Have a good weekend, everyone!

For now, though, I am here in my house, which is in its normal chaos. My kid has been up since 5:15, won’t eat her breakfast. Dogs are barking. Laundry and a million other things need to be done before we leave, our decorators are coming for a meeting in about an hour AND I know already I’m forgetting something crucial that has to be done today. When I think of these things, I feel my head start to spin but then…look at this picture above. And breathe. And repeat. As necessary.

2.  Speaking of good things to remember, this week I finally found something I’d been really wanting/needing. I considered getting it as a tattoo, but my husband has enough of those for both of us. Also, there’s the pain factor. And the what-if-I-get-tired-of-it factor. Enter this bracelet, which I got from a shop called STONZ on Etsy:

This Too Shall Pass. Whatever it is, good or bad, this is the one thing you can always count on. They have it on rings, too! You can find them here.

3. Last night was date night. I put on a little black dress, some summer platform sandals, straightened my hair. I was even kind of glam! We went to dinner at 411 West, one of my fave Chapel Hill places, had a great meal and wine. Then, driving up the driveway on the way home, we saw it: our Little Chickens, which we’d just put in with the Bigs that very day, had all literally flown the coop. They were all over the place, and it was getting dark fast. So much for the romance: we did a quick change and bolted out there, where I grabbed a shovel and shooed them towards my husband, who chased them, picked them up while squawking and freaking out, and put them back in the coop. It was madness, and I was REALLY glad I’d changed out of my nice clothes because chickens aren’t exactly dainty under the best conditions, but when running/terrified, they just…well, you can imagine. Whew! I kept thinking that this was so much what our marriage is like these days: sweet, short moments of romance and loveliness, peppered with chaos, crazy, and chickens. Well, at least it’s never dull. Like, ever.

4. I’ve been hearing from a lot of folks here and on Twitter/Tumblr, wondering why it’s going to be a WHOLE YEAR before my new book is out. Well, there are reasons. One is that I am, at least for YA, a “slow” writer. It takes me about a year to write a book, followed by editing, copyediting, marketing plans, tour plans…there’s just not a fast turnaround. It takes time! But hopefully, it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, there’s going to be OTHER fun book stuff happening this summer that is SO TOP SECRET that I can’t even tell you about it yet. That’s coming up at the end of this month, so stay tuned. I’m also thinking I might have to do some superfun giveaway whenever I hit 200,000 followers on Twitter. Only 15K or so to go! (Okay, it might take awhile. But it’s good to have goals, right?)

5. Finally, a more serious note. You might have seen the news this week that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, is incorporating a way to list if you are an organ donor on your status. It won’t make you officially a donor—you have to do that at the DMV, I believe—but it’s a way of encouraging people to think about whether or not they want to be donors and get a conversation going about what a great need there is for them. This is close to my heart right now, as I have a cousin who just two weeks ago had a lung transplant she desperately needed, all because someone checked that box and made that choice. I have another cousin who is currently on the list for a transplant as well. I know organ donation is a delicate and emotional subject, and it’s not for everyone. But if you haven’t considered it, please do. You can literally save a life.

Okay, off to pack. Have a good weekend, everyone!

2. Big week here in the The Hill as both Jimmy Fallon and President Obama were here on Tuesday. I was hearing all kinds of celeb sightings: the Roots showed up at open mic at a local bar, my babysitter saw Dave Matthews (Fallon’s musical guest) walking in Carrboro. I, of course, saw no one, even though I was all over town all week. This is typical. It’s the reason why, when I go to New York or LA, I never see ANY famous people even though I am always looking super hard. I mean, Susane Colasanti has David Duchovny basically hanging outside her front door, and what do I have? A deer with a limp and some low swooping hawks. Oh, well. I do have to say that it made me SUPER happy and proud to see my hometown and alma mater (as well as the place I taught myself for years) get such national attention. My Tarheel pride was strong!

