Meanwhile, back at the Chihuly Garden...

(Damn! I left out two good anecdotes from #ECCC. Here's the last one.) After Autographs 2.0, @birdie4573 @Pursuitofagood1 and I sat on the hotel floor (literally shaking and crying), utterly unable to function because of our collective fangirl overdrive. Our tweets about what just happened reached the rest of our group, who were at the Chihuly Garden, and they proceeded to drop the tour and spend the rest of their time in the museum screeching, texting, tweeting and getting their secondhand fangirl high. Sorry, Dave.

The lady prefers Syrah.

(Sorry, forgot to include this bit bc I'm a Tumblr idiot.) While we were chatting after autographs on Sat, we delivered boxes of wine-infused chocolate truffles to Sam and Cait that @givemethewest brought from Oregon. At one point, @birdie4573 teasingly offered Sam’s box to Cait. Sam said to Cait, “Didn’t you say earlier that you wanted dessert?”—to which Cait replied, “Why yes, Sam, I do want some dessert.” So cheeky. Sam read from the box and gave Cait her pick of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris or Syrah. Cait said, “Hmmm, that’s a hard decision. I’ll have the Syrah.” My kind of gal.

The Best of #ShipperCon

Heya! I never post to Tumblr, but I wanted to share some of the highlights of my weekend at Emerald City Comicon. I was in Seattle with seven other fabulous shipper gals. Our group included @givemethewest, @jill_millander, @ClaireEBFraser, @birdie4573, @ZenGeisha1, @Pursuitofagood1 and @meg_eh (Twitter handles, since that's where I live). Here are my favorite moments, as well as some of theirs.

Sam tweets all the shippers!

On Wednesday night, Sam liked and quote tweeted @givemethewest’s Kermit gif tweet about #ECCC, which was later RT’d by Cait! On Thursday night, while we were deep in a drunken game of Cards Against Humanity, Sam replied to @ZenGeisha1’s tweet about staying up for over 24 hours to get to Seattle. Both were good omens for a wonderful weekend to come! On Monday, while we were all combating a vicious fangirling hangover, Sam liked @Pursuitofagood1’s tweet with a group pic of the #HMSPeakers at the con. (More on that later.)

@ClaireEBFraser’s autographing experience with Cait

Cait signed @ClaireEBFraser’s copy of The Year of Magical Thinking, which was instrumental to Cait (she called it “her bible”) in portraying Claire in Outlander Season 2. @ClaireEBFraser explained the impact the book has had on her as an Alzheimer’s caregiver, and she and Cait had a beautiful moment bonding over their shared love of the book. Over the course of the weekend, I saw or heard about many people sharing deeply personal stories, which Sam and Cait responded to with tremendous sensitivity and compassion, each and every time. My bottomless respect for them somehow grew deeper by seeing this.

@ClaireEBFraser's copy of The Year of Magical Thinking, signed by Cait.

Your #ShipperCon press rep asked a question at the panel discussion.

Shortly after the panel started, the floor was opened up for a Q&A. Before I knew what was happening, I was hustling through the aisle to get in the queue. When I got my press pass, I had thought of a few questions to ask Sam and Cait, in case the opportunity presented itself. But as I stood in line, with my heart pounding and my brain cells liquefying, I struggled to collect my thoughts while trying to pay attention to the panel. My voice was so shaky, and I thought I sounded incoherent. When I watched the video, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. This was my question…. “Myself and a lot of the people I traveled here with are fans not only of your performances on the show, but of your willingness to be politically outspoken, activists and advocates, and your charitable work as well. So I’m wondering what sort of planted the seed for that for that aspect of your work, which has dovetailed so strongly with the fandom, and what are you excited for this year with World Child Cancer and My Peak Challenge?”

(Full video below. My question begins around 00:38)

Full #ECCC panel discussion.

A parade of #UnusualLadies for photo ops

The photos on Friday were so fast and furious, but there were a few highlights during those quick moments. @birdie4573 got a hug from Sam and @Pursuitofagood1 got a hug from Cait. From the looks of @meg_eh’s pic next to Cait, you’d think they were BFFs. She’s owning it in that pic! @jill_millander wore her MPC tee under her Unusual Lady tee, so of course she pulled up the tee on top to reveal her MPC-clad #JillsLeftBoob to Sam. Six of us in the group wore our Unusual Lady tees, and each time one of us stepped forward, Cait thanked us very sincerely for our support of WCC. Surprisingly, there were fewer people wearing the tees than I expected. Cait definitely noticed and took the time to thank us during the photo op and again at the autographing.

Sam buys his own autograph for @jill_millander

@jill_millander didn’t have a ticket for Sam’s autograph during the Friday session. After she got Cait’s autograph, she stopped at Sam’s table and mentioned that she wanted his too, but he was sold out. The irresistible combination of @jill_millander’s New York hustle and puppy dog eyes worked. Sam took the item she brought—despite the stink eye from security—and signed it saying “I’ll pay for this one.” WHAAAAAT??? Only @jill_millander could manage to convince Sam to buy her his own autograph. It was amazing to witness.

Saturday: SamCait Autographs 2.0

@birdie4573 didn’t have autograph tickets on Friday, so by Saturday morning, she was considering a return to #ECCC for autographs. @Pursuitofagood1 and I are thirsty fangirls with little regard for our bank accounts, so we came along. Little did we know it would be the best decision we made during the trip. When it was finally our turn, we ended up chatting with Cait and Sam for at least five minutes. Hard to know for sure, because time was standing still.

Ready for SamCait Autographs 2.0!!!

#ECCC staffers FTW

An #ECCC staffer (who’s also an Outlander fan) was very cool and let us hang back in line, so that we could be last to go. She commented that she’s been working cons for seven years, and Sam and Cait are the most genuine and gracious celebs she’s ever seen. We fangirled with her about our collective amazement that Cait is so radiant in person. She literally glows from within. We asked if she had the chance to interact with Sam and Cait, or get an autograph or pic, but she said that’s not allowed. Turns out, we later noticed that she’s the woman in Cait’s tweet who’s taking the pic with Sam while Cait’s behind the camera. Talk about an ultimate fangirl moment, captured in Cait’s very own tweet! We were so delighted for her and happy to see that karma richly rewarded her kindness to us. Honorable mention shout out to Shannon with ReedPop, who was very helpful with ticketing and even gave us free t-shirts.

Even Cait has to go potty.

Before we got in line for the autographs, I popped over two the ladies room, only to be turned away at the door by security guards. Security asked me to wait because they had to shut down the bathroom while a woman was using it. (Cait!) @birdie4573 @Pursuitofagood1 and I waited outside until Cait came out, but we were paralyzed by our fangirl emotions as she passed by. When we recovered, we scrurried down the hall after her for stealth pics.