Hello all! As we dive into the heart of summer, I figure it’s time for a bit of an update on how I’m spending my time these days! Who is the enigma that used to be “Kristina Horner, Chief of the Unicorn Warriors”? The more time passes, the less I feel the need to project my life onto the Internet, so forgive me for extreme periods of quiet in between updates. If I’m being honest, the bulk of my time has been spent working at Mixer, writing a book and doing yardwork. But here are some recent standout experiences you might be interested in.

Cool experiences I’ve had:

As I’m sure is no secret, I love things like escape rooms and immersive theater. Most recently, I had the good fortune of getting to try out an experience called The Confidence Game put on by Cat & Canary. It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before, sort of a blend of an escape room and live immersive theater. Joe and I called up our friends Tara and Alexander — because when it comes to both experimental theater and breaking the law, they’re the first people we’d go to.

The Confidence Game puts you at the heart of the story. The experience happens in real bars, parks and hotels in the city, where you meet up with a hustler who enlists you to take part in a tricky diamond heist. From there you’re expected to negotiate, pickpocket and straight up lie your way through the story, interacting with talented actors who will make you remember why you aren’t a criminal in real life. That shit’s scary, man.

I’m gonna be honest, parts of this were terrifying for me. Not terrifying in the “I fear my life is in danger” way, but in the “my friends are really good at improv and I’m better with a paper and pen and time to think” kind of way. However, when we had to split up into the “thieves” and the “hustlers”, I of course was nominated for the negotiating team. I would probably have made a better pick-pocket in hindsight, but I like to challenge myself, so Alexander and I set out to negotiate “no less than $50,000” for the diamonds with an actor, while Tara and Joe got to do the sneaking around.

My favorite part of the night was when Alexander and I were intercepted by the Feds (another actor), who tried very hard to get us to sell out the guy who put us up to the job. I think my “acting” skills really shone here, when my only response was to keep asking Alexander where the cameras were, as I was “sure we were being punk’d on our anniversary night out”. We told the guy we were just two country folk in town to celebrate, and had no idea what he was talking about.

Overall we had an amazing time, got to live out some criminal fantasies and ultimately played through the experience in the manner that involved none of our party ending up being ‘arrested’. All things considered, a pretty successful night. While this experience was part of a soft launch for the company, they should be bringing it back a bit later in the year, so keep an eye out! Cat & Canary also create custom experiences for special events, so if you can convince your work team to do something like this, or want to plan an epic surprise party… keep them in mind!

Games I’ve been playing:

Well, obviously…. Wizards Unite. I’m a Professor, and loving the experience of playing in the wizarding world like it’s my real world. But despite all the cool new features, and the fact that a bunch of my friends are finally interested in playing an expansive AR app game, it just doesn’t compare to my one-true-love, Pokémon Go. I’m still deep in that game, because — obviously — I need to be the very best.

I also recently played Scythe for the first time, then played two more games shortly after. I really do like crunchy euro-style games, but sometimes I look at a table like this and I’m like… yeah. Maybe I’ll do something else today.

But I powered through the learning process with this one, and I’m so glad I did! So far I’ve played three different factions and had varying success with each of them, and have plans to start the campaign version soon.

Homeowner things I’ve learned:

Homeownership is an adventure, guys. It’s something new every day, I’m finding. Here are the things I’ve learned just since moving in in April. It’s hard work but I am having a blast and I can’t wait to keep learning forever.

• How to install drywall screw anchors, an electric drill, impact driver, hedge trimmers, a weed whacker, lawn mower and our new grill
• How to identify way more plants than I used to be able to, and also how to weed/trim/prune a lot of them (and which ones are weeds)
• How to grow tomatoes, mint, rosemary, strawberries, blueberries and cucumbers (sort of, there’s a lot of guesswork here but nothing has died yet)
• That there are all sorts of amazing products that make life easier like simple hose attachment switchers, table cloth clips, hose water timers, and all sorts of other magical things I have yet to buy at the hardware store (I love finding solutions to problems I didn’t even know I would have! People are brilliant!)

Projects I’ve been working on:

The biggest project is my book. I’m STILL working on my Renaissance Faire book, but I am really hoping this current draft is the last one. Fingers crossed, y’all. That said, I won’t have anything to share for a hot minute, but I hope I can start pitching it to agents…. sometime soon.

