Annual Huge Book Sale & Lunch

I finally got a chance to go to the annual VNSA Book Sale...and it is HUGE since moving to the Phoenix Valley!!!

Since 1957, the VNSA has been annually hosting this HUGE book sale!

VSNA originally started out as the Visiting Nurses Service Auxiliary (non-profit) to Volunteer Non-Profit Service Association.

Their mission is to provide financial resources to our Arizona Maricopa County human service agencies through their annual used book sale.

Over 130 volunteers are responsible for a section...from children's books, romance to travel.  When the sale closes on Sunday, all of the books not sold are stored in boxes and shipped overseas or sold for scrap paper.  None of the books are saved for next year's sale.  It is so well organized and the volunteers are super helpful and nice.

Thanks to Kate who arranged this trip to the book sale, Gin and I went crazy picking up books that we were interested in.

This picture only shows you some of our books we came home.  There are more in the back seat.  Kate spent a whopping $50!!!

We went on Sunday, which was their last day of the sale and everything was half-priced!!!

It was a little overwhelming for me because it was crowded, and I don't do well in crowded places, but I think I managed to stay cool and get myself oriented and browse through some books I was interested in.

Ever since reading Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, I have always wanted to go to Prince Edward Island.
I picked some books for Hubby, but mostly for myself.  Being the last day of the sale, most books I was interested in were slim pickings.  I was really interested in getting a ton of Amish books by Shelley Shepard Gray, but there wasn't one to be available.  I found out that these type of books are super popular right now.  I just recently discovered her books and can't put them down!!!

I also bought a stack of Little Golden Books for a project I'll be working on in the near future.
I came home with a big canvas bag full of books for a total of $8!!!  Most books were originally for $0.50 to a $1.
Next year we plan on going back, but with a wagon big enough to haul more books!

All that shopping made us hungry, so on our way back...

we stopped at Grand Canyon University's Canyon 49 Grill for lunch.
I was super impressed by the whole experience.  GCU is a beautiful campus, and their restaurant was really nice and the food was excellent, even though we just had a hamburger.
This would be a great place to stop and have lunch or dinner anytime.