Y/N what is going on?! Tell me!”

“Sam…” you sat down next to him “I need you to trust me. Can you do this?” that sounded more like a desperate plea than a question “I know I’m not making a lot of sense, but I need you to trust me.”  

***

“I’ll pack the car and you wake up the sleeping beauty” he replied, “We’re leaving in an hour”.    

***

Next day

You arrived at Roadhouse in the late evening of the next day. Somehow you managed to convince Dean that there is no point in staying in New York for any longer and that indeed there was no case. True, you helped yourself with a small lie about possible vamp nest near Tulsa but after some further reflection you came to the conclusion that it was not needed. The idea of visiting the Roadhouse was convincing enough.

Upon arrival Ellen and Jo greeted you with smiley faces, warm hugs and cold beer. It’s been a while since the last time you visited them, you didn’t even realize how much you missed each other. It took you only a few minutes to start talking about interesting hunts, types of monsters you encountered, in which moments lore had failed you and how you solved it, or how many times the monster turned out to be a psycho without a leash. You were laughing, smiling, drinking cold beer, the jukebox was playing Here I go again by Whitesnake, it was a good time.  

“So vamps in Tulsa, tell us more” Dean suddenly jumped on the subject after finishing another beer “We’re coming back from a Rotten Apple without ghost trophy so we gonna take anything. I’m sure Y/N will not say no to some good old decapitation” he smirked to you. You smiled back but with a corner of your eyes you noticed Ellen’s face dangerously shifting from happy to furious.  

“Ash will fill you in with detail” she said shortly “Y/N come help me on the back, I have a barrel of great beer stored for special occasions.  

“Woah, Ellen I can do it” Dean stood up ready to help.

“You my guest at my bar so behave like one.” She scolded him. There was some power in her presence, power of authority, the kind of you are not arguing with “Y/N come, I need to talk to you.”  

You wanted to run, you wanted to run like hell. She reminded you of your mother, and by looking at age difference she could be your mother. You knew very well what was coming up next and you were not ready for this. Suddenly you felt like a teenager again, anxious, ready to rebel, ready to fight with your mom even if you knew that she was right. She closed the door to the basement behind you and turned to you with her arms folded on her chest and furious look in her eyes.

“Ellen…listen…” you stared but she was not up to listening to your explanation.  

“No, you listen and listen to me well!” she interrupted “I don’t know what you got yourself into and frankly I don’t want to know! No, don’t tell me anything! I don’t want to have visitors in black suits at my doorstep tomorrow. You do you, I know I cannot stop you anyway. You are a grown woman and a skilled one too. But dragging those boys with you into this mess! No, that won’t happen! How could you even! First you lying to them for years and asking me to cover for you and now this!? I’ve got up to here of these secrets and I curse the day when Ash found out about your ‘other activities’. You were assuring me that this is a past, long gone. You were looking me straight into eyes and assuring me, saying that I can trust you. And now what?! Now you want to drag Sam and Dean with you into all of this?!! Now you…”

“No, Ellen stop!!” you interrupted. As much as you understood her anger and where was it coming from you were not a sheepish type and standing and listening wrongful slam was not your style “I’m not dragging them with me!!” she looked at you surprised “This is why I persuade them to come here in a first place!”  

“This better be good”  

“I need to come back, I need to disappear…” you started but upon seeing Ellen disapproval you decided to stop playing nice “You don’t get it so don’t you dare give me that look!! What Ash found is just the tip of the iceberg. Just a small small tip. And I don’t have any intention of explaining you everything else. Not because I don’t trust you, because I do, but because you’re my family and I don’t want to put you, Jo or anyone else in danger. I know you are skilled hunters, damn one of the best in the world but it does not change anything. This is simply above your paygrade. Yours, Jo’s, or Sam’s and Dean’s combined together. And it’s not because they are not skilled enough, or they are not good enough no it’s not that. You, them, you are hunters! You hunt monsters! You are not killers.”  

“And you are?” she interrupted.  

“My point is…” you continued ignoring her question in Sam’s style “I’m not dragging them with me. I’m asking you to delay them after my disappearance. And keep my secret to yourself. I know they will go after me. Or at least Dean will, there is no doubt in that. But I can disappear and even with his skills he will have a hard time picking up my trail. So am asking you, to delay him as long as possible and to never ever under any circumstances show him this file that Ash has on me. For his own good, for his own safety”  

“What about you?” there was a care in her eyes, wariness which made your heart melt a little bit.

“I’ll be fine. I don’t have the same principals as they do. I know how to take care of myself” you replied with a cold voice. “I need to borrow your car. It will be returned to you, don’t ask how and by whom”  

“You are leaving now?”

“Yes. I’m on the clock here, time is running out and sooner I will be away from y’all than better”  

Out of nowhere she reached out to you and pulled you in the strong hug. You could feel that she was shaking a bit, like a mom who didn’t want to let her child go. She held you for a couple of moments until you pulled yourself away.  

“Ellen, I need to go”  

“I hope is not a goodbye”  

“I don’t know” you replied shortly “I don’t know….”  

***

You took one last look at the flickering lights of the Roadhouse. You could hear the Deans laugh, you could see Sam silhouette leaning over the bar and talking to Jo, you could hear Hot Blooded by Foreigner in the speakers, they all had a wonderful time.  

In a couple of minutes Ellen will join them and she will destroy this party by selling them some lie about your disappearance. Dean will get pissed in a matter of seconds, Sam will get worried but he will do his best to stay calm. They will start asking questions, they will try to call you. But your phone will be dead. How long it will take them to realize that you are nowhere to be found? An hour? Maybe two? It doesn’t matter. By that time you will be long gone.  

You turned on an engine of old Dodge pickup and you turned around one more time. “If you only knew how much I love you D. “ you felt a pinch in your heart while a single tear fell down your cheek. You heisted for a short moment but just when you were about to turn off an engine deep, dark voice sounded in your head You are in danger…

You took a deep breath, threw in a gear and disappeared into the night.

FIRST SEASON

Our first season, the Dracula Trails Route and the ADV Bike Rider Magazine article...

April 2018 was the start of our first season and by December 2017 we already had a few trips booked for the early spring and autumn...Nick has contacted us in early October 2017and requested do ride with us together with his group from Manchester UK. After a few emails the trip was booked and on April 17th we were travelling to Cluj Napoca to pick up seven riders.

The plan was to ride the Dracula Trails Route https://www.transylvaniatrails.com/products. We had everything planned and ready to ride...Nick mentioned in one of his emails that he was in contact with someone from the ADV Bike Rider Magazine https://www.adventurebikerider.com and he advised that we should take lots of pictures during the trip...

The trip was a big success!

A few weeks after the trip we received an email from Alan ( one of the gents from the group ) with a link to ADV Bike Rider Magazine website...And there it was, an article written by Alan published in the Magazine No.47... WOW!

We made a few new friends and we have been lucky to ride together several times since 2018.....

Full article from the Magazine bellow: What's the first thing you think of when it comes of Transylvania? Castles? Sure. The birthplace of Dracula? Certainly. Trail riding? Probably not, but maybe it's about time you should. Seven of us booked a two-day tour with Transylvania Trails in the middle of April this year. The all-inclusive price covered accommodation and food for three nights, bike hire, personal protective equipment/clothing and guide for two day's riding. All that was left for us to do was turn up eager to explore the best that Transylvania had to offer.

Our guide Gabriel ( Gabi ) collected us from the airport at Cluj and took us to what was our base at Nucet, near Sibiu. Bio Haus Cioran Guest House is a larged timber framed chalet baking onto an orchard with forestry beyond. Gabi introduced us to our hosts Mioara and Emil who showed us our rooms. Back downstairs, beer in hand, Gabi showed us the bikes and explained the differences between the Sherco 300 and the "Factory" edition. The nine bikes were lined up at the back of the house, all clean and shiny, lying in wait for our adventure. "Shall we help you lock them away"? we asked? "No need", was the reply. "They'll be fine here". Not like in the UK.

The food at Bio Haus is home made and homegrown traditional romanian fare. Romanians love their soup and each meal started with a bowl so big you could have skipped the main meal and not been hungry. Homemade wine and schnapps completed the delicious three-course meal.

The next morning, after a substantial breakfast, Gabi gave us our riding equipment, including helmet, boots, shirt, trousers, body armour, gloves and goggles. Most of the kit was brand new and we had to take it out of the bags and take the labels off before using it. We then had a pre-ride briefing, where Gabi told us about the bikes, about following his wheel tracks as far as possible and about the dangers in the forests: wild boar, deer, dogs and brown bears! We were led along a track running right next to the guest house, following it uphill and into the countryside beyond. Gabi then left us in a clear- ing on top of a hill to get used to the bikes. Ten minutes later he was back, and we were off.

I had only been riding off-road for about 10 weeks, although I have had road bikes for the past 40 years, and have just bought a Honda CRF2S0L. The braking and changing gears standing up still felt new to me and, coupled with new moto- cross boots and the snatchy throttle of a much more powerful bike, I wondered how I would cope.

We set off over the hillside quite gingerly at first, but then the pace picked up a bit as our confidence grew. The Romanian countryside is quite ditferent to that in the UK. There are no fences or walls and what livestock we did encounter was herd- ed together by dogs with a shepherd present. Gabi had warned us of the dogs prior to setting off. They are the size of Pyrenean mountain dogs and chased us away if we got too close to the sheep. Andy, our most experienced rider, was frightened of dogs so he employed the tactic of putting other bikes between him and them as they chased us. This meant he wasn't picking the best line or concentrating fully and, of course, he subse- quently fell off. At that point, the dogs had fortunately lost interest in him and returned to the flock.

Once Gabi judged we were more comfortable with the bikes we entered the forest. For most of us, this was our favourite section. It was quite open and well lit, with very few bushes. The ground was soft and loose, covered with leaf litter while a few hills, streams and a little mud kept things interesting. In short, it was perfect.

Gabi explained that most of the countryside is state owned and the farmers rent the land for 99 years. There are some private properties, but it seems by and large that you can ride where you want. Having said that, Gabi then showed us a valuable lesson. After a fast-open section, he stopped and gathered us around. We rode slowly a little further and stopped at what appeared to be a small drop. In fact, what lay before us was a sheer drop of at least 30m!

A short road section through a traditional Romanian village led us to a fortified church on a hill. This was to be our lunch stop. A lot of the roads in this area are dirt and the drainage is by a ditch on either side. Don’t even think of lampposts and footpaths, as they don't exist. Nobody in these villages has cars, but there are one or two horse-drawn carts.

Everyone in the villages seemed pleased to see us. The old men sitting under the shade of the trees waved while the barefoot kids at the side of the road put their hands up for us to high five as we rode past.

We took off our riding gear, hung it up to dry and lay on the grass for 10 minutes to get our breath back while Gabi re-fuelled the bikes from containers he had previously dropped at the church. We were led into a traditionally decorated stone room within the restored fortified walls where a table was laid for our midday meal. All meals here are sit down three course aftairs. Soup, of course, traditional chicken stew, and cake, which seemed to be made from cheese and currants.

