For those of you who missed Part I, you can read it over here
Saturday morning we pried ourselves out of bed, made coffee in the french press, dressed for vending and headed up stairs to prep for the onslaught of customers.
We made some minor tweaks to the displays and put out the books that we got from Drake & McTrowell on consignment, which is now available at our online store, we were ready for business, well mostly, there was still more coffee to be had and some food too!
Saturday was crazy for us! When I said onslaught of customers, I wasn't kidding.We had a constant flow of customers come through the booth all day, with very little down time.Come 4:40 pm when they announced that the vendor hall was going to close, Cindy and I looked at each other in shock. I don't think we've every had a day of vending go by that fast. It was such a whirlwind that it took me a bit to remember that I did indeed have lunch and what it was.
Once the vendor hall closed and we covered everything up, we headed to the room and changed into some more comfortable clothes. We relaxed a bit while I added up the numbers from the day and made sure that all the sales were logged and recorded (I swear I'm going to get a barcode scanner one of these days)
From there we again headed to the Auld Dubliner for dinner and then came back to the hotel. We considered heading out to the ball, but we opted to stay in and relax mostly because we didn't feel like getting dressed back up into Steampunk gear.
Sunday was another busy day though it slowed down at the end when most people opted to head home and not stay the extra day.
Monday we drug ourselves out of bed for the final day of vending and since it was such a short day we wore our every day clothes so when it came time to pack up and load out, we didn't have to go change.
Load out went pretty fast, I think we were packed up and on the road in about 2 hours, from there we made our usual stop at Dairy Queen for food, before getting back to San Diego and unloading everything at the shop.
Showing posts with label steampunk symposium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steampunk symposium. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
HRM Steampunk Symposium 4 Recap - Part I
Home, unloaded (mostly) and already powering full speed ahead into planning and prepping for our next event, but before we get to that, let's recap our first event of the year, Her Royal Majesties Steampunk Symposium.
This show is the first show of the year for us and we always look forward to gearing up and spending the weekend on the Queen Mary for the weekend. This year was no exception.
Normally we leave around 2 or 3 pm to get up to Long Beach between 4 or 5 depending on whether or not someone has dorked traffic one of the freeways. This year we didn't actually hit the road until 7pm, because Cindy had to work until 5 and then had to fight her way out of downtown La Jolla, those of you who live in San Diego for any period of time know what I'm talking about. Of course, this also means that since we were slated to load up and go when she got home, the Traffic Gods[tm] decided to be extra rude and made the drive home much slower.
It all worked out since I still wasn't done loading up. Between herding the kids, and having my day discombobulated from having to run all over town, I was a bit behind in what I needed to do.
We finally hit the road about 7 pm and made our way to Long Beach by 9 pm. The Traffic Gods[tm] must have felt bad for the earlier mess and gave us a clear path, except for the road work that we had to navigate through up near Camp Pendelton.
Once we got to the Queen Mary, we unloaded the show stuff and dropped everything in our booth space, leaving the step up to be done first thing Friday morning when we had access to the vendor room. We usually try to get at least the grid wall up the night before, but Cindy and I just wanted to get unloaded and then check into the hotel room and then find the bar for a much needed drink.
The antics and adventures we had when we checked in can be read about over here.
Set up always tends to be an adventure no matter how many times we've put up the booth in different locations. This year was no different.
The vendor room was in a new location from last year, which meant new placement in the room. We didn't really pay much attention to the space when we rolled in Thursday night and dropped off all the grid wall and tubs, Friday morning we were whistling a different tune.
Normally our booth space is 10 feet x 10 feet, this tends to be standard for most conventions that we got to, however, do to the layout of the room and there being two huge pillars along the side we were on, our space was 8 feet wide x 12 feet deep, which gave us 96 square feet of space to work with, instead of 100 square feet. While 4 square feet (2 ft x 2 ft) doesn't really sound like much, when it comes to display space it's actually a lot of room to put stuff. Now, we're down 4 square feet, but we have a new set up to try out for the t-shirts which gets them off the table and stored (in theory) in a much easier way to control inventory and get at the certain sizes. So on to the grid wall set up we go!
We really have a love/hate relationship with grid wall. It's the best way for us to set up the booth and display a good portion of our inventory and it's also great for space delineation. What it's not, is great to move around, it's heavy, and bites the heck out of your fingers if you get them in the way. Thankfully, we were able to get rid of the 8 foot pieces we had and now only have to deal with 6 foot x 2 foot panels and 5 foot x 1 foot panels.
So in comes the grid wall along the back wall....oh wait...that's not a straight wall, it had a built in cabinet that curves outward into the booth, which of course means, we can't put a table along the back. ~scowl,grumble,swear~
Time to rethink the booth layout, which at this point Cindy makes the smart move and goes for more coffee as I sit there working things out in my head and cursing under my breath.
After some shuffling and creative thinking, we got the grid wall up and used the curve to our advantage, though it did cost us a couple extra feet of display space and the second table that we normally have, but we were able to get everything in the booth displayed, though it was a bit too crowded for my tastes. Of course, us artists are our own worst critics too.
Here we are all set up and ready for the first customers on Friday, not to bad for not having our usual amount of space.
We ended up tweaking and rearranging things throughout the weekend, but over all we were happy with the set up that we cobbled together.
Once the doors opened for the day, things flew by, before we knew it they were announcing that it was 4:45 and the vendor hall was going to close 15 minutes later.
While we both devoured lunch at some point during the day, we couldn't wait for the room to close down so we could head out and get dinner.
True to form we, went to the room, changed and headed out to the shuttle to have dinner at our usual haunt, The Auld Dubliner.
In past years the vendor room has closed at 6pm, which usually doesn't put us at the Pub until 7/7:30 depending on how long it takes us to change and take the shuttle over. This year vending closed at 5pm and we were at the pub by 6pm, which of course, was packed to the gills. Thankfully there was a couple leaving and we were able to get a table pretty quickly.
With drinks & dinner ordered, we chatting with Mike & Bre, from L.O.S.E.R, who were sharing a room with us. Of course what dinner isn't complete with a few fun(ny) photos and some photos of the Pub decor:
This show is the first show of the year for us and we always look forward to gearing up and spending the weekend on the Queen Mary for the weekend. This year was no exception.
Normally we leave around 2 or 3 pm to get up to Long Beach between 4 or 5 depending on whether or not someone has dorked traffic one of the freeways. This year we didn't actually hit the road until 7pm, because Cindy had to work until 5 and then had to fight her way out of downtown La Jolla, those of you who live in San Diego for any period of time know what I'm talking about. Of course, this also means that since we were slated to load up and go when she got home, the Traffic Gods[tm] decided to be extra rude and made the drive home much slower.
It all worked out since I still wasn't done loading up. Between herding the kids, and having my day discombobulated from having to run all over town, I was a bit behind in what I needed to do.
We finally hit the road about 7 pm and made our way to Long Beach by 9 pm. The Traffic Gods[tm] must have felt bad for the earlier mess and gave us a clear path, except for the road work that we had to navigate through up near Camp Pendelton.
Once we got to the Queen Mary, we unloaded the show stuff and dropped everything in our booth space, leaving the step up to be done first thing Friday morning when we had access to the vendor room. We usually try to get at least the grid wall up the night before, but Cindy and I just wanted to get unloaded and then check into the hotel room and then find the bar for a much needed drink.
The antics and adventures we had when we checked in can be read about over here.
Set up always tends to be an adventure no matter how many times we've put up the booth in different locations. This year was no different.
The vendor room was in a new location from last year, which meant new placement in the room. We didn't really pay much attention to the space when we rolled in Thursday night and dropped off all the grid wall and tubs, Friday morning we were whistling a different tune.
Normally our booth space is 10 feet x 10 feet, this tends to be standard for most conventions that we got to, however, do to the layout of the room and there being two huge pillars along the side we were on, our space was 8 feet wide x 12 feet deep, which gave us 96 square feet of space to work with, instead of 100 square feet. While 4 square feet (2 ft x 2 ft) doesn't really sound like much, when it comes to display space it's actually a lot of room to put stuff. Now, we're down 4 square feet, but we have a new set up to try out for the t-shirts which gets them off the table and stored (in theory) in a much easier way to control inventory and get at the certain sizes. So on to the grid wall set up we go!
 |
| Loading in |
So in comes the grid wall along the back wall....oh wait...that's not a straight wall, it had a built in cabinet that curves outward into the booth, which of course means, we can't put a table along the back. ~scowl,grumble,swear~
 |
| Putting up the banner |
After some shuffling and creative thinking, we got the grid wall up and used the curve to our advantage, though it did cost us a couple extra feet of display space and the second table that we normally have, but we were able to get everything in the booth displayed, though it was a bit too crowded for my tastes. Of course, us artists are our own worst critics too.
Here we are all set up and ready for the first customers on Friday, not to bad for not having our usual amount of space.
 |
| All set up and ready for customers |
We ended up tweaking and rearranging things throughout the weekend, but over all we were happy with the set up that we cobbled together.
 |
| Cindy & Colleen |
While we both devoured lunch at some point during the day, we couldn't wait for the room to close down so we could head out and get dinner.
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| Glorious Guinness |
True to form we, went to the room, changed and headed out to the shuttle to have dinner at our usual haunt, The Auld Dubliner.
In past years the vendor room has closed at 6pm, which usually doesn't put us at the Pub until 7/7:30 depending on how long it takes us to change and take the shuttle over. This year vending closed at 5pm and we were at the pub by 6pm, which of course, was packed to the gills. Thankfully there was a couple leaving and we were able to get a table pretty quickly.
 |
| Selfies or ceiling photos ? |
With drinks & dinner ordered, we chatting with Mike & Bre, from L.O.S.E.R, who were sharing a room with us. Of course what dinner isn't complete with a few fun(ny) photos and some photos of the Pub decor:
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| Pennyfarthing |
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| The bar area, with a rather impressive whiskey selection |
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| We're not sure if Mike is trying to serenade Bre or eat her brains. |
Friday, January 16, 2015
First show of 2015 - HRM Steampunk Sympsium
We're back at it for 2015 and I'm hoping that I can be a bit better at the upkeep of the blog and the goings on of Wyng'd Lyon. I'll do my best but I can make any promises.
