I know, I know….I’m a week (or so) later than one would expect a recap to come.  But I didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity to chat about my ALA Annual Conference experience because it was just that awesome.

The librarians sure do know how to put on a show, it was fantabulous to be in my home town and be able to run into the city for awhile and then head home to cool down.  Because, you know, it was the one week of the summer so far that being in DC was akin to being in the pits of hell — temperature wise that is.

Ok, so let me get down and dirty with the highlights.

The festivities started off with the awesome Tiffany arriving!  She was my roomie for the weekend and I was excited to have her with me.  We hung out for a bit and chatted about various books and television shows before heading out for an awesome dinner in DC.  We motored into town to meet up with Liz and Melissa at their hotel where we promptly got stuck in an elevator.  I can tell you, I was not a pretty sight — being as claustrophobic as I am, this teenie tiny elevator with no ventilation on a 100 degree day was *not* how I wanted to kick off the evening.  Think of me clawing at the doors and then multiply it by ten y’all, it was not pretty.  Good news is we got out and the ladies were good sports about my freak out (thanks girls!).  Afterwards, we headed over to Oyamel where there were alcoholic beverages imbibed and much food taken in.  But the highlight was the awesome conversation.

We didn’t stay out too late though because Friday was also set to be a really big (think long) day.

I was so blessed to have had the chance to organize a meet up with the amazing Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl of Beautiful Creatures fame.  Set to meet at a really great restaurant called Teaism a lovely group of bloggers/librarians had the opportunity to hang out and chat with the ladies about their road to publication, the differences between US and international blogging, amazing swag, and the occasional life experience.  To say that these ladies were gracious was an understatement but more than that they were HI-lar-ious!  Seriously, their combined sense of humor had me laughing my ass off.  I definitely think they should go for writing a comedy at some point.

Thanks to Tiffany for the picture I stole. Oh and check out Liz’s Team Peeta t-shirt. LOVE!!

I was scheduled to go to the Pre-Conference session titled Promoting Teen Reading with Web 2.0 Tools but was feeling a tad under the weather and knew I wanted to make the evening festivities so I sadly bowed out and took some time to relax at home.  You can catch great recaps at Cazzy Files and A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy as well as through the hashtag for the event #yalsareading.

After browsing the opening session at the Exhibits Hall, Friday evening also had us hanging out with amazing authors, bloggers, librarians and just about anyone else you can think of at KidLit Drink Night.  RFD was *packed* solid with people boozing it up, enjoying the occasional hors d’eurves and gabbing away.  It was hot, we were exhausted, but we toughed it out for about two hours before heading home to collapse in the chilly a/c of home.  I was glad to catch up with a few friends I’d met at KidlitCon (Terry, Jennifer), see some friends I’ve met online in person (Sara, Carrie) and introduce myself some new ones (Kelly, Rebecca, Madigan).  It was a bit loud, but the Kidlit folks sure do put on a good party!

Saturday had me walking around the aforementioned exhibit hall.  I was there for a few hours and then came home to cool down and relax for a bit before heading back into town for dinner with a fabulous group of people.  Tiffany outdid herself in planning a great meet up at Austin Grill where there were about 20ish of us all torturing the poor wait staff.  Really, I kid you not, they were definitely ready for us to go when we did! LOL

In attendance were, Sarah and her husband, Kelly and her husband, Tiffany, Katie, Drea, Carrie, Harmony and her aunt, James, Stephanie Kuehnart, Jeri Smith-Ready, Holly Cupala, and Amy Brecount White.

Sunday brought with it more time in the exhibit hall, but not until after I attended the Children’s and Young Adult Book Blogs: Enhancing Library Services session.  Pam, Liz and Travis did a great job talking about the children’s and YA blogosphere and how we all have the ability to contribute to the professional and collection development (among a long list of other things) for librarians.  When I find a recap of the I’ll be sure to come back and link it up here.

I’m not going to embarrass myself with the list of stash I walked away from ALA with.  I will tell you though, that I had the intention of walking away with no more than five “must have” books.  Ummmm, yea, not so much.  I was on the receiving end of those five books and so many more!  Seriously, it’s totally embarrassing, no mortifying.  Great stuff ahead for the blog though!

If I tried to write up a summary of everything I think you all would be bored to tears, not to mention filled with loathing for having to wade through it all.  Suffice it to say I had a great time!  I met great people, saw great bloggers I’d met at BEA (I was in fact informed that I may have had this ability to just magically materialize to chat with people on the exhibition floor), and in general felt very fulfilled professionally speaking.  ALA’s conferences are something I’ll continue to keep my eye on and if I can make it I’m definitely going to add it to my list of great events to join in on.