I [cupcake] New York!

No really, I do [cupcake] New York. Each time we go (and this is only our third trip), we like it more, to the point that this time we could squint and visualize ourselves actually living there . . . well, sort of. No plans to move, of course, but I would love to be able to visit every year, and have enough time to see more of the city each visit: more museums, neighborhoods, restaurants. (Someone told us that if you ate out three meals a day, a different restaurant every meal, a lifetime would still not be enough to eat at every restaurant in New York City!) This trip was such a whirlwind we didn't explore much, though we did spend a morning walking around in Soho and Greenwich Village (though we spent too much of that time in "the skeleton store"!). That was one highlight of the long weekend.

Other highlights were: BookExpo America, obviously! Specifically: sitting in the front row while Arthur Levine "buzzed" my book to a big crowd and made it sound so awesome; signing ARCs in the Scholastic booth and seeing the line stretch all the way down the aisle and out of sight. WOW! (If you were in that line, thank you so much!) A big beautiful light box of the Lips Touch cover prominently featured in the Scholastic booth:
The great Arthur Levine with the light box:

Besides BEA itself . . .
. . . the highlights were all people. I met my favorite young reader in person for the first time, and we got to see many of the wonderful authors, editors, bloggers, art directors, and other book people we've come to love over the last few years, plus meeting new ones, especially the fabulous team at Scholastic who made our trip such a special event.

Here is the first highlight of the trip -- and the very first photo of the trip: being met at JFK by a driver, which was a first for us:
Hee hee, I felt famous. Speaking of famous, of actual famous, by the way: Leonardo DiCaprio was on our flight from LA to NY. I actually stood right next to him in the Hudson News and thought, "Hm, is that Leonardo DiCaprio under that ball cap and sunglasses?" And it was. Minor celeb sightings at LAX and JFK included the dad from 7th Heaven and the chef "Molto Mario" who was wearing orange crocs. And then I washed my hands beside Julie Andrews in the bathroom at the Javitz Center! Really! I didn't attempt to speak to her, though. What's to say? "I just loved you in "The Sound of Music"? ha ha!

We did speak to Meg Cabot though:
I don't recall what we said, but it must have been coherent enough for a photograph to result from it! That's Sarah Beth Durst with us. Our first books came out on the same day two years ago, and now our third books are coming out on -- I think -- the same day in October (at least the same month)! Cool! Hers is Ice an updated retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" that I can't wait to read, though I did not score an ARC of it this weekend, drat! I did, however, manage to get ARCs of Catching Fire (which I read on the plane and it ROCKS!!!), Beautiful Creatures, Shiver, Forest Born, The Sweetheart of Prosper County, The Devil's Kiss, and more!

Well, I don't have the time to do all these days and all these people justice with a massive post right now, alas, so I'll just put up this little bit for now and hope I can find some time to organize in a few days. Wah! There's never enough time!

Hope you're all well!
:-)