Last night, January 15, 2015, Cindy and I loaded up and hit the road for Long Beach for our first show if the year, HRM Steampunk Symposium.
After leaving an hour later than we wanted last night we got to the Queen Mary with an hour to unload, which for Cindy and I is an amazing amount of time.
We checked in with the vendor coordinator, found our booth space and had everything out of the truck in a total of 30 minutes. The whole evening was a comedy of errors though, from the dolly having a mind of its own in the hardwood floors of the Promenade Deck, the wheel of my suitcase deciding that it was going to stop work and literally go sideways, right down to checking into our room and discovering that I booked a room with two twin beds instead of two queens. Certainly not conducive for sleeping 4 people, so back to the front desk to upgrade the room so no one had to sleep in the bathtub.
Once the room issue was straightened out, we went to find the bar and settled in with some friends for a couple hours of laughing and swapping stories.
After finally turning in a bit after midnight, we both slept like the dead and are now working on caffeinating ourselves and waiting for the maintenance guy to come fix the shower. Yep, the fun continues!
Oh look the maintenance guy just showed up and I need more coffee.
More to come as the day progresses!
Thursday, April 17, 2014
HRM Steampunk Symposium Part IV
For those who missed them, here are Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3
The last day of conventions are always the saddest day for me, because that means we're one step closer to having to pack up and go home to the daily grid. Though in a way it's a double edged sword, because it also means that get to go home and see my kids who I haven't seen for 4 days.
Lather, rinse, repeat with the early morning wake up time (again). At least this time I had something t keep me occupied, Cindy had forwarded me a copy of her recap of the Run for Your Lives Zombie 5K that we did back in October 2013. One good thing about being the first to wake up is that you get to enjoy some peace and quiet, the bad thing is trying to be quiet or keep from shaking your bed mate out of the bed from laughing so hard remembering the hilarity of the events that took place during the run. For those of you who want to share in the hilarity, you can read the recap here.
After enough giggling and the alarm clock finally going off, we all get up and started the morning dance of packing up our belongings and taking them down to the car since we had to be checked out of the room by noon and well, we'd all be in the vendor room for any final sales that would be happening.
Most of the day was uneventful though come 1pm there was much commotion when a group of bandits burst into the room and robbed a few of the vendors, us included. We gave up a good fight but were overcome when they ganged up on us. They rushed out the side door when the constabulary rush in to try and make an arrest. Incidentally most of the bandits were caught, and the day was saved. The few that escaped and made it back to their hide out ended up with quite the surprise. See, the tricky lasses that we are, decided to replace the cash with Hershey's kisses.
If you haven't guessed by now, the above robbery was staged as part of the weekends events. Our friend Phineas asked if we would be willing participants to be robbed by the League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries (L.O.S.E.R). Though I think they were a bit surprised when not only did we fight back, we ended up with their "cash"
After the afternoons excitement died down, we visited with friends and customer and then said by to Andee who had to leave for the bus station to make her way back to Tucson. Before Cindy and I knew it, the vending day was over and we started breaking down and packing up. Mike and Bre stopped by and said their good-bye and apologies for not staying to help as Mike was coming down with the plague.
Cindy and I had the booth broke down and packed up in an hour, something that used to take us at least twice that in the past. Of course it took us longer to get off the boat and loaded into the truck since there was a line of vendors all waiting to use the same elevator to get off the boat. Now most vendors are pretty patient people and all tend to laugh and joke when waiting for things to progress, but there is always one that causes some sort of hate and discontent and this event was no exception.
Incidentally not only were Cindy and I the subject of this guys rudeness of cutting in line, he happened to be the same guy that commented on Cindy's Lovecraft shirt a few events back, saying that it was a great shirt, and then proceeded to ask her if she even knew who Lovecraft was.. I'm sure you can imagine the ranting that ensued from both of us at that point.
Once we finally got ourselves down to the parking area, we got the truck loaded up and hit the road making our usual stop at Dairy Queen for dinner before making it back to San Diego to unload the truck and then go home to pass out.
HRM Steampunk Symposium gets better every year and it was an awesome way to start off 2014. We can't wait to be back on the Queen Mary for another round of fun and shenanigans.
The last day of conventions are always the saddest day for me, because that means we're one step closer to having to pack up and go home to the daily grid. Though in a way it's a double edged sword, because it also means that get to go home and see my kids who I haven't seen for 4 days.
Lather, rinse, repeat with the early morning wake up time (again). At least this time I had something t keep me occupied, Cindy had forwarded me a copy of her recap of the Run for Your Lives Zombie 5K that we did back in October 2013. One good thing about being the first to wake up is that you get to enjoy some peace and quiet, the bad thing is trying to be quiet or keep from shaking your bed mate out of the bed from laughing so hard remembering the hilarity of the events that took place during the run. For those of you who want to share in the hilarity, you can read the recap here.
After enough giggling and the alarm clock finally going off, we all get up and started the morning dance of packing up our belongings and taking them down to the car since we had to be checked out of the room by noon and well, we'd all be in the vendor room for any final sales that would be happening.
Most of the day was uneventful though come 1pm there was much commotion when a group of bandits burst into the room and robbed a few of the vendors, us included. We gave up a good fight but were overcome when they ganged up on us. They rushed out the side door when the constabulary rush in to try and make an arrest. Incidentally most of the bandits were caught, and the day was saved. The few that escaped and made it back to their hide out ended up with quite the surprise. See, the tricky lasses that we are, decided to replace the cash with Hershey's kisses.
If you haven't guessed by now, the above robbery was staged as part of the weekends events. Our friend Phineas asked if we would be willing participants to be robbed by the League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries (L.O.S.E.R). Though I think they were a bit surprised when not only did we fight back, we ended up with their "cash"
After the afternoons excitement died down, we visited with friends and customer and then said by to Andee who had to leave for the bus station to make her way back to Tucson. Before Cindy and I knew it, the vending day was over and we started breaking down and packing up. Mike and Bre stopped by and said their good-bye and apologies for not staying to help as Mike was coming down with the plague.
Cindy and I had the booth broke down and packed up in an hour, something that used to take us at least twice that in the past. Of course it took us longer to get off the boat and loaded into the truck since there was a line of vendors all waiting to use the same elevator to get off the boat. Now most vendors are pretty patient people and all tend to laugh and joke when waiting for things to progress, but there is always one that causes some sort of hate and discontent and this event was no exception.
Incidentally not only were Cindy and I the subject of this guys rudeness of cutting in line, he happened to be the same guy that commented on Cindy's Lovecraft shirt a few events back, saying that it was a great shirt, and then proceeded to ask her if she even knew who Lovecraft was.
Once we finally got ourselves down to the parking area, we got the truck loaded up and hit the road making our usual stop at Dairy Queen for dinner before making it back to San Diego to unload the truck and then go home to pass out.
HRM Steampunk Symposium gets better every year and it was an awesome way to start off 2014. We can't wait to be back on the Queen Mary for another round of fun and shenanigans.
Friday, February 28, 2014
HRM Steampunk Symposium (Recap - Part III)
Here are Part I and Part II for those of you who are just joining us.
The second day of conventions always tend to be the least stressful, mostly because everything is set up already and all we have to do when we get to the vendor room is uncover the booth and reset a few items that we laid down so they don't get knocked over and broken, like our Absinthe glasses.
That and by then my body has decided that I get to sleep in, or maybe it's because I've whacked out my sleep schedule because we'd stay up until 1 or 2 am the night before laughing and giggling about whatever our sleep deprived brains decide is funny. Of course, the biggest problem with this is we end up being loud and not know it until the adjoining wall gets pounded on by the occupants we've woken up or by getting a phone call from the front desk. Thankfully none of that happened this year.
Again, my brain decided that I needed to be the first one awake as soon as the sun came up, though I did actually get to sleep in until 7:30 am, trust me this is a milestone, just ask any parent with kids under the age of 7. Grabbing my phone, I read email and checked Facebook while I waited for the rest of the crew to wake up, or in this case, I ended up waking them up as everyone was enjoying their slumber, this was of course after walking the obstacle course of bodies on the floor to and from the bathroom.
On to making coffee and ironing the yards of red fabric for my dress, which had been balled up in a pile since the last time it was worn, which I think was back in July 2013, all the while the 5 of us were doing the hotel room dance around each other, trying to get in and out of the bathroom and around the room to get dressed and our make up on. Despite no real choreography, no one tripped, died or fried themselves on the hot iron.
Once we were all corseted up, we grabbed our things and headed upstairs to uncover the booth and get ready for the days customers. Cindy and Andee ventured off to the coffee cart to obtain some more caffeine and some much needed food and we were ready for the day! Bring on the sales!
Saturday was as busy as Friday and we could tell when then panels and other events let out as we were graced by a wave of customers each time. Cindy was cranking out the commission sketches between customers and friends stopping by and Andee was working on some creative quilled items, while I sat and finished sewing the string ties and ascots that I hadn't finished before leaving San Diego, if you can't tell, this is a reoccurring thing for me, of course it also gives me something to do during the slow times in the booth.
Come the end of the vending day we were more than ready to go change, grab dinner and then come back to get ready for the ball.
Dinner was once again at The Auld Dubliner, though it was just the three of us this round and we lacked the fun bus ride of Thursday night, but we did remember to get off the bus at the stop closer to the Pub! (See we can be taught!) After a round of Irish Coffees, a lovely glass of Oban Scotch and some really good food, we made our way back to the Queen Mary and donned our finery for the Saturday night ball.
