LA Festival of Books

Now the weather is warming up I've found that I'm sick with the Spring Fever. That is... More prone to restlessness. I am constantly wanting to get up and about and just in general be outdoors.  Which is probably why I was excited to trek to Los Angeles for the Festival of Books.



Ross has the first part of the second part of his medical licensing exam coming up, so he spent Saturday morning studying with friends but once he was done, we were off! After navigating to a parking space and some wandering around we found my parents. Well, I should say that mom found us. I think it must be a mom thing, to be able to pick out your kid in a crowd of people. Well play mom, well played!

Before we met up with my folks we actually took a walk down the "Hero Complex" which was the portion of the festival with all things comic related. It was on the way so of course we had to. Lots of cool stuff going on.



The boring part was all the comic shops who pretty much just re-located to the festival, under and EZ-up. But the cool part were the local and independent artists and publishers with their wares; art, comics, and all kinds of merch. Ross scored a graphic novel with amazing artwork for only $10. And I settled for a Rocket button.

Truth!

When we met up with my parents we listened to Octavia Spencer who was speaking and answering questions. Some of my favorite quotes were,

"Dream the biggest dreams... and it can happen!"

and when asked how she gets over writer's block,

"How do I get over writer's block? Well, I go the the kitchen and get a snack!"

The Festival of Books takes place at USC and is absolutely massive. The campus is divided up into different sections of literature, young adult, cooking, poetry, children, etc. The best section was the children's literature because it was the most interactive and brightly colored. For a little bit we listened to a panel discussion that included the author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Always a family favorite.



Part of the fun was just walking around and seeing everything that was offered!



Mom and dad bought us ice cream, which was awesome because it was pretty warm out.





Almost matching hats! A necessity for the day. Not a cloud in that sky!

One vendor had some really cool handmade leather products which reminded me of something Pip and Andrew could make. 

Also, pretty sure some child labor laws were broken with this 7 year old selling water. Dad had to help him out with the math. Dad just can't stop teaching I guess. :D 

I don't think that Matilda poster was made for adult sized faces.

The best part of the day was when I got to meet the author of Sparky! One of my favorite kids books (since I've been a kid). She was really nice and since I don't actually own the book I got a copy and had it signed. My mom met her earlier and told her about how I had crocheted a little Sparky sloth for her. While I was getting the book signed I shower her the picture and her publicist asked if I could send it to her so they could use it! It was surreal, I was surprised but said sure!

Also, I asked if they had an Sparky bookmarks, as advertised on the sign. And as she was looking around she said no, but that I could have this limited edition print by the illustrator! Whaaa?! I was so shocked, it was such a cool experience and felt unreal.

It's so much fun to hang with mom and dad. I will never take for granted how nice it is to live close. Ross and I were in no rush to make the 90-ish drive back, so mom and dad volunteered to take us out to eat. They have a bunch of food trucks at the festival, but the lines were long and I was trying to get my parents to suggest this friend chicken place in Culver City my mom's been talking about. 

SCORE!

But before I go on about Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken, I need to tell you about this present my parents got for me. My parents have been mentioning it for a several days now, and they were both pretty excited about it. They wouldn't tell me where they got it from and my dad joked that they were, "still making payments on it." I was interested. Furthermore they said that they weren't even sure it would fit in the car for them to bring it to me. Huh!?!?

So as Ross and I were standing out in front of the restaurant, my parents drive by. And from a distance it looks like a dog's head or something is poking out of the window. 

My parents are crazy. They bought me a pony!!!! With a big ol' bow around it's neck. The inside-joke nature of this present goes way far back to remember, but it's perfect in every way. Ask me about it if sometime if you really want to know. Also, I had to put "Pony girl" on the caption because it is kinda like "horse girl" except it is a pony, and a fancy literary play on words from "ponyboy." See how clever I am? 

About that fried chicken....

It was to die for. The only time I have had fried chicken close to that good was when I was in Memphis. Mmmm! And for the first time I tried honey on fried chicken and it was delicious. The honey that they have there is particularly good. The only thing was that it was so. much. food. I think it make me a little gluttonous to say this. but look at the texture of that chicken in the picture on the bottom right. *drools* 

Ross gettin' at dat. As far as sides, the biscuits were freaking epic, but so was the sweet potato pie. After dinner we rolled over to my grandparents' and hung out with them for a bit, since the last time I saw them was Easter and I have been feeling a little deprived. It was fun to just hang out and take it easy after a long (hot) day.