Thank you, Ottawa!

For the second year in a row, ChiSeries Ottawa is nominated for the Aurora Awards*!  As one of the co-chairs, my name appears on the ballot, along with Matt Moore and Nicole Lavigne (two of my favourite people).

Some quirks have developed over time at ChiSeries Ottawa, possibly because its three chairs are rather quirky (which I believe is a prerequisite to becoming a ChiSeries chair).  Our fundraiser consists of a hat story (which is some of my favourite storytelling), and two fundraising goals. When Goal 1 is reached, Matt wears the hat for the night. When goal 2 is reached, he uses the hat picture as his Facebook profile picture for the month.  (Public humiliation is always great for raising funds. Thanks, Matt!)

Hunting for non-wool hats that fit both my head and Matt's is an art form that has led me across Canada and the United States. But seeing how great Matt looks in those hats makes it all worthwhile.

Last night, to celebrate our second nomination, we had a great lineup of readers.  OKAY THEY WERE BOOKED BEFORE WE WERE NOMINATED. But damn they're good writers, so we'll pretend it was all planned. Check out Kate Story, James K. Moran and Melissa Yuan-Innes - you won't be disappointed!

Roomy and I also got excited and decided we'd make little cupcakes to celebrate the nomination. Then we decided cupcakes would be a lot of work.  Then we thought: everyone loves brownies! And people expect a hat story at ChiSeries.

We combined those concepts to make little Matt Heads.

Nothing says yummy cuteness like chocolatey heads of your friends!

At first, I thought it was hilarious.  I giggled as we made Matt Heads wearing little fez hats (I tried to find a fez btw. Really tough thing to do last minute).  Then I started feeling guilty as I made little dead Matt Heads with bleeding hat wounds.

X marks the spot of dead Matt Heads.

But Matt likes zombies, so I figured that'd be okay. We made angry Matts, happy Matts, lovey Matts and Dead Matts.

Then, as a thank you to all our dedicated audience for the nomination, we fed them Matt Heads.

... In retrospect, that might have been a bit wrong.

It's a  Matt eat Matt kind of world.

Thank you all for your support! As Matt mentioned last night, it's Nicole's first time on the ballot. She's excited.  Make Nicole's Aurora dreams come true by voting for *her*.  Don't let her become old multiple Aurora-nominated foggies like Matt and I, having being in the presence of multiple Aurora Awards (mostly Hayden Trenholm's**) and yet having never won one.  

Don't let the Nicoles of this world suffer.

Look at that happy face! Why would you want to destroy that smile?  WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER ARE YOU???

* Vote for us! CAN-CON is also on the ballot. They are also awesome. Vote for them if not for us! :P Go, Ottawa!  

** I'm pretty sure Hayden invites us over some days just so he can sit in front of his shiny Aurora Awards, slowly sipping red wine as he gauges our expressions of disappointment. I don't mind because he gives us red wine, too. If I had a bunch of shiny Aurora Awards, I imagine I'd do the same thing. Except I'd add a disco ball for lighting effect.