We made it to the ball just in time for Abney Park to start their second set for the evening. Being a big fan of their music I was very excited to see them live, though I wished that the kids could have been there, because they would have had a blast as well. Once the set was over the came out and did a couple more songs as an encore and then threw out the sets lists from the second set. I was standing there talking to Cindy when I felt something bounce off my chest, lo and behold, it was one of the set lists.
After the crowd dispersed a bit we went over to get in line and get autographs. I also picked up a copy of Abney Park's book Wrath of Fate and had that and the set lists autographed by the band. I even managed to get photos with the guitarist and the lead singer, Robert. I told him how my kids love to sit in the back seat of the truck and sing along with Airship Pirates. He also noticed Cindy's stuffed ferret, Senor Squeaky Pants and asked if it was a weasel, when she said no, he asked if it could be a weasel (if only for a moment). Seems the guitarist has a thing for weasels. She laughed and said he could be a weasel if they wanted him to be. Robert then pointed our Senor Squeaky Pants to the guitarist and he dug out his phone and asked Robert to take a photo with the comment "I think this the first time I've ever asked to have a photo with a fan."
We chatted for a few more minutes and then made our way to the midnight buffet line and since we were not only full from dinner a few hours earlier, we lived by the ideal that "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" mantra and went straight for the tasty dessert morsels.
After our fill of sugary goodness we made our way back to the hotel room, chatted for a bit and then passed out.
The 4th and final part is here
That and by then my body has decided that I get to sleep in, or maybe it's because I've whacked out my sleep schedule because we'd stay up until 1 or 2 am the night before laughing and giggling about whatever our sleep deprived brains decide is funny. Of course, the biggest problem with this is we end up being loud and not know it until the adjoining wall gets pounded on by the occupants we've woken up or by getting a phone call from the front desk. Thankfully none of that happened this year.
Again, my brain decided that I needed to be the first one awake as soon as the sun came up, though I did actually get to sleep in until 7:30 am, trust me this is a milestone, just ask any parent with kids under the age of 7. Grabbing my phone, I read email and checked Facebook while I waited for the rest of the crew to wake up, or in this case, I ended up waking them up as everyone was enjoying their slumber, this was of course after walking the obstacle course of bodies on the floor to and from the bathroom.
On to making coffee and ironing the yards of red fabric for my dress, which had been balled up in a pile since the last time it was worn, which I think was back in July 2013, all the while the 5 of us were doing the hotel room dance around each other, trying to get in and out of the bathroom and around the room to get dressed and our make up on. Despite no real choreography, no one tripped, died or fried themselves on the hot iron.
Once we were all corseted up, we grabbed our things and headed upstairs to uncover the booth and get ready for the days customers. Cindy and Andee ventured off to the coffee cart to obtain some more caffeine and some much needed food and we were ready for the day! Bring on the sales!
Saturday was as busy as Friday and we could tell when then panels and other events let out as we were graced by a wave of customers each time. Cindy was cranking out the commission sketches between customers and friends stopping by and Andee was working on some creative quilled items, while I sat and finished sewing the string ties and ascots that I hadn't finished before leaving San Diego, if you can't tell, this is a reoccurring thing for me, of course it also gives me something to do during the slow times in the booth.
Come the end of the vending day we were more than ready to go change, grab dinner and then come back to get ready for the ball.
Dinner was once again at The Auld Dubliner, though it was just the three of us this round and we lacked the fun bus ride of Thursday night, but we did remember to get off the bus at the stop closer to the Pub! (See we can be taught!) After a round of Irish Coffees, a lovely glass of Oban Scotch and some really good food, we made our way back to the Queen Mary and donned our finery for the Saturday night ball.
We made it to the ball just in time for Abney Park to start their second set for the evening. Being a big fan of their music I was very excited to see them live, though I wished that the kids could have been there, because they would have had a blast as well. Once the set was over the came out and did a couple more songs as an encore and then threw out the sets lists from the second set. I was standing there talking to Cindy when I felt something bounce off my chest, lo and behold, it was one of the set lists.
After the crowd dispersed a bit we went over to get in line and get autographs. I also picked up a copy of Abney Park's book Wrath of Fate and had that and the set lists autographed by the band. I even managed to get photos with the guitarist and the lead singer, Robert. I told him how my kids love to sit in the back seat of the truck and sing along with Airship Pirates. He also noticed Cindy's stuffed ferret, Senor Squeaky Pants and asked if it was a weasel, when she said no, he asked if it could be a weasel (if only for a moment). Seems the guitarist has a thing for weasels. She laughed and said he could be a weasel if they wanted him to be. Robert then pointed our Senor Squeaky Pants to the guitarist and he dug out his phone and asked Robert to take a photo with the comment "I think this the first time I've ever asked to have a photo with a fan."
We chatted for a few more minutes and then made our way to the midnight buffet line and since we were not only full from dinner a few hours earlier, we lived by the ideal that "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" mantra and went straight for the tasty dessert morsels.
After our fill of sugary goodness we made our way back to the hotel room, chatted for a bit and then passed out.
The 4th and final part is here
Monday, January 27, 2014
HRM Steampunk Symposium (Recap - Part II)
For those of you who missed Part I
Now events are a bit a of a vacation for me, not that I don't love my kids or husband, but there are just times that you need to get away for a few days to recharge and regain any semblance of sanity you might be able to pull kicking and screaming back from the void, they're also a time for me to sleep in. Well, you would think that would at least be the case, so you imagine my irritation when my body decided that I needed to be wide awake at 6:30 am on Friday morning.
Since we unplugged the alarm clock that was in the room, because it was the only outlet that the phone charger wouldn't fall out of. Upon waking I grabbed my phone thinking it was arounf 7:30 or 8 in the morning to see the bright numbers telling me it was 6:30 am. Grumbling I put my phone back on the headboard and slunk back down into the bed trying to get myself to fall back asleep. After tossing and turning for about 45 minutes, I gave up, grabbed my phone and began to peruse Facebook and check my email, all the while glaring and grumbling at Cindy and Andee who were still fast asleep.
Around 8, I detected movement from the other two and we started getting ready for the days events. First order of business, coffee. Learning from the first year on the Queen Mary, where we discovered no coffee pots in the room, we have since been bringing an electric tea kettle, a french press, coffee and tea, so getting started in the morning is much easier, as opposed to getting dressed and then wandering around in a haze trying to find coffee and not growl at anyone in the process.
After correcting the blood to caffeine levels in our bodies, we headed up to the vendor hall to finish set up of the booth, where like parking is always something that ends up being re-engineered by yours truly. The awesome guys at the booth behind us (Crimson Chain Leather) told us that we could push our grid wall so it butted up against their storage containers, which gave us another 4 feet of booth space! After some shuffling and sliding of grid wall and tables, we had the booth layout completed. I ended up pulling the two pieces of grid wall off the left side of the booth and lending it to Lyssa from LastWear Clothing as they really didn't have much to set things up on since they flew down from Seattle.
From there we starting putting out merchandise and while I tinkered around Cindy and Andee went off in search of coffee and something to eat for breakfast. Low blood sugar is bad, mkay?, so are low caffeine levels too.
Come 11:45 we're still putting out merchandise, when Kat, our lovely and awesome vendor coordinator comes by to tell us there was a scheduling mix-up on the website with the vending time, it seems they posted that the hall didn't open until 1pm, which gave us an extra hour of set up time. Rock on, though we were mostly set up, it was nice to have the extra time to rearrange and refine the set up.
We took turns running down to the room to change from our jeans and t-shirts to our Steampunk attire and were then ready to take over the worl....ahem I mean, ready to vend!
The booth setup essentially remains the same, though we do move things around periodically to make things more aesthetic looking and so it flows better. I think having 2-3 artisans in the booth really helps things comes together in a cohesive look. We're gotten many compliments of the setup and layout of our booth, which are very much appreciated and makes us feel all warm and squishy.
Vending started off slow, but picked up at some point in the afternoon and before we knew it, it was 6pm and the vendor hall was closing for the evening and once things were locked down, we met up with Phineas from League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries (LOSER) and his lovely girlfriend Bre (who were also crashing in the room), made a quick stop at the room to change and then headed off to dinner at The Auld Dubliner (can you tell we like this place?).
Sadly we didn't have the party shuttle driver for either trip on the shuttle, but we did realize on the last trip that if we waited two most stops, the shuttle would drop us right across the street from the Pub.
Dinner ended up being one of their delicious boxty plates with a Guinness and a lovely glass of Laphroigh scotch along with a side of their crisps (potato chips for you not in the know) with truffle oil and goat cheese. Good stuff right there.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening in with a bottle of wine and some great company.
Part III coming soon.
Now events are a bit a of a vacation for me, not that I don't love my kids or husband, but there are just times that you need to get away for a few days to recharge and regain any semblance of sanity you might be able to pull kicking and screaming back from the void, they're also a time for me to sleep in. Well, you would think that would at least be the case, so you imagine my irritation when my body decided that I needed to be wide awake at 6:30 am on Friday morning.
Since we unplugged the alarm clock that was in the room, because it was the only outlet that the phone charger wouldn't fall out of. Upon waking I grabbed my phone thinking it was arounf 7:30 or 8 in the morning to see the bright numbers telling me it was 6:30 am. Grumbling I put my phone back on the headboard and slunk back down into the bed trying to get myself to fall back asleep. After tossing and turning for about 45 minutes, I gave up, grabbed my phone and began to peruse Facebook and check my email, all the while glaring and grumbling at Cindy and Andee who were still fast asleep.
Around 8, I detected movement from the other two and we started getting ready for the days events. First order of business, coffee. Learning from the first year on the Queen Mary, where we discovered no coffee pots in the room, we have since been bringing an electric tea kettle, a french press, coffee and tea, so getting started in the morning is much easier, as opposed to getting dressed and then wandering around in a haze trying to find coffee and not growl at anyone in the process.
 |
| New poster going up. |
From there we starting putting out merchandise and while I tinkered around Cindy and Andee went off in search of coffee and something to eat for breakfast. Low blood sugar is bad, mkay?, so are low caffeine levels too.
