Welcome, blog readers, to the Camlann Village Experience. What is Camlann Village, you ask? Well, only the quickest way to be transported back to 1376, to rural life in England. WHY would you want to experience rural life of the fourteenth century? Um, fun, obviously.

Last month my friends and I donned our warmest Renaissance gear (mind you, we go to Renaissance Faires usually in the general sweltering range of ninety to on hundred degrees, so this was no easy task) and piled in the car to head out to Carnation, WA, to the medieval living history museum known as Camlann. It’s a 501 non-profit educational corporation and it’s also the coolest place you’ll ever go. It’s also delightfully weird.

Let me preface this review by saying there is no technology of any kind allowed inside Camlann Village. This place takes itself TOTALLY SERIOUS with a capital “Thee”. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the owner felt a little twinge when patrons come in wearing glasses. That picture at the top of this post is so strange because we were literally asked to go outside to take it. In the rain. At night.

So, Camlann Village is open for various over the course of the year and their restaurant, the Bors Hede is open year round. We, however, were attending one of their choice Medieval Feasts, an event I recommend to all. This particular feast was of the Yuletide persuasion; myself and Ariana had been before but none of our friends had. Forty people sit around a large circular table set up in the basement of the restaurant to enjoy a three course meal served on trenchers – round slabs of bread used in the stead of a plate. If you eat your trencher, you’re out of luck for the remaining three courses of the meal. Also, there’s not really any silverware. I truly wish I could have taken a picture of this for you, but you’ll have to use your imagination here. Just like we’re back in the 1300’s! There was no way I was risking taking my phone out down there. I don’t for one second doubt they had some sort of medieval torture room for technological transgressions.

I would say about half the people in attendance dressed up. For the rest, there was either a costume rental area or the knowledge of sticking out like a sore thumb. No, I’m joking – it’s totally fine to not dress up, but it really does complete the experience.

The food was awesome and perfectly period appropriate. The queen of course got to taste everything first, and then dishes were passed around to her right and left after she deemed them worthy of our meal. We alternated between sawing into a whole boar, sampling strange almond puddings, and sneaking seconds of the delicious fenberry pie. My personal favorite was the almond fritters. There was spiced wine poured between each course and I found it delightfully strange as well that whole spices were given out to cleanse the palette near the end of the meal.

Of course no banquet feast is complete without a show, and the mid-course entertainment was surprisingly good. We had minstrels and storytellers and strange instruments I had never heard of before. Most of the entertainers and drink pour-ers didn’t take it quite as seriously as the guy who runs the place – but in a good way, in a “we’re all experiencing this strange thing together” kind of way. I got a few winks. Right after noticing my cup was filled to the very top. Score!

In conclusion, going to Camlann Village is one of my favorite things to do with a group of friends around the holidays. I can’t speak for everyone, but I love putting myself in vaguely strange and unusual situations, and the Yuletide Feast doesn’t disappoint. You will feel uncomfortable, you will eat things that look strange, but overall you will have an amazing night you’ll never forget. And at the end of it all, I promise, you really wont miss your phone all that much. Because strange as it is, it’s nice to just experience things every once in awhile. Don’t get me wrong: I love me some phone pics to commemorate everything I do, but I’ll have the memories of Camlann forever either way.

Hello, lovely blog readers! This is my first post of the new year, and cheesy or no, I thought it relevant to do a bit of reflection.

2013 was an interesting year. It feels like I didn’t actually accomplish very much, but that’s mostly because I spent a LARGE majority of the year working on a project that still isn’t finished. Last year was the year of Job Hunters, and Season 2 is set to premiere in the next couple of months… so the accomplishments of my team will feel like a real tangible thing, you know, soon. Very soon. But! last year we managed to raise over $50,000 to make the second season of our show a reality, and that’s nothing to scoff about. I am so excited that we’re getting this close to the release of it, and I am even more pumped to imagine the looks on your faces when you get to see what we’ve created. I’m extremely proud of this project, and I really hope everyone loves it.

I also made a GAME in 2013! Jetpack Unicorn was an experiment in so many ways: in designing a game, in writing, in working with a company to realize a vision… Sometimes I totally forget it exists, because it felt so overshadowed by Job Hunters. But my game is currently available in local game shops all over the place and on Amazon! I think the whole experience is actually tied for largest accomplishment with kickstarting and filming my web series. Even if the only things I did last year were 1. make a game and 2. film a web series, I would still be ridiculously proud of myself. I threw every ounce of my creativity into these projects and for that, I had a very creatively fulfilling year.

