Tucson Festival of Books 2013 Recap

BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER.

Seriously you guys my first signing/book festival experience and the first time meeting someone in person I met online was awesome! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. Now I'm going to show you pictures and talk about how awesome my day was.

My trip down with my Mom started out kind of crazy. She had to work last minute that day and was exhausted but was still awesome (duh) and drove me down to Tucson. I love her so much for toughing it out for me! I managed to make her think I'm even weirder than she originally thought by taking random pictures while she was driving. The above one was one of my favorites because that look is something I get a lot, LOL! I didn't manage to get any pictures of the hotel or anything but the next day was great. It took what felt like FOREVER to find the lovely Brittani and it doesn't help I have no sense of direction. Once I finally found this beautiful girl we headed off to the building below.

Brittani and I were rather proud that we found this building pretty fast without getting lost. I love how we got along right off and she is seriously so sweet and friendly! It was both our first time going to a festival/signing and meeting someone we met through blogging and goodreads. 

Maggie Stiefvater, Brittani, Gayle Forman, Me, and Elizabeth Eulberg. (Left to right)

This is right after the first panel, which was hilarious and really interesting. I sadly was so distracted by it that I didn't really get any good pictures. I loved meeting all three of these ladies. Maggie and Elizabeth were hilarious and poor Gayle was sick. It was too funny how Maggie and Elizabeth rearranged the seats at the panel table and put Gayle at the end. They were cracking jokes about putting her in quarantine! We also learned that Maggie punched some guy after he asked her to in high school and broke his nose. My first thought - can she be my best friend? After this we went to this tent they had next door where you could go in and pick one free book to take home with you. The selection was awesome, they had books for all ages. I picked out Unbroken by Paula Morris which I then found out was the second book in a series so now I have to get the first lol.

Elizabeth Eulberg, Maggie Stiefvater, random photo bombing girl. (Left to right)

Above is an awesome picture of Elizabeth Eulberg and Maggie Stiefvater when they crashed each others talk sessions at the Teen and Author Meeting Tent. They are seriously so funny. I had enough courage to ask them as authors how they felt about us bloggers. They both replied that they loved how we're a tight knit little family and Maggie said a lot of her fans are bloggers she's met online. I even did a little dance and yelled "YES!" when Elizabeth said she loved us. I got some weird stares, represent baby! I also really LOVE the little girl who is photo bombing. Her facial expression = priceless.

Amy Fellner Dominy, Tamara Ireland Stone, Elizabeth Eulber, Moderator who's name I forgot. (Left to right)

This was the second panel we went to and I really enjoyed it because it was about love! I loved all of their answers and how they could joke around. Being honest though I liked the moderator from the first panel better compared to this one. The first moderator from the first panel had read the books and was fun, this one just seemed really blah. But the authors made up for it, especially Tamara at the end!

Me, Tamara Ireland Stone, and Brittani. (Left to right)

Okay I can not stress enough how AWESOME Tamara is! She was so fun to talk to, we got to chat for a few minutes and she gave us some really cool swag. It was so cute, she got all excited and showed us the cover for Time After Time which is her second novel that comes after Time Between Us and I must say both of her covers are absolutely gorgeous!

Brittani and I (left to right)

As the day came to an end it was really bittersweet. I had such a blast meeting Brittani and spending time with her! If you want to see more pictures because this post is already a mile along you can go here. I'll definitely be going back to The Tucson Festival of Books next year!