Happy Friday Everyone!
I can honestly not even describe how excited I am that it's finally the weekend. We've had an insanely stressful couple of days around here lately, and I'm so ready for a break from it all. :(
I'm happy to be here today with a new blog post for you all, and that is the recap of our second day in Vegas for RT Booklovers. This was the actual start of the convention, and honestly looking back on it, this was one of my favorite days of the entire week.
So here goes my recap from day two of our trip. :)
Tuesday April 12th, 2016
Today was a bit of an early start for us, as I had a long day ahead of me, and I knew that we should be expect to be in line early for the start of registration. We ended up lining up at about 8:40 am, and I was glad we hadn't honestly been any later, as there was already a huge line forming in front of the desk, and registration didn't open until 9! It wouldn't have been a big deal to me to register later, but I was attending the Book Bloggers Symposium, and as it started at 11 am, I didn't want to take a chance and risk being late.
We did end up waiting about an hour to get through the line, but I think that was mainly because it had just opened, and everything wasn't totally organized yet. The line really started moving after they'd been open for twenty minutes or so, so my tip for anyone attending next year would be honestly to wait to line up for registration till after it's been open for an hour or so, as there's really no sense in standing in that line, when later you could just walk up and receive your badge with no wait.
We received our badges that identified us as bloggers, our tickets to pick up our registration bags and a trip through the goody room, the event program, and a complimentary print issue of the latest edition of RT Book Reviews.
After that we had time to do a quick exploration of the hotel, and then I quickly got read to head to the symposium. I was honestly a little worried about what the dress code was going to be for this event, and I just decided to go in a dress and leggings. Once I got there, it appeared that everybody had just worn whatever they personally wanted too, so this was a huge relief to me. :)
The symposium started out with a buffet lunch, and the food was honestly really good. They had a vegetable wrap, and a tomato soup that I really enjoyed, and there was also some delicious desserts, among many other sandwiches, and salads.
The symposium was hosted by Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books, and also by Jay of Joyfully Jay. They both seemed like really nice ladies, and I enjoyed the many things they had to say throughout the day.
I was also lucky enough to choose a seat at a table between two amazingly nice women, who I ended up getting to talk to numerous times throughout the rest of the week.
Monique from www.fun-frothy-reads.blogspot.com and
Tara from www.theediblebookmark.com.
I absolutely loved both of their blog names, and getting to visit with them was an awesome start to the convention.
The symposium featured a question and answer session, some information about monetization opportunities and blog content, and featured some special guests who also provided a lot of valuable insight on the blogging industry, and that was Rachel from Parajunkee, who gave an incredible insightful talk on the different technological, and design components of running a blog, and also a team from Apple, who provided information about their affiliate program, and they also provided us with an amazing afternoon snack of cookies and cupcakes.
During the snack break, all three of us at our table went and grabbed our registration bags, and I can honestly say that I'm in love with my bag. I ended up using it as a bag for the pool later in the week, and I've already used it numerous times since I got home. There was several goodies in the bag, including three books, and lots and lots of swag, all of which was super exciting for me.
Lastly, the symposium ended with representatives from four different publishing houses giving a question and answer session about working with them, requesting arcs, what they look for in reviews, and lots of other information. Each representative also brought arcs for each person in the room, and this was definitely a highlight of the event for me. I will be sharing what all the books were in a haul post later on, so I'm not going to include them in these individual recaps, because honestly I think they're long enough without the addition of that.
After the symposium ended, Harlequin was sponsoring a cocktail party for all the attendees, that would feature some of their amazing authors, and I had planned on going straight there from the conference room. However, I really started not to feel good, and I honestly think it was just that my lungs were not appreciating all the cigarettte smoke they'd been inhaling since we'd gotten to Vegas, and unfortunately I'd forgotten to throw my asthma puffer in the bag I'd brought with me to the symposium. Not sure why I did this, as I literally never forget this, but I decided to quickly run to the room and grab it, instead of following everyone else over to the party.
Of course because I have absolutely no sense of direction, I ended up getting lost trying to find the Rio Wedding Chapel, where the event was taking place, and had to end up asking directions, but alas I did eventually find it.
