Happy Belated Halloween! I hope you all had a wonderful, spooky season. I still haven’t taken down my Halloween decorations yet. My stormtrooper holding a pumpkin is still sitting on an end table, while my windows are decorated with fun Halloween-themed window stickers. With COVID-19, I was able to host a small gathering with my friend and her boyfriend. I’m glad I could enjoy Halloween safely.

Me and the fiancé went as Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper. This is the first year we put our kitty, Athena, in a costume. She had a harness with a cowboy mouse sitting on top of it. I think technically, Athena was a horse for Halloween? She hated the harness, so we only put it on for photos and took it off.

We were able to eat pizza, play music, and have a couple of cocktails. I made a cocktail titled Witches Brew. I found the recipe off Pinterest. It has white rum, blue curacao, raspberry juice, ginger ale and I topped it off with blackberries. They were boozy. I did wake up feeling slightly hungover the next morning.

Ultimately, I’m glad I didn’t miss out on Halloween. It wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Last year, I spent it at a brewery dressed up with friends. With COVID-19, we have to make do with what’s safe to do. Now, I’m quarantining until Thanksgiving because we are seeing the fiancé’s family in Milwaukee. Let me know what you were for Halloween this year in the comments below.

The election was this past week. Last Saturday, the results were announced with Joe Biden winning the presidential race along with Kamala Harris being the first female Vice President in our nation’s history. It’s a historic time and I finally feel as a country, we are back on track.

I don’t discuss politics on this blog. This blog is my geeky space where I discuss pop culture, books, comics, video games, and any other topic I want to write about. However, this election is way too important to skim over. I was never a fan of Donald Trump. The way he would talk about various groups of people is appalling. The US is not containing COVID-19 and whether it is entirely President Trump’s fault, he’s still leading this nation. This is his responsibility.

It’s difficult to put into words how happy I am with Biden’s election. I’m more thrilled for Kamala Harris being the first female Vice President. Little girls will get to grow up in an era where they will see representation in the highest office in our nation. I hope this means that we are closer to seeing a woman being elected President in my lifetime.

With any political post, I will not tolerate any hatred in the comments. I reserve the right to not approve any comments or report them as spam. I write this post because I want to make it clear where my opinion lies as this election is crucial in the time we live in. If you’re a Trump supporter, I will not debate you in the comments. I was harassed by Trump supporters when Trump won the election in 2016 and as I re-read this post, I don’t think it’s disrespectful or rubbing it in anyone’s face. I stand by Biden / Harris and I voted for them because they would be the most qualified to lead our nation out of this pandemic we are living in.

Trying to find activities that allow for social distancing can be challenging. My fiancé decided we should go to an apple orchard because at least it’s outside. We settled on visiting Luce Line Apple Orchard, located in Watertown, MN. It was thirty-five minutes away from where we live, which is the perfect amount of driving.

This apple orchard was huge! Their apple fields span at least a couple of miles. At the center of the activities was a white barn to buy fall-themed merchandise. Pumpkins were scattered around the premises, and various animals were sniffing children’s hands looking for food. Since the property was so big, we didn’t feel we were on top of anyone, and it was fairly easy to socially distance. We went on a walk around the fenced-in animals and found a couple of quiet moments to take pictures.

As far as food, we each ordered a corn dog. I haven’t eaten a corn dog in a while since our state fair was canceled back in August. Additionally, we went to the cocktail stand and ordered a tangy apple sangria. IT WAS SO YUMMY. It was worth the $9 purchase. As we sat and drank our tangy sangrias, we saw Bigfoot walking around. Someone dressed as Bigfoot walks around the Orchard. There are Bigfoot signs throughout the Orchard. My fiancé and I couldn’t stop laughing when Bigfoot would scare little kids.

Finally, we stopped at the white barn. I picked up more candle wax for my Owl wax burner (I don’t remember what it’s called, but it burns wax). We picked up some homemade maple syrup and a couple of smaller decorative pumpkins that are currently sitting on our TV stand.

Trying to come up with activities during a Pandemic is tough. My fiancé and I take social distancing and mask-wearing seriously. Luceline Apple Orchard was perfectly spacious, allowing for a cute date day while being safe.

2020 has been a chaotic year. On the bright side, two weeks ago, my fiancé and I took our engagement photos. We are getting married in October 2021 and wanted our photos to have the beautiful colors. We drove to Duluth, MN, which is right along Lake Superior. The colors were at their peak. Our photographer sent us a couple of the many photos taken. I wanted to share them because I’m pleased with how they turned out.

With the Pandemic, I find it can be difficult to stay positive. These engagement photos were a nice emotional boost. I never thought about spending the rest of my life with someone until I met my fiancé. I didn’t know then what I know now, but there’s no one I would rather spend my life with than him.

As a result of COVID-19, my summer plans have been modified. Both CONvergence and Gen Con were cancelled. I’m super bummed about Gen Con, as attending Gen Con last year was one of my 2019 highlights. Despite the pandemic, we still got together at my friend’s cabin for our girls’ weekend. I tried to remember how long we had been doing this cabin trip. My memory goes as far back as 2012, before we all went off to college. I’m thankful for the girlfriends in my life. They have helped me survive this pandemic and subsequent Quarantine.

Cabin weekend is always one of my favorite memories. I can’t wait for next year!

Last Friday, I had a couple of hard seltzers (Vizzy is my favorite, especially the Blue Pomegranate), and I was debating what I wanted to do with my blog. I have been blogging since 2014, and I have so many goals for how to make my blog better. With that being said, I decided to purchase my blog name! I’m officially bizarrebrunette.com versus bizarrebrunette.wordpress.com. I’m excited to see how my site can improve.

