This weekend was… interesting, to say the least. On Wednesday evening Fletch realized our toilet was clogged. He spent 30 minutes trying to get the darn thing fixed with no luck. This isn’t an unusual thing for our house. The house we rent is old and we’ve had issues in the past with the plumbing. On Thursday a plumber comes out and determines that it’s too complicated for him and that someone else has to come out. On Friday a plumber comes out and spends hours messing with the plumbing. When I come home we check on the bathroom only to find a pool of sewage water all over the ground. I won’t go into too much detail but it was a crappy situation (literally) and poo was everywhere. At this point we could no longer use the plumbing for fear of screwing up more stuff. The plumber on Friday found a hole in the pipe under the house so water was everywhere down there. So, Friday we stayed at a hotel and headed back to the house to check on things Saturday.
Today I went to a fun blogger event in Seattle. My super-awesome friend, Jessica, attended the event with me. She doesn’t blog but she always enjoys trying new things. We started talking about attending blogging events and trying new things. Of course, now as I sit here before going to bed, I’m thinking about how blogging has taken me out of my comfort zone. I’ve tried so many new things thanks to my blog: I visited Austin for a blogging conference, a trip I took all by myself (which was terrifying); I tried new foods (some I’ve liked and some I didn’t); and I saw the tulip fields and took some adorable photos! I think you get the point. I’ve done some cool stuff and I’ve done so many new things because of my blog.
To people who know me they might think I’m a super outgoing person. In many respects I can be. If I’m going somewhere new or going somewhere alone I get really nervous. Meeting new people initially freaks me out and it’s not until I’m in an environment for a little while that I get comfortable. Once I’m comfortable I can be super-outgoing but it takes me a little while to get me there. Blogging has helped me face that anxiety head on. I’m also not one to try something new without typically being nudged into it.
I eat the same meals when I go to restaurants and take the same route home from work–I like my routine. Since having a blog I’ve tried to be more active at finding new things to try out. I want to provide interesting content to all of you lovely peeps so I go to events, I eat weird foods and take photos/videos, and I test out new stuff. I’ve put myself out there a lot more over the past few years and that’s pretty darn cool.
I’m so glad I started blogging when I did. I’ve developed into a person much more willing to try new things and I’m thankful for that. I’m really happy with where I am.
I recently attended the super adorable Sakura-Con in Seattle! In case you don’t know what Sakura-Con is, it’s an anime convention that recently celebrated 20 years! The conference included panels, a dealers room, an artist alley, a gaming area, a craft room and so much more!! I was amazed at how much they had and relieved that we had several days to see it all. It reminded me of Emerald City Comicon back in the day.
Saturday
My friend Mikaela and her boyfriend, Mike, came up from Portland to attend the convention. Our first day started with a Lolita on a budget panel. It was cool to learn more about Lolita and to hear ways to save money. We then spent a large portion of the day shopping. I wanted to make sure I made my purchases early in case things sold out (which happens from time to time).
Our shopping started in artist alley. I did pretty well at restraining myself on purchases, that is until I found Mis0happy and s2heart‘s booths. They both have such cute stuff!! I bought a few items from each seller before we headed off to more adventure.
After killing some time walking around, Mikaela and I attended the Saturday fashion show while Mike went to another panel. The fashion show had two sections. The first was really bright and energetic. It featured really cute decora fashion styled by the 6% Doki crew. The second part of the show had a much more tranquil vibe. The pieces were inspired by traditional Japanese style. It was pretty cool! You can see a few clips from the fashion show in my Sakura-Con vlog (which is at the bottom of this post).
After the fashion show we met back up with Mike and headed off to the dealer area. This is where I got into trouble. I bought some super-cute plushies and walked about a lot. Below is a photo of me posing with Mike. We were using matching reusable bags to carry around our goodies. Twinsies!
After shopping we decided to head home. We were pretty beat and needed to rest.
Sunday
Sunday was a much more relaxed day. We got to the convention around 10:15am. Mike went to a panel while Mikaela and I headed off to another fashion show. The theme was J-street and Lolita fashion. I really loved seeing the different styles!!
After the fashion show we took another quick walk around the dealer area so I could pick up another plush that I had seen on Saturday. I had told myself that if I was still thinking about it on Sunday that I’d get it. I’m so glad I did!!
