BEA Recap- Friday to Sunday

First off, this was my bed for Wed-Fri nights. Yes, I slept on the couch. In the kitchen. It was actually kinda comfy. Anyway, after Thursday's busy day, I had nothing planned for Friday, so I got to sleep in for a while which was amazing. I'm also fairly sure I did absolutely nothing and just sat on my butt all day reading and doing stuff on my computer.

At dinnertime, Susan cooked us all turkey loaf (doesn't sound good but it was actually REALLY GOOD which was a big thing coming from me as I am a picky eater), mashed potatoes and green beans. It was really nice. There was a group of us all in the kitchen and it was so fun to just sit around, chat, and goof off with the other bloggers living at the house after running around so much the past couple days. We looked through British tabloids that Lynsey had brought and made fun of them. Did you know that they call Kate Middleton "K Middy"? We all thought it was funny but Lynsey found it absolutely hilarious and couldn't stop laughing for like 5 minutes, which made us all laugh more. Lynsey also said some very fun British swears. I wish I had a pocket Lynsey because I would take her everywhere and just listen to her talk. She's an awesome lady and became my 2011 New Foreign Friend. While in NYC and bonding with Lynsey, I realized that I've made myself a new foreign friend every year since 2009. That year brought me Alexa (also from the UK), 2010 brought me Cat (from Canada), and now Lynsey. Who wants to be my 2012 friend? You will need to be at BEA so I can meet you and hang out with you throughout the week, lol.

After dinner, people dispersed and went off to Junior's Cheesecake Factory and Lynsey was kind enough to buy me a slice of chocolate cake (and by "kind enough", I mean "insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer"). I didn't think they'd be gone that long but they were out for several hours. I did the very exciting activity of doing my laundry. Because that's what you do in NYC. I also hung out a bit with Emily and Tirzah, which was fun.

Saturday morning was a bit busy as people were leaving the blogger house, and also lots of people were packing up their books to be sent home. Since I was driving home with Susan and Stacey, I didn't have to worry about that and so instead I went off to Books of Wonder for a signing featuring Sarah Rees Brennan. I got there a bit late because the stupid subway was under construction or something and so skipped my stop so I had to backtrack. I made it into Books of Wonder just as Sarah was starting her reading. By the end of it, guess who had walked in and sat down? None other than Maureen Johnson.

Let me tell you all something. They were giving out a shirt at BEA at the Sourcebooks booth that said "Authors are my rock stars." Me seeing Maureen Johnson and being 10 feet away from her is proof of that. I was awestruck and she was probably wondering why a creepy guy was staring at her, lol. I could barely focus because I love Maureen so much and really wanted to say hi to her as well as try to get a picture. Unfortunately, she ran off as soon as the QnA session ended though she was still in the store, which Taylor Morris (who I was also there to meet) informed me of before she left. I assumed Maureen would stick around until Sarah was leaving but apparently not because I didn't see her when Rachael and I left after talking to Sarah.

Anyway, Sarah is absolutely hilarious and I love her. I waited a bit to get my book signed because there was a huge line for her. Instead, I chatted with Taylor Morris for a few minutes and Rachael snapped a quick picture of the two of us before Taylor had to go. Taylor is so sweet and I'm so glad I got to meet her. Hopefully, next year, we can go out for coffee or lunch and spend more time chatting. Once Taylor left, Rachael introduced me to her friends that she was chatting with- Faye, a publicist at Little Brown who I've talked to a bit and an editor at Little Brown whose name I cannot remember, which I feel really bad about.

Her friends had to go so that was when we went over to see Sarah; Rachael became my photographer, lol. Sarah signed my book and also signed a bookplate for me to put into my copy of Demon's Surrender. She also said she loved my blog, which made me happy. I got a picture with her and we chatted for a few minutes then Rachael and I left. I was planning on going to The Strand and she was on the hunt for groceries but it turned out we were going in the same direction. So she led me to The Strand because I had no idea where it was, or well, a very vague idea of where it was, lol.

We walked through a Farmer's Market and when we got to the other side and were getting ready to cross the street, we passed Maureen Johnson again and I seriously contemplated yelling out "MAUREEN!" but I thought that would be weird, so I didn't say anything. Rachael had just planned on dropping me off at The Strand but it was so hot and the building is air-conditioned so she came in for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into like 45, lol. We had so much fun chatting about books, BEA, her internship, getting wisdom teeth pulled, the blogger house, and probably some other things. Eventually she left and I was alone, so I took the opportunity to wander around the entire store. It's several floors and usually I'm with other people and we go straight to the YA section and that's it. But I wanted to see what else they had and what the rest of the store looked like. OMG they are not kidding when they say 18 miles of books. The store is bigger than it originally looks and there's 4 floors. I do also have a funny story but it's also a tad inappropriate for a public forum such as this so email or tweet me if you want deets.

Soon enough, the bloggers in the house had finished sending off their books and joined me at The Strand. Of course, being huge book lovers, books were bought. Once we finished up there, we went back to the subway and went home. We ordered pizza for dinner and it was so good. I also had my chocolate cake for dessert. Well, half of it. That thing was so rich. I had a little more later that night when I got hungry but I still ended up not being able to finish it. When everyone got back from being out that night, we had a fun time chatting and Lynsey read a bit from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was fun hearing it in a British voice. I was so tired though and fell asleep in the middle of the conversation though I was trying to stay awake. I was also in an actual bed too, so that may have had something to do with it.

Sunday morning came and the only people left were Susan, Stacey and myself. Lynsey, Katie and Amber had left early in the morning for the airport. We packed everything up in the car and drove home. I was packed tight in the backseat because we had so much stuff. It's not the best picture but you can see a bit of what I was dealing with on the drive home. It was a fun ride home. My roommate and her boyfriend met me in Richmond at Susan's house and we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner before heading back to Lynchburg.

And that is the end of my NYC trip. Whew!