I love that Jimmy wore a Carolina sweatshirt. LOVED IT.

3. Speaking of UNC, the university and scores of former students had a great loss this week when Doris Betts, esteemed Southern Writer and longtime Creative Writing professor, passed away. Doris was the first writing teacher I had at UNC, and the last, and I will be forever grateful I was able to learn from her. She was smart and funny and did not suffer bad writing or fools gladly, or ever. She would cover your manuscripts in comments and edits, the harshest comments made a bit better by her gorgeous handwriting and the fact that she always used a real fountain pen (although those comments still stung, don’t get me wrong: if you didn’t cry once in Doris’ Honors class, you weren’t working hard enough). She once called a detail in one of my stories “inspired” and I never forgot it, still treasure it all these years later. In life, you are lucky to have any teachers that make you feel like you can do what even you at times feel might be impossible. Like, say, write for a living. Doris was but one of mine, and I’m so grateful. I will miss her a lot.

4. Earlier this week, we met with some interior decorators who are going to help us make our house look, well…better. Which is a challenge, because my husband and I have SUCH different tastes. We argued so much about a couch that it almost ended our relationship. Our friend Sally, who was selling it to us, finally threw up her hands and said, “Guys! This is supposed to be FUN!” In truth, the couch is great and we love it. So I am hopeful that with a little expert guidance we can clean up our clutter, find a place for the vast amount of Princess stuff so I can stop tripping over it every time I take a step, and bring together all the crazy elements of our stuff so they, you know, work. I was nervous about having these women over, because I thought they’d come in and say, “WHOA,” just based on all the stuff we have (fish made of surfboards, bottlecap Folk Art, family portraits, and modern stuff from our fabulous painter neighbor, among other things.) Instead, they walked in, looked around, and immediately had, like, TEN fabulous ideas, some of which just involved moving some furniture around. I mean, check out our playroom before:

and after:

And that’s just moving some stuff and putting things away! Imagine what will happen when they actually start ADDING things. I can’t wait.

5.Finally, a book recommendation. I just started listening to Rachel Dratch’s GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR on audio, and it is SO good. Regular readers know I love a good celeb bio, but the best are 1) read by the writer and 2) really convey their personality so well that you want to be their BFF, if you didn’t already. Done and done. I always loved Rachel Dratch on SNL and 30 Rock, but hearing the inside dish about it all makes it even more fun. I was fangirling so hard I tweeted her (she’s @TheRealDratch) and she tweeted me back. OH MY GOD! I might not see celebs in person, you know, ever, but because of Twitter I still get to be starstruck. Hooray for that!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

The upshot of the rest of the comments was just what I needed to hear. Twitter is good, Tumblr too, don’t stress about Facebook. Done, done, done. What you MIGHT see here are shorter blog posts, but more of them than just The Friday Five. Or, just that but I WILL keep it going. I owe it to you guys. Clearly.

Thanks again so, so much.

And now, as it is cool and rainy here, I am crawling into bed with a good book—Liz Moore’s HEFT—and possibly taking another nap. It’s not up to me, people. It’s the weather!

Have a good Sunday, everyone!

2. In other lady news (I have no idea why I’m using that word so much, sorry) our hen Pretty Chicken, despite doing everything she could, was not able to hatch the eggs she was sitting on. Which is such a bummer, because she worked so hard and was isolated and suffered and then it was for, well, not much at all. (Can you tell I have become a BIT codependent with this chicken? No? Oh, good.) We still need more chickens, though, so yesterday my husband went out and bought eight more pullets (teen chickens) which are now in the shed, away from the rest of the flock until they get a little bigger. So cute, right?

My daughter has already named one Fuzzy and another one Peep. Personally I am lobbying to name some of them after my fave GMA folks: Robin, Sam and Josh. No one else likes this idea. But watch: I will prevail!

