Dragon*Con, Thrifty Fashion, & I have an audio book!
Oh hey, GUESS WHAT? War of the Seasons: the Human has an AUDIOBOOK version!
And it’s read by the amazing, wonderful, talented, Patricia Albrecht!
So if you like audio books, here you go!
As I’m sure you can see from the header photo, Dragon*Con is one of those few conventions where the costuming side of me still comes out to play. Normally at cons now, I throw on a geek tshirt, tardis earrings, and go do my thing. Occasionally I’ll put a costume on if asked to (i.e., I was asked to dress like a queen for a chess game at GMX last october), but other than that… well, I’m in “civilian” attire.
A few people have asked me why, and I feel like I can’t really answer it safely – I don’t want to offend anyone, or have anyone think I think less of them if they’ve made different choices, but the short version is, I want people to remember my books, not my costumes.
Most of the times I’m at these conventions as an author guest, not as a costume guest (that said, I do try to dress up if I have time to change for a costume panel), and I’ve noticed it throws some people off if I show up in costume, or people don’t take me seriously, or, like I said, they focus on the costume & not my writing. Or the worst of all (but also good in some ways?): my costume is so good that people don’t recognize me.
Soooo, yes, I tend to stay away from costumes these days at conventions, unless there is an appropriate time for me to bust one out (i.e., if I don’t have a panel in the evening, I generally will).
At anyrate, Dragon*Con is a convention where I will always find time to wear a costume. I just can’t NOT costume at Dragon*Con. Heck, even my swimsuit is a costume, observe (and in case you can’t tell, yes, that is a Starfleet uniform, complete with a communicator):
This Dragon*Con was a bit odd though – Ron couldn’t go (I’ll NEVER do that again if I can avoid it! was weird without him), I was only there for about 36 hours (and managed to squeeze in 6 panels that I wagon during that time), and of course, I’d just been told about a friend’s death and was trying to process that.
That said, there were some pretty memorable moments. Specifically, running around with my fellow gender-swapped Avengers (Oh my gosh I LOVE my Thor costume! I was in that costume from 8pm-3:30am, the longest I’ve EVER worn a costume and I did NOT want to take it off), being a part of the Kaleidoscope Track (I loved my panels and all the staff are wonderful), and of course, seeing my friends (even if just briefly) and being Sheldon from Big Bang Theory with my group (always a good time!).
My fav pic of me at this Dragon*Con (because it’s alllll about meeeeeee, right?)
I had 6 Kaleidoscope Track panels in the 36 hours I was there, and I LOVED it! Oh hey, it’s best-selling author Bryan Young! If you haven’t read his book Operation Montauk yet, YOU SHOULD!
Every year I make a vid at Dragon*Con (my best known is Star Wars Thriller). This year’s D*C vid pretty much captures the experience for me. You can watch it here if you’d like. Just be sure you watch it to the very VERY end. You’ll be glad you did. 😉
You might be asking yourself (because I know I’m certainly asking myself), why the heck is this author/Marine/mother/wife writing a fashion blog? Aren’t there like a bajillion fashion blogs out there? Why do we need another?
We probably don’t, and I don’t think I’m a fashionista at all, but apparently some of my friends and family do, and they asked me to do one, soooo… I figured this would be kind of fun to do. So there.
You can see my first post HERE, where I go into the basics of my style & kind of what my shopping “motto” is (never pay full price for anything), and that patience is a virtue (wait 3 years to find a specific pair of $250 Fluevog shoes for $40? Why yes I did…)
Special Agenda? Nope. Just what I happened to be wearing while we were at the mall.
Betsy Johnson houndstooth coat, $30 (eBay!)
Geeky tshirt (not shown), $10 (teefury.com)
Fluevog boots, $450 (in store, not even remotely on sale – 10th anniversary gift from hubby)
Banana Republic skinny riding trousers (not jeans), $20 (eBay!)
Total: $60. (unless you make me count the boots that were a gift, then it’s $510) At full price would have been: approx $400, unless we add the boots in, then it’s $850.
Notes: Can I just say how much I love this jacket? It’s one of those pieces that are very strong depending on the ongoing fashion trend, and I know houndstooth is coming back in this season, but I couldn’t care less – I wear the jacket every year whether is fashionable or not. I just LOVE IT.
As for the boots, well there was nothing thrift about them, but for what it’s worth, they was my 10th anniversary gift from my hubby. 🙂 And I do love them so!
Lastly, need a copy of my books? As it happens you can buy them here.