But that’s not all I did last year! I also started this blog as another outlet for my writing and my thoughts, continued to cultivate and build the Team Hypercube community that’s come to be such an integral part of my life, and threw a badass Halloween party (the largest one I’ve ever “directed”). I helped raise over $2,000 for Extra Life with our 24 live stream, helped the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck raise over $800,000 dollars with the Project 4 Awesome, and started my second rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, which I feel is extremely noteworthy and important to add to this list.

Each year I wonder how I will possibly top the one before it, and 2013 certainly set the bar high. I have a lot of plans and ideas for 2014, among them being learning to sew so I can start cosplaying, turning the new Answerly Book Club into a seriously awesome place for book nerds to hang out, and… well… you should just keep an eye on Team Hypercube. That’s all I have to say for now.

I hope the rest of you are standing at the edge of this new year with as much hope and energy as I feel right now! I know there’s a camp of people out there who think resolutions are stupid, but I don’t see any harm in starting the new year with a few goals. I would love to hear yours in the comments.

Thanks for sticking with me, guys. I’ll be updating much more regularly in the new year. xoxo

 

I love gettin’ all decked out for Christmas, and this year was so exception. I’ve got green tights from Target, red boors, a black lace skirt and my favorite basic grey sweater. The reindeer earrings were a new addition (love the front and back for each side) as well as the giant candy cane bow. I loved it. I picked both up at Claire’s. The Christmas light necklace is a holiday staple for me… I wear it every single year and bought it at a craft fair when I was young.

The holiday season has been anything but relaxing, but it’s been a lot of fun regardless. First we started off the week with a Christmas game night, which ended in a way no one could have imagined. I had a handful of friends over (most of which are mega Harry Potter nerds) and for old time’s sake, we decided to play Harry Potter trivia. Somehow, the two least knowledgable in Harry Potter managed to abuse the card-stealing mechanic of the game to take home the win. It was a rough night for most other parties involved.

 

My friends and I celebrate Christmas a few days early with each other, before we all go home for our family Christmasses. I really enjoy having my own tree and a night of present exchanging with my friends. We really are like a little alternative family and I love them all so, so much. Especially when we do dorky things like taking a “Battle Camp Christmas Picture” together:

 

Then my family got together for a Christmas football game. I don’t normally go to football games (as I’m sure you can tell, sports aren’t really my thing) but my dad has had season tickets for years and really wanted my brother and I to experience the craziness that is a Seahawks game as of late. So I donned what minimal sports gear I owned and headed down to the stadium.

It was, of course, the WORST game of the season and the only home game our team has lost in years, but you can’t deny the environment of a sold out football game is a sight to see.

 

Then it was nearly time for real Christmas. I made the short journey to my parents’ house and was happy to see our tree all set up just like I remembered it. Our extended family lives all over the place so we don’t usually get to see them for Christmas, which has made for a lot of quiet Christmasses over the years. I don’t really mind it that way. It’s nice to have a couple of days to just spend at home with my parents and my brother.

 

I got a lot of lovely presents and gave even more away, and now that it’s all over I’m just gearing up for my birthday. 26 will be the first depressing birthday I have (goodbye dad’s healthcare!) so I am making up for it by having a Frozen themed birthday party, just like I’m a kid again. Hopefully it helps, somehow. Also it’s impossible to get any work done at my parent’s house while they’re home, so I’m going to end this blog post here and leave you with this picture I found of my very first ugly sweater.

Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope everyone has fun plans for New Year’s!

Hey everyone! I have really been meaning to write up my second bucket list post (which highlights my recent trip to the Winchester Mystery House)… but I’ve been both sick and distracted with the Project 4 Awesome, so it hasn’t happened yet. I have posted a lot of videos recently, however, so I thought I would tide us all over with a round-up post of all of those in the meantime.

First up is my Farewell video to my Fiesta, Rainbow Dash. I had a good run with the Fiesta Movement, but it’s back to reality now. This video was my way of saying goodbye:

 

We also started playing Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know (the new Adventure Time game) over on Team Hypercube. We’re only three episodes in, so it’s a good time to jump in on this new series. Not only will we be bringing on special guests to play with us, but it’s the first game we’ve started using picture-in-picture for… meaning you can see a video of us in the corner while we play! It’s a lot of fun so far and I guarantee it’s only going to get better:

 

We’re also getting dangerously close to WEEK 100 on Dokapon Kingdom, so you might want to catch up so you don’t miss it! Check out Team Hypercube and subscribe, because more things are going to be happening there in the new year. You’ll want to keep an eye on it.

