American Girl Place: Yes, We Are Nine.

The day after our Chinatown dinner, my roommate, her sister and I went to the American Girl Place in Virginia to eat lunch. We had reservations at eleven in the morning, but due to a very long metro ride and getting lost after getting off the metro, we arrived quarter after eleven.

Walking into the American Girl Place reminded me of when I was ten or eleven when my Dad took me to the one in New York for some Daddy-Daughter event there. It was a bit weird, however, being shown to the table and being the oldest ones other than the parents was pretty weird. But it's okay because we were having the times of our lives!!

The table was adorable and we got chairs for our American Girl dolls (left to right: Samantha, Kit and Addy) that hung off the side of the table. They even got little water glasses!

Our meal included an appetizer and entrée for $18. I got tomato bisque with star-shaped croutons, my roommate got Spinach and Artichoke Dip, and her sister got a Tomato and Mozzarella salad. Everything was really good, and the soup was creamy and helped soothe my sore throat. My roommate also got a hot chocolate that makes me wish that I got one!

Look how cute it is!!!

During the break between courses we went through the conversation starters that were provided by the café. Most of them were fine, but this one was a bit odd!

Why would you ask a ten-year-old this?!?

For my entrée I got a grilled chicken sandwich with basil mayo, fresh mozzarella and roasted red peppers. My roommate and her sister both got cheese ravioli with diced tomatoes and spinach.

We didn't get dessert but we did take a wander through the store! I had to go find the Samantha section because she has always been my favorite! She got new dresses and they were all gorgeous. Then I found one of the newer dolls named Caroline that I find completely beautiful. (Is it weird to be jealous of a doll?)

After the American Girl Place we wandered around the mall where I got a sample of a face wash and saw the most beautiful MAC collection inspired by The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I want it for Christmas (hint hint if my mom or dad are reading!). 

Then as we were leaving there was a guy carving pumpkins that looked amazing. Of course my favorite was the one with Harry Potter!

Before leaving, however, we stopped at Shake Shack for a milkshake. I got the regular chocolate milkshake that hit the spot. 

A delicious end to a great day at the American Girl Place! I don't know what my next post will be about. Any suggestions? 

Until next time!

Love,

Kara

End of a Magical Time at LeakyCon

It's kind of sad writing about the end of LeakyCon because it was honestly one of the best weeks of my life. I met new friends and celebrities, bought some amazing merchandise, and I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at night. It was pretty cool to say the least.

On Saturday, I spent the morning in Disney with my family and some friends before heading to the convention center to see the Joe Moses Showses and a reading of Starship Requiem (a sequel to the Starkid musical Starship). They were both hilarious and I wish that Starkid could stage Starship Requiem for them to put on YouTube for everyone!

The cast of Starship Requiem after the reading

Later that night was the Esther Earl Rockin' Charity Ball. It is in honor of Esther Grace Earl, a girl who had thyroid cancer and died when she was only sixteen. August 3rd was her birthday and it "has become a holiday that reminds us to verbalize our love for friends and family, the important people in our lives who we might not remember to say “I love you” to very often" (HERE is the link to this quote). So the charity ball ran from the night of August 2nd to the early morning of August 3rd. At midnight, we watched a video about Esther and then sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a group. It was pretty emotional and people were crying, but we came together as a community to celebrate the life of an amazing girl. 

We were all given mini flashlights when we came in the door

They shot off some star shaped confetti

If you want to learn more about Esther and what Esther Day is, you can visit the organization that is in her name called This Star Won't Go Out which helps families with children with cancer. 

I also was able to get pictures with Joe Moses, Nick Lang and a Weeping Angel before and during the charity ball. 

Sorry for the blurriness!  

Pretty scary!

On Sunday there was only the closing ceremony where we were given Esther Day postcards to send to a person that we love, I sent mine to my sister! They also announced that LeakyCon would become GeekyCon and it would happen every year at the Orlando Convention Center. In addition to GeekyCon there will be a LeakyCon, but it will be smaller and devoted to only Harry Potter. GeekyCon will expand to all things fandom: Sherlock, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, etc.

I don't think I like the name "GeekyCon." I think it is a kind of stupid name because people have been bullied with the word geek. "GeekyCon" sounds like a name ready to make fun of. Even though I do not like the new name, I will most likely be going to a GeekyCon in the future. 

Crowd after the Closing Ceremony

Thanks for reading! Now that I am done with posts from the summer, I will continue with posts about what I have done so far in the school year. I have been having an amazing time at school and I can't wait to write about it! Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kara

Hannah Hart, Starkid, John Green, oh my!

Day two and three of LeakyCon were just amazing! Well, day three was better. Thursday was mostly panels including the Tampa Bay, Nerdfighteria, Doctor Who and Tumblr meet ups. This is a picture of the Doctor Who meet up where there was a cosplay fashion show.

But I also had a chance to explore the Marketplace, which housed all the vendors and artists. During my time at LeakyCon I bought a lot of gifts for others, and some things for myself including a Game of Thrones sweatshirt, a LeakyCon t-shirt, stickers for my laptop, a poster, bracelets and probably more things that I cannot remember. The size of the Marketplace was astounding, there was something for everyone there.

There were also life-size cut outs of Black Widow, Falcon, Iron Man and the Hulk! I REALLY wanted to buy one, but I restrained myself. I don't think that it would fit in my dorm room.

Friday was great. I got up really early to get in line to get tickets for that days autographs. The LeakyCon website explains their autograph process here: "access to all autograph sessions will be granted via drawings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. Attendance at this drawing is the only way to assure your spot in the signing."  It was a really good idea and I got tickets to meet YouTube sensations Hannah Hart and Team Starkid! I was beyond excited! It was a dream come true. 

First was Hannah Hart, and she was super duper nice. She stood up the entire time, shook everyone's hand and introduced herself to each person. It was really easy to talk to her for the brief time I had the chance. I chose to have people sign my LeakyCon programming guide and I love it!

Later in the day, me and a friend got to meet Team Starkid. Starkid is responsible for A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel, A Very Potter Senior Year, Starship, Twisted and other musicals. I do not have any pictures of them because I did not bring my camera that day and I temporarily lost my phone. But I got it back! It was an emotional fifteen minutes but everything was alright in the end. 

Instead of pictures of Starkid, I do have a picture of all the autographs that I collected in my programming guide.

I think they all look pretty cool, right?

I also met Mary Kate Wiles (Lydia Bennet) and Maxwell Glick (Ricky Collins) from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries in the Marketplace, and they were so nice! I tweeted them the picture after LeakyCon and they both responded and it was amazing. By the way, I am cosplaying Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

Friday ended with me meeting the one and only . . . JOHN GREEN! I waited in line for a while, but it was totally worth it. I met some new friends and got John to autograph my "Don't Forget to be Awesome" poster that is now hanging in my dorm room. He must have met at least a hundred people that night and he could not have been more friendly. We were moved along at a pretty quick rate, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. 

And that was the end to Friday! Saturday was filled with Starship: Requiem and the Esther Earl Rocking Charity Ball and a whole lot of fun.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kara