Re-caps - Toronto & Seattle

Catching up a little here. I realized I hadn't done my little re-cap for SFContario so I'll take a moment to do that. SFContario was our first time out of the country and it went surprisingly well. I was a little nervous with a van load of merchandise but everything was OK. Toronto is a beautiful city. 

Every evening we stood in front of the hotel and chose a direction we would walk and pick a restaurant at random. This plan worked extremely well because I think we had one of the best food trips ever. Every place we ate was phenomenal! I do have to give a shout out to the best one, Papa Pasta on 76 Gerrard St. East. A small hole-in-the-wall in the basement of a town house. The food was truly Italian and made right in front of you. The guys behind the counter were great! If you're in Toronto drop by Pasta Papa.

We had a great time at the con. It was well ran. It was a first year event and if you're into fandom I think this event will be one to watch. Thanks to Paul and the staff for taking care of us and making us feel welcome. I have waited so long to post this that I forgot what I had wanted to say about the con so I'll just leave it at thanks.

Me, AD Paul and the sketch I did at one of my panels

On the way home we took a minor detour and stopped by Niagara Falls. It was off season so we pretty much had run of the joint.

On to Rustycon. Our second time in Seattle. Unfortunately this time the event was held at a place that didn't allow us to go exploring like we did at ZomBcon which was held in an artsy district of Seattle. But that's OK because this hotel was amazing!

They really filled up my dance card with panels but most were well attended and those that weren't were still interesting and informative. I guess that speaks well of my co-panelists who were awesome. Did I mention that on some of these one of my co -panelists was NY Times bestselling author and the Author Guest of Honor Patricia Briggs?

 With our new friends and booth neighbors Lisa & Daniel

Closing ceremonies with Patricia Briggs

Thanks to all that made us feel welcome and supported us. I have to say that if anyone says anything bad about the staff at SFContario or Rustycon they haven't been there!

The downside to our trip was the flights. On the way there and back they were bumpy. But the real kicker was the airline lost a piece of our luggage on Monday...Which ended up in Amsterdam! But I have to say the airline was really accommodating and we had our luggage by Wednesday sage and sound.

2011 is off to a great start! Next stop is a talk with the Lexington KY Comic Creator's Group on Jan 30. And breaking news is that we just sealed a deal which will have us as Artist Guest of Honor at Contagion: Outbreak in Omaha Nebraska in June. Never been to Nebraska and we are really lookin' forward to it.

B