We set off again, this time at a more leisurely pace, and after about an hour one of the bikes seemed to be starting with a clutch problem. The bike had only done 150 miles from new, but Gabi decided rather than have a problem in a remote area we would wait in a village for a replacement bike. A quick phone call and 45 minutes later, his father-in-law arrived with a replacement bike in the back of a pickup. Gabi has designed each tour to incorporate as much varied terrain as possible. By this time, I was feeling more comfortable on the bike, getting used to the immediate power delivery, even in ‘soft' mode, which I was learning could get me out of trouble where my CRF would bog down and stall. Standing up on the pegs all day was taking its toll, however, and the shoulders and back were beginning to ache.

A lot of the soil in the Transylvanian Highlands is red clay. Even where it was dry, the farm tracks we encountered were slippery. In fact, when we came across deep, wet ruts (my nemesis) on an uphill section, it was almost a relief to gently fall otf, coming to rest in the bushes, which stopped me from rolling down a steep slope. I looked at my back wheel, which had turned into a clay coloured slick. No wonder. More mead- owland, wilderness, and farm tracks followed and at 9pm we emerged from the forest to arrive at our lodgings for the night in Sighisoara. This small town is dominated by an imposing castle on a hill that was once owned by Vlad Dracul or, as we know him, Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Drocu to. In these parts, he is known as a hero as he was al-leged to have persecuted only those ‘nobles' who were taking advantage of their position to thedetriment of the ‘peasants'.

We pushed the bikes into the courtyard of the little bed and breakfast we were to stay at. Once showered, we walked across the road to a traditional Romanian restaurant where we were shown to our table in the basement. Gabi interpret- ed the menu for us and, of course, there was soup. Andy was intrigued by a starter that Gabi described only as lard. Once it arrived, it turned out that it was indeed a small bowl of lord sprinkled with paprika! It came with a side salad, which he left. All the food was locally sourced and homemade. We left the restaurant just before midnight and it seemed fitting that Gabi gave us a guided tour of the castle.

The next morning, one of our group wasn't feeling well and decided to give it a miss. The rest of us set off back to the first night’s base via a different route, all off-road of course.

The previous evening, Gabi had asked us what kind of riding we wanted to do that day and one of the group had mentioned hills. “Ride across that field as fast as you can. By the time you hit the jump you need to be flat out in third gear, then enter the forest and keep going straight uphill”. Easier said than done... The best I managed was two thirds of the way up before stalling, falling oft and tumbling about torn before I could even stand up. Exhausted after my third attempt, I took the chicken run around the side of the hill. I was learning all the time. Choose your line, head up, weight forward and use your clutch. If I'd had the energy to go a fourth time, I might have made it.

The afternoon of the second day was what life's memories are all about and it was an afternoon I will remember for many years. Riding standing up, flat out across miles of undulating open meadow land with the forest on one side and the stunning snow-capped Carpathian Mountains on the other was bliss. It's hard to keep your eye on where you should be going with views like that.

We all loved riding in the forests and so that's where Gabi took us to finish off the second day, weaving in and out of the trees, up and down the hills and through the streams.

Every now and again we'd catch a glimpse of a deer as we startled it and it ran away. Fortunately, no brown bears though. The second day ended at the place where it all began; where we had been practising on the bikes when we first got them. We were back to Bio Haus for 6pm, where Emil was preparing that evening’s barbecue. We parked the bikes and collapsed on the sprawling porch overlooking the orchard, tired and aching, beer in hand. We had ridden 180 miles, all off-road. Had we enjoyed it? Well, as soon as we got home we booked to go back again in September. This time for three days instead of two. I’d better hit the gym.

The Transylvanian Highlands is a stunningly beautiful area, completely unspoiled. The riding can't be compared to anything we have in the UK. My green-laning experience, for example, is limited to rocky tracks in the Peak District and is completely unlike the open rolling countryside or the technical hilly forests we traveled through.

The whole area is steeped in history as, time after time, the country has been invaded and the various occupants have add- ed their traditions and culture. Tourism in this area seems to be in its infancy and the general thrust seems to be for skilled craftsmen to restore buildings using traditional materials and methods. There also seems to be conscious effort for the tour- ism to benefit the local towns and villages, and we'd implore you to see what its about. You won't regret it.

Reversing 29 years of self-perception

About a year and a half ago I decided to start my active journey of self-love, acceptance, and perception.  I was tired of getting down on myself, putting myself down, letting my self-esteem hold me back from living my life, and attaining a self-image that really isn't realistic for me.  The first thing I wanted to tackle was my health. I started lifting weights at the gym with my friend.  It was really mild, we didn't do much, but just the act of going to the gym with my friend was a start. We all have to start somewhere!

As I started to become more active, I started to take friends up on their offers to go hiking (something I didn't want to do prior due to thinking I was too fat and out of shape, and lazy).  One day my friend asked if I wanted to try Orange Theory. At first I was SO hesitant. I looked it up and saw that part of the circuit is to run on the treadmill. HELL NO. I still had PTSD from when I went running crazy and would run for two hours a day on the treadmill when I was in high school.  After that I just told myself, running isn't for me and thats that.  I decided to step out of my comfort zone and agreed to go.  I know this sounds dramatic...but that day changed. my. life. I remember some of their beginning questions.   “Do you work out often now?” Maybe 3 times a week. Hows that working out? At this point I looked at the guy thinking fuuuuck youuu what kind of question is that.  But I was just being defensive because...It wasn't working out. I was at the heaviest I have been.  Ever.  I mean I felt better for going to the gym, but I wasn't getting the results I wanted.  Then he asked me, “What are your health goals? Do you want to loose weight?”  & part of my self love journey was to change the way I thought about loosing weight.  I made a conscious decision to not aim for “loosing weight”  I understood that being healthy was a lifestyle change.  To have a goal to loose weight is not having a goal to change my life style.  So my goal became making myself feel strong and healthy.  And that has been my goal ever since, and still is.  I hated EVERY minute on the treadmill when I took my first class. For all 30 min, I flooded my brain with negative thoughts and feeling angry that I agreed to come to this stupid class.  When the class was done, I immediately signed up for an unlimited membership. I felt a high I haven't felt since high school.  I felt positive, I felt optimistic, and I thought HELL YEAH, I can come here three + times a week!  The negative thoughts and feelings that I experienced was the result of me being pushed out of my comfort zone. I resisted it mentally but decided that since I was already there, I might as well kindaaa try.  But the endorphin high I received after quickly help me realize that I DID IT, and I can do it again!  Lizzo also became a huge influence when she started rising in fame.  I didn’t know about her before. I’m one of those mainstream junkies. Anyway.  I read an interview where she explained the origin of “Truth Hurts” the break up song of the year. She explained that she wrote that song by going to her producer and venting about a recently failed relationship.  He put her rant with a beat and there it came.  She said it was a dark time for her, filled with self-doubt and depression, and yet she came up with an empowering song that helped millions of women lift their spirits when they did doubt themselves because of a failed relationship.  I read that interview in awe thinking how crazy it is that someone can be at the darkest point in their life and produce the most empowering and inspiring songs.  When she would speak at her concerts (I’m going to be dramatic again but its true), I would literally listen to her speeches and cry tears of happiness and love because of what she was saying. It really touched me  so deep down into my soul and I want to say that has been a HUGE reason why I have been able to come so far in my self-love journey.  I saw her, a big, beautiful woman.  I didn't think she was fat, I didn't think she was unhealthy, I saw a beautiful woman full of confidence and purpose and I wanted to exude that same energy.  That is when I truly started to look at my body and accept it for what it is.   Before this, I have always wanted to get back to how I looked when I was 16.  I finally realized, that is an unattainable goal, and thats okay.  I was so unhealthy during that time.  I counted my calories, I exercised every day with no break.  There was a point that I was so obsessed, I would only eat 3 100 calorie yoplait yogurts a day and drink 3 5 oz wanters a day in attempts to not put on water weight.  If I wanted to eat unhealthy food, I would chew the food, and spit it out without digesting it.  THAT IS CRAZY.  I was starving myself of food AND water. I never want to get back to that. That realization helped me with my relationship with food.  I want to eat food that is helps build my body, is tasty, and I enjoy eating.  I want to enjoy my food and I also want to eat food that helps me feel strong.  So I do that.  I eat healthy food. But if I want a fried chicken sandwich, I’m going to get it. And because I won't go on a strict diet my body will not be what it can be, and I’m okay with it.  I like the body the way it is now, and am fine with sacrificing a banging bod, for being able to enjoy food when I feel like it.  This is my life and these are my priorities.  A year and a half later, I feel I have come so far.  Yes I’ve lost weight.  Don't ask me how much, because I don't know.  I don't want to live my life by the scale like I did at the peak of my eating disorder. But you know what I have noticed? I feel stronger, I can do more things without struggling or getting out of breath, I can push myself further.  When I run on the treadmill in OTF and I am able to bump up my speed or bump up my incline without taking a walking break I feel STRONG, and I feel ABLE.  One of our coaches likes to say “Your body is capable of SO MUCH” and it “it is a privilege to move!” and, it is! Some people are not able to do everything that most of us are able to do, and I shouldn't take that for granted.  I shouldn't dread getting out of bed in the morning to go exercise.  I should be eternally grateful that I get to move.  Some people don’t have that luxury, and sometime in the future, I will be able to less than I can now. I shouldn't waste my time now, while im healthy and able. I am so happy at where I am now.  I feel solid, I feel strong, and I feel like I can do more.  Even though we are on our second shut down, and our state has robbed me of not only my physical escape, but my mental and emotional escape, I will push myself to exercise, I will continue to keep going and do more.  I have come to terms with what my body looks like and I am starting to not just, be okay with my body, but to love my body.  I have come so far but have so far more to go.  Loving yourself is a life long journey and I hope you all are on your way to the top.

Why Snowbarry is Endgame: Part 1

Here is a list of 5 reasons why Snowbarry will be endgame on The Flash. Make no mistake, this won't be a list of things you have already heard, this is a summary of why the show will make them endgame.

1. Their bond is unbreakable.

Despite the writers forcing them to stay apart for WA drivel, their writing speaks for itself. They can't write Snowbarry bad because the chemistry is still there. Can't ignore what's natural. The ad libs Grant and Danielle have given each other with those obvious glances and matching clothes. Nothing will rip them apart just because the show runners have tried to separate their friendship. I can't wait for SDCC. Granielle will be epic.

2. Because the producers can't lie anymore where PR is concerned.

Have you noticed all the show has done for past couple seasons is force PR WA everywhere they can? Bumper trailers, Grant's forced promotion of WA and IW on twitter and in public. The show is going above and beyond for the least liked character gradually since the start. They know deep down when they promote the show with WA it has to be with multiple high stakes involved, story lines like a crossover in order for them to "succeed" in this stupid ship. They know WA can't survive on its own, so they get fucktarded with how they brand it. They know it doesn't sell, unless they really are that stupid. They have learned whenever they promote the show with OTF (Caitlin, Cisco and Barry), they score major ratings and praise. When everything else has failed they have no choice but to give the public what they want.

3. CP no longer has any power over the show runners.

Has anyone paid attention to CP on SM lately? Sad selfies, dead birds, overall whining in general, nothing all that positive for someone who was pretty much all over Season 3 and especially Season 4. She is exhibiting signs of someone depressed and lost. The fact that she unfollowed the official TF account and DP speaks volumes. Her stans love to say it's because she dgaf anymore. She does. Way more than anyone should. Her tweets as of late have shown someone in a darker place. DP should be the one who is pissed for how they treated CS and KF, but she is not. CP had Season 4 just for her and she is not even the star. Everyone's character had to be reduced to nothing so she can become some kind of false deity. Doesn't seem that way anymore given her current state of mind.

