Toby, Zofie and Spam

WEDNESDAY
Meech and I finally got to head down to Staten Island to see Toby and Bret! And Wednesday night was particularly fantastic because Mona was there visiting. It was wonderful to see Logan again (who has grown so much!) and catch up with Mona. Bret went out for pizza that Toby swore would be unbelievably good... and it was. Mmm... I could actually go for pizza right now. Anyway, it was great fun and I miss seeing them again already.

SATURDAY
On a whim, we decided to go see a Broadway musical. So I headed to TKTS in the morning while Meech looked over a bunch of books at Barnes and Noble. WHY was she looking at books? She has an interview coming up, that's why! She's interviewing for an editorial assistant position at Harper Collins, which would be just PERFECT for her. It's even at one of the children's divisions, Greenwillow! The interview is tomorrow at lunch, so we'll be sure to keep you posted. Anyway, I got half-price tickets for Spamalot and we went that night. It was FANTASTIC. It was so funny. I was worried I wouldn't really like it because I can only handle watching Monty Python for so long. But Spamalot was just simply hilarious. They transfered the Monty Python humor to theatre so amazingly well. I highly recommend it. :)

SUNDAY
A great way to end our weekend, we met up with Zofie and John Sunday morning for brunch. It was so great to see them and we all had a fun time catching up. It was particularly wonderful seeing as how they were the first people from Maryland to come and visit us! Hope they got back ok, cause it was pouring about an hour later.


YOUR TURN
So after talking to Toby and Zofie, I began wondering how many people are actually reading these posts. So, if you're reading this right now, LEAVE US A MESSAGE! Just below, there's a link for "Comments". And you just HAVE to see "Meech & Adam's Photos" on the right. There's the cutest owl ever! Just say "hi." Come on.

We miss you.

Harry Potter and the Midnight Release Party

What better way to end the best week ever than with a Harry Potter midnight release party? After all, now that Adam has read all the books like I have, we could truly enjoy the height of nerdity together. Around 7ish on Friday, we headed to Manhattan to Union Square to see what types of craziness were happening there. Four floors of enormous crowds, people dressed in wizards robes and all sorts of hilarious T-shirts (our favorites were: WWHD? (What Would Harry Do?), Voldemort Votes Republican, and Don't Make Me Go All Avada Kedavra on Your Ass) and a wide variety of HP-related events. There were live owls, wand-making tables, magicians, fortune tellers, potions (really some kind of soft drink mixed with Pop Rocks) and character impersonators. What was really the most incredible thing was that most of the crowds were teens and up, much fewer actual children than you would expect!

After we had done with all that madness, we headed over to the Barnes and Noble in Chelsea where we had reserved our copy. With MUCH smaller crowds, this was a wise choice. We hung out there for a few hours until midnight, getting our faces (well, Adam's arm) painted, taking pictures and enjoying our fellow nerds' company. A very flamboyant guy on the speaker kept making funny announcements, "Listen people, LISTEN. Numbers 100 to 150, please walk slowly, calmly and serenely to the front of the store. PEOPLE. LISTEN. We have plenty of books for ALL OF YOU...."

Finally, we walked out around 12:15 with our book, feeling like we had somehow gotten our hands on the holy grail. We've been swapping it back and forth since, which is kind of cute and vomit-inducing all at the same time.

So that's about it, hopefully we will be seeing the beautiful Cloisters tomorrow. Meanwhile, check out all our few photos!

The Best Week Ever

This has been, I'm quite sure, the best week ever*. Mind you, I've just recently polished off half a bottle of lovely white wine, so we'll see how well my spelling holds up.
*OK, this is of course excluding some obvious ones like, my wedding day, my honeymoon, my sister's wedding, a few really great family vacations, graduation...really, I'm just trying to be factually accurate. But you get the point.

Oh, my. So it really began yesterday, my day at Bloomsbury. I was there, doing my thing, and I suddenly thought to myself, 'You know what? Your writing is just as good as some of these books on the shelf. Show them, gosh darnit.'

So I did. I printed out my picture book manuscript, waltzed right over to one of the Editorial Directors and said, "I know this is an odd request, but would you mind reading this? Yes, it's mine."

And she did. And half an hour later when I walked over to ask her a question, she said, "It's a really cute story! My kids would love it! Now why don't you look at this..." and proceeded to give me some tips on how to improve it, and said to bring it back to her when I did that. I asked her what she thought about needing an agent. She said for my first picture book, it wasn't really necessary. "You'll probably just take the deal," she said, "Normally it's for like $4-6,000. So, if Bloomsbury ends up publishing it, great, if not, I know plenty of people I can introduce you to."

It was about this time that I really started getting excited. She liked it! She wanted to see it again! Oh. My. God. $4-6,000?????? Yes! So, I am working on that baby as we speak.

And then today....oh, today. First I met with this lovely woman at Viking, who made me feel just wonderful, and then some encouraging words from my editor at DK, and then a fun wine and beer photo shoot during the day. And then, like serendipity, a call from a mysterious unknown number...