This party was a really great event, and the numerous types of foods they had looked amazing. I remember there were some kind of sliders, a cheese tray, a fruit tray, and some kind of hot dip, among other things, but since I still wasn't feeling the greatest, I ended up just grabbing a bottle of water, and not trying any of the offerings.
Unfortunately, my one complaint about this party was the event space. It was a pretty small venue to begin with, but it was also like a million degrees in the small room, and there were huge windows that had the sun beating down on everyone, and it was honestly not the greatest situation, but alas there were lots of amazing authors in the room, and I was excited to finally be able to meet authors for the first time ever.
One of the Harlequin publicists ended up introducing herself to me, and a couple of other ladies I was visiting with, and walked us over to meet Brenda Jackson. Now I unfortunately have not had the pleasure yet of reading anything by this amazing lady, but I can definitely tell you I will be in the immediate future, as she was an absolute sweetheart, and was so personable. She told me she loved my name, and that she's always on the lookout for unique names for characters, and that pretty much had me squealing the rest of the evening. Every blogger was also given a pink Harlequin tote when they walked through the door that had some swag, and a flash drive with some free ebooks on it in it, and I asked Brenda to sign the tote bag, before I moved on from her table.
By this point I was honestly so done in, and really wanting to just go back to the room and find Neil, and go for dinner, but since I'm a huge YA fan, I really did want to meet Adi Alsaid before I left this party.
I waited in line behind someone else to talk to him, and then I ended up getting to join in on their conversation, and ended up meeting Rachel E Carter, who's another talented YA author who'd also been attending the blogger symposium. I had a nice chat with Adi, and Rachel. Rachel also so nicely agreed to take my pic with Adi:
I got him to also sign my bag, and then they both said they'd see me and my hubby later for the YA Spooky Slumber Party.
Although there were so many other amazing authors at this party I would have loved to have met, like Susan Mallery, I was just too done in by this point, and I was still really wanting to attend the YA Spooky Slumber Party, which was taking place from 10:30-midnight that night. So instead I went and found Neil back at the room, and we headed to a Chinese restaurant called KJ Chinese Dim Sum and Seafood Restaurant in our hotel. I can honestly say this was a much better choice than the restaurant the night before had been, and I was even more irked when I saw that soft drinks here were two dollars not five like they had been there!!
Dinner was really good, and the restaurant was really quiet, which I desperately needed after how busy the day had been.
After dinner, we just decided to relax in the room for a bit, and then head down for the slumber party at about nine thirty or so.
You were encouraged to wear pajamas for this event, but I was uncomfortable doing so, so I went in leggings and a Wildfox jumper instead, but unfortunately I wore shoes that I apparently hadn't broken in properly, and my heels were literally bleeding by the time I got to the ballroom, which was quite a walk from our room, but oh well nothing to be done but know to wear different shoes the next day.
I can honestly say that after attending the numerous late night parties that we did, this event ended up being my absolute favorite. We sat down in line for about an hour, and I can't even begin to describe to you how excited I was at the prospect of seeing Kiera Cass in person!! Neil had text me that he'd seen her earlier while I was at the symposium, and I was seriously tempted to run out of their to find her. But alas, I didn't, to which I'm sure my hubby was extremely grateful, as these things tend to embarrass him.
Soon enough it was time to enter the ballroom, and wow this was a really small space for how many people were pouring into this event, but other than that, I literally do not have one complaint from this event. It was soooo much fun, and I honestly cannot wait to read some of Lea Nolan's books, after seeing what an amazing job she did hosting this event, and the next day's YA Booktionary.
We chose seats at a table near the front of the room, and Neil couldn't believe that there was a tote bag on everyone's chair with a free book, and lots of swag in it. There was also junk food and bottled water on all the tables, and everyone received raffle tickets, as well as a number from 1-12. All the authors introduced themselves, and then dispersed to the tables to begin the fun and games. Our first two authors included none other than Rachel E Carter, which I thought was extremely funny how that worked out, and her and I had a quick chat, and I introduced her to Neil. I wish for the life of me that I could remember the other author who was at our table for the first game, as she was amazing as well, but I didn't write it down, and now can't seem to find out who it was.
