So as I was lamenting my fate to have to stay in Huntsville again for another New Year's Eve, Chloe IMs me out of the blue with a tasty invitation for me and Shane to share the festive evening with her and Jeff in Atlanta for a night of dancing, drinking and partying, etc. Of course I jumped at the chance. I could never resist a tempting offer of going out of town, partying with people I barely know with the opportunity to change outfits as many times as I want. Chloe unknowingly knew all the right buttons to push to get me excited about the trip. It had all the makings of what I like about a con.

Of course, getting there turned out to be a problem. It was 3pm when I arrived in Atlanta, but for some reason - I forgot where the hotel was. I finally ambled in to the Sheraton at 4pm and found that after I was ready to scream at the front desk guy who claimed not to have my reservation, that I was, in fact, at the wrong Sheraton. He was nice enough to give me directions so I could stress someone else out. Thanx man.

I got there around 4:30 and actually put my stuff away in the room. No sense in "exploding my clothes" everywhere as Wes liked to call it and after I got ready for dinner in my lace dress - I headed over to Jeff's room.

Jeff had the happening "hot chicks" room set up. He had 99 red balloons blown up (Chloe's fav 80s song), a strobe light going on under the bed, two lamp lights had red bulbs in them and the coffee table had a blue bulb underneath it with a lamp set up. Then he had his laptop set up with a groovy screensaver that pulsed along with the music and speakers he had brought. After he made us some raspberry vodka drinks and brought out the meat and cheese tray - I knew I was in the "right" room of the hotel.

In the Hot Chicks Room - Calling more peeps

After we went to the buffet dinner (which was mildly disappointing in selection for what I paid), we headed back to Jeff's room and he invited some people over. One of them had upgraded our normal status bracelets to VIP status bracelets. NOW we were ready to go out and party.

However, there was a down side. Shane wouldn't be able to get off work till 12am - and so I would have to be a third wheel to their date until Shane got there (Shane later was able to get out around 11pm, thankfully). Chloe and Jeff made sure that I never felt like I was "hanging around" until Shane got there. I always felt included. They even bent over backwards to make sure Shane got registered smoothly without any hiccups.

Security at this place were being the biggest bunch of dicks, ever (sorry for being blunt here). Shane knew the room number, but he didn't know he would have to call first to be able to get to the room. We wanted this to be as painless as possible for him so we waited in the lobby for him with a wristband and he finally showed at 11:30pm. Poor guy had to walk four blocks in the freezing cold to get from his parking place. Security searched his bag to make sure there was no alcohol in it (Jeff was sneaky and was there before security was in place to bring his), we slapped a wristband on his hand and he was on his way to my room to get ready.

Shane and I - right before Midnight.

Although it only took Shane 10 minutes to look stunning, we did NOT want to pay whatever outrageous drink price to have champagne at midnight, so everyone traipsed back to Jeff's room and hurriedly poured champagne in plastic cups so we could run back to the main ballroom. Of course, in typical "dawn marie disaster" type stories - we missed the entire countdown. We didn't even hear it. We didn't wanna look like idiots, so we quickly had our own countdown under our breath and gulped our champagne and kissed our men.

All of us at the room desperately trying to beat the clock and then afterwards posing for a pic

Then it was off to the main stage where Chloe's friend - DJ Star Boy was spinning. He did a great job and Shane even got into it and danced a little bit. Chloe knew everyone backstage - so we hung out there by the stage and giggled, shadow danced and talked, and giggled some more. I must have laughed and smiled so much during that nite - my face hurt the next day. I love it when I have that much fun. In fact, out of all of these pics, only in a few am I doing my trademark smirk.

Hanging out backstage during DJ Star Boy's spinning.

Later we went back to the room and the guys took pics of us girls dancing and generally being fabulous. We even did a gratuitous "showing of the legs" shot. They were friends of Chloe's and were really nice chickies.

Carrie, Colleen, Chloe and Me being all girlie and dancing :)

There were some things that bothered me about the way this party was run. The drinks at the bars stopped pouring at 2am and the hotel shut almost every party room around the main ballroom down at 4am (despite the fact that everything was supposed to stay open till 6am) and around 6 they were making sure that there were only 4 people to a room and the noise level was down. I was shocked. What did they think was going to happen? Its a party for godsakes. At a sci fi con, people were allowed to walk wherever in less than a thong and drink anything they wanted to in a plastic cup as long as they weren't breaking the law. Here at this party - everyone was being forced to either go to a room (that they could prove was theirs) or go home regardless of their sobriety.

Shane takes the time to pose with me and Chloe on the couch.

I would love to attend this thing next year and Chloe said she will find out the real scoop as to what kind of Gestapo tactics will be laid to rest for next year's shindig. She doesn't want to go to anything that oppressive either next time around. Jeff thought his "hot chicks" room was so successful that he is going to implement it for Chattacon this year. I am so stoked.