Thank you Meg Cabot!

So Friday afternoon, on my way to the corner that I greet Claire and Anna at after school, I check the mail. Immediately, I notice a stuffed mailer envelope and I think, hmmm, what did I order from Amazon that I don't remember? I turn it over in my hand and this is what I see:
Meg Cabot. Are you kidding me? The Meg Cabot?

She is equal parts entertainer, idol, mentor, and rock star in this house. For those of you who don't have teenage/pre-teen girls, Ms. Cabot is most famously the author of The Princess Diaries series of books. She actually is a prolific author of books for teen and pre-teen girls as well as adults. Check out Meghan's bookcase to see if you recognize any other titles. Also note that Meghan is a HUGE fan of hers.
Ms. Cabot has a blog that Meghan turned me on to about a year ago. Meghan insisted I check it out as she was funny and owned cats....two things this household holds in high esteem. I have been reading her blog ever since and that is how I became a fan of hers. She is funny (hysterically funny at times), loves reality tv (hello! Intervention anyone?) and celebrity gossip, and is a wealth of information about other books and authors. I have yet to read a novel of hers (that will certainly change), but I love her. And I love that Meghan and Claire love her. And you can be sure, Anna will love her. (Claire is passing the Allie books down to her.) So, anyways, long story short, a couple of weeks ago Meg posted on her blog that she was giving away some advance copies of her newest Allie Finkle book to the first few people that emailed her. I thought I would give it a shot so I wrote the following email:

Dear Ms. Cabot,
My 11 year old daughter,Claire, would absolutely love an advance copy of your latest Allie Finkle novel. Here is our snail mail: Claire McAfee (omitted for obvious reasons) Thanks!!
Tracey McAfee
ps I am attaching a picture of my 15 year old's bookcase so you can see exactly how esteemed you are in this house full of girls!! Meghan can't wait for the Airhead sequel. Thank you, thank you, thank you for inspiring my girls to LOVE to read.

A few days later she posted on her blog that the winners were notified, and not hearing anything, I didn't give it another thought. Until last Friday when I checked the mail. I was shocked to see the return address label and I impatiently tore open the package while waiting for Claire at the corner. Inside was an advance copy of Allie Finkle's Rule for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens! And it was signed by Meg Cabot!!

But that is not all. She also included an advance copy of Being Nikki, which is the sequel to one of Meghan's favorite books, Airhead. And she signed that copy too!!!
Meghan and Claire were in heaven! It was so, so cool to get that package. I cannot even tell you how excited we all were! It was a genuine surprise and I will forever be grateful that a busy author (and her assistant, I'm sure) took the time to read an email from a mom of a couple of fans and send a little something their way. Such a little act of kindness that meant a great deal to all of us in the McAfee house.

Meg, you have fans for life! You rock. And your assistant (Nancy, I think) rocks. And Allie rocks....and Nikki.....and Mia. Thank you!! Also, if anyone in the Houston area is reading this and is interested, Meg will be in Houston at The Blue Willow Book Shop on April 3rd. I just may have to pull the girls out of school that day so they can thank her in person.