Past Events and Conventions

See where I’ve Been. Did you see me there?

Below are the events I have attended in the past. Were you there? Did you see me there? Just want to know a little bit more about the event and my experiences? Check out one of the events listed below to see more details from the events I attended.

2024 Events

Colossalcon East was held at Kalahari in the Pocono Mountains again this year. This was the 7th CCE and my 7th trip to CCE. We checked in on Wednesday early evening this year. This was the second year were Thursday was included in the badges pricing. Usually this means that Wednesday would be day Zero, but unfortunately that was not the case this year. Last year the Day Zero party held on Wednesday night was awesome and there were so many cosplayers already in full cosplay, I knew I had to add the Wednesday night reservation to our stay this year. I was so excited for the Day Zero festivities to begin that I had my Sailor Venus Jeep packed within a half hour of getting home from work. Once my husband was home and ready, we made the 20 minute drive up to Kalahari with next to no room left in the Jeep. Once were were checked in it was 2 quick trips between the Jeep and our room with my 2 wagons. For badge pick-up and the Day Zero festivities (we found out later that this would be a Day One party), my husband joined me in cosplaying as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. We jumped in line to get our badges and my friend joined us in her Gangar kigurumi. Once we had our badges my husband and I went to Cinco Ninos for dinner. The food was very good! We also learned at this point that many people were confused this year about what actually constituted Day Zero and there would be no festivities for the evening. With very deflated feeling we headed back to the room to change and we did a more casual take on Usagi and Marmoru for the rest of the evening. We made our way to the comfy chairs our on the River Terrace where I could do some blog work. Eventually, it got chilly and we moved into the lobby to sit by the fire. Around midnight we called Day Zero a close and went to bed so we would be ready for day one. Thursday morning arrived and we began our first con day by heading to the water park. For the water park, I decided to do a swim version of my Dungeons and Dragons Barbarian. We spent most of our time relaxing in the outdoor hot tub. We also went over to the wave pool and found we had the pool to ourselves so we did an impromptu photo shoot. We headed back to our room for lunch and to don our Thursday cosplays. My husband wore his Runescape mage and I wore my full Mermaid Pirate Barbarian from Dungeons and Dragons. With Day one of the con off to a start there was some more to do on Thursday around the con but the dealer room and artist ally still remained closed until Friday. Bummer… We met up with our friend who traveled in and he wore a party hat and amulet to join my husband in his Runescape adventure. Thursday was a great time to check out the tabletop room and find out what they had to offer. We were pleasantly surprised when a new game company was running the tabletop room. Huge shout out to Gnome Games as they had an amazing stock to choose from if you wanted to buy tabletop, they ran some awesome tournaments all weekend, they had a huge library of really fun games you could borrow and play in the tabletop room, and they were super friendly! They really helped to make the tabletop room a much better place this year! After seeing the new and improved tabletop room, we had a quick walk around the convention center to get the lay of the land for he next few days. Thursday was also a really great day to do a photo shoot so we headed outside to get some great shots of my D&D character. My husband is my photographer so I never need to worry about arranging a time. Between the two of us we cover all the editing as well. Thursday night my friend and her brother joined us for some dinner at the street fair that Kalahari sets up. Thankfully it didn’t rain this year so they held the fair outside again. After a great afternoon and evening hanging out at the con and catching up with so many friends, we headed back to the room to prepare for the late night swim. Thursday night my husband and I chose to do a simple Naruto theme. I like to do cosplay in the water park so I chose to create a pool party Sakura and he prefers to keep things simple so he work a black and red pair of swim trunks and his headband. The Thursday night after hours swim was great! The DJ’s were good and we had a blast at the wave pool. Friday morning was an early start for me with makeup preparations. Day 2 featured my Lvl 90 Miqo’te White Mage from Final Fantasy and my husband wore his new viper cosplay also from FFXIV. At 11 we meet some wonderful Final Fantasy cosplayers out on the river patio for group photo shoot and meet up. It was great to get to see everyone again and even meet some new people! After the shoot, we headed for the dealers room to get a little shopping done and practically ran back to the room to get my wagon for the Cosplay Meet and Greet event. After checking in to the front table my friend, Royal Mischief Maker and I both set up our tables. We had such a great day! We got to meet so many new people and really loved getting to see our fans. At this point the rest of our friends had arrived and made it just in time to see our booths before we had to pack up and get ready for the after hours swim. For the second night of the Night Swim, I cosplayed Ocean Song Seraphine from League of Legends again. I realized after words that I forgot the wings for my hair but still had a blast. We hung out in the cons free arcade while we waited for the water park to open. Here I found another cosplayer that was in KDA Seraphine! Finally it was time to hit the waves and again the DJs were great. The wave pool was a blast but we also enjoyed some of the slides. This brought Day two to a close. Day 3 was a very early start to get all of my makeup and costume on for the Craftsmanship Contest. Today, I cosplayed Y’sera from World of Warcraft and entered the Journeyman category. It took nearly 4 hours to put the costume on and then it was straight to the Cosplay Room for judging. We then walked through artist ally and I got a bunch of Y’sera pins. At 4 I was back in the green room to prepare for the Masquerade and cosplay showcase. While I didn’t win anything this year, I had a blast and was just happy I finished the costume and was able to walk the stage with it. There were so many fantastic cosplayers who participated this year and I always love getting to talk with everyone! Some of the best of the best compete at East and it is a honor just to be among them. Congrats to all who won! At this point I was standing for 12 hours and couldn’t wait to sit down so we stopped by The Variant for some pictures and I changed into a punk fantasy version of Y’sera that I literally came up with on the spot with what I had with me as I had planned on staying in costume for the whole evening (Didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to sit in the cosplay). After getting more comfortable, I went to the Kazha Concert and played some games in the tabletop room. We also caught up with some of the other cosplayers that were in the showcase. After a very long day, we head back to the room to begin packing. We packed up everything we were already done with and hauled it out to the Jeep so there would be less to do in the morning. As day 4 and the final day dawned, I was up early once again to apply more body paint. Today, I wore my Dungeons and Dragons Fireball Tiefling. Once in costume, we packed the rest of our stuff and checked out of our room. Sunday was the final conclusion of the Ribbon game and there were some cool panels. We took some final photos at The Variant and got a jump drive of our favorites. We finished up some final shopping in the dealer room, artist ally, and the flea market. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and as the con came to an end we wished our friends a safe drive home and headed home till next year. I can’t wait for CCE 2025 as I already have so many plans and ideas.

