Salut!

I've decided that this poster will be the main focal piece in my new living room. Yes that's right, I've got a new living room meaning I have a new apartment! Yay! I will be less than 2 miles from work and only a hop skip and a jump away from school. Most importantly, I'll be at a distance from my parents who are still making plans to control my life while I'm away. Its going to be a great opportunity to become truly independent. I'll learn, mostly the hard way, how to be solely responsible for myself. I still see myself running back home for certain things such as mom's home cooking, our home garden complete with flowers, vegetables, fruit and herbs and my dad's mechanical expertise. I also don't want to give up my bank, my hair stylist, my dentist, my chiropractor, my aesthetician and my eye doctor. So I'll be doing lots of travelling home. But I do get to say goodbye to Monday morning/Friday afternoon commutes and paying outrageous amounts of money at the pump. I'm both excited and nervous because I know I have a lot of growing up to do! My move-in date is July 1st and I'll keep you in the loop on the details of the new pad!

Book Expo

Last Saturday was truly an unforgettable day. I woke up at 4am-ish -- which should be a crime by the way -- got ready, got on a bus and then got on a plane to D.C. Besides my disabilitating fear of flying, I was super excited. For one day, I got to go to Book Expo America, the biggest event in book publishing. It's a convention held every May (sometimes June) when book publishers and other business create elaborate booths in a grandiose convention center to show off their wares to booksellers and other folk. Authors and remainder buyers swarm around the booths like hawks hoping to court a publisher or two. It's all shmooze and all excitement. When I arrived at the Washington Convention Center I was in awe! I got to wander around for a few hours oggling at other publisher's goodies before going to my company's booth for "booth duty." My job was basically to handsell our titles, pass out free goodies (something Book Expo is famous for) such as galleys (pre-publication copies of books), tote bags, postcards and catalogs, and answer as many questions as I could. It was so great to see so many people excited about the industry. The whole experience reminded me why I'm in this business: because I truly love books. And being around so many other people who've dedicated huge parts of their lives to books, only made me more proud of my career! I still can't stop talking about the experience! I have made a Yahoo! Photo Album for you to see some pictures from my trip. Please enjoy.

Back for Good

I really needed a hiatus from everything and work on getting some issues resolved. So now I'm back for good. When I have some time, I will write a proper post. For now, I will just highlight some important things that are going on in my life:

1. I'm back in school, taking a class I like on a schedule that works for me.
2. My chiro sessions ended and now I don't have back and neck pain.
3. I'm slowly coming to terms with my dog's death, although I'm forever traumatized.
4. I went to Washington DC on Saturday to go to Book Expo America! And I saw celebrities! Pictures and details to come.
5. I think I found an apartment close to work. I will probably apply for it today.
6. I have a full week vacation coming soon. Finally!
7. I was a victim of identity theft. Again! Argh...I can't wait to catch up with everyone and get back to blogging!