Anything is possible.

Okay. I need to preface this entire post with one thing:

I GOT THE JOB AT HARPERCOLLINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh. My. God. I am going buck nutty right now. I just got the call about an hour ago, and have been in a blissful stupor ever since. After all these years, I am going to be working in children's books. I can't believe it!!!! I'm starting Monday. My new boss was so eager to have me, he asked the HR lady, "Can she start on Friday?" EEEEEE! So, the reason for my lack of posts is that I've been spending the week trying not to vomit while waiting for that very call. Now that I am free of puke-inducing anxiety, I can write again. Maybe. Oh, wow.

So I will have to go back to two weekends ago, when our buds Ben and Nat came over. Then, I can tell you all about this past weekend with my folks.

Ben and Nat's Visit
So Saturday afternoon Adam and I trekked to Chinatown to pick the hep cats up from the bus depot. Once we found them, we went back home to drop off their stuff and chill. Since everyone was pretty bushed, Adam went out to pick up some pizza from Not Ray's Pizza on Lafayette in Brooklyn. We spent the evening eating pizza, drinking and playing Cranium. Ben and Adam were amorous with each other, as per usual, and decided they would create a comic strip called "The Indicative Pickle" about all of us and a very odd diner in Montgomery County. It was truly hilarious. The next day, we went back to Chinatown to eat some pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and then went around Manhattan for a bit before retiring back to the house. Then followed another night of drinking and playing Mario Party. It was just like old times! Sadly, that night at 3AM Nat was up with a splitting headache which made her sort of barf, which was bad. But post-barf, she was better and we all went back to sleep. The next day we had some more Chinese food in the heart of Chinatown (Ben is a big Asia-fan, you see...) before seeing them off to the bus again. All in all, a lovely weekend with friends.

I need not speak much of the week to follow, most of it was spent, for me at least, in a state of constant gastronomica nervousa. Yuck. I had my wonderful second interview at Greenwillow on Wednesday, where I had the privilege of meeting the third part of my new team, and the publisher of Greenwillow, who is a truly lovely person. They all are. *sighs dreamily*

Mom and Dad Jabes' Visit
On Friday night, Adam and I went to Penn station to pick them up, and luckily the rain had stopped and it was a lovely evening. We took the subway home, and ended the night with some hummus and glasses of moscato d'asti, a fabulous sparkling white Italian wine that we bought at Moore Brothers, the coolest wine place in Manhattan. It tasted like a cacophony of tropical fruits. Delicious! Mom and Dad both loved it. We also listened to the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? which I bought for my Dad's extremely belated Father's Day Present. Such a great movie, and great music too. The genre, according to my Mom, is "Hillbilly" in case you're trying to find it in Best Buy.

On Saturday we did TONS of stuff, breakfast at Carnegie Deli (most famous in NYC, Mom and I shared the most astronomically good bagel and lox ever), then looking at Times Square and Rockefeller Center, then falafel and gazing at the veg at the Union Square Farmer's Market. I bought some basil peppermint iced tea that everyone hated. Sad.

It was a gorgeous day though, perfect temperature, sunny, the works. We headed home after that to "geez" as my family calls it, and watch Alien (although I gracefully bowed out and my parents went to nap, so...really Adam watched it). Later that night, we went to Little Italy to have dinner at Da Nico, which was absolutely delicious. We had a nice salad and calimari to start, and then pasta (my Dad had pizza, also amazing) for the main dishes. My quatrro fromaggi ziti was to die for. Afterwards, they brought us puffy doughy stuff with powdered sugar for dessert, on the house. Then we all went home and zoned out in a carb-induced daze. Ahh.

Sunday was detox day, so I served nice wheat toast, cheese, olives and fruit for breakfast. Then, we walked around Washington Square for a bit to listen to some live jazz, and then around Greenwich Village to look at things and pick up some lunch before the bus. My Mom ate the best salad she has ever had in her life (or so she says). So that was good. Pretty soon it was time to head back to the bus, and we said our sad goodbyes and they were on their way. They had a great time, so my hostess duties were fulfilled. Huzzah. Mom can't wait to come back. Soon, Ma!

Anyway, that's pretty much it. Now, I'm sitting here in some kind of crazy daze with my hair just cut and looking like some punk 15-year old boy with an attitude. It fits my personality perfectly. Adam is on his way home, and we are going out to dinner to celebrate. Greek food? I say, yes!