Happy Halloween! I’m going as Kylo Ren for Halloween this year. I think my husband wanted to do a couple of costumes; however, I was set on Kylo. I was browsing through Pinterest and was inspired to put this costume together. Besides dressing up as Kylo, I also dressed up as Darth Vader and went to a Halloween-themed workout class at the gym I go to. As someone who loves both Halloween and exercise, it was a fun thing to do.

When my husband and I bought our house last year, I signed up for a group fitness gym. I have been a member at a lot of different gyms, and this one is unique. It feels like a small community. In bigger commercial gyms, people show up to work out and leave. Instead, I feel like I have gotten to know some of the members who attend the same classes that I do. Attending group fitness classes is something that I look forward to each week. I gravitate towards boxing and cycling if I want to do cardio, or I do a strength class or circuits if I want something that’s weight-lifting-based. I end up doing about four to five classes a week, depending on how sore I am.

My gym puts on events every now and then, including this Halloween-themed class. There were four different cycle classes. Each class was thirty minutes long with different instructors per class. I ended up signing up for all four classes. The time went by fast! I couldn’t believe I cycled for two hours straight. When I got off the bike, my quads were a little wobbly. I ended up winning a prize for being on the bike for the longest in costume.

I don’t write about exercise here, and part of that is intentional. My health and fitness goals are something that I have chosen to keep private. With that being said, I’m so happy that I found this gym.

The last country that we went to while in Europe was Ireland. Adding Ireland to our trip itinerary was an easy decision. With our trip being two weeks, we didn’t want to travel too far into Europe and run out of time to see the things that we wanted to see. Plus, it would have added time to our travel back to the US, which I think my husband and I wouldn’t have been a big fan of. Ireland was lovely, and I’d love to go back.

One of the first places we visited while in Dublin was Trinity College. Trinity College is located in Dublin and is open to the public. The campus was stunning! The architecture is well-preserved, and the buildings themselves are gorgeous. The real draw for me, though, was The Old Library and the Book of Kells. Wandering through the library made me feel like I was in a dark academia book. I love all things dark academia and spooky in the books I read, and going through the library was right up my alley. It’s interesting because when we were there, a lot of the shelves were empty. The books are going through a restoration process right now, which I found fascinating. There were some videos displayed that highlighted what that process is like. Trinity College was one of my favorite places we visited while in Dublin.

Besides Trinity, my husband and I also went to the Guinness Storehouse and booked a Guinness tour. This was something that we booked far in advance. There aren’t that many beers that are as globally well-known as Guinness is. The Guinness Storehouse has seven floors. On the first floor, it talks about what actually goes into a Guinness and how Guinness is made. Throughout the other floors, it shows how Guinness has evolved. One of the facts that I took with me is that Guinness was the first beer to have Nitrogen added to it. During the tour, we had a free tasting along with a demonstration of how you’re supposed to drink a Guinness. At the end of the tour, you could visit the gravity bar on the top floor. The gravity bar is a bar surrounded by windows, so you could have a stunning view of Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse took a lot longer than I thought, as we were there for almost four hours. There was so much to see, and it was nice to have a pint after the tour.

One of the last things that we saw while in Ireland was the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are on the Western coast of Ireland. To get there, we took a train from Dublin to Galway and then a tour bus from Galway to the Cliffs. The Cliffs are breathtaking. The grass is so green, which makes sense because it was pouring the entire day we were there. It was really windy! It felt like I was going to be blown over the cliff. There are a few pictures that my husband and I took, and my hair is whipping around. We were at The Cliffs for two hours, and I thought that was plenty of time. I walk fast, so I found that we climbed The Cliffs relatively quickly. Seeing the Cliffs in person was so worth it.

I wish that we had more time in Ireland. I’d love to visit Cork or Kilkenny, but we didn’t have the time. I feel like a broken record at this point, but I’d love to go back to Ireland. As I reflect on our trip as a whole, I feel that two weeks was a long time to be away from home. In many ways, this trip has taught me a lot about how I like to travel and helped me prioritize different trips I want to take in the next few years. I’m so glad that I was able to finally go to Europe; it was a trip that was a long time in the making.

I knew for a fact that I wanted to go to London on our trip. I love all things pop culture that are based in the UK, such as James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, and more. I had London listed in a travel bucket list post that I wrote in 2016, so it’s fun to be able to say that I can cross London off my list. London was nothing short of amazing, and it held up to every expectation that I had.