4. Caitlin is getting a story line she deserves for once.

As a Snowflake, Frostie and Fanabaker, I am beyond thrilled for DP that she is finally receiving a story arc we all wanted her to get as soon as the first traces of Killer Frost came. DP has put up with so much shit for far too long. Online and through her character. From a grieving widow, losing the man she loved twice, to losing Barry as a friend and the team's emotional support, it seemed like the writers were punishing Caitlin for no reason when we know she is so much more than what they give us. We've all been waiting to learn about her family, her dad and her brother Charlie, even more about her mom. There is a deeper story waiting to be explored and it's about fucking time.

5. The WA's have become worse than they were when they were only just branding us all as racists for our ship.

They know their ship and character suck. They wouldn't keep coming at us if it wasn't true. They wouldn't bother trolling the anti tags or stalking the CS and Snowbarry tags. They even bully us on our fan fiction, which they know is far superior to theirs. We dominate all the top fan fiction sites, our stories have the most reads, comments and votes. They can't stand that shit, we are united in our love, nothing is going to tear us down and that hurts WAs egos so much. They even go as far as hacking personal accounts, (remember when Grant's attorneys had to get involved when one special WA got a hold of Grant's personal cell and forced her to cease and desist?) anything they can get their hands on to bully us. It's beyond just telling us Snowbarry won't happen, they don't get how silly they sound when they stalk us every day spewing the same rhetoric. WAs know the end is near for their ship. All this low class behavior just makes me ship Snowbarry even more. I'm proud to be a shipper, and I know because of the reasons stated above, we will see our endgame.

Stay tuned for the next part coming up real soon.

OTF: The One True Fusion

Now that the fallout had passed from what Steven would later call his “fusion fiascos,” the young Gem had noticed that Connie had been slightly distant from him since it happened. He did manage to realize that Connie looked rather uncomfortable when he formed Maven with Mabel, but the young Gem had been initially having too much fun to notice her. He also gauged a similar response when he formed Stepper with Dipper, but it was significantly less pronounced than when he was Maven.

That was why he decided to arrange a quick meeting by Lake Gravity Falls at sunset to figure out the problem, an invitation that Connie thankfully didn’t decline. The young girl had barely said more than two words to Steven, a new behavior that made the young Gem’s heart sink. However, since he deduced that it related to Stepper and Maven, he tried to discover why she’d been so distant on his own.

“So, uh…those fusions the other days were kind of intense, right?” Steven awkwardly asked, which only made the young girl clutch her knees and turn away from the boy.

“That’s one word for it, Steven,” Connie said bitterly.

“Yeah, things got kind of crazy when I was Stepper, but we totally kicked Peridot’s butt!” Steven innocently declared, unaware that Connie formed a hurt expression from his tactlessness.

“Nothing compared to Maven, right?” Connie asked through clenched teeth, hoping that Steven would get the hint.

“Well, yeah. Maven was a wild ride, even though Mabel and I almost lost ourselves…literally,” Steven awkwardly recollected.

“Way wilder than Stevonnie ever was, huh?” Connie tearfully asked, a display that finally managed to clue Steven into her problem.

“Wait, what?” Steven asked in confusion.

“Even though you basically could’ve died, you clearly enjoyed being Maven more than you did when we were Stevonnie!” Connie hurtfully declared as she buried her tearful face into her knees.

“Connie, that’s not—”

“I mean I get it; Mabel’s everything that I’m not! She’s so goofy and fun and her face lights up every time she even talks to you. No wonder you love being Maven more than Stevonnie!”

“Connie…” Steven trailed off, unsure of how to comfort the sobbing girl. True, he did enjoy being Maven, but Connie didn’t know the whole story and not even he did until now. He had hardly ever seen Connie upset and he’d never been the cause of it before. The sight of her crying face and knowing that he was somehow the reason she felt this way made Steven’s heart ache.

Unable to bear this sight any longer, Steven decided to simply tell her the truth, even though he knew it would probably make her not want to be friends anymore.

“Connie, it’s true that I enjoyed being Maven, but I…I need you to know that I don’t prefer being them than I do over being us,” Steven bashfully said as he formed a small blush on his cheeks.

“You…you don’t?” Connie asked in cautious optimism.

“Of course, not. Stevonnie may have had their problems, but part of the reason why I tried so hard to make Stepper and Maven work was because…I kept on trying to replicate how amazing I felt when we fused,” Steven admitted, something that made Connie wipe her face and turn towards the young Gem.

“Really?” Connie asked hopefully as she formed her own blush.

“The bottom line is that if I ever have the choice to fuse with anyone for anything…it will always be you,” Steven said as he nudged his hand towards Connie’s own. “I know that it sounds selfish and that I’m not making any sense, but…”

“Steven…I think you’re making perfect sense,” Connie said sincerely before she warmly embraced the young Gem with a smile on her face, which he returned in kind.

