Comic Con 2016

Something that has taken me years to understand and fully appreciate is that I am a nerd! 

I think I was always secretly one, but then I married Garett and this whole new side of crazy came out.

I now play PC games like League of Legends and Borderlands 2 with Garett.

I follow League's World tournament like other people follow football.

We also love Nintendo and their family oriented fun.

We watch normal shows, but also anime which can be pretty cool.

I am part of 2 Facebook groups: Gaming Mommies and Legit Lady Gamers and that is the best thing about Facebook anymore.

Garett and I have played D&D with friends and I had an incredibly awesome Dragon disciple bard.(yeah you had never even imagined that combo before had you?)

I read fantasy and I read 26 of the 28 Shannara books by Terry Brooks this summer in the course of 5 months. (I can't believe I did that either!)

So yes I am a big hearted geek nerd and I love it!

This all culminated to bring about us going to Salt Lake Comic Con this year!

To be fair Mark Hamill and William Shatner were speaking and how on earth could I live with myself if I didn't go to that????

(If you don't know who they are, just letting you know, you are breaking my heart.)

Over 10,000 people showed up to hear Mark Hamill speak and let me tell you it was worth it!

He was hilarious, fun and humble oddly enough. You would think playing one of the most famous roles in film, that it would get to his head, but no he's an older guy who just happens to be famous.

He even brought his dog on stage and talked to a crowded room like we were all just sitting in his home talking over lunch. He is truly a remarkable man (no pun intended).

Shatner on the other hand is a straight up comedian who does not take himself seriously at all.

He's had his career and seems content to just laugh off the rest of his life. 

Now onto the good stuff....the actual Comic Con!

It was amazing. It's like Disneyland for nerdy adults!

People dress up and it's really cool! The more people get into it the cooler it is! We got a few pictures of people, but most of them are on here. 

We took UTA down to Comic Con and it was fun to see all the cosplayers on the train. 

Also a shout out to Taryn for recommending the multiday pass, because you cannot see it all in one go.

There were hundreds of booths with an artists section, and then tons of vendors for authors and people selling cool stuff like this shirt:

We took the picture and posted it on instagram and then showed it to the vendor to get a free Midna poster (not pictured on here).

Gosh we just wanted to buy everything!

The few treasures we did find though:

A shardblade necklace from the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

(This series will be going on for at least another 14+ years so if you want a finished series I recommend waiting another decade or 2.)

If you can name all 3 of these shows/movies (below) then you are a true anime nerd.

For everyone else from left to right:

Princess Mononoke by Miyazaki (an environmentally friendly movie, not as cutesy as his other movies)

Beyond the Boundary (a cool short show about girl with a blood sword hunting creatures, mostly humorous)

Erased (NOT HUMOROUS, about a guy that goes back in time to when he is 11 to try to stop a serial killer, still ongoing)

P.S. These were my favorite artists! This guy does the mock ups and then his girlfriend does the digital renderings and they were all beautiful. It was difficult to narrow it down to 3.

We also got these (below) for Joshua's room and I am in love!

This guy prints his pictures on the same paper he does his originals so they keep all their colorful glory!

They are watercolors of Miyazaki movies and some of my favorites.

Left to right:

Kiki's Delivery Service

My Neighbor Totoro

Howl's Moving Castle

Not pictured:

2 post-apocalyptic books by this cool new author J Kowallis called the Enertia Trials. 

We walked around to lots of author's tables and most of them told us what they thought we wanted to hear, but she told us what she loved about the books and really just sold them to us through her telling.

We later found out she was the author and happily bought the books. They are a distopia but with actual adults (around 30's I think) because she was tired of teenage angst and I appreciated that. 

I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but I can't wait. Garett has liked them a lot and that's a big deal so I look forward to letting you know how it goes.

I put lots of links throughout this post so if you want to learn more about anything you can find it through the links or google it. 

We had a blast and would recommend Comic Con to anyone whether you be a closet nerd or a scream and shout it kind of nerd. 

Love y'all!

Megan

Year In Review of 2013 (Part 2)

Sorry it took me awhile but finally here is part 2 of our year in review. 

A panoramic view of our apartment.

We found a pretty good Chinese restaurant in Rexburg to Garett's great joy! 

That face kills me =]

We got snow...

I gained another niece, sweet Evelyn!

Our first Christmas tree!

Learned that I hate lighting glass.

And more snow...

Brandon Sanderson finally bought his rights back for his Alcatraz books so we snatched them up!

We now own every book he has ever published (not including the books he finished for Robert Jordan).

Got to meet him for a 2nd time!

An what would Rexburg be without MORE snow...

I found an inception chip. A chip in a chip in a chip.

We got to enjoy some Taco Bus! 

Let me tell you, food cooked on an old school bus turned into a restaurant never tasted so good!

It really is heavenly! If you ever find yourself in Rexburg you MUST try it!

Sorry, I had to post this one again because it just kills me!

After Christmas some of us got together to play our new favorite board game Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

Luckily Nikolai left the board game alone MOSTLY...

Just good times with my sweet husband.

Oh and could you guess? More snow!

Found a new favorite computer game, Terraria. It's addicting needless to say.

Just guess....

=]

=] =]

Garett fell asleep holding my leg and sadly no phone, books or any other distractions were in reach so I got to sit with my leg falling asleep for almost an hour.

Just being me.

Great uncle Jack and Evelyn.

And of course....

So that was 2013, sorry it wasn't insane but it was fun and relaxing. I doubt the years ahead will ever be this calm and easy ever again.

Have a great day!