Now, you should know, an editor at Bloomsbury has been sending out my resume to everyone she knows, so when I picked up the phone, one of the first things the woman on the line said was: "I got your resume from (wonderful lady at Bloomsbury)." And I started to hyperventilate. Turns out, this woman is a prestigious literary agent who has been in the business for almost 20 years, and is now starting an agency of her own. And she wants to meet me at a diner on Tuesday to talk about the business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, this is an incredible thing. I'm so excited. I really have no idea what will happen, but it sounds just great. Getting in on a business right as its starting, and with such a well-respected person in the business, well, it's just such a fabulous career move. I really, really hope it works out. Anyway, I'm just insanely happy right now. Adam took me out for a fabulous Italian dinner in SoHo (enter 1/2 bottle of white wine) and I feel just lovely.

Oh, Oh!!! AND the lady at Viking gave me an advance copy of the new Jasper Fforde novel (I LOVE him) which isn't coming out until next week and I get to have it autographed on Monday when I MEET HIM IN PERSON at his book signing!!! Aiieeee! I will take pictures.

Anyway, I wanted to share the good news and also send out hugs and good wishes to Nancy and Barbara at UMBC who are going through some tough times and need everyone's love and support. Hang in there, ladies. We love you!!!

Where's the Love?

Today was not a good day. It wasn't awful, by any means, but it wasn't fun either. Most accurately, it was a disappointing day. Several things didn't happen today that we had previously counted on happening.

I, for one, had intended on quickly stopping by Human Resources to hand in my forms in hopes of finally completing my certification process here in New York. The "quickly" part didn't happen. And I have yet to find out if I'm actually certified or not. I won't go into the entire story, but around 11:30 this morning, one could find me yelling at a young woman about the Board of Ed's crappy system and how I shouldn't be expected to cover their ass as well as my own. It was disappointing.

We also learned today that our friends, who had previously assured us that they would be visiting this weekend, would indeed not be able to visit. We're not upset (really, we're not), but considering this is the second weekend in a row they bailed... well, it was disappointing.

Also, last week Michelle took the initiative and asked our upstairs neighbor if she'd like to join us for dinner sometime. We had originally planned Tuesday night, but I couldn't make it, nor could her roommate, so we bumped it up to tonight. I called around 4 to ask if she had a restaurant preference and discovered she was on a car trip to New Jersey with a friend and had completely forgotten about dinner. No big deal. She knows where we live. We're not upset... it was just disappointing.

Today also included my parents leaving for their trip to Belgium with my best friend's parents. They're going to have a great time and although this doesn't fall into the "disappointing" category... I'm sure jealous! And in case he's reading this, it was great seeing you again Jonathan! He's leaving tomorrow morning (which is quite disappointing) and it was great of him to make time to see Meech and me (and our apartment). Much love and enjoy your future travels!

Well, at least we didn't waste the evening. Meech and I treated ourselves to a FANTASTIC dinner in Little Italy where I had amazing fettuccine alfredo and Meech had the best lasagna she's ever had.

You should also know that tomorrow I'm beginning in earnest my new diet to gain weight. I have a meal plan and I'm going to try to stick to it. I thought a good motivator for me would be to keep a food journal. And an even better motivator would be to post that journal online! So, Take "The A Train" for the link. It wont be exciting and who knows how long it will last, but hey, it's mostly for me anyways.

Well, we're off to bed. Here's hoping tomorrow will be more enjoyable!
Toodles,

Adam

If You Believe

I must reiterate Adam's profound apology regarding my lack of attentions paid to this blog. I am quite appalled at my behavior.

Anyway, he filled you in on a good bit of it, excepting the weekend we spent back home in Maryland visiting my family. It was lovely seeing everyone together and savoring their company. Great breakfasts, Ikaros, Sheila's pool, horsing around with nieces...all the parts of home that make it wonderful. And of course an evening of drinks and karaoke with Ben and Nat, to top it all off. I must say, my rendition of Styx's "Come Sail Away" was quite classically performed. *wink*

Ahh...what else...here are some other assorted highlights:

• After an initial trip to the Manhattan Bally's, we sought out sushi. The place wasn't open for dinner yet, so we wandered into a wine place called Moore Brothers, which turned out to be quite a lucky thing. This place has the feel of a winery, not a store, and they do tastings as well as carry wines from small estates in France, Germany and Italy that aren't carried by larger market stores. We tasted and bought some fabulous wines (our favorite was the Muscadet, you should try one) and felt very pleased with ourselves. We've fancied ourselves as (wannabe) wine connoisseurs for a while now and were pleased to be buying such elegant wines as if we knew what we were talking about.
• I am currently job-hunting every day, and although there are no bites yet, and the days until my internship is over are slowly slipping away, I can't say that I'm particularly worried. Maybe it's New York rubbing off on me, maybe it's the fact that I'm reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead for the first time...but I just think that no matter what, things will be OK. As long as I stay confident (which is, somehow, both effortless and impossible for me), good things will come my way. Everything that has passed thus far has proved this theory, so if only with logic, no less faith, I should believe. Sometimes this is hard for me and I have yet to figure out why. I think if the good Lord came down and all but pounded me on the head with goodness I would still worry for tomorrow. Silly me.
• I am, and I am serious about this, writing a book. Now, I haven't written anything yet, per se, but I do have an almost-finished outline...and it is based on the same setting of a book I started last Fall which I'm redoing the plot for...but DAMMIT I AM WRITING A BOOK. Just slowly. After reading the piles of steaming horse manure (I'm sorry, but it's true) that come in as slush (or even from AGENTS!) to these publishers, I am convinced I can write something good enough for the public. Inside, I am positively glowing with this notion, because for the first time, I can logically say to myself, "You are better than most, you have an original story, and if you do it right, people will love it." No wispy dreams, no flights of fancy, I honestly believe this to be true. And I am most definitely my harshest critic. I swear, when I have time (hah), I am going to get this thing started.
  