Come 11:45 we're still putting out merchandise, when Kat, our lovely and awesome vendor coordinator comes by to tell us there was a scheduling mix-up on the website with the vending time, it seems they posted that the hall didn't open until 1pm, which gave us an extra hour of set up time. Rock on, though we were mostly set up, it was nice to have the extra time to rearrange and refine the set up.
We took turns running down to the room to change from our jeans and t-shirts to our Steampunk attire and were then ready to take over the worl....ahem I mean, ready to vend!
The booth setup essentially remains the same, though we do move things around periodically to make things more aesthetic looking and so it flows better. I think having 2-3 artisans in the booth really helps things comes together in a cohesive look. We're gotten many compliments of the setup and layout of our booth, which are very much appreciated and makes us feel all warm and squishy. Vending started off slow, but picked up at some point in the afternoon and before we knew it, it was 6pm and the vendor hall was closing for the evening and once things were locked down, we met up with Phineas from League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries (LOSER) and his lovely girlfriend Bre (who were also crashing in the room), made a quick stop at the room to change and then headed off to dinner at The Auld Dubliner (can you tell we like this place?).
Sadly we didn't have the party shuttle driver for either trip on the shuttle, but we did realize on the last trip that if we waited two most stops, the shuttle would drop us right across the street from the Pub.Dinner ended up being one of their delicious boxty plates with a Guinness and a lovely glass of Laphroigh scotch along with a side of their crisps (potato chips for you not in the know) with truffle oil and goat cheese. Good stuff right there.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening in with a bottle of wine and some great company.
Part III coming soon.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Her Royal Majesties Steampunk Symposium the Third (Recap - part I)
I have to say that Her Royal Majesties Steampunk Symposium has come along way in the three years it's been happening. Every year seems to get better, though there is always something new that surprises us, sometimes good, other times not so good, but the organizers still put on a good event and we have fun.
The event ran from January 10th through January 12th on the Queen Mary, though this year, my partner in crime Cindy (from Original Cin) decided that since neither of us are really morning people, we should head up on Thursday afternoon instead of at O'dark thirty Friday morning. Let's just say that is the new standard for this event. I took the day off from my full time job and headed to the shop to try to finish up some custom work and pack up all the merchandise for the weekend. I had grand ideas of being able to finish a custom vest and then pack everything, which went right out the window when I stopped back at home after dropping my daughter off at school.
I made some much needed coffee and then packed up my clothes for the weekend, the intent was to get my clothes packed and hope that while I was doing so, Fedex would show up with the box of shirts that were due to arrive from Sigh Co. Graphics. Sadly I didn't get that lucky and after I was all packed up I sat down and visited with my roommate until about 9:30 am, when we both decided that if we were going to get what we needed done for the day we needed to get our butts in motion.
After loading up the truck with everything from the house that I needed, except the box of shirts that were still in transit, I swung by where my husband was working and picked up the floor dolly from the trunk of his car. From there I headed over to the shop and started digging out the merchandise containers which were mostly packed up from the last show we did back in November. While I packed, I fired up the laptop and started doing the sign printing I needed for the weekend. (yay multitasking!)
My husband swung by after he was done at work to help me load and spent at least an hour sitting there watching me. His comment: "I remember why I don't help you pack, I just end up sitting here", and he's right, I have such a system of packing that it usually ends up being a nightmare if anyone besides Cindy helps me (just ask Tawmis & Andee), though I am getting a bit better about giving direction, somewhat.
Now, we moved the shop back in June from Casa de Oro, Ca to Lemon Grove, Ca, which is about 6 miles west of where we were. The space is almost twice as big and is much more secure. The drawback, we're on the 4th floor and the elevator is tiny as well as temperamental at times. This means multiple elevator trips to get everything downstairs. Getting things to the truck is another adventure since there is a breezeway you drive through to get to the back of the building to theslope hill of a parking lot. The breezeway is mostly flat and is wide enough for two cars, but the security guard gets a bit cantankerous if you are parked there too long. The only other option is to pull into one of the two handicap parking spots, which has it's own ramifications (expensive ones too!).
Queue to the loading. When you do something multiple times you eventually get it down to a science and I have certainly got that done with loading in and out of the shop. We stage everything out into the hall and one person takes a load down in the elevator, sends the elevator back up and lather, rinse repeat until everything is down in the lobby.
Then it's time to get the truck and park it in the fire lane, much to the irritation of the security guard, of course he's can't really complain about it too much, since 1. there is no loading zone and 2. we are parked there *maybe* 15-20 minutes max. This is how it goes:
1. 12 pieces of grid wall into the bed of the truck, trying carefully to not smash the Hell out of ones fingers. Trust me, grid wall is evil, but it's one of the best ways to display our stuff (at least at this juncture)
2. Load the large black storage containers of which there are 5. This becomes a game of Tetris, mostly because I forget how they get put in from show to show, you'd think I'd remember after 18 shows with the damn things.
3. Then fit in any additional (smaller) tubs, boxes, suitcases and then the dollies to move everything around and then strap it all down with tie downs. Shake the items to make sure they're not going anywhere and then....
4. Stuff all the loose stuff (usually the sewing machine, purse, handing clothes, etc.) into the back seat of the truck.
5. Profit! well...not yet at least.
From there is was off to the gas station and then swinging by to pick up Cindy, who was just getting home from work and then time to hit the open highway for Long Beach.
2 miles down the road, the realization hits, the sewing machine is still at the shop. Off the freeway we go to the shop to grab the sewing machine, (the foot pedal was already packed) and then a quick stop at Taco Bell because I hadn't eaten yet. Trust me with no food is a bad for a lot of people's health, almost as hazardous as me without coffee.
Sewing machine - check
Food - check
Full tank of gas - check
Alright take two on the road to Long Beach, with a couple side stops. First stop, the printers to get the posters I had made with the new logo, then CVS to get a binder, batteries and some Airborne, and the last stop being my place of employment to stop by and pick up the last piece of my Christmas gift from Tawmis. Which was pretty damn amazing! (Photos later)
Then onto the open road known as Interstate 5 North. After all the stops, it was about 3:30 pm before we were actually headed out of San Diego where we began to have little feelings of dread. Why you ask? Well for anyone who lives in Southern California, you know that people start leaving work around 4pm, which would drop us into Los Angeles about 5 pm, (see where I'm heading with this?) right into rush hour traffic.
With a quick bathroom break (too much ice tea!) at the rest stop just before Camp Pendelton, we fired up the first episode the Comic Relief Podcast, done by my dear friends Tawmis & Maico. Then we switched over to Welcome to Night Vale. Surprisingly traffic only slowed down and never really came to a complete stop. We sailed into Long Beach at about 5:45pm, parked the truck and checked into our room on the Queen Mary.
We still had about an hour to kill before we could unload everything for the event though. While Cindy and I were plotting a plan of attack for the unload as we walked to our suite, Andee (Twylite Creations) texted me asking to let her know when we arrived to which I responded with "We just got here." to which she frantically responded with.."I'll be there shortly."
Upon entering our suite, Cindy and I plopped down our suitcases and turned to look at the room. First words out of Cindy's mouth, "Where is the bathroom?" The first door she went to was the one to the adjoining room which was locked and then she opened the closet and well discovered it was a closet and not the bathroom.
Confused, we both looked at each other and she asked "Did you get us a room without a bathroom?!?"
"Uh, it's a suite it better have a @$()@*)(@ bathroom." I replied.
She went to the adjoining door again and stood there puzzled as I went to close the hotel room door and upon that, discovered the door to the bathroom. Laughing we breathed a sigh of relief , as Cindy says "It's going to be one of those Cons isn't it?"
"Isn't it always?" was my reply.
After getting our stuff settled in, we headed upstairs to see if we might be able to get into the vendor room a bit early. Sadly the doors were still locked and the staff was still marking off spaces. Just as we got back down to the lobby, we see Andee walk through the doors with her suitcases, so we walked her and her stuff to the room AND told her where the bathroom was. By this time it was 6:45, so we decided to go unload the truck figuring that we'd be upstairs about the time the vendor room was open for load-in.
We arrived at the Queen's Lounge at 7:01 pm and true to form for any Con, they were still laying out booth spaces. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before our space was done (same space as last year) and then we began to plot. As always we set up the grid wall in a U shape and then did the same with the tables. After much shifting we had everything ready to go, of course I extended the grid wall set up and there were two extra panels on one side, which made Andee's OCD want to run to a corner and rock in it repeatedly.
By the time we were done it was about 8:15. Since my last meal was about 2:30 pm, we decided that we'd finish setting up in the morning since we had 4 hours before the vendor hall opened.
After a quick stop at the hotel room to drop off things like the cash box, we headed off to the shuttle. The shuttle has to be by far one of my favorite things about this event. It's free and it takes us right into downtown Long Beach where all the restaurants are. True to form, we took the opportunity to dine at The Auld Dubliner. I mean really, who can pass up good food and whiskey as well as great customer service.
After dinner we made our way back to the shuttle stop to return to the hotel. Now for those of you who haven't been to downtown Long Beach or the Queen Mary, there are two shuttles, on that drops off from the Queen Mary and one that picks up. Like any bus service, I'm sure they switch their signs halfway through the route. The first shuttle up was the one coming from the Queen Mary and if any of you remember the first year we did this show, we took the wrong shuttle and got to enjoy(hah!) the scenic route back to the hotel. Of course it only took us once to learn the error of our ways.