3. Here’s something NOT very ladylike: having a dirty mind. Which is what I was accused of when I said that the candle mold with my daughter’s new Play Doh bake set seemed, to me anyway, quite…male. My babysitter looked at me, eyebrows raised: “Oh my God, I never would have thought that!” Never?

I’m going to stop writing about this now.

4. My kid was sick earlier this week, and I had one of those not so proud parenting moments. If you’ve been there, you know it: for the second night in a row, it’s about 3 a.m. and you’ve already been up to bring water, check temperature, administer medicine about four times since going to bed at 10pm. You’ve JUST managed to fall back asleep and you hear it: “Mama!” I was just so, so tired. I looked at the ceiling, there in the dark, and thought, “I can’t. I just can’t. I’m done. I quit.” And again: “Mama!” And what did I do? I got out of bed and went to her. Of course I did. But it’s that moment before, when I just felt like quitting, that shames me now. Even though I get it, and I know I’m not alone. At least, I hope not. Like Mariah Carey famously said, pre-breakdown, “Sleep deprivation is REAL, people!” Indeed.

5. Finally, a question for you guys. I’m still trying to work out the BEST way to do this whole social networking thing, and I think as a result I’m doing too much. There’s Twitter, which I adore, and Facebook, which I don’t. Tumblr fascinates me, Goodreads is overwhelming. And then there is this, the blog, which I am TRYING to keep up but feeling less than enthused about. What are you, as readers, wanting to read online? Blogs? Tumblr posts? Tweets? Nothing? A year from now I’ll have a new book out, and by then I HOPE to have figured all this out. I think blogging is slowly petering out. Or maybe that’s just me? Anyway, any input would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

2. Today I literally looked at my daughter’s hair and thought, “I’m out. I can’t do anything!” People: it was so wild. Like a big, curly halo over her head, with these messy, tangled corkscrews in the back. If you brush it, it gets huge, like Albert Einstein. If you DON’T brush it, it looks like a weird, crazy mullet: straight and in her eyes in the front, wild and Shirley Temple-esque in the back. Add in the fact that she will NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES even entertain the thought of a barrette, headband or ponytail, and I’m at the end of my rope. I know, I know, I shouldn’t care. Just like I shouldn’t have cared earlier this week when my husband dressed her in three different striped things, all different colors, and I bribed her with Pez (bad! Mama!) to put on a solid pair of pants. She’s a kid, she’s supposed to be wild and herself. But. But. My saving grace today, however, was the preschool calendar. I glanced at it as she was leaving (with her wild hair going in all directions) and…it’s CRAZY HAIR DAY! Done and done. Sigh.

3. On the reading front, I’m currently doing three books at once, as is my way. (Multitasking: that’s me, in all levels of my life. Is it a good thing? Jury is still out. But it is what it is.) First up is MR. FOX by Helen Oyeyemi, which is a book I was given by my Canadian publicist when I was in Toronto in the fall. This book should SO not be my cup of tea. It’s really surreal and I don’t exactly know what’s going on, plus I think I MAY just not be smart enough to understand it. But I cannot stop reading. Which I think, actually, is the highest compliment you can pay any book. If I figure it out before I finish, I’ll be so proud. Over on the iPad, I’m reading my second selection from the unofficial Jennifer Weiner book club (which is to say, books she has recommended over on Twitter) HEFT by Liz Moore, which I just started but already love. On audio, I finished Kristen Johnston’s GUTS (which was great) and have now moved onto Jeannette Winterson’s WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL? (A question I ask myself daily. But I digress.) I know there’s been a lot of news about e-books lately, and I do love being able to carry a book in my purse without the bulk. But as I have said before, I love the feel of a REAL book, folding back the cover (yes, I do that) folding down pages (ditto), and seeing them on my shelf. I’m a multi-tasking multi-platform reader, I guess. Say that five times fast!

