Breaking Dawn Concert/Book Signing

The Breaking Dawn Concert series in Los Angeles was a wonderful experience. Dan, the kids and I headed to Apple Valley first. The kids were going to stay with Dan's cousin Joey & his family for the night.

Then Danny and I drove the rest of the way to UCLA. We were worried about getting there on time with the traffic, but we actually made good time. We got to our motel at about 6 PM, and the concert started at 8 PM. So it worked out just right for us.


The Los Angeles Temple was right across the street from our hotel. That was so neat!

We got ready and arrived at UCLA at about 7:15. We parked and walked to Royce Hall. The UCLA campus is amazing. I love all the red brick and old world feel. And I didn't realize just how huge the campus is!


We waited in line for a few minutes, and they gave us wristbands, and then checked our tickets and told us where to go for our seats. It was all assigned seating, so that took the worry out of getting there majorly early to get a good seat. We had balcony seats, so they weren't the best for pictures (especially with my camera). But it was still close enough to really see and hear everything. Plus it ended up working to our advantage that we were in the balcony (more on that later).

Dan and I went to the concession area to get a little something in our tummies, before the event began. Then we headed up the stairs to get to our seats. They were right in the middle. The perfect view. About 1800 people were there. I saw a lot of my Twilight Mom friends down in the orchestra section. And actually I called my friend Jessica (you know her from our Comic Con adventure) who was down in that section and she told me she talked to Catherine Hardwicke (the director of Twilight the movie) just a minute before I called. Catherine had been in the audience, before being whisked away so she wouldn't get mobbed. I was so excited for Jess that she got to be that close to her.

Soon it was time for the big event. First the interviewer lady came out to go over the guidelines. They didn't want us taking any flash photography during the event, and no pictures period when we were in line to meet Stephenie and get our books signed. So my pictures really aren't the greatest. But you still get the idea of what went on at least.

First to come out was Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October. He sang us a few acoustic versions of some of his songs. He sang Fairytale, Ugly Side, and a new song coming out with their new album, in March of 2009, called Blue Skies. I got a little video of the Fairytale song. Here you go..



After Justin's singing, it was time for the Queen Mother herself to come out. It was Question and Answer time with Stephenie Meyer, about all things Breaking Dawn. I won't really go into the Q&A here, because I know that not everyone that reads my blog, has read the book. I don't want to spoil anything.

I can tell you one of the questions that Stephenie answered though. She was asked if she has seen the Twilight movie yet, and what her thoughts were on it. She said she had seen a rough cut of the film, and that she was thrilled with the results! She said if this had been the movie in the theaters, that she would've walked right out when it was over, and purchased another ticket right away to go watch it again. Woo hoo!!!!

After the Q&A session, Justin came back out and joined Stephenie for a little more chit chat and music. Stephenie talked about how she heard the song Hate Me for the first time on the radio, back when she was writing New Moon. When she heard it she had to run right home, and find out whose song it was. It profoundly encompassed Edward, when he you know in New Moon for Bella's sake. She said it was like Edward was speaking to her right through the radio. And after she found out the band was Blue October. She found that so many other songs, related to her stories as well, and helped inspire her when she writes. Justin then sang the song for us. It made me all teary eyed. That song is so sad and so Edward, but I love it.

She mentioned that some bands songs, for her, were character specific. She gave the example of My Chemical Romance being completely Jacob songs (I can totally see that too. Another "Jacob" band for me is Blink 182). Then she said, that for other bands (Muse, Blue October) they can encompass a whole range of emotions in their songs, that the different songs can relate to different characters for her, or different situations.

Then they talked about the song Overweight relating to Jacob in Eclipse. And Justin then related Stephenie's favorite verse in the song (He said it was too hard of a song to sing acoustically, so he just said the lyrics to us).

