MISTI-Con 2019: Day 3 Recap

Happy birthday, Harry Potter. I want to thank J.K. Rowling for creating Harry Potter and allowing a fandom to emerge into something so meaningful and exuberant. The Harry Potter fandom has grown over the years and it's pure magic! Despite our differences, we can all congregate in one location to celebrate what Harry Potter means to us. Many of us have struggled and have conquered many obstacles. What keeps us going are the relationships and memories we make with each other through Harry Potter. Our Harry Potter family is strong and will always be there with us. 

Without further ado, let us continue with Day 3 of the MISTI-Con Recap. 

I am finally back from a long but fun and eventful Harry Potter convention called MISTI-Con. All I can say is that I had a fantastic time! The Wizarding Though the Ages theme was perfect for this year. Despite the location and date change from previous MISTIs, the magic is always there! I always look forward to reuniting with old friends and making new friends. We all get to step away from the Muggle world and we embrace the magic around us at MISTI-Con. The con provides a safe and judge-free environment for fans to geek and nerd out about fandom. Everyone dressed up as witches and wizards or even magical creatures or bring life to inanimate magical objects. I saw some very creative cosplays like a howler who was shouting about with Mrs. Black to the renfaire like Luna Lovegood.

I will be recapping the convention in a few posts. I always make a schedule prior to each MISTI with programming I would like to attend but I like to be flexible since most of the best moments are not scheduled. It's always being somewhere at the right time. The schedule is an outline for me but I have to say that I have some programming that I made sure I attended.

This is my 4th MISTI-Con and I hope to attend future ones. If you have never attended a Harry Potter convention, I am hoping you will in the future if you are a huge Potterhead. You will make long-lasting memories of a lifetime! Maybe I will see you a future Harry Potter convention whether it be something like MISTI or perhaps even Leviosa or CONjuration.

Check out my recap for Days 1 and 2 here.

DAY 3: SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2019

Jess and I visited the Common Room first thing in the morning since Dave and Alyse posted something on Facebook about having some delicious bagels and cream cheese that they picked up that morning. Yum! Dave and Alyse are so sweet. The first panel of the day was Credence and Fantastic Beasts: Harry Potter, but Not Safe for Children? Lorrie's panel was very interesting and I love how there is a panel that incorporates the Fantastic Beasts series. Fantastic Beasts is darker than Harry Potter for sure. I feel like some Harry Potter fans do not venture out reading or watching the Harry Potter spinoffs such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child or the Fantastic Beasts series. However, I will soak up anything related to the wizarding world as much as possible and I do like the first Fantastic Beasts film. I found Crimes of Grindelwald more of a filler. Hopefully, the third film will spark my interest once again.

Afterward, I went to see if Krissy needed help setting up for the Bewitching Bazaar since her primary staff responsibility was the craft faire. Everything went really well and the layout was good along Salon 1, Salon 2, Grand Pre-North hallway and part of the Multifunction room. There were so many talented artisans and crafters! There was something for everyone from enamel pins to wands to candles to even crocheted magical creatures. Madam Malkin's Clearance Rack was in the corner of one of the salons and a lot of people were finding great deals.

This time around, I didn't see any clothing that I liked or fit me. However, I scored a couple things from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which include a Ravenclaw wise mug and a 9 3/4 enamel pin. There was an awesome wax seal set with the Chamber of Secrets'entrancece snake design and a hardcover notebook with the Hogwarts emblem which I snatched up immediately. The notebook's Hogwarts emblem is in some kind of metal and the book is some kind of material that mimics leather. It will be fantastic to use to jot down some Harry Potter ideas or notes. The outfit above is what I ended up wearing for the first part of the day. Yay for a new wand holster and a new wand which I will talk more about in the next paragraph. The Weasley twins found me at the Bewitching Bazaar and took a selfie since they approved of my Weasely Wizard Wheezes apron.

