Meandering Monday- BEA Excitement!

It is 14 days away from the start of BEA and I cannot be more excited. I am counting down the days to these wonderful things:

- Seeing awesome bloggers that I already know in person and meeting new ones for the first time. I can't wait to see my friends Kristi, Susan, Emily, Mitali, and many more, but I'm excited to meet some new people, like the bloggers I'm rooming with! Jess and Kat from Books and Sensibility and Miranda from Just Read! They seem like a great bunch.

- Same as above, but with publicists and authors! There's some great people I've already met and can't wait to see again, like Elyse M. (pub), Ellen Hopkins, Libba Bray, and Maggie Stiefvater, but there's some new authors I'm dying to meet, like Dan Krokos, Shannon Messenger, Becca Fitzpatrick, and Crissa-Jean Chappell. The list could go on and on, but you'll hear about everyone in my recaps!

- Celebrities!! I have a couple celebrities on my schedule to see and I hope I'm able to see them all- Tim Gunn, Chris Colfer, Bob Balaban, and Kirstie Alley! How great is that list? I can't wait, though they put Tim, Bob and Chris at the same time, so that should be fun for me, lol. What were they thinking? I hope it gets changed because that's just silly. Also, I just checked and none of them are ticketed. It will be a MADHOUSE. But fun!

- Getting some wonderful books. I am so excited for all the autograph sessions and opportunities to pick up some great ARCs and finished copies. I have a priority with three publishers Tuesday morning as soon as I get in and they're not necessarily who you'd think. I don't want to reveal it because then everyone else will do it. I can't have that.

- Making connections with anybody I come across. I love it when I find someone in line to converse with about something in common, or when I get to chatting with a publicist about a certain title (this happened with Wendy Mass' 13 Gifts last year). They're small moments, but they mean so much and reminds us that it's not all about who has what coveted ARC but rather that we're spreading the love of books by being here and reviewing the titles we get as bloggers.

- The parties! I actually have something to do each night in NYC and in fact, on Tuesday, I have TWO events! I have to leave the Teen Author Carnival a bit early to head to Little Brown's The Diviners (by Libba Bray) party. Busy night! Monday, I have a Scholastic party to go to and on Wednesday, there's a Blogger/Author Rooftop Party! I'm excited about all of these and will do my best to get lots of pictures. I'm not the best at picture taking- for some reason, I feel awkward doing it, but I am getting better each year.

- The whole experience and BEA IS an experience. It is crazy, rushed at times, a blur, very hard on your feet and back, but it is an absolute joy to be there, at least for me. It's the one big thing I look forward to every year and I can't imagine not doing it.


Anyway, what are those of you going to BEA excited for? What about those who can't go- anything you're excited to hear about from those who go? And if you're not going, definitely check out Armchair BEA. It's an awesome site!