"I owned up, I've grown up. Do you remember me? I showed up and so what if I'm the used to be. I'm here to tell you that I’m sorry, I was sorry. But I’m happy that you're happy, this is no longer about me. Trade roles, switch sides for your beautiful eyes. Let him be there through your beautiful cries. Let him hold you up so you can touch all four of your skies and live your life just like a dream, without the pain of goodbyes. Goodbye"

Then Justin sang another new song for us, that is on Stephenie's Breaking Dawn playlist. It is called, My Never. It is such a beautiful song. I loved it, and I'll definitely be buying Blue October's new album come March. Stephenie says this song is a Jacob song, and you can find it on page 355 of Breaking Dawn. Here is the song from a YouTube video, of the NY BD concert.




Then the last song Justin sang for us, was my favorite of Blue October's songs. It is an Edward song. Now when I say these are specific people's songs, does not mean Justin wrote them specifically for Stephenie's books. The songs, like I said before, just happen to relate perfectly to her books and characters. Anyway it is Sound of Pulling Heaven Down. I love that song so much! I got all teary eyed again.

After that it was time for the book signing. Now this is where it paid off to sit in the balcony. The people in charge came out again, and told us how the signing was going to happen. They let us up in the balcony get in line first, before the orchestra people! Go us! LOL

So we didn't have to wait as long to get our books signed. They had us line up downstairs around the courtyard. The line moved pretty quickly. Poor Stephenie had to sign her name so many times, I'm sure her hand was killing her by the time it was all over.

Dan and I got to the front, and got to talk to her for about 5 seconds. She noticed my Twilight Moms shirt, and said "Twilight Moms, Yay!" She is, after all, a TM herself (Truly, she's posted in the past. Not recently though, with all her touring and editing). It was awesome to meet her in person, and very surreal. After her TM comment on my shirt and our saying thank you to her, we were shepherded out of the way. And that was it. Short and sweet. Wish we had more time to really talk, but I understood completely why it couldn't be that way. I just wish we could've taken pictures in line. Oh well, not the end of the world. And I have her siggy forever in my book, so it's all good. :D

After everything was over with, Dan and I were starving so we headed to the Westwood Village area. We ate at a place called Napa Valley Grille. Very yummy food. They were only serving appetizers by the time we got there, so we ordered a few extras and chowed down.

Then I spied a Pinkberry shop down the street from our car. I had to try it for dessert. I've heard so much about their famous frozen yogurt. Oh My Edward, you guys! It does not disappoint. I have never tasted anything like it in my life. I had a sample of the original flavor and of the green tea, and they also have coffee but I knew I wouldn't like that kind, so I didn't bother with the sample. I went ahead with the original flavor, and got kiwis on it. It was so, ummmm, heavenly I guess would be the best word to describe it.


This was half eaten, before I thought to take a picture. So it's not as pretty as it originally was.

It is hard to describe the exact flavor to you. It is fruity, but unlike any fruity-ness I've ever had before. Seriously something you'd taste out of the Garden of Eden. :D

I absolutely wanted more of it the minute I was finished. And the next day I wanted to go back and get some more. I am STILL craving it. I wish they had a store close to here, but at the moment they are all down in the SoCal area or New York. *sob* :*(

Anyway that is the story of our Breaking Dawn Concert adventure. We had an amazing time. Even Dan said he enjoyed himself, even though he really didn't have much of an idea of what was being talked about. Since he, being a vampire "purist", refuses to read the books. But he understood enough, since I talk about the Twilight Saga constantly, that he could follow what was being talked about. He said it has made him a little more curious about the books, but still not enough to get him to read them (although he did read page #355 while we were in line waiting for autographs).

He is looking forward to seeing the movie (and hopefully movies) in the future. So I've tried not to say too much about what happens, so he doesn't get spoiled. He did learn a lot of spoilers at the concert, but I figured if they do make the movie it will be at least 4 years from now that it comes out, so he will forget it all by then. LOL

We had a fantastic getaway together, and he really is a good sport about my obsession. Love you Danny Boy!