Puck's Insane Wedding - Episode 5

Let me just cover all the real hilarious things that went down in this wedding episode before we get bogged down with the explanation of the dumb drama.  When the girls are all up in arms in the living room talking about Ellen and Puck, notice Theo, in clean ass Adidas, on the chaise lounge chair passed the fuck out on his face and stomach.  I fell out laughing.  It totally reminded me of that scene in Friday when Craig’s girlfriend was like, “You was all hugged up with some tramp…” And they cut to her all stank on the phone in her bed, but in the background there is a brother in his pants and shoes, no shirt, sleeping.  If you love Friday, you know exactly what I am talking about and you are rolling right now.  If you are unfortunate enough to be an unenlightened person that just mildly glances at Friday, you ought to pay more attention.  You’re missing classic funny shit. Anything and everything Dan Renzi says this episode is INSANELY HYSTERICAL.  I repeat:  INSANELY HYSTERICAL.  The mountains are crumbling, the sky is tumbling down whatever he said, that shit was hilarious.  And the camera move on his face was genius.  And Dan was hysterical in his OTF (those on the fly interviews in real time) talking about “I was trying to calm them down, but it’s all a lie.  The boys are under Puck’s spell and are scared to say anything…”  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!  You can’t just wear any old thing to the wedding.  Boom chicka boom?  And the torso shake while seated?  The mermaid outfit!  Gay men are truly the cat’s meow.   Dan’s the best narrator this show has ever seen.  Put him on every special, every challenge, every everything because he is brilliant.   And Dan always hanging out at the girls’ house is cause for celebration.  Anybody that can handle the energy in that house is a saint, and he did it with candor, a brand of candor only Dan has.  “Who the fuck told you to read the letter bitch?”  I have to stop.  My sides hurt. I couldn’t even pay attention to anything that was being said when Ellen was initially in the bedroom in the first scene of Act 1 (yes, they actually talk about RW in this fashion but that’s another long day of explanation) because Aneesa walked in with her boobs in her hands.  I was like, “What is happening on my TV?”  I slapped the side of the television to make sure this image was real.  When it didn’t budge, I slapped the side of my head a couple times and lo and behold, the image was real.  She was holding her boobs and having a serious drama-filled conversation.  Whoa! Whoa (say it two times fast)!  Is this Extra?  Entertainment Tonight?   ET on MTV?  I didn’t know we had a guest spot on a show about what real celebrities are doing.  Banoodles.  Another moment where I had to step back and go, “I am literally ON this show. Whoa.”  Am I a grinch?  Or are these normal feelings?  Where did Christina even get that camera? Cast members had to sign a contract saying they would not bring personal cameras or video devices.  Everybody brought a camera anyway and now pictures are floating around on the internet and MTV isn’t saying shit. Why do I follow the rules?  Did a director tell Genesis to do that?*   Or is this really happening?  *I spoke to Ruthie yesterday and she said the director told Genesis to do that.  I had a feeling that no person in her right mind would do that on her own merit.  Those directors man, they can make you say and do shit that in your normal life is just not important.  I once said I was actually having fun being scared of missions, and they tried to get me to say I accomplished something when I finished a mission.  They got it halfway out of me, and then I was like, “We’re talking about children’s games.  Cut that.  I can’t say that I care about that.”  I fear they’ll use that footage and I will have to be rightfully clowned by my peers.     Betty saying she’s worn out by the tears having shed not one drop herself?  I must say that therein lies some real comedy.  Puck going, “Hey, look it’s me and you” and Betty dryly saying, “Oh cool” had to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.  And anytime a show’s title is used in the actual show, my gag reflex acts up and I find myself vomiting on my chest.  But Betty didn’t know, man.  She’s never been on TV before.   Now that the cool stuff is out of the way, we can graduate to the ho hum humdrum boring crap that people will mistake as the most gripping part of the show even though above I just listed what really matters. First I must say that Puck called me yesterday after he viewed the episode and was like, “Melissa, we’re real fired up over here.”  Betty’s screaming inaudible profanities in the background.  Puck’s telling me to call him back to discuss.  So I call him, a little uneasy and a little curious about how he will attack me with verbs and I go, “What’s up?”  And he says, “We’re just fucking with you.  We know you were misled by Ellen’s lies.”  And Betty then gets on the phone and goes, “I thought she was a goody goody too.  I was fooled.”  Betty had actually sent Puck to the girls’ house in Jamaica to make him apologize.  I was there for the “apology” that never happened.  They just argued more (without cameras) and I was like, “Just forget it, dude. Ellen go, leave it alone.  Puck, man, get married.  Fuck this shit.  Go have fun. Where’s that baby?”  Anyway, Betty invited me to Mark’s Real World Watch Party tonight that I thought I couldn’t go to because I am supposed to be flying to Miami today.  I could go but – this tangent  doesn’t matter.   It’s amazing to me that this show, and all its stepsisters and manifestations, never fails to show me only being stank.  I wasn’t even in the past 4 episodes because I was being a regular person enjoying Jamaica.  The moment I stopped being a regular person enjoying Jamaica is when a female cast member, Ellen was practically hurling in the bathroom for what seemed like an eternity – choking on her own tears because Puck said something crazy to her.   Now, Ellen told me that Puck said he would kick her ass.  Now, we all know Puck’s tone.  We all know that we can’t put that past Puck, and since I am a girl, I took special notice when another girl is literally crying out of her mind out of control because of something a grown ass man said.  I just genuinely felt bad for her.  Then I thought about the fact that Colin, Mark and other boys were there when it happened.  I didn’t have the rationale to think Ellen was lying.  I was bamboozled by the fact that she was so upset that I got upset thinking that shit went down in front of two dudes who said absolutely nothing when a girl was “threatened.”   I guess I just had an expectation that a dude would say, “Puck man, chill out” if a girl was in fact threatened.  And we are talking about Puck, a man who prides himself on “hurting you with verbs” so I failed to thoroughly do my homework.  Aha!  It’s  quite terrible to work on assumptions.  Well, I went upstairs to the boys’ quarters, where I normally kick it anyway, and I was like, “Yo dudes, what the fuck?  Ellen is down there crazy crying because Puck said he was going to kick her ass.  Why y’all ain’t help her?  My grandmamma bought me that chain.  I mean, I know she’s NOT your favorite girl on the island, but damn, Gina…”  Mark and Colin were looking at me like I was straight crazy, and they were like, “Melissa, man, dude, that shit did not happen.  And if it would have we would have said something.  Come on.”   And so, at this point, I didn’t know what to believe, and was doing the aw shucks snap because I think I was just duped and reacted on camera, but this whole thing happened AFTER Ellen came into the girls outdoor living room crying.  In front of Ellen, and in front of cameras every girl in that room (which they don’t show for some reason who anybody is talking to in this episode) was like, “That’s messed up” and “Puck doesn’t even like any of the us girls.  He just wants to put on a show.”  And furthermore, a couple of “I’m not going to the wedding.  He doesn’t even know me” lines came out.  So, this started the “boycott.”   The next day, nobody seemed to care anymore and were like, “What are you wearing to the wedding?” and practicing their do-re-mi’s and la la la la la laaaaaaaaas for the ceremony.  Songs were being composed and sung, banners were being hung, reporters notified, flowers were being picked, the wedding buzz had pierced the air.  Birds were chirping.  Bells were ringing.  Fairies and lightning bugs were dancing merrily about the night sky.  Children were eating grandma taffy candy and wiggling uncomfortably in their Sunday best.  And nobody, but nobody, cared anymore that Ellen was upset or that they had just been on camera talking shit about the wedding.   On top of that, I made a huge parenthetical point after my “I’m not going to Puck’s wedding” statement which was the following:   I can’t go to the wedding.  I’m not his family.  I don’t really know this man (yet, but can you really ever know him?).  He is funny, but straight up sometimes he’s mean.  The whole love/can’t deal thing with Puck was coming out in full force. I mean, I’ll get him and Betty a gift.  She’s a nice lady.  But dude, let’s think about what’s happening.  Hello!  We’re filming a national television show where people make fun of us in just regular clothing, and now you want to wear coconuts on your boobs and praise somebody that more than half of you have talked shit about?  I’m not even anti-Puck, and not necessarily even pro-Ellen and I still wouldn’t have gone to the wedding.  They are taping it. I will get to see it on TV.  And I’ll get to see it on TV without having to sit in the privacy of my own home yelling “move right, Melissa, get out of that shot, move lady!”  I just couldn’t take it seriously.  I couldn’t.  When you understand the power of the immortality of reality TV, you start to think about what you are willing to co-sign.  I saw that toga party last challenge and was not impressed by the humping of Sharon by The Miz (although, I heard it was an absolute blast).  You cannot engage in these activities.  Add it to the list.  No eating on camera.  No scratching on camera.  No kissing on camera.  No digging in your toes on camera.  No yawning without covering up on camera.  No open-legged crotch shot for the ladies.  I am dreading the day that happens to me.  You can slip up, you know.  No sleeping with head out of the covers on camera (dribble and open mouth, no!).  No girl-on-girl kisses if you are not gay or bi.  No baby talk.  No sex.  No application of condom on camera (off camera, fine, please do). No stealing, no vandalism, no excessive primping (they’ll get you good with that one), no full-on nudity, no open toilet doors, no stripping or pretend stripping (they’ll pixelize your boobs even if they were never exposed), no getting drunk, no female vomiting.  Try not to cry.  It will seem trivial later.  For all you Paris kids, if you can hear me, if they haven’t blocked your RW computer access yet, listen up.  Take heed.   Write this list on the inside of your forearm!  But of the utmost importance, certainly no going to a wedding wearing nothing but ass shells, crying for somebody you just met ON CAMERA.   Anyway, the girls were all gung ho.  Yay, it’s wedding day.  And I was like have fun looking like hypocrites (which I said out loud actually). Turns out the show doesn’t even explain that issue clearly enough so the viewer at home would never even know who was being hypocritical unless you watch the show the way I watch the show and take into consideration what’s NOT being blatantly said but must have gone down in order for this to make sense.  Am I making sense?  When Ellen is talking to Tonya in that dumb pedal boat about the girls being wishy washy she was talking about how half the girls were consoling her and talking shit about Puck (who incessantly talked shit about the girls) and then decided to go to his wedding anyway.  I just know that once I committed on camera to not going because I was sticking up for Ellen whose life was never in any real danger, I couldn’t renege without looking like a total dick on TV.  And even still, I feel I look stupid for even having been involved.  And it’s surely no fun to be in the doghouse with Coral.  We all know how she feels about Ellen.  While I can’t reciprocate her loathing of Ellen’s shiny catwalk pants and wish fire ants upon her ankles, I have to stand up and say, “I really felt bad for her.  Is that wrong?”  (I was only in the Coral doghouse for two minutes because she totally forgot about me after she saw the fashion of this here episode.)  I can’t just honestly dislike somebody until they give me personal reason to.  I can judge from afar and decide whether or not that person will occupy a space in my cell phone, but I can’t just hate.  I still don’t have a legitimate reason to hate half the people I hated (and judged) on Real World before I did the show.   I’ve had to meet some of them and be cool because they haven’t done shit to me.  Well, I like you Puck, but I could never attend a documented and televised gala of that magnitude.  Have fun having that episode re-run over and over again with folks standing in a tribal leaf with ashy knees next to some RR person’s nut sack which is adorned in bug-infested red lilac flower thing.   But maybe I just don’t know how to have fun, and live a little. I do know that I don’t need to see images of myself like that come two summers later when they are talking about RW Love Stories in some old clips packaged as an MTV show, where I get no payment for my appearance, because they are running out of programming.  Believe me, it’s already annoying to have “time the fuck out” be considered a memorable moment.   It’s funny, but let’s move on now.  I already don’t need any RWNO to ever come on again, and to think one day it will be on regular old Channel 5 after Divorce Court and the executive somebodies will be swimming in papers while I am steady canceling magazine subscriptions to cut costs. I’m nearly 30, give me a break.  Oh dear heavens, what if they do a fashion faux pas show!  I wore terrible head scarves and wedge heels.  I was 22!  I didn’t know.  I swear!  At least I know I didn’t give that much more footage for them to archive and stab me with years later when I am trying to get my kids to respect me.  I must have really needed that money, man. Now, I do believe that a man should not talk to a girl like a dog.  I have experienced it before, and it’s not cool.  Since that didn’t actually happen, my feathers got ruffled unintentionally and most certainly unnecessarily.  The reality is I didn’t have to care about Ellen’s feelings,  didn’t have to care about Puck and could have still been chilling like I was if I knew that this threatening didn’t ever really happen.  No thanks to Puck and Ellen for making me forget I was on vacation.    I wish, knowing that Puck never said he was going to beat her up (on camera, anyway), that I just kept my opinion to myself and just didn’t appear at the wedding a la Amaya.  It was a cool run to NOT be on the show in the past four episodes.  Makes it much easier to watch.  They didn’t show me and Amaya giving Puck and Betty a gift. From the tourist gift shop we picked up some incense, some baby sunscreen because I was extremely worried about little Bogart’s pale ass skin which was exposed all the live long day, and some other girly shit, mints something.  I mean, all we had to choose from were keychains that said “Jamaican Me Crazy, Mon” or coasters with cartoon tribal drawings. I looked at a beer opener keychain and put it down, but then thought, “We are wedding gift shopping for someone who will wear cutoff swim trunks and plastic beads in his head to his wedding.  I mean, he does drink beer.  At $4, it’s a steal, Amaya.”  And I sure as hell wasn’t buying anybody a $50 sarong.  They didn’t show Puck saying thanks for the gift and being like, “We’re cool man.  I understand.  We got fish.   Want some?”  But whatever.   In hindsight, the whole story is too drawn out.  When I see all of the footage of Ellen crying, it’s an entirely different story.  Now, I love some drama but goddamn, goddamn. That was a ton of drama.  When I see Puck being “reprimanded” in a cool way, but being like “I’m still messing with Ellen at missions” I laugh out loud.  This is absolutely absurd.   Are they doing Fantasy Game points for this episode?  Rack ‘em up, pack ‘em up, pack ‘em in, let me begin.  With 48 crying cast members to choose from who will get you a few points closer to the prize, why not play the game? At this point in the show, I can’t even believe I haven’t voluntarily bailed yet.   I keep hearing the missions are only getting harder.  The days are only getting longer.  The food situation is still terrible.   I’m sneaking around having personal, family, and relationship crises (they come in threes when you’re on vacation) on the phone late at night (no camera).  Sneaking back up acting like everything is sunflowers and chocolate bunnies.  At this particular time, I had sunken to an all-time low and had to beg production to take me to the grocery to buy Ramen noodles and oatmeal.  I was like, “Look at me.  I’m starving here.  It’s getting straight Somalian up in here.  I need food, people.  And I can’t eat what you are serving because it makes me sick, so get it together please, for the children.”  (That’s why Ellen was raving about her whole wheat pasta on this episode.  It was a real meal, and if you missed out, that sucked.  I had ghetto casserole that night.  Tuna and macaroni and cheese.)  I hate missions.  I suck at missions, and I am still there randomly on the scoreboard, which ironically enough, on a game show is rarely shown.  See, I told you they don’t care about the game.  It’s about the people.  But somehow, I realize that I am getting closer and closer to that crazy ass 50 grand and nobody is really bothering me or talking about me.  I’ve managed to slink around unnoticed, but had yet to be accused of “not putting in the effort to get to know the girls.”  I’ve got a strategy here, but not so fast Chuck.  We’ll see.  Will I face demise?

Feb 03 2003    

Hey when you get a free moment would you mind making gifs of the scene where joe is teasing Barry about the tidal wave and Barry and Iris little exchange at the end I haven’t seen any gifs of that part

Here you go, dear!

The most annoying thing about yesterday's episode is that I had to wait 12 episodes to learn that Iris quit her job and the true effect it had on her from Barry leaving. Her actions made sense, I just wish they had laid the foundation by showing us leading up to this. I really hope this means we are getting more reporter Iris. I don't need much, her mentioning it at home... working on her article/blog at StarLabs... out and about investigating... it doesn't take much to incorporate that.

I agree that they would have been better off building to this story for Iris, but... Someone else was in charge the first half of the season, and that person clearly didn’t want to deal with her job.

Hi I have seen people who ask you questions call you Tati. I was just wondering why your username is Valeriemperez if your name is Tati or Tatiana? Just curious

My name is Tatiana. Valerie (Mota) Perez is Bart Allen’s girlfriend during his run as the Flash. 😊

To me, Ralph was like every fanboy and Iris hater last night. Shitting on Iris for not putting her life on the line and criticizing her again when she did. Le fucking sigh. 😒

He was, which is why I loved that the rest of the team lifted her up and pointed out how useless Ralph is versus how fearless Iris is.

Barry supporting his wife when she was a temporary Speedster had me melting. 😍 Iris getting to be a heroine as a meta was also lovely. 😍 The media attention she and CP was rewarding. 😍 (I was looking up some anime to watch and an article about Iris being a Speedster came up in the ads repeatedly). I love winning.

You and me both! Feeling blessed.

@eboniangelvibez said:

Tati I loved your Selfie for Candice 😍 #RunIrisRun was a great follow-up to 4x15. Iris/Candice got the love she so deserves. Her still being team leader has the Bring Back OTF antis whining themselves into a corner. #WeAreTheFlash. However, I think 4x21 will be Harry’s team leader transition. Similar to Iris’ in 1x21 when she helped the team take down Grodd. Sounds like S5 we’ll get her journalism back. Hopefully, it means Ace reporter IWA teaming up with her CSI husband/TF on cases. #Winning

Aww, thank you! Interesting thought about Harry being Team Leader. I feel like he’s... ill suited to that position, but perhaps he’ll improve. Either way, I would like to see Iris do journalism but not be isolated from the rest of the cast.

