Who are you?
My name is Karen. I live in Louisiana, a short drive away from New Orleans.
I’m married to a wonderful network admin, Doug, who loves classic Doctor Who, board games, video gaming, 3D printing, woodworking, and most everything tech-related.
We have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Daisy, and a Chihuahua, Mia. We got Daisy from a local breeder in 2019, and Mia was my mother-in-law’s pup that we took in after she passed in 2020. They’re both extremely spoiled, LOVE snuggles and attention from people, and taking up all the room on the bed. You’ll probably see a lot of pictures of them on the site.
You may also see pictures of our other Welsh Corgi, Gizmo, who went over the rainbow bridge in December 2022. I miss you, my little man.
What’s with the pictures?
Recently, I re-discovered my love for photography, both digital and analog. Back in the early 2000s, I worked as a photo lab technician for both Eckerd’s and a professional lab in the New Orleans area. I have both a Pentax Spotmatic and a Minolta Maxxum 5 film camera, which work amazingly well considering their age. I also love Lomography – I have both the La Sardina and Konstruktor cameras. I have quite a bit of expired film from when I was a photo lab rat, so you’ll probably see the results of some of those experiments on this site.
Doug gave me a Canon EOS Rebel T5 DSLR with a few lenses a few years ago, so that’s my primary DSLR.
Anything else?
I love going to sci-fi/comic/anime conventions and ren faires.
I met my husband and a lot of my friends through LARPing (live action roleplaying).
In 2007, Doug and I went on a two week trip to London, Wales, and Scotland, and I fell in love with everything there. I have vowed to return to the UK in my lifetime.
I love music, but was not blessed with the ability to create it.
I read really fast, and I read a lot.
I love vintage-inspired fashion, especially dresses that look like they’re from the 40s and 50s.
I collect assorted shades of red lipstick.
I got BIG into K-Pop in early 2022. My favorite groups are Stray Kids, ATEEZ, SHINee, TXT (Tomorrow X Together), OneUs, and BTS, and I am getting into more groups as time goes on. (In fan-speak, I’m a multi stan – STAY, ATINY, Shawol, MOA, ToMoon, and ARMY.)
Where did you get the name “The Blackberry Belle”?
Devil, sweet talkin’ fly on the wall
Blackberry belle of the ball
Just like you told me
I’m gonna crawl
– “Number Nine”, The Twilight Singers