Halloween!

Most of our Halloween activities happened before the holiday itself. We had the Halloween Carnival, went to the corn maze with Emily's Girl Scout troop, and visited the apple orchard. But of course on Halloween, we had trick or treating to do.

We have always gone trick or treating at the Asheville Mall. It's warm, bright and easy to get lots of candy. This year, because Halloween fell on a Saturday, we also had Todd with us. Emily was Anna from Frozen this year and I put on my Kaylee costume.

We got to the mall early so we did some looking around in Build-A-Bear and Barnes & Noble. Finally the time came and we started trick or treating. We did a circle around the mall, stopping in the food court for some supper.

After we ate and Emily played in the play area for a bit, we went back to the stores we hadn't hit yet. Emily's sack was filled up with candy and other things. She also got to get her picture with the Chick-Fil-A cow too!

It had been a very grey day outside and it started to rain on our way home. That made me glad that we opted to go to the mall again. While it would be nice for Emily to get the experience of running around in the neighborhood in the dark, ringing doorbells, our neighborhood is generally very quiet on Halloween so we'd  have to go to a whole other neighborhood which seems like a huge pain.

We got home and let Emily have one piece of candy, then it was time for her to go to bed. Even though it was the time change that night, I also passed out soon after. It had been a long but fun day!

Dragon Con Goals and Worries

Image: dragoncon.com

Dragon Con is only a couple of weeks away so we are totally in Dragon Con mode. Todd and I have conversations about Dragon Con several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I'm really looking forward to my 8th Dragon Con but I do have some worries.

I've been really sick as of late. Lots of really bad migraines as well as balance issues. I'm planning on getting the disability sticker on my badge so I can sit down in a chair to wait for panels and I am not going to give blood this year.

Hopefully I'll be ok - I might add a sticker to the back of my badge with Todd's contact information, just in case. I'll be spending most of the con with him anyway. I am still looking forward to it a lot.

My main goal for this Dragon Con is to finally meet Peter David. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was in high school, and he's usually at Dragon Con, but I never seem to be able to find him. Probably because the last couple of years we having hit the Artist Alley at all, and I think that's where he usually is. But this year, I will meet him, get his autograph, buy new books!

This year I'm also pretty excited that I actually need to buy dice. Need may be a strong word, but we gave Emily dice from our own collections. After years of playing Hero System games, we have an abundance of  6 sized dice. But we all need some of the others, especially Emily. She has requested pink and multi-colored dice, and she especially needs some more 4 sized dice because that's what she uses most with her Magic Missile spell.

I'm not a panelist at all this year, and that is a good thing I think with my health issues. I'll be stalking the Walk of Fame with Todd. I really hope the Arrow guests and Big Bird will do table pictures. I really want pictures with all of them but I really don't want to use Froggy.

Other than that, I'm only bringing two costumes this year. I'll be the Tightrope Girl on Friday and Saturday and then Blue Jacket Kaylee for Sunday. We will probably leave fairly early on Saturday - maybe even right after the parade. Saturday is so crowded anymore it's hard to move a lot of times. Plus there is a really cool mall not far from my aunt and uncle's house with a Disney Store!

I think taking it easy on Saturday may be the key to making it through this Dragon Con without getting to sick or in too much pain. Hopefully, I'll have a great con, will be able to meet cool celebrities, meet Peter David finally, sniff some BPAL and hang out with 80,000 pretty awesome people!

Dragon Con 2014 - Friday

Paul Blackthorne (Det. Lance from Arrow) and I

This is my 2nd post about Dragon Con 2014. You can start here with the Thursday post!

I'm going to preface this post by saying that I'm a sucky runner. I've been working on Couch to 5K for a couple of years now. Chronic pain is a bitch and when I get a flare, I can't run. But I'm slowly but surely getting better. But I run inside on my treadmill because I have a five year old and my husband works 2nd shift.

I've been following Geek Girls Run on social media for a while. One of my friends, Janine, is one of the founders of the group. I had wanted to do the fun run they did last year at Dragon Con but we ended up not having enough time because we ended up in the reg line of doom.

