Modesto Jane Con: Looking Around the Library, Lunch, and a Crazy Random Happenstance

So if you have been following me, you know I have been super excited about Modesto Jane Con. The past eight years I have seen pictures from different Jane Cons and festivals and wished I could go-but they were not possible for me to attend as it always came down to a problem of time, money, work, etc. Instead I had to be content with seeing pictures on social media.

 

But then Modesto Jane Con was created!

From January 10th-12th there were all kinds of workshops, activities, movies, an opera, and even a fashion show!

Your $30 ticket allowed you to attend the workshops (BOTH DAYS) and see one showing of Mansfield Park Opera (your choice of Saturday or Sunday).

That was it, I was going! And I convinced my book club + my sister to join me. I scrounged around for a costume (I’ll post on that later) and made sure to bring a notebook to take copious notes on the workshop and opera to-of course post on them later (as I am now).

So the first workshop of the day was Gowns & Groans. After that you had your choice of The Definitive Darcy or Start You Own Book Club. The third workshop was your choice of Dressing the Regency Lady or Are You a Long-Lost Austen? Searching Your Family Tree.

So after Dressing the Regency Lady, we had about an hour and fifteen mins as Layton went over the time. I wanted to look at the library, the art gallery, and a shop all featured on the Modesto Jane Con instagram, but I was vetoed as everyone was hungry.

For the past few months I had been talking to Lynne Marcus from the Modesto Jane Con Instagram page, and we hoped to meet up at lunch. I wanted to check out Mocha Magic  as that is where Lynne was stopping to eat, but I was vetoed again. We had heard some volunteers and organizers talking about pizza and that is what the group wanted.

They were worried about time, as everyone wanted to get to the Opera to hear the preshow talk at 1:30, but I convinced them to stop at let me look at the library, Stanislaus County Library.

You know me, I love the library! Plus I wanted to check out their Jane Austen display that I saw on social media. Everyone was glad we did as we loved the Regency dress they made out of old book pages. So beautiful and crafty!

After that we looked over the sponsors for Modesto Jane Con to find a place that was close to the theater and served the pizza that everyone craved. We decided on Chefs of New York.

It was a cute café that quickly filled up with other people from Jane Con, (we could tell by the wristbands and what they wore). We had quite a few conversations with other fans.

I think that was one of the most enjoyable parts of Jane Con. Not only did we learn a lot, but we were able to spend time with other fans. We met people from different cities who we had never known before but instantly felt a camaraderie in having the same interests.

Here are people that if you aren’t an extrovert, you probably never would have spoken to. But knowing they are a fan of the same thing, it instantly breaks down a wall as you are kindred spirits.

Ad I don’t usually review food (I do have a few tea places I am planning on reviewing in the future but haven’t yet) but as this was part of the experience and they supported Jane Con, I felt I needed to.

Chefs of New York Downtown was amazing! If you find yourself in Modesto, stop there. This food was so good, I couldn’t eat it fast enough.

I asked the waitress for a suggestion and she recommended the vegetarian panini, which came with a choice of soup or salad. When the food came out, I was shocked at the amount of food I was given. The salad was gigantic, I mean I was expecting a tiny plate-not a huge pasta sized one.

The same was for the soup others ordered.

The sandwich was a good size and just fantastic.

So while we had great conversation, fantastic food, spent the morning in wonderful workshops, I was still feeling a little bummed. I was disappointed that we missed meeting up with Marcus and the organizers of Modesto Jane Con.

So we had been sitting and talking with a family at the table next to us, who create and sell old fashioned hats and victorian clothing. They had left when we received our food, as they had finished theirs. We were about halfway-two thirds through our food when a new group of ladies sat down in the table next to us.

We could tell they were attendees of Jane Con from what they were wearing and after a little while they asked if we attending and what we thought. We shared a bit with them and then they asked how we had heard of it. I shared that I saw it on instagram and then convinced my book club to come with us.

They then asked if I was JaneAustenRunsMyLife and I said it was and it turned out that I was right next to Marcus, the very woman I had been speaking to these past few months. What a crazy random happenstance!

What great luck! It was incredible that it happened. I mean if they hadn’t changed their plans of where they wanted to eat at, or if they had come earlier while that family was still eating we never would have met.

I know that this is kind of an unusual post, but I wanted to give props to the Library and Chefs of New York Downtown as I really appreciate their support of Modesto Jane Con. 

