The Best Day Ever: ALA Midwinter 2015 Recap & Giveaway

I attended my first ever big book conference event almost two weeks ago and I LOVED IT. Here is a little peak into my day at ALA Midwinter 2015. I try to keep it kind of short because if I talked about my reaction to every book I received or tell you about every single wonderful blogger I met or every person who worked for all my favorite publishers that I met this post would be never ending.

MY DAY @ ALA MIDWINTER 2015

6:00 a.m. - I wake up super early for a Saturday, or really any day for me. I hate life until about five minutes later when my husband reminds me that today is book heaven day!

Me! Ready to hit the road.

7:30 - I am ready to go and my husband and I make it out the door when we actually planned to. That is very rare with me. Unless I am going to work I am usually always running just a couple minutes late.

8:30 - My husband (he came to help carry books, because he too likes reading, and because I was kind of scared to go by myself) and I are all registered and waiting impatiently for entrance into the ALA Midwinter 2015 exhibit hall. I had one main goal when I first entered the hall - grab a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses.

9:00 - I do manage to get a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses and I die and go to heaven!! Success! My main mission is already accomplished.

9:10 - I see a copy of the sequel to Every Breath and I start freaking out. I grab a copy and start waving it in the face of the very nice lady standing at the Tundra publishing booth asking her if this is the second book to Every Breath and if I can take it and that I love it and that it was the best Christmas present ever etc. Basically there was a lot of failing and the nice woman listened to me and talked about the book a little more before I stumbled away in a haze of excitement.

Ashley, Me, Nicole

9:15 - I FINALLY meet my blogger bestie in person! Nicole from The Quiet Concert is a human being. Phew! We spent pretty much all day together and it was glorious. I also got to meet Ashley, her co-blogger, who is super sweet and hung out with Lindsey from A Bookish Sinister Kid. All three of these ladies were very lovely. :) I also met a lot of other bloggers (Brittany, Gillian, and a few others. I was a little overwhelmed, don't think I forgot you I just can't get all the names straight in my head.) and they were all nice and awesome. It was so cool meeting so many book bloggers in person!

9:25- We are all on a mission and we set off for a very intense search of all the best ARCs we can find and to learn about new upcoming books. It was fun and intense and I loved it. Nicole is really good at talking to the different publishers. We continue to do this for quite some time. I even got a lot of random new authors to sign my books. It was great talking to so many bookish people about books. :D

11:00 - We dump all of our wonderful finds from our first round in our suitcases at the coat check and go back out onto the floor.

12:00 p.m. - We eat a quick lunch and then go on a mission to get a finished copy of The Red Queen. Once again, we succeed!

1:00 - I meet the author of The Girl on The Train and get a finished signed copy of the book. My husband even waits in line and snags a copy as well for me to gift to my mom.

1:30 - I start waiting in line to meet Meg Cabot! I meet a sweet lady behind me and have fun chatting with Ashley.

Me & Meg Cabot!!!!

2:05 - I meet Meg Cabot and it is awesome. I totally fangirled hardcore. She is so NICE! This had to be the highlight of my day.

2:30 - My blogger buddies head back to their hotel and my husband and I decide to do another lap around the exhibit all floor. I'm glad we did since we didn't make it back Sunday due to the weather.

5:30 - Meet up with Nicole, Ashley, and Lindsey for a nice dinner. We got to talk some more and we ate DELICIOUS food. It was very nice.

7:30 - On our drive to drop Nicole, Ashley, and Lindsey off at a blogger meet up (we skipped this so we could get home before the big snow storm) I enjoyed the most wonderful conversations. My favorite would have to be whether we thought our waiter should have been a ninja or a vampire (he was super sneaky). Nicole and I were obviously on the same side of that argument. I would rather have a vampire any day. :)

7:30 - I say goodbye to Nicole, Ashley, and Lindsay. :( I am now officially beyond tired so my husband brings me home.

8:00 - We get home and I get a second wind of energy. I immediately dig out all my pretty books and pet them, and put them in piles, and fangirl over them all over again. Although I got mostly YA books, I did get a few adult books because I like to read those as well.

I know it is a big haul, but I don't really get a lot of ARCs normally so I may have gone a little crazy. I am already doing one giveaway now and I am planning to have some more in the future. I also promise to read and review as many of these lovelies as I can. :)

11:00 - I pass out from exhaustion after a very long but very wonderful day.

GIVEAWAY

I grabbed a copy of Lying Out Loud (a companion to The DUFF) by Kody Keplinger and since I haven't even read The DUFF yet I figured I would give it away to one lucky blog follower that would appreciate this gem a little more than me. :) This giveaway is only open to US residents since I have to pay to ship this myself. So sorry. Please no cheating, I will be checking the entries.
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