Starting with the pop culture references first, I made a point to visit the SIS Building, aka the MI6 building, featured in many of the James Bond films. The SIS Building wasn’t a far walk from where we were staying, and I wanted to see the building up close. It’s a really cool building. We didn’t go inside, and quite frankly, I don’t think we could go inside? It was still worth it to see. Besides the SIS Building, we also visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. I read a few of the Sherlock Holmes stories in high school, and I love the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective game my brother bought for me. Right when we exited The Tube, there was a Sherlock Holmes statue waiting for us. My friend commented that Sherlock looked like Bill Nye, and I can’t unsee it. My husband wasn’t the biggest fan of the museum since the tour guide acted like Sherlock Holmes was real, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. We also went out of our way to find the TARDIS from Doctor Who. We did not go to the Doctor Who Museum because it was out of our way, but I would happily go to London again and make time to see it.

Besides the pop culture references, we did see quite a bit, including the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and Big Ben. My husband successfully convinced me to go to The London Eye. I don’t do well with heights, but it was worth it. It was cool to see London in all its glory. There was also a voiceover explaining all the buildings, and it was easy to follow. Seeing Big Ben was another highlight of visiting London. While we were walking around, I found myself looking at the architecture of the various buildings we passed. It’s cool to see these buildings still preserved and in good shape.

My husband and I couldn’t leave London without going to a few pubs. I liked how most of the pubs we visited were two floors. I liked sitting at a pub and looking out the window. I’m usually a beer drinker, and I definitely had a few pints. Another drink of choice for me is an Espresso Martini. It’s so good. I like it because it’s the perfect drink to have after dinner and socialize. It doesn’t feel as heavy as beer. I kind of knew that going to London, we would be drinking more than we normally would in our day-to-day routine.

London was well worth the visit, and if I ever have the chance to go back, I would. There’s so much to see in London, and I figure that if I were to go back, I’m sure I would have a different trip since I didn’t get to do everything on my list. I would love to make it to Scotland at some point as well. My next post will focus on Ireland, as that was the last country we visited on our trip.

This is the first post in my Europe travel series. I wanted to start in chronological order, as Iceland was the first country that my husband and I traveled to. When my husband and I started planning this trip, Iceland wasn’t a country that was on our radar. However, when we began researching flights, we saw that we could take a direct flight from the Twin Cities to Iceland, which helped solidify our decision to fly to Iceland first.

One of the first impressions that I had of Iceland was that it felt like we were on a different planet. Iceland is a beautiful country. As we were traveling to Reykjavík, the scenery was exquisite. There was black lava rock and green and yellow rolling hills. Reykjavík is a gorgeous city surrounded by water and mountains. I’m reviewing all the pictures I took, and they don’t do the city justice.

On the first day we spent in Reykjavík, we did most of the touristy stuff, including Rainbow Road, Hallgrímskirkja (a Lutheran Church), and shopping downtown. We ate a lot of waffles, drank many cups of coffee, and had to stay awake for 18+ hours due to the time zone difference. The jet lag hit both of us hard.

On the second and final day in Iceland, we went to The Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal hot spring, spa, and hotel resort. This was another touristy thing to do, but so worth it. It’s about thirty to forty minutes outside of Reykjavík, so not too far out of the way. As we arrived, there was a pathway that led to the entrance, which again was surrounded by this black lava rock. The water at The Blue Lagoon was a bright blue color, which was beautiful. We made a reservation ahead of time, so we were able to quickly check in and proceed to the springs. It was fifty degrees out, so pretty chilly, but the water was warm. We spent a few hours at the hot springs before navigating back to our hotel.

We spent two full days in Iceland, which I felt was a good amount of time. If I were to revisit Iceland, I’d love to rent a car and drive around the country. I’m sure there was a lot that my husband and I missed out on since we could only do so much. From Iceland, we flew to London, and that’s what I will talk about in my next travel post.

I took a mini writing break, but I’m happy to be back! The reason I wasn’t writing regularly was that I WENT TO EUROPE!!!!! I can’t believe this trip happened. I had so much fun on this trip, as this was my husband’s and my first time in Europe. This trip meant so much to me as it was a dream vacation I had planned for so many years.

Going to Europe was supposed to be our honeymoon trip. We got engaged in 2019 and started wedding planning, and then COVID happened. Our wedding was pushed into 2021, and by that time, there were still COVID-19 restrictions where a COVID-19 test was required in the countries we wanted to visit. I didn’t want our vacation to be stalled if one of us got COVID while on our trip. In 2022, we bought our house, which led to the general house costs of buying house stuff. When 2023 came around, my husband and I knew we wanted to make this trip a priority for this year.

We were gone for two weeks and visited three countries: Iceland, England, and Ireland. As we flew home, we had a brief stop in Boston to visit a friend who had moved there before finally flying home. I learned so much about myself and how I like to travel from this trip.

I will be back to writing regularly now that I’m home. I’m dedicating one post per country that we visited, and I will share plenty of pictures. Europe was amazing, and I can’t wait to plan more international travel in the future.

