Dave & Jenn’s Happy Hour Shower

Saturday was quite a busy day. After the NY Brain Tumor walk, we hurried back to Jersey for Mark’s soccer game. (His team is now in the finals!) And we finished out the day at our friends’ Happy Hour Shower in Philly.

Dave and Jenn just got an apartment in an awesome building near Center City. It was amazing standing on the roof deck overlooking the lights of Philadelphia.

Inside, they had rented the top floor lounge and there was a ton of food and drinks. Drew was a big fan of the Jello shots.

David was Mark and Andy’s neighbor when Mark was born so they’ve known each other, quite literally, all their lives. David was a reader at our wedding and now Mark and Andy will be bringing down the gifts at his.

Dave and Jenn were both so excited all night. It’s a little cheesy, but I love being around couples that are excited to be together. I love seeing people in love. I can’t wait until their wedding next month!

NY Brain Tumor Walk

Saturday morning was the NY Brain Tumor walk. We got a team together in honor of Mark’s Dad.

The walk was held at Governor’s Island – a public park open on the weekend and accessible only by ferry. It’s right off of lower Manhattan so there were great views of the city and the Statue of Liberty during the walk.

Logistically, it wasn’t the best walk ever. There was a lot of back and forth from the ferry landing to the walk site but because the island was new to us it was still fun to see everything.

Our friend, Bergie, who walked with us did some research before the walk so he tour-guided us around the island.  (And, see that partially-finished building behind us? That’s One World Trade Center.)

I think my favorite sight from the walk was when we walked past where they were setting up for the Jazz-Age Lawn Party. It seriously looked like you stumbled upon a 20s time warp. Everyone was dressed up and picnicking on the lawn. So cool! I’d love to go at some point.

It was a fun morning!

Happy Graduation

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that I spend some time every month volunteering at a preschool for kids facing homelessness in the area. Today was one of my favorite days of the program – graduation day.

I’ve been volunteering here for four years now, and there’s nothing more rewarding than graduation. I love seeing the kids so excited to show off what they’ve learned to their parents. I love seeing the parents so excited for their mini graduates. I love watching the end-of-year slideshow and remembering just how much these kids have grown during the school year.

Eleven of the kids are moving on to kindergarten in the fall. The rest will be back for another year – I can’t wait to see them when school starts up again!

John & Catie’s Wedding

Yesterday, we ventured down to South Jersey for our friends wedding. Catie and John were part of our crowd of college friends and we were so excited to see them tie the knot!

Catie looked absolutely stunning and they had a really nice, personal ceremony.

It looked like it might rain for a little bit there, but the weather ended up holding out and clearing up nicely later on.

They were beaming the whole day. It was adorable.

The reception was gorgeous. And very pink, which probably made me love it more.

Our friend Bergie was one of the groomsmen. We spent a lot of the night hanging out with him. He’s a party animal!

The college guys together again!

It was such a fun night with great friends.

Congrats again, John and Catie!

Book Expo America

A few weeks ago, Bookperk ran a contest and the winner got tickets to Book Expo America. It was the first year BEA was letting the general public in and I really wanted to go. I didn’t win, but then yesterday got an email from Bookperk saying that if I printed it and brought it to BEA today, I could get in.

I was psyched! I quickly arranged to take off work and go into the city. After a train ride and a walk over to the Javits Center (during which I totally got turned around and just started following people with NYU Press bags, figuring they had to be going to the convention), I made it!

There was no line to get the Power Reader passes – and they were distinctly green so we could be easily picked out from the crowd. When we signed in I also got a tote bag with some books and other goodies.

I had printed a map of the convention floor last night and marked every booth I wanted to visit and which ones had giveaways for power readers. And then I walked in today and completely ditched it. There was so much going on and I wanted to see it all.

I spent most of the day just wondering around trying to see everything. I talked to a lot of authors and got a bunch of books signed. Probably my favorite set-up was the one for Reached. They had a reproduction of the cover you could step behind and get your picture taken with. So fun!

Everyone there was so excited about their books and every time I turned around, someone else was handing me something. I didn’t pick up every book and giveaway I saw – and within a few hours I was completely loaded down and headed back to the train.

For the record, I really thought NYC was flat. I had to walk three blocks uphill with all that I picked up. Walking around the convention floor, everyone was loaded up so it didn’t seem strange. Out on the street, I felt a bit like a bag lady.

I got a lot.

I spent a bit of time talking to Children’s publishers and picking up books for the preschool I volunteer at.

I got a bunch of them signed for preschool too. I think I was most excited about this one – I met Marc Brown!!

I picked up a bunch of published books that seemed really interesting. The four in the top left corner were all signed for me by the authors. It was nice to have a few minutes to talk with each of them. I’m also ridiculously excited about White Bread. I spotted it at the Beacon Press booth and was so excited the girl gave it to me even though it wasn’t one of their giveaways.

I picked up a bakers’ dozen of ARCs that will be coming out later this year. I met a few of these authors too. I’m planning to read all of these before they actually come out!

Some booths had book samples – I was really drawn to the cookbook ones.

And there were tons of other little goodies – globe beach balls, yoga DVDs, lip gloss…

The most popular giveaway, other than books, was tote bags (for toting all your books). I ended up with 4, which was insanely conservative by BEA standards.

The Disney Publishing one was my favorite by a landslide. I love this one SO MUCH.

Posters were popular too.

I loved all of it. So much. I wish I had more than one day to explore because there is SO MUCH I didn’t get to do and see. I’m so glad I jumped on the opportunity to go and hope I’ll get the same chance next year.

Now, off to read all the books…

It’s like it’s my Birthday!

I can’t believe it’s already June. Tomorrow, Mark takes his CFA exam and then things really kick up for us. June holds: 3 weddings, a wedding shower, a brain tumor awareness walk and a week at the beach. Oh, and my birthday and Mark’s birthday too.

It’s a busy month.

It kicked off fabulously today with a fun box of goodies, courtesy of my online book club swap. Paige sent two books I can’t wait to dig into and a whole bunch of other goodies.

And quite possibly the best card ever. I’m thinking of framing it for my office.

It feels like my birthday already!