Back from Dallas-Fort Worth...

*yaaaaaawn* Last night, I got home about 1am from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and my fun readers weekend *bg*

It was another fun day yesterday that started out wonderfully... as Eli and I got to sleep in a bit on our Sleep Number beds, lol. And then, we went downstairs to have breakfast with the ladies of Fresh Fiction and some authors... including... Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love!!! How awesome was that? They are two of the nicest and sweetest authors I've met. If I wasn't already a fan of their books I would be now.

Niceness will get you everywhere with me, lol... Which is why I'm now a big fan of Jaye Wells... not of her books, yet... her first release, Red-Headed Stepchild, doesn't release until March 31, 2009 (but, it is now available for pre-order... so go here ;) I did). Red-Headed Stepchild does sounds awesome, though... heck, she had me at fairy porn. See, I bet you're ready to pre-order now, lol. For a blurb, head on over here... now, the blurb doesn't mention the fairy porn, but she did :) And, because the cover is so fab (heck, if I ever dye my hair, I'd love for it to look like this) I must post:

Ooh, I just visited Jaye's website, and looks like she's having a giveaway of some of the goodies she picked up this weekend :) You can visit her site at: www.JayeWells.com Be sure to keep it bookmarked in case she ever decides to put up some fairy porn, lol

Ack, I've been side-tracked, lol... so, breakfast first *yummy*, with some fab authors and readers. Then, Eli and I headed out for a bit... I just had to get my Starbucks fix, lol. We came back in time for the Buns and Roses Tea... and, got to sit at the table of Alisha Paige... turns out I had bought one of her ebooks, Canyon Wolf Bride, and got to buy it in print *g*

Key speaker was Sherrilyn Kenyon, who had me in tears... her speech was just beautiful. She's just very sincere and has a kind heart. I'm very grateful that the first time I decided to attend this event, she was the guest speaker.

The book signing was exhausting, lol... and, as usual, I ended up with more books than I had planned *eek*. I don't even want to look at my bank account, lol.

Before we headed back to Houston, Eli and I got a chance to eat dinner with some friends: Sandi (reader and reviewer for Fresh Fiction), Greta (a fab reader), Nikki Duncan (author, reader, and all around awesome person), and Shelley Bradley (aka Shayla Black, aka the author who had me in tears with Tempt Me With Darkness :p, but as sweet as can be... and she signed my copy of TMWD and The Lady and The Dragon *yay*).

The whole weekend was great... I just love getting together with other romance readers and authors *bg* and I'm definitely looking forward to next year....

I'm really going to have to get Eli to blog and let her tell you how she enjoyed her first romance reader event asap ;)

Ali and Eli @ Readers 'n' Rita

*yay* I'm here at a hotel and have internet connection with my laptop... still don't have any at home, so I must get the most out of it here ;)....



Well, my cousin, Eli, and I got into Richardson, TX (in the Dallas-Ft Worth area) late Friday night.... very, very late, if you ask me, lol. We decided to get pedicures, eat dinner, buy a book on CD, all before we headed out at 8:30pm on a 4 1/2 trip, lol

We decided to listen to Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. This was actually my first time listening to a book on CD and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Although, Eli does believe I got a bit distracted from my driving. *hmph* So not true ;)... moi, distracted? LOL

Before we arrived at our hotel, we finished three out of five Cd's. I've already told Eli that if Jane doesn't end up with Michael, I will be blaming it all on her and just might be tempted to leave her on the side of the road.... just sayin'

We got to our first hotel around 2am and I knocked out... only to be shaken awake a few hours later. I had ear plugs on and didn't hear any of the alarms.


After breakfast, we loaded up and headed out to the Radisson, where the Reader 'n' Rita event was going to be held. This was the first year for the event and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I absolutely loved getting together with other readers and talking books *bg* There were different workshops to attend... from How to Store Your Books, How to Catalogue Your Books, Euphemisms (which we called the sex talk, lol... and, umm, I learned quite a few new names for a male's member, lol) and a few others that I enjoyed.

This was Eli's first such event and I'll have to ask her to blog about it and share her thoughts. So far she's loving it.

Lunch and dinner was delicious... especially dessert *mmm*. For dinner, Eli and I got to sit with Dakota Cassidy (who's a hoot, lol), Michele Bardsley (who's so nice and funny), Jaye Wells (who will have a new fan for life... her first book releases in March), and Candace Havens (who is just as sweet as she can be and remembered me from her livejournal *bg*).

There were giveaways (Eli won a Fresh Fiction bag), a Silent Auction (I won Nora Roberts books along with a few others), and raffles (I won a bag from a Sci-Fi conference filled with Sci-fi books :))

Oh my gosh!! I almost forgot to mention the margaritas, lol... We had Margaritas before dinner, and I have to say, the Radisson made some great margaritas! I'm not really a margarita drinker, but these were goooooood *yummy* lol.

Ah, when it was finally time for bed, I have to say I couldn't wait *bg* You see, the Radisson had sleep number beds, lol. I was laying in the middle of the bed with the controller at hand and pushing the button down. I finally stopped at 10, where it looked like I was now sinking into the bed, lol

Tomorrow, Sunday, well be going to the Buns and Roses Romance Tea for Literacy... until next time *g*...

Back on line to announce winner of Love at First Bite

I appologize for not updating my blog... unfortunately, due to Ike, I still have no cable or internet at home :(

Right now I am in the Dallas- Fort Worth area with my cousin, Eli, first for the Fresh Fiction Readers 'n' Rita Get Together, and then for Sunday's Buns and Roses Tea for Literacy.

Before I update, I do want to announce the winner of Love at First Bite:

Winner:

p.c. (phlp_chan@)

Congratulations p.c.!! Please e-mail me at simplyaliblogspot@yahoo.com *g* with Love at First Bite Winner on the subject line :)