With 2022 coming to a close, I’m already prepping my end-of-year blog posts. One thing I noticed right away was that I was only able to attend one convention, which is pretty low for me. I wanted to make attending conventions a priority this year, so I have started planning out 2023 and which conventions I could attend. I wanted to share a portion of my convention schedule along with conventions that I have on my radar, but I haven’t confirmed just yet.

The two conventions I know I will for sure be attending are C2E2 and Plant Comic Con. C2E2 is a convention that I attend every year, as one of my friends from college lives outside of Chicago. Luckily, she lets me stay with her, so I don’t need to pay for a hotel. I end up taking transportation to downtown Chicago, and it’s so slick! C2E2 has so much going on, and there’s something for everyone at this convention. Planet Comic Con is the other convention I’m planning on attending next year. The last time I went to Planet Comic Con was last year, as it was my first convention since the COVID-19 pandemic. I love Kansas City; it’s one of my favorite cities in the US to visit. My cousin still lives outside of the city, and I’m able to stay with him. I’m fortunate to have family and friends outside of Minnesota to stay with, which makes traveling to a convention much easier.

Besides C2E2 and Planet Comic Con, I want to get back to attending CONvergence. CONvergence will always have a special place in my heart because it’s the first convention I have ever attended. The last time I went was in 2019, before the pandemic. If I were to attend CONvergence this year, it would probably look a little different. Some of my convention friends, whom I would meet up with, have moved away or are planning to attend another convention on the same weekend. It probably won’t make a difference to me whatsoever because I always manage to have fun at CONvergence.

Finally, I wanted to share a few conventions that are on my radar to attend, but they may not happen in 2023 due to other travel plans. The first convention is Gen Con. My first Gen Con was in 2019, and I was completely mesmerized. There were so many booths in the vendor area, and there was so much going on in downtown Indianapolis. Attending Gen Con was easily one of my favorite memories of 2019. I hope to get back to Gen Con soon! Besides Gen Con, I have Siouxpercon as a potential convention to attend. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, isn’t too far of a drive, so I don’t suspect this to be an expensive trip. I know a few people who tabled at Siouxpercon, and they said it was a good convention.

Attending conventions will always be a blast. I love sharing my interests with other people, cosplaying, and going to panels. Let me know in the comments section which conventions you’re attending in 2023!

I love weddings. With all the despair going on in the world, weddings are positive and light. My aunt got married last weekend, and I couldn’t be happier. This ceremony was smaller, which, honestly, I think smaller weddings are more enjoyable. I felt that I could actually congratulate the bride and talk to people on a smaller scale. After the wedding, we went out to an intimate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was so fun to be able to celebrate their marriage.

It’s shocking, but I haven’t been to a single convention this year. I had plans on the weekends when the conventions were occurring, or I had to rethink my travel plans due to airfare price increases. In the past few years, I have found several out-of-state conventions that I love to attend. However, traveling for a convention has its downsides. I wanted to share my experience with traveling to conventions out of state, along with the pros and cons of both.

Pros

Exploring a New City

Indianapolis (Gen Con), Chicago (C2E2), and Kansas City (Planet Comic Con) are all cities I have visited because there was a convention that I was able to attend. I have been to Chicago and Kansas City many times, and yet I always find something new. It could be a new restaurant, brewery, or tourist attraction that I didn’t have time for on my prior trips.

Traveling + Conventions = My Two Favorite Things

Being able to combine my love of traveling with attending a convention has been a blast. I like being able to be a tourist while also taking a day off and cosplaying or browsing the artists who are tabling at the event. I still have Emerald City Comic Con on my list to visit, along with New York Comic Con.

Cons

Travel-related expenses

I’m fortunate because I have friends and family in various parts of the US. However, that only goes so far. I need to decide how I’m getting to the convention (flying, driving, or taking a train). Once I figure out my method of transportation, I have to weigh the costs and the PTO I have to take off work. While I love road trips, I wouldn’t consider driving to Seattle, for example, because of how time-consuming that would be. It gets to the point of contemplating if I have money to travel, especially now that I’m a homeowner.

Time Consuming

Traveling for a convention is time-consuming. It’s kind of nice to attend a convention within two to three hours of driving and be able to get home and relax. Waiting around at an airport or spending six hours in the car is a huge chunk of time out of my day.

In general, I think it’s worth it to travel for a convention if you like the city where the convention is held or the convention itself. I don’t think I would ever travel on a whim to a convention unless I researched the con beforehand. How far have you traveled for a convention? Let me know in the comments below.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my husband and I bought a house! We spent last weekend moving our stuff with the help of friends and family willing to take the time to assist. It’s been a process of unpacking and deciding where everything is going in our new space. While living in an apartment worked for a while, it always felt temporary. This is the house that my husband and I plan on living in for many years to come.

Our house hunt started shortly after our trip to Austin. My husband and I talked about what’s next for us this year, and my husband brought up the idea of starting the process of buying a house. He was looking forward to the idea of making our house a home and putting our money into something that’s a long-term investment. Shortly after this conversation, we proceeded with the next steps, including partnering with a realtor.

Our house search was pretty organized. We knew exactly which area of the Twin Cities we wanted to live in, which helped narrow down our search. We devoted a full day to walking through six homes back-to-back. From there, we found a house that we loved, which led us to put in our offer. Our offer was accepted the next day. I remember my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest when our realtor told us that our offer was accepted.

