Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Week at the Gift Show


Spent a good part of the last week helping out with setting up and running the HarperCollins booth at the CGTA Gift Show. Culmination of my whole internship, basically, and with the office picnic tomorrow, everything's kind of got the old end-of-school-year vibe. I've been so... I don't even want to say stressed, because all of the work I put in was a joy (as it is for everyone: that life-size Gruffalo is hand-made by one of the sales assistants).  I guess I just love books. Hated them for a couple of minutes today, but naw, I love'em. I feel different than when I started this though. I mean, I felt a lot of things last week that were a result of steroids, but in general I think it finally hit me that only so much can drastically change before I change. And that's a huge relief, because it's that inner shift I've been waiting for, I guess. I just hope it sticks.


But also I feel sure that it WILL stick, if I just stick around books. Come on, look at this wall! I read more kids' books in the last three days than I have since grade school.


Then, oh my goodness, I found out that at the end of the show I get to take books home. Obviously, I went straight to the craft display. Tough call, but in the end I chose this modest pile:


Among which, most are for the nieces. Tal loves The Gruffalo (she even recited some of it at breakfast this morning), so I picked up a Monkey Puzzle board book. I think it's new; I don't even know. Also she likes planes, although that particular choice is rather basic. But no matter: maybe the Nai-pod will like it. My Zoo, who wouldn't like My Zoo? And The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water, I actually bought that for myself. I keep putting it on lists and it's just the cutest. Also, it reminds me of a certain someone who thinks baby crocodiles are cute and also likes dragons (spoiler alert: this particular baby crocodile IS a dragon).


But admittedly, I'm MOST excited about these two. And you should be too, since they're the ones most likely to reappear in this particular setting.

:D

That is all.

Monday, August 5, 2013

A Funny Thing Happened at a Wedding

Only the second wedding for me this summer, thank goodness. And it couldn't have been more wonderful: raw wood planks on straw bales, burlap boutonnieres, sunflowers and hand-picked bullrushes, and to top it all off, the bride went barefoot.

But the funny thing wasn't the wedding itself; on the contrary,
it couldn't have suited the couple better. But there was a moment before the ceremony when I heard Erin (of previous 2013 wedding fame) make a crack about her hay allergy. I'd never thought of that, but even when Naomi offered me her seat so I wouldn't have to sit ON the straw bale,  I declined. Sure I had a runny nose for most of the winter and spring due to new allergies, but I've been around enough straw in my life to know it's never been a problem.

Of course, by the next morning, my eyelids were itchy and swollen. A brief check showed me that most of me was itchy and swollen. A couple tablets of Benadryl, a cold shower, and I thought that was that. Until this morning, when I woke up with what the clinic doctor would define as "a serious, yes, a worthy case of hives." He then showed me the "reaction scale" which seemed to indicate that I was moments away from needing an epi-pen, but then no, no, that's just my paranoia talking. He didn't actually say it would progress further without treatment.

The whole point to this? Well I'll be on steroids all week and have already done everything to plan out the fall semester and cleaned half the studio to turn it into my office sanctuary for a brief time. Since 5:00.

Oh, an update on the zucchinis: they're going in a casserole tonight.