Hi All,

It’s Pel here. I’m going to write this one up in first person because I don’t think it will come out right otherwise. So here goes.

After massive plane delays I finally landed in Phoenix, AZ an met up with Be My Escape 6 hours after I was supposed to be there. I landed at 11:30 Arizona time which was 2:30am as far as my body was concerned. So after checking into our hotel we slept in before meeting up with Danobanano, Nena Cullen (our awesome photographer and videographer), Alice Whitlock, and a few others.  Not being co-ordinated at all and being tired, I dropped my cell phone in the parking lot and it hasn’t been right since. That day it turned into a quasi taser/stun gun it would zap me on vibrate for no apparent reason and then ring and no one was there. So I totally apologize to the couple of people I gave my number to, I wasn’t ignoring you, I was getting random messages at best (This actually comes into play later) and I have a bruise from being zapped.

So after standing in line the incredibly organized crew of volunteers (hat’s off guys) had people checking in  in groups of 30 or so.  I met up with Kara from Twilight moms and we staged a “dress throwdown” photo. Seriously, dress aside, we do actually like each other on only live a few miles apart. I also met a ton of Lexiconers *waves hi* I can only remember the name of one person because I was so tired, and the only reason I remember her name is because it’s the same as my own, so shout out to Laura.  I also met one of the people from the very cool Cullen Boys Blog. I also met, really quickly, Allison from Twifans.

So, before the author panel started there were two warm up bands both were really great. Then Faith, who the event was being done for, came out and thanked everyone. We’ve said it before, but Faith(click for video) is one classy lady, and a person who without asking had a bevy of authors from different genres and different publishing houses, who had never met each other before, volunteer to do this event. Please, on a personal note, if you can even give just a dollar and forgo a cup of morning coffee, it’s going to a great cause.

Next up Shannon Hale of The Princess Academy and Austenland fame acted as emcee along with J.S. Lewis of the Grey Griffins series. They were both hilarious. Seriously, they should do stand up. I’ve never read J.S. Lewis before, but I am now. If he’s half as hilarious in print as he was on stage than his books must be fantastic. They had everything from an Aretha Franklin number sung by James A Owen with back up dancers Shannon Hale, JS Lewis, Laini Taylor(very pregnant), and Janette Rallison,  and appearances of Stephenie’s dress on the body of  Dean Lory escorted by PJ Haarsma(see video).

Now when it came time for the author panel to be introduced Shannon Hale remembered everything except one thing. It’s hilarious at around 2:40 when Shannon realizes what…er…who she actually forgot.

Stand by for more later when we describe the auction and the signing.

There are a couple of Twilight and/or Stephenie Meyer related auctions coming up.

If you can’t be at the Save the Book Babe event this weekend, you can bid on merchandise right from your home.  According to the site organizers:

“Since there are so many items that have been donated they will be auctioned in groups of about ten at a time, every Monday and Thursday after 6 pm MST. We are using ebay and the active auction items will be listed in the sidebar on this website. Items will be listed for one week! Check back each Monday and Thursday for new items.”

Now aside from Pel bidding on a Prom Dress (have we mentioned the prom dress?) they have added a new item to the onsite auction.  Items that belong to Stephenie that are going up for live bid that day are:

Forever Dawn Epilogue

The Host Manuscript

Eclipse Manuscript

Twilight Arc

Lunch with Stephenie

And now a Host Themed Skateboard:

According to Stephenie’s site:

“Hobo Skate Co. established early in 2009 by Jared Hancock and Chad Swensen is a premier skateboard and apparel company that donates 5% of all revenue to the Hobo Foundation. This foundation provides financial and other resources to the homeless. You can find them at www.hoboskateco.com.”