The Big Reveal -- Mini-Vagabonding!

Deek and I have been teasing a little online about a big surprise coming up! Well, it's here!

So what's going on? You know that Deek and I want to become "professional" vagabonds in the future, right? Well, we have some very important reasons why we can't do that full time right now. However, it got us thinking...why can't we do a mini-vagabond? So, Deek got permission to work remotely (I already work remotely), and now we're spending a month--pets too--at the BEACH!!!!

Everyone loves the ocean!

OMG! I am so, so, so excited! We both *love* the beach, and the notion that we get to spend all this time here blows my mind. When we wrapped up work, we went for a two hour walk on the beach, hand in hand. So romantic and a perfect way to end the evening. 

But the evening kept being awesome when we also got to have dinner with my dad. Because guess what?? We inspired our parents to vagabond too! So, we'll be spending extra time with both Deek's parents and my parents over the course of the month. We have some pretty cool adventures planned with them, so I'm stoked about that too!!

We are both blessed with super cool, super fun parents 

who all get along swimmingly with each other!

And let me give you some Dave Ramsey-esque tips:

--Plan, plan plan: Deek and I have been planning and budgeting for this trip for a year. He requested permission to work remotely in December of 2018 in preparation. We've also been saving and allocating budget funds to this trip since then. So, everything is paid for, and we're here to have fun without financial worries!

Planning: 

It gives you such peace of mind to know

you aren't racking up debt on your adventures!

--AirBnB: If you rent a place for a whole month from AirBnB, it's cheaper than renting for two week (sometimes cheaper than renting for one week!). You can get anywhere from 30-75% off your stay just for booking for a month. So, Deek and I were able to get one of those huge markdowns. We are living it up in style in a beautiful home right by the beach, and we obtained permission to bring both our cat and our dog (for no extra charge!). 

I'd say they like their new digs!

--A great practice in minimalism: We don't own much that is of value because we don't place value in stuff. And since 2014, we've been working on paring our lives down and becoming minimalists. Being able to bring only what you can fit in your car, for a whole month of living, is a great minimalist test. I, for one, am thrilled because I've been wanting to test out the capsule wardrobe concept. I only brought pieces that I love and that can be mixed and matched, and I'm going to see how I do wearing only those clothes for a month. If I "pass" my own test, I'll be getting rid of what I didn't bring and start doing the minimalist wardrobe!

I am so excited to be on this adventure, to take a break from our regular life and do something different and out of the box. But more than anything, I'm SO very thankful to be doing it with my family, the people I love the most. And I am STOKED to be here with Deek--my best friend, my partner, and my true love! He makes everything in life so much fun!

I adore this man so much!

Book 'Em

When we go to comiccons and book festivals, we often talk about cosplayers, the event itself, actors we met, etc. But this time, I'd like to talk about the unsung heroes of these events--our fellow authors.

This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to attend a Book 'Em event. It started out on Friday night with a very nice author reception. I actually flat-ironed my hair for the first time in weeks. LOL! If you haven't seen my Instagram, let me catch you up--Erin and the longer hair situation.

Anyhoo, here is me and my sexy stud as we headed out to the reception.

At the author dinner, we met several super cool people like Hector Miray, who combines two fascinating topics in his book Faith and Fandom: Finding God In Sci-Fi, Superheroes, & Video Games. 

We also met the extremely lovely and kind Wendy Fields, author of It Was God and It Too Was God. She looks so much like one of my aunts that I had to do a double take every time she walked by!

We had a great time at the dinner, talking to the coordinators and learning about other authors and their books.

The next day, we headed out to set up our booth and discovered our boothmates (the people you sit next to in your booth). Boothmates can make or break an event, and we've always been fortunate to have really cool ones.

This time, we had Suzanne Adair to our left. She's the author of a historical fiction series about mysteries in the American Revolution. With the 250th anniversary on the horizon, she's busy doing all sorts of events related to her work! From sitting beside her, we discovered she raised two sons nearly on her own, lived in England, and loves speculative fiction.

Check out Suzanne's books: Mysteries of the American Revolution

To our right, we had retired military man R. Lee Linebarger and his sweet wife, Julie. Both Deek's dad and my dad served in the military, so we were excited to have a former soldier as a boothmate. He is a poet and has written poems about being a soldier. From sitting beside him, we learned about his children, met a military friend of his, and learned Lee doesn't like to smile for pictures! I actually found this endearing because my PaPa didn't smile for pictures either; he used to do his classic thumbs-up in place of a smile.

Check out Lee's poems: Thoughts of an Old Soldier

And last but certainly not least, we also shared space with Jordon Greene. Now, we've been boothmates with Jordon before, and we just love his energy. He's always ready with a quick smile! We admired his beautiful table set up and learned that his latest cover was made by an artist he met at a comiccon! This cover is *gorgeous*!!

If you don't already follow Jordon on social media, you so should!

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Check out Jordon's vast array of books from horror to YA: Jordan Greene

I love meeting fans, readers, nerds, and cosplayers, but I also love meeting my fellow authors. We're in this thing together, supporting one another in a hard industry. And I'm so very thankful we got to sit with these three amazing people for this event and meet or catch up with countless others throughout the day!