It’s safe to say that fall is here! Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the changing of the leaves, Halloween, apple orchards, carving pumpkins, and decorating our house with Halloween decorations. My husband and I went on a shopping trip where we bought two inflatables and a cat wearing a witch’s hat that’s sitting outside on our doorstep. My husband is not thrilled that we put it out in August, but I couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, my husband didn’t approve of buying a 12-foot-tall Skeleton, but there is always next year.

For every convention, I always set aside a certain amount to spend. For Gen Con, my budget was substantially more than for other conventions I attend. I was fully aware that this would be a more expensive convention. To end my blog post series, I wanted to share my haul from Gen Con this year.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means I did attend the convention for free. I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus Bizarre Brunette when I applied for my press badge. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own. Additionally, everything in my haul was purchased with my own money; nothing was given to me for free.

Queen by Midnight – Darrington Press

I alluded to this already, but the first thing I bought at Gen Con was a copy of Queen by Midnight by Darrington Press. I wasn’t planning on buying Queen by Midnight; however, by the time I made it to the front of the line, I was intrigued by the concept of the game. I wish Darrington Press had more merch to sell. I would have easily bought a Candela Obscura t-shirt or dice set. There were also a lot of fans waiting in line who weren’t able to get a copy of Queen by Midnight, so I think it would have been neat if there were additional merch that fans could buy if they weren’t able to purchase a copy of the game.

Vagrant Song + Malifaux Starter Set – Wyrd Games

The second purchase I made was at the Wyrd Games booth. Vagrant Song is a board game that reminded me of BioShock and Cuphead. It’s a cooperative game in which players face off against rogue ghosts on a train. I liked the spooky aesthetic of the game, and I look forward to playing this game closer to Halloween.

The second purchase was a Malifaux Starter Set. My brother actually bought me this starter set as a late birthday present. One of the booth employees was explaining the concept of Malifaux to me. I will say, I have struggled to get into miniature games, but what intrigued me about Malifaux was the idea that you could still win the game even if your minis are killed in battle. I played Warhammer once, and once my minis died, it felt cumbersome to try to remain invested in the game. Malifaux also has a spooky element, as well, which I love. I convinced my brother to buy a starter set too, so I would at least have someone I could play the game with.

Trail of Cthulhu – Pelgrane Press

I mentioned Trail of Cthulhu in an earlier post. I won’t say much else except that I’m looking forward to paging through the rule book and eventually writing my own story.

Laudna Dice Guardian + DnD Notebooks – Dice Guardians

This was my last purchase at Gen Con. I walked by the Dice Guardians booth on Thursday and made a note to myself that if the Laudna Dice Guardian was still available by Sunday, I would purchase it. Sure enough, I was walking by their booth on Sunday and saw they had some left, and I couldn’t resist. I plan on taking it to work with me and setting it on my desk. Besides the Laudna Dice Guardian, I also bought some new notebooks. I tend to take lots of notes in my Dungeons & Dragons sessions, and I had been using a regular standard notebook to write in. The issue is that it’s bulky to carry, so I like that these are a lot smaller. They had a deal if I bought three at once, so I figured, why not? Now I will have backups.

Besides gaming stuff, I ended up finding a local comic book store in downtown Indianapolis called Downtown Comics. It was within walking distance of the convention center, so I ended up purchasing a few comics. The final purchase I made was at Sun King, a brewery that’s a sponsor of Gen Con. I purchased a four-pack of their beer, so my husband could try some.

Gen Con will easily be a highlight of 2023. I hope to attend Gen Con next year.

Reflecting back on Gen Con, it was easily the perfect convention vacation. While I had a blast at Gen Con, there are some things I learned or things I would do differently if I’m able to attend Gen Con next year. I wanted to share a few takeaways from Gen Con and what I might do differently in the future.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Sticking to Two Cosplays Instead of Three

I planned three different cosplays for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Most of my cosplays were comfortable for the most part. Although I didn’t think about how the summer heat would impact my comfort in cosplay. By the time Sunday came around, I was ready to wear normal clothes. I’m only going to plan two cosplays going forward.

My three cosplays this year were: Red Riding Hood, Daenerys, and a Splicer from BioShock. Oddly enough, the Splicer cosplay was the cosplay I got the most compliments on. This was a cosplay I put together myself, including staining my white gloves. I was talking with my friends, and we came to the conclusion that the Splicer cosplay was more niche, so the people who understood what my cosplay was were excited to see it. It was cool to see people come up to me and ask me if it was a Splicer cosplay. One person said it was “fan fuckingtastic,” and I was thrilled.

