Last day of PLA and vacation

The third and final day of PLA was a short one. I attended two fascinating sessions, one on interior Library design, and the other on the Librarian's image in the media. That one was hysterical! Librarians have a strange cultural iconography, where we are sometimes viewed as prissy, thin lipped, with our hair in a tight bun and glowering behind small glasses; other times, we are viewed as the hidden seductress, prim and proper until we pull our hair out of the bun and whip off the glasses in one smooth move. The lecture I attended had tons of examples of the Librarian in the media- be it from books, movies, television, and advertisements. It was fascinating and funny to see all the different ways we've been portrayed!

After that enjoyable lecture, I bid farewell to PLA, but not to a library vacation entirely! I once more met up with my good friend Andie, and we took a tour of Minneapolis's new downtown library! It was a huge building that was visually interesting. I was impressed with all the fun details in the children's department, like huge, beautiful dragonflies hanging from the ceiling, and artful end caps on all the bookcases. A librarian's vacation is never complete without a visit to a library!

After our library visit, we all (me, Andrew, my Mom, and Andie) went out to a fantastic dinner at an Italian restaurant. The food was Divine, the company great, and the atmosphere wonderful! The restaurant was full of old architectural elements, and I couldn't get enough of them! What a way to end a day in Minneapolis, and what a way to end PLA!

Despite PLA being over with, our vacation was not. On our way home, we went straight passed my Mom's very best friend Diva's house, thus making a perfect opportunity to visit! It was great to see Diva again- growing up, she was like a second mother to me. She's always fun to see and spend time with. I just wish I had more time on the trip to visit with her, but Andrew and I were only able to stay for a few hours before we left for a small, mini vacation at a nearby resort to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Mom stayed with Diva so they had time to catch up without the kids around.

The resort Andrew and I stayed at was lovely. We had a fun suite that was bear themed, complete with a fireplace and a balcony. We had a great time together, relaxing and reminiscing over the years we've been married. We're still insanely happy together :)

This was the view outside our balcony,

but this was my favorite view of all:

Along the way at our resort, we also stumbled upon this vending machine, which had us both laughing hysterically:

"Your choice for healthy eating!" but the machine was filled to the brim with junk food!

It was a lovely way to end our trip, and the next morning we picked up my Mom, and hit the road home, happy and content with a fun trip.

Oh, and remember our lovely SUV we rented? Well, here's the trunk before we left for PLA:

and here's the trunk after:

What a great trip!

Blogging PLA Day 3

The third day of my PLA extravaganza bloomed bright and early for me. I had my very conference session of the day at 8:30 a.m. The session was about musical storytimes, and let me tell you, nothing wakes you up more than sitting in a room with over a hundred other children's' librarians, clapping and singing along to silly songs! It was great fun, really informative, and left me with a wealth of new ideas.

Afterwards, I rushed down to the exhibit hall to meet up with Andrew and my mom who were already browsing the aisles, seeing what was new and exciting. I spent a few gleeful hours talking to vendors, looking at new books, meeting new people, and having a grand time, before I rushed off to my next session, all about new technology and how the library might integrate it.

Following that program, I went to one of the programs I was really looking forward to- a luncheon presentation with Nancy Pearl, my librarian idol. She's simply super cool, and even has her own action figure. She started the now nation wide program called "One Book, One City" and all its incarnates. She's authored some fantastic books called Book Lust, More Book Lust, and Book Crush. She gave an inspirational speech about the role of books in her life, and the "dangers" of being a book lover- "dangers" like thinking you are from the 18th century after reading an historical novel, saying words incorrectly that you've only read, and not wanting a book to end. By the end of her talk, I was once more enthralled with books and reading and my profession.

After that, I spent a hectic 45 minutes once again roaming the exhibit hall (I am an addict of the exhibit hall, I confess!), before rushing off to another exciting event of all: Authors Readers Theater! This was a presentation by Sarah Weeks, Avi, Brian Selznick, and Pam Munoz Ryan- all fantastic authors of children's literature. Together they put on wonderful spoken word performances of each others work. It was inspiring and uplifting, their voices blended beautifully and the stories really came to life. In particular, Selznick's awarding winning illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret became cinematic in nature, as slides from the books flashed behind the authors as they read their parts. I left thoroughly enchanted with each and every one of the authors- and I got a book signed by each, too!