I don’t know of the library was paid or gave them the rooms for free, I am not sure how active the staff was in the involvement of the Con, or what roles they played in putting everything together-but I really appreciate the Stanislaus County Library allowing us to use their space and made it possible to have a Jane Con. I mean parking was free, it was a central spot, and a wonderful meeting area.

Chefs of New York Downtown helped sponsor Modesto Jane Con, how much or in what capacity, I don’t know. All I know is that they were willing to help support this in some way, not knowing if they would get a return or not-people might not choose to eat there with or without their name in the program. We appreciated your sponsorship and visited there, doubly rewarded in amazing food and service.

And to Lynne Marcus and the other organizers, thank you for all your hard work. I know it took a lot of time and energy to plan all the events, schedule the speakers, find volunteers, etc. It wasn’t easy, and I’m sure stressful at times-but your end product was amazing. We learned a lot, had a ton of fun, and just all out enjoyed every minute of it!

You organizers, volunteers, and everyone who helped put Modesto Jane Con together.

And we can’t wait until next year! (If there is a next year, please!)

So we will be taking a break from the Modesto Jane Con until after Valentine’s Day as I have some posts planned for the holiday. Last year I didn’t do it, but I’m back to tradition and plan on doing 14 posts on my favorite romantic moments from film and TV shows.

I’m sure you are wondering what is there left to write about? Well-we still have my review of the Mansfield Park Opera and my costume + the Regency Fashion show.

For more on Modesto Jane Con, go to Modesto Jane Con: Dressing the Regency Lady

My Home Away from Home

I love the library.

Yep, it is full of so many wonderful things.

Ever since I was able to get my own card I’ve been all about going to the library and getting my own books

And as many as I was able to:

As you know this past summer I was in Wyoming, and I went to visit the library and found out it had carts!!!! It had carts like at a store where you could put all your books in and cart it around their massive building!!!

After all:

After all:

For more on libraries, go to Heaven on Earth

For more on Jane Austen, go to The Meaning of Nothing

For more quotes, go to Back to the Fandoms

Heaven on Earth: 13 of the Best Fictional Libraries

So if you’ve been following me, you are pretty aware of my love of libraries.

And I decided to do a post on my favorite fictional libraries. After all:

So here we go, my top 13 Favorite Fictional Libraries.

13) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a fireman in the future, and as a fireman his job is to burn books. Books are now illegal, and it is up to firemen to root out the secret libraries and destroy them. After witnessing a woman willingly burn alive with her library, it gets Guy thinking about what the books contain. It begins with one book, but ends with Guy questioning everything he has ever known.

Why the library is awesome!: So we don’t actually know what is in this library, but if a person is willing to die with it you know it has to hold some amazing things. Even if the books are only valuable to the owner.

For more on Ray Bradbury, go to Friday Night Fun

12) The Music Man

A conman salesman, “Professor” Harold Hill (Robert Preston),  visits the town of River City, Iowa; and convinces the townspeople that the only way to save their children from becoming bad eggs, is to create a boys’ band. But where to get the instruments? From Professor Harold Hill of course! Marian, the town librarian, is a piano teacher, and the only one who could expose Professor Hill as a fraud, so Professor Hill sets out to seduce her. Along the way Professor Hill changes as he starts to care for the people he plans to con.

Why the library is awesome!: One of the musical numbers is Marian the Librarian in which Professor Hill attempts to seduce Marian by singing and dancing with her around the library. A library in which the librarian and town dance around singing? You get two in one—items to read and a show.

11) The Cat Who… Series

The Cat Who…Series is about amazing reporter  Jim “Qwill” Qwilleran who solves murders with the help of his cats. Qwill was a nationally-acclaimed reporter, until he became an alcoholic and lost everything. The first book, The Cat Who Read Backwards, Qwill is trying to put his life back in order and is searching for a job as a reporter. He joins the staff of the Daily Fluxion as a feature writer. After his landlord, the art critic, is killed, Qwill starts investigating with little clues pointed out by his landlord’s cat, Kao K’o Kung (Koko for short). As Qwill continues his investigations he ends up picking up another cat, Yum Yum. In The Cat Who Played Bhrams, Qwill journeys up north to the small town of Mooseville, and visits an old family friend. He ends up inheriting millions, but in order to get them, he has to remain in Moose County. This changes his life forever.

Why the library is awesome!: Qwill is an avid reader and collects as many as he can afford. When he inherits the money, he also receives a stone mansion with a giant library. It holds thousands of books from rare pieces that are worth millions to secondhand and beloved buys.