But this year, I was determined to do the run. I cosplayed as Kaylee from Firefly because it's my best costume for running in. And I opted to go with the run/walkers. This was a big mistake. 

I was ok until we got to the park and I just started lagging behind. And the hills were so hard - mostly because I run on a treadmill. I thought I was going to pass out during one huge uphill hill.

But I made it! I was the 2nd to last but I made it. Very proud by that, even though I did it, I think, contribute to my illness later in the weekend.

I found Todd who had my bag and my jacket. Because the run was in the morning we had some time

Me and Stephen Collins

to kill before the Walk of Fame would be open. So we got some lunch and hung out in the food court doing some people watching.

We did go over to the Marriott about a half hour before the Walk of Fame open. We got in line and waited. Once the doors opened, there was a mad rush but there was plenty of room for everyone once we got in there.

Friday is one of the best days to get autographs because it's not super crowded. I got both the Hobbit Guests, and we got three of the four Arrow guests. I also met Stephen Collins who I like best as the dad from 7th Heaven. Since we don't need two autographs from each person, I usually get pictures with celebs that Todd is getting the autograph for who are doing table pictures.

The longest line we waited in on Friday was for Karl Urban. We were told one time, but he was over an hour late. He had a panel and went to lunch afterwards. Once he got there, the line moved quite quickly. He was super nice too though he did say he was a little drunk. He was even more handsome in person than he is in the movies.

After that, we went to the dealer's room. First stop was the BPAL booth to do some sniffing and to talk to Beth and Ted. It was crowded but I got some sniffing in. I got one of the Peach atmo sprays and a bottle of Coraline for Emily.

We walked around the maze that is the dealer's room. Todd found a poster from Hellboy with a bunch of signatures on it and it was half price. They had a certificate of authenticity. We already had one of the autographs on it (Doug Jones) and it looked the same so we knew it was real. It was a must buy!

After that, we got some supper and waited for it to be time for my panel. The Kaleidoscope Track was kind enough to have me as a panelist for several panels. On Friday night, the panel I was on was called The Young Nerd Life. All the panelists were parents of geeklings of varying ages and we talked about their geeky likes and dislikes as well as how it is to be a geek parent raising a geek child. It was a lot of fun!

It was getting late so we headed out to go back to my aunt and uncle's house to get some sleep. The next day was going to be a long day.

Up Next - The Very, Very Long Saturday

Dragon Con Schedule and Cosplay!

Image: www.dragoncon.org

I've been lucky enough to be a panelist for several Kaleidoscope Track panels over the last few years. I love being on panels and talking about things I'm passionate about - which has been often been Disney related.

This year, I'm on four panels and I'm very excited about it! Here's my schedule if any of you want to attend!

The Young Nerd Life - Fri, August 29, 7pm – 8pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

There are many shows families watch together! Let's discuss those shows & how kids fit into the world of fandom.

Disney Princesses & Heroes Panel - Sat, August 30, 11:30am – 12:30pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

Fan led discussion about all of your favorite Disney Princesses and Heroes. 

Theme Park Travel - Sat, August 30, 8:30pm – 9:30pm

A708 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

Share ideas and discuss how to make theme park visits fun for the entire family.

Phineas & Ferb Fan Panel - Sun, August 31, 4pm – 5pm

A601/A602 Atlanta Marriott Marquis

What are you doing today? Discussing what you love about Disney Channels hit show 

I'm also planning on bringing several costumes as well as marching in the parade.

Friday - Kaylee from Firefly

Saturday - Haunted Mansion Tightrope Girl

Sunday - I'm hoping to wear the Tightrope Girl again - but if it's too sweaty and icky, I'll be wearing American McGee's Alice

I'm looking forward to Dragon Con! Hope to see some of you there! I'll be live tweeting through the con as well!

Costume Plans of 2014

I love cosplaying but I'm not that great with sewing. But I manage to put together some interesting costumes to wear to the various conventions that I go throughout the year. I have plans to make two, possibly three costumes this year.

The first costume that I'm working on is for a horror convention that we'll be going to next month. I have a hard time figuring out horror related costumes to wear. I have my American McGee Alice costume from last year, but I'm also going to make a Disney's Haunted Mansion Tightrope Girl costume.

