Blunder Babe is Born! 1 lb. 6 oz.
At long last, I welcomed my baby Wednesday, November 5th. Thank you, thank you, I am very proud. Most births are nine months, yeah well, mine was nine years. With a wait like that, I knew a big extravaganza was in order. The celebration was held at The Brownstone House in Paterson, New Jersey. All the stops were pulled out. As promised in my earlier blog, it was a Red Carpet Event. I totally stole that idea from the Hudson Mod magazine launch I went to over the summer. The evening far exceeded my expectations. About 100 family members and friends came out on a work night to support me. The room was impressive, the food scrumptious, the energy high and the drinks flowing.
I kind of had my own timeline worked out in my head for the evening: socialize, paparazzi pics, walk the buffet, deliver my speech and sign books over coffee.
To my surprise, guests purchased books almost immediately and a line formed simultaneously in front of me to sign books way before I had planned, I started to sweat. I literally had to mop my forehead with a napkin the bartender thoughtfully handed me and was so thankful that I had taken my bff’s advice and autographed all of the books. I just had to personalize every one. I strongly recommend doing that for your book launch. I know it sounds bizarre since it’s a book signing, but trust me you will regret not doing it.
There were a few glitches that no one knew about except me and Jeff. If I could go back and do anything over, I would have taped my daughter’s speech to me. I had no idea she was making one and was too engrossed to whip out my cell phone which is a tragedy since it was so poignant and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I have her paper notes but her delivery was spot on. I also would have taken pictures of the room before the guests had arrived. It was a peaceful stunning sight (before the chaos that was the festivities) with the red carpet waiting for guests, tables set untouched, buffet intact and food stations set up in the solarium with the picturesque garden as backdrop all lit up with fountains flowing. I am convinced fate played a part in the warm weather hanging around so the water wouldn’t be turned off outside yet. The cascades really contributed to the ambiance of the entire setting. I am going to elaborate on my fate comment and let’s see if you find this interesting. Oprah says there are no coincidences. What do you think? Originally, the party was book for Wednesday, October 22nd, but my mother had a surprise 70th dinner party planned for that Saturday for my father. I started to fret that a relative might blurt, “See you Saturday, Al!” and ruin Dad’s surprise so I called Tommy at the Brownstone to change the date to the 29th. No can do, the conservatory was booked and that was the only room for me. I begrudgingly took Wednesday, November 5th praying it would work out. A little while later the hairs on the back of my neck went up as it dawned on me that nine years ago that day, November 5th, Jeff and I were starting our adventure in California so I could try to spin the big wheel. Start to finish my story came full circle. Anyone reading the book now would be doing it in real-time. Isn’t that crazy?
Anyway, I chose a shortened Chapter 7 to read to the crowd and everyone laughed in all the right places.
The closet thing I can compare my first book launch to is my wedding. My daughter and I shopped for dresses and had our hair and make-up done, the boys got new duds too. Weeks of planning and lots of coordinating for an event that is over in the blink of an eye, posing for pictures, making speeches, I forgot to make a toast, that would have been a nice touch, I barely ate anything, I missed the waffle and ice cream station and the Zeppoles, but it was pretty damn amazing.
Thank God some of my friends took candid shots so I can relive moments of the night; and my girl, Lucy, filmed 26 seconds of Sydney’s speech and put it on Facebook. That was touching and a good surprise…definitely one of my all-time best nights ever.