Holiday Traditions

Last year, we decided 2015 would be our very first stress-free Christmas. At first, we wanted to escape to Belize, but since that didn't work out for financial and work-schedule reasons, we're choosing to stay home this holiday. I have the day after Christmas off and the guy & I are being hermits and playing video games and painting the following weekend-- glorious! I'll choose my space-themed Reaper Con 2015 miniature entry and see if I can find those Christmas Mouselings I bought last year. Knowing it will be my first year to not spend Christmas with the immediate family, I felt acutely homesick over the past few weeks. Recently, I was lucky enough to swing by & see my folks for a short while and indulge in the foodie goodness that would bring. 

Ahi Tuna Tower

"Breakfast Shot" after dinner - it tastes JUST like syrupy waffles! 

If Christmas trees took selfies

It was nice being able to visit & catch-up. We hung out by the fire, talking and listening to music. I stayed up late to read my Kindle next to their epic 14 foot tree (my mom's motto is "go big or go home"). The fun didn't last long enough though--  early the next morning, I had to hit the road!  

Hitting the open road. 

Later that night, I started thinking: I love the holiday traditions from the "easy" Christmases I enjoyed growing up. All I had to do was sit in a car, play video games, listen to music CDs until we arrived at loving homes where we'd be fed and fawned over for days until it was time to go home. I bet we all have cherished memories of simpler times (thanks to our childhood innocence) and it got me thinking: it's time to make our own holiday traditions, like the 2nd annual Christmas-themed DnD adventure we hosted last Sunday:

I haven't been able to upload & combine those DnD audio files yet, but I'll have time to do it this weekend. Hmm, what other traditions can I contribute to? Maybe I'll make Star Wars gingerbread cookies and seasonal cocktails with d20 ice molds. The hunt is on for the next best holiday tradition! 

And Books Too

Not too long ago, I visited Lafayette, Louisiana and took some time to wander around the local Barnes & Noble bookstore. I always check out the Fiction & Fantasy book sections and, while I knew it was a longshot, I was hoping they'd have a novel from the Shadowrun universe, "Never Deal With a Dragon" by Robert N. Charrette. They didn't. However, I did find some cool Star Wars dice!

I also found an interesting book in the Art section. While I was at the check-out counter, the sales clerk asked me if I had a background in painting. 

"Actually, I'm trying to learn more about painting. I paint miniatures for a hobby"

"Oh yeah? What kind of miniatures? Like dollhouse miniatures?"

"Actually, more like tabletop gaming miniatures. Like wargaming and stuff like Pathfinder and D&D"

"Nice. Have you been to that comic book store here? They have wargaming nights every Wednesday. It's a book shop but they sell other stuff there too. It's actually just right down the street..."

Less than fifteen minutes later, I was parking in front of "And Books Too". I walked in to find many free-standing standing shelves of books, including literature classics like "The Odyssey" and "How To Kill a Mockingbird" toward the front with a wide selection of graphic novels toward the back. Along the left and back wall were comics galore. While I missed the wargaming night, this Thursday was fairly empty other then a few high school age kids sitting at a table, in a heated discussion over the finer points of a new comic book release. The glass island in the middle of the store housed competitive card game booster packs, dice, candy-- all that good stuff. At that point, I glanced at the right wall & I spotted paint supplies next to a wide selection miniatures. YES! I headed straight for the paint merchandising display. It's like being at a party in a sea full of strangers when you spot someone familiar. You make eye contact, smile and think, "Oh good! A friend" while you greet them first before mingling with new people. Same thing for me and the hobby store paint rack, though it's mostly a one-sided conversation. "Hmm, I already own this paint. Ooh, I don't have you yet!". This time I chose a few metallic Formula P3 paints and Citadel Technical paints:

I ended up buying a few Pathfinder comics as well. There's some great character art and miniature color scheme inspiration in these (and Reaper makes a great Pathfinder miniature line)! I could spend many hours in here finding new books, comics, graphic novels, and miniatures. I even thought of bringing my traveling paint set-up and hanging out at the shop. While I'm rarely in Lafayette, I visit this store every time I'm in town. On another visit, I met a nice local fellow who was browsing the D&D 5th edition bookshelves. I asked him how he liked the new edition (they had just converted their characters from 3.5 to 5th). We chatted for a bit, and he invited me to join his group's game. "I would, but it may be a long drive for me. I'm visiting for work and I live 4 hours away. I appreciate the invite though!" I left with the D&D 5th edition Rulebook determined to inspire the change in our 4th edition group (we converted last month & I recommend it). 

Seriously, for being described a comic book store (which they are no doubt!), they have a lot of gaming hobby supplies. When I travel, I search stores on Yelp with the keyboard "hobby" and they didn't come up since they're listed solely under "Comic Books". Thanks to the guy at Barnes & Noble who told me about it-- I'm really glad I discovered "And Books Too"!

Hill Country Adventure

Over the past two days, I've been in the Hill Country at our annual Team Build. Each year, we gather the entire team of co-workers for collaborations and camaraderie. At the end of our meetings, we have a White Elephant activity-- this year I totally lucked out:

After a fairly restless night's sleep (due to the grating snores from a co-worker in the next room), I enjoyed a few minutes to myself on an upstairs balcony early in the foggy morning. Having no access to wi-fi or a computer, I actually enjoyed being unplugged from technology for a bit. 

After that, we were off to our morning activity-- a river tour in a glass-bottomed boat, aquifer museum, and strolling around a town square searching for weird & cool things. I bought two books and, had there been more time, I would have stopped into a sandwich shop & gaming cafe called "Hungry Gamer". Love this place's concept!

Now, I'm safely home after five hours in terrible, traffic-heavy rain. Winding down & then I'm off to paint!