video: the x-files tag!

I feel like three weeks in a row means... I'm a vlogger now??

Yes, that's right, three videos in three weeks! And I feel like each one has been a bit of an improvement in my ability to talk to the camera. I even came up with a fun idea for a series (!!) that I'm hoping I'll have finished for next week's video post!

I had SO MUCH FUN with this video because it's about my favorite tv show, The X-Files. I found two tags that people on youtube had created and combined them into one list (I typed out the questions below in case you want to make your own video, too!) Don't forget if you like my video to hop over to my channel so you can like and subscribe! :)

1. When did you start liking The X-Files?
2. Are you a Mulder or a Scully?
3. Do you ship Mulder and Scully? Why or why not?
4. What are your favorite types of episodes - the myth arcs or the stand alones?
5. What is your favorite episode?
6. What is your least favorite episode?
7. Who is your favorite guest star?
8. Original series or reboot?
9. Favorite season?
10. What fan theories do you think should be canon?
11. Scariest monster?
12. What did you think of the movies?

the truth is out there

Today is the day!!! I still can't believe that I'm going to be watching a NEW episode of The X-Files tonight. I don't even know if I'll believe it after it's happened -- it just seems unreal! I started out reading everything I could get my hands on when the reboot was first announced, but for the last few months I've done a 180' and started avoiding all of the articles and publicity instead. I just want to have a totally fresh approach tonight and go into it without any preconceived expectations. It's kind of like Fox and the cast & crew have been lenient parents who are totally ok with peeking in the closet before Christmas if you really want to, but I'd rather be completely surprised on Christmas morning.

If you're wondering why I went with a bug-print dress, it's partially because I don't own an X-Files or alien dress (YET) and partially because it's an ode to the season 3 episode, "The War of Coprophages" in which a town is attacked by killer cockroaches.

In 2013 I did another X-Files outfit post to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the pilot, and I wrote a bit about my favorite episodes and my recommendations for where to start if you aren't already a fan. If you're interested you can take a peek right here.

dress - modcloth | sweater - trashy diva | shoes - gift from casey

"I liked the X-Files before it was cool" brooch - my shop | blouse - asos

mulder and scully collar clips - my shop | belt - I don't remember
purple rug - amazon

I want to believe

Today is the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files! I'm having a little X-Files marathon/party tonight (there will be sunflower seeds aplenty) to celebrate and, as usual, trying to dress on theme. When I got dressed I was thinking "oh, green for aliens" but then I realized that's actually more of a generic interpretation of aliens, not X-Files specific.. so let's just say it represents alien blood instead. Which is green.

I was too young to watch The X-Files with my parents when it premiered, but they eventually started letting me join them when I was about 11. And I've been an X-Files super fan ever since! After it went off the air (in the days before internet streaming) I used to catch re-runs on cable and repeatedly watch my season 6 (my favorite!) dvd set over and over. I was so excited when Netflix finally put it on instant -- I think I've watched the series start-to-finish at least 10 times or more since. And I started my own little tradition of watching How the Ghosts Stole Christmas on Christmas Eve every year. It's the perfect way to start my holiday! :)

My favorite non-mythology episode, hands down, is Arcadia (Season 6.) Mulder and Scully pose as a married couple in a Stepford-esque planned community in order to figure out why residents keep disappearing without a trace. As someone who's not too keen on suburbia, that particular element to the story appeals to me, but I particularly love Mulder and Scully's witty banter while they're pretending to be husband and wife ("that's right, poopy head.") They have a lot of great back-and-forth in the series, but their dynamic in Arcadia is (in my opinion) the best.

I also love Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (Season 4) which centers on the possible backstory of CSM. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for him -- his villain isn't as cut-and-dry as most usually are. Even if the events detailed in the episode are fictional, you're still left with the impression of a frustrated, slightly pathetic aspiring author-- hardly the sinister, shadowy figured he appeared to be.



If you haven't watched the show before, I (obviously!) highly recommend it. If you like Breaking Bad, try out the Season 6 (there I go again! It's so good though!) episode "Drive" which stars Bryan Cranston and was written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, and see how you like it!

I know a lot of people who weren't immediately smitten and eventually warmed up to the show and grew to love it. I think it really all depends on which episode you see first. Some of the monster-of-the-week episodes can probably be off-putting if you've never seen the series before (like the one about the radioactive monster that lives in the New Jersey sewers or the early internet creeper who projects spider web vomit on his victims. ewww) and some of the mythology episodes can be really confusing if you weren't already familiar with the whole alien invasion backstory. I personally think it's best -- since the whole series is readily available on dvd, netflix, hulu plus, and amazon instant -- to just start from the beginning. The pilot episode was fantastic, and 20 years (to the day!) later, it definitely holds up. If I wasn't already hooked, the pilot would hook me for sure.

