We went to Dallas. My favorite part of that trip was meeting Kiera Cass. We went by the TwiCon Dallas because we heard that the "TwiCurls" were there. They have a video blog on youtube and we have followed their videos for some time. They are absolutely hilarious. So we went and camped out....by "camped out" I just mean waited for them to come back from a break. Anyways, Keira wrote a book and it was published not too long ago. I've really wanted to get it for some time now, but havent. I'm glad I waited cause now I have it signed. It's on sale at B&N.com and amazon. Check it out...The Siren by Keira Cass.
Keira and Liz are both believers and we got to talk to Keira for a while. She was super sweet and super preggers :)
We didnt get to meet Kaleb Nation, but I was actually ok with that. His book comes out in stores (B&N) on Sept. 9.
We then went to the hotel to change and went straight to the concert. We got there 6 HOURS early. For those who know me, you might think, "Hillary really went and waited for the doors to open for a concert?" Yes I did. I'm 100% more of a "sit down, coffee house" concerter than a "fight for the front row, stand up, jump around" concerter. We actually got to wait inside at the Bar & Grill since we were among the first people there. So I sat and read The Siren for about 6 hours. There was some misunderstanding among the staff about the 15 of us who were inside, being in line first but Gina, our awesome waitress, got it worked out. The concert was actually kind of fun. They sang the Monkey Rap and our monkey Mr. Orson Brawl made it up on stage and onto the mic stand. After the concert we went to a VIP after party with about 100 other people. It was bigger than advertised but we got to meet a couple of the band members, Jared Anderson and Jackson Rathbone. This however was enough Monkey concerts for me.
On Sunday there was a signing at B&N. This was also VERY COOL. This was probably my second favorite part. We walked in and this is what we saw.....
enter chorus singing *ahhhhhhhhh*
Two stories...the Barnes and Noble, my FAVORITE store was TWO stories! It was so cool....and soooo organized. This was something that everywhere else we went that weekend lacked. Leave it to B&N to be ahead of the game. The cd signing didnt take too long and their manager told us if we waited we could get a picture with the band since we didnt get to get one at the VIP party the night before. So we all got one...I dont have mine on my computer yet.
We headed back to Bama Monday and after a long 8ish hours we made it back. I headed straight to Rainbow City to go to Six Flags with Bethany and Alex's youth group on Tuesday. That was a lot of fun, but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.
On Wednesday my family went to Florida to our favorite place in the world....Lake Santa Fe.
We went to surprise my grandmother for her 80th birthday. It was a very good and relaxing vacation. Uncle Keith's birthday is on August 6th as well and I mentioned to him that our family thought it would be best to celebrate his birthday at his favorite place.....I dont think he appreciated that as much as we did. He described it as "torture" :) Alex couldnt go with us due to some youth event he had already planned before this trip was planned, but the rest of our family got to go.
My extended family has always been really close. Growing up we always loved going to spend time with the cousins, and were sad that it only happened 2-3 times a year until we moved to Sylacauga. If you asked anyone in our family, everyone would agree that ours is the best. On Thursday when we were eating dinner on Grammy's birthday I looked around and had one of these, 'I really do have the coolest family' moments. I sat there and thought, "How cool is my old school family?!" The whole family was sitting and eating a home cooked meal around the table, in a room which overlooks a beautiful lake while listening to classical music. It really made me appreciate being of Winter decent (I say that to include the Kizziah/Pugh/Gordon branches of the fam). I truly am blessed with such a family.
My family's not perfect to be sure, but my family is pretty much my favorite.
While I was in Florida I managed to sneak over to Jacksonville and visit the church my grandparents got married in and kind of get a feel for Jacksonville. Jville was a very important part of my gparents history so it was neat to be there and see it. I hope it will help me in a project I am hoping to start working on soon.
Anyways I am pretty exhausted and have a pretty busy day tomorrow of packing and such for my return to Ttown...I cant believe I've been gone so long!
Also...Crystal Powell's Bday is tomorrow...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRYSTAL!
peace.
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