October Update/Wrap Up...Yes I Know It Is November

Ok folks, I know it's November, but I can't let October go without a final farewell.  This was seriously one of the best birthday months I have ever had and it was really wholly due to my amazing friends and family.  They all bent over backwards to make what was already my favorite month of the year absolutely unforgettable in such a great way.  Hubbin especially went so far above and beyond that I want to marry him all over again (see my previous posts about my trip of unreal perfection).  To end this month of awesome I got to spend Halloween at my fire station, which is my happy place so already good.  My driver and I both had the same idea and brought costume props (we can't go full on costume on calls...something about doing CPR dressed like death makes some people a little uncomfortable...) and took tons of pictures of the whole crew all dressed up.  Several scary movies and jumpy pranks later we decided to actually do some work and run some calls.  The best part however was our friend came in with presents!!! Yep not only did I get birthday presents, but I got a Halloween gift too...seriously I am so spoiled.  Anyways my girl decided to start a new tradition where we all read the same scary book each October and every year a different person picks the book.  She started it by gifting us with The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey...which besides being on my TBR list, also has a yellow cover so pretty much awesome.  I am so excited to read this book with my firehouse book club people and absolutely love the fact that going to my happy place results in new books and people to discuss them with!  I am so deliouresly happy about almost everything that happened this month (there were crappy things...cause you know real life...but I'm pretending they didn't happen in my happy retrospect lol) and cannot believe how blessed I am in my friends and family.  I love you all, and cannot wait to see what happens next...now off to go read my new book under my reading tree so I have something to ramble about.  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Family That Dresses Up Together

Dressing up is fun...dressing up as a group is awesome.  Here are some literary idea's to inflict on your friends and family.

Harry Potter Group Dress Up

There are so many ways to go with a group Harry Potter effort.  You can go with as few or as many people as you want, very versatile

Jane Austen Dress Up

With seven books to choose from I'm sure you can all find a classy costume

Narnia Family Costume

My siblings probably still have nightmares of me doing this to them :-)

Lord of the Rings Dress Up

Epic and creative and classic...win, win, win!

Game of Thrones Group Cosplay

If you can't find somebody to dress up as in this series, then you just are not trying hard enough.

Go grab a group of your literary minded friends, or blackmail you spouse, or pull your parental power with the kiddos and send me picks of your group of literary dress up.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Renn Fest!

Woohooo!  It's the last day of August, which means in my twisted little brain I can put out all my fall stuff tomorrow WOOOHOOOO!!!!!  I've been waiting for this since July.  To this end I got to do one of my favorite summer to fall transition events The Maryland Renaissance Festival.  This is one of the events I look forward to all year, and go at least twice while it is going.  I love this festival for many reasons, are you ready to hear about them?  Good.
1) People can be whoever they want, you want to do a ton of research and dress in a historically accurate manner...go ahead.  You want to dress like your favorite book character...sounds like fun.  You want to do your own special steampunk, fairy, Dr Who with a jedi sword and green man mask...well why not.  I have seen everything from jeans and t-shirts to the most elaborate and amazing costumes.  It is like walking through a library and seeing all kinds of stories playing out in front of you, pretty awesome.

2) You get to be part of a story.  Seriously, all of the various actors, performers, and shows are pro's at involving the audience.  Wether it be a quick chat with the King while you are walking around, participating in a magic show, or getting heckled by a singer (yep, here the performers heckle the audience as much as it is the other way around), you will always be able to be an integral part of the show.  All of the workers, shopkeepers and artisans also stay in some sort of character or another adding to the feel that you are walking around in a book.
3) Food on a stick and as much beer/ale/cider as one can drink...also turkey legs.
As you can probably tell, I love love love the Renn Fest as us pro's call it.  It does have the side effect of me wanting to quit work and read for the next month or two...but that is most of the time so...anyways I am stoked that the Renn Fest is here, that fall is just around the corner and that I get the opportunity to be a part of a cool, imaginative event and can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks.