ruh roh

Apparently, 
I can no longer be trusted to go to the store, 
alone. 
Hey, it's back to school season! They're everywhere! Aaaaand, they're on sale!! Aaaaaaand, there are so many different kinds! 
It's scary.
sigh

Gen Con

Do you know what Gen Con is? It's the biggest gaming convention in the U.S.
It's held in my hometown. 70,000 people in attendance over a 4 day period of time.
It's been held here for several years now. You always know when it's started because of all the crazy people walking around in costumes. 

This year, I decided to find out more about it. You know, like what the hell does Gen Con stand for?
Well, it all started in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. So they called it the Geneva Convention...Gen Con. 
And it's all about games. BOARD games!!! I had no idea that there were even board games that required a convention! All I know about board games are, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Uncle Wiggly, Risk, Sorry. It made me want to go to a Toy Store and look at board games! I guess this all stems from that game, Dungeons and Dragons? Beats me. Anyway, the convention center was cram packed full of people. Lots of them dressed like their favorite characters. And they're just so happy to stop and pose for you, if you want to take their picture;

Yeah, I know this isn't a costume, but really, have you ever seen a dragon made out of balloons? How cool is that?

The other thing that was interesting to me was the lack of diversity in the gaming world. I guess black people are too busy working to play games? 
Or there are just A LOT of white nerdy people sitting around in their parents basements, playing board games? I'm positive there's some kind of social commentary there...whatever.

. 
It was all very entertaining to a non-gamer, like myself. And I enjoyed learning a little bit about it. Hobbies are such a funny thing. 

My fella asked me just the other night if I would ever join a group. You know, like a quilling group. I said no, nope, nah uh! I'm really not a joiner. I don't want to have to interact with people or feel responsible for doing something with them. Ick. Is that weird? It made me think of Gen Con though. Tens of thousands of joiners!!!!! Wow!

Almost done!!

We're heading into the home stretch!! All we need to do is get a back splash and paint! Oh, and the trim work and little details. Oh, and I still have to paint the inside of the doors. But still!! We're almost done!!! Walking around in this new space last night, it really hit me. It's an entirely different place now. When I put these pictures together this morning, I was really surprised! It's SO AWESOME! 

Here are some before and after pictures;
(don't forget, you can click on them to make them larger)

My fella is still trying to let the blue island grow on him. He'll get there :-)
I might sand it a little so there's less color.

But check out this floor!!!!!

I wish I could submit his name, for some kind of award/reward for the truly spectacular job he's done!

Other July things....

My brother likes to go to garage sales. He bought a couple trunks for $5, to store things in, in his garage. Inside the trunks were a couple of Alpaca rugs! 

I got to bring one home with me! It's fantastic. Big and super soft and thick. I'm going to put it in the bedroom after the hardwood floors are in. Mmmmmm, nice on the bare feet for sure!

Here are a couple shots of Lake Elsinore - (well, only the end of the lake) where my brother lives;

And, completely unrelated to California...THESE ARE THE BEST PENS EVER! Ink Joy is an appropriate name for them too.

I bought them. Right along with another set of 70 colored gel pens. Something is wrong with me. Please, if you ever see me looking at gel pens, tackle me!!!! Who needs 500 gel pens??? I ask you??!!!

July

Yep.
I missed July.
A lot happened in July too!

My husband had another birthday. He hates that. Which makes me hate it too.

Also in July, my Mom and I went to California. My youngest niece graduated from the Sheriff's Academy. In a million years, I never would have said that she was tough enough to be a Sheriff. Man was I wrong! She is BAD ASS! And not just bad ass attitude but seriously, bad ass. I'm so proud of her. The ceremony was so special. Mayors, police Chiefs, lots of other Sheriffs, were in attendance. It was good stuff.

getting her badge

she's a Sheriff!!

Swearing in

best looking Sheriffs in the building!

and the cutest couple too!

 This is one proud dad!

And in case you ever wondered what that "thin blue line" means...

The thin blue line represents the police. Above it, is the public and below it, are the criminals. So all that stands between you and the bad guys, are the police. I didn't know that until last month. cool.

And of course there was was a celebration afterwards!

That's the niece I know and love!! :-)

My brother is one of the best people I know <3

Wine and whales

One day we went wine tasting. I didn't really have any expectations but it wasn't what I expected. I had no idea that wine tasting was so popular!!! Seriously, hundreds of people were there! I liked sitting outside best though.

The next day we went whale watching. On the way to Newport Beach, we drove along the coast. It was fun, just for the experience. But dang! There are way too many people at the beach! I guess it's been a long, long time since I've been to the beach. But honestly, even if I had millions of dollars to spend on a house at the beach, I wouldn't do it. I don't like people. And too many of them take away all the pleasure of something. We saw million dollar cars on the road and a yacht dealership! whaaaaaat?!? And then we saw this,

that really balances out all the opulence :-)

We stopped at a fun little retro diner, called Ruby's, for lunch.

Then came Newport. Again, I didn't have any expectations but I didn't think it was going to be SO AWESOME! We saw whales! Up close! In the ocean! WOW! It was the best thing ever!!! There was a National Geographic photographer on the boat with us. When we were headed back to the harbor, he had his laptop set up in the galley so we could go in and see the photo's he'd taken. It was pretty cool.

there's our boat...

 Another beautiful day comes to an end.

dumb = funny

It's true, the dumber a joke is, the funnier it is. Like, what do you call a camel without any humps?

Humphrey. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

On our trip to California, you get a little bag of nuts and a little bag of cookies along with your little drink. And I do mean little. Remember when you used to get the whole can, if you wanted a soda?? Ha! Anyway, here are cookies...plane cookies...plain cookies. Get it? Pretty funny!!

they were even shaped like little planes

This trip was different too, because we flew into an airport we've never used before. Usually, we fly into Ontario. A couple years ago, we flew into San Diego. This time, we flew into Santa Ana. It was pretty cool. On our way home, the TSA line looked like this;

It's a super small airport but laid out so efficiently. I would definitely fly into Santa Ana again!