4. Another parenting lesson I have YET to really learn: only telling my kid about upcoming events on a Need To Know basis. Which is to say, about an hour before they are happening. I have NOT done this lately, which is leading to all kinds of relentless questioning and a lack of sleep all around. Take Easter. I waited until the day before, then let her know it was coming up. She was so pumped she slept NOT AT ALL the night before, didn’t nap that day and had a Peep and Pez fueled meltdown by 5pm. Fun! Did I learn, though? No, I did not. In fact, yesterday, I mentioned we were going to the beach in “a few weeks.” IDIOT! Now she’s already pulling out her suitcase and asking how long, how long, how long, as well as planning out what she’s going to do the day we leave. Which will most likely be insisting on getting in the car at 6am and then asking me repeatedly when we are going. Oh, man. Give me strength. Or sense. Or both.

5. Finally, over in the coop, our hen Pretty Chicken (named by my daughter, not that you couldn’t guess) has been sitting on her eggs for almost 21 days. Which means that soon, we’ll find out if we have chicks or not. I think I’ve written here before about how impressed I am with what she’s gone through to do this. First, she sat on the eggs in the communal coop, where the other chickens (for whatever reason) bullied her, nipped at her AND pooped on her head. And you thought pregnancy was tough! (Or, I did.) Finally my husband moved her over to her own little coop in the shed, where she has literally sat on the eggs CONSTANTLY ever since, getting up only a couple of times to eat and drink. Whenever we go peek in at her, she’s huddled down, and shoots me a suspicious BACK OFF LADY look before I retreat. Mama is serious. And I am just hoping, HOPING it’s all for something. We’ve been careful not to talk about it too much with my kid, because of the whole Circle of Life thing, and even if we DO get chicks some might not survive. But with all the talk in the news today about the Mommy Wars—and I hate that we war with each other at all, it’s hard enough being a parent—it’s kind of nice to see it all boiled down to the hard work, dedication and patience that is really what it’s all about. Need a life lesson, look to the coop, I guess. And stay tuned….

Have a good weekend, everyone!

2. Something else that will lift your spirits, always: listening to a happy song. My latest on repeat is, in fact, “Life’s a Happy Song,” from The Muppets. I bought it from iTunes JUST to have on hand when I need a quick jolt of everything good: Jason Segel, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and that plain old Muppet optimism. Sigh! Add in a pretty day to drive through and I’m almost manic. You have been warned.

3. This weekend is Easter, which means, among many other things, more candy. I swear, it was not until I had a child that I realized how many holidays are now candy-related. Valentine’s? Check. Easter? You bet. Christmas? Two words: candy cane. And then, the MOTHERLODE that is Halloween. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am far from anti-candy. But I can’t let my kid mainline it all year, that’s just irresponsible. So what I do is let her have some of whatever bounty she collects (more each holiday, I swear to you) then, after a few days, put it up high in a closet so she forgets about it. The flip side is that I, too, forget, only to find it months later, gathering dust and all sticky, and toss it. Until the NEXT holiday, when there’s even more to deal with. The only exception: Kit Kats and Reese’s Cups, which go into their own secret spot and do not stay there for long. And no, I am not telling you where that spot is. A mother needs her secrets. (Oh, dear, that sounded VERY Mommy Dearest, didn’t it? It’s the sugar, I swear to you.)

4. Is it just me, or is lately there, like, NOTHING on TV? It’s not Sweeps time, I know, but I feel like every night when we finally sit down to watch something, we can’t find anything but reruns of Intervention and the few reality shows I don’t like. I get the sense that a lot of shows just feel TIRED, except ones like NEW GIRL (which just gets better and better: come for Zooey, stay for Schmidt) and MODERN FAMILY. People keep telling me that I should be watching HAPPY ENDINGS, but the last time I tried it struck me as so crass. I know, I’m a total prude. I’ll give it another shot. But if it’s this bad now, what’s going to happen over the summer? Last night I found myself watching the Barrett-Jackson car auction with my husband, who was in HEAVEN, because there was absolutely nothing else. People, I cannot be watching car shows until September. This is serious. Help! (And please don’t tell me to turn off my TV and read, I promise you I am reading TONS—MR. FOX, HEFT on my iPad and GUTS on audio—but I need my shows, too. I’m only human. And kinda weak.)