These two authors hosted our first game. which was secrets. Every person at the table had to write down a secret, and then we put them all in a bag, and one by one everyone picked one out, and tried to guess who's secret it was. I used the fact that my fingers turn yellow when there cold, which our whole table found pretty interesting. And I will say that we sat with an awesome group of people for this event, we had so much fun, and we ran into many of these ladies throughout the rest of the week, and always stopped for a quick chat. At first Neil was a little weirded out that he was the only guy at our table, but he got over it quickly, and ended up having lots of fun.
I could see Kiera Cass at another table, but I ended up not going up to her at this event, simply because she was busy with the tables she was participating at, and by the end of the event, I felt it was too late to bother her.
Soon enough it was time for a new game, which meant an author switch, and I cannot even begin to describe how awesome our next duo of authors was. We lucked out with Lisa Brown Roberts, and Jenna Lincoln, neither of which I've had the opportunity to read their books yet, but How Not To Fall In Love by Lisa Brown Roberts has been on my tbr list forever. I can honestly say I will be purchasing books from both these ladies soon, as they were amazing! Our game with them was truth or dare, and it was them doing the truths or the dares out of a bag that was on the table, and the whole game had our table laughing out loud the entire time.
Mixed in with the games were many giveaways, both raffle tickets, which neither Neil or I won, but some of the other ladies from our table did, and table giveaways, which were what the numbers 1 through 12 were for. I loved that they did this, because every single person in the room had a number, and they drew each number twice. I believe I was a seven, and all the sevens ended up winning a shirt, and a set of stretchy bracelets, and Neil was an eight I think, and he won some artwork by Amy Plum, and I honestly don't remember what else.
I couldn't believe all the amazing things they gave away at this party, none of which we were expecting at all, and Lea Nolan did such an amazing job hosting the entire time. The event ended with a slipper contest, and the lady that sat next to me at our table ended up winning it, because of how loud our table cheered!
All in all this was an amazing night! But we were definitely ready to head to bed after it broke up shortly after midnight, and I just regret that I didn't remember to take any pictures while we were here.
I can't stress enough how much I recommend this event to anyone going to RT in the future. It was honestly one of my favorite events from the whole convention!
Thanks for reading guys! Once again, I apologize for how long this ended up being, and I really will try and tone it down with the next post. I'm also gonna try and get the rest of them typed up faster, so that I can get them edited, and posted for you all. I'll see you all back here on Monday for my April 2016 wrap up post!
This is not a sponsored post! All opinions are my own. The photos were taken by me or my hubby with an Iphone.
I can honestly not even describe how excited I am that it's finally the weekend. We've had an insanely stressful couple of days around here lately, and I'm so ready for a break from it all. :(
I'm happy to be here today with a new blog post for you all, and that is the recap of our second day in Vegas for RT Booklovers. This was the actual start of the convention, and honestly looking back on it, this was one of my favorite days of the entire week.
So here goes my recap from day two of our trip. :)
Tuesday April 12th, 2016
Today was a bit of an early start for us, as I had a long day ahead of me, and I knew that we should be expect to be in line early for the start of registration. We ended up lining up at about 8:40 am, and I was glad we hadn't honestly been any later, as there was already a huge line forming in front of the desk, and registration didn't open until 9! It wouldn't have been a big deal to me to register later, but I was attending the Book Bloggers Symposium, and as it started at 11 am, I didn't want to take a chance and risk being late.
We did end up waiting about an hour to get through the line, but I think that was mainly because it had just opened, and everything wasn't totally organized yet. The line really started moving after they'd been open for twenty minutes or so, so my tip for anyone attending next year would be honestly to wait to line up for registration till after it's been open for an hour or so, as there's really no sense in standing in that line, when later you could just walk up and receive your badge with no wait.
We received our badges that identified us as bloggers, our tickets to pick up our registration bags and a trip through the goody room, the event program, and a complimentary print issue of the latest edition of RT Book Reviews.
After that we had time to do a quick exploration of the hotel, and then I quickly got read to head to the symposium. I was honestly a little worried about what the dress code was going to be for this event, and I just decided to go in a dress and leggings. Once I got there, it appeared that everybody had just worn whatever they personally wanted too, so this was a huge relief to me. :)
The symposium was hosted by Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books, and also by Jay of Joyfully Jay. They both seemed like really nice ladies, and I enjoyed the many things they had to say throughout the day.
