w00t w00t booyah

After another lovely Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - this time, I worked one day and attended the second. Best part? My comp parking pass for the first day worked to get me comped in the second day - FREE VIP PARKING YO.

(Kid spent the day with the most awesome sitter ever. I think we could give her a day a month just because she was that awesome. Thanks for being, no really. Anyone want a referral?)

I sorely needed the adult time. I'm feeling tanked up this morning.

Saturday, I spent the day outside Dodd Hall directing traffic and lovely traffic it was too. Absolutely effortless this year, and the shirts were fab as well. (This year, my shirt is a lovely shade of orange sherbet. Not quite screaming orange, but it'll do.) I brought knitting, books to read and all I did was stand and pace, keeping up a constant scan. People watching is a great way to spend a Saturday, and when it is peppered with cute pups and freaked-out wildlife, all the better. (Seriously - had a squirrel first thing in the morning trying to find *someplace* where there were no people and failing miserably. Hopefully he went up a tree and stayed there for the balance of the day.)

Sunday, I left home shortly after Jim went to work - had breakfast on-site, which was limited to a cup of coffee and two cake donuts (real faire food was at lunch...suggestion to someone wanting to make a buck next year...make BREAKFAST too), strolled across campus to pick up the tickets to the two panels I needed them for (and got them), then strolled back to Dodd Hall (honestly) to sit for my first one. No, I didn't plan it that way.

Since this was the hall sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, what was it on?

Parenting. Four women who had written on the subject. And I'm one of about twenty folks total up at that hour wanting to hear them. I guess it's still something of a mystery. ^^

(To the good? Found two more local resources - GOOD ones. How do I know? I got a couple of tips I was able to put into play the moment I got home, and again this morning that worked like a treat. WIN.) Bought three out of the four books. What. Jim wasn't there, okay? (Now, if I can only get him to crack them open. Work with me on this, okay?)

Strolled through the exhibitors, and picked up bookmarks...and got a hit on some truly cheap used books I'll take with me to KY and abandon in the airports, then was stopped cold by a striking young lady authographing all three of her books - another trilogy about a half-fae, only this time the take is on a world build heavily influenced by fedual Japan, and the author? Red-headed with green eyes, S3 skintone (go check your Sims game). Striking. And she's local - the booth was for the Los Angeles Writer's Guild (I think) - so she wants to know what I think of the books once I'm finished. She knows not what she's done. No, really. So far, so good - yes, I fell asleep reading her first one last night - but the first thing I'm going to tell her is how many things she could do without and tell a stronger tale the next time. She's concrete to the point of putting stones in the prose. But I really like her take on the subject matter she's tackling. And the cover art for the books is lovely without being distracting from the stories inside.

Then I went in search of the Trader Joe's booth. Scored. They were selling their own cookbook, with a companion piece that was portable-sized. Authographed and you got a tote bag along with your purchase.

The only place to go after that was the cooking stage, and put myself in a chair - trying to decide what was going to be for lunch (it turned out to be a baked sweet potato) while watching two cookbook authors present. The first one, Anne Byrn, is the author of the cake mix doctor book - which now has a sequel, and another sequel coming to that one for gluten-free mixes (she reports her family has been GF for five months now as a result of all the cooking/tasting necessary). The biggest challenge? "Most GF mixes are rice-flour based, so they tend to be gritty and you have to work to overcome that." Sweet lady. Liked her lots.

Then Trisha Yearwood took the stage and was amazingly delightful. She reports her books are very light in the vegetable category, and even the carrot cake she made as a demo does not have any 'recognizable carrot pieces hanging out all over there' - she purees them first before adding them to the cake batter. Very laid back, but I had to beat feet early to make the new media panel across campus that had Wil Wheaton as one of the panelists.

He's tall, lanky, wore a Kings jersey which he took ribbing for (like a champ, I may add) and was in excellent company. I had to leave *that* panel early as well (so no book signings for either of the last events) because I needed to get home by 5:00 PM. Having to leave a panel that starts at 3:30 to get home by 5:00 PM only makes sense when you're at UCLA in Westwood. Just saying. (Yes, I made it.)

My feet are crunchy, I forgot my sunscreen on Sunday (so I'm glowing like the Rudolph) and I'm pleased to report nothing worse than that. During the break before Trisha Yearwood came onstage, the promotors came out and if you had $5, you could get a cookbook and all proceeds went to charity...so I found a desserts made with Splenda book for reannon I'll get in the mail this week. After I scan a few pages for myself, doncha know.

Not a cheap weekend, but a deeply satisfying one. The only thing missing was you. Really.