Random: but I was watching CP livestream with ET and I noticed like an influx of angry emoji's all at the same time when it was previously all hearts and likes. It's almost like it was planned or s/t and then all these negative reviews on IMDB b4 the ep even aired smh. Like... are anti's really out here organizing to spread hate??? So pathetic. I've heard of ppl (usually redditors) doing similar things when it comes to Felicity on @rrow.

The imdb BS was definitely planned. I’m not sure if the ET livestream was because the Flash facebook page promoted the interview, or if it was planned separately. But regardless, they are delusional and pathetic.

I was talking to someone else about this but I think superhero fatigue on the cw is becoming more of an issue. I know most shows and their ratings are going down but it seems like the quality of dctv is decreasing as well. The flash Imo is having it’s worse season yet and the other shows are doing bad too. I would be nervous if I were the producers and even actors idk

Interesting. I don’t necessarily agree about the quality as a whole, outside of Arrow which is nearly unwatchable to me. But hopefully they hire some great and diverse writers for next season.

So after all the threatening the fanboys and antis did "Run Iris Run" actually rose in viewership. It held the same demo as last week but while Flashtime got 2.02 million viewers Run Iris Run got 2.09 viewers. Not to mention we dominated on SM. End of the story is we gotta know that the haters aren't that large in numbers and don't hold as much power as they think they do.

Yup! Everything’s coming up Iris, lol. 

If you're looking for things to gif can you gif the moment Barry and Iris do a little flirting after Joe talks about Iris doing the tidal wave 🙏🙏🙏

Done!

Hey there! When you have time can you gif the moment where Iris and Barry got all flirty after Joe pointed out Barry's never done a tidal wave before? I thought that was a cute moment.

It was super cute and I have gifed it.

My Orange Theory Experience.

Good morning fit fam 🧡 On my way to the salon today, I detoured across the street into Orange Theory Fitness. As I have mentioned a few times over the last couple of weeks, my motivation for summer shredding has been lacking a bit. I credit this to the fact, this is the first summer in 5 years that I don’t plan on stepping on stage. You guys know that this is my lifestyle. Whether it be bikini season, or I am bundled up in a down jacket, I am still in the gym 5 to 6 days a week, incorporating cardio, but....I need a change.After doing some research about Orange Theory Fitness, I was intrigued.  The "theory" behind Orange Theory seems to be scientifically based, and this science nerd is all about the whys, hows and facts behind everything. All of us fitness enthusiasts knows that interval training in comparison to steady state cardio burns more calories post workout, and that is why HIIT training is so incredible!! So, after two weeks and two workouts at two different locations, I can share my thoughts on the "theory." My first OT experience was shared with two of my girlfriends, Kaitlyn and Kelly. We all three headed in to OT last week with a water bottle and no expectations. We arrived about 15 minutes early to fill out any needed waivers or paperwork. The first initial impression was, welcoming. The girl working the front desk was friendly, energetic and eager to offer assistance (but not in an overpowering, annoying way). People continued to trickle in, but with only 5 minutes to spare before class starting, we had no idea what we were going to be doing. The instructor was nowhere in sight. The front desk girl apologized for the instructor’s tardiness and took us into the gym area. We were instructed to take our pick of either a rower or a treadmill (not really knowing why). I never felt uncomfortable (but only) because I am familiar with the unfamiliar when it comes to training (thanks to many years of coaching and CrossFit). I tried my best to guide Kaitlyn and Kelly (who were a bit unfamiliar), through rowing techniques during the warmup. After a hundred meters or so, the instructor arrived. She apologized and jumped in. I will say that the guidance started off a little rocky. She was using the microphone to call out commands to the class, but not being familiar with any of their terms or “lingo,” I just rowed with intensity and assumed if I was screwing up royally I would be called out. We continued to row with uncertainty and when we heard “switch” yelled out, we just went with the flow of the others. After the warm up, we were instructed to partner up. I told Kelly and Kaitlyn that I would fly solo and try to find a regular member and they could pair together. I paired up with another female and the workout consisted of rounds for time of treadmill sprints, rowing sprints, and dumbbell work. After 60 minutes I was a sweaty, red-faced mess. Class ended and the instructor approached us with apologies for being late, and poor presentation of the class introduction. We assured her that our workout was great, and her tardiness was not the determining factor of our impression. After class, we were back up front to talk memberships. I chose the basic package of one session a week. This would allow me to get in 60:00 of HIIT training a week. This means all of my HIIT training for the week is taken care of in 1 class!!! This is worth $59 alone, but when I told the girl behind the desk that I would sign up if she threw in the heart rate monitor ($69) for free, and she said “OK”, I was sold!!! 

*Class pricing varies by region, so it's worth giving your local studio a call to find out the exact cost of a membership or class. Your first class at any OTF is free; after that, the studio's packages start at $59 and can go up to about $200 for an unlimited plan. The average price for a drop-in class for nonmembers is $28, with a few select locations costing slightly higher than this.

Now, fast-forward another week and I came back for round 2, except this time at a new location. Last week I visited an OT next to the salon, but because I flew solo this week, I decided to go first thing in the morning to a location 10 minutes from home.

  Yesterday’s class was endurance based, meaning that we ran...a lot. We began on the treadmill with a base pace for 5 minutes, followed with a 10 minute push pace and 1-minute recovery- then, a 5 minute push pace, a 2 minute all out pace, 1-minute recovery and ending with a 1-minute all out, give it everything you got race to the end 💦. 

After running, we hopped on the rowers for intervals mixed with dumbbell work. After 60 minutes, my body was spent and my lungs were on fire (I loved it). 

What I find to be most successful about the OT approach is the use of the heart rate monitor. I began wearing a heart rate monitor years ago when I began training for my first triathlon, and have worn one ever since when it comes to aerobic and endurance training. Keeping a monitor on your heart rate allows you to you see when you're crushing your cardio, as well as when you're not actually working as hard as you think you are (this is usually the case). Your heart rate shows you exactly where you are, and where you need to be, and this method of training allows continual improvements. 

A big screen hanging above the cardio equipment continuously displays your name, heart rate, percentage of max exertion, calories burned and “splat points” (how often your heart rate is in the “orange zone”). 

Below is an analyzation of each color:

Grey Zone (50-60% Maximum Heart Rate) – This is the safest, most comfortable zone, consisting of very light activity.

Blue Zone (61-70% Maximum Heart Rate) – This zone is specifically geared for warm up and cool down exercises. You are merely preparing your body and mind for high intensity interval training, but you haven’t unleashed the burn just yet.

Green Zone (71-83% Maximum Heart Rate) – In this zone, you have reached a challenging but doable pace. This is what Orangetheory categorizes as “Base Pace,” a pace that you can maintain for 20-30 total minutes. Your body starts to burn fat and carbohydrates evenly.

Orange Zone (84-91% Maximum Heart Rate) – This is where the magic happens and where you achieve “EPOC” (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) – what we call the “Orange Effect / Afterburn.” The goal is to accumulate 12 minutes or more in this zone within a 60-minute period to achieve the maximum caloric burn up to 36 hours AFTER your workout is completed.

Red Zone (92-100% Maximum Heart Rate) – This zone happens organically and may be achieved during ‘All Out’ efforts when you’re emptying the tank and using every ounce of energy left in your body. You don’t need to set an All Out pace for more than 1 minute at a time to experience maximum results.

This “zone” approach definitely gives you continuous motivation. I know personally, each time I looked up, if I wasn’t in the correct zone, I would fight until I reached it (this meant digging deep a few times). 

Once the hour was over I felt, accomplished. I took a quick snip of the board to log my totals on the way out the door, but I was informed by an OT staff member that my stats would be emailed to me within minutes (which was pretty great!)

 Within minutes I received an inbox with my heart rate and zone summary 🧡. 

My overall opinion of OT summed up in one word, effective. I personally will not use OT as my only form of exercise- I am first and foremost a weightlifter. Olympic weightlifting and compound lifts are my jam, but when it comes to shredding, cardio is a must, and this approach, I feel personally is the best for optimal results. Interval training is hands down the best method of cardio when it comes to getting the most “bang for your buck.” What I mean by this is...you can spend an hour on the eliptical and burn 500 calories doing steady state cardio, or you can spend an hour doing high intensity interval training (HIIT), burning 500 calories, plus causing excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), also known as the “afterburn.” This causes a stimulated metabolism and increased energy for hours post-workout. 

Continue to follow along as I share my experiences while exploring the  versatility of fitness. By expanding and diversifying my routine, I hope to find new elements that will continue to target any weaknesses within my training. 

Top Tropes

Aaaa apparently it’s been a week since I’ve had any kind of activity on here, apologies if anyone was missing me but I am so busy, still working on two fic challenges due at the end of November! And I had my flu jab, and it really knocked me sideways for 3 days (better that than actually getting the flu, if the strength of my immune response is anything to go by!)

Just to keep everyone amused, I thought I’d put together a list of my Top Ten tropes in fanfic/art. The sort of tags which instantly capture my attention and make me curious to read/see more! Most of my own writing tends to fall under one or more of these tropes, it goes without saying. If you feel like playing along, please tag me in your post so I can check out yours! 😘

1. Transformation/inhuman - one or both of the boys are (or are turned into) monsters, animals, dragons, angels, demons, ghosts, aliens, fae, elementals, cosmic entities, androids, spaceships, gender swap, de-aged - you name it, I don't care, I love it! Whether temporary, permanent or always-like-this. 

2. Collaring/slavery - rescue and hurt-comfort tropes ftw. Also collaring/claiming/ownership themes. There’s just something about putting one or both of the boys into a collar...

3.  Twincest/Selfcest - Sex with identical twins, clones, shapeshifters/doppelgangers, possessing angels or alternate selves from a different timeline or universe (bonus for age difference!) I am hugely greedy for this trope, especially when it concerns Dean and/or Jensen (or Alec, or Priestly...) and I can’t believe I forgot about it and had to ETA this whole list. 🤦‍♀️

4. Diminished capacity - Comatose, delusional, drugged, possessed, trapped in dreams/virtual reality, social/communication or mental health disorder, PTSD, Stockholm Syndrome, abnormal upbringing (OK isn’t that one just canon to SPN?), sensory impairment, brainwashed/programmed, enspelled; any scenario which renders one or both vulnerable and may raise questions of dub-con BUT must involve caring responsibility and not veer into non-con territory between the boys. It's a fine line to walk. Get it wrong and you trigger my biggest squick and condemnation! Underage NOT included (unless it’s de-aging, see above). 