So when this particular shuttle showed up and was mostly full, we asked, just to double check that it was going back to the hotel and the bus driver replied with "Eventually, but I'm going the long way." and then continued by saying that we should take his bus otherwise we'd be riding "Grumpy's" bus. We chuckled and said that we would wait, when suddenly the crowd on the bus began chanting for us to get on. The three of us looked at each other, chuckled, shrugged and joined the crowd on the bus. Much cheering was had as we boarded, of course my comment was "They really don't know what they're getting themselves into, do they?"
To which Cindy laughed and shook her head.
I'm sure Cindy and Andee would agree, best bus ride ever! The bus driver joked and socialized with everyone on the bus, and then banter that went back between us, him and the group of business men was priceless. The driver even circled the roundabouts multiple times and flickered the bus lights on and off. We ended up dubbing it the party bus. Sadly the group of businessmen that convinced us to ride the bus with them, departed 3 stops later, but that didn't stop the friendly banter with the bus driver. At one stop, he even came back and talked to us for a few minutes.
Upon our return to the boat, he got on the loud speaker and said good-bye to us as we crossed the parking lot.
Returning to our room we all decided to turn in for the night so we'd be ready for the final set up and first day of vending.
Part II
The event ran from January 10th through January 12th on the Queen Mary, though this year, my partner in crime Cindy (from Original Cin) decided that since neither of us are really morning people, we should head up on Thursday afternoon instead of at O'dark thirty Friday morning. Let's just say that is the new standard for this event. I took the day off from my full time job and headed to the shop to try to finish up some custom work and pack up all the merchandise for the weekend. I had grand ideas of being able to finish a custom vest and then pack everything, which went right out the window when I stopped back at home after dropping my daughter off at school.
I made some much needed coffee and then packed up my clothes for the weekend, the intent was to get my clothes packed and hope that while I was doing so, Fedex would show up with the box of shirts that were due to arrive from Sigh Co. Graphics. Sadly I didn't get that lucky and after I was all packed up I sat down and visited with my roommate until about 9:30 am, when we both decided that if we were going to get what we needed done for the day we needed to get our butts in motion.
After loading up the truck with everything from the house that I needed, except the box of shirts that were still in transit, I swung by where my husband was working and picked up the floor dolly from the trunk of his car. From there I headed over to the shop and started digging out the merchandise containers which were mostly packed up from the last show we did back in November. While I packed, I fired up the laptop and started doing the sign printing I needed for the weekend. (yay multitasking!)
My husband swung by after he was done at work to help me load and spent at least an hour sitting there watching me. His comment: "I remember why I don't help you pack, I just end up sitting here", and he's right, I have such a system of packing that it usually ends up being a nightmare if anyone besides Cindy helps me (just ask Tawmis & Andee), though I am getting a bit better about giving direction, somewhat.
Now, we moved the shop back in June from Casa de Oro, Ca to Lemon Grove, Ca, which is about 6 miles west of where we were. The space is almost twice as big and is much more secure. The drawback, we're on the 4th floor and the elevator is tiny as well as temperamental at times. This means multiple elevator trips to get everything downstairs. Getting things to the truck is another adventure since there is a breezeway you drive through to get to the back of the building to the
Queue to the loading. When you do something multiple times you eventually get it down to a science and I have certainly got that done with loading in and out of the shop. We stage everything out into the hall and one person takes a load down in the elevator, sends the elevator back up and lather, rinse repeat until everything is down in the lobby.
Then it's time to get the truck and park it in the fire lane, much to the irritation of the security guard, of course he's can't really complain about it too much, since 1. there is no loading zone and 2. we are parked there *maybe* 15-20 minutes max. This is how it goes:
 |
| Truck loaded and ready to go |
2. Load the large black storage containers of which there are 5. This becomes a game of Tetris, mostly because I forget how they get put in from show to show, you'd think I'd remember after 18 shows with the damn things.
3. Then fit in any additional (smaller) tubs, boxes, suitcases and then the dollies to move everything around and then strap it all down with tie downs. Shake the items to make sure they're not going anywhere and then....
4. Stuff all the loose stuff (usually the sewing machine, purse, handing clothes, etc.) into the back seat of the truck.
5. Profit! well...not yet at least.
From there is was off to the gas station and then swinging by to pick up Cindy, who was just getting home from work and then time to hit the open highway for Long Beach.
2 miles down the road, the realization hits, the sewing machine is still at the shop. Off the freeway we go to the shop to grab the sewing machine, (the foot pedal was already packed) and then a quick stop at Taco Bell because I hadn't eaten yet. Trust me with no food is a bad for a lot of people's health, almost as hazardous as me without coffee.
Sewing machine - check
Food - check
Full tank of gas - check
Alright take two on the road to Long Beach, with a couple side stops. First stop, the printers to get the posters I had made with the new logo, then CVS to get a binder, batteries and some Airborne, and the last stop being my place of employment to stop by and pick up the last piece of my Christmas gift from Tawmis. Which was pretty damn amazing! (Photos later)
Then onto the open road known as Interstate 5 North. After all the stops, it was about 3:30 pm before we were actually headed out of San Diego where we began to have little feelings of dread. Why you ask? Well for anyone who lives in Southern California, you know that people start leaving work around 4pm, which would drop us into Los Angeles about 5 pm, (see where I'm heading with this?) right into rush hour traffic.
With a quick bathroom break (too much ice tea!) at the rest stop just before Camp Pendelton, we fired up the first episode the Comic Relief Podcast, done by my dear friends Tawmis & Maico. Then we switched over to Welcome to Night Vale. Surprisingly traffic only slowed down and never really came to a complete stop. We sailed into Long Beach at about 5:45pm, parked the truck and checked into our room on the Queen Mary.
We still had about an hour to kill before we could unload everything for the event though. While Cindy and I were plotting a plan of attack for the unload as we walked to our suite, Andee (Twylite Creations) texted me asking to let her know when we arrived to which I responded with "We just got here." to which she frantically responded with.."I'll be there shortly."
Upon entering our suite, Cindy and I plopped down our suitcases and turned to look at the room. First words out of Cindy's mouth, "Where is the bathroom?" The first door she went to was the one to the adjoining room which was locked and then she opened the closet and well discovered it was a closet and not the bathroom.
Confused, we both looked at each other and she asked "Did you get us a room without a bathroom?!?"
"Uh, it's a suite it better have a @$()@*)(@ bathroom." I replied.
 |
| It wouldn't be setup without one of these photos. |
She went to the adjoining door again and stood there puzzled as I went to close the hotel room door and upon that, discovered the door to the bathroom. Laughing we breathed a sigh of relief , as Cindy says "It's going to be one of those Cons isn't it?"
"Isn't it always?" was my reply.
After getting our stuff settled in, we headed upstairs to see if we might be able to get into the vendor room a bit early. Sadly the doors were still locked and the staff was still marking off spaces. Just as we got back down to the lobby, we see Andee walk through the doors with her suitcases, so we walked her and her stuff to the room AND told her where the bathroom was. By this time it was 6:45, so we decided to go unload the truck figuring that we'd be upstairs about the time the vendor room was open for load-in.
 |
| Booth setup as interpretive dance performed by Cindy |
We arrived at the Queen's Lounge at 7:01 pm and true to form for any Con, they were still laying out booth spaces. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before our space was done (same space as last year) and then we began to plot. As always we set up the grid wall in a U shape and then did the same with the tables. After much shifting we had everything ready to go, of course I extended the grid wall set up and there were two extra panels on one side, which made Andee's OCD want to run to a corner and rock in it repeatedly.
By the time we were done it was about 8:15. Since my last meal was about 2:30 pm, we decided that we'd finish setting up in the morning since we had 4 hours before the vendor hall opened.
After a quick stop at the hotel room to drop off things like the cash box, we headed off to the shuttle. The shuttle has to be by far one of my favorite things about this event. It's free and it takes us right into downtown Long Beach where all the restaurants are. True to form, we took the opportunity to dine at The Auld Dubliner. I mean really, who can pass up good food and whiskey as well as great customer service.After dinner we made our way back to the shuttle stop to return to the hotel. Now for those of you who haven't been to downtown Long Beach or the Queen Mary, there are two shuttles, on that drops off from the Queen Mary and one that picks up. Like any bus service, I'm sure they switch their signs halfway through the route. The first shuttle up was the one coming from the Queen Mary and if any of you remember the first year we did this show, we took the wrong shuttle and got to enjoy(hah!) the scenic route back to the hotel. Of course it only took us once to learn the error of our ways.
So when this particular shuttle showed up and was mostly full, we asked, just to double check that it was going back to the hotel and the bus driver replied with "Eventually, but I'm going the long way." and then continued by saying that we should take his bus otherwise we'd be riding "Grumpy's" bus. We chuckled and said that we would wait, when suddenly the crowd on the bus began chanting for us to get on. The three of us looked at each other, chuckled, shrugged and joined the crowd on the bus. Much cheering was had as we boarded, of course my comment was "They really don't know what they're getting themselves into, do they?"
To which Cindy laughed and shook her head.
I'm sure Cindy and Andee would agree, best bus ride ever! The bus driver joked and socialized with everyone on the bus, and then banter that went back between us, him and the group of business men was priceless. The driver even circled the roundabouts multiple times and flickered the bus lights on and off. We ended up dubbing it the party bus. Sadly the group of businessmen that convinced us to ride the bus with them, departed 3 stops later, but that didn't stop the friendly banter with the bus driver. At one stop, he even came back and talked to us for a few minutes.
Upon our return to the boat, he got on the loud speaker and said good-bye to us as we crossed the parking lot.
Returning to our room we all decided to turn in for the night so we'd be ready for the final set up and first day of vending.
Part II
Sunday, January 20, 2013
HRM Steampunk Symposium Review - Sunday (Part IV)
Continued from Part III
Morning rolls around pretty quickly after you finally pass out sometime after 1:30 am. I'm not sure what woke me up, but I found myself staring at the ceiling in the hotel bed, while Cindy was sleeping peacefully. Since the alarm clock on the other side of the room was blocked by the chair, I grabbed my phone thinking it was some where close to 7:30 or so. Wrong, it was 6 am, ye gods shoot me now or at least hit me with a brick so I could sleep for another hour or two.