5. Finally, something a bit more serious. Even as I write this, I feel like I may very well delete it and put something else about TV or food, something silly and easy. Because I worry that it makes me seem sort of nuts. But I think some of you out there might understand.

Back when I was pregnant in the summer of 2007, we made friends with another couple that was expecting around the same time. We hung out a bit, watched TV, compared plans and cravings, that sort of thing. My daughter was born in early September, and they came over to see and hold her. We were all so excited. Their baby was born a couple of weeks later and, for reasons that have never been clear, did not make it. I know. I know. The day I got the news I felt like the world just stopped.

And ever since, as my daughter has grown from an infant to a toddler to a rambunctious 4 year old, I have thought of them so much. On those days when my heart was just swelling with love for my kid…and on the ones where she’s driving me nuts. Every time I throw pennies in a fountain, they are among my first wishes. On stars, too. I can’t even explain it. They were trying for another baby, it wasn’t happening. They began an adoption process. The woman had a blog where she chronicled all her anguish and hope and fear and sadness, and I’d just read it when I was alone and cry. (See, this is why I thought I shouldn’t share this, but hang in there, if you would.) Occasionally we would see them, or they’d call, and I always felt so awful (I know it makes no sense, or maybe it does) that we had a baby and they didn’t. It was cruel and unfair and just mean of the world, and my heart broke for them, even though I am sure they never knew it.

Then, though, this spring, a friend of ours who was doing some work for them but didn’t know their whole story said to me, offhand, “You know, I think she’s pregnant.” I stopped where I was. “What?” I said. “Are you sure?” He nodded. “She’s showing…but she hasn’t said anything yet.” I could not believe it and did not want to get my hopes up, so kept reading her blog, throwing more pennies, wishing on more stars. And then, one day, she wrote an entry saying she was. Oh, my God. Like a million prayers, answered.

So here’s this woman that really doesn’t know me very well AT ALL anymore, and it’s ridiculous how invested I have become in her pregnancy (which is going great, no complications, a blessing for sure). I know she thinks I’m a total stalker freak because I comment on her blog and have already offered to walk their dog if they need it and bring food even though they haven’t seen me in months. I’m like some crazy person. But the due date is coming ever closer, and even though I know everything will be fine I just…oh, man. I just have never prayed so hard for anyone in my life. Bad things happen all the time: I know that. But when there’s a chance for something really, really good to occur to someone who deserves it, who has had the hardest time….that’s when I have to believe that good things, and great things, happen too.

I don’t think she reads my blog or even knows I have one and I probably shouldn’t be writing about this anyway. But on this weekend of Easter, with their baby almost full term, I have so much hope, hope, hope for them and everyone else who needs it. I am thinking the best thoughts, wishing on all the stars, emptying my pockets of coins into fountains. It’s just time. Come on, universe. You can do this.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Regina Hayes at Viking Young Readers has signed YA novelist Sarah Dessen’s 11th novel, The Best After Ever, which will be released in May 2013. Set in the fictional beach town of Colby, where several of Dessen’s novels take place, it features 18-year-old Emmeline, who is spending her last summer before college working for her family’s vacation rental business and enjoying a summer romance with a young aspiring filmmaker. Leigh Feldman at Writers House brokered the deal for world rights.

So now you know why I wasn’t blogging, was talking about how tired I was AND kept posting encouraging writing-related quotes on Twitter. Because I was finishing the book I began ALL the way back in September 2010. I kept working on it all the way up until last April, when I had to set it aside to promote WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, then picked it back up in December. Whew! Thanks for your patience. I’m so excited to share more with you about this as I can. And there’s more fun book stuff, too! Stay tuned….

