July 30, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

Comic Con 2014 Part II

Yesterday’s post covered a lot of the costumes, but there is still more to tell about Comic Con.

There was a cool display at The Lego Booth, as usual.

There was tons of elaborate Walking Dead stuff. They had a huge set-up that looked like Terminus.

And a small set of lego-like Walking Dead creations.

I bought some jewelry.

And my daughter purchased that dress from the video game Portal (she is required to wear a tank top underneath).

My favorite part of Comic Con is definitely, without a doubt, the free books. All of the big fantasy/science fiction publishers are there and they give away so many books for free. It is amazing. There were even more in a separate bag that we missed photographing.

My husband surprised me with a really cool piece of art from Rhode Montijo. It is a little hanging tree sculpture with our initials on it.

There were amazing displays.

I caught a glimpse of Sean Astin, but did not meet him again like last year. Closure and all of that.

More costumes by cool people. I love how happy that older dude is in his Ghostbuster costume. It made me smile:

This fox costume was started by its wearer way back in October. The back of her ear is covered in flowers. It was really cool.

Her friend spoke for her when I asked her questions.

I could not help but quip to them, “So, the fox says nothing?”

Crickets.

This woman found this man sitting and conducted an interview with him. I believe it was about what he thought could change on their ship. It was a very long interview. They both were excited about it.

I love that like-minded people can find other like-minded people at Comic Con and relate on a level that they would not generally get to in our close-minded society.

I got to try the new Monster Hunter game coming out next year. I cannot wait! By the way, this photo is edited. My giant pimple needed to be toned down. If only I could do that in real life.

My son loved the Minecraft display.

If you went to Comic Con, would you dress up? What would you go to see? To do?

By the way, I think this picture says more than anything I could compose in words about Comic Con.

And, yes, that is totally the face I would make if I saw a shark flying through the air.

I’m a Monster Hunter, remember? Sharks are nothin’.

July 16, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

When Pigs Fly Cry

The last time we went to the fair was when my daughter was eight and the moment we got there was the first and only time a child of ours has slammed their finger in the car door. She swears that this is why her thumb on her right hand is slightly larger than the other. I say it is the best souvenir ever. She doesn’t quite agree. Well, we went to the fair again this summer. I told her maybe she could get a souvenir for her other hand this time and then they would be even. The kid was not amused. I’m not sure why. I am very helpful.

When we got there, they had Monster Trucks that were tearing around the dirt arena one at a time. We made it through watching one truck. They are loud. And, well, how many times can you watch a truck go over a dirt hill?

That is a serious question.

My limit is seven. For life.

Have you ever heard a pig cry? I mean really heard a pig scream? Because we had not before the trip to the fair this summer. It is the most horrifying sound we had ever heard. The pig was ginormous. In fact, in searching for this picture on my camera, I had to do a double take. In my memory, the pig had been coal black with raised tufts of fur and gleaming red eyes. I was shocked to see a plain pink pig instead. Funny how the ~~crazy~~ mind works.

The pig was bellowing in a way that only monsters in my dreams do. Or kids slamming their fingers in car doors, but we won’t go there.

And then after terrifying everyone in its vicinity, the pig let out a torrential flow of urine that I thought was never, ever going to stop.

It was madness.

None of us will ever be the same.

The fair. It changes a person.

So, we decided to go eat some food. As one does after watching an animal relieve itself. Doesn’t that always make you hungry? In fact, I am sure you are thrilled just to be reading this right now.

We ate.

And we ate.

And then we could not eat any more. The best thing we had were the Tasty Chips. They were, well… I think you can guess.

We had fifty ride tokens to use from our Costco package. None of us wanted to do any rides. But we persevered. The kids went into The House of Mirrors. I stayed outside. I still find it terrifying. I am not the most space oriented person, and as a child I got helplessly lost in The House Of Mirrors. Then I watched “Watcher In The Woods” and I never went in the contraption again.

But sending my innocent children into The House of Mirrors?

Priceless.

They made it out in less than three minutes. They obviously take after their father.

And we played some games and lost $30. Or rather, we paid $30 for a small stuffed zebra that I do not think has migrated himself from the jungle of my car. Poor guy.

We rode on the carousel two times and my son went down the giant slide twice. He loved it. Times sure have changed since I was a kid. We used to fly down on burlap sacks. Now the kids have these fabric bags with straps. So fancy. It still looks frightening to me.

The kids had their sculptures made. That post can be found here.

We found a gnome hidden in the bonsai trees. So, he, of course, must be included in this post. He did not cry. Nor did he create any bodily fluids, but I still like him the best.