I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep and was almost successful until my phone alerted me with a text message (of course the one night I forget to shut that particular notification off I get a message - curse you Murphy) from my father in law, wishing me a great and productive day. I love that I get those messages from him and a couple friends as well. It really gives me a great start to the day even if it was at 6:30 am. I ended up tossing and turning until 7:30 ish when Cindy finally woke up and then jumped in the shower.
Of course Murphy was still having fun and decided that 3/4 of the way through my shower, I didn't need any more hot water. I was not amused and promptly removed myself from the shower to get dressed and go make myself a much needed cup of coffee before texting my husband so I could chat with him and the kids on Skype since I wasn't going to be home until about 10pm. There is something to be said for technology in cases like this. Of course it also leaves open all sorts of hilarious moments like when Cindy got out of the shower :
My son: "Mommy, where is Cindy?"
Me: "She just got out of the shower."
My son: "Can I see her?"
Me: "...... She needs to get dressed Tarin"
My son: "Oh."
Cindy busts up laughing from the other side of the hotel room.
Me to my husband who is laughing in the background: "He gets that from you!"
My husband: "He's just looking out for me!"
Of course my son thinks it's hilarious just because we're all laughing.
Ah, out of the mouths of babes.
After chatting with my kids and husband, Cindy and I started to pack up our suitcases. If we had been coherent enough on Saturday night, we would have been smart and started packing and arranging things then, but we had too much fun at the Ball and then laughing and giggling at our neighbors until all hours of the morning. But we had to deal with the two suitcase explosions first thing in the morning, which actually didn't take that long to get taken care of. The next bit of fun was us getting our suitcases and other stuff to the car before heading up to the vendors room. I think we sat there for 20 minutes figuring out a process to get the crap down there and then to get the other necessities, read: cash box, coffee, brains, and us, up to the vendor hall.
Once we got the plan worked out, Cindy took her stuff down and then came back up for the items that needed to be taken upstairs, well most of them. Then it was my turn and let me tell you, hauling a heavy suitcase (dear god why did I bring 3 pairs of boots!) in a steel boned corset it quite an interesting feat. Even more interesting it getting said suitcase into the back seat (club cab) of a pickup truck, but I did it with little bodily harm to myself and very little swearing, not like I had enough breath to swear and wrestle with the suitcase at the same time though.
Ok! Suitcases in the truck, time to head back up to the hotel room and grab the rest of the stuff to take up stairs, like the plastic tub with the bottle of whiskey and wine as well as our change of clothes to breakdown in. Mission accomplished and I didn't spill any of my coffee either.
Sunday's day of vending went pretty quickly and was a pretty good day with everyone getting their last minute purchases. I ended up with a couple potential custom orders for after the show which makes me quite happy. Friends stopped by to visit and we chatted with other vendors during the slow times to see how everyone was doing.
By the time 4 pm came around, Cindy and I could feel ourselves fading. At some point I ended up loosening the lacing on my corset because one of the pieces of boning was sitting on my hip bone weirdly and causing a bruised spot.The things we do for fashion, right ladies? ;)
As soon as the last customer was out the door, the corset came off and instead of heading out to the restroom to change (switch shirts was all I had to do) I performed the age old trick of putting on one shirt and taking the other one off underneath it. Cindy opted to go change in the restroom of course she had a bit more to change into that I did. There is something to be said for wearing dark pants with your costume that you don't have to change out of.
Breakdown is always a double edged sword. It means I get to go home and sleep in my own bed, but it also means that the fun weekend has come to an end and it's time to head back to the real world and real job.
Of course I never know where to start with breaking things down either. My booth help is always the one to ask "How do you want to do this?" and my response is always "I have no fricken' clue." You'd think after vending all the time I would have some sort of plan. Nope, I don't. I usually stand in the booth for at least 10 minutes trying to figure out how I want to start putting things away and this event was no different.
While I sat there trying to get my brain in gear, Cindy started to pack up her art and such and by the time she was there I actually had things planned out. "I love it when a plan comes together."
This year there were no instances of me smacking Cindy in the need with a clothing bar for the gridwall (thankfully), but there was lots of giggling and laughing and throwing of things. I think we actually got packed up in just under an hour. Go us!
Then came the conundrum of getting everything outside. (Remember the load in over in Part I?), yeah we did too and we really weren't looking for a repeat of that. Thankfully the hotel was letting us use the main elevator to load out! Wooohooo!
Now when we loaded in, the sun was out, when we loaded out, not so much. It was 5:30 and well it was fairly dark and there was only two of us which meant, one would have to sit with the stuff outside while the other schlepped everything downstairs, but that also meant that the remaining stuff upstairs was left unattended. See where this is going?
So we got creative, the grid wall went down on the dolly first and then we loaded all the tubs onto it. Cindy made a couple trips down with smaller items like stands and such that couldn't be put into boxes and shoved them into the cab of the truck. When she got back up stairs we began the journey towards the elevator with a *very* heavy load and the carpet that we had to roll across didn't make the job any more difficult, then it was out the door to the hardwood floor....(yes I was sliding on the floor again) and over to the gangplank to the platform for the elevator. Things were going smoothly until we got the front tire of the dolly stuck not once but twice. Ok, down we go.....uh Cindy how are we going to stop this thing?
We actually didn't have much problem getting the dolly stopped but we did have a couple pieces start to slide off the dolly, which were caught by Cindy. Ok, into the elevator and down we go, out of the elevator and oh crap....there go some of the boxes from the front of the grid wall. Pick them up and off we go, aw crap there goes the stand for the ascots. Whoops! it's not round anymore. Oh well...let's get the truck loaded.
Cindy sat with the dolly while I went and got the truck. The drawback of using the grid wall as a base for everything is that everything has to be removed because the grid wall goes into the truck first. We're still working on a better system for this - or maybe just a 3rd person to help out (hint hint Tawmis).
Grid wall in - check
Plastic tubs in - chuck
Suitcases removed from the cab and put in the back - check
Rest of the stuff shoved into the cab of the truck - check
Time: 6 pm - let's go home.
The ride home was pretty mellow, we traveled down to Oso Parkway where we stopped at Dairy Queen for dinner, and ice cream, made a stop for gas and then drove back to San Diego, well Casa de Oro really, to unload the truck and then I dropped of Cindy and headed home to go sleep in my own bed. I made it home by 9:15 pm, counted out the cash box, tallied up the totals and then went in and PTFO'd in bed because I had to get up at 4:00 am to be to work at 5 am.
All in all it was a great con, the room we were in was beautiful and we seemed to have a lot more traffic than last year. I'm really looking forward to going back again next year as well.
I really owe a debt of gratitude for Tawmis for all his help with loading up and dealing with all my text messages with photos as well as keeping the Wyng'd Lyon Facebook page as well as the Original Cin Facebook page updated. He help was invaluable and his updated added a light hearted mood when things got a bit tense for us while we were vending.
A special thanks goes to Cindy as well, for sharing in my madness and coming with me to vend for the weekend. I always have such a great time hanging out and being generally silly when we're at events.
Also a big thank you goes out to all the customers that came and shopped our booth! With out you the weekend would not have been as enjoyable. Everyone was so friendly and pleasant to deal with and we enjoyed making new friends and associated this time around.
Now it's time for me to get a few more days rest and then start prepping for Wild West Con in March out in Tucson. I hope to see many of you there.
Thank you all for taking the time out to follow us on this journey and read my ramblings too!
Until next time, take care!
~Colleen
Wyng'd Lyon Creations
Morning rolls around pretty quickly after you finally pass out sometime after 1:30 am. I'm not sure what woke me up, but I found myself staring at the ceiling in the hotel bed, while Cindy was sleeping peacefully. Since the alarm clock on the other side of the room was blocked by the chair, I grabbed my phone thinking it was some where close to 7:30 or so. Wrong, it was 6 am, ye gods shoot me now or at least hit me with a brick so I could sleep for another hour or two.
I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep and was almost successful until my phone alerted me with a text message (of course the one night I forget to shut that particular notification off I get a message - curse you Murphy) from my father in law, wishing me a great and productive day. I love that I get those messages from him and a couple friends as well. It really gives me a great start to the day even if it was at 6:30 am. I ended up tossing and turning until 7:30 ish when Cindy finally woke up and then jumped in the shower.
Of course Murphy was still having fun and decided that 3/4 of the way through my shower, I didn't need any more hot water. I was not amused and promptly removed myself from the shower to get dressed and go make myself a much needed cup of coffee before texting my husband so I could chat with him and the kids on Skype since I wasn't going to be home until about 10pm. There is something to be said for technology in cases like this. Of course it also leaves open all sorts of hilarious moments like when Cindy got out of the shower :
My son: "Mommy, where is Cindy?"
Me: "She just got out of the shower."
My son: "Can I see her?"
Me: "...... She needs to get dressed Tarin"
My son: "Oh."
Cindy busts up laughing from the other side of the hotel room.
Me to my husband who is laughing in the background: "He gets that from you!"
My husband: "He's just looking out for me!"
Of course my son thinks it's hilarious just because we're all laughing.
Ah, out of the mouths of babes.
After chatting with my kids and husband, Cindy and I started to pack up our suitcases. If we had been coherent enough on Saturday night, we would have been smart and started packing and arranging things then, but we had too much fun at the Ball and then laughing and giggling at our neighbors until all hours of the morning. But we had to deal with the two suitcase explosions first thing in the morning, which actually didn't take that long to get taken care of. The next bit of fun
Once we got the plan worked out, Cindy took her stuff down and then came back up for the items that needed to be taken upstairs, well most of them. Then it was my turn and let me tell you, hauling a heavy suitcase (dear god why did I bring 3 pairs of boots!) in a steel boned corset it quite an interesting feat. Even more interesting it getting said suitcase into the back seat (club cab) of a pickup truck, but I did it with little bodily harm to myself and very little swearing, not like I had enough breath to swear and wrestle with the suitcase at the same time though.