For more on The Cat Who… Series, go to The Cat Who Wrote A Blog

10) The Breakfast Club

So the movie begins one Saturday morning when five very different students have been sentenced with detention and are stuck with each other. We have Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), “the basket case” who just came for fun; Andrew Clark (Emilio Esteevez), “the athlete”, who recieved detention for bullying a kid; John Bender (Judd Nelson), “the criminal”, sent there because of his acting up in class;  Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), “the princess”, caught skipping school to go shopping; Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), “the brain”, who brought a flare gun to school. At first everyone abides by their cliques, but through the course of the day they all bond together sharing their most personal secrets and working out their dysfunctions.

Why the library is awesome!: A gigantic library with multiple levels and a great sound system! Who wouldn’t want to spend their Saturdays there?

For more on The Breakfast Club, go to The Anniversary of Its Formation

9) My Fair Lady

Based on the play Pygmalion, this musical has Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is disgusted with how the English butcher their English. As he is complaining, he runs into a cockney-accented, flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn). He makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering, that he will be able to teach Eliza how to speak so well that people will mistake her for a duchess. Eliza agrees to the bet as she wants to own a high class flower shop. However, they have their work cut out for them, as Professor Higgins methods are helpful, but extremely rude and harsh.

Why the library is awesome!: Henry Higgins may be rude and a jerk, but this professor has one of the best libraries. Why can’t all libraries be like this?

8) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

In the late 19th century, something is destroying ships as they are navigating the seas, cutting huge holes in the sides and completely ruining them. Professor Aronnax, a leading marine biologist, theories that the creature destroying the ships may come from the deepest depths of the ocean, which would give it incredible strength. He joins a crew who has set out to destroy it, taking along his assistant. The ship is destroyed; but Professor Aronnax, his assistant, and whaler Ned Land survive. They find themselves on a giant submarine, the Nautilus, joining its creator Captain Nemo on a journey under the sea.

Why the library is awesome!: This library is a masterpiece as Captain Nemo had thousands of books by the greatest minds. His collection covered science, morals, philosophy, and literature-in every language.

Professor Aronnax: “I thank you for having placed this library at my disposal. It contains treasures…and I shall profit by them.”

For more on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, go to Episode VI: Return of the Favorite Movie Lines List

7) The Mummy (1999)

In 1290 B.C. Egypt, a high priest Imhotep is caught having an affair with the Pharaoh’s woman. He is put through all the death rites, while still alive, and buried in Hamunaptra. Fast forward to 1932, a French Foreign Legion officer, Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser), finds himself in Hamunaptra, but lost in the desert. Three years later, librarian Evie (Rachel Weisz) is approached by her treasure-hunter brother Jonathan, with an artifact that he thinks will lead him to Hamunaptra. They pick up Rick O’Connell as a guide, and find the city. As they search for treasure they discover the mummy, and accidentally awaken him.

Why the library is awesome!: Even though Evie makes a mess, most of us book lovers wouldn’t mind putting the library she worked at back together as it would allow us to check out all those books. Plus it holds a map to a lost city that holds the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead.

For more on The Mummy (1999), go to Part X: The Movie List That Would NOT Die!

6) Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

In this Indiana Jones adventure, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is on the search for his dad (Sean Connery) and the Holy Grail. His father had been searching for the artifact and disappeared, causing Indy to pick up the trail. He picks up where his dad left off in Venice with Dr. Elsa Schneider, discovering a clue to the Grail. He continues from there to save his dad on the Austria-Hungary border, and discovers a betrayal stemming all the way from the Nazis

Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that has spiral staircases, stain glass windows, and secret treasure underneath. How cool is that? It does rest over the graves of dead bodies…BUT you hold a key to finding the Holy Grail! That’s a great tradeoff.

For more on Indiana Jones, go to And Away We Go

5) The Swan Princess

Derek and Odette were arranged to be married when they were babies. Every summer Odette and her father would visit Derek and his mother in order to get the two to become friends and hopefully, fall in love. The two dislike each other as they don’t like playing with each other. They reach the marriageable age, but Derek messes up with Odette as he tells her that beauty is the only thing that matters. As he runs after them to make up for his stupidity, Odette is captured by an evil wizard and her father killed. The wizard wants Odette to marry him so he can have her kingdom, but Odette says she will never marry the wizard and is turned into a swan, only to become human when the moon touches the pond. Derek searches for Odette and trains himself to be able to handle it. When Derek discovers Odette, the two have to find a way to save her and change her to human.

