The final day of a con always comes much too soon. After what felt like a literal SECOND of parties and panels and pitiful amount of sleep, the final day of VidCon reared its ugly head in a mocking tone, one that shouted directly in my hungover, sensitive ears, “Kristina! You haven’t even explored the Expo Hall yet!”

So Saturday was a blur. I had a signing at 10am, which I had to forcefully roll myself out of bed for. This is why all dresses and skirts and high heeled shoes were left in the suitcase in favor of flats and denim jeans. Don’t get me wrong – my signing was lovely. Two hours of meeting people who watch my videos, who enjoy Job Hunters, who wait with bated breath for the next episode of Dokapon Kingdom – I live for that. But there was a giant mechanical shark that could literally chew its way through a chair in the Expo Hall, and I hadn’t even gotten to see it yet.

Immediately after my signing we gathered the Job Hunters cast and hung out at the Wyrd booth for another hour – taking photos with fans and playing our Season 2 trailer on loop for anyone that’d missed it at the panel. THEN Joe and I played Jetpack Unicorn with a kickstarter backer named Cate Neuhauser who was so good at our game that it made us look bad.

Then, around 3pm (when the Expo Hall would be closing in a mere two hours) I finally, finally got to walk around, check out the booths and get free swag. I blazed through that room with the determination of a shopper on Black Friday. I called it the “photo both tour”, collecting as many silly photos with my friends as we could cram in these final hours. Not to mention a quick pitstop in the ball pit, as well as a small detour in some sort of robot music video.

I’ll be doing another post soon about my VidCon swag, so never fear! All aspects of this con will be covered on my blog! I had such a great time, and the Expo Hall this year really pulled out all the stops. I’m so impressed with how exponentially this little con grows each year, and I’m so happy I’ve been there every year to see it firsthand.

This is a super cheesy thing to ask, but if you attended VidCon 2013, what was your favorite part? The main stage? The concerts? The vendor room? Or was it something VidCon couldn’t plan for and put on a schedule, like meeting a certain YouTuber or getting to spend time with friends you don’t see very often? For me it’s meeting the people who watch my videos. The yearly reminder of why I do this is so special to me, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Hello, blog readers! I started this trip to LA exhausted, so really, it’s only fitting we’ve come full circle here right before I leave for the airport to head home. Between very little sleep, dance parties, signings and a full day at Disneyland… VidCon 2013 was a fantastic success, but oh my gosh am I ready for some quality time in my bed with Netflix and a box of wheat thins.

Honestly, when people ask me what I’ve been up to lately, a genuinely fitting way to sum up the entirety of my time this past week (month, year, etc.) is by saying I’ve been “cramming more into my hours than should be humanly possible” – but that’s depressing, so here’s a picture of me in a ball pit:

So anyway, here we are; another VidCon come and gone. The reality of the situation is that no matter how you decide to spend your time, which panels you go to, which parties you check out, you’re likely going to be surrounded by familiar YouTube friends, people with cameras and more booze than can even be consumed in a single weekend.

No matter how much fun you have, how little sleep you accept yourself to deserve, how much you party hop – you’ll never see everyone or do everything, but that’s totally okay! That’s the beauty of the Internet, of social media, and of knowing that VidCon isn’t truly over until everyone has sufficiently documented it online.

So over the next few days I’ll be posting my VidCon wrap-up here, complete with photos, my outfits from the event as well as my thoughts on the goings-on that happened there. Did we meet at VidCon? Let me know in the comments so I can match usernames to faces!

That is a tweet from Sunday; one that perfectly encapsulates the weekend I’ve had. Weekends include Mondays when we’re filming. We’ve now completed 18 full days of shooting for Season 2 of my web series Job Hunters (wow!), and I both can’t believe 1. how far we’ve come and 2. how much there is left to do. This was actually our last weekend at the house for this season, and it’s a little bittersweet. I’m going to miss this view.

This past weekend was a LOT of fun, and we shot one of my favorite scenes in all of Season 2. That’s the good news… the bad news is that I am exhausted and bruised and ready for a good long week of sleeping and watching anime – right in time for VidCon!

On that note, rather than slippers, I’ve got my party shoes packed – because I know how crazy VidCon is going to be. I know I will be much too tired and busy to put together outfits while I am there, so I actually packed pre-planned outfits, which is something I very rarely do.

Knowing how many industry parties there are, I realized I needed a couple of fancier outfits, which brought me to packing phase two as I swapped out denim shorts for dresses. I also grudgingly took one of my three pairs of comfortable sandals out of my suitcase and replaced them with heels in packing phase three, and today consists of making sure the recent clothing swaps even make sense. We’ll call that phase four. Oh, and I’ll probably need things other than clothes while I’m down there, right?

Other VidCon essentials:

• Pajamas you’re comfortable running around a hotel in
• Business cards
• Bathing suit, just in case (Modcloth.com is having a great sale right now, 25% off swimwear if you use the code “SWIM25”!
• Makeup, hair stuff, jewelry (somehow condensed to fit in your suitcase)
• SUNSCREEN
• Camera equipment, laptop or iPad
• Two phone chargers, seriously. One to keep in purse at all times
• Sharpies for signing or getting things signed
• Making sure tp leave extra room in you bag to bring new things home

I’ve also got good walking shoes for DISNEYLAND DAY, and a special outfit I’ve been working on for Disneybounding. That will be a blog post in itself, so keep an eye out for that. 😀 Any guesses on who I might dress up as? Is anyone else doing Disneybound while at VidCon?

