Bright Lights and Buffets

The Romance Writers of America's conference doesn't get going until Wednesday, but I'm already in Reno. During the drive (twelve hours if you add in all the stops), I managed to write a scene on my alphasmart and brainstorm some story ideas, but mainly I just napped, daydreamed and tried to figure out if the money we saved driving vs. what airfare for five would have cost was really worth it.

Of course, we can eat cheap here so we probably should have just flown. You should have seen the buffet at dinner. Does anyone really need to eat that much food? The kids were completely overwhelmed by the choices. Me, too. But once we hit the midway at Circus Circus we recovered. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the stuffed animals they accumulated (some generous soul passed out his winnings and my kidlets reaped the benefits) and won.

Well, I'm tired. I was up at 4:15 am to load the minivan. After staying up late getting us packed. It's one thing to just toss in a pair of jeans, some shorts, t-shirts and a swimsuit. That's what I normally do for a vacation. But for the RWA conference, it takes a lot more effort. Not to mention make-up, hair product and shoes. I normally go barefoot or wear Tevas. I packed 5 pairs of shoes for the conference. Five.

Oh, and one more thing. Last night I made a run to Target for last minute supplies and hit the jackpot. I found these really cool Darth Vader spiral and composition notebooks to write down all the wonderful advice and insight I'm going to hear at the conference. Plus I found a Darth Tater (Mr. Potato Head dressed like Darth Vader for those who aren't into Star Wars and don't know what GFFA stands for.) I had to leave Tater at home though. It was either pack him or a pair of shoes. The shoes (pink, if you must know) won.