So I just got back from NYC.  Lemme tell you, it took every ounce of self control I had to get on that plane and not try to move into a corner of my friends’ apt.  I could have slept on the whisky throne!  Really!  

New York was fantastic.  I have such amazing old friends there, and now I have so many more amazing new friends!  It was incredible, as well, how everyone got along really well.  I love it when my friends like each other.  I’m very picky about who I let into the inner sanctum of my life, and it tends to be people I really, really admire on some level.  So when people I really, really admire go right ahead and admire one another, I feel oddly justified.  

There were many amazing moments of my trip, but one of the most memorable was signing my contracts!  Here are some pictures:

   

Can you tell I’m excited?  On the right, my agent, Rebbecca Strauss, and I are clapping and yelling “YAY!”  It’s what I do, especially when I’m with my friend Kristin, who is taking the photo.  She is also yelling, “YAY,” and would be clapping herself if she weren’t taking the photo.  It’s very annoying that we do this, and yet it is strangely addictive.  We pride ourselves on getting an entire roomfull of otherwise dignified adults to start clapping and yelling, “Yay!” as if they were five.  When I’m really excited, I add a jig, but you have to get me really, really excited.  Or drunk.

In honor of my contract signing, I spent a gratuitous amount of money buying myself two very special treats.  We went to Jeffrey, which is an amazing designer boutique.  They have many of the brands that appear in my series, and I drooled over the Louboutins while thinking of dear little Jane, who thinks that such shoes must cost at least one hundred dollars.  

The help at Jeffrey was incredible.  I had a great conversation about a new Spanish designer with one very helpful member of staff, and I bought my trinkets from Charles Batallio, who was simply fabulous.  And he’s so invited to my launch party, whenever it happens.

I bought two things, both of which were made by the incredible jewelry designer Anita Ko.

I’ve always been told a lady needs a set of pearls.  I never agreed, until I saw these pearl earrings:

They’re pearls!  And they’re skulls!  And they’re BLUE!  I nearly had a heart attack when I saw them, they were so perfect.

And the second treat was this bad ass mofo:

That’s what I like to call a fighting ring.  It’s not only gorgeous, but it reminds me of my Nagas from the first book and the beautiful version of said Nagas that Sharon Tancredi created on the cover for Tempest Rising.

So it’s meaningful on a number of levels and very special to me.  Not least because I totally feel like a rockstar when I wear it.  A rockstar known as Blue, who rocks out with Kristin’s alter-ego, Star.  Here we are at Pastis as ladies who lunch:

But underneath our mild-mannered exteriors are leather, snakes, and outrageous riffs.  At least in theory.

Thanks for everything, Star!  I had an amazing time in NYC and you and the Doctor where the finest hosts EVER.

And I’m so going back to NYC as soon as I can.  FUN TIMES.