Repticon 2013

We spent this morning in Phoenix at Repticon - a smallish reptile convention. It wasn't big enough for us to spend the whole day there, but it made for a really fun Saturday morning.

Some pictures...



An iguana with his blankie


A monitor lizard (fun fact, monitors are very intelligent for lizards and some can even count)


I can't remember what this guy was... maybe a juvenile monitor.


Juvenile bearded dragons


A very friendly eyelash crested gecko


If I got a gecko, it'd be one of these guys :)


Me, with a very gentle tarantula
AND, my favorite part... baby tortoise racing!



It was the cutest thing ever... it was put on as a fundraiser by the Arizona Herpetological Association. You could put a dollar towards your favorite tortoise to win. We put a dollar towards one named Flash (pictured above). That worked out pretty well as you can see from the video of that race here (it's short. And adorable).

I found this necklace there that I liked.




Afterwards, we went to MacAlpine's Soda Fountain. It's sandwiched between two antique stores and the whole place is awesome. I got a Dr Pepper float, and Scotty got the Brady Bunch float, which has chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with butterscotch soda. We left very full and happy.


Then we came home and spent some time with our own lizard, haha. (Genbu also got to roam around, but after I had already put the camera away.)

2012 NAMI Valley Walk

This past Saturday, Scotty, our friend Joe and I participated in the 2012 NAMI Valley Walk, a walk for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The NAMI Walks are set up to raise funds for awareness of mental illness and what's required to treat it and help people recover from or handle it. Scotty works for a behavioral health company, and his company contributed a large group of walkers. It was a nice fall day - a little warm but with plenty of shade and water available. There were two walks - a 1.2 kilometer and a 3 kilometer. We did the 1.2 because I had brought Raiden along and I was a little worried about him walking the whole way (turned out to be a good idea - he was pretty tired by the end).

Some pictures...


Us in the parking lot, before the walk.


Raiden enjoying the shade (he was such a hit with everyone, and a real sweetheart).


Me with Raiden - taken by one of Scotty's coworkers.


Us after the walk - in front of the Arizona State Capital Museum building, which is absolutely gorgeous!
I had a lot of fun and now have definite plans to return to the Capital Museum and check it out. I ducked in there to check it out briefly and loved it - I'm a history geek and I love Arizona so it was heaven for me.

Looking forward to the 2013 walk!

At Phoenix Comicon

This weekend was my very first con. I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what to expect going in. I've seen Paul after all. And I'm a geek. These are my people.

I have to say the Phoenix Comicon was everything I expected and more. There was so much cool stuff there, and so much to see, I admit I got overwhelmed on Friday. I felt better about the whole thing by Saturday. And by Sunday I wished there was just one more day of the convention.

There was everything from Daleks to medieval warfare, LEGO cities to Jedi. We went to various panels and got to hear from voice actors Phil LaMarr, Maile Flanagan, and Quinton Flynn, and authors Janni Lee Simmer, and Kevin Hearne. We bought a bunch of art prints, ate at a bunch of yummy places in downtown Phoenix and in general had a lot of fun.

Some of my pictures...

Our friend Joe. You could actually fight with those lightsabers

A panel on voicing video games

My Sister-In-Law's Wedding Day

This past Friday, my sister-in-law got married - my husband's sister. I'm so excited for her and her new husband Chris! I was a bridesmaid in the wedding, which was held at Shenandoah Mill in Gilbert, Arizona. I didn't get any pictures of the ceremony, since I was in it, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from the rest of the preparations/celebrations.

Cousins :)

My brother-in-law Reuben and husband Scotty

Yesterday

Yesterday, we celebrated three things: Valentine's Day, Arizona's Centennial and my husband's 27th birthday.

It was a good day.

He got a pocket watch from me. (Plus a video game and chocolate.)



He got me a CD of Les Miserables, the 25th anniversary performance, live.

We listened to it while we drove to Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park and passed the Centennial highway signs on the way.

We said hello to all of the animals at the zoo. One parrot even said hello back. (But not this gecko, although he was very friendly too.)



We had lunch in Litchfield Park at a Mexican restaurant Yelp steered me to, and Yelp has never steered me wrong.

Then Scotty's mom visited and gave us more chocolate (score), and we had friends over. We beat each other up in Soul Calibur V.

And then sushi thanks to our wonderful friend Dan. And it was all delicious.

And then bed, because it was a long day.

But a great one.