Coming soon on this blog will be my bucket list post, reviews of the two most recent ipsy bags, and a lot of fun outfit of the day posts for the holiday plans I have on the horizon. Thanks for sticking with me and I’ll be back again soon. In the mean time, let me know in the comments who your favorite Adventure Time character is and which one you’d want to play in the new WiiU game!

It’s that time of year again, folks… the PROJECT 4 AWESOME! As a dedicated nerdfighter, this is one of my favorite projects of the year and I am so stoked for everyone to see the video I made for it. I feature a different charity each year and this year I chose to finally talk about a personal favorite… National Novel Writing Month.

I’m gonna be hanging out in the live stream for most of the next 48 hours, and I should also be hosting it later on tonight or tomorrow when John and Hank need a break (or to like, sleep/eat). If you’ve never heard of P4A or never participated yourself, please go check out the Project 4 Awesome website, donate at the indiegogo page (there are so AWESOME perks, including a handful of UNCUT SHEETS of Jetpack Unicorn that will be going up soon!) and watch/like/comment on as many videos with this year’s thumbnail as you can.

We can get so caught up in the holidays and shopping and gifts that it’s nice to have this annual reminder that we can use YouTube as a force for good, bringing real humans together to donate money to things that really matter to us as a group. I am so proud to have been doing this for seven years and I can just tell this will be a P4A to remember.

Did you make a P4A video this year? What charity did you choose and which are you voting for on the site?

I have been truly terrible at keeping up with my blog this month! I was doing so well for awhile there, and then NaNoWriMo just crashed its way in and wrecked my whole flow – and then, well,  December just sort of speaks for itself in terms of getting off schedule. The holidays are in FULL SWING, and the road trip I was on since Monday didn’t help at all.

But that’s not to say the trip wasn’t totally amazing. I will walk you through a few of the highlights, right now.

Joe and I hit the road early Monday morning but it wasn’t until about midday that we hit snow for the first time. I was a bit worried about getting my Fiesta through the snowy mountainy part of the drive, but it was never really an issue.

 

I am a rather seasoned road-trip connoisseur, so I filled Joe in on the art of finding good places to eat when you have no idea where you are. All you have to do is look for diner names on the “Food at this Exit” signs, bearing a couple of rules in mind. First of all, you never pick a place you already know. You’re out exploring the open road! Subway can wait! No, when you’re on a road trip, you should always find new places to discover. The best way to pick them (when in reality you have absolutely nothing to go on) is to make sure they match one of two criteria. Rule #1 is to find a restaurant with an actual person’s name (like Rudy’s, or a Glenn’s, or Tracy’s). If the name sounds friendly, the food will probably be delicious. The friendlier, the more delicious. It’s direct variation, folks. Second is to pick a sign that’s written in cursive (or some other cute font). The cuter the font, the more adorable (and subsequently, delicious) the restaurant will be. For example, here’s one of the places we ended up eating at by following this standard set of rules:

 

Cutest font! And it was delicious! And they had amazing blackberry cobbler!

 

On the first day of our trip, we made it all the way from Seattle to Redding, California. It was a pretty intense day of driving, but it was made much easier by the beautiful sights as well as the massive amounts of Nightvale Radio we listened to. Joe and I learned you should probably only listen to 3-4 episodes of Nightvale Radio in one sitting. We learned this by listening to at least 12.

The next day we were back on the road where we made a stop-off outside of Sacremento to visit the offices of Wyrd, the makers of Jetpack Unicorn. Which is now available on Amazon, by the way. Our next stop was San Jose, but that may need to wait for its own blog post. I may or may not have accomplished a bucket list item there.

Thanks for sticking with me while I’ve been so crazy busy! There will be many more updates on this blog in the coming days, and in the mean time, please go catch up on my YouTube channel and gaming channel! We just started playing the Adventure Time game and it’s a lot of fun, so don’t miss it.

How’s your December going? Tell me one fun thing you’ve done this month in the comments, and I’ll be back with another post tomorrow.