I was also lucky enough to choose a seat at a table between two amazingly nice women, who I ended up getting to talk to numerous times throughout the rest of the week.
Monique from www.fun-frothy-reads.blogspot.com and
Tara from www.theediblebookmark.com.
I absolutely loved both of their blog names, and getting to visit with them was an awesome start to the convention.
The symposium featured a question and answer session, some information about monetization opportunities and blog content, and featured some special guests who also provided a lot of valuable insight on the blogging industry, and that was Rachel from Parajunkee, who gave an incredible insightful talk on the different technological, and design components of running a blog, and also a team from Apple, who provided information about their affiliate program, and they also provided us with an amazing afternoon snack of cookies and cupcakes.
During the snack break, all three of us at our table went and grabbed our registration bags, and I can honestly say that I'm in love with my bag. I ended up using it as a bag for the pool later in the week, and I've already used it numerous times since I got home. There was several goodies in the bag, including three books, and lots and lots of swag, all of which was super exciting for me.
Lastly, the symposium ended with representatives from four different publishing houses giving a question and answer session about working with them, requesting arcs, what they look for in reviews, and lots of other information. Each representative also brought arcs for each person in the room, and this was definitely a highlight of the event for me. I will be sharing what all the books were in a haul post later on, so I'm not going to include them in these individual recaps, because honestly I think they're long enough without the addition of that.
After the symposium ended, Harlequin was sponsoring a cocktail party for all the attendees, that would feature some of their amazing authors, and I had planned on going straight there from the conference room. However, I really started not to feel good, and I honestly think it was just that my lungs were not appreciating all the cigarettte smoke they'd been inhaling since we'd gotten to Vegas, and unfortunately I'd forgotten to throw my asthma puffer in the bag I'd brought with me to the symposium. Not sure why I did this, as I literally never forget this, but I decided to quickly run to the room and grab it, instead of following everyone else over to the party.
Of course because I have absolutely no sense of direction, I ended up getting lost trying to find the Rio Wedding Chapel, where the event was taking place, and had to end up asking directions, but alas I did eventually find it.
Unfortunately, my one complaint about this party was the event space. It was a pretty small venue to begin with, but it was also like a million degrees in the small room, and there were huge windows that had the sun beating down on everyone, and it was honestly not the greatest situation, but alas there were lots of amazing authors in the room, and I was excited to finally be able to meet authors for the first time ever.
One of the Harlequin publicists ended up introducing herself to me, and a couple of other ladies I was visiting with, and walked us over to meet Brenda Jackson. Now I unfortunately have not had the pleasure yet of reading anything by this amazing lady, but I can definitely tell you I will be in the immediate future, as she was an absolute sweetheart, and was so personable. She told me she loved my name, and that she's always on the lookout for unique names for characters, and that pretty much had me squealing the rest of the evening. Every blogger was also given a pink Harlequin tote when they walked through the door that had some swag, and a flash drive with some free ebooks on it in it, and I asked Brenda to sign the tote bag, before I moved on from her table.
By this point I was honestly so done in, and really wanting to just go back to the room and find Neil, and go for dinner, but since I'm a huge YA fan, I really did want to meet Adi Alsaid before I left this party.
I waited in line behind someone else to talk to him, and then I ended up getting to join in on their conversation, and ended up meeting Rachel E Carter, who's another talented YA author who'd also been attending the blogger symposium. I had a nice chat with Adi, and Rachel. Rachel also so nicely agreed to take my pic with Adi:
Although there were so many other amazing authors at this party I would have loved to have met, like Susan Mallery, I was just too done in by this point, and I was still really wanting to attend the YA Spooky Slumber Party, which was taking place from 10:30-midnight that night. So instead I went and found Neil back at the room, and we headed to a Chinese restaurant called KJ Chinese Dim Sum and Seafood Restaurant in our hotel. I can honestly say this was a much better choice than the restaurant the night before had been, and I was even more irked when I saw that soft drinks here were two dollars not five like they had been there!!
Dinner was really good, and the restaurant was really quiet, which I desperately needed after how busy the day had been.
