Margaret Hastings-James

got the medal ! 

Juliette and I love NYC. Juliette wants to move there. I want to move there, but only if we can live on Fifth Avenue.

We arrived early afternoon  the last Friday in May. I swear I saw Dog the Bounty Hunter going through security. Juliette said it wasn’t, but we rarely agree on anything.

A word of caution: although very convenient, DO NOT stay at The Paramount Hotel on 46th. They shouldn’t have been open as the whole place was under construction.  Rooms are tiny. Just saying…

 After we checked into the Construction Site we wandered the theatre district on Broadway. I stopped in front of every theatre and soaked up the drama of it all. Juliette, on the other hand, was on a quest for Abercrombie and Fitch New York  (which she found two hours before we left on Sunday evening. She got two pairs of jeans and a top because I felt so guilty dragging her to the awards, book signing, and two plays. )

 Late Friday afternoon, we went to Sephora and got our make up done for “free” (I bought the shadow, cover and bronzer she used on us).  Juliette looked like she was nineteen instead of thirteen. V. scary!

We went back to the Construction Site and got ready for the Gala Award Event then took a taxi to a place called Providence.  Juliette loved the glamour of hailing a cab. She could lift that finger into the steady stream of traffic with the best of them by the time we left.  Like her, I love the big-city-cab-hailing vibe too, although one day I’d like to be in one of the limos…

Providence is packed with warm lights, glowing wood and charm. There are conversation couch-filled areas, a dance floor,  a bar on the main level and one on a mezzanine over looking the dance floor – or in our case the awards area. After Juliette and I found our name badges we went into the main room. A photographer grabbed us and threw  us in a group for a photo op. I almost felt famous. I even had on the Ted Bakers so I towered over everyone in my six-inch heels. Don’t ask how I stood around and  mingled in them…

I found the bar (went a long way to anesthetizing my tootsies)  and Juliette found the buffet table. We wandered around and waited for Jason and Pam from Comfort Publishing  to find us as they  knew what I look like from my  book and I had no idea what they looked like. I fell in love with them immediately when they eventually found us.  They are just lucky that I don’t live in North Carolina or we’d be doing lunch every second day.

After we got the award, we all left. Pam and Jason were exhausted from the Expo and Juliette wanted to go back to the “hotel”. We picked up some pasta from the place next door and watched  The Dog Whisperer for the rest of the evening.                

Up bright and early Saturday for Book Expo America. It was totally overwhelming. We were surrounded by every major known publisher in existence. We were looking for the Comfort Publishing booth when someone shoved a book (for free and hard cover) at us and asked if we wanted it signed by the author. I was holding the latest copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Juliette stood in line to get Jeff Kinney to sign it for Alexander and I continued the Comfort quest  until another book was waved under my nose. This time it was Candace Bushnell’s  One Fifth Avenue. I was actually in the same room as the woman who created Sex In The City and Lipstick Jungle! Not only was I in the same room, I stood in front of her and said, “I like your work.”  We’re practically best friends…

After collecting several more books and drooling over Harper Collins and Penguin, I  found Comfort Publishing.  Juliette was amazing during my signing. She got out there and pushed the book and we had them all signed, sealed and delivered in about 20 minutes. The girl is a natural.

We dragged twenty pounds of books back to the Construction Site and then met with an old friend from Paris and her daughter who is the same age as Juliette. Toni and I were pregnant at the same time in Paris in a writing group together. Toni has the most amazing life, or in her case, lives. She is a defence attorney, Flamenco dancer/instructor,  piano player in a salsa band with her journalist husband, and mother of three. She wrote an incredible mystery that was shortlisted in a NYC writing competition and is currently writing a commissioned autobiography. We see each other about once a year and have a couple of hours to catch up as we never write long e-mails to each other. We have a great William Hurt in Paris story in common. I’ll post it here one day.

After shopping in Soho with Toni and Nancy we went to see Blithe Spiriton Broadway. What a brilliant play. Angela Lansbury was fantastic, really funny and light on her feet. Poor Juliette had a sore throat and was at the end of her rope. We didn’t get back to the room until close to midnight. She fell into bed exhausted and I watched more of the Dog Whisperer until I came down from my Broadway high long enough to fall asleep.

The next day we slept in and got up in time to check out at  eleven. We decided to walk to Fifth Avenue to see designer stores. Most of it was closed because there was a very loud parade going on.  Parts of  Madison Ave were closed too as Obama was shopping. He followed us back to Broadway and saw a play four theatres away from ours. We saw Accent On Youth with David Hyde Pierce and it was amazing. He is one of my favourite all time actors even if he does look like a turtle.

Two old women from Jersey at the theatre told me that Abercrombie and Fitch was in the South Seaport. After the show, we hailed a cab and Juliette finally did something she wanted to do.  

It would have been nice to wander around and actually see the Statue of Liberty but we had to get back to the Construction Site, get our bags and go to the airport bus.  Our flight was delayed and we didn’t get home until after one in the morning.

I woke up late Monday morning feeling kind of deflated, almost hungover from the weekend high.  New York… does it get any better?   What next?  Is it all down hill from here?

Stay tuned…

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