NCY and BEA - day 5

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

By now, we were already halfway through the week and it felt as though time was just flying by.  It was wonderful to be in that New York City BEA mindset and I completely disconnected from everything in Montreal - it was such fun.  I felt as though the only thing in my universe was NYC and BEA :)

Wednesday morning brought another publishing event. In fact, this was the only one that was held in the morning and it was the Random House Power Reader Breakfast.  It was held in the offices of Random House (I love it when we get a chance to visit these offices).

The security "striking" a pose for the camera in the lobby of the Random House building

The amazing spread - lots of goodies

A coffee bar - MY DREAM come true!

The Random House breakfast was such fun!  Many, many bloggers were there.  We were introduced to some wonderful authors, including Nate Berkus, who I had never heard of before, but who turned out to be quite funny.  We also got to meet some of the publicists and the time just flew by. The breakfast selection was amazing - everything you could possibly want and they ever had a coffee bar, where you could order just about any type of coffee you could imagine (I could really use one of those in my kitchen).  Of course, Random House was also very generous with the swag--

In the tote bag:

• Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon
• The Last Diet Book you will Ever Need by Bob Harper
• The Tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
• Next to Love by Helen Feldmen
• Fatal Debt by John Gapper
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (who came up to our table to chat with us and was absolutely delightful)

Once the Random House event was over, a few of us grabbed a cab and headed to the Javitzs center for day 2 of BEA.  

The hall was pretty crazy but I actually spotted a table that made me smile - the Hello Kitty table (where I was given a tote bag).  I am a huge fan of Hello Kitty and I just had to take a picture.


As I was walking by, I recognized a familiar face - author Sarah Darer Littman who is one of my absolute favorite authors.  At first, I wasn't sure, but since we are Facebook friends, I have had the opportunity of seeing pictures of her, so I HAD to walk up to her and introduce myself.  Now, this is not really something I do as I am not big on "fawning" over authors or actors, etc. buttttttttt I have to admit that I had my "fangirl" moment here -  I think Sarah actually recognized my name as we had exchanged a few emails in the past.  We chatted for a few minutes and I took this picture - which I love! She was not actually signing at BEA, but rather was there as a publishing industry member, so it was much easier to chat for a little while. If you have not read her books then I highly suggest you read Purge and Want to Go Private?  Two of the best books I have ever read.  I am so happy when an author ends up being as nice as you imagined she was going to be :)

I headed to the authograph area to meet Tim Green who is an ex NFL player who now writes thrillers. I have been reading his books for years and wanted to meet him and get a copy of his new YA novel.  I was actually first in line and this line was probably the longest I joined.  But when I got up close to him I could not believe it - I turned to the women behind me, who I had been casually talking to and said "oh my god, this guy is gorgeous".  I had seen pictures of him (on the back covers of his books) but they did not do him justice.  This man is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  As a rule, I don't like men that are too perfect and chiseled, but wow! I could have looked at him all day.  He was also very, very nice.  He asked me if I wanted him to smile for this picture - but to be honest, he could have asked me anything and I would have simply nodded like an idiot with a smile on my face :)

As I left BEA on this day and got back to my hotel, I took a few pictures of the new towers of books I got on that day:

Another great BEA day.

 Cindy and I planned on going to a vegetarian restaurant we had discovered during our first BEA in 2010.  In fact, this restaurant had made such a lasting impression on us that we had all been talking about this one since our first visit two years ago - so it was a definite "must" this time around.

It is called:  Franchia Vegan cafe and the food was amazing.  I had a mixed platter and this was the main course and the taste was perfect.

After dinner, we discussed attending another BEA publishing event, but to be honest, I was exhausted and just decided to head back to my hotel after the restaurant.

Thank you to the wonderful Random House for such a great event!