Stick a fork in this year's Nbpt Lit Fest, it's done

Saturday was the 7th annual Newburyport Literary Festival.  Jennie was all-festival all-day.  Not a minute of her day, from the time she got up at 6:00am to the moment she went to bed at 1:00am, was occupied with anything but festival.

Jennifer spent the night holding court to authors and their type.  She was a celebrity in her own right only out-celebritied by Andre Dubus and Bill "Spaceman" Lee.  

The party at Andre's is always a good time.  Interesting group of people.  The host grabbed his mini cigars and scotch and declared "Let's smoke!".  We followed like first graders on a field trip.  I loved  watching Denise spark up.  She's a natural.  I expect her to take time off from the next NPPS to come out on the porch to smoke with me.

The Fenway Park event drew a good crowd, mostly to see Bill Lee.  Included in the pews of the Old South Church were Mom, Stacey, Didi and me.  Bill Lee was great, rambling on about teammates and foes who pissed him off, never quite answering the moderators questions but entertaining us nonetheless. 

Jennie's worker bee for the day.

* SPECIAL BONUS SECTION *

Pictures from past Nbpt Lit Fests

Jennie - Princess of the Book Nerds

Day one of the Newburyport Festival is over...
It was a great start to the weekend...
Highlights of the evening included Bill Lee (former Red Sox pitcher and pot aficionado) holding court, Jen looking very hot and Bill winning the silent auction for a sleep over with Vickie (I made up this contest, but Vickie went with it).
Big day for Jennie tomorrow.

TY damn CTWD

Today was Take Your Child to Work Day across America.  Back when the boys were the age that this program fits (8 to 11) I brought them into work.  I'm sure old people who worked with me may have been aggravated at having my two offspring running around the office, drinking gallons of free soda, eating bags of free popcorn and hogging the main conference room because they could watch Star Wars on the large theatre style movie projector.
Now that I'm one of those old people I try to be patient during this day.  It's work, baby.
There were 80 kids at my company today.  And they were great.  Tiring as hell, but great.  I find my own way to get through the day when I get a bit impatient.  One annoying kid I blasted in the chest extra aggressively with Silly String.  His eyes went real wide as I held his gaze and slowly and quietly moved onto my next victim.

And I passed the time by taking more pictures of me and the girls.  (See prior posts with a similar theme).
The day could really be made much better with alcohol.  I'm writing a note for the suggestion box right now.

Say No to Gluten!

Our friend Diane is now not only gluten free but also allergic to dairy, chicken, pork, salmon, beef, and coffee.  She had to grill the waiter tonight about gluten free pasta and other dietary requirements.  Her special needs caught the attention of the manager, John.  John took a real shining to Di - bringing her gluten free fried mozzarella, gluten free beer, and a gluten free strawberry shortcake!!  We were feasting on a bounty that was not only gluten free, but cost free!!  Who knew gluten free could be so profitable?  Of course, we didn't have the heart to tell the guy that she couldn't eat dairy either so Stacey and I happily scarfed it all up (ok - so Diane did have a few bites!)

On a separate note, I too miss the daily dose of Fletch (see comments).  What about a guest post a la Joey?  

Game Night needs to be dusted off....

Years ago the boys and I spent hours creating a version of Sodoku we called Jendoku.

Instead of numbers we used pictures of our family and friends.  It was a rather hard to play as the heads were so small they looked alike.  It was a good effort but ultimately will not be picked up in the Parker Brothers rotation.

The best game we created was called "The Jen Game".  It involved drawing, questions about Jen and a number of complicated rules that confused all of us, even the inventors.  But it was a spirited game and the winner got an autographed  photo of Petey.

The next year Joey invented "The Dad Game".

I miss those days.  

(Three days until the beginning of the Newburyport Literary Festival))

I have the best husband

Tonight was the last festival meeting before the big day.  I came home to find Bill slaving over a hot stove, making me a chicken sandwich with caramelized onions and melted cheese.  Yum.  I ate it while we watched last night's Mad Men.  You gotta love a man who has dinner ready for you when you come home after a grueling festival meeting.