Megan

Halloween #3

Okay we should all be celebrating right now! These pictures are from last night, so for once I am blogging within a reasonable amount of time! =D (applause applause)
In case you were wondering the title is meaning it is Garett and I's 3rd Halloween together.
It was the first holiday we ever celebrated together so I kind of love it.

Last year we were in California enjoying beautiful weather and sunshine for Halloween.
This year it was freezing cold and sleeting.

Doesn't seem right does it?

But it's okay because are other other halves Katy and Sam came over and carved pumpkins with us!

See? We do have friends, I just never remember to take pictures of them.

Below is my jack-o-lantern. His name is Sheldon. In person he looks so happy that he's going to cry.
I hope you can kind of tell from the picture.

Garett decided to go for an evil Voldemort-ish feeling jack-o-lantern. 

And Katy's was cutely evil.
Like a cute, evil, snowman-jack-o-lantern.

Glowing!

Mine literally was a lantern in and of itself. He GLOWS!

Katy's was too. =]

3 little Jack-o-lanterns all in a row!
(Anyone else remember that rhyme from elementary school?)

If you're wondering where Sam's jack-o-lantern went, I didn't get his pictured.
He did spiderman, but it was the kind the you don't carve out chunks, instead you graze the outside layer to make it thin enough to be transparent, but his had some trouble glowing brightly.
So maybe I'll try to get a picture of it later.
It was tons of fun, with lots of laughing, singing "Blue" By Eiffel 65 and burning and reburning candles.
In the end our apartment smelled heavily of vanilla, pumpkin and apple spice. 

Posting for Posting's Sake

I don't particularly have much to say. I PROBABLY could show you pictures but I am being lazy. Plus all the fun ones are on my phone. One of these days I will post them. Probably around Christmas time so don't hold your breathe.

Currently I am sitting in the I-Center on campus in between classes. I would have been done at noon but I have another class at 3 pm. =/ On the bright side I killed my Medieval art history test! Take that Late Christian/Early Byzantine Style! Not to mention studying Codex from different gospels. So I am happy.

Now I just have Studio Lighting left in which we will review our last assignment and then my teacher will monologue for the next 2 hours about nothing in particular. You see his wife is teaching our class for these next 3 weeks so we are doing her assignments. The assignment we are reviewing today is the last one from him for awhile, but I don't know what else he has to say since he's not giving the assignments for a few weeks. But regardless he will monologue the whole class period, despite it supposedly being "lab time" which should be optional....not that I am bitter or anything.

I really am in a good mood though, despite my lack of sleep from studying for my test. Mostly I was anxious for that test so now all is good. I am going to try to get my online homework done here in a few minutes though so I can pack tonight.

Tomorrow we are going to pick up the AMAZING Haley and then head down to Utah to keep my dad company and see my little brother! Extremely jealous of you mom! In case you were wondering she is in Michigan with my sister, her husband and Nikolai! REALLY REALLY jealous mom! But it is okay because we're going to see our most favorite author of all time Brandon Sanderson on Saturday! I hope I can play it cool though, because honestly I just want to flip out, but I don't want to come off as some insane fan girl. Though I really am...anyway definitely looking forward to that and some open road car time with Garett.

I feel bad, this week I've probably gotten to talk to Garett no more than 5 minutes at a time. It's been one of those weeks where I'm running constantly for about 14-16 hours a day non-stop. Let us hope next week is a little slower. Bless his soul, he has been extremely patient with me. I am the luckiest girl to have such an easy going, sweet husband. I am definitely the anxious, stressed out crazy one in our relationship. Garett's just crazy in good ways, though no one ever sees it but me. That man, he comes off so quiet and sweet. Don't be fooled, he's actually a very hyper child. I mean that in the sweetest sense possible. He's hilarious and makes me laugh all the time and it is wonderful. Honestly I need his goofiness all the time.

Anyway sorry for the off topic rant. He really is awesome. I hope all of you get to meet him one day. And for those who have met him, I hope one day you get to see his goofy side because it's hilarious and so much fun. For our friends who have seen his goofiness...you understand. =]

I guess I'll end this. Sorry it's so long, but if you have read this far, good job. I owe you a hug.
Keep laughing y'all.
It really is the best medicine!
-Megan B.

Julugust

So this is a mix of stuff I just forgot to post all together so I apologize.

Below is my first aluminum plate from lithography.
Remember all my complaining?
It was over this!
So was drawn with just a basic grease crayon, which later becomes an image from talc, gum arabic, acetone, lithotine and asphaltum. I won't bore you with the obnoxious details. Later we fill the image with ink thanks to the acetone and asphaltum which holds it in place. But before before having to let it sit over night twice.



And it produces this!

My 2nd project was this. It was done with grease crayon, xerox transfer and there was a wash but it didn't work out, probably for the better. A wash is toner, water and soap. A xerox transfer is a toner printed image and winter green to make it stick to the aluminum. 

And my last project was a 2 run project (each color is a different plate) used on photo plates, meaning you paint/draw on Mylar and then expose the painted image on the Mylar over the plate for a few minutes. 

Oh and Garett and I celebrated our one year anniversary with Jimmy Johns and a picnic! Though now we're more like 14 months. 

He's too cute!

During the 7 week break we went to the sand dunes with some of our good friends, the men went sand hill jumping and then we all played Betrayal at the House on the Hill. Best game ever even though we were freezing. 

And our dearest friends Katy and Sam got married!!!
We also got to see lots of Garett's old companions like Troy (his "son").

I also had the opportunity to shoot my sister's brother-in-law Tim's reception here in Rexburg.

I was kind of obsessed with the lanterns in case you were wondering.

Anyway that's all for now.
I'm sure I have more stuff documented on my phone which I will hopefully get around to in the near future!
Until then SMILE!

Meg B.