After another lovely Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - this time, I worked one day and attended the second. Best part? My comp parking pass for the first day worked to get me comped in the second day - FREE VIP PARKING YO.

(Kid spent the day with the most awesome sitter ever. I think we could give her a day a month just because she was that awesome. Thanks for being, no really. Anyone want a referral?)

I sorely needed the adult time. I'm feeling tanked up this morning.

Saturday, I spent the day outside Dodd Hall directing traffic and lovely traffic it was too. Absolutely effortless this year, and the shirts were fab as well. (This year, my shirt is a lovely shade of orange sherbet. Not quite screaming orange, but it'll do.) I brought knitting, books to read and all I did was stand and pace, keeping up a constant scan. People watching is a great way to spend a Saturday, and when it is peppered with cute pups and freaked-out wildlife, all the better. (Seriously - had a squirrel first thing in the morning trying to find *someplace* where there were no people and failing miserably. Hopefully he went up a tree and stayed there for the balance of the day.)

Sunday, I left home shortly after Jim went to work - had breakfast on-site, which was limited to a cup of coffee and two cake donuts (real faire food was at lunch...suggestion to someone wanting to make a buck next year...make BREAKFAST too), strolled across campus to pick up the tickets to the two panels I needed them for (and got them), then strolled back to Dodd Hall (honestly) to sit for my first one. No, I didn't plan it that way.

Since this was the hall sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, what was it on?

Parenting. Four women who had written on the subject. And I'm one of about twenty folks total up at that hour wanting to hear them. I guess it's still something of a mystery. ^^

(To the good? Found two more local resources - GOOD ones. How do I know? I got a couple of tips I was able to put into play the moment I got home, and again this morning that worked like a treat. WIN.) Bought three out of the four books. What. Jim wasn't there, okay? (Now, if I can only get him to crack them open. Work with me on this, okay?)

Strolled through the exhibitors, and picked up bookmarks...and got a hit on some truly cheap used books I'll take with me to KY and abandon in the airports, then was stopped cold by a striking young lady authographing all three of her books - another trilogy about a half-fae, only this time the take is on a world build heavily influenced by fedual Japan, and the author? Red-headed with green eyes, S3 skintone (go check your Sims game). Striking. And she's local - the booth was for the Los Angeles Writer's Guild (I think) - so she wants to know what I think of the books once I'm finished. She knows not what she's done. No, really. So far, so good - yes, I fell asleep reading her first one last night - but the first thing I'm going to tell her is how many things she could do without and tell a stronger tale the next time. She's concrete to the point of putting stones in the prose. But I really like her take on the subject matter she's tackling. And the cover art for the books is lovely without being distracting from the stories inside.

Then I went in search of the Trader Joe's booth. Scored. They were selling their own cookbook, with a companion piece that was portable-sized. Authographed and you got a tote bag along with your purchase.

The only place to go after that was the cooking stage, and put myself in a chair - trying to decide what was going to be for lunch (it turned out to be a baked sweet potato) while watching two cookbook authors present. The first one, Anne Byrn, is the author of the cake mix doctor book - which now has a sequel, and another sequel coming to that one for gluten-free mixes (she reports her family has been GF for five months now as a result of all the cooking/tasting necessary). The biggest challenge? "Most GF mixes are rice-flour based, so they tend to be gritty and you have to work to overcome that." Sweet lady. Liked her lots.

Then Trisha Yearwood took the stage and was amazingly delightful. She reports her books are very light in the vegetable category, and even the carrot cake she made as a demo does not have any 'recognizable carrot pieces hanging out all over there' - she purees them first before adding them to the cake batter. Very laid back, but I had to beat feet early to make the new media panel across campus that had Wil Wheaton as one of the panelists.

He's tall, lanky, wore a Kings jersey which he took ribbing for (like a champ, I may add) and was in excellent company. I had to leave *that* panel early as well (so no book signings for either of the last events) because I needed to get home by 5:00 PM. Having to leave a panel that starts at 3:30 to get home by 5:00 PM only makes sense when you're at UCLA in Westwood. Just saying. (Yes, I made it.)

My feet are crunchy, I forgot my sunscreen on Sunday (so I'm glowing like the Rudolph) and I'm pleased to report nothing worse than that. During the break before Trisha Yearwood came onstage, the promotors came out and if you had $5, you could get a cookbook and all proceeds went to charity...so I found a desserts made with Splenda book for reannon I'll get in the mail this week. After I scan a few pages for myself, doncha know.

Not a cheap weekend, but a deeply satisfying one. The only thing missing was you. Really.