Why the library is awesome!: So we only see this library for one scene in the film and it rivals that of Beauty and the Beast. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and incredibly tall ladders to reach everything.

For more on The Swan Princess, go to You Should Write a Book

4) Harry Potter Series

Harry Potter discovers that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts School, learning magic spells, potions, and having to fight all kinds of creatures.

Why the library is awesome!: Think of all the magical knowledge within in this place? How awesome would it be to roam these stacks and unlock that. Really explains why Hermione likes to spend so much time there.

For more on Harry Potter, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy is a teenage girl that discovers she is a slayer. She’s equipped with certain abilities that allow her to take down all kinds of monsters-demons, vampires, etc.

Why the library is awesome!: You have a library that holds tons of books for school along with almost anything on the supernatural. Not to mention it doubles as a training area that holds all kinds of weapons. What else do you need?

For more on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, go to Simply Fantastic

2) The Sandman Chronicles

The Sandman Chronicles follows the story of the sandman, or Dream. He was captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape after years, and then has to right his dominion and the rest of the world. These series combines Christianity, mythology, Shakespeare, and more.

Why the library is awesome!: The library in Dreaming holds every book ever dreamt of, even those that were never written. How awesome would it be to roam those stacks?

For more on The Sandman Chronicles, go to Dreaming of the Sandman 

1) Beauty and the Beast

Belle loves to read and finds it hard to relate to anyone in her town. Her father goes out of town on business and gets lost, staying over at a castle he finds. He upsets the owner and is kept prisoner, that is until Belle offers herself in her father’s place.

Why the library is awesome!: Do I really need to explain how awesome this library is? I’m sure every book lover has fallen in love with it. Multiple levels, spiral staircases, and comfy chairs in front of the fireplace-it’s a dream come true.

Yep:

For more on Beauty and the Beast, go to You’re Doing It Wrong

Yep these are some of the greatest libraries ever, and I hope the one I create is even a fraction of these.

For more on libraries, go to When in Doubt

For more book filled posts, go to Taking in Strays

For more of my favorite quotes, go to Perfectly Imperfect

For more quizzes, go to Fandom Love

When In Doubt

As the caped crusader points out, there is no place better to head to. After all:

This was my favorite quote in the whole Harry Potter series. You see I love libraries. Whenever I’m lost I always seem to find them. In college, I spent so much time in the library, people thought I worked there. I just love being with all the books, the quiet, etc.

Me

Yep, a library will always be the best place you could go. After all:

So what are you waiting for? Get thee to a library!

For more on libraries, go to Conan the Librarian 

For more on my love of books, go to Simply Fantastic

For more Batman, go to Fanning All Over the Place

For more on J.K. Rowling, go to I Will Survive

For more Harry Potter quotes, go to Part XI: A Movie Lines List’s Excellent Adventure

For more of my favorite quotes, go to A Sense of Sense and Sensibility 

Conan the Librarian

Okay I loved the original Conan films with Arnold Schwarzenegger, I thought they were absolutely great. (To read more of my thoughts on the first film, go here.)

So anyways, I found this pic on the internet and it is hilarious. 🙂 And it got me thinking…Wouldn’t Conan make an awesome librarian? I mean with him there would be no late fees, ever.

Let me show you what happens to people who keep items past their due date!

He would use all his strength and power to pass on the love of reading.

“Mongol General:  Conan! What is best in life?

Conan: To teach people how to use the online catalog, help people find the books they want, and create children and adult reading programs!”

Haha! LOL

Think about it people. Sometimes the way of the future can be pulled out of the past.

Now in other news, today is a very special day in our world & nation’s history. Not only is it Veterans’ Day, but 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of WWI. I would just like to take the time to give a shout out to all the veterans who have served, and all the troops currently serving.  Thank you so much for everything you have done and for all the sacrifices you have made. I am so happy to live in a country that gives honor to those who deserve it for all that they do. Happy Veteran’s Day!

For more on Conan go to Part XI: A Movie Line List’s Excellent Adventure

For more on Arnold Schwarzenegger, go to I’ll Be Back

For more on libraries, go to The America I Love

To read more book related posts, go to What Have We Done to Each Other?

For more on Veterans’ Day, go to Let’s Hear It for the Boys

For  more on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, go to My Favorite Movie Lines