After I bought my adorable Pikachu we checked out the gaming area. There were a ton of games crammed into a small space with a lot of people. We walked around it really quick before leaving and taking a little rest.
After a brief rest on a bench we decided to head out. All of us were pretty tired and ready to be done.
Overall it was a fun weekend!! I enjoyed Sakura-Con and loved seeing all of the awesome dealers. I even got to chat with the BB and B owners which was really exciting! You may remember my review of one of their necklaces. It was really cool to meet the amazing people behind such a cute store.
I definitely want to go again next year. I hope in 2018 I can take Fletch with me so I can show him all of the cute things (and maybe he will help me restrain myself better).
Oh! Here is me and Mikaela with cute Totoro stuff.
I hope you had a great weekend! Today I’d like to talk about spreading kindness. It’s on my mind because my dear friend, Barbara, has shown an incredible amount of it. We met online (thanks, internet!) and have bonded over our love for cute things.
Barbara recently went on a trip to Tokyo and, being the amazing person she is, she asked me if there was anything I wanted her to pick up. How incredibly sweet is that? She knew I’d probably want things and it was so kind of her to think of me. Not many people would do that. Anyone else would have a ton of other things on their mind but she was thinking of others.
Barbara is nothing but color and light amongst a dreary, cloudy day. She is so incredibly thoughtful, sweet, kind, and all around wonderful. I feel lucky to even call her a friend. My life is richer just by her being in it.
It’s easy to make someone else’s day. Picking up a coffee in the morning for someone else. A cheerful ‘hello’ to a stranger. Sending a text to your friend to let them know you’re thinking of them. You can be the rainbow to anyone so long as you spread kindness.
How do you spread kindness? How are you the rainbow in someone else’s cloud?
A few weeks ago Fletch and I attended Emerald City Comicon in Seattle! It was so much fun!!! This year we purchased two day passes. We normally attend on Sunday’s but decided to test out going multiple days.
Friday
Our first day was filled with lots of awesome fan art, hanging out with wonderful friends, and, of course, shopping. Fletch and I decided to start out in artist alley. My friend, Leia was up there getting stuff signed and I wanted to say hi. I met Leia when I briefly wrote for a super-awesome nerdy blog called Sub-cultured. Leia and I hadn’t met IRL before so I was excited for the opportunity to give her a big hug.
After seeing Leia we continued to walk around the artist area. That’s when we spotted our awesome and talented friend, Nick Butler. Fletch and I met Nick back in college. Nick is a crazy good artist and I love attending these conventions because, usually, we get to see him! This year Nick had decided to actually see the con vs. sitting at a table the whole time. So, Nick walked about with us which was really cool. While walking around with Fletch and Nick I spotted MC Chris, a nerdy rapper. Nick and Fletch helped me get up the courage to say hi. It was a really short interaction that went like this.
Me: “Are you MC Chris?”
MC Chris: “Yeah”
Me: “I love your music!”
MC Chris: “Thanks.”
Then he walked away before I could ask for a photo. *Insert super-sad emoji here* Nick then went off to man his booth at the convention and Fletch and I moved on to the exhibitor hall.
Our main concerns for that day were checking out the Funko booth and the Jordandene booth. I met Jordandene owner, Jordan, via Instagram like a year ago and was, again, really excited to meet her in person. Let me tell you, Jordan is awesome!! Meeting her in person was definitely one of my highlights of the weekend. I snagged a cute shirt and then we continued to walk around.
The rest of Friday is a bit of an achy feet blur. We walked around, ate the worse pretzel of my life, and headed back to my brother’s house, where we stayed for the weekend, around 4:30pm. It’s crazy how exhausting conventions can be!!
Saturday
Day two was spent mostly hanging out with my lovely friend, Mikaela, and her super-cool partner, Mike! I met Mikaela thanks to the wonderful world of the internet and have grown close ever since. I was really excited to spend the day with her and to meet her boo for the first time. This may be just me BUT, it was an awesome day!
We spent most of the day walking around and, again, buying stuff. It was pretty great! We caught a few booths we didn’t see previously and we managed to grab another pop figure from the Funko booth!
Overall it was an awesome way to spend a weekend! I had a ton of fun with Fletch and we got to see a lot of amazing people. I’ll definitely be attending again next year.
