Project Book Babe

So, some of you may have heard of this, but basically, it was a breast cancer fund raiser. 11 authors and 2 bands all got together and had a great event!

This is me and my friend Michelle. We are showing off our arm art. We only had highlighters, but they are suppose to look like apple/hearts. We thought we were funny. Anyway, this is us waiting in line before we got to go in.

Here we are inside. And yes... I do have braces now. I was just going for a younger look. I'm thinking of adding pony tails to my hair just to really complete the look (Dave just walked by and laughed and said I look like I'm 16. Hey! Better than looking 61, right? I mean, isn't that every woman's dream? To look younger than she is?).

The 2 music acts went first. I was pretty impressed I have to say! 1 was a local kid; Adam Kump. Actually, as soon as I said I was going, my little sister said that her friend from her choir class was going to be there. Sure enough... same guy. Now, I'm not only going to put my little plug in for him because he is from around here, but because he is really good! If anyone you would like to hear more from him, his website is here. (You can also enjoy this little clip of him)

Next up was The Adam Watts Band. Again, they were great! They were there because Adam Watts' mom is a breast cancer survivor and so, obviously, he is all for helping the cause. You can check out their website here.

The emcees of the event were Shannon Hale and JS Lewis. They were both an absolute riot! It was worth it to go there just to listen to them! Here they are cracking us all up.
Of course, Shannon Hale was one of the reasons I wanted to go! She wrote one of my favorite books: Austenland. I decided to make a t-shirt to wear that had one of my favorite lines from the book.

Front: Back:

Anyway, I'm glad I did this because it led to this:

After it was over and people were flocking up to the stage to meet Stephenie Meyer, I decided to go up and see Shannon (who was in the process of telling all the SM fan's they couldn't be up there). I just told her how much I loved the book and how I will occasionally just call my sister and quote it and we just crack up. I showed her my shirt and she loved it! She immediately started asking for their photographer who was MIA. She finally just asked us to email a copy to her because no one ever makes shirts for her. (Just think... Shannon Hale is waiting for an email from ME!!!) Anyway, she was great and it was fun to meet such a funny, down to earth person. Too bad she doesn't live by me... we could really be friends I think! :-)

After the musical acts, they had the author's panel. Here they all are. It really was funny to listen to them all. There was a moderator, but he seemed to hinder their witty banter more than anything. I'm definitely going to be picking up some of these books just because they've got to be good if these people wrote them! (By the way, Stephenie Meyer is sitting next to Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series. Haven't read those, but I was told that D would probably like them. I need to get some for him.)

Here is just a clip of the witty banter between them.

After the panel discussion, they did a raffle drawing. While I didn't win anything, Adam Kump started throwing shirts out and I did get this!

Yea me! I never catch anything! Of course, it is an XL... maybe I can just turn it into a dress. ;-) It was sad/funny because just before this one, his friend threw one out and it pelted a baby that a mom was holding. I was watching him throw it and then just fall back in mortification then about 2 seconds later you hear the screaming baby. I really think the baby was fine and the mom was laughing too.

After the raffle, there was an auction of some things that Stephenie had donated. It was crazy!!! She had 7 things she donated, and by my calculations, they brought in $33,000!!!!!! Where are these people getting their money!?!? At one point, JS Lewis (the auctioneer) said, "Don't you guys watch the news?" Stephenie's face showed nothing but shock as the auction was getting more and more out of control. It was seriously funny to watch as her head would snap in the direction of the people calling out the prices and then see her jaw drop. The biggest ticket item ended up being "Lunch with Stephenie." There were 2 ladies who just were not going to back down. They finally let them each have one and stopped the bidding. They both agreed to pay $6500!!!! Hard to imagine. At least it is for a good cause.

We ended up being one of the last people to leave because of our little chat with Ms. Hale, so as we were leaving, Faith walked in. Who is faith? She is the reason for the whole event. She is the Book Babe. She let us take a picture with her. She seemed like such a great person and I certainly wish her all the best.

Included in the price of our ticket, we were given 2 signed books. The way it worked was we would get 1 book from one of the 10 authors and then 1 from Stephenie Meyer. It was totally random and they just handed you a bag as we walked out. It was as I always tell my kids. "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit." There was no trading. But no problem! I didn't want to! I got a signed book from Shannon Hale. (When I got home, I was showing Dave this and telling him about my encounter with her and he said it was too bad that I didn't have my Austenland book so she could have signed it! The sad thing is that I DID have it! Michelle had it because she was reading it! So mad I didn't think to ask her to sign it! Oh well. Still happy with this.)

I also got a signed copy of Breaking Dawn! This was exactly what I was hoping for (but really not expecting). It was the only book of hers that I didn't have a signed copy of.
Now, I have a complete signed set! Yeah! What a great birthday present!

Of course, the very best part of all could have been this awesome tote bag they gave us with our books! Oh the memories... (actually, I may have been the only 5th/6th grade girl in my school who never read these books).

Anyway, it was an absolutely fun time. Thanks to Dave for letting me do this (it was my birthday present), and to Kimberly who took some of the kids (I was babysitting my sister's kids for the weekend. I felt bad leaving Dave with all of my kids, plus all of my sister's so Kimberly helped to lighten that load) and to Michelle for going with me! I loved it!!