Today felt like the calm before the storm.  We got up this morning and walked about 10 minutes to have breakfast at Ellen’s Southern Kitchen.

   
I had scrambled eggs, loaded hashbrowns, and toast.  Yum!

 

It was a good breakfast and a nice price  – certainly nicer than the $17 breakfast buffet at the hotel, though I’ve heard that’s a pretty good buffet.

After that we headed back and picked up our badges at registration.  Mindy went to a blogger conference with Dear Author’s Jane and Smart Bitch Sarah.  She said it was excellent!  Rebecca and I spent a lot of the day reading, though we did go down and pick up our conference bags (full of swag!) and I also spent a significant amount of time packing our room fridge full of the food we brought in our cooler.  It felt like a major accomplishment for me!

   
This is the bag we got full of swag including a flashdrive from Smashwords with over 200 books! 

  

Above is my badge and the bag I brought from home.  I put some of my favorite pins from RT13 on it.

 

This is my favorite sign in the hotel lobby; it covers the entire wall!

   
Here’s the view from our hotel room.  Please note the highway to nowhere that I assume is under construction…

   

These last two pictures are the bathroom door.  I know, I’m showing my uncultured side, but I’d never seen a door like this on a bathroom!

At 5:30pm we went to our first official RT session – Cinema Craptastique.  

   

This is about the first half of the line waiting to get in at 5:25.

 
And here’s the view from halfway back.  It was a huge session adn hilarious.  We watched The Legend of Herculese and gave it a MST3K treatment with live commentary by Damon Suede (hilarious) and a live twitter feed on display next to the movie screen.   To make a good thing even better, Mindy, Rebecca and I each won books in the drawings they were doing!

After Cinema Craptastique, we went to the NA (New Adult) author’s College Games Party event, where got a really nice totebag with some swag inside.

On the left is the NA bag and on the right the Cinema bag.   

The NA party was giving away a lot of gift cards, but it was loud and crowded and we were hungry so we opted for heading back to our room.  I’m going to head to bed now – we’ve got an early workout session at 7am tomorrow I’m goign to try!

Today  I drove from Kansas to Dallas for the RT Convention – a gathering of people who love to read and or write romance!  I thought I’d give a try at doing a daily recap.

So.  Roadtrip.

And you know you’re in Texas when you see this at the gas station:

We finally made it to the hotel, the Hyatt Regency Dallas and unloaded.  And then my 2nd sign that I wasn’t in Kansas any more: $19/day parking!  In an outdoor lot, where they do not guarantee the safety of my vehicle or belongings.

The inside of the hotel was much more fun!

There are signs everywhere – including the elevator doors!

  

Lots of wrapped columns, including this one featuring Tessa Bailey!

A Shelly Laurenston sign!  I’ll be tweeting this picture to try to win… Something?

More hotel decorations. 🙂

Even our hotel key cards are awesome!

After getting checked in, we consulted with the conceirge, Jill, who was incredibly friendly and helpful!  We walked to a nice restaurant Hoffbrau (I think!) and enjoyed supper.  We walked past the site of JFK’s assassination and through a nice part of Dallas.  None of us got pooped on by the very many birds we saw and heard.  I’m predicting that record won’t stand all week!
I think meals here will be a challenge, as the in hotel restaurants are small and expensive.  It’s a good 15 minute walk to the restaurant area of town, and there’s lots of rain predicted this week.  It will be interesting!  I’m glad we brought snacks!

Tomorrow is a pre-conference day.  We already scouted out a breakfast place (Thank You Conceirge Jill!).  We should be able to get through registration and get goody bags.  Mindy is going to a blogger conference and Rebecca and I will look around a bit and relax a lot!

I’ll try to check in tomorrow!

I’m taking a break from blogging.  I’ll still be posting reviews on Goodreads and hope to connect with you there!

~Anne