So, as many of you who have followed me for years know, I am a HUGE fan of Sarah Dessen. HUGE. I love her work, and I love her blogs and yeah, she’s just awesome.
I GOT TO MEET HER TODAY!1!!11onewonuno!!!
Yup, that’s me in between Laurie Halse Anderson and Sarah Dessen (who is mid blink, bless her heart).
*faints*
What was so cool was that when they came in, Laurie spotted me in the audience and grinned and waved and said “Hi Ronni!” I about died from glee then. I mean, HELLO, it’s Laurie Halse Anderson, who is teh awsum! as it is. And I would have come out to see her by herself, but with Sarah? Um yeah. CLEAR THE CALENDAR, right? THEN when it was my turn, SARAH RECOGNIZED ME FROM MY COMMENTING ON HER LIVE JOURNAL. OH man. OH MAN OH MAN. *dies* SARAH DESSEN KNEW WHO I WAS, you guys!!! MAJORfangirlSQUEE! 
I had a great time talking with both of them. Laurie hugged me, blew me kisses, complimented me on my wedding photos, and encouraged me to keep writing. She’s definitely getting a shoutout whenever I get published. She’s so inspirational and supportive and amazing. I lubs her. 
I snagged this from Laurie’s Twitter. Can you see me and Aidan in the audience?
So yeah, I’m riding on that high pretty much.
Spending all afternoon in Naperville was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, and they were doing IndieBound. All the indie shops (and some non-indie shops!) were having sidewalk sales. I got a pair of Keen Newports, and I found out that I can wear a child’s size five, thus saving me lots of money on future shoe purchases. Aidan and I ate lunch at Noodles & Co, where he ate a HUGE bowl of mac & cheese, which he loved. Oh, at first he turned his nose up at it b/c he saw “white” cheese in the bowl and the cheese wasn’t all melted and mixed in. I got really firm with him because his pickiness is frustrating at the best of times. I KNOW he loves mac & cheese, and for him to say “I don’t wike cheddar” when I know DANG well he eats cheddar in his mac & cheese all the time was almost too much. I mixed up the mac & cheese for him, he took one bite, and then gobbled the rest down pretty much.
Om nom nom!!!
While we waited for the long hours until the authors arrived to tick by, Aidan and I busied ourselves in Anderson’s Bookshop. There is PLENTY to do to spend time in that store, honestly. Like this:
Who knew SpongeBob Squarepants had his own magazine?
Here are some other pix from today:
O Hai!
We ate Wendy’s for dinner because although I KNOW there are McDonald’s restaurants in Naperville, I couldn’t find any on the roads I was on. Thank goodness Aidan was agreeable to that suggestion. I got teased by some customers behind me because I ordered myself a Kid’s Meal. 
Those are the highlights of a pretty great day. I was worried that I wouldn’t feel OK all day because I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I was playing Sims3 last night and mistakenly called Aidan over to watch as one of the Sims was getting carted off by the Grim Reaper. It scared the pants off of him (I thought he might laugh at it) because of the scary music and the guy turned into a ghost… he was up all night freaking out, and he climbed into bed with me at about 6am. Poor little guy. Sometimes that stuff makes him laugh but sometimes it scares the poop out of him. Last night was a poop eliminating (figuratively, of course) session. I just didn’t THINK. *hits self on head*
Oh well. Live and learn. It all worked out in the end. Aidan only bumbled up slightly a couple times, and both times were easily remedied by getting his blood sugar back up. He was a really good boy.
Now I have to figure out how to get him to bed soon. I have a headache and he’s going strong for some reason. : Well, he knows that once The Wiz ends, he’s to go to bed. And they just made it to Oz. Woohoo.
Until next time….
P.S. Only 35 Days Til Disney!!!!!! 
E.T.A. Click! 
(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)