This past weekend, I went to C2E2 dressed as fem Indiana Jones. Because I was in a relatively low key costume, I ended up acting as stand-in photographer for my friend’s Geek Girl Chicago blog for Chicago Now. The photos are not up yet, but I’m excited to see them published. It was fun walking around with a fancy camera in hand recording all the costume greats at the convention. Normally I’m the one being photographed, so it was a blast being on the other side of the lens this time. I passed out cards and promoted the blog which was fun as well-- schmoozing is one of my specialties.

The highlight of the whole day was when I got to meet Anthony Kosar, the winner of Face Off. He was my favorite from the beginning of the show and I was so excited he won! When I went to his table to meet him, I told myself not to fan girl-- but I fan girled anyways. I couldn't get the word "phenomenal" no matter how hard I tried. After shaking his hand, taking a picture, and asking for creative advice, I got the feeling he was in a hurry to talk to someone else who must have lined up behind me. Politely, I exited full of smiles. We as I left, I saw a line of about 20 people, maybe waiting to meet him! Had I just cut in front of all of them unknowingly!? No one tapped me on the shoulder, no one said anything; but I felt like such a jerk! I was just so excited to meet Anthony that I must have developed tunnel vision! We run in the same circles so it's possible I'll meet him again at a party. If that's the case, I hope he doesn't remember that I was the jerk Indiana Jones who cut in line!

If you're interested, check out some photos of my costume from the con.

This was my first week of leading the team of content writers as content writing manager. I now manage a team of 5 writers. Wow... what a learning curve! Not only did I have to learn how to organize and delegate tasks in a proficient manner, I had to deal with the politics of being promoted despite one of my other writer co-workers being at the company longer than I.

There is also a new hire who used to be a manager at a department store and seems to think that he needs to manage the company marketing team too despite being there for less than a month and knowing nothing about the process. Honestly, I wouldn't mind so much if he actually knew what he was talking about, but he keeps telling the other new hires the wrong things and mistakes are made time and time again. It will all be good... we will figure out a way to get along and express our thoughts and opinions. It might take a little time and ego smothering first though.

The hardest part of being a manager of a team so far is the human relation part coupled with establishing authority-- while still being open-minded and part of a team rather than a full on dictator! I think I'll be a dynamite manager once I get my sea legs!

I went to Military History Fest this weekend and had a blast. I wore my green Victorian day dress and I was pleased to see jaws drop as I passed by. I pull of the time period well. It's cool how the form of the dress really changes the way you walk and forces you to look prim and proper. One thing that many people fail to pay attention to in fashion and reenacting alike is that the form of the dress should be the first thing you pay attention to. Then worry about everything else.

Below is a collection of photographs of me in my dress.

I just updated my blog The Hourglass Symposium. You should check it out!

After months of the vigorous job searching I finally landed my first real job in my field. I'm now a web content writer for EZ Loans. Using some basic SEO techniques I'll write content for the companies webpages and blogs. I'm working with a team of 6 other writers who all seem extremely friendly and easy going. I'm so excited! I have my own desk! I am on my career path... finally... and I feel this sense of completion that I have been yearning for so long. I'll post some of my blog posts in the Office section once I start producing more.

This weekend I am going up to Wisconsin to work more on my 1870's evening and day dresses with. They are almost done and I can't wait to post the final product on here! It's the best work I've done so far... clothing rather than a costume. I'm going to have Keith do some tintypes of me in the dresses and they are going to look stunning! I keep telling him about these pieces I'm doing and it will be such a joy to finally photograph them.

These past couple days I have set aside more time for my fiction writing. I have to say, it's difficult trying to find the balance between how much time should be sent sending out job applications and how much time should be spent writing. Hopefully I will find that balance.

The project I've been working on is one that has floated in and out of my head for a few months now. It is a story comprised of a series of flash fiction pieces centered around the phenomenon of what would happen if a private family, unassociated with any government or organization, made it to the moon. What would the implications be for the rest of the world? I tackle it from the vantage points of the general public through Reddit and the DailyWhat, governments, and the family who made it to the moon. I'm very excited about where it's headed. Maybe I'll post some on here at a later date.

The CEO of Coffee, Tea, & Me hired me again to do some photography work for their new products. I did two shoots: the first was shot in a school cafeteria in which I took a variety of pictures to cater towards both elementary schools and high schools around the country; the other shoot had a more gourmet element to it in which I targeted clients such as nursing homes, assisted living communities, and hospitals.

The company loved the work I did and informed me that they would like me to do another shoot next week that will be used for retail brochures and posters.

Here are some of the photos I provided thus far:

I recently got an independent contractor job doing social media site networking. As requested by the president of the company, I built worked on The Matthew Mint's twitter page along with other tasks. You may view the twitter page  here: https://twitter.com/TheMatthewMint.

I still need to develop it a lot more but it's a decent start.

Keith finally finished the first batch of Poison Ivy photos. They turned out gorgeous and sexy, just how the evil seductress should be portrayed; and I had a blast collaborating with him on these. It's fascinating that some of the photos look like they were shot at night, but in fact it was in broad daylight. We were able to capture a creepy lushness in the character and the background; and I love how the tops of the plants are vibrant and green but yet the bottoms are dried and dying, that alone is a bit dark.

The picture to the right is my favorite from the bunch as it looks high fashion. There are several elements giving this photo an edginess that the others do not have. The others (posted in a slide show below) are still gorgeous as well, but not as high fashion and artsy.

I have no idea if Keith will turn any of these photos into gumprints or tintypes, but if he does, I'll be sure to post them here!