So! Let's begin! The night was held at the very swanky Crescent Lounge. And as you walk up to it, you see it's sort of an indoor-outdoor configuration. As folks were walking up, they were greeted by big ol' fat Arthurs on signs scattered about:
When you walk inside, you could saddle up and order the Arthur-colored (pineapple) drink, "The Fat Duck":
"The Fat Duck" was a free drink for all, courtesy of our sponsors, Ocean Vodka. Tara, in the black, was the kind Ocean Vodka employee on hand for the night. A high-five to Tara and the Ocean folks for making the night awesome!
So, the lounge has this sort of multi-level thing going on in the inside, so I was signing up in this big, open-walled room where I could chat with folks from a couple different angles while I sketched:
Here, let me show you some different angles on that room. The Crescent set up a nice, long, white, leather, couch-y thing for folks to sit on while they waited for their sketch:
Looking around the lounge, it was really awesome to see folks reading their books and talking...
Moreso than in years past, we had a lot of families come out, which was awesome. This first family was especially awesome. Young Ryan and Lindsey were awesome fans of the strip, and -- I KID YOU NOT -- Ryan knew more Sheldon trivia then I did. He stumped me like four times on FACTS FROM MY OWN STRIP. So, going forward, I nominate Ryan to edit the Sheldon Wikipedia page. :)
Aaaand my family came up from San Diego, which was especially awesome!
Oo, oo, I gotta tell you about this. So, do you remember when I blogged about the special, knitted "Glornak" that someone had made? Well, that someone was Christine, seen here, who showed up with her Glornak... as a gift! Needless to say, Christine was competing with Ryan in the "Coolest Sheldonista of the Night" Contest.
Oh, speaking of contests, we actually had one where you could win books 'n stickers 'n posters 'n shirts and stuff. One part of the contest was to see who could draw the best character from the strip. I have to tell you, these were hilarious. If I have time, I'll scan 'em all in and share 'em with you.
But, as you can see from my face, here, not all of the drawings were, ahem, "Michelangelo-quality". But we still ended up giving out a lot of great prizes.
The night overall could not have gone better. Thank you to everyone who made the trip out, from points near and far! Thank you for making it a truly joy-filled night! And I hope you enjoy your books!
