Emerald City Comic-Con 2011

This March the Mister and I headed to Seattle for Emerald City Comic-Con. It was our very first showing there! Jeff had ventured to Seattle last year as a attendee and enjoyed it so much, he pre-paid for a booth for this year.

I drove all of our loot to Seattle. It took me two days of white-knuckled driving thru wicked weather. I arrived on thursday just in time for some food fun with the rest of the gang (Derek, Jamie Baker, and Ted. With assists from Julia Lundman, Sho Murase, Brian McDonald, and...well...let's just say we had a excellent posse of hungry folks)! First up: Zig Zag Cafe

Friday opened with breakfast at Lola. Greatest breakfast ever! Made to order donuts, amazing potatoes, & maple sausage. A place so nice, we ate there twice!



The booth set up was pretty smooth. The doors opened at 1:45p. It was the 1st Friday in the history of ECCC..and it was slooooow! The rest of the weekend was much better, sales wise. This convention was the 1st time we used Square for accepting payments via credit card. We actually used it to keep a record of all our sales for the weekend. I LOVE Square! I can't wait to use it again!



When we weren't all at our booths, we were stuffing our faces with the best food Seattle had to offer:

Palace Kitchen - Clear winner: Pork shank!
The Kingfish Cafe - clear winner: Bread pudding
Smith - clear winner: EVERYTHING!!
Bonus:
Hi-Lo Cafe - I stopped here on the looooong drive home. Great service & really tasty chicken fried steak (Hey! I'm driving for two days! Now is not the time for healthy eating.)

Thx Seattle! Looking forward to next year!

Surprise! You're going to Disneyland!

The Mister surprised me with a quick trip. It followed almost immediately after our North Carolina jaunt. The only info he would tell me was that we'd be gone for the weekend (Oscar weekend!! What was he thinking?!) and that I needed to pack a bag. He told me to include one 'going out' outfit. Something casual. But, that I'd need walking shoes as well.

What were we doing?!

We arrived at The London West Hollywood (following some drama with our original hotel...nothing crazy, we just decided we'd rather stay somewhere else). It was a GORGEOUS hotel! I had my first celeb sighting of the weekend: Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchico! (I'm guessing he was eating at Gordon Ramsey at The London).



I was in love with our room!


A gorgeous balcony. Too bad it was too cold to use it!


Jeff has his reading ready to go on our HUGE bed!


Jeff is tweeting on his phone while I snap this picture with mine.


This is the shower. It's HUGE, has two shower heads on either side and is oval. I loved it.


The sink area.


The delicious tub. This bathroom was big enough to get lost in!


Comfy robes to use. We totally used these!


Here Jeff is modeling the comfy robe and talking to a pal. He's saying "I really hope my wife isn't taking a picture of me to post on the intewebs." What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

What were we doing in all this luxury?


We got invited to a pre-oscar bash! My sweet hubby planned the entire trip as a lovely surprise! I had NO idea! It was a great party! Lots of congrats flowing. There were fun speeches (Rickles was the stand out!) and touching moments. We wished everyone the best of luck and left a little early...I could've shut the place down but, we had further fun planned:

A trip to Disneyland!!

Thanks For Stopping By!

Every year friends and fans swing by our booth to say "howdy!". I TRY to take a pic of everyone but, this year was so dang busy, I just couldn't keep up! So to everyone who came over, "THANKS!!" and sorry I didn't get your picture.


The Skelly's

SILVERMAN!

Jen & Laura

Killer Chiodo!

Steve Purcell

Kynt & Vyxen

Barenaked ED!

Karen, Victoria, & Sean

Ronnie Del Carmen!

...and many others! Hope you guys had a great time @ 'Con!

Comic-Con: The Madness Continues

The week is a bit of a blur now. We were all very, very busy!





Thursday was a day full of frenzy with pockets of quiet. Friday was a non-stop extravaganza! I was barely able to grab my camera for a few snaps. Last year I could document everything! This year? HA! Too busy try to keep up with everyone to take pictures. I did grab a couple!






One of the best parts of 'Con this year? Jeff got interviewed TWICE!



Also this year? We gotz commissions! Oh yeah! (here are a few of my favorites)





After spending our days swimming in a sea of humanity, our nights were spent stuffing our faces and laughing with friends. I, of course, was busily engaging in those activities and neglected to snap any pictures. Trust me, we had a wonderful time!

Comic-Con 2010: The Start

(Click on the image for a larger view)

I arrived at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel - right next to the Convention center! It was located right around the corner from our booth (#4800) which made the unloading of my car much easier. I'd say a 'snap' but, that would be a HUGE lie! It look THREE trips with the dolly to unload all the stuff from the car!



I picked up my badge and headed in with my first load (of THREE!) only to find our booth in shambles (the pic above is after I put it all together). Every year Freeman dumps all of our stuff right in the middle of the booth space and every year I try to get it set up before the gang arrives. Usually I have Jeff to help me but, this year I was solo. We had a lot more stuff in the booth this year as it was originally set for 5. The furniture hauling coupled with the trips to the car added to the drive down pretty much wiped me out. I opted for full 'set up' in the morning, after Jeff arrived. I finished my night with a swim at the hotel pool and room service.



The next day was Wednesday, Preview Night! The rest of the crew arrived for set up: Scott Morse, Josh Cooley, and Jeff Pidgeon.









Once we finished our set up, I took a quick jaunt over to see Jamie Baker and Rhode at their booth to document it. A tradition I started last year. I didn't really do their fantastic booth justice and only managed to grab a few shots before the hall opened and I had to sprint back to our booth (WAAAAAAY on the other side of the convention center!).






I made it back before the crowds descended!



And we were OFF!

Up Next: The Madness continues!