I only post photos were I look OK or Shots from Toronto

Some photos from Toronto and the Teen Read Awards. I would add an exclamation point but I feel like too many of my blogs are too shouty already.

I am turning 40 next year and seriously, it feels like I was 28 forever and then one day, like, next year, I’ll wake up and be freaking 40! WHY GOD WHY??? How can I be 40? I can’t even remember my 30s! I mean, I turned 30 and I was engaged, and we were celebrating my birthday at this bar at the MeatPacking district with a huge group of our friends, and this was when the Meat-Packing was still cool, not tranny-prosty-cool as it was in the 90s, but also not the Miami Beach travesty it’s since become. Anyway, my 30th birthday was right before 9/11 and I was supposed to celebrate with my BFFs from college, who were turning 30 a week after me. The three of us were supposed to have this massive blowout and we were in the middle of planning it when the world ended. So instead of our crazy party we decided to all just get drinks at a bar downtown and it was that brief moment when NYC felt like Beirut, partying while the bombs fell, and it was good, because we were all still alive, and we were freaking freaked out but we were still New Yorkers and yeah. Anyway, when firefighters came into the bar we bought them rounds of drinks and hugged them and it was nice to still feel happy and I’m glad we were able to do that even in the midst of the ashes and after 9/11 I couldn’t take the subway without having a panic attack. And then everyone started moving out of the city including us, we left for LA after we got married. And now I’m here and I have a kid and lots of books published and now will be FREAKING FORTY. Cripes. I’ve got to buy better eye-cream.

Which is what I thought when I looked at the photographs from Toronto. Apparently the age you want to remain looking like is 36 (I think I read this in Bazaar or Vogue). I think I can still pass for 36, don’t you? BECAUSE IN MY MIND I AM STILL 28!

Here are some shots from Toronto:

The youngest SmartChick Jenny-Lynn Barnes, the fabulous Ally Carter and moi. Nora Ephron is right the scarf is a great accessory for women of a certain age.


Margie Stohl, the tallest SmartChick, me looking a bit tired, and the sweet Lesley Livingston. I should have kept that scarf tied around my neck but I was starting to get hot.


I got lots of compliments for my shoes, which were nude Louboutins with silver spikes all over them. I call them my “Kardashians” after I saw Kim wearing them in US Weekly. They were fun for an hour. Then I switched to flats.

I have so many fun news about Misguided Angel stuff but it’s not ready yet so I’ll wait until we have all our ducks in a row.
In the meantime, enjoy your youth people!! Because one day you will wake up and you will need eye-cream!!

xoxo
Mel

**All photos by Vania Stoyanova, VLC Photo.