Book parties, Beautiful Creatures, and the calm before the storm.

I’m sitting at the dining room table. I was up at 6 a.m., because my body seems to like waking up early these days. I could toss and turn in bed for an extra half hour, but what’s the point?

We brought a rolling chair out here for my mother to use while she was here, and sitting in it reminds me why we don’t have rolling chairs in this room: the floor is slightly tilted. If you roll back from the table, you get the very odd feeling that you’re going to roll all the way down to the window (although you don’t).

Last night, I went to the Beautiful Creatures launch party at Diesel Books in Brentwood. I got to meet (authors) Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl, got my book signed, got my picture took, and met some very nice people. Kami and Margie are Very Special for many reasons, but one clear signal was that they had two of the top three contestants from HGTV’s “Design Star” show decorating for their party! This was very exciting to me, although in my excitement, I thought they were from Bravo’s “Top Design” and told someone so. But the people I told don’t watch TV (!!!) so they will probably never know the difference.

There was a great turnout–I spent some time talking to women who’d braved the LA traffic all the way from Orange County to be there! I also looked around for some of my Twitter friends, but ended up somehow–sadly–missing them. I did buy three books that I’m very excited about–Super Freakonomics, Garden Anywhere, and Snoop, which examines how the things we own and display convey who we are and how we wish to be seen. It sounds fascinating and I’m super excited to get into it.

I also left with Beautiful Creatures, which, if you’re looking for a gift for a teen in your life and *cough*cough* have already bought said teen Bad Girls Don’t Die, could be the perfect gift. It is h-o-t-t–Amazon’s #1 teen book of 2009 and #5 overall!–and very well-reviewed–and just got optioned by Warner Bros.–and besides that, the authoresses are wonderful people with very fun parties.

Well, in just over a week, I’ll be heading to Long Beach for the big dog show! If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you should go check it out. It’s very fun and there are going to be SO many dogs this year.

Just yesterday, I dropped my sewing machine off at a repair shop near my office. I’d been waiting to get a chance to take it back to the place we bought it from, but they only pick up/drop off once a week, and this way is not only cheaper but also easily accessible as soon as the machine is fixed. Once that’s done, I’ll finally choose a winner for my November contest. I’ve waited, because I figured if one person were waiting for her prize (or his, I suppose), that would be far more difficult than many people waiting to find out the contest results. And I haven’t forgotten that I owe Vania and Nathalie their stuff!

Happy Wednesday! And happy December!

Related posts:

1. Dotty dress triumph!
2. Paris, Britney, Nicole, etc.
3. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
4. Fog on the Freeway

December 2nd, 2009 Katie Alender

Tags: authors & writers, books, los angeles, stuff I like