A large reason why things have been quiet blog-wise is because I am not attending Dragon Con this year (yes, they have lost the asterisk,  read more about that here if you are interested).   I know, I know, this is the worst.  This decision is a combination of finances and schedule.  The finances issue is part lack thereof, part my trying to get a reasonable amount of savings in order for both general emergency purposes and Honeymoon 2014.  The schedule has to due with the Jewish High Holidays being crazy early this year, September 4-6 for Rosh Hashanah, September 13-14 for Yom Kippur, and also my not being able to take off work for Dragon Con *and* the High Holidays in the weeks before CenterFest.  The combination of all these things has led me to make the responsible adult decision (boo) to not go to Dragon Con.

Naturally I am bummed out by this, and I’ve been even more bummed out recently since Comic Con just happened in San Diego, and since my Facebook feed is aflutter with Dragon Con costume-preparation statuses, and since I just got the Dragon Con 2013 progress report.  I mean, I know in the end that this is the correct decision–my wallet and my sanity will thank me–but the past 4 summers I have looked forward to Dragon Con, and it just feels off to not have that this summer.

To compensate I’m going to endeavor to check out some smaller, local conventions this fall–namely the Escapist Expo and NC Comic Con.  NC Comic Con is having a film festival at the Carolina Theatre (my favorite) and they are showing awesome movies, like The Crow, so of course I am there.  Hoping these two local cons, and also Halloween, can help me get my costume uber-nerd fix.

In the meantime, here are some photos I have been meaning to post.  I have Carolina Theatre connections through work, and in March I got an invite to the early-premiere of the first episode of this season of Game of Thrones.  HBO came in, rented out the theater, provided swag, and had a little photo booth.  Of course I pulled out my Melisandre costume, because when else am I going to wear it?  Made for some fabulous photos at the Iron Throne green screen photo booth:

 

 

The last photo is of Nancy and me–Nancy made the dress, it was fun to hang out with her in a non-sewing studio setting!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we set a wedding date (yay!)–June 22nd, 2014, in Sarasota, Florida.  So, you know, I do have something for which to plan!