5. Extra Inhuman Appendages - Wings - Either the boys have them, or they feature prominently in an adversary or inhuman friend/lover. (We all know angels have wings, but I’m talking about making them a focal point of the story.) It’s more about the wings than actual flight. Especially touching/preening them. Tails - A special mention should go here to Major (Colonel) John Sheppard in the SGA fandom, to whom I gave a tail. I also love Dean’s squirrel tail in @reshipkmn‘s art. Tentacles - not so much as a part of my boys, but used upon them 😏😋 It's also SPN canon that Dean has a tentacle fetish! Now that’s fan service. Horns - I eagerly await a young demon!Sam story in the SPNRB challenge posting next month, the artwork was to die for and he has wings, horns AND a tail! (Throw in little hoofies and that’s it, I’ll be a wreck! 🥰)

6. ABO - any combination, any trope, the only one I'm really not keen on (ironically) is mpreg. I avoided this entire trope (genre?) for years because of mpreg, but when I finally gave in, I fell hard for the entire concept. I’ve nothing against mpreg per se, I just don’t really want to read fic about being pregnant and having kids. Also my predilections are for Wincest, and that raises some difficult issues. Though there’s an exception to every rule, and The Killing Moon by Poisontaster would be mine!

7. Car fic - Specific to the Supernatural fandom, but it’s been my OTF for 15 years now, so. Sex in/with the Impala, Baby POV, Baby turns human, boys' consciousness trapped in Baby... I love Baby! Never. Hurt. Her. >:( (I also love AU stories where Baby is, by necessity, not a car but some other appropriate mode of transport - such as a horse or a spaceship! Maybe don't have sex with Baby as a horse, I'm just saying...)

8. Murder husbands - dark alternates, whether demon/boy king of Hell, serial killers, crime lords or monsters. Can be as dark and depraved as you like, but the boys MUST love and look after one another.

9. Sex pollen/fuck or die/forced mating - scenarios which are forced dub or non-con but not (eventually) unwelcome and help to establish an ongoing relationship. Cheesy but delicious. Especially useful in a pairing where there are more reasons than most to avoid getting together (incest).

10. Bondage and domination - I LOVE these elements of bdsm and this trope would be higher on the list except that I really don’t care for discipline or S&M, except at its mildest. And it is very hard to find fic which doesn’t incorporate them all - or is written so well, with compassion and real understanding (insight), that it doesn’t trigger my innate don’t make my boys hurt each other reflex. All of this applies to consensual bdsm, by the way - if it’s *specified* non-con (with an adversary, or one boy turned dark) then everything can be unleashed! 😈 I’m good with any amount of survivable whump they’re not supposed to enjoy!

That is... quite a list. I realise I may be a bit of an odd duck, but I’m quite harmless and a very nice person, I assure you! 😘

100 Insanely Awesome Fonts From Envato Elements

Are you a font lover with an appetite for serifs and sans-serifs? Sink your teeth into this amazing collection of 100 stunning cool fonts from Envato Elements!

Get Unlimited Cool Fonts With Envato Elements

The right font can transform your creative designs from drab and dreary to sophisticated and marvellous. And with Envato Elements, you can satisfy your love for fonts with unlimited downloads all for one monthly price!

Envato Elements has thousands of awesome fonts you can download with unlimited use 

In this collection packed with 100 assets, we present you with a plethora of amazing resources curated from the font section of Envato Elements.

Use these fonts in your next designs, or enlist the help of a design professional by contacting the good folks at Envato Studio.

Most Popular Fonts Last Month on Envato Elements

Before we jump into that, I'd like to share with you the five most popular fonts we had in May. 

From script and handwritten fonts to sans-serif typefaces, check them out and discover why these awesome fonts were the most downloaded from Envato Elements.

1. Flanders Script (OTF)

The most popular font in May was Flanders Script, a script and handwritten font. This bold and modern typeface is perfect for baseball and sport logos. Flanders Script font has OpenType features and supports many languages. 

2. Transyl - Elegant Display Headline Typeface (OTF, TTF, WOFF)

Or try the elegant Transyl font, a popular choice recently for headlines and other scenarios where you need a bold display font. Note: this is an all-caps font, so it's best used for small amounts of text where you want a big impact.

3. Ray Signature Font (OTF, TTF, WOFF)

Third place is for Ray Signature, a script and handwritten font. This nice typeface is very versatile, and you can use it for many projects, such as invitations, logos, T-shirts, posters, or any other project you've got in mind.

4. Rockys Handbrush Font (OTF, TTF, WOFF)

Next up is Rockys, a script and handwritten typeface that can also be a decorative font. This hand brush font features a bold and natural style that makes it perfect for branding projects, advertisements, product design, stationery, or any other idea you've got.

5. Art Plot Bold Hand Drawn Font (OTF)

To close the selection of the five most popular fonts, we've got Art Plot, a script and handwritten font. Use this font to give your designs a unique look with a hand-drawn finish.

25 Stunning Serif Fonts

Love the classic vintage allure of a serif font? What makes a great serif font are those extra finishing details, usually in the form of a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter.

Perfect for a variety of applications, this first list of 25 cool fonts will have you ready to dive into your next design project. Enjoy!

Herbert Lemuel Font

Let's kick off this list with the Herbert Lemuel font, a vintage-style font that comes with six different versions for that old school look. This serif family comes sectioned in three different sets and is the perfect font for your vintage wedding invitations or designs.

New York Font

If you love that old New York look, then this font is the one for you! The New York font comes packed with eight font files, featuring everything from regular styles to grunge and so much more!

Flexiletto Font

Perfect for the hipster designer, this serif font has a cool vintage vibe with elegant details. It's suitable for many design applications, so enjoy the classic feel of this retro font.

Hagen Font

Update your font collection with this avant-garde-inspired font. Hagen comes with two different weights and is the perfect addition to your collection as a font for electronic festivals or other fashion-forward posters.

Haste - 3 Handmade Fonts

Included in this font pack are three handmade fonts with a classic vintage vibe. You can access the alternative characters for this font using Adobe Illustrator, making this the perfect font for your next lettering project.

Megeon Font

If you're looking for something bold with a dash of retro design, then consider this unique serif font. Megeon is a vintage-style font with wonderful grunge qualities and is perfect for logos, advertising, and so much more!

LUNA Font

Suitable for many design applications, Luna is a slab serif typeface that comes available in two different versions. Also included is a stencil version for additional style.

Western Grit Font

Love the look of old westerns? Then you're sure to love the Western Grit Font. This distressed typeface is a little beat up, but oozes with incredible character and style. Enjoy this 100% handmade design with characters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation included.

Troupe Font

Inspired by retro hand-drawn lettering, the Troupe Font comes with six different weights and four different styles. It's the perfect font family ready to be used for your next flyer or poster design.

Parlour Font

There's nothing quite like the style of an old Brooklyn barber shop, and you can enjoy the great urban aesthetic with this Parlour Font. A display typeface inspired by Movember, this versatile font comes complete with the entire alphabet, numbers, and punctuation.

Bartolomew Font

With both a regular and printed style to choose from, the Bartolomew Font is a classy alternative to the fonts you're most familiar with. Add that extra personal touch to your wedding invites and more with this elegant hand lettering typeface.

Marema Typeface

Inspired by modern vintage posters, this Marema Typeface features stylistic alternatives, contextual alternatives, and ligatures. Show off this font and use it for headlines and more for that beautiful vintage look.

The Salvador Font

Inspired by the lettering artist who created this unique style, The Salvador Font is a trio combination that includes serif, script, and condensed variations. Additional options allow you to choose different colors on every layer of the font without needing special effects.

Esther Handmade Font

The ultimate version of the serif font, this classy design is not constructed out of modules but instead drawn by hand and optimized for the best legibility. It's ideal for cookbooks, menus, and more, so enjoy the beautiful style of this handmade serif font.

Burford Rustic Font

A rustic alternative to the Burford Font Family, this font includes new style variations and layering options. Enjoy even more from the ornamental package to cover the basic keyboard characters and more.

Lunchbox Slab Regular Font

A part of the Lunchbox Font Family, this hand-drawn typeface features a unique style with numerous customization options available. Included in this package is a custom set of small caps, contextual alternatives, and access to over 1,500 different characters.

Zelda - ArtDeco Font

Enjoy this amazing font full of style and flair that is originally inspired by that wonderful age of Art Deco design. Great for modern and vintage projects alike, this font includes four font styles with regular, bold, and grunge alternatives.

Star Typeface

Shine bright like a star with this unique typeface. This retro font features a vintage Art Deco aesthetic perfect for a variety of design projects. Download this font to get access to its eight incredible font files.

Bureno Font

A display font with incredible style, this Bureno Font features a vintage design with four creative fonts included. Enjoy both the regular and grunge styles for more design alternatives, and ultimately upgrade the look of your print materials.

Lawless Font

Resurrected from a once scrapped file, this Lawless Font has been re-birthed to fulfill the needs of the design masses. Included in this complete package are four different styles, the entire alphabet, and letters and punctuation.

Euphoria Font Family

Introducing the illustrious Euphoria Font Family. This vintage typography set is beautifully crafted and makes for an instant vintage design. Included in this download is access to several alternative styles as well as a few fun extras.

Stiquez Font

Achieve that classic retro look with this elegant typeface. Perfect for logos, advertising, and so much more, this unique font is suitable for a variety of software applications.

Brixton Line Font

Sometimes there's nothing better than a font with that simplistic elegance. This handcrafted beauty is quite uniquely creative, with over 80 different stylistic alternatives to choose from. Enjoy this super pretty typeface to beautify your next print designs.

806 Typography Font

Inspired by that retro design of old signs, this font works with Illustrator, Photoshop, and even more software applications. Download this file to get complete access to this wonderful vintage font.

Magnifika Font

The age-old appeal of vintage lettering will never go out of style. And with the Magnifika Font, you can create that old Victorian look in a matter of seconds. Enjoy a variety of elements included in this complete font file.

25 Elegant Sans-Serif Fonts

Sans-serif, or fonts without those extra little stroke details, feature clean, modern designs that transform any graphic design into a sophisticated dream. Their sleek style allows for the utmost of versatility in almost any design application.

Enjoy this next collection of fonts, for we already know there will definitely be a handful you'll want to download!

CornerOne Typeface

Make this simple, round font a staple in your next font collection. The CornerOne Typeface package includes all the letters, numbers, and glyphs you could ask for in one simple download.

Reiju - Typeface Duo

Divinely unique with its own modern flair, this clean, feminine typeface will make any graphic design truly stand out. Incorporate this type into a variety of design projects, from branding to fashion and even stationery.

Frank Font

Inspired by the classic DIN, Eurostile, and Futura fonts, Frank is the perfect font for that clean, bold look. Included in this file are five different weights, Latin support, and even 300+ glyphs.

The Great Outdoors Font

Take a great big gulp of fresh air with The Great Outdoors. Available in two different styles, clean and rough, this versatile typeface brings the warm nature of the wild to you. It's a great addition to your growing collection, and you can incorporate this font into almost any art project.

Hitchcut Font

Inspired by the classic Hitchcock movies, Hitchcut is a fun play on words and an even greater play on font styles. Included with this unique sans-serif are contextual alternatives for the full alphabet and all the normal characters you desire.

Graun Font

Need a little grunge in your life? Then feast your eyes on Graun, a unique handmade typeface with bonus elements included. Dress up your album covers or t-shirts with this grungy look.

Cormier Font

The beauty of Art Deco design is that it instantly elevates your work. So next up we have Cormier, an Art Deco themed typeface that comes in three different styles. Incorporate this sleek font into your corporate or business designs for more drama and flair.

Sovereign Typeface

Every great designer needs a slew of clean, modern fonts in their design arsenal. So we present you with Sovereign, a bold and modern typeface that is perfect for branding, advertising, and so much more!

