Artsy Pajama Party #2, convention-style! *edited*

When the "artsy pajamas" first became a "thing", I collected photos of a whole bunch of us crazy art teachers modeling the pj's, and I posted about this first "Artsy Pajama Party" here.  And I thought I was done with  pajama pics.  But then, at the recent NAEA convention in Chicago, I was approached and asked "When are we having a pajama party photo shoot?"  My original response was "never", because I wasn't sure I wanted to be seen in public wearing pajamas that, even after cutting off a couple of inches and then hemming them up about 3 more inches, were still way too long and had to be rolled up at the waist.  (Were these pajamas designed to be worn with stilletos??  I know I'm short, but, really????)

But then some other people asked, so I thought "What the heck; just do it!"  I figured we'd all meet in the lobby, in front of the elevators, so we didn't have to walk far in our jammies on our own.  These first two pics are a spontaneous arrangement in front of the elevators.  The gal with her hands in the air is the person who first asked me when we were going to take a photo.  Thanks for the inspiration, Nancy!

Then we proceeded en masse to the "grand staircase" in the lobby, for a bunch more "posed" photos.  I should note that, the night before the photo shoot, I inadvertently dropped my camera outside an Irish pub, and didn't notice it was missing until almost  midnight, when they were about to close, and we were in the hotel room ready for sleep.  Thankfully, it had been found by a nice patron and was returned to the pub the next evening, where I picked it up, just shortly before the scheduled time for pajama pictures!  I had spent the whole day at the convention without the camera.  I am never without it so it was an enormous relief to know it had been found.  It was a bit of a challenge to rescue the camera, because it was ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN AN IRISH PUB.  A wee bit hectic, as I'm sure you can imagine...... 

 A friend volunteered to take the photos (so I could be in them), but with the camera missing until the last moment, I had no time to show her how to use the camera to get the best pictures.  Nevertheless, I think she did a great job, especially in poor light conditions!  Thank you, Steph!  By the way, if you don't already know, I'm the person with the silver and blue hair, posing with hands on hip above.  Contrapposto pose, pehaps?

 I had also invited the NAEA photographer to come and take more "professional" photos of the pajama party, and he said he would.  But at this point, he hadn't shown up and it was getting late, so we gave up waiting for him and took all these pictures with my little camera.  

 We tried to get some photos from above, too! 

I don't know if you can tell from these photos, but it was a very interesting collection of shoes and other embellishments that people chose to wear with their jammies, from scarves and jewelry to boots and flip-flops, the choices definitely reflect the fun group of people.

At this point we had totally given up on the professional photographer, and took a few more pics of our own.  Mostly, we laughed.  A LOT.  As you can see by all the smiling faces.

  I should note that while I sit here typing this post, I am actually wearing my artsy pj's!! 

 Finally, the group started to disperse.  And then, when half of the participants had left to go to bed, a few stragglers showed up.  And so did the photographer, about 15 minutes late!!  So he lined us up cascading down the stairs, he gathered us around the piano, and so on.  I'm glad he showed up, because it is a slightly different group of people in his photos, and my friend who was using my camera had already left for bed, so I have no images of the late arrivals.  He took a bunch of photos.  The best of them are on the NAEA website, in the "miscellaneous" category of Thursday convention photos.  They are copyrighted images, so I don't dare use them here without permission.  But hopefully this link will take you to the pics taken by the NAEA photographer.

By the way - I almost forgot one "late" pajama party arrival!  Check out these two photos below, expertly edited by the fabulous Tricia Fuglestad to add the latecomer!  The "new arrival" at he photo session was none other than new-ish blogger Rebecca Dupree, who charmingly wrote about her "at home" version of the NAEA convention HERE.  Check out her other recent blog  posts, too.  She is sure to put a smile on your face, but also, along with the humor, you will find a lot of truth in what she has to say!  (Rebecca!  Look at yourself in these pics!  You seem to be taller than I remember!)

I wonder what we can do to top this bit of silliness at the convention in NYC next year!  We've got almost a year to come up with another fun idea!