Ok! Suitcases in the truck, time to head back up to the hotel room and grab the rest of the stuff to take up stairs, like the plastic tub with the bottle of whiskey and wine as well as our change of clothes to breakdown in. Mission accomplished and I didn't spill any of my coffee either.
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| Me in my Airship Captain's outfit |
By the time 4 pm came around, Cindy and I could feel ourselves fading. At some point I ended up loosening the lacing on my corset because one of the pieces of boning was sitting on my hip bone weirdly and causing a bruised spot.The things we do for fashion, right ladies? ;)
As soon as the last customer was out the door, the corset came off and instead of heading out to the restroom to change (switch shirts was all I had to do) I performed the age old trick of putting on one shirt and taking the other one off underneath it. Cindy opted to go change in the restroom of course she had a bit more to change into that I did. There is something to be said for wearing dark pants with your costume that you don't have to change out of.
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| Full view of the costume (still a work in progress) |
Of course I never know where to start with breaking things down either. My booth help is always the one to ask "How do you want to do this?" and my response is always "I have no fricken' clue." You'd think after vending all the time I would have some sort of plan. Nope, I don't. I usually stand in the booth for at least 10 minutes trying to figure out how I want to start putting things away and this event was no different.
While I sat there trying to get my brain in gear, Cindy started to pack up her art and such and by the time she was there I actually had things planned out. "I love it when a plan comes together."
This year there were no instances of me smacking Cindy in the need with a clothing bar for the gridwall (thankfully), but there was lots of giggling and laughing and throwing of things. I think we actually got packed up in just under an hour. Go us!
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| Cindy dresses as my First Mate |
Now when we loaded in, the sun was out, when we loaded out, not so much. It was 5:30 and well it was fairly dark and there was only two of us which meant, one would have to sit with the stuff outside while the other schlepped everything downstairs, but that also meant that the remaining stuff upstairs was left unattended. See where this is going?
 |
| Booth |
 |
| Packing up |
Cindy sat with the dolly while I went and got the truck. The drawback of using the grid wall as a base for everything is that everything has to be removed because the grid wall goes into the truck first. We're still working on a better system for this - or maybe just a 3rd person to help out (hint hint Tawmis).
Grid wall in - check
Plastic tubs in - chuck
Suitcases removed from the cab and put in the back - check
Rest of the stuff shoved into the cab of the truck - check
Time: 6 pm - let's go home.
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| Me after Con :) |
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| Cindy, chipper as always |
All in all it was a great con, the room we were in was beautiful and we seemed to have a lot more traffic than last year. I'm really looking forward to going back again next year as well.
I really owe a debt of gratitude for Tawmis for all his help with loading up and dealing with all my text messages with photos as well as keeping the Wyng'd Lyon Facebook page as well as the Original Cin Facebook page updated. He help was invaluable and his updated added a light hearted mood when things got a bit tense for us while we were vending.
A special thanks goes to Cindy as well, for sharing in my madness and coming with me to vend for the weekend. I always have such a great time hanging out and being generally silly when we're at events.
Also a big thank you goes out to all the customers that came and shopped our booth! With out you the weekend would not have been as enjoyable. Everyone was so friendly and pleasant to deal with and we enjoyed making new friends and associated this time around.
Now it's time for me to get a few more days rest and then start prepping for Wild West Con in March out in Tucson. I hope to see many of you there.
Thank you all for taking the time out to follow us on this journey and read my ramblings too!
Until next time, take care!
~Colleen
Wyng'd Lyon Creations
Thursday, January 17, 2013
HRM Steampunk Symposium - Recap - Part II
Continued from Part I
So this is how things usually start out in the booth space:
The booth setup is pretty much the same at each show, but with minor adjustments here and there.
The Absinthe Glasses always end up at the back of the booth, mostly for fear of them getting knocked over and broken, though I was doing a pretty good job on my own trying to break them as I was setting up them up on table. I actually ended up chipping the base of one of them when I smacked it against another glass.
T-shirt forms and vests end up hanging from the gridwall and PVC pieces for display and Cindy's are gets dispersed throughout the display as well.
Of course booth set up is never dull either, if we aren't dropping things, tripping over totes or each other, there are silly antics like Cindy dressing her "boyfriend" for the weekend.
Eventually the booth looks like this:
Now..... Bring on the customers!
Cindy was also offering up custom sketches during the con and she made a sign advertising and was going to put "See the red head"on the sign and then realized that wouldn't have worked since we're both red heads. This is what she came up with instead:
Here we are in our outfits:
Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed prep and sleep for Saturday's vending.
On to Part III
So this is how things usually start out in the booth space:
Piles of totes, boxes and naked half body forms, or as Cindy calls them, the Nudie Pants Family.
Usually the first thing we do is put up the gridwall so we can start hanging things like the banner and all the t-shirts, vests and other items. When I vend in San Diego I have the 8' gridwall to hang the banner from, traveling events, I bring some PVC and we erect it to a frame to hang the banner from and most of the time we are caffeinated enough to put the banner on before we zip tie the PVC to the gridwall. Not this time which of course I then do things like stand on the table to put up the banner.
One of the above photos was (intentionally) sent to Tawmis because I know that when I climb on things around the shop it sends him into a panic (even though he tells me I'm quite cat like). Of course he took it in a completely different direction over at the Facebook Page in which he posted this and then proceeds to text me back and tell me that I was probably going to kill him for the post.
After looking at the post all I could do was laugh, especially once the comments started rolling in. Again it was going to be one of those kinds of weekends (and no, I haven't pummeled him....yet)
The banner was up shortly there after and then came the fun part of figuring out where things were going to reside for the weekend.
The booth setup is pretty much the same at each show, but with minor adjustments here and there.
The Absinthe Glasses always end up at the back of the booth, mostly for fear of them getting knocked over and broken, though I was doing a pretty good job on my own trying to break them as I was setting up them up on table. I actually ended up chipping the base of one of them when I smacked it against another glass.
T-shirt forms and vests end up hanging from the gridwall and PVC pieces for display and Cindy's are gets dispersed throughout the display as well.
 |
| Final Booth Setup |
Of course booth set up is never dull either, if we aren't dropping things, tripping over totes or each other, there are silly antics like Cindy dressing her "boyfriend" for the weekend.
Eventually the booth looks like this:
Booth set up done....time to check-in to the hotel room. While Cindy manned the booth I headed to the front desk and checked in. It was a great time to do so, because there was no one in front of me. 10 minutes later I had our room keys which was right around the corner from the desk and right near the stairs two floors down from the vendor room! After I deposited my suitcase (thank god I wasn't flying that thing was heavy), I changed into my outfit for the rest of the day and went to switch places with Cindy so she could change as well.
Cindy was also offering up custom sketches during the con and she made a sign advertising and was going to put "See the red head"on the sign and then realized that wouldn't have worked since we're both red heads. This is what she came up with instead:
Here we are in our outfits:
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| Colleen |
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| Alastar Hyde & Colleen |
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| Cindy |
Friday's vending went by pretty quickly. Cindy worked on some sketches while I worked on adding more items to my inventory program on my iPad. By the time 6 pm rolled around for a much needed change into jeans, a beer or two and food.
Last year we found the The Auld Dubliner and had dinner there and also discovered Feckin' Whiskey which I had to try just for the name alone. I was presently surprised how much I enjoyed and promptly bought a bottle once I got back to San Diego. This year we had it in our flask in the booth, purely for medicinal reasons though. Since we only got to have dinner one night last year, we decided that was going to be our dinner place both nights this year. We grabbed Noell and Alastar, hopped the shuttle and headed off to grab some beers and Irish food.
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| It's an Irish Pub of course I had a Guinness |
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| Cindy |
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| Noell |
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| Cindy & Me |
Then it was back to the hotel for some much needed prep and sleep for Saturday's vending.
On to Part III
HRM Steampunk Symposium 2013 - Recap - Part 1
For those of you who follow our Facebook page, I'm sure you saw the photos from the event that Tawmis was so kind to not only post, but add some pretty great commentary to as well. If you aren't following it, you missed some great posts to which I owe Tawmis a debit of gratitude and maybe a pummeling for at least one post. (Just kidding Tawmis!) He was even kind enough to cross post updates for Cindy over at her Facebook Page.
Overall the event was a blast and we made not only a lot of great contacts but some new friends as well.
The new location for the vendors room was much nicer and more central to the goings on of the entire event, plus it was pretty darn close to our hotel room on the boat too!
Thursday night Tawmis and I loaded everything from the shop for the event into my truck and I parked in the back yard with a tarp over it and prayed that it didn't pour all night. Sure I could have loaded up in the morning, but for those who know me, early mornings are not my thing no matter how much coffee is put in front of me. It was enough of a challenge to peel myself out of bed at 5 am to load up my suitcase and the rest of the items from the house. Thank the inventor of the programmable coffee pot, that's for sure.
I headed out to Cindy's at 6am and from there we made a stop for (more) coffee and some snacks for the road and then hit the freeway up to Long Beach. For the most part the drive was pretty uneventful, though there was a bit of a traffic jam that appeared out of nowhere and that I had to slam on the breaks for, but we came out of it unscathed and quite a bit awake for the rest of the trip.
We made it to the Queen Mary about 9 am and pulled into the staging area and in true form had the truck unloaded in about 15 minutes, much to the amazement of the security guard that was there. We laughed and told him that we don't mess around when it comes to getting things loaded or unloaded.
