What is Hooperpalooza?

My husband and I have been together for over seven years.  We have two beautiful children together, ages 5 and 3.  However, we tied the knot just this last summer.

Picture taken by AMH Photography

Why, you ask?  Let's just say it's complicated.  And let's just say, it really doesn't matter.

One thing that he and I have in common is gaming.  We are both gamers.  We met while working at a game store.  I'm not talking about a video game store, like Game Stop.  I'm talking about a small, locally owned game store with Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer, and the like.  I am talking true, real, social gaming.  I am also referring to the "geeky" style of gaming that most people may think of.  I worked part time at this small game store and Scott worked as a manager for the second location in town.  That is how we met.

Our gaming has evolved and changed so much over the years.  Between the two of us, our experience of various games is vast.  Together, we dabbled in Warhammer 40K and Warhammer.  We've played GURPS, D&D (3.5 edition mostly), Aeon Trinity, and Rifts.  I have played CCG's (collectible card games) such as Magic the Gathering, dotHack, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Legend of Five Rings, and more.  To round out our gaming experience, we play in the virtual world on the computer and various consoles. And finally, we are part of a gaming group that focuses on board games.  Not your run of the mill board games like Monopoly.  I'm talking about Small World, Carcasonne, Pastiche, Ubongo, and so on.  We even have a small collection started, which includes children's board games like Knuckling Knights.

Plainly said, we are gamers.

So, what does all this have to do with Hooperpalooza?

Well, being that a majority of our wedding guests are part of our gaming group, we appropriately came up with a "gaming" name for our wedding event.  One of our friends hosts WesCon.  His name is Wes and the event is all about gaming and hanging out with our gaming friends.

We couldn't really have a HooperCon, now could we?  That just doesn't sound right. 

So, we coined the term Hooperpalooza!

When I started this blog, I needed a name for it.  I could have stuck with my old blog and went with "Butterfly Kisses and Elephant Parades"  I loved that name.  But the elephant phase is long past and we now have to worry about superheroes.  And while butterfly kisses is such a cute name, considering the song, my daughter is such a rough and tumble little girl.  She is into Dora and puppies.  And she is quite the dare devil.  Butterfly kisses really doesn't do her justice.  Also, the name excludes two very important little ladies who came into our lives recently.  Scott's daughters from his prior marriage were living in another state with their mother.  He had no idea where they were and how they were doing.  Only in the last two years did we find out where they were.  And it was just this last summer that we got to have them here for the first time.  What a joy it was to have them here.  Now that they are back home, we miss them dearly.

Anyway, I digress.  The name Hooperpalooza I think does the trick.  It covers all of us.  It is a statement of who we are.  That life is a thing to celebrate.  And to celebrate it with those closest to us, that is our purpose.

To Hooperpalooza!  One big celebration for one small family!