Book Lover’s Con Houston 2022, Day one!

 Last Thursday, my friend Sarah and I got up wayyyyy too early, and flew down to Houston for our first ever Book Lover’s Convention. We had no idea what to expect, and we were crazy excited.

We arrived at the Royal Sonesta at around 10 am, expecting to have them hold our bags until the afternoon, but were  pleasantly surprised when they allowed us to check in immediately. The hotel was on point all weekend, I’m not gonna lie.

Thursday afternoon was all about Lottery events. You chose the events you hoped to get into, and they drew names to see who would get into which events. Sarah’s first event was at 11, so we had a quick breakfast in the hotel cafe, and hit up registration.

The bag was chock full of books and swag, and had us really excited for what was yet to come.

We also got our event booklets…. with the agenda, memory book, and our lanyards. The lanyards had our special event tickets in them, so they were super important. They checked for lanyards at every event. 

We went up to drop our swag in the room so I snapped a quick pic of what was in the bag. It did NOT go back in the way it came out! I failed epically, but it all ended up in my suitcase together anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Sarah went off to play Lotteria, which was like BINGO, and I went to the BLC store, bought some swag and raffle tickets, and then chose which baskets to put my tickets into. It was nice to have some time to do that, which was nice. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was about to get crazy!

Sarah took some pics of Lotteria as well. She got some swag but didn’t have any luck with her BINGO cards.

I bought an event tee and a mystery box. It was $35 and was chock full of swag.

This is the swag from the mystery box! 

Sarah came down around noon and showed me her swag from the Lotteria event. We had some time to bring everything upstairs before we attended our next event, the only one we had together that afternoon.

Another look at my Mystery Box.

Our next event was called the Book Shower Party. It was hosted by author Valerie Clarizio and we played typical shower games, like BINGO, guess the quotes, pin the heart on Jamie Fraser, and more! Sarah and I both won prizes!

So much fun!! The next event was mine, Romancing the Chocolate, with author Roz Lee. We took a field trip to a chocolate shop near the hotel, tasted the insanely yummy chocolate, and then Roz let us each pick a gourmet bar to bring home…

We also got some swag…. 

So delicious! 

Along with our special event tickets, we also got two VIP tickets. My first one was for the Denim and Diamonds Welcome event. We got cowboy hats, a BLC pin, sunglasses, and some other swag. The event had a band, and a Mac n Cheese Bar, which I couldn’t eat since I’m lactose intolerant. After we met some of the authors who sponsored the event, we left to have some dinner at Velvet Taco, which was close by the hotel.

The pics are out of order, but this is my chicken and waffle and cheeseburger taco.

Meeting Sylvia Day and Karin Tabke.

Swag from the evening.

Lora autographed a free book for everyone, I let her choose for me:

Those are tater tots under there. Insanely good. I shared with the table. As Sarah and I were leaving the event, two of the ladies we met, as well as two of the authors, decided to join us. There were 6 of us altogether…

Whoa. That was a lot! Stay tuned for our Friday activities! Thursday and Saturday were the craziest days, but all of them were pretty packed!

Prepping For Book Lover’s Con 2022

At a very ridiculous hour tomorrow morning, I am on my way to Book Lover’s Con in Houston. Four days full of books, authors, and more books. 

To say that I am excited is a massive understatement! I somehow managed to convince my friend Sarah to join me. Ok, there was no convincing, she’s just as excited as I am. Check out the list of authors!

I am all packed, which was no mean feat. What does one wear to a Book Lover’s Con? I have no shortage of bookish tees, that’s for sure. Here are some of the ones I considered, before making my final decision ……

I also had to decide what to wear to the Wells and Verne Fantasy Faery Gathering…… 

Plus, my day one outfit, and the stack of books I’m bringing to read in the airport and on the plane. 

My alarm is set and I think I’m ready! My plan is to post each night, but we will see if I manage it! You know how wild and crazy those bookish parties can get!

Have you ever been to a convention? What was it for?

Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Tour

 Last night, I went to see Elton John with my daughter, SIL, and some of my daughter’s friends. We had nose bleed seats in Giant’s Stadium, and it was close to 100 degrees out, but it was an amazing night! If you have a chance to see Elton play before he retires, I highly suggest it!

There were a lot of blinking sunglasses in the crowd, plus cell phone flashlights were lit during Your Song and Candle In the Wind.

This was during Cold Heart with Dua Lipa. 

Candle In the Wind always makes me emotional.

This was outfit 2 of 3. His final outfit was a Boxer’s robe, and he walked out in a baseball jacket. 

Fiction Friday

 I am currently reading a TON of books. At least, that’s  how it feels right now. I’m traveling, and my tote bag is half clothes, half books. And it’s HEAVY.

I am wary of traveling by air, mostly because I hate to relinquish control of my life. I’m definitely  the first to admit it. I like to be the one driving, and when I’m at Disney, i prefer a Jazzy over a wheelchair (stupid osteoarthritis). 

I’m currently taking part in 5 different buddy reads, plus I have a handful of books I was given in exchange for a review. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but I love to read, so that feeling rarely lasts long. 

Here’s a little peek into my reading life right now…

This one looks interesting. I’ve read the introduction so far, and I’m totally here for it. As a yoga teacher obsessed with books about witchcraft, this is perfection. 

Here are just some of the books taking up half of my tote bag for this trip. 

I’m starting this one on the plane. I think. I adore Elizabeth Pantley, and this one will be a quick read. If o don’t start it on the plane to Jersey, I will start it on the way back.

Back in December I posted a blank chart and asked my friends to recommend books for me to read during the year. So far I only DNFd one, and it was about running. I just couldn’t vibe with the author. 

I am leading the discussion for Longbourn on Litsy. It’s a peek at the downstairs crew during Pride and Prejudice. I’m really loving the look at the Bennet family from the maid’s perspective. 

I am also leading the Stephen King group on Litsy. We are reading his books in order, and we are just starting Blaze. For this group, we read at our own pace and discuss it after a month has gone by. I read all of these books as they came out, and reading them again as more of an adult is interesting. My viewpoint is so different now, and my opinions definitely vary. 

I stocked up on cozy mysteries the other day. Now I have about 40 sitting on my shelves waiting to be read. True story.

This was one of the books suggested to me by a friend and the one I’m currently reading in the airport. It’s definitely sucking me in. Very mysterious. 

The Fellow Flowers crew is reading this together. I can’t make most of the Zoom calls, but I’m reading along anyway. This is so relevant for me right now, and I’m curious to see what I should be doing strength wise. 

What are you reading right now?