This was our first experience with the Ren Faire all together and we absolutely loved it. I decided to dress as my Dungeons and Dragons/Baldurs Gate III original character. Sirena Thunder is a water genasi who is set to be a Sea Queen of The Enchanted Tides upon her 16th birthday, but she gives that up for a live of love and piracy. She is struck by a lighting bolt while trying to save the Pirate Lords son, Oakley from a Malstrom battle with his uncle. Oakley losses his father in the battle but he and his first mate are able to save their ship, The Ocean’s Lightning and Sirena. Oakley becomes the new Pirate Lord and falls in love with Sirena. Upon recovering, Sirena has to make the difficult choice to stay with Oakley and his pirate crew and enjoy a life filled with love or return home to her family and her duty as Sea Queen. This was the debut of my cosplay for this character. My husband decided to wear his FFXIV Viper and his parents even joined us as a monk and a lady of the court. We arrived at the faire early and got great parking right by the brewery. We only had to wait 10 minute for the opening ceremonies and the gate of officially be opened. We were given a free umbrella for arriving early and even enjoyed adventuring around the Faire. The day started with a misty drizzle but quickly cleared out and became sunny. We fond many cool shops throughout the Faire including an amazing shop that sold honey lollipops called Crown & Comb. We discovered Design by Night and I was able to find a pirate hat that would work perfectly for my cosplay. I also fed my inner dice goblin and was able to purchase a set of “singing” dice from Misty Mountain Gaming. We also found some fantastic food and drinks at the faire. Not only was the shopping, food, and drink great but we truly enjoyed the entertainment. We discovered pipe band Celtic Legacy and really loved their music combined with comedy. We are going to make sure we see their show again when we return in October. We ended the day with the Ultimate Joust. Best way to end the day!

