Misti-Con 2013 report

[alisanne]

So I got back from Misti-con 2013 a couple of days ago, and I have to say, it was fabulous.
This may be the best con committee I've encountered to date, at least when it comes to the little details. They really did a great job and deserve mucho kudos.

Here are my impressions of the con, and, be warned, this post is picture heavy, and although my photo skills suck, I did try. :)

Anyway, let me start at the beginning...

Day 1
- The lovely dementordelta agreed to pick me up at the airport in Hartford, and, amazingly, my trip there was quite event free. I think the plane even landed a bit early. :)
- Her new Deltamobile has GPS, which should have made our trip to Misti-con a breeze. Now if only her GPS didn't have a thing against highways... *g* It seems to default to back roads, which is lovely when it's daylight and you want to sightsee, but not so lovely when it's nighttime, pouring rain, and you feel as if zombies are going to emerge from the trees at any moment. ;)
- We did get in eventually, though, and they didn't even give away our room. (Yes, I called ahead to make sure, why do you ask?)
- When we got to the lobby of the Margate, we saw the most fabulous thing. The fountain of magical cooperation was STUNNING (much better than my picture makes it look). And that was when I knew this con would be awesome.

- Finally reassured that we got the same suite we got last time (I was a bit concerned, tbh!) we unloaded the car and put up some Snarry art, after which we went to bed.


Day 2
- We woke up too late for breakfast in the hotel, so we wandered over to the diner for blueberry pancakes (yum!) and bacon. And we got the Wizard discount. *g* Yes, it said that on the ticket. :)
- After that we went to the local supermarket, where we ran into the adorable andreanna. The place was packed with wizards and witches, too, which was fun to see.
- Fortified with snacks and drinks, we retured to the suite, finished decorating, and opened for visitors.







- Eventually, we wandered over to the con to attend a talk on "Snape and the Malfoys", a simply stellar essay written and read by drinkingcocoa. I was stunned by the end of it, she gave me a lot to think about. *shakes head*
Although I suppose the dementor in the corner was a distraction, too:

- The Misti-con Common Room was fab and the Minister of Magic's portrait over the fireplace was the perfect touch. And of course, because the room was lined with vendors, I dropped quite a few Galleons there. *sigh*
- That was also where I first ran into twilightsorcery and we were able to catch up. :)
- Also? The entire hotel was decorated and the attention to detail was incredible. Have some random pics:





And some enterprising attendee even 'decorated' the cross walk sign...

- After stopping by the daily_deviant meet up, we visited the local Chinese restaurant for food and went to the craft fair.
- The craft fair was AWESOME! And yes, I may have bought another wand or two. What? Can a girl ever have too many? ;)
- Laden with our bounty, we returned to the suite, where we entertained well into the night. After all, you know how social Severus and Harry can be when inspired. *g* We were visited by several people including gatewaygirl, Andreanna, islandsmoke, Twilightsorcery, vimeslady, and ravenna_c_tan. :)
- That night there was even glow in the dark Quidditch, but since I'm old, I figured I'd leave that to the people with better eyesight. *g* I hear it was entertaining, though.


Day 3
- Since I had a fest fic due this day, I was a bit of a hermit. After breakfast (at least we got up in time to have it in the hotel) we attended the always lovely logospilgrim's panel on the art of meditation, and I think her talk and the soothing meditation that she led us in afterward is the reason I was able to go back to the suite and finally finish my story, so thank you, professor. :)
The room her talk was given in was perfectly decorated, too:


- Delta wisely left me alone and went exploring, and it was handy since, by the time I texted her to tell he it was safe to return, she had discovered several local hidden gems, including lobster rolls. OMG, most delicious thing ever! HOW was I unaware of these? YUM.
- Dinner, needless to say, was a lobster roll and sweet potato fries. Guh. :)
- That was when we discovered it was Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. *g*
- The Misti-con costuming superlative showcase was fabulous in ALL senses of the word (which is no less than I expected since it was run by the Malfoys). alabastard definitely puts on a great show. :)
We were treated to Salazar Slytherin, several Narcissa Malfoys, sexy!Girl Mad-Eye Moody, a hot Punk rock Snape, Logospilgrim's Austin Powers Snape (so groooovy), ravenna_c_tan's NY Yankees Quidditch player, Quidditch Harry, Tonks, a delightfully loopy Luna Lovegood's mother, Luna herself, Professor Trelawny, the inimitable droxy's clever version of Nearly headless Nick, a fabulous Moaning Myrtle, and unfortunate Millicent Bulstrode who was a walking Fortescue's ad and the whole thing culminated in the Dark Lord's resurrection.
- Later, we entertained in the suite again, like we do. We had Ravenna, gatewaygirl, Vimeslady, vizen (everyone needs to run right over to her DA acct and drool, trust me), foxestacado, tjs_whatnot, and several others whose names I'm ashamed to say I didn't know. We did try to get people to sign in, though, so maybe Delta can shed some light on that since she has the sign in sheet. ;)


Day 4
- Because I was up until 3 am, I missed the morning talk I really wanted to attend, Drinking cocoa's discussion titled Unspeakable: Initiation into the Department of Mysteries. *crosses fingers that she reposts it*
- We spent the early afternoon looking for lobster rolls (yes, they are that good).
- Happily, we did manage to attend the talk about house affiliation, which was excellent.
- With Harry Potter playing on TV, we had several people over for snacks before the Ministry Ball.
- Look who we ran into on the way! No, we didn't 'bother' them. *g*

Mrs Black's portrait was in fine form:

Fawkes and a friend:

Even Bellatrix was in on the fun:

Voldie showed his softer side:

- The Ball was FABULOUS, and we danced for as long they played music, which, sadly, wasn't nearly long enough.
- After the ball there was more quality time with various Snarry lovers (lampblack, Twilightsorcery, Ravenna, Vimeslady and various others) in the suite until, sadly, we had to start taking things down in preparation to leave early the next day. I'm always bummed when the inspiring Snarry pictures come down. :(


Day 5
- Because of our time crunch, we couldn't stay for the leaving feast. :( I understand that they announced the next Misti in 2015, though! I can already say I plan to be there. :)
- After breakfast with Smoke and taking one last look at the decorations (the wizarding robes through the ages display was especially amusing), we took off.
- Once Delta's GPS displayed its dislike for the Mass Turnpike (*shakes head*) my iphone came to the rescue and, after one more shot at lobster rolls *g* we found the Hartford airport.
- Happily, my planes were on time, both of them, and I was home by midnight, which is when I collapsed.

And that's the scoop. Bottom line? FABULOUS con, was fabulous and great fun was had by all, at least all those I spoke to. Great job, con committee! They are going to have a hard time topping this one.
I can't wait for 2015's Misti!

~