Lit-Up Ball

Got this from the Arlington Library about this year's Ball - 1950s, From Russian with Love, James Bond themed this year. And it looks like there will be a SPY GAME!!

They also emailed the link of pics from last year's Eight-Thirteen Ball. There's a good pic of Isabella, Jessica, and I up on the balcony! We are on the left.

Thank you to those of you who filled out our survey of last year's Eight-Thirteen Ball! We got some great ideas for future Balls to come.

One request that we heard from a number of you was to see the photos from last year. Our apologies for not making them more easily accessible! You can find them on the Arlington Public Library's flickr page here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/arlib/sets/72157636185338303

Also, the date is set and tickets are on sale for this year's Lit Up Ball: From Russia with Love! We'll be at Artisphere on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 8-11 p.m., dancing the night away to 1950s era music by the Hot Society Orchestra, eating yummy desserts, watching dance demonstrations by Fidgety Feet dance troupe, and bidding on themed raffle baskets! We also have a spy game planned for the evening, so get ready for some covert activity.

Tickets are $30 in advance from the Friends of the Arlington Public Library, or $35 at the door - so buy ahead! http://library.arlingtonva.us/lit-up/lit-up-ball/

And don't forgot to check out our Undercover Arlington Contest - you could win a pair of free tickets to the Lit Up Ball! And you might even find a clue to give you an edge in the spy game...

Eight-Thirteen Ball

As a fundraiser, the Arlington, VA library system threw a Gatsby-era event called the Eight-Thirteen ball. Doug, Amber and I went and met Isabella, Jessica, and Kristin there. We had a blast - there was free food, great music by a live band, and 20s dancers. And lots of costumes!



 I also wore the twenties seed bead rope necklace I bought on etsy and forgot to wear at DragonCon, and the 20's-ish shoes I bought on Plasticland. They're really cute and I was really happy with them. http://www.shopplasticland.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=P30722900&Category_Code=Shoes

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It was chilly so I dug out the little velvet tassled jacket I bought a long time ago and have no place to wear.

  Here's the band:

The event was held at the Artisphere in Arlington. Later on it got super crowded:

They also had dancers come out once in a while and do choreographed 20s dances. They were so good!

 





They mysteriously had stand-ups of Edward and Jacob. We all took pics with them over the course of the night. Here's Jessica and Kristin taking their pics:







They had really good mixed drinks!

We forgot to get a shoe shot with everyone, so Doug, Amber and I did one in the parking garage.



Now a bunch of videos! Dancing in the elevators:
Dancers!

DragonCon 2013

So as you may or may not know, I wasn't particularly looking forward to DragonCon this year, just because it felt like work. I did end up having a good time, of course, but I think it was partly because I revised my expectations. And it wasn't all great. But it was wonderful seeing so many friends and there were a lot of good things that happened.

We (Michelle, Doug, and I) were staying at the Sheraton, right across the hall from Jen & Raj, which is always awesome, because I adore them both and they're really fun people! Also, it was great seeing Michelle again since I didn't go 2 years ago and she didn't go last year, so we hadn't had a DragonCon together in 2 years.

Registration was at our hotel and it took a bit to finally find the on-site registration line and it was a much much much shorter if a little slow line. If you were paying with cash, there was no line.
Someone ducked under the empty queues and they all went over, like dominoes. It was pretty amusing:
 

Then Bank of America, in its infinite wisdom, triggered fraud protection for our DragonCon membership purpose. Because that is what people who steal credit cards do - go to DragonCon. Apparently lots of people were having this problem, so it took a while for Doug on the phone to sort it out and then we finally had our badges.

By the time we were badged, we didn't have much time to change for the Gatsby party, which was over in the Marriott and hosted by Janine and Betsy Loki. Everyone looked awesome and it was so nice to see everyone - I caught up with lots of different people. And the view was pretty great!

 
 


Note that Betsy's 20s costume is Loki themed - I loved it!