I love the Haunted Mansion so I'm not sure why I didn't think to do this costume before. But I'm working on it now. I have the corset and the skirt and I'll be adding on the details. Hopefully I'll be able to finish that in the next couple of weeks.

Then I'll be working on the Kaylee Layer Cake Dress 2.0. I hand sewed 1.0 a few years but I didn't do a great job and it's now falling apart. I've been meaning to remake for awhile now, but with the Browncoat Ball coming to Greenville, SC in October

it's moved up in the queue. I'm hoping to figure out how to use my mom's sewing machine so I can use that instead of hand sewing it. Hopefully that will be finished in time for Dragon Con.

If I finish the Layer Cake Dress, I might start my Ducky MoMo costume. It will actually be me cosplaying as Candance cosplaying as Ducky MoMo. It's going to be complicated but Todd has said he'll help me design it. He's the engineer so I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out.

For now, that's what I'm working on. I'll post pictures on Twitter and Facebook as I put the costumes together!

Cosplay and Snobs

An example of piss poor cosplay

So I have another Heroes of Cosplay rant. I love the show for the beautiful costumes, but sometimes the attitudes on the show annoy me to no end.

In this week’s episode we see Monika being uber bitchy at every turn. I’m not sure why and I’m not sure if they edited her to be that way, but her attitude really sucked. Especially when she was so mean to Becky who I think has made some wonderful costumes. Cosplay should be about wearing costumes and having fun, but Monika sucked all the fun out.  It was a shame too since Fushigi Yugi is one of my favorite animes.

Now I’m not a very good cosplayer. I buy costumes and I hobble other ones together. I hand sewed my Kaylee layer cake dress and it turned out ok, but it’s falling apart now. I've had people look down at me for even thinking about making the layer cake because it’s complicated. I was told that I shouldn't do it unless I can sew really well and I got a snotty attitude from another layer cake cosplayer when I marched in the Dragon Con parade a few years ago.

Yes, it was kind of crappy, but it turned out better than I thought. And I had fun wearing it, which is the point of cosplay. Now I wouldn't complete in any of the cosplay contests, especially at Dragon Con, because I know my costumes aren’t that great. But I cosplay to run around in a fun costume.

I wore three costumes at Dragon Con this year. Two of them I bought and one I put together. I didn't get a lot of people asking me to take my picture, but a few people did. I can’t imagine not wearing a costume to Dragon Con and I had fun wearing the ones that I did. Unfortunately, there will be those snobby people who look down at other cosplayers because their costumes might not be as great as theirs.

Dragon Con 2013 - Saturday

This is the 2nd installment of my Dragon Con Trip Report. Click the link for Friday's post!

I got Todd up bright and early on Saturday morning so we could head back down to the con. I have marched in the parade the last few years and I had signed up to march with the WhedonVerse folks again. Because of a trolley being put in downtown, the parade route and the staging area had to be moved. So I was a little neurotic about trying to find the new staging area.

Without too much difficulty, we found it. I gave Todd my bag and told him I’d call him when I was done. It was about an hour wait before the parade started. It’s always fun to watch all the other people in their great costumes. I think my favorite this year was the Steampunk Tigger that walked by.

The parade was awesome to be in as usual. I twirled my parasol and waved as I walked with the other Firefly folks. The crowds watching seemed massive, even more than last year. But everyone seemed to enjoy the parade.

Once the parade was over, I went to meet Todd. I was supposed to meet him in the area outside the Walk of Fame. I walked all the way around there twice and didn't see him. So I started calling and texting. I have anxiety issues normally so when I couldn't find him and he wasn't answering his phone, I felt a panic attack creeping up.

Finally he texted me that he was in the food court and had no signal. I told him where I was at and waited, trying to push back the panic. He showed up, with food and we ate. From there, we decided to go back to the dealer’s room o’ doom. Emily had pleaded for an Artemis stuffy to go with the Luna one we bought her. I stopped by the BPAL booth to sniff a little and talk to Beth. I got my picture with Beth too.

