Getting Perky with Stephanie Perkins

photo grab from National Bookstore

At last! With our busy schedules, we were finally able to attend last July 6, 2014 at the National Bookstore, Glorietta the book signing event of one of our fave authors: 

*Ms. Stephanie Perkins*

**(Although we missed Gayle Forman's and Jenny Han's T_T) But as they say, let bygones be bygones. :P

On to the said event. We planned to meet up early because we were pretty sure that many people would show up but somehow, someone overslept somewhere and our early meet-up was turned into a brunch fest. haha! That's okay though, because later on we learned that some of the people who were there to have their books signed actually got in line since the night before. It just shows that we'd never stand a chance to be the first ones.

When we got there, as expected, the place was already filled up so we proceeded to have our copies registered. Since there were no more space left to sit down, we wiggled our way to a small spot on the corner of the room. Making our selves comfortable, we waited until the guest of honor arrived. 

It's the perfect event to do people watching. These are the kinds of people you'd get to see: 

• There were groups of friends who tattooed themselves with hearts and stars and prepared signs that were written with "Je T'aime Etienne" (Anna and the French Kiss) "We Love Cricket Bell" (Lola and the Boy Next Door) and "Josh 4Ever" (Isla and the Happily Ever After).
• Girlfriends dragging their reluctant boyfriends along and, making the said boyfriends braid their hairs just to pass the time (oh the things people will do for love)
• Parents delivering food to their kids stuck in the middle of the crowd (lucky kids... me want me mum too!boohoo!)
• Girls donning funky wigs and costumes ala Lola Nolan (I lost count on how many of them actually wore pink wigs)
• Kids silently sitting on the floor while reliving Stephanie's books (like moi)
• And there's someone who brought her school reading materials because according to her she needs to study (guess who)

After an hour or so of reading and studying (?!), suddenly the people started screaming and rushing to the doorway, and we thought "hey! they're here". Then we laughed when one of the events people took the mic and said "Sorry for the delay, we just have to wait because Stephanie's not yet here." and we're just like "Seriously?" 

Finally, the moment of truth came when the crowd broke into a mass of ear-splitting shrieks. Trying to catch a glimpse of our beloved author, we climbed on some of the bookshelves (luckily, none of them broke down) and we saw a head full of pretty curls and that's when we knew for sure that it's her. :)

As the crowd settled down, they went straight on to a brief interview (sorry if we could not include here the whole manuscript - but rest assured, it was full of "aaaww" moments). They talked about the books, about Stephanie's writing career and her life with her husband Jarrod (who was there also!) <3 <3 

Then they began calling the first set of numbers "Numbers 1-20, please fall in line." Since we're still at the bottom of the line and for sure, it would take hours before our turn, we decided to just roam around first then come back again later. 

But as we were about to leave, a commotion happened and we saw another line forming. Not knowing what it was for, we just dove into the line, hoping for the best. It turned out, that line was for Jarrod! Yeah, he's signing the books too. Good thing we browsed through some of the shelves first instead of just suddenly leaving the area. ;)

Jarrod: Stephanie's fair-haired boy <3

Just borrowed him for a few seconds. ;) 

thanks for noticing :) (insert a *blush* somewhere here.haha!)

nerdy kids unite! ;)

Jarrod's random pick book quote 

After having our books signed by Jarrod, we still got plenty of time left in our hands (since the current batch at that time was 180-200) so we left for awhile and attended an afternoon Mass first. When we were done saying our prayers, we walked back to the venue wondering what number they're already in. It's 5 o'clock and they're still on 400+ (200 more to go...HOORAY!!!NOT.) We settled ourselves on the floor as we waited it out when after an hour or so, we felt a bit hungry since it's almost dinner time so we decided to  just grab something to eat first.  We passed the time exchanging stories and rants(?!) while munching on some goodies. One thing's for sure though, catching up with friends is one of the best ways to spend the weekend. :)

why so serious? O_o

oh yes! I'm the great...pretender...
ooohh~ooohh :P

For the last time, we went back and hallelujah! they're down to the last 100 (this is HOORAY! for real). This time, we spent the last hour taking pictures...and pictures...and more pictures. :) 

According to Rhio:
Isla (Karen), Anna (Rhio), Lola (Jhun)

Then voila! "Numbers 600-620, please fall in line". YEY! Let's dance the jig! :D As we fell in line with the other kids who braved it out like us, we couldn't help but feel more excited as we got nearer and nearer to Stephanie's table. 

we're next! >(^o^)<

THIS.IS.IT. 5...4...3...2...1 Tadah! There she is! :) Seeing that smile made it all worth it. It's one of the reasons why we love Stephanie - other than because she wrote the books that made our hearts go fluttery and mushy and making us feel like we're teenagers again -  it was because even though she spent a lot of her hours signing books, she still has a smile and a "thank you" ready for each of her fans. :)

   

Stephanie's random pick book quote

It's past 9 o'clock already, and the mall was starting to close, so we dragged our tired feet out to the terminals and even though our energy stores were depleted big time, we still had an awesome day because we got to spend time with each other; and we went home with our happy hearts content and our cherished books signed by Stephanie and Jarrod. Could anything get more perkier than that? ;)

Cheers! Here's to our next adventure! ;)

**Thanks to National Bookstore for bringing them here! >(^o^)<**

***P.S. Jhun here again. I have a question for Stephanie that's been bugging me since the book signing event. Could it be that the character of Etienne was based on Stephanie and Anna was based on Jarrod? Just curious. ;P