Remember the time I met Chewbacca?

 Last weekend Siouxsiequeue's went to Starfest, and we completely rocked it! As you may remember, we finalized the details for this show at the 11th hour, and I am neither the most graceful nor gracious person when I'm under the gun. I had stress related dreams every night leading up to the show as well as the entire time we were at the show. My personal favorite was a dream where Jeremy and I were already at the show and a friend of ours walked by the Siouxsiequeue's booth with his wife, looked me right in the eyes and told me not to forget tasks I'd not yet completed and items I'd not yet packed in real life. Very helpful, but friend in the dream neglected to share any winning lotto numbers or the secrets of life, the universe, and everything.

So Jeremy and I scrambled, packed, and made frantic arrangements until it was showtime. We arrived at the venue to find that our booth was immediately inside the front door, which was completely amazing, and with enough time to avoid a frantic setup. We had two tables that formed a nice corner space and while we would have liked a bit more room we still had a great spot. The show was scheduled for Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday, and I have to admit, most of the weekend was a complete blur.

We saw a lot of old friends and met so many new friends, we couldn't have asked for a better time. Nicole came on Saturday armed with peanut butter sandwiches and enough satsumas in her bag to make Terri Lynn proud.

After Nicole arrived at the show Jeremy took over the booth so I could have a break, do some shopping and visit the Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) autograph line. Nicole graciously agreed to photograph the meeting for me, but as we know, no good deed goes unpunished. I had a total fan girl break down while we were standing in line, shaking and laughing, and totally losing the ability to intervene to save my friend while she was being trapped by an over zealous, though well meaning fan.

Then it was our turn in line. Mr. Mayhew was very nice and allowed Nicole to take several photos, which is not usual practice at this particular show. He signed the photo I had purchased especially for the occasion, shook my hand, accepted a gift that we'd brought for him, and even suggested that we all look at the photos Nicole took before I left, just to make sure that they turned out. It was a fan moment made in heaven and increased the fondness and good feelings I already had toward the Star Wars franchise.

We tried to hang out and little on Saturday night after the vendors room had closed, but after a full day and a half of working we all had a difficult time staying awake. At least until the Battlestar Galactica fans threw a raging party in the hotel room across the hall from us. Those kids really know how to have a good time, and if we hadn't been so exhausted I'd have gone over and had a drink with them.

By the time Sunday rolled around Jeremy and I were completely exhausted. Neither of us had slept very much going in to this, and not at all once we were there, but we managed to get up and prepare for another day. Jesse had volunteered to help me out on Sunday because Jeremy had to go pick up Eric from Camp Grandma and the doggies from the kennel.

Sunday was much quieter than the previous days and afforded us the opportunity to really visit with customers as well as some of the other convention guests. Mark Sheppard from Battlestar Galactica and Firefly made a visit to our booth as well as LeVar Burton of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow fame. Both gentlemen admired several pieces and were really nice to visit with. My fan quotient was still pretty high, but no visible shaking could be seen. I hope.

We left for the show on Friday with a trunk full of merchandise and returned with less than half of that on Sunday evening. I can't help but think on how things will be after a whole year to prepare and plan for this show, and in fact, I booked next year before we even left on Sunday evening. I can't wait!

So at the end of everything we found out what we can do on short notice, how many days we can go without sleep without cracking, who our friends are, and that we cannot stay on the same floor of the hotel as the BSG fans, even though we still love them.

P.S. You can see more of our photos from Starfest over at our Facebook page.