Well, that's all I can think of right now. My mind is all a-flutter and jazzed with all the heat. It is absurdly hot here. Every day I thank my lucky stars for our little old air-conditioners. Otherwise I believe I would spend my days in a hallucinogenic state of perspiration.

I love you all! Nighty-night.

Adam's New Loves

Wow. It's not even funny how long it's taken us to update this blog. Well, since I don't like reading incredibly long entries, I'm going to assume you all are the same way. That being said, I'm going to recap only the last few days here in NYC. I'll leave the rest of the details, including the events of the last, last weekend to my wife Michelle who not only dresses better than I do, but writes far more entertainingly, as well.

Is entertainingly a word?

Anyway, July 4th had been fast approaching and everyone was asking what we were going to do to celebrate, especially since we are now in the Big Apple. Well, we didn't "celebrate" the way you might think we would. The weather was overcast all day and there were rumors of rain at night. We still had planned on heading to the Promenade in Brooklyn to watch the fireworks though. So in the afternoon we headed out to Manhattan and began talking about how much we wanted iPods. We had money saved for it, but I guess we figured we should still wait for some reason. Of course, having the afternoon free and not being able to come up with said reason, we immediately headed to the Apple Store.

In case you've never been, the Apple Store in Manhattan is pretty cool. It's a giant glass cube with a silver apple icon hanging in the middle. Of course the actual store is a large, convention-sized room underground, but you have to walk into this cube to get there. We oogled at the iPhone, but ultimately decided it was WAY too much money for us to spend. We did however, fall in love with two little video iPods at the tables nearby. So twenty minutes later, we rushed out of the store with a black one for me and a white one for Meech, tore open the boxes and gaped in awe of the coolness that we held in our hands.

I'm in love with my iPod.

Afterward, we thought we'd check out FAO Schwarz which is right next door. Didn't stay too long though. I was quite low on energy and we really wanted to goof around with our newest toys. So we stopped to eat a FANTASTIC panini nearby to refuel me, hopped on the subway and headed for home. We spent the rest of the night uploading songs and watching Harry Potter 3 (my favorite of the series).

As a side note, we've been slowly working our way through the movies so we'll be all set for the 5th movie coming out this Friday. I've finally read every book and I could NOT be more excited. I'm now a Harry Potter freak and I am simply giddy about the upcoming movie and final book. And a big thanks to Barb for her movie tickets. They will be greatly enjoyed this weekend when we join the mob to see the newest Potter flick.

I'm in love with Harry Potter.

Ok, so the past few days have been just wonderful. I've been hinting to Meech that I've really begun to miss hanging out with friends. It's been hard having to stay home everyday and do chores, fill out Human Resources forms, go shopping and other random tasks. I don't mind doing them, I really don't and I understand how important they are, but it's really helped me realize how much I miss my friends. (You should know that I've applied for summer school positions, but never got any, so now I'm applying for a temp agency. I'm hoping that will keep me active!) Well, as an answer to my prayers it seemed, my friend Jonathan has arrived in New York for the week and Saturday night he, along with EIGHT other friends all got together to hang out! YAY! We enjoyed pizza at John's Pizzeria in the Village (which is HIGHLY overrated) and then went to Magnolia's, which is a cupcake shop. My chocolate cupcake was SPECTACULAR. We must go back there. Not so much the Pizzeria.

Anywho, it was so great to catch up with Jonathan, who I simply adore and admire, and with Vicki, who lives here in New York, but unfortunately rarely get to see. They introduced us to many of their friends who live nearby AND I got to see an old friend Kat, who also lives here and whom I haven't seen for like, 5 years! After Magnolia's, we went to a nearby park, sat down and played Settlers of Catan. I've never heard of this game before, but I'm now hooked. I lost severely, but not as bad as I lost the following night when we invited Jonathan over to our place to play Settlers again. Seriously. I did awful. However, after these past few days with all my friends playing an awesome game that I'm completely horrid at, I can add this:

I'm in love with Jonathan
I'm in love with Magnolia's cupcakes.
And I'm in love with Settlers of Catan.

Course I've always been in love with Jonathan, but still... it should be listed. Oh! And before I go, I should mention that we finally sold my car. Didn't get much for it, but I'm so proud of us for taking that step. What a bold declaration to have sold your cars. It was like just one more solid confirmation that we have arrived in New York, and we're not leaving any time soon!

Much love everyone. Talk to you soon and I hope to read many comments!
-Adam