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but the Hypercube house mascot has, over the last year or so, become the world’s grumpiest cardboard cutout of Gale (from the Hunger Games). We dress him up for parties, hide him in each other’s bedrooms, and you can always rest assured that if you’re trying to relax in the living room, he will be silently creeping on you from the corner.

Christmas Gale, however, really took it to the next level:

 

Most people say “it’s not really Christmas until you put up the tree” or “until it snows” or “when my Starbucks comes in a red cup!” But for those of us who live here at Hypercube, it’s now officially Christmas because Gale will spend the remainder of the month silently judging us for having fun. Also, he hates his new hat.

 

We got this great new tree from my parents this year and we had a ton of fun last night setting it up and hanging all our sentimental ornaments in the perfect order. Pictured above are just a few of the best: Rapunzel, and the ones us girls bought at the Nutcracker last winter. I also have a Pinkie Pie, a big sparkly pink unicorn and a glitter coated pickle [not pictured].

I know it’s totally cliched and people are probably already sick of hearing about it, but the holidays just make me feel so happy. There are so many fun plans in the next few weeks, and I love giving presents to people, and decorating for holidays is just the best.

I really can’t wait to watch Christmas movies snuggled on the couch in my footy pajamas. Especially now that Eia and I have the perfect hot cocoa mugs!

What are you favorite Christmas ornaments? You know, the really special ones you most look forward to hanging on the tree each year? Let me know in the comments!

Well!

It has been quite the month. I apologize for taking so much time off of this blog – I really, truly enjoy updating it nearly every day, but that last stretch of NaNoWriMo just made it really difficult to do anything else, not to mention another writing intensive project. But! I made it through victorious, yet again. 

I’ve been working diligently on on editing my “film myself every day of November to show the craziness unfold” video project, and it should be going up on my YouTube channel tomorrow. If you’ve ever wanted to see a first hand account of what true insanity looks like, you’ll probably enjoy this video.

In other news, I am SO EXCITED about Christmas stuff. My roommates and I are decorating our tree tomorrow night, and then I have my first holiday party on Thursday (with many more to come). There will definitely be ample blog posts about everything I have coming up in the following weeks. It’s been all sweaters and pine scented candles at my house lately, and we’re just getting started.

I’ve just been in such a good mood lately. Not only was Frozen amazing (Eia and I cannot stop dancing around the house to the soundtrack) but I finished my eighth NaNoWriMo novel and we’re entering the month of parties, parties, and more parties. Also I turn 26 this month. But we’ll get to that later when I have decided whether I’m excited or depressed.

Please, give me updates on your NaNo experience this month, if you took part in the marathon. Or tell me what you’re most looking forward to for the holiday season. Or what you want for Christmas! I’m having a hell of a time figuring out what I want this year.

Here’s hoping it snows soon. I love the first snow.

I know I said I was going to take a little break from blogging this week for the holidays, but I wanted to compile a short list of the videos I’ve posted recently. YouTube makes it tougher and tougher to find the videos you want to watch, so I think it’s helpful to have a different avenue to look for them. Every video I post will also be mentioned here, on this blog, so please bookmark this page!

First up is my Thanksgiving video. This was my Fiesta Mission for the month, as well as a party I look forward to every year. My friends are so wonderful and I’m so grateful to be able to share these holidays with them. We talk about our favorite Thanksgiving foods, make hand-turkeys and take you right to the head of the table for our feast!

 

Next is the “Would You Rather” video I made down in San Francisco with fellow YouTuber Karen Kavett and my writing buddy/housemate Liz Leo. This is a fun one for those of you doing NaNoWriMo or anyone who’s ever tried their hand at writing, because Karen’s silly noveling scenarios were a hoot.

Lastly, I wanted to point all you Buffy fans in the direction of the new series over on Team Hypercube. Justin and I started playing Chaos Bleeds, a terribly Buffy the Vampire Slayer game we started playing with little-to-no idea what to expect. Needless to say, it had us rolling on the ground laughing.

 

If you’ve never watched one of our Let’s Play videos, this is a good place to start. Even if you think you’re not very into video games, that’s probably only because you haven’t seen me repeatedly throw a temper tantrum and kick at a locked door that claims that there’s “another way in” for nearly twenty minutes. Trust me. These videos are fun.