Bring Magic: The Gathering Decks to Play

It didn’t cross my mind to bring my Magic decks with me to Gen Con. I figured I would be so busy playing other games that I wouldn’t have time to play Magic. Gen Con hosts Commander Pods, which are events in which four players come together to play Commander or EDH, a type of Magic format. My group ended up playing in a Commander Pod during our downtime. I liked the way Gen Con handled Commander Pods. Each pod was made up of four players, and each player received 1,300 in prize tickets solely for participating in a Magic event. Those tickets could be redeemed for prizes. I ended up using mine on a booster pack from another Magic set.

The one reason why I didn’t bring my Magic decks is that I’m not a competitive player. My decks are casual, so they aren’t aggressive. I find playing Magic with random people to be a hit-or-miss type of experience, depending on the other players in a group.

I had way more fun playing Magic than I thought I would. I’m inspired to go through my Magic decks and revamp them by next year.

Booking a Hotel vs. an Airbnb

This year, my group participated in the hotel lottery. Fortunately, our group booked a hotel within walking distance of the Convention Center. This was a game-changer. It was so convenient to be able to walk to and from our hotel to drop off our purchases or to take a breather. Our hotel also had free breakfast, which is always a good thing.

I’m sure there are Airbnbs in downtown Indianapolis, I just don’t know enough of the area to know where they would be.

Don’t Book Roleplaying Sessions After 8 PM

I was ambitious when I was signing up for events. I had an event on Saturday for Vampire: The Masquerade at 8 PM. The event was five hours, meaning it would be done at 1 AM. I had no energy on Saturday, and I ended up not going to the event. It’s not great etiquette to skip an event, but I couldn’t motivate myself to go to a role-playing session for five hours straight. That was a lesson learned, and 8 PM will be my new cut-off for signing up for events.

I’m halfway through my Gen Con post series, and I’m not sick at all of talking about Gen Con.

I’m back from Gen Con, and it was amazing! Gen Con was everything I expected it to be and so much more. While at Gen Con, I was mulling over what I wanted to write about when I got back home. I decided to dedicate four posts to all things Gen Con. This first post is going to be a recap post where I will talk about Gen Con as a whole. The second post will be some takeaways or things that I learned since it has been four years since I last attended. The third post will feature some of the games I demoed, along with some of the roleplaying sessions I was a part of. The final post will be centered around my haul because I bought a lot of different games, accessories, and merch. I’m so ready to recap all things Gen Con 2023.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I attended the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Traveling to Gen Con can be long at times. My friend group and I started driving on Wednesday, and it took about 9-10 hours to get to Indianapolis. Wednesday was a really long day, but it was nice to finally get to our hotel. This year, our hotel was within walking distance of Gen Con, which was really nice. My brother and I rented an Airbnb previously, and having a hotel was ten times better. It was nice to be able to drop off things versus having to commit to being at Gen Con all day because it was a thirty-minute Lyft ride back. I am sold on the idea of getting a hotel rather than an Airbnb that’s not located downtown.

If there was a theme for Gen Con this year, it would be Disney Lorcana. For those who are unaware, Disney released their trading card game called Disney Lorcana. I’m told it’s similar to Magic: The Gathering, but Disney-themed. I don’t know much else because I chose to not camp out overnight to wait in line. You heard me right, the lines for Disney Lorcana were wild! It seems like Gen Con was encouraging people to wait in line early, which I don’t think was a good thing. The lines were lengthy, and fans were frustrated. It seemed rather unorganized and chaotic. If anybody was lucky enough to get their hands on Disney Lorcana, I’m happy for you! I was not one of those people, and I’m okay with that.

For Gen Con, I had on average 1-2 events per day. Events can be shows, game demos, and roleplaying sessions. This was perfect! One of my friends planned a Grim Fairytale-type role-playing session for our friend group. It was nice to be able to unwind with our small group after a long day at the convention. In between events, I roamed the vendor haul, went to a superhero music sing-along (I will write about this later), and tried the official Sun King Brewery Gen Con beer. I bought a four-pack, so my husband could also try some too.

This post is already getting slightly too long, but there was one more thing I wanted to talk about. I wrote a post weeks ago about how Darrington Press, Critical Role’s game company, was going to be at Gen Con. I made it a priority on Thursday to visit their booth first. I was towards the front of the line when the exhibition hall opened, and I fast walked all the way to the Darrington Press booth. I was waiting in line as the booth only had so many copies of their newest board game, Queen by Midnight. I wasn’t planning on buying the game, but when I got closer to the front, I was sold. I ended up purchasing Queen by Midnight. On Thursday, Queen by Midnight sold out within an hour. On Friday and Saturday, Queen by Midnight sold out within fifteen minutes. I am shocked that I was able to get a copy of the game. I’m still in awe that this happened.

I could honestly keep writing paragraph after paragraph about Gen Con and everything I did, but I think this gives enough of an idea as to what happened this year. The countdown to Gen Con 2024 begins.