By the time the program was over, the whole day had passed by, and it was nearly evening. Mom, Andrew and I headed back to our hotel, laden down with fantastic books, to rest for awhile, but not for long. Andrew and I were jetting off to an all conference reception! Once there, we met up with friends, enjoyed a strange but delicious meal (Hot dogs on sticks, steak, casseroles, ham, potato salads and lots more), listened to some music, watched librarians dancing, and had a great time talking with everyone around. By the time the party ended, I was thoroughly exhausted, but thoroughly happy!

Another PLA day over and done with, and more fond memories than I can possibly record.

Book Count: 101!

So a librarian does what on vacation?

Recently, I decided to take a vacation. I needed a chance to get away for awhile, have some fun, relax. Yes, I needed an escape.

So where did I decide to go to get away from it all?

To Minnesota... For a library convention- the Public Library Association (PLA) to be exact.

Yes, my idea of getting away from it all is to spend my free time at a conference devoted to my profession. What can I say- I really LOVE my job!

I happen to find library conferences to be quite fun. There are always interesting programs, fascinating people, and terrific events to attend. And, my absolute favorite thing about library conferences is the exhibit floor. Aisle upon aisle of vendors with books- lots and lots of books. The best part about all those books? A vast majority are free! Yes- FREE! It's heaven for a book lover!

As I'm not the only book lover in my family, I was joined on vacation by Andrew and my mom (where do you think my love of books came from?). Yet, right away, we were aware of a problem. Three adults, all book lovers, traveling together to a convention where lots of books will be given away- for free!- and only itty-bitty cars to our names. What to do, what to do?

Our answer: Rent a massive SUV to travel in!

Isn't it pretty?

Sure, we felt a little silly at first, driving that big SUV in the hopes of returning home with a ton of books, but we got use to it. The SUV was actually fun to drive. It provided great views of the road, handled awesomely, and had really cool features, like a CD player you could control from the steering wheel! We made full use of that CD player, but listening to John Irving's Until I Find You on the long drive to Minnesota.

Along the way, we also found time to stop at cheesy (literally!) tourist attractions, like these:

After a long and enjoyable ride (the audio book was great fun to listen to!), we arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our hotel was in the heart of downtown, a great location. It had everything: a nice restaurant, a pool, a hot tub, a bar called Timbuktu (I just love that name!), and Internet lab, and a designer with questionable tastes!

Questionable tastes? How so? Well, basically, our hotel room was the most clash happy hotel room we had ever seen. Leopard print curtains and checked carpets, crazy art deco mirrors and tan-colored laminate furniture. Let your eyes burn on these images from our, um, charming room- oh, and yes, these patterns were all side by side in all their garish glory:


When our eyes had finished adjusting to the room, we decided to run over to the convention center to pick up our registration packets for the conference. These packets are like gold to me- they contain the keys to the conference: your badge, your programs, your tickets to special events, and sometimes, if you are lucky, some sweet freebies. This was one of those occasions were the registration packet had some really sweet freebies in it- namely, two books! They were James Patterson's first two Maximum Ride novels- a series I found to be a fun and addicting ride, great for a quick read.

After we registered, we met up with a friend of mine (and fellow blogger!) Andie for a little exploring of Minneapolis and some dinner. We found a great little downtown neighborhood, with lots of neat restaurants, and our eyes were immediately drawn to a very interesting looking restaurant called The Bad Waitress.

It was a hip sort of cafe, that lived up to its name by having you, its customer, fill out your own order and bring it up to the counter to the cook. The walls were filled with images from old B movies and comics, and the booths were retro looking red and black numbers. They made a mean hamburger- really delicious!

After dinner, Andie and I said goodbye to Andrew and my Mom and headed over to the first event of the convention- a party for an ALA (American Library Association) presidential candidate. It was fun and interesting to meet a candidate and all of her supporters. I was also thrilled to meet the current ALA president. That's why conference rock- you never know who you are going to meet!

By the time the party came to a close, it was almost midnight and I was tired. Andie and I bid each other good night, and headed back to our hotels. I was beat- it was a long, fun day, but I just knew the next day would hold even more for me (and more free books!)!

Book Count of the Day: 2