The evening before, I was almost too excited to sleep. My online pal Darla was coming up from San Antonio and we were going to see Nora. So I had 2 reasons to be nervous. LOL After going to bed around 1am and getting up before 5, I finished my room (that I had recently redecorated), made sure my Nora bookcase looked good, and went to work. Around 11:40, I decided I'd had enough and left. Darla was due at my house around noon and I wanted to be here before her. I made it by about 2 minutes. I look out and see this HUGE white Expedition (no wonder it's called Moby!!) sitting in my driveway. I barrel out and no one gets out for a few seconds. Just long enough for the butterflies to exponentially increase in my stomach. Then, she got out. Geez! Pretty and wearing a dress!!!???!!! Oh boy. We hug and I start talking at LEAST 500 miles an hour. Well, I DID mention that I was nervous and when I'm nervous, I talk. So, I kinda danced around her as she got her stuff and I took her inside. Showed her around, especially my Nora bookcase, and after around 30 minutes, we take off. The weather decides that we need more excitement in our day and it begins to rain. I take Darla to my UBS and we wonder around. She makes very gratifying noises and picks out 5 or 6 books. I get a couple myself. Luckily, I have enough store credit to practically buy the place, so we didn't spend much cash. Then, off we go to NorthPark Mall. It's clear over in Dallas and on the way the weather gets worse. I miss the turnoff and realize I'm going to go in a circular pattern to get to the mall. I don't want Darla to think I'm a total idiot so I tell her what's happened but that we ARE NOT lost. I ask her if she's ever been to the area, she says no, so I explain that I'm making sure she sees something other than freeway. She's being so quiet that I'm thinking (a) she doesn't like me or (b) she REALLY doesn't like me. I mean, she's been so articulate online. How was I to know she's the quiet type in person? Sheesh!! Anyway, taking the scenic route, we finally get to the mall around 5pm. We park in a decent place and find Waldenbooks. Geez. Some brain cell challenged young man is working there and kinda smirks some info at us about Nora's signing. Basically, he knows little and doesn't really care. I ask for the manager so he smirks at us some more and gets him. Well!! The manager is more concerned with explaining the various politics involved with Little League than with my questions about Nora's signing. I'm hoping at this point that Nora will really come and how much chocolate will be required to make up for the idiots she'll be dealing with!! Then, the manager says that the OTHER manager told him she'd be here this evening. So he's happy that he has the night off to go deal with the Little League. I'm relieved too. LOL There obviously won't be a discussion as there isn't enough room for more than 2 people to stand side by side in the front of the store. Further on, it's strictly single file. We're talking about 1/3 or 1/4 the size of the Walden's that I go to and where Nora was last year. On the positive side, they have a very large selection of Nora's books, including the In Death books. At this point, Darla and I buy a couple of books and leave to go move the car closer. That was fun. Then, Darla points out the Godiva store that I completely missed the first time. Shows MY priorities!!! We go in, salivate, get a real (maybe) offer from the saleslady to lock us in the store overnight, then I choose 4 truffles for Nora. And a couple for me!! Dang!! Those things are expensive!!!! Darla had brought some Lindt chocolate with her, so we were set. Oh!! I had also brought my homemade bath salts. I had sent Nora some Scented Stones for her birthday last year and she really likes them so I thought she'd enjoy the bath salts as well. Brought her a little of each kind. Good thing she has people along to help her carry this stuff!! LOL Okay, it's still only around 5:45 or so, and no line is forming, so we go across the way to the Mickey D's. We munch and keep an eye on the place. I am much less patient than Darla, and when there are 3 or 4 people in a line, I get too antsy and we get in line ourselves. I'm busy explaining some incredibly important detail about Nora and her books to some total stranger when I look around and see Nora in the store!!!! ?????? Another lady says she just came in. We totally missed her!!! Obviously, my radar is faulty. She goes to the back for the stock signing and right on the dot of 7, appears for the signing. Now, I must say that Darla had started actually talking to me and the others in line for a while and I had started to relax, thinking she had finally started to like me!!! Then she mentions that she's getting nervous and that's why she's talking!!! So now I think.....good thing I've got the car, otherwise I don't think I'd be seeing her again!! Maybe I should mention at this point that I occasionally have self esteem problems. LOLOL Anyway, we're like #5 and #6 in line, so it only takes a couple of minutes for our turn to come up. The bookseller from my Walden's was there to help Nora so that helped me quite a bit. I decided that I was NOT going to do the coma imitation this year, that I was going to TALK TO NORA!!!! So, of course, I went to the other extreme and rattled on so much Darla couldn't say anything at all. AT ALL!!!!! She was too nervous to talk anyway, but .......The first thing I did was point