Laguna7 Font

The simple elegance of the Laguna7 Font means that you can incorporate this typeface into a variety of designs. Complete with letters, numbers, and glyphs, this font is created in the OpenType format.

Lunchbox Bold Font

Got lunch? This unique sans-serif design features a font with lots of character and additional elements to boot! Enjoy the four different font styles per letter and the wide range of alternatives for this creative hand-drawn type.

Maxwell Sans Font

Bold and condensed for that sexy solid look, the Maxwell font is the perfect addition to your font collection. Inspired by the retro font aesthetic of the 1950s, Maxwell comes complete with all the necessary characters and elements you desire.

Blocklyn Font Family

A fun play on words, this font is big, bold, and bad ass. Intimidate or simply impress your viewers and inspire a strong masculine design with this bold typeface. Included are four font styles, numbers and symbols, and standard Latin characters.

Fast Track Font

Next up is Fast Track, a speedy display font inspired by vintage racing. This unique type features a design with lots of character, as it shows the letters moving in a fast motion. Included in this font file are example mockups for added inspiration.

Friday's Font

Thank god it's Friday, and thankfully you'll have this font to celebrate. The Friday's Font is a lazy but clean font style that is ideal for any standard marketing material. Incorporate this font into your business cards, blog photos, or scrapbooks for added style.

Bob Font

A huge typeface, Bob is going to need a little space to fit into your growing collection. Complete with a bold, solid, and angular look, this one lets you show off your love for huge fonts.

Abeja - Font Duo

Perfect for the design professional with minimalist tendencies, Abeja is a uniquely modern typeface that features letters with a slightly pixelized appeal. Enjoy this font alone or incorporate it into your designs to amplify their style.

Ichiji - Typeface Duo

Introducing Ichiji, a modern sans-serif typeface that is sure to impress all your viewers. This strong yet elegant font features a unique design that distorts the average letter. Highlight this eclectic font with a variety of fun design projects.

Fantai Font

Fantai is a simple, hand-painted font. Its classic style makes it very versatile to use for web or print materials. Included in this package are two font formats that are simple and easy to use.

Wilder Font

Get lost in the wild with this natural handwritten font. Wilder is a condensed, sans-serif typeface inspired by an old wooden sign outside a crazy man's log cabin. Enjoy the simple nature of this font and take advantage of a lifetime of free updates!

Gutenberg - Font Family

A tribute to Johannes Gutenberg, the man who introduced printing to Europe, this sans-serif font presents sketchy edges with irregular imperfections. Its grungy vibe is the result of simulating the look of transferred ink, and we think the creator has succeeded greatly in his inventive design.

Sailors Font

Last but not least in this collection of sans-serif fonts is Sailors, a clean typeface available in two different styles. Perfect for branding, labeling, and more, this classic vintage font is a great way to showcase your love for boats. 

25 Gorgeous Script & Handwritten Fonts

Nothing can beat the charm of freehand writing. Long gone are the days when we were taught script in school, but luckily we still have amazing Script and Handwritten Fonts to turn to.

In this next collection, enjoy an array of styles, from the dainty and pleasant to the abstract and messy.

Cherie Bomb Font

Let's begin this collection with an explosion. Cherie Bomb is a fun handmade font with a punk rock feeling to it. It's screaming with personality and heart and allows you to create stunning hand-lettering quickly and easily.

Midnight Rider Font

Written with a dry marker, Midnight Rider is a unique handwritten font. It's perfect for branding projects and is a great addition to your growing collection of hand-drawn typefaces.

Little Wonder Font

You'll wonder why you didn't have this font sooner with Little Wonder. Created with a single watercolor brush and painstakingly digitized for your convenience, this typeface is a mix of chaotically brushed lettering with elegant script.

Briella Font

There's no hiding the beauty behind this feminine, cursive typeface. Briella is a font based on a unique hand-lettering style. Use this for wedding invites and every design that could use an extra pinch of pretty.

Rainy Days Typeface

Make sure you have an umbrella before going out with this type. Rainy Days is a fun typeface that was made by hand with black Indian ink. Add it to your collection to add splashes of personality to your next design project.

Heiger Font

Carefully crafted with you in mind, Heiger is a gorgeous script font with bonus elements included. Enjoy the additional vector swirls to classy up your next fashion or bridal invitation.

Fjord Brush Font

Made by the hands of the painter Krisjanis Mezulis, Fjord was inspired by the beautiful landscapes of the fjords in Norway. Incorporate this natural, yet unique brushwork into your designs for that messy look.

Mallow Typeface

Recently updated with 15 mockups for your inspiration, Mallow is an imperfect hand-painted typeface with an irregular baseline. Featured in this complete package are letters, numbers, punctuation, and more.

Amorie Modella Font Family

Tall and skinny with the charm of vintage style, the Amorie Modella Font Family comes in various weights and styles. Built to look completely handcrafted, this is an OpenType font that includes a great set of design extras as a bonus.

Drustic Dialy Script Font

Drustic Dialy is the birthchild of its creator Adamfathony. In collaboration with another designer, they created this unique script font with rustic charm and incredible detail. Download this font to gain access to several font styles and more.

Asphalts Typeface

A mixture of heavy and rough brush strokes makes for an incredible typeface. Asphalts is inspired by a rolling downhill passion and is sure to uplift your brand name, identity, or presentation.

The Painter Font

Created with the look of traditional sign and brush lettering in mind, the Painter Font is a font family that includes two styles along with several OpenType features. Perfect for logos, flyers, and more, this unique typeface lets you get the most out of your designs.

Every Summer Font

If you're looking for a dynamic font to fulfill your spontaneous design projects then look no further. The Every Summer Font is a great way to add personality to your brand with its unique brush look and charming marker imperfections.

Banaue Handwritten Brush Font

A handwritten font for that homemade look, Banaue features 104 characters and all the basic glyphs you need. You'll definitely want to add this one to your collection to get started on your next project right away!

Himalaya Set Type

We never get tired of that beautiful vintage look. The Himalaya Set Type is a vintage inspired font duo that includes one script and one sans-serif font. Both are hand-drawn with rough edges, and we know you'll find a great way to incorporate this font into your designs.

Shallom Font

A cute typeface that is both modern and unique, Shallom is a handcrafted font created with a brush and ink. Its calligraphic style will win over any design client, and it even includes a bonus graphic pack with fun fashion elements.

Ornette Font

Casual yet cursive, this sans-serif font is ideal for branding and graphic design work. Created with a love of hand lettering, this font includes all the characters you need, with several different styles to choose from.

Harmonie Script Font

With a combination of copperplate and contemporary typeface design, the Harmonie Script Font is absolutely stunning in its simplicity. Use this font for your wedding invitations, or any design that would work well with calligraphy.

My Dear Script Font

Though the art of writing letters by hand is dying out, the beautiful script style remains with the My Dear Script Font. This classic style has a touch of elegance inspired by the lettering on vintage postcards. Download this font to gain access to this stunning typeface and its features.

Brandine Font

Made with a thin brush and watercolors, the Brandine Font is handcrafted with a beautiful feminine appeal in mind. Use this font for your invitations or celebrate its uniqueness across the board in your next design projects.

Emellie Script Font

A unique calligraphic typeface with feminine touches, Emellie is the perfect font for any designer. Use this font to make your designs instantly pretty or even elevate your home projects.

Maloishe Brush Script Font

Handmade and oozing with character, you'll definitely want to add Maloishe to your collection. This font stands out from the rest and includes all your basic characters with additional elements for even more style. No need for customization or editing—this font is instantly ready to use.

Cosmodrome Monoline Script Font

Love the cosmos? Explore the wonder of space with this fun Cosmodrome Monoline Script Font. This type features a cool aesthetic that is sure to upgrade all your web and print designs.

Novitha Script Font

Developed by hand using a brush pen, the Novitha Script Font is everything you want in a script font. Scanned in at a very high resolution, it's designed with a strong personality for any typography lover.

Eiffell Brush Script Font

Busting with a unique, French charm, the Eiffel Brush Script Font is stunning with its decorative capitals and elegant curves. Incorporate this font into your designs for that old-world look.

25 Modern Decorative Fonts

Last but certainly not least, if you fancy the ornate, then dive into this next collection of Decorative Fonts. With both serif and sans-serif fonts included, you can fulfill a special theme for your upcoming designs.

Spacethink Typeface

Space out with this insanely creative font from Envato Elements. Spacethink features five different types of style options that can make it easy to convey that space look you desire. Download this font for your posters or flyers or include it on your next album cover.

Mighty Typeface

Need to showcase your mighty attitude? The Mighty Typeface is perfect for your adventurous message and comes complete with free vector badges.

Baddest Typeface

Introducing the baddest typeface around. This decorative font has a killer design that features strong, bold letters. Enjoy the full package, complete with letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols.

TOXINE Typeface

Imagine the old medicinal bottles from yesteryear. The Toxine typeface is inspired by their decorative vintage design. This font is suitable for labels, posters, and all your vintage projects, while also including all the necessary elements to complete that entire look.

Alpha Rough Font

Adapted from the philosophical Greek language, Alpha presents itself with a nice handwritten element that will work perfectly in your next designs. Download this font file to gain access to the full list of characters and additional stylistic alternates.

Stooges Races Font

Drawing inspiration from the old retro posters found at races, Stooges is a fun font bursting with character and speed. Enjoy its unique grunge style complete with .OTF font files and an additional vector pack.

Auther Typeface

Looking for something vintage with a modern flair? Consider this retro monoline display typeface, Auther. With its gorgeous curvy lines and rustic texture, there's no way you can resist adding this awesome font to your collection.

CA Rusty Nail Font

Looking for a rusty nail? A design by Stefan Claudius, this font is carefully hand crafted and comes complete with a full Central European set in two distinct styles. It's perfect for labeling and more, so download the file to take advantage of that homemade look.

Haext Regular Font

This rustic Neo-Goth font is sure to make you conjure the spirits with its linear uniqueness and abstract style. Make your designs stand out from the crowd and download this font to inspire something different in each project.

Madeline Handsketched Font

Here's a cute, hand-sketched font created with care. Madeline features a friendly, charismatic design that is super lovable with each letter. The overall feel is meant to be carefree, so be sure to design with a free spirit in mind.

Ginusto Font Family

Made carefully by hand, the Ginusto Font Family is a bold typeface that will inspire you to design with optimal creativity. What you'll get in this package is four family fonts, an ornamental pack, and even access to a comprehensive video tutorial for additional help.

Baker Street Rough Font

Inspired by the creator's trip to London, the Baker Street Rough Font encompasses all the great elements of beautiful, vintage typography. This font family delivers a multitude of OpenType features and includes additional ornament sets to work specifically with the Baker Street style.

La Forest Typeface

If you're looking for a dramatic font perfect for that Count Dracula look, consider the La Forest typeface to inspire some gorgeous Gothic style. Add this unique font to your designs and transform the theme easily with these four creative fonts.

Mars Attack Typeface

We are not alone, and you won't be either once you feast your eyes on this Mars Attack. This eclectic typeface features a bold, spacey design that will easily convey the message you desire for design that is out of this world.

Catalina Clemente Font

After visiting a bakery in Newport Beach, California, the creator of the Catalina Clemente Font was inspired to create a typeface with all the organic design and stunning typography of that very special place. Download this file to gain access to four font families and more, including additional graphic ornaments for even more style.