As far as goals, I want to change the layout of my blog. It’s a plain purple color, but I would like a patterned layout. I want a blog image that’s mine. Whether it’s a cartoon version of me or an actual blog logo. Lots to accomplish and so little time. I figure purchasing my blog name is the first step to get there.

I thought about what I want out of this blog. Many bloggers want to monetize their site, and I’m not sure if I’m there yet. I blog because I genuinely enjoy writing, and I want something to reflect on. However, making side money isn’t something to complain about either.

Anyway, to wrap up this post, I’m looking forward to my blog and the future ahead. Thanks to everyone who reads my post, I wouldn’t be here without all of you.

I was nominated by A Geek Girl’s Guide for the Super Happy Love Award. This is a blog tag where you link to blogs and answer a series of questions that depend on the blog tag. If I’m ever nominated for a blog tag, I always like to complete them. Thanks to A Geek Girl’s Guide for nominating me.

The Rules:

• Thank the person who tagged you (Michelle, rock on!) Make sure to link back to the blog. ^^^^^^^ Use Super Happy Love as a tag.
• Display the logo on the post. Share the rules
• Choose a minimum of 2 out of the 6 prompts, more is allowed.
• The 6 prompts are as follows:
  • Tell about a person you love (friend, partner, celebrity, Youtuber, pet, someone who meant a lot to you).
  • Write about a franchise or fandom you love
  • Write about a character you love
  • Tell us about a piece of music you love
  • Show us a piece of media you love so much
  • Write something you love about yourself

• Don’t forget to tag 6 bloggers!!

A Person I Love

This is a hard choice because there are so many people in my life who mean so much to me. After deliberating, I decided to pick my brother. My brother means the world to me. The older I am, the closer I am to my brother. We went to a comic book store & bar in Orlando and we drove to Gen Con together. It would sadden me if Gen Con was cancelled this year, because it’s a great way for me and my brother to spend time together.

A Fandom I Love

I picked Life is Strange. Life is Strange is one of my favorite video games of all time. This is a video game I recommend to people who hate playing video games. Told in various episodes, Max reunites with Chloe to uncover the disappearance of Rachel along with figuring out why these paranormal events are happening in Arcadia Bay. If you haven’t played this game, you absolutely have to.

A Character I Love

I absolutely love Carmen Sandiego. Remember when General Mills used to put demo computer CDs in cereal boxes?? I played Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and this is how I learned vocabulary, geography and improved my math knowledge. Educational computer games can be fun and who doesn’t want to catch a thief, or maybe…. not.

What I Love About Myself

I love how much I have grown as a person. I am confident in myself and accepting of who I am. My body image has sky rocketed. I have cut out toxic people and I stick up for myself. I’m really content with where my life is at and I’m thankful at my experiences.

I Tag. . .

• Anyone who wants to participate!

My fiancé and I were planning to go to Seattle despite Emerald City Comic Con being canceled. After further consideration, we decided to cancel everything. I thought of my mom, who’s retired, and I would hate to be responsible for getting her sick. In all honesty, I was disappointed. I recognized later on that with the virus, I have to be considerate of the people around me. My fiancé suggested taking a last-minute road trip through Michigan, and it was the vacation I needed.

We left on Wednesday for Traverse City, Michigan. From the Twin Cities, we drove through Wisconsin, up the Upper Peninsula, across the Mackinaw Bridge to Traverse City. I live for road trips, and I liked being able to catch up on my podcast backlog.

Traverse City is a bay town with a cute downtown shopping area. I kid you not, Traverse City has at least five bookstores. My heart practically burst with excitement. I spent $90 on books, graphic novels, and comics. It was fun to walk to all the shops Traverse City had to offer. Traverse City has many breweries downtown and driving access to at least thirteen nearby wineries. This was a weekend where I ate good food and drank beer and wine throughout.

There’s nothing worse (in my opinion) than being so busy on a vacation that you need a vacation from your vacation. This weekend, I was able to read a whole book start to finish, along with listening to a variety of podcasts. There were times when my fiancé and I took time to relax, and it was needed. I feel rejuvenated to return to work.

I’m fortunate that I was able to take a trip despite the Coronavirus spreading. My work just sent a mass email permitting all of us to work from home. I’m personally looking forward to lying around in comfy pants, wearing a geek t-shirt, and having my mug of coffee on my desk. I’m happy to be back in my normal routine, and I will be posting blog posts on a much more regular basis. Thanks for sticking around.

One of my best friends messaged me asking if I was still going to Emerald City Comic Con. Many creators have cancelled their appearances due to the outbreak. My fiancé and I had a long conversation about this and whether we wanted to put ourselves at risk by traveling. After much deliberation, we agreed to still fly to Seattle, but I would limit my four-day press badge to one day. Should Emerald City Comic Con cancel the convention entirely?

Earning the press badge for Emerald City Comic Con was going to be a major highlight in 2020. Seattle is a city I have always wanted to visit. I was happy my fiancé wanted to come along, so I didn’t have to travel alone. I felt disappointed at the idea of cancelling our trip.

Emerald City Comic Con is responsible for the safety of its guests. On Emerald City’s main page, it lists how they’re preparing for the virus by upping sanitation efforts. While this is comforting, it doesn’t eliminate the mini panic I had about getting sick. The artists who cancelled had loved ones, small children, or older family members whom they didn’t want to put at risk. Is my trip going to endanger people I love?

Ultimately, I don’t know what the right decision is for Emerald City. Some say cancel, others say no worries. I believe in doing what’s best for you. I have stopped reading random internet articles about the coronavirus because there’s so much panic and inaccurate information spreading. I’m monitoring the Seattle State Health Department along with the CDC for updates, and that’s about it.

Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts in the comments. Should Emerald City Comic Con cancel its show?