2. Today is also a Big Day in that my parents are moving from the house where they have lived since 1973. This has been a long time coming, but it’s still bittersweet to me. I’m happy that they’re moving to a smaller place with less upkeep and more of a community. But this is the house I spent my ENTIRE life in until I was 18. I watched Good Times and M*A*S*H there with my brother. Wrote my first stories on a manual typewriter at a little desk in the TV room. Covered my bedroom walls with quotes and pictures in high school when I was tormented and dramatic. SO much happened in that house, and today I’ll go over to watch everything be carried out. I’ve never seen it empty, ever. I think it might make me feel empty, too. Am bringing a camera. And tissues. Last night, I was up in my old room, where my mom now has her office. She’d taken everything off the door, exposing what was underneath: some quotes I’d written there, probably around 1986:

Yes, so that WOULD be Pink Floyd and the Talking Heads. The other quote you can’t make out is from THE BELL JAR: “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” Yes, I had a quote about a dead baby on my bedroom door. As you can imagine, I was a lot of fun in high school. Sigh.

3. Over in the coop, one of my hens is sitting on eggs. Again. This is the third time she has tried to have chicks, and I am SO crossing my fingers for her. Because man, it’s NOT easy to be a hen on eggs. The other chickens, for whatever reason, totally gang up on her. They hover and cluck. Poop on her HEAD to get her to move. And I thought pregnancy was tough! But she’s such a tough girl. She stayed right there, poop and all, until my husband moved her and the eggs to their own mini coop. We are not yet telling my daughter there might be chicks: too much risk of the whole “circle of life” thing. But Spring makes me hopeful, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. You have to love a tough Mama, whatever the species. You GO, girl.

4. This week’s book recommendation: YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD by Emma Forrest. I’d heard great things about this book but because I was finishing my own novel, I was brain dead and reduced to reading mostly US Weekly and my horoscope. (It happens. Towards the end of a draft, I can barely write my name.) But now that I’m done (yay!) I’ve had time to read and finally got my hands on a copy. It’s a memoir and it is SO GOOD that now I want to go find all her other work, which is how you can tell you really love something. PLUS when I Tweeted about how much I loved it, she tweeted me back. WHAT?? My day=made. Whoa and whoa, again.

5. Finally, a big thank you to everyone for reading this, and being so patient while my entries were so few and far between. Things have been crazy here, writing and chickens and moves and otherwise, but I’m hoping that between now and when revisions begin I’ll be able to start doing more entries. I miss this blog! But writing has to come first. I can’t BELIEVE I’m at number eleven. I feel like THAT SUMMER just came out, like, yesterday. You guys rock for reading and tweeting and helping me through those tough writing days, even when you didn’t even know you were doing so. So thanks. Here’s to what comes next!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Okay, here it is:

MAGIC BARS

1 stick margarine
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 small bag chocolate chips
1 14 oz can condensed milk
1 c. coconut
2 small bags chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Melt margarine in a saucepan. Add graham cracker crumbs and stir, then pat mixture into a greased 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan. (The bigger the pan, the thinner the bars.) Then spread chocolate chips in a layer over the top, followed by layer of coconut, then layer of pecans. Pour condensed milk in a layer over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, then chill in fridge for 1-2 hours. Cut and enjoy!

These are also known as seven layer bars, as well as a lot of other names. You can find a lot of variations online: my babysitter Erika adds Rice Krispies to hers. This is my mom’s recipe, so I’m partial to it. Memories, ya’ll.

Have a good weekend!