(Best line form tonight's meeting "Nana has 7 volunteers and a van...there's a lot you can do in a van")

Booktopia Day 2

Saturday was all authors, all day - authors for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I have a quite a stack of books to bring home with me.  Below are all the authors lined up after the evening event, a look at the Booktopia crowd filling the bookstore, the adorable Madeline Miller (author or Song of Achilles) with her (Greek) salad, and my bounty.  

Booktopia Day 1

I'm in Vermont this weekend for a book retreat with Goodreads friends and other book podcast listeners.  After 3 days of Fletch and Bill whooping it up in AZ, my book retreat posts are bound to be tame.  

My roommate brought cookies, nuts and wine so we had a little nosh in between events.

This is my gang of Goodreads friends.  A few of them told me that they buy books based on my reviews. I feel very powerful.   Maybe next time I need to be a super hero I should be Book Review Girl - fighting evil authors by shunning their books.

Fletch tries to emulate his hero

In the last post I told you how Fletch wishes he were in HR.  In actuality, he wishes he were me.  He stole my hat, my new putter and my name badge to try to pull off his attempt at being Bill.

His cover would be blown the first time an employee asked for some council and he gave a Fletch-like answer like "shut up and get back to work, winer".

But let me encourage Fletch to continue wearing hats.  He looks totally gangsta.

Fletch has HR envy

 Another grinding work day for Bill.
Fletch and I create a Pippa sandwich.

While Fletch is one of the best around at selling enterprise software solutions, he will never achieve the personal satisfaction and intimacy of HR consulting.  He can have his bloated W2.  

My job is much better.

Fanboy returns

Superfan Mike Fletcher returned to the blog tonight.  Mike had been on an indefinite suspension after his disparaging remarks about the blog.  Fletch's main argument was that he was just giving some constructive feedback to have more Joey and Trudie on the blog.   Mike sometimes gives feedback in too direct a manner.  We're working with him on it.

Meanwhile we had a work golf outing today in Arizona.  Fletch and I didn't get to golf in the same foursome.  I did, however, win two awards One was an honor, the other was an insult.

I have a new putter because I hit the longest putt of the day.  Then they announced the winner of the best dressed contest, it wasn't me.  But I WAS nominated for the worst dressed.  The conservative crowd did not like my hat and pink pant combo.

More meetings and more Fletch tomorrow.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      .

Africa Hot

April 16th - first night of the year with the fan at the end of the bed.  Unlike most of Massachusetts, I had to work today so I wasn't even outside for the worst of the heat but Spring seems to have bypassed "sleeping weather".  

Notice the orange duvet cover. Laura, Stacey and I all have the same one.  It makes me feel like a triplet separated from her sibs but still connected in the universe by style.  

Tune in tomorrow for a better post starring....Fletch!!!  Bill and Fletch will be in AZ for work so I've put him on blog duty.

A Super Day!

Today was Wyatte's birthday party.  20+ kids under 4 with their parents, and four sets of grandparents got together at the function room in Trudi's complex.  This morning Bret asked us if we were "dressing up".  Was this a formal occasion??  No - turns out everyone was supposed to come as a super hero.  Wyatte of course was his beloved Spiderman.

Bill managed to become Teletubbie man.  This will be a recurring theme throughout Wyatte's life since the teletubbie hat always makes its way into all costume events.  That's Bret as the Joker.

 I'll let our 5 followers suggest my super hero name. 

Jen is a bad influence on Bret

Who's that handsome young man behind Builder Jen?

It's the return of Bret the Eldest.  The Army took good care of Bret.  He looks and sounds great.

Now that the niceties are done with, I'm angry with Bret.

I suggested that one day I want our little Rose of Sharon moved to another spot in the yard.  Bret suggested that it wouldn't survive do to the root system being so close to the house.  Fifteen minutes later Jen was taking a saw to it.

Look at the smile on her.  That's the smile of a woman who just got her way....