The Bristol Experience

July 5th and 6th marked the opening weekend of Bristol and July 6th was the first of the five days that I have avaliable to spend there this summer.

Sunday was just...amazing. Exhausting but amazing. Loki and I got there around 8:40 and he had to go into grounds because he has employee privileges. That pretty much left me without people for a good 20 minutes because the parking gates hadn't opened yet. It was okay though. I took a few pictures and read a few pages of my new book "Girl Walking Backwards."

Once parking gates opened, I found a swarm of my friends to talk too. It was so awesome getting to see people, especially the faces I haven't seen since I left at the end of last summer and the faces I haven't seen since Midwinter. I found out that Randolph from Chain Maille Fashions was dressing so me, Jingles, and Jennifer planned for the famous Chain Maille sprint, making sure we got a spot right at the front so when the gates opened we could fly through them.

Randolph got us dressed and I have to say that we looked darn hot :) Once dressed, I headed over to the brand new Dark Cloud shop and my heart rate increased when I saw how amazing it was. It's in a prime location now (right across from the Pig and Whistle tavern and right near the Globe Stage)instead of being off the beaten path.

King Zavier (aka Corey), Jess, and Loki were in the shop and I walked in feeling like I was completely home. Zavier took a few minutes away from the leather pounding to give me a hug and ogle over my outfit. He's a big fan of Randolph's work and who could really blame him... Then, I met the Valkyrie who is just awesome. She's a sweetheart too :) And I got to talk to Jennifer's boy a little more and he seems like good people.

I spent most of my morning in the shop and got invited to do parade with Dark Cloud which was the awesome cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that was my Faire day. My job was to look hot (not hard), hand out business cards (again, not hard), wave to the patrons (a little hard since my free hand was full of business cards), and look like a trophy girl on the arm of King Zavier (seriously, I felt like royalty).

After parade and the photo ops, I left the shop for a bit and found Kyle who took me around the grounds. I ended up buying a black mahogany wand with red tint. It was Dark Cloud-esque and of course, I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd so that helps too :) Kyle and I got serenaded by one of the lute players and that was lovely.

Then, I went back to the Dark Cloud shop and ran a few errands for the boys. I spent some time with Mandy, Casey, and Damien. Said hi and gave hugs to people I hadn't gotten to spend much time with.

At the end of the day, I did Drum Jam which is always fun. I learned that howling puts less strain on the vocal cords than screaming does. And I learned that when certain people aren't there, I feel a piece of the energy missing.

If you've made it through this whole tale, I'm proud of you. And because I'm proud of you, I'll give you pictures to look at :)


I wish I had gotten a better picture of the white dress I wore when I wasn't in chain maille. It earned me a lot of nicknames. I was the Bride of Dark Cloud, The Virgin Mary of Dark Cloud, and the Virgin Bride of Dark Cloud. LOL.

( Rennie Pictures )

The Bristol Experience

July 5th and 6th marked the opening weekend of Bristol and July 6th was the first of the five days that I have avaliable to spend there this summer.

Sunday was just...amazing. Exhausting but amazing. Loki and I got there around 8:40 and he had to go into grounds because he has employee privileges. That pretty much left me without people for a good 20 minutes because the parking gates hadn't opened yet. It was okay though. I took a few pictures and read a few pages of my new book "Girl Walking Backwards."

Once parking gates opened, I found a swarm of my friends to talk too. It was so awesome getting to see people, especially the faces I haven't seen since I left at the end of last summer and the faces I haven't seen since Midwinter. I found out that Randolph from Chain Maille Fashions was dressing so me, Jingles, and Jennifer planned for the famous Chain Maille sprint, making sure we got a spot right at the front so when the gates opened we could fly through them.

Randolph got us dressed and I have to say that we looked darn hot :) Once dressed, I headed over to the brand new Dark Cloud shop and my heart rate increased when I saw how amazing it was. It's in a prime location now (right across from the Pig and Whistle tavern and right near the Globe Stage)instead of being off the beaten path.

King Zavier (aka Corey), Jess, and Loki were in the shop and I walked in feeling like I was completely home. Zavier took a few minutes away from the leather pounding to give me a hug and ogle over my outfit. He's a big fan of Randolph's work and who could really blame him... Then, I met the Valkyrie who is just awesome. She's a sweetheart too :) And I got to talk to Jennifer's boy a little more and he seems like good people.

I spent most of my morning in the shop and got invited to do parade with Dark Cloud which was the awesome cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that was my Faire day. My job was to look hot (not hard), hand out business cards (again, not hard), wave to the patrons (a little hard since my free hand was full of business cards), and look like a trophy girl on the arm of King Zavier (seriously, I felt like royalty).

After parade and the photo ops, I left the shop for a bit and found Kyle who took me around the grounds. I ended up buying a black mahogany wand with red tint. It was Dark Cloud-esque and of course, I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd so that helps too :) Kyle and I got serenaded by one of the lute players and that was lovely.

Then, I went back to the Dark Cloud shop and ran a few errands for the boys. I spent some time with Mandy, Casey, and Damien. Said hi and gave hugs to people I hadn't gotten to spend much time with.

At the end of the day, I did Drum Jam which is always fun. I learned that howling puts less strain on the vocal cords than screaming does. And I learned that when certain people aren't there, I feel a piece of the energy missing.

If you've made it through this whole tale, I'm proud of you. And because I'm proud of you, I'll give you pictures to look at :)


I wish I had gotten a better picture of the white dress I wore when I wasn't in chain maille. It earned me a lot of nicknames. I was the Bride of Dark Cloud, The Virgin Mary of Dark Cloud, and the Virgin Bride of Dark Cloud. LOL.

( Rennie Pictures )