There’s less than 24 hours now before I leave, so this will likely be my last post before leaving for California. Look out for outfit of the day posts from VidCon, wrap ups of the best events, and if you’re attending as well – please come say hi!

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VidCon is just around the corner, so I figured now would be a good time to give you all the low-down on what I will be doing there! I’m on a couple of panels – but I’ll mostly be hanging out, frequenting a couple of relevant booths, and saying hello to friends and fans alike! Just a warning… I’ve heard there will be something like 10,000 people attending this year – so please, feel free to say hi if you see but, but if I seem tired or in a hurry, just know I am doing my best to meet everyone and do everything!

These are my official panels/events:

1. Job Hunters Sneak Peek + Talkback / Friday, 11am-12pm
We’ll be showing some ACTUAL FOOTAGE of Season 2 (this will be the first time anything from the new season will be shown publicly) as well as doing a Q&A/talkback with all of the main cast. There also might be some other fun surprises or giveaways, so don’t miss it!

2. Fiveawesomegirls Reunion Panel / Friday 2-3pm
Seriously. Myself along with Lauren, Kayley, Hayley and Liane will ALL be in the same place for the first time since 2009, rolling dice and talking about 5AG! For those diehard fans out there who always wanted us to bring back 5AG.. this panel is for you. Bring your friends and your cameras, because YOU’LL be interacting with us at this panel as well as watching us speak!

3. italktosnakes Signing Line Appearance / Saturday 10am-12pm
I’m not sure exactly what this will look like, but I’m they’ll have me sitting at a table, and people will be able to line up to come say hi, chat, and have me sign things? If you definitely want to make sure we meet at VidCon, this is probably your best bet. Please stop by!

I will also be hanging around the Wyrd Games booth (#617) in some of my down time, both to help promote my new game Jetpack Unicorn, and because that’s where Job Hunters merch will be. Speaking of Job Hunters merch, we miiight have badge ribbons this year, so be on the lookout for myself or other actors from the show if you want to wear your Job Hunters pride right on your VidCon badge!

We’ll ALSO have some sweet Safe House and Maewin themed postcards on hand at the Job Hunters/Wyrd booth… for just $2, you’ll be able to write to a friend at home and we’ll do the sending of the postcard for you! It’ll be like you’ve joined the hunt!

And now, I’ll just leave you with this adorable graphic Lauren Fairweather made to promote the 5AG reunion. It’s going to be a BLAST.

I can’t wait to get down to Anaheim, but there’s so much to do before then! Are you going to VidCon? If so, what are you most excited to do there?

This past weekend, my friends and I piled in the car and drove the four hours from Seattle down to Silverton, OR for the Canterbury Renaissance Faire!

Generally we go to our local faire in August, the Washington Midsummer Fantasy Faire – but due to a stroke of good fortune, I happened to pick a Fiesta Mission this month that instructed me to check out a Renaissance Faire. This was the perfect opportunity to see what other Faires go on in our area! In my searching, I found this one in Oregon  happening during the weekend we had available for the trip. So, knowing very little about where we were going or what it was going to be like, we donned our festive gear and arrived at the thicket of trees housing the Canterbury Faire.

This Faire was amazing! Not only was nearly everything shady (thank you, foliage of the Pacific Northwest!) but walking around amidst the trees and dirt actually made the experience feel that much more authentic. It was a bit smaller than the Faire we’re used to, but there was no shortage of incredible vendors, the food was delicious (love a good Turkey leg) and the people were so friendly and welcoming.

My friends and I spent a good deal of time at Oberon’s, the onsite Tavern with a selection of beers, ciders and honey mead. The Faire itself closed at 6pm each day, but we found that the Tavern stays open well into the night. We headed back after changing into what I like to call “Ren faire garb phase two”, which means unlacing bodices and leaving utility belts of knick knacks behind. Clothed in only a flowy red dress, I returned to the Tavern with my party where we enjoyed a bit more mead than we maybe needed and befriended people with names like Talon, Spiral and Lord Rose.

We also got our Tarot cards read by a lovely women who informed me that I have a guardian angel following me around.

While Saturday was full of shopping and eating and exploring, Sunday was a day of hilarity. Liz was entered in a beauty pageant, I helped invent hybrid drinks at the Tavern and was propositioned to be a model of leather headpieces for one of the merchants, and Justin was employed as the bodyguard to the ambassador to the Queen. Thus we didn’t see him for hours. You think I am joking here, but I’m not. This actually happened.

All in all, The Canterbury Faire was a lovely event that graced my friends and I with a magical, medieval weekend. I so enjoy going to Renaissance Faires, because the people there are the kindest, most interesting and fun people you can meet. Also, there is nothing wrong with a weekend where costumes and role playing are encouraged. My costume carries no weapons yet features both a wand and a potion bottle – I like to image the person I’m portraying has a couple of dark secrets.

I truly hope I can make it to another Faire this year, and I’d love to hear about your favorite Ren Faire experiences below! Also, stayed tuned for an Outfit of the Day post on my full medieval ensemble!