out to Nora what book she was about to sign for me. It was PMT. She laughed and kinda shook her head and signed it without another word. tee hee Then I said everyone online says hi. We gave her the chocolates and I explained about the bath salts in the shoe box. Seven sample jars takes up some space!! I told her that I was the one who sent her the Scented Stones last year and she said she loved them!! She thanked me for the bath salts and I told her there was enough there for around 21 baths so it should get her home!! She laughed and then the REAL conversation started. I asked would she please tell me exactly what she's wearing?? Kathy, the Walden's lady, started laughing and said Karen, really!! Nora looked at her and said, "Oh, they've got to know." At the same time, I said, yeah, Nancy will KILL me if I don't get all the right info. Nora said she misses being online and don't we have FUN? Well, it really made me feel special when I realized that being online means that much to Nora. You could tell from her voice that she really does miss us and enjoys being with us as much as we do with her. Anyway!!!!! Her outfit. AHEM!!!!! Black leather jacket that she had draped on the chair behind her. Brown slacks, long-sleeved white t-shirt with a gorgeous vest. The vest was a brown/burgundy w/purple stripes on one side and peacock feather decoration on the other. She said she was wearing her "boy" shoes again and she propped her foot up on the table to show us!!! I could see out of the corner of my eye the others in line were looking and wondering what was going on!! I loved it. She had pretty bracelets on both wrists, kinda slim diamond looking things. And a necklace that looked like a topaz or amber stone hanging from a chain. She had just bought a ring at Neiman's and it was really cool looking. Gold on half, silver on half and kinda squared on top with an amber or topaz looking stone set in it. She said she'd had a facial that morning and had gotten some rest and loved being here. Phew!!! LOL I was scribbling this info down and said, okay, have I gotten all the clothes info? She looked at me and said, that's pretty much all she's wearing at the moment. I howled!!! I said I'd make sure everyone knew that. Okay, Darla remembered (thanks TSAB!!) that I brought a camera. She asked if I was going to take any pictures. I whipped it out and Nora smiled. Click!! Then, Darla was asking if I wanted her to take one of me and Nora, I was asking if Darla wanted ME to take one of HER and Nora!! LOL The next lady in line, or maybe it was the manager's hubby, said I'll take a picture of BOTH of you with Nora. Well, Nora liked that, I tried to remember how to breathe, and we got our picture taken with Nora. Well, Darla and I slunk off with our books toward the middle of the store where they had lemonade and cookies set out. I hate lemonade so please understand that I was so high from talking to Nora that I had 2 GLASSES of the stuff before I calmed down enough to go Blech! Darla and I were both kinda shaking and my face was about the color of an extremely ripe tomato. After a few minutes, I realized that we hadn't asked all the questions that were in our brains a while ago. RATS!!!! Well, I hemmed and hawed and asked Darla if we could get back in line!! She hemmed and hawed and then agreed. I think she took pity on me!! Whatever works!! Well, it only took about 30 minutes to get back to her. Kathy from Walden's looked at us, then Nora looked at us, then at the table where there weren't any books to sign, then back at us. I had calmed down considerably by this time and said, we forgot some questions!! She smiled and then it started. I said, you know the cone thingy from Witness? She looked a little puzzled. That Roarke "appropriated"? She grinned. Yes? Well, what happened? She said, I assumed he used it. I laughed and said, don't assume; you know what that does. Will it appear in a future book? She said it might, you never know. At which point I said, well what exactly was it? She has a great grin, by the way. She said, Karen, do you think I'm an expert on sexual devices? I nodded furiously. She was trying to drink her Diet Pepsi at this point and almost choked. I told her I relied on her books for my education. She really shouldn't try to drink when I'm talking to her. LOL Then I pointed out that Darla was the non-bimbo Darla. Nora's eyes lit up and she said, Oh!! She didn't know why all those bimbos ended up with that name. I mentioned to Nora that she had never used my name in a book. She said, well she had a Caryn as a psychopath once. I told her that didn't count and that she couldn't have had a real Karen in mind for THAT kind of character. I said she either hadn't created a character worthy of my name yet or didn't realize what a great name Karen would be!!! She didn't commit to anything. Drat!!! I guess I'll just wait and see. A few more people had gotten in line so we figured we'd better get going. We floated to the car and it had decided to stop raining. We got home and talked until around 3:00 in the morning. Darla got to meet the kids and vice versa. We all sampled the chocolate and I tried not to whimper with ecstasy too loud. Darla left me Wed. around 12:30, but at least she left me plenty of books on loan so I have an excuse to see her again. All in all, this was about 3000% better than last year!!!! I just hope Nora like the bath salts!!!

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