My husband and I attended on Saturday this year. I cosplayed Sailor Moon from Crystal Volume 3/Sailor Moon S. He cosplayed the new Viper class that will drop in FFXIV Dawntrail later in June. After a 2 hour drive we got ready in the parking lot and headed in to the expo center to collect our badges. The staff then lined us up in the foyer to await the 10 am opening. While we waited the staff also checked our props and banded them good for safety inspection. After the doors officially opened we headed straight to check in at the cosplay corner for my judging slot in the hall contest. We then had time to explore the Con floor while I waited for my judging time at 1:30. There were A LOT more vendors than the last time we visited Thy Geekdom. There was some really nice variety in the type of merch the vendors were selling and there were a lot of artists in the artists ally portion of the expo hall. Some of the highlights included finding the Sailor Venus statue from the glitter and glamour set at one of the dealers, getting some really cool shoe ears and a bun/pony tail holder that were both hand made by Royal Mischief Maker, and finding some really cool pins for my ita bag. By the time we reached the car display it was time for me to report for judging. After a 5 minute meeting with the hall contest judges and sharing my build binder with them, I had more time to explore before needing to be back for the masquerade and walk on portion of the contest. There was a Sailor Moon photo shoot meet up that I participated in. Food was very expensive in the expo center compared to the quality of what you actually received so we each decided a snack was the best plan. I opted for a soft pretzel since it was the easiest and least messy thing to eat in costume. I was disappointed to be handed a microwaved pretzel since the price was a little higher. Oh well… you don’t come to the Con for the food. After finishing our snacks and checking out the cars and the Costume/cosplay groups we headed back to Panel Hall C for masquerade practice. Here I sat chatting with my friend and her son who were also competing in the contest while the performers practiced for the contest. At 5 pm the show kicked off and we each got to display our cosplays and hard work on the main event stage. There were so many talented craftsman present with beautiful work. The contest was going to be tough. After enjoying a fantastic show the winner were announced. I was competing in the Journeyman division and was very excited and honored to win 3rd place in my division. After some photos we decided to call it a day. We had done everything we wanted to do for the single day we had tickets. I would definitely consider getting weekend tickets in the future. After changing back into our comfy car ride clothes it was off to the Wawa for dinner and then a 2 hour drive home. All in all we had a good time and will surely attend again in the future.

My husband and I attended PAX East on Friday this year. We had not planned on attending PAX this year, and actually had plans to attend Zenkaicon in Lancaster. However, we saw in February that Square Enix planned to attend PAX this year with their Final Fantasy XIV booth and the challenge dungeon so we decided to see if tickets were available. We had done PAX in a single day before and knew it would not be a problem since we really only wanted to see FFXIV and anything else was just a bonus. We also like to try and save money on the hotel since rates in Boston during Con weekend are pretty high, so we opted for the 4 hour drive there and another 4 hours back. Boston is a nice drive and a very easy city to get in to the convention center. After leaving at 4 am we were in the parking lot by 8:30 am giving us plenty of time to get into our cosplays. With Square Enix/FFXIV there I knew I had to be my Level 90 Miqo’te White Mage. My husband was super excited and few weeks leading up to the Con he decided we would throw together a Viper cosplay for him to celebrate the new class being added to the game in the new Expansion. Once we picked up our badges at the will call booth we headed straight to the “cue” room to get in the expo hall; our mission: get in the FFXIV challenge dungeon line before it caps. Being a Friday we knew that line would be capped all day and our only chance was right at opening. At 10 am it was chaos, we “walked with a purpose” aka running while making it look like you are walking (since you couldn’t run) to get to the line. My husband and I got separated by the crowed and I was told the line was capped and I had to leave the area. After circling back around I found he made it in line right at the end and the enforcer with the capped sign was right behind him. This enforcer was much nicer and after explaining what happened he had no problem letting me join my husband in the line. Phew! We made it in the line. After a two hour wait where we chatted with some wonderful FFXIV players and receiving cool bucket hats just for stopping by, we were given a group and got to challenge Asura hard mode. We got lucky and had a really good group. Since there were experienced raiders who wanted to play healers, I played dancer. A white mage playing dancer how funny. But our team worked well together and we were able to defeat Asura quickly and cleanly. This meant all 8 of us would be taking home a I beat Asura shirt. While we waited to get our shirts we filled out the survey for a free sticker and then started to make our way around the expo hall at noon. FFXIV also had some great photo opportunities that we took advantage of while in cosplay. There was so much to do and see around the expo hall. The best part of PAX East’s expo hall is all the free swag just for stopping by a booth. We did break for a late lunch and while we had to pay Con pricing, the value of the meal to the price you paid was actually very fair. We headed back to the Con floor and enjoyed all that the expo hall had to offer. We even made some purchases for nerdy gear from some of our favorite games and shows. We finished out the day by getting to meet and have my badge signed by Damian Haas from Smosh. All in all the total 8 hours in the car was absolutely worth it! Maybe in the near future we will look at attending PAX East for more than one day again, but one day or multiple days PAX East never disappoints.