And a final thought...

What a hottie!

I am so, so, so fortunate that I get to do this thing I love with this man I love. I watch him interact with people--and I see how much they enjoy his company (who wouldn't--he's the best)--and I'm so very proud to be his wife and his partner! I love you, Deek Rhew! #Always

Greenville ComicCon 2019

So, apparently Deek and I do our main comiccon circuit during the summer and fall. LOL!

Remember how I said GalaxyCon was so crowded that it almost wasn't fun? And HereosCon wasn't what we'd hoped either? Well, we'd started to wonder if maybe we shouldn't be doing ComicCons anymore.

Enter GreenvilleCon.

This little beauty was *everything* we love about cons--personable and nerdy with good traffic but not enough that people were stepping on each other.

GreenvilleCon, you restored our faith in ComicCons! We love you!!

All set up!

Pre-ComicCon smooches!

We saw cool stuff like this headband that sits 

on your eyebrows but looks like glowing eyes!

We saw AWESOME nerdom shirts!

And of course, the cosplayers...

Deek's favorite!

Such a super cute dad and daughter.

We loved talking to them!

Hunger Games, anyone?

And this lovely lady reads aloud to her husband every night.

She was kind enough to read a few pages from The Prophecy for us!

We did not head into Greenville ComicCon with a great attitude because of the disappointments from earlier in the season, but I'm so very glad we went. We met some amazing people, sold and signed a bunch of books, and had the best time.

Thank you, Greenville ComicCon! We'll see you again! 

GalaxyCon -- Nerds Unite!

Confession: This post has been sitting half-written for two weeks. Eep! #EditorLife

So, as you know, Deek and I just got back from our first big international trip together. And lo and behold, GalaxyCon was right after. We usually work a booth at cons when we get the chance, but we knew we just wouldn't have the energy after being gone. So, we went as guests instead! Sometimes it's nice to just take it all in and go as a spectator!

Here we are, ready to get our nerd on!

Of course Deek found the Star Wars stuff right away 

(in a Trekkie shirt, no less--LOL!)

We also enjoyed seeing Hopper from Stranger Things.

This guy rocked the cosplay on it!

Always fun to run into family at events.

Here's my cousin, who does an awesome cosplay of Green Arrow!

The Ghostbusters' Car!

Huge Lego Deadpool

Cool red contacts!

We saw this guy (Seth) again at another ComicCon the week after this one.

He told us he's a stunt man for a Marvel show! How cool is that!?!

Shoutout, Seth!

OMG! <fangirl squee>

It's COMMANDER ADAMA!!!!

<faints>

And a CYLON!!

There was a lot of fun stuff to see, but it was *way* too crowded. I am a total extrovert and love to be around people, but even I thought there were just too many at this con. I can't tell you how many times I got stepped on and knocked around. Not sure if we'll go back as guests or as vendors in the future. 

So. Many. People.

But I got to spend the day with my husband/best friend, and what could be better than that??

I love him so good! <3

The Rhews Go International!

Y'all, Deek and I made our first international trip! SUCH a serious and total blast!

As you may or may not know, I am *terrified* of flying. I mean it's phobic level. When I was young, I was on a flight that almost crashed, and it scarred me. My parents had elected to get us an earlier flight that day, and because of that, they were sitting at the emergency exits. I remember them frantically reading the manuals as we became weightless from falling out of the sky. I remember the really old lady beside me gasping for air and clutching her chest with fear, and I worried she'd die before the rest of us hit the ground. It was awful. AWFUL!

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay 

But Deek and I have big plans for travel, now and in the future, and I don't want my fears to hold me back. So, when work afforded us the opportunity to travel internationally, we took it.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

I am X number of years old and have never left the US of A. So, I had to go get my very first passport, like a big girl. I was TOTALLY stoked to have a real, live passport and be officially sanction to travel the world whenever I choose.

Image by Pam Patterson from Pixabay 

The momentous day finally arrived, and it was time for me to get on a plane again. I can't even tell you how grateful I am that Deek was by my side. He was so loving and encouraging. He helped me through each flight, explained things when I had questions, and held me when I was scared. He was my rock. I adore this man more than I can say, and every day, I find reasons to adore him more!

I love this man so much!

Holy crap. I'm on an airplane.

We always ended up sitting near the flight attendants.

This worked out well for me because I figured if they looked like all was well, it probably was.

And they cheered for me when we landed. LOL!

Yeah, not thrilled.

I peeked out the window occasionally.

Deek is my rock!

He's so calm, so patient, so loving, and so very encouraging!

I don't like flying, but I do like airports.

Philly's was really cool!

Liquid courage. LOL!

And we're on the second flight. Lawd Jesus.

Peeking out again

I always feel safe when he's around.

Finally, the reward!

We landed safely, took a little nap, and then....

I got to have a special outdoor dinner with the most handsome man in the world!

Stay tuned for more about the Rhews' first international adventure!!