News, Updates, Life in General

Just got back from Book Expo America (BEA). I love New York. We stayed at the Hilton right in the middle of the Theater district. Drove in on Tuesday night and made good time until we hit the Lincoln Tunnel - traffic added another hour to our journey at this point. No matter, once we were parked, we weren't moving the car again until Sunday (yeah, we were paying the lovely parking fees for a car we weren't going to use, but trust me, better than driving in the city). Anyways, since it was our kids first time in the city, we decided to walk around town a bit. Nobody had eaten since lunch, so the goal was to find a decent restaurant and chill out. It was fun watching my younger girl acting like a total tourist, stopping to stare at the buildings and people. We meandered down to the Palace Theater where Legally Blonde was playing. I had read in Playbill online that they weren't selling out so I suggested skipping supper and going to the show. Despite some inappropriate moments (try telling an 8-yr old not to do the bend-and-snap in school, or to ask if someone is "Gay or European"? to give you just two), it was just a really fun show. Found out later that the lead actress, the woman who played her best friend and the guy who played the boyfriend are all up for Tony awards, which is way cool (by the time I see most shows, the lead cast is usually long gone). On the way back to the hotel, we walked by the Wintergarten, where Mama Mia was playing (we had tickets for the next night). A red-headed woman was standing behind baracades having her picture taken and signing stuff. My husband commented that he wondered if it was the mother in the show (he's listened to the CD often enough he kind of knows the story by heart). Turns out it was - as we found out the next night. We ate at the Stagedoor Deli (waaaaaay overpriced) and I carried our youngest back to the hotel.

The next day was the first day of BEA. Oh. My. Have I mentioned lately how much I love this show? Basically, you have two choices: 1) you can go to the autographing area for free, autographed books, or 2) you can wander the floor, getting all kinds of goodies. Since hubby was with me, we did both. Boy, did we do both. Gene took the younger girl, who apparently charmed pretty much every booth worker she met, becoming an expert in the art of swag. People were literally seeking her out to give her stuff. I was in the interview lines with my older girl, who was gobsmacked to see so many of her favorite authors. She had missed a birthday party to go with us, so she got a book signed to the friend who's birthday she missed. And the authors really seemed to appreciate seeing an actual kid (most of the writers we went to see were juvenile authors, but pretty much everyone at the show was a middle aged library or bookseller). She's so excited that she's started her own blog to review the books she got.

After walking around from about 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, we raced back to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner. As I said, our hotel couldn't have been more perfectly placed, so it was only about a block or two to the theater. We ate at the Applebee's next door. Much less expensive than the Stagedoor Deli (we figured that they didn't have the nerve to charge as much as most places in NYC because people could actually compare the price to their normal location). Got to the theater, and our seats were waaaaay to the one side. Luck was with us again as the people who had the aisle seats never showed so we got to move at intermission. The girls loved it. If you need proof, all you need to know is that my 6 yr old didn't fall asleep. Trust me, midnight is hideously late when you're used to an 8 o'clock bedtime. We waited by the stage door like the people we had seen the previous night, and sure enough, the girls got to meet all of the main cast and get their pictures taken with them. Awesome experience, and the cast could not have been nicer.

Saturday was more of the same at BEA - another awesome day of book gathering. We ended up having to ship my mother-in-law's books back home because we didn't have enough room in the car. Some of many highlights for the day included my older girl meeting her three of her favorite authors and getting to see what Gramar girl really looked like (what can I say, we love the podcasts).

We hung around for the morning on Sunday before heading out of the city, which was thankfully less painful than getting into the city. Next year, BEA is in LA. *sigh* Why did it have to be LA?