Girls Getaway!

I am finally coming out of the closet as a true Twilight Fan. It took me a while for a lot of people around me to convince me to read a book about Vampires and werewolves! I finally caved and I am truly obsessed about this love affair between Bella and Edward and have to admit that I am a true Jacob Fan. I am rooting for him...even though most of the world is for Edward. I like Edward too, but I believe that she can find true happiness with Jacob...There I go again! Sorry!

I love it!

With that being said-the author, Stephenie Meyer, does really peak my curiosity-Where did she come up with this story? What kind of mind could produce such a story and have such an incredible following? The "buzz" is extreme and intense. I was sitting at McDonald's by myself the other day while Mack played and I overheard a whole table of young mother's talking about Twilight and I am ashamed to admit that I moved over one table so that I could hear their conversation better!!! How pathetic is that? At least I know that I am not alone.

I have one friend in particular that I have discussed Twilight with on many occasions. I really think that she is even more obsessed than I. She called me one day to ask if I would like to go to Utah to a book signing where Stephenie Meyer would be promoting her new book The Host that came out recently. It sounded like a lot of fun all except that when she tried to get tickets, they were all sold out. A few days later, we made an extremely last minute decision to go to Arizona and go to her Book signing there. It wasn't hard to find people to watch the children, make arrangements with our husbands-who were both very supportive I might add-and jump on the plane and go!

Here's what went down...

Tuesday, May 13th 5:00 a.m. Left our homes to drive to Salt Lake City to catch our flight.

11:11 a.m. Arrived in Phoenix to pick up our rental car. I made the mistake to ask if he would upgrade us for free that day and he said that he couldn't do that, but we could get a convertible for a small add-on of cost. We did it!!! It took us a while to figure out how to put the top down, but once we did we were on our sunny way!

We checked into our hotel and then found the High School that Stephenie Meyer would be doing the book signing that night. We were able to find our way around pretty well and had so much fun just shopping, eating, and driving until the signing happened.

5:15 p.m. Got to the High School where the signing was going to take place and waited in line with all of the other people there. We met a really nice lady, Barbara, and her Granddaughter, Jordan who were also Twilight fans. We had quite the conversation with them about the books and our feelings about them and what is to happen in the upcoming 4th book in August.

6:00 p.m. It finally started! They introduced Stephenie to the crowd and away it went! We had the opportunity to write down questions for her to answer prior to her coming out and my friend had written a great question, but unfortunately, it wasn't used. I could have listened to her for hours. It was so fun to hear how she is inspired and to hear her talk about the books and the characters in them and how real they are for her. I loved it! Even more than I expected I would.

7:00 p.m.-who knows what time? We waited in line for her to sign our books. When we finally got up there, Ranay was so excited to tell her that we came all the way from Idaho to see her! I felt bad for Ranay when she told her because Stephenie just said that the were others there that had come further that had us beat! Oh well...It was still fun to see her and to hear her talk about her books. What a great Highlight to a trip. It was really late when we got back to our hotel and I promptly went right to sleep watching TV and started snoring! Sorry Ranay!

Wednesday 9:30 a.m. We finally rolled out of bed! It was great to sleep in and to be able to not have the constant interruption of a hungry child or someone who needed something!

11:00 a.m. After getting ready, we went downstairs to map quest the Cheesecake factory and a store that we were told about the night before called Sprinkles. We got ready and headed straight to the outlet malls across the road from where we were staying. Shopped til we dropped!

(around) 2:00 p.m. Got hungry and found our way to the Cheesecake Factory, got seated outside by a fountain, where we had a delicious lunch/dinner and an even more amazing dessert! I had the Chocolate coconut cream cheesecake which I recommend to EVERYONE! YUMO!!!!!!

3:30-6:00 Did some more shopping right there at that Mall by the restaurant and found some fun stuff there too!

6:00 p.m. We drove to Scottsdale to visit the Sprinkles store that we had heard so many good things about and I have to admit that it did deliver! There were a few flavors to pick from, but the ones we chose to sample were, Chocolate coconut, peanut butter chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla chocolate! What a dreamy store! I loved it!


8:00 p.m. After going back to the hotel to get our jackets and freshen up, we headed to a movie together at the outlet malls. We went and saw Maid of Honor. Cute show.

Thursday, May 15th 4:00 a.m. Got a wake up call from the front desk of our hotel to let us know we needed to get out of bed to get ready to go to catch our flight at 7:00 a.m.

5:15 a.m. Got to the airport to return our convertible (sadly) and got all checked in to return to our homes and back to the real world...

9:30 a.m. Got to SLC and started our drive home, stopped to eat once more (so much for a diet!) and then returned home to our families early afternoon.

My kids had made me a welcome home sign and everyone had signed it-even dad. It was good to be home, but sad too. I had had such a great getaway with my friend Ranay! I know that I would have never have done that on my own and I will be forever grateful to her for twisting my arm and getting me to go with her. It will always be a great memory!! The sun, the SUPER friendly people, our convertible, meeting Stephenie Meyer, the shopping, and especially the good company! Thank you for that Ranay!