Ontario Book Blogger Meetup 2012

Our table: Me, Lindsey, Emilie, Kathy, Katie, Ciara

 I know this is a few days late but I figured better late than never.  Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend a great event: the Ontario blogger meetup.  On the Friday night I rushed out of work and picked up Emilie from Emilie's Book World, Ciara from Lost at Midnight Reviews, Katie from Bookishly Yours and Kathy from A Glass of Wine.   We had a long trek ahead to Toronto for the weekend.  The Ottawa bloggers had decided to travel together and room together for the meetup in Toronto.  The car ride was lots of fun full of book talk and singing.  (Ciara, we know how much you love Taylor Swift).  Once in Toronto we were pretty tired so went to bed at a reasonable time.

Ottawa Bloggers with Michele and Liz

Saturday was the actual event.  We met at Watermark Irish Pub and were greeted by the organizers of this wonderful event.  They were ready and waiting to check us in with a large baby blue canvas bag of books.  We found a table in the center of the room and got comfortable.  We were also joined by Lindsey of A Storm of Words. The setting of the event was pretty informal and we were able to mingle and meet bloggers who we have been chatting with online for some time now.  I was excited to see Chrystal of Snowdrop Dreams of Books.  We had previously met and I was excited to hear all about her recent wedding.  I was also happy to meet Michele from Just a Lil Lost and Gisele of Book Nerd Canada.  I didn't get to meet nearly as many people as I would have liked but there were 71 of us and while I can be a little loud, I can also be a little shy.  I do remember thinking that I am surrounded by people who get me and that they were my kind of people. 

The Ottawa bloggers with Lesley Livingston & Elizabeth Miles

We also got the opportunity to meet some fabulous authors.  The highlights of my day were meeting Elizabeth Miles and Lesley Livingston.  I have read Miles' Fury but I have yet to read anything by Lesley Livingston.  After meeting Livingston though I have to say that I have to rectify this situation.  I will have to make it my mission to read some of her writing before the end of the year.

Our book motherload

We were also fortunate enough to meet many of the publishers that we have been in contact with over the years.  I am happy I got to meet Michelle from Simon & Schuster Canada, Shannon from Harper Collins Canada, and Amy from Penguin Canada.  If I have forgotten anyone, I apologize.

After the meet we had so many books that only 2 of the 5 of us could fit in a cab ride back to the hotel.  Since I lived in Toronto for a few years I helped navigate Ciara and Katie back to the hotel with a short pit stop at the Eaton Center.  When we got back to the hotel we went through all our goodies from the meetup and were excited to see that we all got Sever by Lauren DeStefano and a hardcover finished copy of Envy by Elizabeth Miles.

At the pub

My poor heel

Once we had some time to relax, Ciara, Katie and I headed back out to enjoy some Toronto nightlife.  We made our way to Manderly Hall and spent the evening enjoying a few beverages and some great live music.  The only downfall to the evening was losing my heel in the middle of the bar.  This is something that could only happen to me.  We ended the evening eating some greasy food at a diner and heading back to the hotel.  The next day we drove back to Ottawa and said our goodbyes.  Overall it was a fantastically bookish event and I couldn't have been happier.

Laughing at the diner