You were encouraged to wear pajamas for this event, but I was uncomfortable doing so, so I went in leggings and a Wildfox jumper instead, but unfortunately I wore shoes that I apparently hadn't broken in properly, and my heels were literally bleeding by the time I got to the ballroom, which was quite a walk from our room, but oh well nothing to be done but know to wear different shoes the next day.
I can honestly say that after attending the numerous late night parties that we did, this event ended up being my absolute favorite. We sat down in line for about an hour, and I can't even begin to describe to you how excited I was at the prospect of seeing Kiera Cass in person!! Neil had text me that he'd seen her earlier while I was at the symposium, and I was seriously tempted to run out of their to find her. But alas, I didn't, to which I'm sure my hubby was extremely grateful, as these things tend to embarrass him.
Soon enough it was time to enter the ballroom, and wow this was a really small space for how many people were pouring into this event, but other than that, I literally do not have one complaint from this event. It was soooo much fun, and I honestly cannot wait to read some of Lea Nolan's books, after seeing what an amazing job she did hosting this event, and the next day's YA Booktionary.
We chose seats at a table near the front of the room, and Neil couldn't believe that there was a tote bag on everyone's chair with a free book, and lots of swag in it. There was also junk food and bottled water on all the tables, and everyone received raffle tickets, as well as a number from 1-12. All the authors introduced themselves, and then dispersed to the tables to begin the fun and games. Our first two authors included none other than Rachel E Carter, which I thought was extremely funny how that worked out, and her and I had a quick chat, and I introduced her to Neil. I wish for the life of me that I could remember the other author who was at our table for the first game, as she was amazing as well, but I didn't write it down, and now can't seem to find out who it was.
These two authors hosted our first game. which was secrets. Every person at the table had to write down a secret, and then we put them all in a bag, and one by one everyone picked one out, and tried to guess who's secret it was. I used the fact that my fingers turn yellow when there cold, which our whole table found pretty interesting. And I will say that we sat with an awesome group of people for this event, we had so much fun, and we ran into many of these ladies throughout the rest of the week, and always stopped for a quick chat. At first Neil was a little weirded out that he was the only guy at our table, but he got over it quickly, and ended up having lots of fun.
I could see Kiera Cass at another table, but I ended up not going up to her at this event, simply because she was busy with the tables she was participating at, and by the end of the event, I felt it was too late to bother her.
Soon enough it was time for a new game, which meant an author switch, and I cannot even begin to describe how awesome our next duo of authors was. We lucked out with Lisa Brown Roberts, and Jenna Lincoln, neither of which I've had the opportunity to read their books yet, but How Not To Fall In Love by Lisa Brown Roberts has been on my tbr list forever. I can honestly say I will be purchasing books from both these ladies soon, as they were amazing! Our game with them was truth or dare, and it was them doing the truths or the dares out of a bag that was on the table, and the whole game had our table laughing out loud the entire time.
Mixed in with the games were many giveaways, both raffle tickets, which neither Neil or I won, but some of the other ladies from our table did, and table giveaways, which were what the numbers 1 through 12 were for. I loved that they did this, because every single person in the room had a number, and they drew each number twice. I believe I was a seven, and all the sevens ended up winning a shirt, and a set of stretchy bracelets, and Neil was an eight I think, and he won some artwork by Amy Plum, and I honestly don't remember what else.
I couldn't believe all the amazing things they gave away at this party, none of which we were expecting at all, and Lea Nolan did such an amazing job hosting the entire time. The event ended with a slipper contest, and the lady that sat next to me at our table ended up winning it, because of how loud our table cheered!
All in all this was an amazing night! But we were definitely ready to head to bed after it broke up shortly after midnight, and I just regret that I didn't remember to take any pictures while we were here.
I can't stress enough how much I recommend this event to anyone going to RT in the future. It was honestly one of my favorite events from the whole convention!
Thanks for reading guys! Once again, I apologize for how long this ended up being, and I really will try and tone it down with the next post. I'm also gonna try and get the rest of them typed up faster, so that I can get them edited, and posted for you all. I'll see you all back here on Monday for my April 2016 wrap up post!
This is not a sponsored post! All opinions are my own. The photos were taken by me or my hubby with an Iphone.
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