In February Moon Ballroom hosted the Inaugural NEPA Comic Con. The Con was small in size but had some great vendors. There were a few cosplay groups and one cosplayer in the cosplay corner. I am definitely considering getting a cosplay table next year. I decided to cosplay as my Level 90 White Mage Miqo’te. My husband and I only went on Saturday, but the Con was very busy and seemed well attended on both days based on all the social media posts and news reports. In addition to only having a vendor room the Con offered a few guests that would sign autographs, most of which were from horror films, but this Con certainly has room to grow and get even better. I was disappointed there was no costume contest and the co-host group didn’t believe in having one, but at least they offered a chance for all cosplayers so show off their hard work with a cosplay runway/parade. Over all it was a nice way to get out for the day and to have yet another chance to be in cosplay! My husband and I were also really excited to find a local game/card shop to attend as they had a nice table set up. Since going to this Con my husband and I have been making regular trips to Dragon’s Den Games and Hobbies in Honesdale, PA. All in all though I look forward to seeing this Con grow for next year and would like to consider attending both days next year. NEPA Comic Con seems to offer a nice replacement for the Scranton Comic Con that was once held in the area.

Sherma-Con 2024 offered a great small Con within an hour drive. This was a nice little one-day Con that offered some great vendors! Sherma-con also offered a costume contest that was so much fun to participate in. I decided this would be a great Con to enter my Viera Astrologian from FFXIV since there weren’t any requirements to have meet for the contest except come in costume and have fun.I was very excited to end the day with a first place win. My husband even decided to participate in the costume contest since it was very low pressure. He cosplayed his Jedi Knight. Over all we had a blast and will definitely return to Sherma-Con in the future!

2023 Events

Colossalcon East – My biggest Con of the year and lovingly referred to as my “home-con”! Not only is it my biggest Con of the year, but my most anticipated and largest cosplay lineup of the year. Colossalcon East has become a staple in my Con plans for they year and I have not missed a year since East has started. It is also one of my favorite cons and has become my husband and myself’s yearly vacation. As anticipation built through the summer, I worked hard to prepare a total of 8 cosplays. For us the Con kicks off on what has now become known as Day Zero. This year Day Zero took place on Wednesday, September 6. We were not checking in till Thursday still made the 20 minute drive in order to attend Day Zero and pick up our badges. My day zero cosplay was Blake Belladonna from RWBY Volume 1-3. My husband and I went up early enough to maintain our tradition of grabbing dinner before going to badge pick-up. We had dinner at B Lux and enjoyed their specialty milkshakes. After dinner, we jumped in line to pick up our badges and were near enough to the front to be able to sit by the tree statue. This year we elected to get the water park VIP tickets so our tickets would include the multi-day badge, all 3 nights of the after hours swim party, the shirt, and the towel. With our badges in hand, we headed back to the hotel Lobby to wait for the Day Zero party and the tradition of signing the Day Zero banner. I was the first to sign this year! We also earned the Day Zero badge ribbon. After hanging out for a bit we went home to finish packing for the Con. Thursday morning we arrived and checked into the hotel. For Day One, I cosplayed Raven from Teen Titans. Since we were arriving early to check in I didn’t think our room would be ready yet so I went in full cosplay, but our room was ready and after 2 wagon loads and a really long hot sweaty walk into our room I was ready to hit the Con floor. Needless to say I will be wearing something much more suited to warm weather next year. On the Con floor there was not much to really do. There were only a few panels going on but the dealer room and artist ally weren’t even open like everyone thought they would be. Things did liven up a little that night when Kalahari put on their street fair market for dinner, but all in all day one was not much of a day at all. Since Thursday was day one, there was an extra after hours swim that night. This is where things really kicked off. I cosplay a swim version of Summer Rose from RWBY that night. As always we headed straight to “The Smoke that Thunders,” our favorite waterside, to beat the lines and ended up spending the rest of the night hanging at the wave pool since it was storming and the outdoor hot tubs were closed. They had a decent DJ and it proved for a fun night. Drinks at the bars were all themed to Avatar the Last Airbender. Friday; Day Two. Finally things got bustier. For Day Two I would be in my Viera Astrologian Cosplay from FFXIV and we headed down to the Con floor pretty early so I could get photos. We also met up with my friend who was selling Lolita in artist ally while we waited for things to open. When the dealer room opened we hit that up to see what this year would have to offer. We also got to walk through artist ally before heading up to the room to get my table supplies. We checked in at the market room for the Cosplay meet and greet and set up my table. It was so much fun handing out ribbons and sprouts, sharing my cosplay work, and nerding out with so many fantastic folks! As things died down and we approached the night hours, we packed up my table and headed up to the room to prepare for the Friday night swim. This time I would cosplay Ocean Song Seraphine from League of Legends. Since we we so early in getting changed I was able to get some cool photos done at The Variant. When it was time for the after hours swim we headed to the hot tubs just to find out they would be closed again for storms in the area. We again spent the night in the wave pool. Friday night in the wave pool was pretty meh because there was not a DJ. At one point they had to close the wave pool and since my cosplay prevented me from going on the slides the only other option was the kiddie jungle gym thing. We had a blast and got so many great photos here! The wave pool eventually reopened and we finished out our night in the waves. Saturday morning was an early start. Day Three also means masquerade and craftsmanship competition. For the craftsmanship contest, I entered my FFXIV Level 90 White Mage Miqo’te. I had an early judging time so I hung out near the cosplay headquarters. There were so many fantastic cosplayers here. After judging, we went back to the dealer room and made some purchases. We also made purchases in artist ally. Saturday’s special event was the craft fair so we walked around here and got some lunch. We finished the craft fair and made some purchases and just hung out for a bit. With out friends we went to the tabletop room (the people running it were a little rude and off putting) we also checked out the arcade (Con arcade) and played some games here. Soon it was time to head to the green room to prepare for the cosplay showcase. This is my favorite part of the weekend!. During the show there were so many fantastic cosplayers who showcased amazing talent both in Craftsmanship and performance. I was honored to be selected to receive the Coordinators award. This award means so much more to me since I look up to Lady Ava as a talented cosplayer. After the show we went back to the room to get ready for the water park party. This time I would be cosplaying water park Alexstraza from World of Warcraft. Saturday night was a blast there were some amazing DJs and we even remembered to take some photos! Sunday my husband and I checked our of the hotel and packed the jeep before finishing off the final day of Con. We cosplayed Emet Selch and Hythlodeaus from FFXIV. Overall Colossalcon East was an absolute blast and I can’t wait for next year!