I’ve also kept this mostly under wraps for now, but I am working with my friend Liz Leo on podcast that we should be launching very soon. I believe we’re aiming for the start of August for a go-live date, so keep an eye out. Signing up for my mailing list or just following my social channels are the best way to keep up to date with any exciting news like new podcasts.

I’m also doing a wardrobe challenge right now on Instagram called #wearitalljuly, where you must wear through your entire wardrobe before you can do any repeats. This is part of an effort I am doing to minimize how many clothes I have, so wish me luck and follow along!

That’s it for me, folks! Feel free to send encouraging words about the writing process, or just say hello on Instagram and Twitter! Until next time… stay motivated, and stay cute.

This week’s 5 Fandom Friday is RIGHT up my alley, but as I sat down to write it, I realized how difficult it was going to be. FIVE games? Really? I have to narrow all my love of board games, app games, handheld games and video games down to FIVE? Honestly, I almost just skipped this week on account of it being too hard.

But then I saw some other 5 Fandom Friday posts containing games like Clue and Uno and I realized it was extremely important that I make my list. Learning when I did that there were literally hundreds of actual great games out there after growing up with Milton Bradley was extremely eye-opening, and I love any chance I get to help pass that knowledge on to others. I am writing this list so people can stop thinking games like Clue and Uno are the best this world has to offer. Not saying people shouldn’t ever play and enjoy those games… but there is so much more.

After agonizing over it for awhile, I’ve come up with the following list:

1. 7 Wonders: It was extremely difficult to pick favorite board games for this list, as my personal collection contains over 30 and the list of games I’ve played and love goes well beyond that. But I’ve settled on 7 Wonders as my first one, because it’s probably the game I own that I’ve played more than any other game. 7 Wonders is a drafting, resource-management game where you’re deciding what elements of your city’s economy you’re going to care about. Military? Sciences? Just straight Victory Points? This game got even more fun with the release of some of its new expansions (Cities, Leaders, etc) and it’s really hard to explain why this game is so great, it just is. It plays just as well with 3 players as it does with many, because everyone is taking their turns at the same time, which I really appreciate in a game.

2. Betrayal at House on the Hill: This is an oldie but a goodie; my friends and I love Betrayal at House on the Hill. It’s a standard “explore the haunted house” style board game, but the great thing about this one is that once the haunt starts, you then play out one of a list of about 50 various stories for the game. We’ve played this with it ending in vampires, a literal cat and mouse race, ghosts, crazy people living under the floors, etc. This game probably has the best replay-ability because of that fact and I rarely get bored of it.

3. Ladies and Gentlemen: I don’t actually own this game yet, but playing it at a friend’s house instantly got it on my mental top games list. Ladies and Gentlemen is amazing. You partner up as a “husband” and “wife” though it’s often fun to work in other gender pairs, or gender swap, etc. Basically, the men “go to work and make money”, and the women “go shopping and find the prettiest outfit to spend their husband’s money on”, and while that sounds antiquated and extremely anti-feminist, it’s just self-aware enough to make a parody of the whole situation. It’s hilarious, a lot of fun, and works well with large groups of people.

4. World of Warcraft: I couldn’t make a list of games I like to play without mentioning World of Warcraft. I was tempted to add one of the many app games I love, or any of the Nintendo games that have gotten me through my life, but World of Warcraft is sort of one of those old faithfuls. I got into it in 2010, and even though I sometimes get too busy and have to freeze my account for while… I always come back. I’m not sure what it is about it. The expansive world, the holiday events, knowing there’s more levels I could get my main character up after the last expansion… World of Warcraft has been a constant in my life for nearly 5 years and doesn’t judge me, even if it’s been over 6 months since I last logged in. Except that sometimes I have to re-do my talent tree and reassign all my spells in the action bar. Okay maybe it judges me a little. I wish I had more time to play games.

5. Pokémon: This was just a no-brainer for the final game on my list. I was a hardcore fan of Pokémon Red, collected the cards, had Pikachu paraphernalia in my room growing up – then started playing again in college with Fire Red because I loved the nostalgic feel of the game. It’s been downhill from there, as I loved Pokémon X, Pokémon White and am now slowing working my way through Omega Ruby. I love playing these games as much as I did when I was 11. It’s nice to know that Pokémon is still there for me, and I’m glad Nintendo seems to know that while the younger generation also still loves these games, they’re also still making them for us – their original audience, who still loves it like it’s new.

Should I make a more extensive and detailed list of games I like? Maybe I could make different posts for different genres of games? Let me know if that’s something you would be interested in.