Happy Anniversary, X-Files!! :)

dress- c/o modcloth | shoes - modcloth | lady tie - flapper girl

scalloped collar blouse - asos | fox mulder brooch - my shop

My top five favorite: Twin Peaks actors in other tv shows

1. Dennis (Denise) Bryson // Fox Mulder on The X-Files



2. Laura Palmer // Ellie Harp on One Tree Hill



3. Shelly Johnson // Andrea Rhodes on Mad Men



4. Dale Cooper // The Captain on How I Met Your Mother



5. Audrey Horne // Ginger on Friends

It seems like Twin Peaks people pop up in every single show I watch, so I thought I'd round up my favorites! Number one is obviously Fox Mulder, since The X-Files is my favorite tv show (technically Twin Peaks came first, so he was a Twin Peaks actor in another series, but to me, since I watched TXF first he was an X-Files actor in Twin Peaks. Tohmayto-Tomahto) but I think my favorite of the batch is probably Kyle MacLachlan playing The Captain. His episodes crack me up so much (I love the whole "mouth is smiling, eyes want to kill you" thing) that he was definitely my favorite HIMYM guest star.

Soo these are my top five, what are yours? :)

weekly watch-along

For some reason I haven't quite figured out yet, Thursday is usually pretty quiet over here in the views/comments department. In the past I tried coming up with things to breathe some life into Thursday but it never worked, so I've decided to go the opposite route instead... I figure, while nobody is looking, I'll geek out a little bit and start an X-Files feature! Although, provided there isn't some huge cosmic reason for the deadening silence that befalls this blog once a week, I do hope you'll stop by on Thursdays if you're an X-Files fan or are looking to become one!

Here's what I'm planning -- each week I'll post about one episode, starting with Season 1, Episode 1. If you want to watch-along, just make sure you watch the episode sometime before Thursday so you can chime in (or, if you're like me and know every episode by heart you can do that without watching it right before the post, lol..) The X-Files is available on Netflix Instant, Hulu Plus and on Amazon Instant Video, so it's pretty easy to track down each episode. I'll start next week so that if anyone wants to join in you have time to watch Episode 1 before my first post! :)

my birthday, part II

For my costume party, I dressed up as Scully from The X-Files. My mom was "Kate's Mummy" and wrapped herself up in toilet paper to look like a mummy, lol! My dad was "asleep" and came with a blanket wrapped around himself, and a pillow attached to the back of his head! My brother was a crippled railfanning Santa (don't ask) and my grandmom was a zombie. Here's how I decorated:


We had SOOO much food! I made two kinds of potato salad (German and normal with mayo), two bean salad, celery sticks with dip & peanut butter and fruit salad that I served inside carved-out grapefruits made to look like Jack-O-Lanterns!


And for lunch I made a recipe that I saw in Parade the week before Halloween, for hot dogs wrapped up in crescent dough to look like mummies! Most of my family had turkey dogs, and me and my dad had Smart Dogs. I usually can't stand vegetarian hot dogs, but these actually came out surprisingly good! Since they were cooked in the oven they weren't as mushy as they usually are.


The day started off kind of bad, with my dad having to do some spur-of-the-moment work to pay a last minute bill, and my grandmom & mom getting VERY hungry and anxious waiting for him to finish so we could eat. But once we started eating & playing games, all was well :)

the truth is out there

When I was a teenager, I was *obsessed* with The X-Files. I had the "I Want to Believe" poster in my bedroom, Scully & Mulder action figures and I published an alien newsletter that my friends pretended to read. It wasn't until last month that it dawned on me that I could re-watch the entire series on dvd now. (I know, sometimes things take a little while to click.) So a few weeks ago I started Season 1, and I've been plowing through at least 2 episodes a day ever since -- sometimes 6 or 7 if I have a lot of work to do at my computer one day, and I can keep the episodes going repeatedly in the corner of my screen.

While it's totally revived my obsession, watching the show does have its drawbacks. Each little noise at night is definitely an animal/human mutant stalking me from behind a door. The raccoons that cross my path on my nightly walk are genetically engineered in the preschool nearby (that's just posing as a preschool, it's really a secret military hospital for strange experiments), and my irritating cough is actually an alien virus transmitted through my tainted tap water. The show can really get into your brain!!

Anyway, I put together this etsy treasury as an ode to the show. And yes, I was watching The X-Files while I made it ;-D