Guys! I went to ALA! AND. IT. WAS.
AWESOME.
I have been thinking about this post since I got home, and honestly, if I wrote everything I am feeling about my whole experience, we would be here forever. So I am going to follow in the footsteps of Christina and Gee and list my top ten moments of ALA. (By the way, I make an appearance in both of their posts, so you should go check them out if you want a good laugh!) I will list and link all of the truly amazing people that I met at the end of this post, so you can put names to faces! 🙂
- Meeting Emily, my blogging inspiration and one of my first and closest blogger friends. It was absolutely amazing meeting her and I miss her dearly. She is lovely and wonderful and everything I expected her to be and even more.
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Meeting Marcus Sedgwick, who may or may not have thought I was stalking him. Oops….
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That time I asked the girl who gave me Gemina if I could hug her….and bless her heart, she obliged.
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Lillie’s expressions. She had the BEST reaction to meeting everyone for the first time. Honestly, this girl’s expressions are the greatest.
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Playing book fairy all weekend. I had to be very careful about the amount of books I took home with me because I was flying, so I took great pleasure in spreading the wealth and handing out books to everyone.
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That time I sniffed my pits for Erin Summerill (you had to be there.)
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The We Need Diverse Books panel, and later, meeting Alex Gino and Bill Konigsberg.
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Leading the troops through the maze of the exhibit hall each morning. Apologies to those I left behind….there were books to be had! No time for moseying! (I seriously lost Gee about every five minutes.)
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The hilarity of our group DM on Twitter, and more importantly, the fact that it has continued even after we all left ALA. Just over a month has passed since ALA, and we still talk to each other every single day.
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Realizing that I’ve never felt more myself than when I was hanging out with these lovely women. I feel like I have known them all forever, and my heart hurts thinking about how much I miss them. We only spent a few short days together, but I know that I can talk to them about anything and they will always be there for me.
ALAAC was the best experience of my life. It changed me as a person and as a blogger, and that is completely due to the people I met and the friendships I made. I would give back all the books I received (heck, I’d give ALL my books) for that experience again.
I have never met a group of more lovely, beautiful, kind, passionate people in my life, and I encourage you all to go meet them, because they will change your life as well:
Emily at Emily Reads Everything
Gee at A Book and a Cup of Coffee
Lillie at Little Lillie Reads
Kendice at Kendice Reads Books
Alex at Fiery Reads
Christina at Books and Prejudice
Aila at One Way or an Author
Cat [her awesome blog is on hiatus at the moment!]
Carrie at Paper Bindings
Tracy at Cornerfolds (who actually joined our group after ALA, but fits in perfectly as part of the family)
Brittany at Brittany’s Book Rambles
Megan at Book Birds (on YouTube!)
Michelle at Dreaming of Alba
Stefani at Caught Read Handed
Becca at Pivot Book Totes (her Etsy shop!)
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When you go to ALAAC – and it changes your life…..
…..blame it on the books.
