photo diary: beaver creek, vail, & glenwood springs, colorado

I'll keep this short and sweet, because I'm packing for my Austin trip (!) tonight and have some cleaning to do before I leave.

Colorado was lovely, full of good times knitting by the lake, trying to jog around the lake, hiking with my family and cousin to Hanging Lake, watching fireworks at the lake, and working on a puzzle with my dad--which had nothing to do with a lake, just pretty flowers, and lots of them.  There was also eating too much at a 4th of July clam bake at a cabin in the mountains, riding a ski lift and gondola in the mountains, walking around fancy ski towns in the mountains, MOUNTAINS!!!!

PLUS IT WAS REALLY REALLY PRETTY.  AND THERE WERE A TON OF DOGS.

It was great and full of family time. Hooray!

Glenwood Springs on Dwellable

photo diary: beaver creek, colorado wedding

I flew into Denver from Portland the day of my aunt's wedding. I had to explain to many people that I had just been at a Harry Potter convention, which was entertaining.  The wedding was two hours away in the ski town Avon (thanks for picking me up, dad!). After some much needed naptime in the hotel room (conventions are exhausting, people--I almost slept through my alarm that morning, but thankfully Ted woke me up in time to get to my flight), I fancied up in my favorite red dress and sequin heart.  I also used my super adorable clutch that looks like a folded vintage travel magazine and felt pretty darn cool.

The wedding was small, beautiful, and set against lots of trees and a creek.   It rained pretty hard right before the ceremony, which was doused in magical post-rain sunshine.  What could be better? My aunt looked lovely, and so did my mom, who was maid of honor!  I loved being part of such an intimate wedding.  Seriously, tiny forest-y weddings with lots of delicious appetizers, lasagna, and embarrassing dancing to annoy my little sister are the way to go.

Beaver Creek on Dwellable

photo diary: leaky con day 3

The last day (that I got to attend), I was Molly Weasley.  This is probably one of the most comfortable outfits I have ever worn.  So comfortable that I almost fell asleep against a wall multiple times while waiting in line for Starkid seats.  Conventions are tiring, guys.  Also, people are nice there,  because even after my embarrassing sleepy antics, I still made a friend in line.  Anyway, I knitted the bag with the needles I have in my hair.  It had to be done.  

My FAVORITE THING EVER happened that morning.  It was a panel with the graphic design team MinaLima that worked on the Harry Potter films.  Let me just say, this was 100% Kaylie bliss.  My love of Harry Potter and typography combined for a two hour panel?  BLISS.  And now the internet knows the extent of my nerdom.  I'm okay with this.  The above photo is one of MANY I took.  I was so tickled by their hilarious filler text.  They had to fill entire Daily Prophets, Quibblers, Ministry of Magic pamphlets, and BOOKS with headlines and graphics even if they were never seen on camera.  Incredible.  It was so intriguing seeing all their design inspiration too.  I was SO HAPPY.

For the first time ever, I did the whole autograph thing!  It was fun, I was awkward, and now my Leaky Con bag has fancy signatures on it!

I tried to suggest Tea Chai Te to Laura Spencer when she gave me this adorable ribbon, but I probably just muttered something under my breath...  No, it wasn't THAT bad.  She was really sweet though.  Everything went so fast, but I'm fairly certain that one of the girls complimented my hair, and a couple people liked my costume.  Who knows, man.  I'm new at this.  I was flustered.

After finally getting into the mainstage after nearly falling asleep in the line, we got seats for Starkid.  But first, there was a dance off which a baby Voldemort won, and some record-breaking mustache-wearing.

It was determined by Kenzie and Ted that I looked rather like a rabbit while wearing a mustache.

STARKID STARKID STARKID.

It was beautiful.

The last event of the day (and last overall for me) was the charity ball (or as I would like to call it, THE YULE BALL).  It was pretty brilliant, because it was basically nerd prom.  Picture a dance where you know that even though everyone is dancing to dumb radio dance music, they all share a mutual love of nerdy things such as Harry Potter.  It's a pretty wonderful feeling, let me tell you.  Ted rocked his Gryffindor bowtie, and I wore my Ravenclaw necklace.  The best.

I'm so happy I got to experience Leaky Con in Portland this summer.  It was a magical experience.  It really makes you proud to be a nerd when you see so many different people bonding over something they love.  It was also nice to be able to see so many people visiting Portland and actually feeling like a local.  Of course the rain stopped for the convention that we were inside for all hours of every day.  Oh well.  I'll be back there in a few weeks (to start living in The Burrow--yes, we're a Harry Potter friendly household), and hopefully the weather will be sunny and cool, unlike here in Arizona, which is sunny and hot, hot, hot.

photo diary: leaky con day 1 & 2

So much nerdy fun went down at Leaky.  I will try to condense it into two semi-brief posts.  

Leaky kicked off with an opening ceremony that was GAHHHHH.  It was brilliant.  It was goofy and filled with fandom humor, and ended with ANTHONY RAPP SINGING LA VIE BOHEME FANDOM-THEMED WITH STARKID, LBD CAST, EVERYONE.  I've only seen Rent one and a half times, and for me it was beyond wonderful.  For someone like Ted who is a big Rent fan, it was pure bliss.  

Ted and I are a proud inter-house couple.

....I'm including this picture because my hair is workin' it.

This is Snape with me, Kenzie, Ted, and his visiting friends.  Lily (this man's real-life wife) took our picture.  (Yes, I know.  I know.)

The second day I wore my Fawkes the phoenix costume.  Ted was a very handsome Neville (in this outfit, specifically).  I was surprisingly asked by multiple people if they could take a picture of me.  One person demanded some flight action, like this:

I tried.

 I decided to go to the LBD panel solo, which I took a crummy picture of (Ted took all the nice non-iphone photos contained in these two posts). I conveniently binge-watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries before Leaky and absolutely loved it.  I'm really happy I kind of dove into a new fandom before Leaky because it made things even more magical for me.  The series was so fresh in my mind and I was pretty close to the stage because I was alone, so it was kind of shocking to see the actors like that.  I've never been to a con before, and it was a great first panel to go to!

Snape answering questions.  Ted and I were laughing and crying the whole time.  A bit before this, we went to the Joe Moses One-Man Showes, which was pretty hilarious.

The actors who played "Young Lily," Pansy Parkinson, and Seamus Finnigan had a panel.  It was quite entertaining, especially Devon Murray. He shared stories about how he went into his audition thinking the director was Harry Potter, how Robbie Coltrane tricked him into putting band-aids all over his face, how he, like his character, has a tendency to accidentally blow things up (like two microwaves), and how Rupert Grint put spy cameras in Emma Watson's room, "but not in a creepy way!"  Just a hoot.

After an intense, two-hour team quiz, the big wizard wrock concert started.  We saw Hank Green perform, which of course was beautifully nerdy.  Whatta cutie.

The night closed with Harry & the Potters, who I've seen once before in Phoenix!  It was lovely to share the magical experience with Ted, who had never seen them before.

As a souvenir, I bought this adorable print at the exhibit hall.  It seemed appropriate.  The illustrator was so sweet.  You should check out her lovely art here.  Ted is practically planning to buy her out and furnish his future home with her work.  We're a good match, I'd say.

More about Leaky soon!