Tuesday. . .and the fun begins

Tuesday morning Lori, Kathy and I were up relatively early (okay, so Kathy went back to sleep) the sky was overcast but I assured Lori it would burn off by noon. We decided to go for a walk on the beach to warm up our muscles before we practiced a bit of our workshop.

Lori and I were doing a workshop together on fight scenes and I would be kicking and punching at her so we wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing first. Her husband is in the firearms business and I REALLY didn't want to send her home with a black eye.

As we walked along the beautiful Daytona beach, it started to rain. I was not happy. It has rained for three weeks in CT and I wanted to escape the rain, not walk in it. We continued to walk anyway, darn it. I wasn't giving up that easily.

After about an hour or so, we headed inside to register for the conference. I hadn't showered yet, was barefoot and had my hair in a sloppy ponytail. Why do I do this to myself? As we walked in we saw a million people we knew and tackle hugs abounded. I'm sure there were people there going, "who is that street person hugging all the authors?"

Lori and I found a quiet place to practice (after a little searching) and then decided to shower before we ran into anyone else. Meanwhile my bestest bud Leigh Wyndfield arrived and we met up with her for lunch.

We went to Bubba Gumps Shrimp restaurant for lunch and it was FABULOUS!!! They had any number of really good drinks and the food was incredible. Our waiter carded us, which was wonderful too. I think we were there for over an hour. . .or three drinks whichever came first.

From there we got ready for the laou (? spelling, my brain isn't engaged yet) where we met up with lots of our buds. I got to see Joy from Joyfull Reviews. My very first fan and great friend. I also ran into Ann Wesley-Hardin, Jaci Burton, and a bunch of other EC authors. Bliss!

After the laou Kathy, Leigh and I went to the bar for a drink where we waited for at least half an hour to get served. From there Lori and I met up at the unofficial Medallion Authors Party thrown by the delightful Delores Wilson. I have to tell you, when I throw a "hotel" party it's chips and dip with beer in a garbage can full of ice.

Not Delores.

She had beautifully arranged hors d'oeuvres, table clothes, petit-fors, and a varied supply of alcohol. I was mightily impressed.

Much, much later in the evening Kathy Love and I went back to our room to get settled in "early" for a change. Okay, it was already midnight but we were trying. We'd gotten into our jammies and the lights were out and we decided we were hungry so we ordered a pizza.

Of course we ran into a bunch of people as we slipped into the lobby in our jammies and glasses. Yes, I'm the uber professional. . .

After our yummy supper (at 1:30 am) we lay back down and shut off the lights again.
My cell phone rings.
It's Lori. She misses us.
She's been drinking since we parted hours ago.
It was very funny actually. Kathy and I slipped down to the patio (still in our jammies) to rescue her before she had any more to drink. While there, we had an experience that would scar us for life, but common decency prevents me from telling it in a public forum. . .

More more tomorrow. . .