From there, it was a lot of paperwork to fill out and different things that needed to be aligned. The process itself moved fairly quickly. I’m grateful to my husband, who took on a majority of the work and made this process easier to handle.

2022 has been a jam-packed year, and I’m thrilled to add geek elements to our home.

I took a writing break, which was quite refreshing. During this time, I went with my husband’s family on a short trip to Door County, Wisconsin. Door County is a county in Wisconsin that consists of several towns right along the water. Green Bay is on the left side of Door County, and Lake Michigan is on the right. If you look at a Wisconsin state map, there’s a portion of Wisconsin that sticks out, and that’s where Door County is. I have never been to Door County before, and I was stunned by how beautiful this portion of Wisconsin is.

Everyone who has been to Door County would easily say it’s the most beautiful portion of the state. We would walk through all of these bay towns, and it felt like I was on the East Coast. There were restaurants, coffee shops, and small businesses that bordered the water. I found myself enjoying walking and taking in the scenery. Walking and hiking in general are one of my favorite forms of exercise, and Door County has plenty to offer.

Door County is one of the best places to visit in the fall. As my husband and I drove up to Door County, we saw several billboards for a winery that made Halloween wines. Door County Peninsula Winery has three specialty wines that they make every Halloween. When we went to their indoor space, they had it all decked out in Halloween decorations. It made the experience more fun. Everywhere we went in Door County seemed to have some sort of Halloween decoration hung up. Besides visiting various distilleries and wineries, there are also plenty of apple orchards and barns to visit that sell local homemade goods. No matter where we went, each place was so lively.

Visiting Door County was a perfect, local trip, and I’m glad I could take a mini break to unwind and come back feeling recharged. As far as vacations, this is my last big trip of the year. I have a friend getting married next month, and with the holidays coming up, I probably won’t have the time to travel anywhere else. Door County was exactly what I needed, and now I’m even more excited for Halloween.

My best friend is getting married in November! She’s one of my closest friends. I have called her in moments of crisis throughout my life, and she has always made herself available at any time. I consider her the glue of our friend group as she’s always the one to organize group events for us all to get together. I was tasked to help plan her bachelorette party along with her maid of honor. I’m not an event planner by any means, but the whole weekend really came together.

We stayed in an Airbnb in Saint Paul, Minnesota’s capital city. The Airbnb was neat because it actually used to be an old church. There was room for all seven of us to stay. We were supposed to have a group of eight, but one of our friends had COVID. This weekend was jam-packed with a group walk, a fancy dinner, and a comedy show on Saturday night. As per a Bachelorette party, there were plenty of drinks consumed. I felt I had to take a day or two to fully recover.

As I reflect on the weekend, I am truly fortunate to have my best friend in my life. She is caring and honest, and has always had my back. I’m so happy to celebrate her wedding in a month or two. I love her to pieces, and I know she will be in my life forever.

I’m at the age where a lot of my friends are getting married. Two weeks ago, one of our friends in our friend group got married at a winery. The wedding itself was stunning! They had a lot of green plants mixed with white flowers on the tables. There was a huge group of us dancing all night. My friends and I took a lot of pictures throughout the night. I love attending weddings, and this wedding was no different.

When I was planning the itinerary for Austin, I knew I wanted to stop in Dallas. Dallas is known as the home to the Dallas Cowboys, BBQ, and, unfortunately, the city where John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. When I told my mom I was visiting Dallas, she told me where she was when she found out JFK was assassinated. She was in elementary school when she was sent home and found my grandma crying in front of the TV. I would honestly recommend visiting Dallas solely for the history and the museums located there.

The first place we stopped was the Dealey Plaza museum. The Dealey Plaza is the building where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president. It’s been named a historical building and turned into a museum. I felt this museum did a great job balancing JFK’s life and all that he accomplished while also covering the assassination. It wasn’t a museum solely dedicated to the assassination, which I thought was respectful. There were diagrams showing the motorcade. One thing I pointed out to my husband was the fact that there were white X’s on the road, which showed the points at which JFK was shot. I wasn’t expecting that to be there, and it made it more alarming to me. The museum itself was well worth the trip, and I would probably go back to Dallas and visit the museum again if I were with someone who had never been.

After the Dealey Plaza museum, we went to the Dallas Holocaust & Human Rights Museum. While this museum focuses on the Holocaust, it also focuses on the definition of human rights along with other genocides in history. It talked about the idea of upstanders and bystanders. Upstanders are individuals in history who do the right thing even if it’s illegal or banned. People who smuggled Jewish people out of Europe technically were doing something illegal, but it was the right thing to do. Bystanders are those who stood by and watched things happen. I liked how this museum didn’t just focus on the Holocaust, but also explained how this happened and what traits dictators show that lead them to violence.

Along with the museums, my husband and I walked around downtown Dallas. We stopped at Pegasus City Brewing, which oddly reminded us of the video game BioShock since the font felt old-fashioned. After having a few cocktails and dinner, we meandered back to our hotel before driving home the next day.

It’s funny; I spent less time in Dallas, but this post was longer than my Austin post. I think that’s because of the museums, from which I learned a lot. There was more downtime in Austin versus Dallas, as there was a list of activities I wanted to do for the day. This road trip was such a blast. My next trip will be to Door County, Wisconsin, in September. Otherwise, I’m thinking an international trip will be my focus sometime next year.