Now one of the biggest complaints last year by the vendors was the fact that we had to use the tiny elevator at the back of the ship, and by tiny I mean hotel maid cart tiny. If you are by any means claustrophobic that elevator is the last place you want to be, ever. Well this year, we were told that it was in the contract that we could use the main (read: real sized) elevators to load in and out of the event. Bzzzzz! Wrong, well mostly wrong. If your items didn't fit in the shoe box elevator, you could take them up the main one, otherwise it was trekking to the back end of the ship to squeeze you and your dolly into the elevator and then try to get off the elevator before the door tries to smash you as you get out and then trek back to the middle of the ship to unload in the vendor room. Adventures in unloading to say the least.
Load in went like this:
1. Truck unloaded in loaded area - check
2. Spend 15 minutes trying to figure out what is going to go up first and how to minimize trips in the elevator of doom(tm) - check
3. Load up said dolly (which I replaced the inflatable tires with solid tires so we didn't have the flat tire/OMG why can't we move the dolly problem like we did last year.) - check
4. Maneuver the dolly into the freight elevator with out killing ourselves or each other. (mental note: bring oil next year to deal with ear piercing squeaky elevator gate) - done with lots of laughing and swearing.
5. Walk the loaded dolly that seems to have a mind of it's own on the varnished hardwood floor of the Promenade deck of the Queen Mary while trying to maintain my own balance because my boots have no traction while trying to find the vendor area with no signage. - check
6. Arrive at said vendor area and try to figure out where we're setting up. - check
7. Find our tables and unload the dolly and exit said vendor room to do it all again - check
Of course upon exiting the vendor room, the dolly decided that it had a mind of it's own and went right while I slid left and by slid I mean almost ended up on my butt in the middle of the room. At that point Cindy dubs the dolly as being possessed.
Trek back up the Promenade deck without falling on my rear to hop back into the elevator of doom(tm) (EoD from here on) and ...oh crap, what floor do we get off on to get back to the dock? As soon as the doors closed and we realized we had no clue where we needed to go, Cindy's phone decides that it's the perfect time to get a notification and we are graced with the whistle sound from the Hunger Games. Yup, it was going to be that kind of Con. We were fortunate enough to have someone get on the elevator at the next floor who showed us how to get back to where we needed to be and tada, time to move the gridwall.
Gridwall - I have a love/hate relationship with this stuff. (you can see a photo here if you don't know what it is). It's great for displays, but a pain in the rear to haul around because it's metal and it can be heavy. For this show I bring 6 pieces that are 6' tall, I leave my two 8' pieces at home for this show. If you read last years re-cap you should remember that we had to haul the gridwall up 4 flights of stairs. So we thought "Hey, this year we can take the gridwall up the main elevator and be done with it." Yeah, not so much, we started to head that way and the security guard intercepted us and said we had to use the other elevator and the 6' pieces should fit just fine.. We decided to take that adventure through the EoD(tm) and made the statement that if the gridwall didn't fit, we were going to make the security guard haul it up the damn stairs. Fortunately for him it fit.
And we're off, to the next floor down. Whoops, oh well it's the scenic tour of the ship floors where we acquired a female employee, and we were off again, to the original floor, where her husband and two other employees joined us, which of course right after that point in time the jokes about being stuck in the elevator began and of course trying to figure out who the skinniest person (it wasn't me - I doubt my hips would have made it through the opening) was so they could crawl through the hatch if need be. Next stop....Promenade deck and down the walk and into the vendor room.
Once the gridwall was dropped off we took the main elevator down, turned the key in for the EoD(tm) and grabbed the suitcases, the last few items and went to set up the booth.
On to Part II
Overall the event was a blast and we made not only a lot of great contacts but some new friends as well.
The new location for the vendors room was much nicer and more central to the goings on of the entire event, plus it was pretty darn close to our hotel room on the boat too!
Thursday night Tawmis and I loaded everything from the shop for the event into my truck and I parked in the back yard with a tarp over it and prayed that it didn't pour all night. Sure I could have loaded up in the morning, but for those who know me, early mornings are not my thing no matter how much coffee is put in front of me. It was enough of a challenge to peel myself out of bed at 5 am to load up my suitcase and the rest of the items from the house. Thank the inventor of the programmable coffee pot, that's for sure.
I headed out to Cindy's at 6am and from there we made a stop for (more) coffee and some snacks for the road and then hit the freeway up to Long Beach. For the most part the drive was pretty uneventful, though there was a bit of a traffic jam that appeared out of nowhere and that I had to slam on the breaks for, but we came out of it unscathed and quite a bit awake for the rest of the trip.
We made it to the Queen Mary about 9 am and pulled into the staging area and in true form had the truck unloaded in about 15 minutes, much to the amazement of the security guard that was there. We laughed and told him that we don't mess around when it comes to getting things loaded or unloaded.
Now one of the biggest complaints last year by the vendors was the fact that we had to use the tiny elevator at the back of the ship, and by tiny I mean hotel maid cart tiny. If you are by any means claustrophobic that elevator is the last place you want to be, ever. Well this year, we were told that it was in the contract that we could use the main (read: real sized) elevators to load in and out of the event. Bzzzzz! Wrong, well mostly wrong. If your items didn't fit in the shoe box elevator, you could take them up the main one, otherwise it was trekking to the back end of the ship to squeeze you and your dolly into the elevator and then try to get off the elevator before the door tries to smash you as you get out and then trek back to the middle of the ship to unload in the vendor room. Adventures in unloading to say the least.
Load in went like this:
1. Truck unloaded in loaded area - check
2. Spend 15 minutes trying to figure out what is going to go up first and how to minimize trips in the elevator of doom(tm) - check
3. Load up said dolly (which I replaced the inflatable tires with solid tires so we didn't have the flat tire/OMG why can't we move the dolly problem like we did last year.) - check
4. Maneuver the dolly into the freight elevator with out killing ourselves or each other. (mental note: bring oil next year to deal with ear piercing squeaky elevator gate) - done with lots of laughing and swearing.
5. Walk the loaded dolly that seems to have a mind of it's own on the varnished hardwood floor of the Promenade deck of the Queen Mary while trying to maintain my own balance because my boots have no traction while trying to find the vendor area with no signage. - check
6. Arrive at said vendor area and try to figure out where we're setting up. - check
7. Find our tables and unload the dolly and exit said vendor room to do it all again - check
Of course upon exiting the vendor room, the dolly decided that it had a mind of it's own and went right while I slid left and by slid I mean almost ended up on my butt in the middle of the room. At that point Cindy dubs the dolly as being possessed.
Trek back up the Promenade deck without falling on my rear to hop back into the elevator of doom(tm) (EoD from here on) and ...oh crap, what floor do we get off on to get back to the dock?
Gridwall - I have a love/hate relationship with this stuff. (you can see a photo here if you don't know what it is). It's great for displays, but a pain in the rear to haul around because it's metal and it can be heavy. For this show I bring 6 pieces that are 6' tall, I leave my two 8' pieces at home for this show. If you read last years re-cap you should remember that we had to haul the gridwall up 4 flights of stairs. So we thought "Hey, this year we can take the gridwall up the main elevator and be done with it." Yeah, not so much, we started to head that way and the security guard intercepted us and said we had to use the other elevator and the 6' pieces should fit just fine.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
HRM Steampunk Symposium 2013
We're back at it!
Cindy (Original Cin) and I are at it again. This weekend, January 11-13, 2013, we'll be back on the Queen Mary for HRM Steampunk Symposium.
Last year's event was a blast and pretty well done considering it was it's first year. I've got high hope for this year and we're even hoping that we'll make it out to the Ball on Saturday night, provided that we aren't fried from a long day of vending or passed out from the drinks at dinner. We've been yearning to go back to The Auld Dubliner for dinner, their foor is awesome and not only do they pour a proper pint of Guinness, they have a nice selection of Whiskey too!
The plant is to depart San Diego around 6 am and arriving about 8 am barring traffic into Long Beach. From there we'll be loading in probably sleep deprived as usual. Something that is pretty much a norm for any Con that I've ever vended at. Hell, we'll still be sewing and such in the room and probably the booth as well. No rest for the wicked I tell ya. ;)
There are photos and a review of last years event here and while we're gone, I'll try to either post photos or get them over to Tawmis to put up either here or over on our Facebook page depending on what he has the time for.
We're not sure who our neighbors are going to be this year in the vendor room or what the set up is going to be, but either way there will be some shenanigans afoot. That's what happens when you get two sleep deprived red heads hyped up on caffeine together.
Fair warning to those aboard the Queen Mary, I've heard rumors that the The League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries may be plotting dastardly deeds this weekend as well, so be on guard.
Until then, I leave you with this photo of Cindy and I from last year:
Cindy (Original Cin) and I are at it again. This weekend, January 11-13, 2013, we'll be back on the Queen Mary for HRM Steampunk Symposium.
Last year's event was a blast and pretty well done considering it was it's first year. I've got high hope for this year and we're even hoping that we'll make it out to the Ball on Saturday night, provided that we aren't fried from a long day of vending or passed out from the drinks at dinner. We've been yearning to go back to The Auld Dubliner for dinner, their foor is awesome and not only do they pour a proper pint of Guinness, they have a nice selection of Whiskey too!
The plant is to depart San Diego around 6 am and arriving about 8 am barring traffic into Long Beach. From there we'll be loading in probably sleep deprived as usual. Something that is pretty much a norm for any Con that I've ever vended at. Hell, we'll still be sewing and such in the room and probably the booth as well. No rest for the wicked I tell ya. ;)
There are photos and a review of last years event here and while we're gone, I'll try to either post photos or get them over to Tawmis to put up either here or over on our Facebook page depending on what he has the time for.
We're not sure who our neighbors are going to be this year in the vendor room or what the set up is going to be, but either way there will be some shenanigans afoot. That's what happens when you get two sleep deprived red heads hyped up on caffeine together.
Fair warning to those aboard the Queen Mary, I've heard rumors that the The League of Supremely Evil Revolutionaries may be plotting dastardly deeds this weekend as well, so be on guard.
Until then, I leave you with this photo of Cindy and I from last year:
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