Charming Monsters

Sunday marked one year of ridiculously happy marriage for Jim and I. Given our rollercoaster schedule over the last twelve months, the main gift both of us wanted was time to simply hang out and be together – so that’s just what we did!

We started the day with cranberry-rye french toast and bacon which Jim whipped up, then took our wedding cake top out of the freezer. We were a bit worried how it would hold up, but aside from a few crumbled cookie decorations, it survived beautifully. Many thanks again to the wonderful Julie Faulkner for gifting us the cake!

Read more…

Okay, so it’s actually Jim’s art plus artwork done by the team he put together, and it’s for two video games he worked on – Legends of Zork and Utopia Kingdoms – but still! GameStop employees across the U.S. and Canada are wearing t-shirts with Jim’s art! So! Excited! If you happen to see such a thing, please snap a photo for us! Also, if anyone knows a GameStop employee and can persuade them to send us one the shirts after the promotion is over, I’d be super-thrilled.

The GameStop promotion starts today and runs until the end of April. The pilot project they ran in the UK got a great response, hopefully the North American promotion will be just as successful. Jim’s got more details on his blog, including links to his online gallery of game art.

About a month ago, Jim let me know that he wanted to take me to New York City for the Dances of Vice festival. I’ve been drooling over the online photos from this event for years now, but the idea of traveling to NYC for a costume party has always seemed excessive, especially for my inclined-to-the-frugal self. I hesitated a bit, but he made a good argument, so I gave in and let him set things up.

Boy, am I glad I did that!

The festival itself was a lot of fun, although there were a couple of stumbling points. We got in mid-Friday and just chilled near our Brooklyn hotel for a while before the Friday night cruise around Manhattan. It was a bit harder to meet people on the cruise than I’d hoped – the deck was chilly and the interior was one large, noisy room with bands and bellydancers – but we had fun admiring the outfits and the skyline. Still, it was a bit of a soft note to start the weekend, and I think we were both a little worried about it.

Saturday made up for all that in spades. We did a whirlwind tour around Manhattan, hitting all the key spots (for us): Uniqlo shopping for Jim, a couple of fun stores around SoHo, a long wander through Central Park, lunch at a funky diner, watching a proposal at Rockerfeller Plaza, Grand Central and Times Square and a whole bunch more. We were pretty exhausted by the time we headed out for the Shipwreck Ball that night, but happy – especially once we reached the location and discovered that people were much friendlier at this event than they’d been at the cruise. We met some great folks and were having a pretty awesome time….

And then Jim conspired with Coco, the MC, to grab the mike and drag me up front before Hellblinki’s set in order to propose:

(click-through for a photo set from the weekend)

Obviously, I said YES.

The rest of the trip was a bit of a blur after that: Jim managed to catch me truly off-guard and it took a while for the reality of it all to sink it. We did have a great time, including a lovely brunch on Sunday at the Montauk Club and a hilarious adventure at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply company, but mostly I was busy boggling at my ridiculous good fortune.

Since everyone keeps asking: we don’t have any specific plans in mind yet, aside from trying to find a date outside the ongoing con schedule (which is challenging, considering that UDON’s con schedule currently runs mid-March through mid-Sept!). I’ll try to keep y’all updated, without babbling incessantly about the whole thing.