Jazz Hands and Chair-Sharing -- Or -- A Lovely Night

So, the other night, I and my cousins met the fantastically frickin' fabulous Libba Bray and Shannon Hale.

I know, right?

It was awesome. They were awesome. Shannon Hale likened me to a character in a book she's working on. Which was very exciting. I shared a chair with Libba Bray. Again, very exciting. We cousins got to actually give Libba Bray the cookies we'd promised her in exchange for the interview! Homemade, of course.

Books were signed. Pictures were taken. Conversations were had (I played it cool despite the fact that my brain was going Ssssssssqueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!). Jazz hands were...er...jazz-handed(?).

All in all, 'twas a lovely night.

And now for the photographic evidence:

Self explanatory, I should think.


With Shannon Hale. See? Jazz hands!


With the very foxy Libba Bray. (Hurray!!!)

Happily and happily and happily...


PS Check out this blog: The Incandescent Corner. We met some really awesome people, the blogstress of the above link included.

Sharing the...er...Love!

Because all you need is love. Right? (In other words: Avery will list some of the the things she loves. [Partly to spite Aislinn. But mostly because she wants to. (Why am I talking about myself in the third person?)])

1. Awesome teenagers. (NERDFIGHTERS FTW!)
2. Well-written books. (Whether or not they have good covers/titles.[sheepish smile])
3. Broccoli, Spinach, Tofu. (Not mushrooms, though.)
4. Frozen Yoghurt
5. Tapioca Milk Tea
6. Kittens and puppies and baby unicorns! (Plus cats and dogs and grown-up unicorns...I love animals.)
7. The cold and the shade and snow and rain. (I'm not particularly heat-resistant. At all. I get overheated very easily.)
8. The sun. The moon. The stars. (Oh dear. Am I being sappy?)
9. Eloquence
10. Dancing in the rain.
11. My cousins.
12. Our readers.
13. Those lovely days when crisp, brilliantly coloured leaves carpet the ground.
14. Music. (A beautiful, wonderful, magical thing.)
15. Words.
16. Life.
17. Magic (as in -al powers)
18. Magic (as in The Gathering)
19. Harold and Maude (One of the best films ever!)
20. Beauty and the Beast
21. Many, many other things.

I'm not trying to paint myself the optimist or anything. I mean, I hate a lot of things too. I could generate a things-I-hate list with greater ease than it took to make the things-I-love list. Which I guess is kind of the point. I don't want to be a hater-of-all-things. There are so many things out there to love. And to love something is a much pleasanter sensation than to hate* something.

'The-hills-are-alive-and-the-world-is-a-beautiful-place!'-ly
*Some say that hate is practically the same thing as love. They're both strong feelings that require a fair amount of focus. Hate isn't apathy. Just saying. Aislinn must have a complicated relationship with kittens.