2022 Events

2021 Events (Return from COVID)

2020 (COVID/Virtual Cons)

2019 Events

We traveled early Wednesday morning and flew direct from Newark International Airport to Santa Ana Airport in California. From there it was only a 15 minute drive to our hotel right next to the convention center. We were in Disneyland by lunchtime and got to enjoy the new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge park as well as some of our favorite rides. On Thursday morning, we go up early and headed to the basement of the Hilton to pick up our BlizzCon Badges. Because we got the legendary badges we were in a special line and were one of the first 20 people to get our badges. This meant we had an early lead on getting to the Blizzcon store before anyone else. We were able to pick up everything we wanted and headed back to the hotel with our Con haul. Fro badge pick-up and hanging out in downtown Disney/around the convention center in the afternoon, I decided to to a causal cosplay and played off the idea of Disney bounding but with D.va from Overwatch. That night we got ready for the Timewalk event in the Darkmoon Faire and I cosplayed Witch Mercy from Overwatch for this. We also headed to Con before the Storm to see what was going on here. Friday was officially day one of the con and I cosplayed Academy D.va from Overwatch. We enjoyed so many great announcments and got to checkout the World of Warcraft demos on the Con floor. There were also so many cool things to do and see. We watched the different esports events going on. Saturday I cosplayed D.Va and we continued to make our way about the con floor, watch esoprt events and play the Overwatch 2 Demo. To round out the evening we headed out to the food trucks for dinner and my husband and I got engaged at one of the World of Warcraft photo ops. After the con, we headed to the after party going on in the Hilton lobby. All in all it was a really great Blizzcon!

2018 Events

2017 Events

ColossalCon East 2017 – September 2017 – Kalahari Resorts – Mount Pocono, PA – Sorry I have no photos for this Con. It was the first year it was held and we went on Saturday to check it out and have been going every year since. I cosplayed a very casual AmeriCree from Overwatch.

2016 Events

BlizzCon 2016 – November 2016 – Anaheim Convention Center – Anaheim, CA This was my first Con and I really didn’t cosplay much but I did do a “Disney bound” version of Alleria Windrunner on Friday. This Con is the reason, I officially began cosplaying a year later!