Multifunction room section of the Bewitching Bazaar

In terms of the other vendors, I ended up picking up my Kickstarter wand at The Wandcrafter aka Carol after I found the perfect wand holster and Ravenclaw beaded bag at the Blibbering Humdingers's table. I saw Jess looking at wands at OrchardWorks since she was trying to find one that was calling to her. I saw Ni, dressed up as Resurrection Lily Potter, looking at wands at one point as well. Dave and Alyse were wandering around and Dave was able to reunite with his Drumstrang cosplay group. Dave, Jill, Rachel, Bess and Lynn had summer linen Drumstrang outfits complete with belts and the walking sticks. I also found a Fleur with butterflies coming from her hand, a golden snitch, Luna with a lion head hat, SLUG club party Luna, two MACUSA witches all dressed up in 1920ish clothing, Quidditch Harry Potter and I even found two Hogwarts's Founders. Irvin was dressed up as Kreacher and was running around with a frying pan yelling out how he was going to battle and fight on the behalf of his master Regulus. It was quite hilarious! I believe the last thing I picked up at the Bewitching Bazaar is a key fob with Luna's Spectrespecs on it. I volunteered for part of the craft faire to help out but it seemed like most people were all set with everything.

Lyndhurst Mansion

Jess and I skipped our plans to go to Sleepy Hollow that late afternoon/early evening due to the intense heat. But I still ventured outside and went out to play Wizards Unite with Kira since there it was the first Wizards Unite community day from 2:00-5:00. I changed out of my outfit and threw on a simple Marauder's Map sleeveless dress before we headed to Lyndhurst Mansion. We cut through some trail in the woods to pass get to Lyndhurst. Kira has been there two times in the past couple of days and said there were a good amount of inns and traces in the area. She was right! We ended up staying there for a couple of hours and we even bumped into someone from MISTI-Con also playing Wizards Unite. I am so glad there were shady areas so we can sort of cool off while playing Wizards Unite. I was also toggling back and forth between Wizards Unite and Pokémon since there were pokéstops and a Mystic gym. Go Team Mystic!

I returned back to the hotel while Kira went to pick up some Chinese takeout for her mom and herself for dinner. I met up with Jess and we ended up going back to Capri for some yummy pizza and also some gelato. We also swung by CVS since Jess needed a couple more things for the weekend. The Founders's Ball wasn't until 8:00 so we had plenty of time to get ready. The Ball was so much fun! Jess and I were there for around four hours! Everyone was all dressed up and looked fabulous! Babs was located near the ballroom with her enchanted photo sessions and everyone took advantage of the photo sessions. I wish I took advantage of the professional photoshoots throughout the week but I had so much fun catching up with people and attending programming.

I loved Meka's 50's style Slytherin poodle skirt which she has been calling her snoodle skirt (snake+poodle = snoodle). Krissy sported her Regulus Slytherin outfit and Dariti and Nessie dressed up in dresses with a Lion and Badger. Jill was Rowena Ravenclaw and Ni was mini Snape with a helium like mini Snape voice. I ended up wearing my sequined silver dress with a time turner, Spectrespecs and the Ravenclaw beaded bag I bought earlier that day. I ended getting a Rum of Requirement drink at the Ball which had three types of rum, a splash of soda and ice. One of the best things during the night was a Harry Potter proposal on stage! Snape proposed to Narcissa and it was fabulous! Everyone was super excited and cheering "Always" when Nigel and Hilary were on the stage. I got a partial video of the proposal. I unfortunately didn't record the whole thing but at least I got part of it. The portion of the Ball that everyone looks forward to at every MISTI is the last song. Yes, it's sad there is a last song and that the dance will end but we always end the night with Journey's Don't Stop Believin'. There is something magical about ending the night with this song and yes, it's real for us!

My recap for Days 4 and 5 will be up later this week. Make sure to check it out. I also have some posts on Instagram under #NicoleAtMISTICon. MISTI is where I find MY people! It's such a magical gathering where you can truly escape the real world and just step into a realm where everyone is accepting and we can embrace what Harry Potter means to us. As I said before, it's real for us!