Hello readers! I’m back again! My super busy month seems to be over, and so I can catch up on the slew of posts that I have to put pictures up for. To kick it all off, I bring you the first post of my birthday weekend shenanigans.

I was graced this year with the presence of Jimmy and his family (Lori, Eli, and Skyla) for Youmacon and incidentally my birthday! They arrived on Thursday night (technically Friday morning) at about 2 AM. I had gone Trick or Treating with Garrett, Savannah, and Will earlier then went home and took a nap where I found Dante working on Skyla’s costume for Eruka when I arrived. Despite the tornado that touched down near southern Indiana, Jimmy and crew made it up where I awoke from my nap and we all hung out for a while before taking another nap before I went to work half a day.

The next day I went to work for a half-day so i could hang out with my beloved coworkers a bit on my birthday. Then I went home and while people were showering and getting ready I made Jello/Pudding shots that were for the evening. We headed to Costco to pick up some food and snack’ums before we headed to Youmacon. Those pictures will be in the Friday post, as there are a LOT of pictures.

After wandering around Youmacon for a few hours, we headed straight to Royal Oak for a delicious Whole Hog Dinner. Everyone that was supposed to come came! No one flaked, it was quite magical. I even saw Alexandra Peri there by pure coincidence. Unfortunately Pitmaster Bubba couldn’t make it, but his spirit was there with us – in the pig.

I ordered green beans, smoked bacon, and garlic mash for my sides and it was all soooo delicious. I was a little concerned we might not have enough food for everyone, but John pointed out that we only worked our way through half the pig. By the time we tore into the other half everyone was already almost full. We managed to finish a majority of the food. I took home the leftover sides and pork as well as the bones. The bones will make for a hearty soup, though I have no idea how to use the head so I’m giving that to Sarah. Also I’m splitting the bones with her, because there are a lot of bones and I can only make so much soup stock.

After dinner, most people headed back to my place for drinks and hanging out. I put on some music from a playlist I tweaked from the housewarming party and we all had some jello shots/pudding shots. Thankfully we finished the jello shots, but the pudding shots are being donated to some friends that want them.

Will Kochis made me an awesome gift using some of his miniature painting tools and I don’t feel like I can actually open/drink the contents!

We ended up staying up until 5 AM (not everyone but most everyone was there until at least 1 AM) and everyone had a great time talking and hanging out. I’m thinking for next year I’ll rent out a roller rink. That could be fun.

Evilmanta