Tom Cruise and I hit the BEA stage: An Epilogue

(Okay, a little confession: there was another post here, but I accidentally deleted it. Serves me right. The perfectionist crafter that I am could NOT leave this post alone. While re-reading this post earlier I noticed a spelling error that, truthfully, probably no one else would have noticed. And so now I am reconstructing the post from memory and doing a horrible job.) 

Me and my Tom Cruise bag.

I took this shot right before leaving my house. My kids tell me that I'm addicted to "selfies" since owning an iPhone, but I couldn't pass up another egregious photo of my Tom Cruise bag. I was feeling like a rock star. My phone was buzzing all morning with Facebook posts and Twitter tweets, which I believe is a very rock star-ish phenomenon. A friend of mine even called me a rock star and I believed it for a second. But the truth is that Dave Grohl would never hang out with me, not even if I sported a bag with his duct tape likeness on it.

On the train ride into the city, I decided to review the contents of my TC bag to make sure I had everything I needed. And while I remembered to bring an extra pair of flat sandals and lip gloss, I forgot my BEA pass. I would not be able to get through the front door of the Javits Center without it. I sent frantic text messages to my promotions manager Eric Lowenhar of Barron's Educational Series, hoping that he would be able to solve my quandry.

I now had to focus on my quaff and the dilemma of the gigantic duct tape hair flower.  A seriously talented and rock star-ish stylist named Emily at the Cutler Salon on West 57th Street figured out what to do. She decided to twist my hair into a loose side ponytail, then adhered the duct tape flower with what seemed like a thousand hair pins to the back of my head. The photo to the left was taken during a nauseating cab ride from the salon to the Javits Center. I tried to take another selfie to show off my 'do, but the stop-n-go jerky motion of the cab prevented me from getting the right angle.



Note the duct tape necklace I am wearing. I decided on the shorter strand of beads because the flower and the longer necklace would have been too much duct tape (as if there could be such I thing, I know).

When I finally arrived at the Javits Center (20 minutes late), Eric was there to save the day. Not only did he provide me with a pass, he also personally escorted me to the stage. If I had stepped out of the cab with a bottle of Jim Beam in one hand, it would have been a quintessential rock star moment. Of course, I don't sing or play an instrument, but that's beside the point. My hair looked great!

Here is a link to the video of my BEA presentation (click on photo):

After the presentation, I went to the Barron's booth to sign some books. The duct tape bag I made for their giveaway was proudly displayed on a pedestal and filled with duct tape rolls and tools. And right next to it was a rather large poster with my face on it. The poster was eye-catching, but I couldn't help stare at my own likeness and her luggage pieces beneath her eyes. That woman in that photo looked tired. I took a shot of it with my camera phone, but my subconscious accidentally cut off my face on the left. Oops.

After doing my author duties, I was free to explore the book expo. I found out that Giada DeLaurentiis of the Food Network was signing books the next day so I came back. Here are some photos of what I saw:

Giada and me!

Billy and me??

All Things Paper (the book!) by Ann Martin, proudly displayed at the Tuttle Publishing booth. (I'm in it!)

Sebastiao Salgado's new book GENESIS, published by Taschen. It's HUGE!

It was an honor to be part of the BEA this year. It's not everyday that a crafter is asked to do a presentation at the biggest book fair in the world. There are people that believe in me not only as a writer and a crafter, but as a person. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you guys!

xxoxRichela