7 hour adventure

If cursing is offensive to you, I recommend you read the disclaimer at the end first.  Just for the record, it's not my cursing... it's on another blog I link to.  I'd hate for you to be offended.

If you don't know why going to see Jenny Lawson is terribly important, you might want to start here.

If you understand why I did this... then please keep reading.

I went on an adventure Tuesday night.  The excitement began inside me when I decided to go and just built until I arrived.  I love stuff like this!  I only wish a couple of my friends could have joined me!

I got to work early so I could leave early so I could drive home to pick up my kids and drive to San Diego (from Orange County and not the southern end of the OC!).  Our adventure lasted 7 hours and cost me WAY too much money!  (way way too much money)

I had it all worked out.  Leaving early from work I could miss most of the traffic, we'd listen to a book on tape to make our journey more pleasant (and hopefully avoid fighting over different music tastes and my desire to listen to NPR which my (woefully uneducated) children find boring).  However, I left the cassette converter thingy in my husband's car and while I planned to use a mini speaker I recently purchased, I learned that even with the speaker at top volume... a Kindle just does not want to be loud enough for 4 people to listen to it in a car while moving.

So the book on tape was abandoned.  Which seemed sad to me because I actually had to argue with my kids to listen to it in the first place and having finally convinced them; I now had no satisfaction in their enjoyment doing something they initially didn't want to do.  (Mom's are like that.)

We drove.  The kids complained about being hungry and commented on each potential eating establishment as we drove down the freeway at breakneck speeds (all our necks are fine thank you).  We missed all the OC traffic (probably because I wasn't willing to feed my poor children (hey!  I told them to have a sandwich before I got home!).  Made it half way down the 78 and slowed to about 20mph.  JOY.  We started reading Jenny's book...we started laughing and my driving became more erratic.

Wow... I wrote that much and we haven't even met Jenny yet!  OK, I'll speed this up.

After stopping for gas (because my readout that tells me how many miles I can drive on the gas in my car went from 2 to 0 about 10 miles away from our destination) we finally arrived at the Barnes & Noble in Mira Mesa at 5:55pm.  Having read other blog posts about the crowds, I knew it was going to be busy! Alas, there were no more chairs left and even the open space around the chairs was quickly filling up.  I ran to buy the book (gasp, choke-- who knew a hardback book cost THAT much?  I'm an e-book girl all the way!) and ran back to secure my place in the crowd.  (Kids hung out in the car for a bit)

I met some great people and we all had a lot of fun hanging out.  One of those people was Melanie who kindly took pictures and shared them with me.  She also writes about the event on her blog here.

My favorite picture is this one...

My daughter looks so pretty and creepy holding and petting the chicken while the rest of us discuss what twine is and why it's important.

I think we overwhelmed the bookstore.  Apparently the last time they saw a crowd like this Ozzy Osborne was there.  We completely overwhelmed the A/C!  I mean girl, it was HOT in there!  We stood, we sat, we took pictures, we waited.  My kids brought the metal chickens in to be autographed and I was surprised to see I wasn't the only metal chicken bearer.  

Chicken Brigade... added humor, the redhead in the striped shirt is *afraid of chickens*

Then Jenny arrived.  I think the only thing that kept us from mobbing Jenny and  giving her the biggest group hug she's ever had is our knowledge of her anxiety and crowd issues.  We clapped and they worked out the microphone, then she warned everyone that she was about to say F*** a lot and started reading a chapter from her book.  (a particular favorite of mine about ExLax)  We howled with laughter.  

Q&A time - best question goes to the man in the back.  "Jenny, is there anything I can do to dissuade my wife from buying a stuffed moose?"

Jenny:  No.

Ha!  She said more, but the crowd egged them on and agreed she needed the moose.  In fact, Jenny said, "Who wouldn't want a moose?!"

The line for autographs was loooong and I was super grateful to be at about the halfway point.  I think the line winded through most of the store (I couldn't actually see because I'm vertically challenged).  I thought a bunch of people had gone home and said as much when I was corrected by a taller person who saw the truth.

I had books and chickens signed while confessing my concern for being voted "worst parent" for bringing my children along to meet her.  Jenny assured me they were old enough for me to avoid such a title.

See Jenny's hand there signing the book! 

My daughter is still holding the chickens!

Some of those items signed are gifts to friends.  I'm so looking forward to the giving of said gifts!!  It really is the best thing to share laughter!!

I think that's what I love about Jenny so much.  She takes all the events in her life and finds a way to laugh about it.  Maybe not immediately, but the laughter is there to find.  

Thanks for letting us laugh along with you Jenny!

Thanks for introducing me to Jenny, Kathy!  I can never repay you!


Disclaimer:  I do not curse in this post (or really in this blog).  However, I am a fan of certain blogs and some do curse.  The nature of myself and the internet leads to many links and I would hate for you to not realize what you're getting yourself into.  Specifically here, The Bloggess curses a fair bit.  It's not the backbone of her humor (as some comedians use it) but it is liberally sprinkled throughout her site.  She is still hilarious and one of a few must read blogs on my list.  But I appreciate it isn't everyone's cup of tea.