That time I met Nora Roberts

So first things first! I'm participating in the Mug O' Comfort Swap over at Chaotic Goddess Swaps. It's going to be a lot of fun (I love a good mug with a hot beverage). If you are interested tomorrow is the last day of sign-ups so go check it out!

Now for my week/weekend. Last week I went to Baltimore for a work conference. I actually won my hotel and registration at last year's conference so I took Jason with me. He can work remotely, so he worked while I did the conference and we spent our downtime together. I was so excited that Baltimore isn't a huge touristy place. There was some things to see, but I didn't feel bad about spending a lot of time in the hotel room getting some rest either. In fact, Wednesday night we stayed in the room and ordered pizza. We found a place that delivered wine too!

Friday we headed over to Boonsboro, MD. Where are my Nora Roberts fans?! When I realized last summer that we would be so close to Boonsboro, I convinced Jason that we just had to go stay at Inn Boonsboro. If you aren't a Nora fan, this is the Inn that she owns, and it is also the background for her Inn Boonsboro Trilogy. I read the books as they came out and it was such a fun series. I was excited to explore the town it was based on. We arrived in Boonsboro around five o'clock. We settled into our room and then went down for wine with the other guests. It was great because everyone had one big thing in common. We were all book lovers! So it was such a fun time getting to know everyone. Jason and I particularly enjoyed getting to know one of the authors that was staying in the Inn for the book signing. She and her husband were so sweet and we really enjoyed chatting with them.

Then we skipped off to Dan's for our eight o'clock reservation. Dan's is the real life equivalent of Avery's Tavern in the Trilogy. In reality it is owned by Nora's son, Dan. When we were there we ran into a couple staying at the Inn. they were finishing up their meal and they gave us the balance of their gift card! So sweet!

So when we returned to our room I took a heavenly soak in the big copper tub before we settled in to watch The Princess Bride, I'd never seen it!

I'm going to pause here for a minute to tell you about the Inn. There are eight guest rooms, and seven of them are named after famous literary couples. The eighth is the Penthouse. We stayed in Westley and Buttercup. So the room was ornately decorated. The king-sized bed was gorgeous, and there was a fireplace in the bedroom. The sitting room furniture was oversized and covered in gorgeous upholstery. The bathroom was simply divine! There was a huge copper tub, a large shower stall with 5 shower jets, and the toilet? Well let's just say I didn't know they made such high tech toilets.

Each room has it's own fragrance. The amenities are different in each guest room! Our toiletries were Honey Almond Scented. I bought a full size lotion and some teas to bring home. They are wonderful. 

Ok, back to the weekend. Remember when I mentioned that Jason and I chatted with one of the authors that was there for the booksigning? Well, after we were on the road Tuesday, Jason mentions that he'd gotten an e-mail from the Inn, and he'd put our names down for the booksigning. He figured we'd pick them up Friday night so we didn't have to get up too early Saturday.

What?!?! I was so crazy excited. We'd made our reservations early in the fall, well before the book signing had been announced. I couldn't believe my luck! So I bought my early copy of Whiskey Beach and had it signed by Nora Roberts. I may not always be a great blogger when it comes to photos, but you know I got a picture of that!

Sidenote: The lady helping her out asked if we'd been to a signing before. She was amazed at how calm and collected we were. I scored cool points with Nora's people ;) I'm good like that.

After the signing we headed over to Vesta's (also in the books) and had lunch with a few of the ladies we'd met at the Inn. 

Basically, it was a phenomenal experience. I am dying to go back. I've already told Jason I think it would be a great one-year anniversary trip.

When we left Boonsboro we headed farther west for the Pittsburgh area to have dinner and spend the night with Jason's extended family. He took me around the small town his parents were from and showed me where he spent his summers as a kid. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday was a long trip home, but it was worth it. I has such a great time.

Also? I'm going to be an aunt. I can't remember if I've mentioned it on here yet or not, but my little sister is preggo and she found out this weekend that it's a girl! I can't wait to start spoiling her :)

How was your weekend?