I knew that all the Hunger Games stuff was going to make it harder to get in, so my daughter and I made magic bars before I left and packed them up all pretty. And by pretty, I mean in plasticware with a sticker I printed out on my computer:

So there I was, at the window at 6:15 or so. Everyone ELSE was out on the median, where all the Hunger Games stuff was going to go on, but I was just hanging out watching the crew set up for the show. (Don’t get me wrong, I like the Hunger Games. But I LOVE GMA.) At about 6:30, Robin Roberts came out and sat at the desk. I reported this on my Twitter, and a minute later she looked up and pointed at me: a moment later, she tweeted asking if I was the one in the yellow shirt. I WAS! Also the only one holding magic bars with a custom sticker. By this time more people are gathering. Some women beside me asked one of the outside crew folks if they could get in, and were told, “Nobody goes inside.” Uh-oh. I was just losing hope when this nice guy in a suit came out and asked me if I was there I alone. I said I was and he told me to follow him. Cue dirty looks from EVERYONE around me. Sorry! I went. Turned out Robin gave me the go ahead, and I got to watch the show from inside. BONUS! When I got in, I gave her the magic bars, which an assistant quickly spirited away, I figured never to be seen or eaten. Which I got. I mean, you can’t eat things strange people offer you, right? I’ve watched enough Princess movies lately to know that VERY well.

2. So I spent the first part of the show sitting on the ledge watching, totally entranced. What’s fun about GMA is that they always look like they are having a good time, and truly, it didn’t seem like an act. They were totally cutting up and laughing together even during the commercial breaks. And when someone else was doing a segment, they still hung out and chatted. Here’s Josh and Sam when a segment was going on outside:

3. Then there was suddenly this big frenzy outside. People started pressing up against the windows, many with cameras. It was NUTS! Then I saw why: Jennifer Lawrence was coming in. She had a whole group with her, surrounding her: makeup and hair, a publicist, security, a few other people. She looked gorgeous (fierce shoes, I was coveting them) and sort of stunned by all the attention. They hustled her over in a corner away from the windows, which meant she was literally about two feet from me. I was trying to act cool but sort of freaking. I mean here is this girl who is about to be a worldwide superstar standing next to ME, who is there because of magic bars. Yikes! Then Robin Roberts comes over and they have a quick chat, which I totally act like I am not listening to. (I was. Sorry. Could not help it!) Then she’s hustled out front for her interview, and the crowd goes wild. I WISH I’d had the nerve to snap a pic inside but her publicist was kind of scary. So this is the best I could do:

I know, you can’t even tell it’s her. But I swear it is!

4. Then Jennifer Lawrence was whisked away, still looking overwhelmed—I felt kind of bad for her, is that weird? I think it probably is—and Emeril went outside for his segment. I watched the rest of the show with the crew, who were so funny and nice. I even made Twitter friends with one the cameramen. I know you are not surprised. And then the show was over. When Robin came back in, I thanked her PROFUSELY for letting me in and asked if I could grab a picture. She said, “Sure! Let’s do it at the desk! You can sit in George’s chair.” OH MY GOD. I didn’t believe she was serious. I still don’t. But I have proof:

Then I got a big hug from Josh Elliott, said goodbye and thank you to everyone again, and stepped out into Times Square. Where I promptly texted every single person I know that picture.

5. Then I went on with my day and my trip. There was some book stuff, some fun stuff, lots of walking and pizza and people watching. And one trip to the Disney Store that left me feeling like I had PTSD, but that’s another blog entry. It was later that same day, though,when I was meeting me editor for lunch, that I checked my Twitter. And there, on my feed, was a tweet to me from Robin Roberts about…my magic bars!!! Holy crap. Plus she included a picture of her, Josh and Dan Harris eating them. Look!

I swear I can’t tell you how much I love the fact that my kid and I can make magic bars in our kitchen here in NC, then have them eaten by morning news anchors the next day.The world is crazy sometimes. In all the best ways.

And now I am home, for Tarheel basketball tonight (oh man am I nervous) and serious girl time with my kid. New York was great but I’m happy to be hearing chickens outside instead of sirens. Plus, there are more magic bars in the fridge. Hello, Friday!

Have a good weekend, everyone!