November 6, 2011

Ontario Blog Squad Meet Up

Yesterday afternoon the people at the Duke of York either found a passion for reading, or decided they never wanted to see another book in their lives. I'm hoping for the first option, obviously.

So why is that? Well, a group of close to 40 Ontario book bloggers descended on their pub for the first (hopefully annual) Ontario Blogger Meet Up. And it was epic!!!

For those who are curious, here is the link for the Ontario Blog Squad.

Well yesterday was a lot of fun. It was great to meet people I had been talking to for a long time and put names to faces, because even if you've seen pictures or watched vlogs it's obviously so different to connect in person.

I know once more people write up recap posts there will be pictures (I uhhh forgot my camera at home -- oops), but for now here are some details.

I sat at a table with Audrey, Lindsay, Penelope, & Hayley, which was very cool. I also got to have a nice talk with honourary Ontario book blogger [ ;) ] Danya. It was great to meet Liz, Brenna, Jen, Michele, Angel ... & ummm so many other people!

Besides just awesome book talk there were also trivia questions, of which I was able to answer one (name three Canadian authors; my answers were Kelley Armstrong, Lesley Livingston, and Alyxandra Harvey). Then there were prizes drawn from raffle tickets (I believe my ticket was drawn with the last book in the box, and I was able to pick up an ARC of 'Purity' by Jackson Pearce), andddd the grand prize provided by Kobo was a Kobo Touch which Hayley ended up taking home.

Basically it was an awesome couple of hours chatting with everyone. I just wish I had been able to talk to everyone there, but it was almost impossible because of the room set-up. Still, it was a crazy good time, and everyone was super nice and welcoming.

Another awesome part of the event were the crazy cool goody bags everyone received upon checking in. All of this is in my 'In My Mailbox' post this week, but I thought I would put it here too.

I received:



& some awesome swag, including...
  • Random House Canada mug & pen
  • Indigo bag
  • Bookmarks, stickers, buttons
  • Oh right, and that Divergent bookplate signed by Veronica freaking Roth (!!) ... tres exciting for me since I wasn't able to go to the signing she did earlier this year

I definitely wasn't expecting all that, so thank you so much to the Canadian publishers who provided all the books and swag for us. It's a serious treat; I feel very blessed to have received all that!

I've said it a few times, but thank you also to the organizers of the meet up. I know you ladies worked your butts off, so hats off to you!

Basically: awesome, awesome afternoon with some awesome people (I feel like Marshall from HIMYM, I'm saying 'awesome' so much; or maybe Barney -- "When I get sad I stop being sad and be AWESOME instead. True story!").

(And if you read all that, you totally deserve a prize. Cookie?)

16 comments:

  1. YAY Ashley, it was nice to meet you (though brief as I passed you the trivia prize). So glad you had a great time and yes, we will definitely have to do this again!

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  2. I'm gonna go and cry in a corner now... Just kidding (kinda) ;). Glad to hear that you had an amazing time! And totally jealous of the books that you picked up- can't wait to see what you think of The Scorpio Races!

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  3. Great recap! It was so nice to finally meet you too :)
    HAHA.. I love your first line.. either they found a love of reading or never wanted to see a book again.. :P

    Gorgeous cover of Bewitching! The bags we got were insane!

    Michele

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  4. After reading yours and Michele's recaps it sounds like a great time was had by all. Looks like it was a ton of fun. What a cool annual event! All your books and prizes look excellent :)

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  5. Yay, I'm so glad I was able to be an honorary Ontario book blogger and meet everyone! So much fun talking with you, Ashley :)

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  6. Also, I thought I was following you already (your blog is certainly on my feedly) but GFC apparently thought differently...so I remedied that and am definitely a GFC follower now! LOL.

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  7. Ashley! it was so nice meeting you and talking to you yesterday!! :D Fantastic recap, and I can't wait to see what you think of those books! :)

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  8. Thanks for mentionong me! :) I can't believe I didn't ask you what books you got.. I would have loved to at least touched Bewitching :P Nice meeting you!

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  9. I had such a fun time meeting you Ashley! Hopefully, next time we can have a chance to talk more about our fave books! I'm so glad to hear your had a great time and I'm sure we'll be definitely planning one for next year! Enjoy the books! :)

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  10. WOO A COOKIE!

    Thanks for the recap! :) I've been having a fun time reading these since I wasn't able to make it yesterday (seriously, next time!). I'm glad you guys had such an awesome time! Enjoy your books (+ swag).

    Sonia

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  11. Wow! You got a ton of awesome looking stuff!
    :D Enjoy your loot and have a great week!

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  12. Sounds like you guys had an AWESOME time! A misconception I used to have is that book bloggers would be in competition with one another, especially when some of you read the same books/genres. But every time I read about blogger hook up events, y'all just sound like the tightest, most supportive, and caring community!

    You guys all rock!


    Smiles!
    Lori

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  13. AWESOME!!!!! What a fun event, it's always such a blast to meet up with other bloggers and get to know them outside of the internet:) And what fantastic goodies you all got as well, can't wait to see what you think of Fever!

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  14. It was so much fun! And it was great meeting you and everyone else. We should do it again soon!

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  15. *holds out hand for cookie*
    Looks like you had a lot of fun, Ashley! I wish they had a squad like that down here :P

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  16. Ooh, I really hope you all get to do it annually. It sounds like you have an awesome group of bloggers in Ontario. :)

    ...and omg to all the cool books and swag you got! *Jealous*

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment; I appreciate each one!

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