Hope you have a lovely holiday weekend and that your family get-togethers aren’t too crazy. If so, there’s always the internet. 😉

For 7 years now, I have dedicated my Novembers to pounding out novel after novel, fighting against the odds to prove that I CAN do anything I set my mind to. And for nearly as long, other Wrimos across the country have gathered in San Francisco for one night of that month to experience this challenge together, with food, drink, and merriment.

When I started NaNoWriMo, I was in college. So not only was I writing an obscene amount of words in a month, I was doing it amidst homework! Amidst tests and class periods and my part time job! And each year I thought, “Maybe I’ll make it down to San Francisco this year,” but each year threw new obstacles in my way, and traveling for the sake of writing never fit into my crazy schedule.

But on this, my eighth year of reckless novel abandon, my friend and writing cohort Liz and I decided THIS. This was our year.

I have many blog posts already about the road trip, so for this, let’s focus on the event itself. This is also my very first bucket list post! If you want to see the other things on my (still growing) bucket list, you can check that out here.

Anyway, Liz and I got dressed up (the theme was Noir) and arrived at the ballroom via Lyft. Let me just tell you, this ballroom was gorgeous. It was located in the Merchant Exchange building right in the middle of the city, and the view was fabulous. There were tables everywhere, a little podium up front for speakers, and raffle prizes along the wall.

The open bar had fun novelty drinks such as the Noveltini, Cosmonovelton and GimLit. The Noveltini was my favorite. There was also a candy bar, where writers could refill a little white bag with enough sugar as they would need to get them through the write-a-thon. Dinner was fabulous and consisted of too many delicious things for me to even remember, and of course, throughout the night, they also served us donut holes and had a late night milk & cookie bar. The food was by far one of the best parts of the evening.

As far as activities went, sometimes it felt like there was almost too much to do! There was food to eat (as I mentioned), writers to mingle with, staff to meet, booze to drink, and a professional “author portrait” studio set up in back. Anyone attending the gala could get their photo snapped for use on our NaNo author pages, potential book jackets someday, who knows! That was a lot of fun. There were also timed writing sprints over the course of the night, as well as table wars, which encouraged the different tables of writers to get as many words written as they could so as not to let down your other table mates. It was a good motivator.

Let me talk about the tables for a second. It was a beautiful sight. The people running this event clearly know what they’re doing, as every single table in that ballroom had a powerstrip beneath it for attendees to plug their laptops into. Just try and imagine a gorgeous banquet room filled with people dressed to the nines with their laptops in a circle around their fancy tables. It was a sight to behold; especially when laptops were favored over other items and no one knew where to put their plates, wine glasses or candy bags. It was a juggling act, but made for great conversation. And, as far as I know, nothing was spilled on anyone’s computer.

After the food, another big highlight for me was getting to finally meet the people behind NaNoWriMo. This event has literally helped shape the last eight years of my life, and so much of that time was spent alone in my room, fingers poised above a laptop. Getting to not only meet and hug the people who created this crazy project, but to be in a room of 250 others who so completely understand what this project means to me was overwhelming. I might have gotten a little emotional.

I first met Shelby Gibbs and Tim Kim back at LeakyCon this summer, and they are the ones who convinced Liz and I to make the trip to San Francisco for the event. It was so lovely to see them again, and to get to meet Chris Angotti, the Director of Programs, Grant Faulkner, the Executive Director, Tavia Stewart-Streit, the Deputy Director, and so many others! And everyone knew who I was! Writing that NaNoWriMo song was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me they listen to it every year to get pumped to start writing. That meant more than anyone could ever imagine.

I also got to announce the second table war, as well as saying who won when it was over. I had a blast, especially because it meant I got the microphone for a small amount of time. Of course I used that opportunity to ask for a show of hands for who pronounces it my way, “na-no-wree-mo”. I lost, overwhelmingly, but hey! There were at least twenty or so people who raised their hands!

Getting to attend this event was something Liz and I have only ever dreamed of doing. We both managed to write about 2,500 words over the course the evening, made friends with our tablemates, stuffed ourselves with food and drink and went home exhausted but so, so happy. The crazy long road trip we took to get there was completely worth it. I am extremely happy with my very first bucket list item, and if everything on that list is as fun as this first one, then I highly look forward to starting to cross them off over the rest of my life.

There’s still 8 days left of NaNoWriMo! Who’s still in? How much would you like to be able to attend an event like this, dedicated solely to writing and to raising money to help empower others to write books? It was a dream come true, for me. Thanks for reading, and hopefully my next bucket list item won’t be too far off.