I had to take an outfit picture with my pink $10 H&M dress against the pink ride.

It was a pink day.

Pink ride.

Pink dress.

Pink pig.

Later that day I saw a pink elephant and I was tickled…

Have you been to a fair this summer? What memories and souvenirs do you bring home? Some folks go home with large stuffed animals. Some folks go home with full bellies. As for us, we go home with longer appendages and nightmares of screaming pigs.

I think we must be doing it wrong.

July 3, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

It’s The Little Things: Head Sculptures

My family and I went to the San Diego Del Mar Fair on Monday and we had a wonderful time. I will have a post coming up soon about the day and the $10 H&M dress that I wore. But while the fair is still going on, I wanted to highlight an amazing find that we discovered while we were there.

They are these wonderful portrait sculptures by Hu Tian. He can be contacted at Hootian at yahoo dot com. I know he can do sculptures based on photos, too, if you are not in Southern California. He is incredibly talented. We are fortunate to have stumbled upon his booth. If you are there this year, it is in the shopping building across from the carousel. I cannot believe what he can create in such a small amount of time.

Each one took about twenty five minutes to make. It was relaxing to sit and watch them coming to life, so to speak, through the clay.

I plan on hanging my sculptures in my living room, surrounding the square arch. They are still drying. It takes four days to cure from the time the clay was created before I can hang them.

The price for these was $52 each, including frame. It was a fantastic price for a really cool piece of a period of time captured forever.

Had you seen something like this before? I had not and it was my favorite thing to discover at the fair.

*this is off topic but I wanted to note it: If you plan on attending the San Diego Fair this year, Costco has the best package. It was $60 and came with parking, four entry tickets, 50 ride tickets, the Passport To Savings book and four free drink vouchers. It was a great deal! We purchased ours at the San Diego Costco on the way to the fair. Maybe a Costco near you also has fair packages for your local fair, if you are not near San Diego.

I shared this on Cozy Little House.

And Savvy Southern Style.

April 16, 2014 by gn0mel0ver

A Day Of Falconry

Did you know that you can now take a falconry class (it used to not be available to the general public)?

Well, you can.

And I did.

In November, I found a coupon that was half price for a falconry class. I was intrigued. So, I purchased a spot in the class for each person in my family.

I knew I wanted to do it over spring break. The excursion is run by West Coast Sky Falconry out of Alpine, California (near San Diego). We got to do this amazing event two weeks ago.

When we arrived at the falconry class, they had three birds on low perches. The class of ten people was taught by the nicest falconers, Kirk and Denise.

They started the hour long class by teaching us some cool facts about hawks. We were going to be working with a Harris Hawk. I thought we would be working with a falcon, but it turns out the term falconry can be applied to any raptor. The Harris Hawk is ideal for falconry training, because it lives in a group. This is very rare for a raptor bird. Because of this, the Harris Hawk is used to anticipating the body language of others. The one we were privileged to meet that day was named, “Steam.” He looked huge, but weighed only two pounds.

We also learned that hawks tend to fly only fifteen to twenty minutes a day, so if you see one circling the sky, it is a rare moment. Now that I know this, it feels more special to me when I see the beautiful creatures in the sky.

We took turns having Steam fly onto all of our gloves. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. My son was terrified and asked if he had to do it. To which I replied, “yep.” Because that is the kind of mom I am. And because I knew if he always let fear win, he would never know the joy of success.

He loved it.

I mean, he loved it.

We all did.

If you have any classes like this near you, I highly recommend it. The class that we did was for ages seven and up. My friend did this with her family on another day, too. They all could not believe how amazing the experience was.

If you chose to, you could do tricks with the hawk. That was a bit more than my heart could take. But my husband threw food into the air for the hawk. And both of my children had the hawk walk quickly up to their foot and take food off of it.

At the end, we were able to pose over the beautiful valley and take pictures of Steam, the hawk, on our arm.

It was such a joyous moment. It was made even better by Kirk and Denise, who answered every question we had for them with passion and love for their birds.

During the summer, they also offer courses at the Torrey Pines location. I imagine that would make for gorgeous pictures.

I would love to do this again. It was educational. It was exhilarating. It was interesting.

I cannot say enough good things about it. What a fun way to spend quality time with a loved one that does not involve sitting or crowds.

Have you ever done this? Had you heard of it before? Aren’t those hawks beautiful?

I am enamored.

With a bird.

Just don’t tell my husband.

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

diego

Comic Con 2014 Part II

When Pigs Fly Cry

It’s The Little Things: Head Sculptures

A Day Of Falconry