Morning Glory

Take a trip back to the Victorian age with this beautiful decorative font designed by Inumocca Type. It comes with just the right amount of creative features, while still being clear and easy to read. Try out this eye-catching font for your next project!

Atebellum Font Family

This vintage inspired typeface comes in two distinct styles, allowing you more room for versatility in your designs. Download this special package to use for awesome displays, labeling, and more.

Casual Brush Font

Or you could always just keep things casual. The Casual Brush Font is a lovely handwritten typeface created with fluid brush strokes that are sure to inspire serenity. Download this file to gain access to 600+ ligature pairs and two stylistic alternatives.

Sweetiest Font

The sweetest font around, this adorable typeface comes complete with bubbly thick curves and a lovable romantic style. Combine this font with your favorite hand-brushed look for a design that looks very natural and sweet.

The Thron Typeface

An elegant font family that comes in three different font formats, The Thron Typeface is a static font, which means that it'll look great on almost anything. Inspire elegance in your designs with this unique look.

River Side Font

If you're looking for even more handwritten fonts to add to your design arsenal, then consider the River Side Font for your next designs. Great for inspirational posters and fierce brand identities, you're sure to impress with this rustic hand-painted font.

The Rupture Font

The Rupture Font features an original, rustic look that is handmade with you in mind. Elevate your designs with this creative typeface that is ideal for any poster or graphic design.

Story Brush Font

Tell me a story! The Story Brush Font is a surefire way to add a creative story element into your designs. Equipped with OpenType features and over 240 glyphs, this font can make a huge impact for your next Halloween or horror-themed project.

Phillnesia Typeface

Featuring an incredibly gorgeous Victorian design, the Phillnesia Typeface is a great vintage font that will instantly age your print materials for that fun retro look. Download this creative design and incorporate it in your favorite labels, posters, and so much more.

Sea Horse Typeface

Last but not least, let's dive into this elegant water theme with this lovely Sea Horse Typeface. Inspired by old Victorian typography and vintage sign printing, this file includes the original .OTF format and a poster sample for inspiration.

Conclusion

This list is jam-packed with amazing resources for the avid collector of serif and sans-serif fonts. If you need a more hands-on approach to your work, however, consider enlisting the help of a design professional from Envato Studio for custom lettering, branding, and so much more.

And with hundreds of fonts available at your fingertips, chances are we've missed a few to add to your personal collection. Be sure to browse Envato Elements for more resources, and let us know your favorites in the comments below!

If you still want more fonts, you can find dozens more fantastic examples in the following article:

Fonts

The Must-Have Fonts for Graphic Designers and Font Lovers

Mary Winkler

from Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration https://ift.tt/2hhFYyz via http://www.webmasterforum.ws/rankwyz-discount-code-2015-coupons/

around the sun

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Ours was the ideal mix of low-key lounging and adventures nearby. I’d love to hear what you had going on!

A friend had a baby last week, so I was excited to make a baby meal to take over to their house. I LOVE making baby meals because each time I remember how special they were after Liv was born. When chocolate-covered acai berries were a food group, I really looked forward to having a *real* meal and time to chat with friends when they stopped by with a meal. I still vividly remember each of the dinners we received after Liv was born because they tasted even more incredible in my sleep-deprived and hangry state.

I decided to try out a new recipe: Ina Garten’s Chicken Parmesan. Ina never does me wrong.

It smelled awesome and was so easy to put together. I’m definitely going to make it again soon for a weeknight meal! I packed it up with some roasted potatoes, lemon-garlic asparagus,

salad (greens, cucumber, carrots, strawberries and feta with homemade balsamic on the side)

and the most ridiculous Birthday Cake Chex Mix. My friends at General Mills sent the Chex mix supplies, so Liv and I excitedly made a double batch. We went through our bag within a span of a few hours.

We dropped off the meal and got to meet the sweet little baby, too. It’s so hard to believe the girls were ever that little, and that they ever stayed in the same spot for so long. Heh.

99% of the time that I make a baby meal, I’ll make the same thing for us to have at home for dinner. This time, I was cooking everything a bit more quickly, and we felt like getting out of the house for dinner. So, we decided to take the girls out to Bleu Pub for burgers. 

They have housemade black bean burgers (LOVE them!), great fries and live music. 

 The girls bopped around to the music while they ate their burgers, and dinner was fantastic. I’m also strangely into cider right now and the pear cider was everything with my burger, sweet potato fries and salad.

This post hops around the place a bit with order of events – long weekends will do that to ya – but Pilot was out of town for a while, we made up with lost time with two date nights within the span of a few days. WHAAAT. 

We hit the gym for a nighttime workout session and then had the best dinner at Two Friends. 

(Wearing my fave sweater with these mules. <— 40% off right now!)

Saturday, we got a lot done around the house (and continued chipping away at the mountain of boxes from the garage), and took a break to take the girls to the park. The weather was surprisingly wintery! I had to break out long-sleeved tees and jackets for the girls. I was thinking that the park would be empty because it was so cool and cloudy, but instead, it was completely packed. The girls spent some time in the fresh air swinging, sliding and running around.

(When did P turn into a big girl?!)

The Pilot and I enjoyed dinner at 306 North, which is another one of our local favorites. I broke my “don’t eat raw seafood here” rule – I got food poisoning from the sushi place last time we lived here. Word to the world: never order the “special roll” – and devoured some raw oysters. We shared the oysters with a cheese board, and for my entree I rolled with the scallops. It came with grilled asparagus and truffle sweet potatoes.

Sunday, I turned the big 3-3. I got to wake up to the birthday song, performed by my favorite people, and we took a little road trip to Tallahassee. We got there just in time for the girls’ jump reservation at Sky Zone. You know you’re a parent when there’s nothing you’d rather do on your birthday than take your kiddos somewhere super fun. I thought about sneaking in an OTF class, but the timing wasn’t super convenient. I figured I can catch one when we’re in Tucson for Turkey Day! The girls loved the trampoline park. It was extremely clean and I loved that each trampoline was segmented into individual areas. It felt much safer than some of the other ones we’ve visited.

After the girls jumped their hearts out, we headed to Whole Foods. We grabbed all of the essentials we’ve been missing – I’ll share some new finds in Friday Faves if I like them! – and devoured some hot bar for lunch. Hot bar, I miss you SO much. When we lived in Tucson, it was one of our favorite places to go; they always have something for everyone. 

We came back home for cake! We picked up a cute little fall cake with autumn trees, and I blew out the candles with this little family I love so much.  

32 was a really great year. The previous couple of years were challenging in so many aspects, but I was optimistic at this time last year. 32 was the year I got back on my feet and rebuilt myself after a little bit of turmoil. I have my fingers crossed that this next year will have the same positive momentum. I’m excited to see what it has in store.

Hope you had a great weekend, too! What’s something fun that you did? Favorite birthday cake flavor? I’m usually a chocolate fanatic, but we decided to get vanilla with vanilla frosting (mostly so the girls would actually go to sleep!) and it was so, so good.

xo

Gina

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the Tucson blizzard of 2019

Hey hey! How was the weekend? I hope you had a wonderful one.

Ours started off with SNOW! I couldn’t believe it when we woke up and opened the curtains to see that huge flakes of snow were falling into the yard.

The Pilot’s southern side comes out every now and again, and he said they looked like, “Big ‘ol goose feathers.”

It continued to snow throughout the morning and for the rest of the day!

We bundled up the girls to let them play for a bit, and then brought them inside to eat breakfast, watch a movie, and sip hot cocoa. We stayed snuggled up indoors, enjoying the show that was happening in the yard, and finally left mid-afternoon to meet some friends for rock climbing at Bloc.

It was the girls’ second time rock climbing (we went last week, too) and they basically seemed like professionals this go around. (Speaking of professionals, I could see some of the people who came in to rock climb, you know, like as a hobby/skill and they basically Spiderman-ed their entire way around the gym. One girl was UPSIDE DOWN climbing. I was v. impressed and would prob break my face.)

We came back home for a bit, dropped the Pilot off for a much-needed massage, and then P and I dropped Livi off at a friends’ house. After the Pilot finished his appointment, we took P for her first Indian food experience.

We went to Saffron, which we haven’t had since Liv was a toddler, and it was everrryyyyything. I can never go this long without Indian food in my life ever again.

We had pappadum + dippers, the Pilot ordered this tandoori plate with lamb, shrimp, and chicken, P chose the kids’ chicken biryani, and I rolled with the classic chicken tikka masala. Everything was cooked perfectly – it was the type of meal that you could try to replicate a thousand times at home and it would never taste the same – and P was a huge fan. We’ll definitely be back with Liv soon! After gelato at Frost, we picked up Liv and called it a night.

(I got the ridiculous onesie on sale after the holidays and now when it’s cold, P tells me to wear my Olaf pajamas.)

Saturday morning, I took an early Orangetheory class.

(I couldn’t believe that the mountains were entirely blanketed in snow. Where do we live?! This never happens.)

With all of the traveling + our dark period of unsuccessful sleep training, I hadn’t been to OTF in a few weeks. Saturday’s workout was a huge reality check. It felt SO challenging, but I loved the workout. We had heavy strength on the floor, rowing and plyo on the rowers, and hills + sprints on the treads.

We had breakfast at home and then got ready to head to the planetarium. It was one of our frequent stops during the deployment, but it was the Pilot’s first time. We watched the Perfect Little Planet show in the main theatre and wandered around the exhibits. After lunch at home and catching up on work and chores, we met up with friends at Bear Canyon Pizza for dinner.

Sunday, we had church with the fam, Peter Piper Pizza (to celebrate the fact that P stayed in her room all night!), grocery blitz (so we could finally cook at home again after a lot of restaurant dining lately) and I hopped on the Peloton for a 45-minute ride. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get sick of the Peloton workouts. I’m 102 rides in and still feel just as pumped each time!

Sunday night was family dinner at our house. Kyle, Meg, Everly, Madre, Paul, Nana, Tata, and Trev all come over for dinner, drinks and to watch the basketball game.

We had chips, salsa, and guac:

(my guac recipe is here. It’s the same one I’ve used for years)

burgers,

a huge salad,

(I just topped mixed greens with sliced roasted red bell pepper, feta, kalamata olives, garbanzo beans, salt, pepper, and fresh basil)

Kyle’s famous mac n’ cheese,

he also made this homemade blue cornbread that was INSANE,

and for dessert: a volcano!!

We decided we needed to do one to celebrate the Pilot being back in town…for good this time. It feels so weird and amazing that he doesn’t have a plane ticket to go anywhere right now! I kinda like having him around.

So if you haven’t encountered a volcano, here’s how they work:

– you bake a pan of brownies and let it cool

– when you’re ready to serve, get a large platter and pile ice cream into a cone shape. Cut the brownies into large strips and place them on top of the ice cream. Top with whipped cream, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, and sparklers or candles.

– turn the lights out, light the sparklers, and present it to the group while everyone chants, “VOLCANO! VOLCANO!”

And that’s how ya do it.

Today, I’m in content writing mode and also teaching a HIIT class later today. I’m excited to watch The Bachelor tonight even though at this point, I feel bad for the poor guy. What a weird season!

I hope you have a happy Monday and I’ll see ya in the morning with a prenatal workout video.

xoxo

Gina

Looking for a workout? Try this one dumbbell workout! 

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