Dragon*Con 2011 - Saturday
Saturday -
I finished handsewing my Captain America USO hat at about 5.30am, and since we were getting up at 6am each day, I just stayed awake. Didn't have breakfast, I was feeling too nervous - ironed my costume one last time, and put it all on for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised, it didn't look awful! I was so worried it would really show that I had sewn it in less than a week. I asked Matt to pin the hat onto my wig for me, I'm just hopeless with that sort of thing. Headed down to meet up with the other girls in the Marriott lobby - though I think the tiredness was a little obvious, I had forgotten my gloves. Dashed back to my room and grabbed them. Walked to the parade meeting place with the girls, everyone looked fantastic! Caitlin did a great job of teaching us the marching steps, I really enjoyed it, and I think it really added to our look :) Matt was marching with the 300 Spartans again this year - so I didn't see him again until after the parade. He had my camera on his belt, but we didn't get any pics once we separated - I set up a Flickr group for the USO girls, there's heaps of pics of the parade there :)
It was quite a warm day, but I had a blast. Way more crowds than we we last marched in 2009, the streets were packed! After the parade, I knew Matt would probably head straight back to the room, so I did too. There was the 18th Century cupcake party at 1pm, so we grabbed room service for lunch - and that's where it went wrong. I had a slice of pizza and 2 cupcakes - and straight away felt incredibly ill. My stomach was in pain, I just curled up on the bed, I didn't want to move. I had forgotten I hadn't eaten in a while, and my body wasn't ready for a normal amount of food. I'm still upset I missed the cupcake party, all the girls looked amazing in their gowns :) I ended up sleeping for 2 hours, before I put on my Claire Bennett costume and headed down, determined not to miss too much - took about 3 photos but the pain was too much, and headed back to our room. Just before 5pm we got dressed for the 300DC dinner at Benihanas. Sat down at the table, but knew I should have stayed in the room. I snuck out and went back to our room and curled up on the bed again. I still have no idea why my body reacted like that, I've gone without eating at cons before (half the time I just forget with all the excitement).
I woke up when Matt came back from dinner, and thankfully I was feeling well enough to put a costume on again. I put my USO girl on and headed out to the group photo. So glad I did, it was amazing! Such a big turn out, everyone looked great! I ended up staying in my costume the rest of the night, it's so comfortable to wear.
After the group photo, Matt and I headed to the 501st/RL mixer on the Marriott 10th level. Met heaps of great people, I had so much fun :) Met Matt & Dale properly, we ended up hanging out a fair bit the rest of the con. Afterwards Kathy, Alison and I walked around the Marriott in our USO costumes - they are so popular! It was funny though, everyone thought we were patriotic, when Alison and I aren't American :) But really, the USO group was one of the highlights of the con for me, so happy I stuck through all my stupid tired mistakes and finished my costume. After the mixer (I think?) we joined up with other USO girls, and took heaps of posed photos at the Marriott lower level.
At some point we eventually called it a night. Sorry if I've forgotten anything, it's all becoming a haze of red, white & blue!
I finished handsewing my Captain America USO hat at about 5.30am, and since we were getting up at 6am each day, I just stayed awake. Didn't have breakfast, I was feeling too nervous - ironed my costume one last time, and put it all on for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised, it didn't look awful! I was so worried it would really show that I had sewn it in less than a week. I asked Matt to pin the hat onto my wig for me, I'm just hopeless with that sort of thing. Headed down to meet up with the other girls in the Marriott lobby - though I think the tiredness was a little obvious, I had forgotten my gloves. Dashed back to my room and grabbed them. Walked to the parade meeting place with the girls, everyone looked fantastic! Caitlin did a great job of teaching us the marching steps, I really enjoyed it, and I think it really added to our look :) Matt was marching with the 300 Spartans again this year - so I didn't see him again until after the parade. He had my camera on his belt, but we didn't get any pics once we separated - I set up a Flickr group for the USO girls, there's heaps of pics of the parade there :)
It was quite a warm day, but I had a blast. Way more crowds than we we last marched in 2009, the streets were packed! After the parade, I knew Matt would probably head straight back to the room, so I did too. There was the 18th Century cupcake party at 1pm, so we grabbed room service for lunch - and that's where it went wrong. I had a slice of pizza and 2 cupcakes - and straight away felt incredibly ill. My stomach was in pain, I just curled up on the bed, I didn't want to move. I had forgotten I hadn't eaten in a while, and my body wasn't ready for a normal amount of food. I'm still upset I missed the cupcake party, all the girls looked amazing in their gowns :) I ended up sleeping for 2 hours, before I put on my Claire Bennett costume and headed down, determined not to miss too much - took about 3 photos but the pain was too much, and headed back to our room. Just before 5pm we got dressed for the 300DC dinner at Benihanas. Sat down at the table, but knew I should have stayed in the room. I snuck out and went back to our room and curled up on the bed again. I still have no idea why my body reacted like that, I've gone without eating at cons before (half the time I just forget with all the excitement).
I woke up when Matt came back from dinner, and thankfully I was feeling well enough to put a costume on again. I put my USO girl on and headed out to the group photo. So glad I did, it was amazing! Such a big turn out, everyone looked great! I ended up staying in my costume the rest of the night, it's so comfortable to wear.
After the group photo, Matt and I headed to the 501st/RL mixer on the Marriott 10th level. Met heaps of great people, I had so much fun :) Met Matt & Dale properly, we ended up hanging out a fair bit the rest of the con. Afterwards Kathy, Alison and I walked around the Marriott in our USO costumes - they are so popular! It was funny though, everyone thought we were patriotic, when Alison and I aren't American :) But really, the USO group was one of the highlights of the con for me, so happy I stuck through all my stupid tired mistakes and finished my costume. After the mixer (I think?) we joined up with other USO girls, and took heaps of posed photos at the Marriott lower level.
At some point we eventually called it a night. Sorry if I've forgotten anything, it's all becoming a haze of red, white & blue!