Then we went deeper into the 2nd floor of the dealer’s room. We started out by a food vendor and I got some yummy lemonade. I went over to the Steve Jackson Games booth to look for a dice game for Emily. One of the vendors took a long time to help me out and recommended Dino Hunt Dice. I got that for Emily. She loves it because it’s easy to play and she gets to roll dice. From there, we circled around looking for the vendor we got Luna from. We got turned around quickly but finally found another vendor who had an Artemis kitty. I got it and we got the heck out of the dealer’s room o’ doom.

There was a panel I wanted to go to in the Sheraton about a ghost investigation in NC. Todd grumbled about having to walk all the way to the Sheraton, but since he didn't have anything else to do, he came with me. We were about an hour early for the panel. We sat on the floor across from the room, by a power outlet. We changed our phones up a little and I read on my Kindle since there was no signal at all. Once the room was open, we got great seats right up front.

The panel was really interesting. Both Todd and I like watching ghost shows on TV and we live in a haunted house. The hour flew by and we left the Sheraton to hustle over to the Hyatt so I could meet the Fraggles.

Fraggle Rock was one of my favorite shows as a kid, so I wanted to get my picture with Red and Mokey. We made it just in time and were able to get into the room. We waited about 45 minutes so I could get my picture. And we each got a free autographed mini poster which Todd was geeked about.

I had planned on going back to the Marriott to see the Phineas and Ferb panel, but the crowds were making me feel a little claustrophobic. So we opted to go back to my aunt and uncle’s house. It was a long day of battling the crowds, but I had a lot of fun.

My Dragon Con Schedule

Dragon Con is coming up this weekend! I’m lucky enough to be a panelist for several panels for the Kaleidoscope track. I thought I’d post a schedule of those panels in case any of you wanted to check them out!

Friday, August 30

10:00am - Princess, Fairies, and Pirates – Marriott A708

A discussion of favorite Disney characters: Snow White to Merida, Prince Charming to Captain Jack Sparrow.

Sunday, September 1

4:00pm - Phineas & Ferb, Come to Danville - Marriott A601 - A602

Danville has everything from Fireside Girls to secret agents to evil scientists. Discuss your favorites.

I’ll also be marching in the parade with Whedonverse track on Saturday morning in my Kaylee costume.

If you see me, feel free to say hi and come by the panels if they interest you!

In Praise of Cosplayers

Emily and I as Snow White

It seems like after ever major convention there is a post that appears on the internet that makes fun of cosplayers. I’m not sure why people feel the need to do this. But I do know why I love cosplaying and why I’ll continue to do it, even if I end up being made fun of on the internet.

My love of costumes go way back to when I was a child. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, partly because of being able to dress up in costumes. As I grew up, I discovered anime conventions. As I started to attend these cons, my love of costumes resurfaced. It is always so fun to put on a costume and pretend to be a famous character. My favorite costumes at the anime conventions were the ones from the Final Fantasy games. I even had a Summoner Yuna costume that is one of my only costumes I still have from my anime days.

I’m not the best at sewing, but I don’t let that stop me. For some of my costumes, like my Kaylee costume from the pilot of Firefly, I was able to just find the clothing items I needed. When I wanted to do Kaylee’s dress from the Firefly episode, Shindig, I had more of a challenge. But did I manage to come up with a plan to make this costume. I've worn it for several years now and it’s my favorite costume.

The vast majority of the feedback that I've gotten on my costumes is positive. I received a lot of positive comments on my Shindig dress last year at Dragon Con. It made me happy to know that other people enjoyed seeing it.

I also cosplayed as a Disney Princess last year at Dragon Con. I was Snow White because that was what my daughter wanted me to cosplay as when we marched in the parade. It was amazing to see small kids’ reactions to me. Their eyes would get wide as I waved at them in the parade. Those kids’ smiles made me feel like a real princess.

I generally talk to people in my geek groups about cosplay. But there are also several websites online, like cosplay.com, where you can connect with other cosplayers. This is a place where you can talk about costumes with people who love them as much as you do.

If you want to cosplay, I say go for it and ignore the bullies. It doesn't matter if you have the best costume or look just like that character. It just matters that you are having a good time.