For you newcomers, a few people have become a little chummy on this blog (yes, I know, that might be a bit of an understatement, it’s become a big love fest here). Some blog regulars have become email buddies and a few – Barbara, Tracy and Kristin – decided to meet in person, in New York, a couple of weeks ago for an event they have dubbed the first annual Ann Leary Blogapalooza.
Tracy has written up her version of the big event, and for the past several days she has been trying to email the accompanying photos, and I’ve been trying to reformat them for the blog, but I’m afraid I couldn’t include them all, and fear that they might not be in the proper order. Nonetheless, without further ado, here’s Tracy’s wonderful report:
“The first Ann Leary Blogapalooza was a smashing success! Barbara, Kristin, & I all admitted we were a little nervous, but when we met, we greeted each other with hugs like old friends. Kristin brought her friend Lindsay, who she was visiting in NY, along, and Lindsay blended in perfectly. We all chattered away happily and luckily, the place had emptied out before we got there, so we didn’t disturb anyone.
We sang our praise about Ann & her books, and if you look closely at my copy of ‘Outtakes’, you can see all the little green post-it flags. They’re all pages where I found something that was hilariously funny, touching, sad, or where I really identified with Julia. Lindsay didn’t understand how we could become friends on a blog, so we explained how Ann replies to comments, and how fellow bloggers post things to each other in the comments section, and that some of us are now emailing each other, and are friends on facebook.
She still couldn’t quite grasp how this could happen, and I told her that when I found the blog at the end of March, I felt at home right away. I said that after the ‘Who’s Youer than You’ post, when many people shared things about themselves, it became an even more close knit community. We told her all about how Ann shared her and Denis’s vacation to Italy, and how down to earth she is, that we all feel like we know her, etc. She sat there in a kind of shock I think. We all told her she has to read the blog to understand, & she better start soon!
Yes, I’m the dork who made the sign. 
You can’t see it very well, but I had all 4 of us sign it to mark the momentous occasion. For future Blogapaloozas (I love that word!!!), I will be happy to make them, renumbering them of course. Hehe
After brunch, Kristin and Lindsay left to go to Governor’s Island, and Barbara and I decided to spend the afternoon together. We parted ways with more hugs and all said we were so happy that we had met.
I could stop here, but I’m hoping that Ann will indulge me and let me share Barbara’s & my adventures that afternoon. We had such a good time. We stayed in SoHo for awhile, walking around enjoying an arts and crafts street fair. Suddenly I stop and tell Barbara to look across the street. An artist had canvases hung up in a stall, and every single one was of HUGE bare women’s BUTTS!!!!! I kid you not. We laughed and agreed that we couldn’t imagine anyone wanting that hanging in their house. We walked further down and came back up the other side of the street, and I wanted to see the front of his stall to see if he painted anything else. Nope, just more huge women’s butts! We laughed so hard and decided that he must have a fetish. I SO wish I had taken a picture because mere words can’t describe it.
We decided to go to see this clock: http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=134#comment-79 I had been to see it before, and tried to photograph it as it did its magic on the hour, but it actually does it about 2 minutes before, so was caught off guard. It is gorgeous. So I decided to get it on video with my camera. So we get on the subway, but half way there we realize that we weren’t going to make it on time, and didn’t want to have to hang around waiting for the next hour.
Next idea, there’s a photographer who has a stand outside the Apple store at 5th Ave & 59th St, and I really love his photographs of NYC. So we change subway lines to head up there. We get near there, but find that due to the Puerto Rican Day Parade, we can’t get anywhere near there, and the cop I spoke to said the vendors there had probably been thrown out for the day.
So we decided to go to Make My Cake, a bakery in Harlem, just a couple blocks north of Central Park. I’ve been wanting to get there because they say have the best Red Velvet cake in the world (it will have to be incredible to beat CakeMan Raven in Brooklyn!). We consult the map and find that we’re not near any subway lines that would get us there, so decide against that. I realize now that it never occurred to me to take a cab, I’m a subway girl. Hehehe
We decided to just take the subway back to Times Square to check out the areas they have blocked off to cars, and have chairs out for people to sit in. We head over to Columbus Circle to catch the subway and decide to go into the Time Warner building to use the restrooms. At the top of the escalators is a Borders. Great, we’ll use the restrooms and make sure ‘Outtakes’ is displayed properly. We looked through all the displays and on the Fiction shelves, no ‘Outtakes’!!!! I checked the in store computer, & it said ‘Likely in Store’. So I went to the register to buy the same kind of laminated NYC map that Barbara has (I don’t need a magnifying glass!!! It shows the subway stations & lines!!!), whip out my copy of ‘Outtakes’ with its multitude of post-it flags, and proceed to politely harangue the cashier about the store not having it. I told her that they had to get more in stock, that it needed a special display, that when it came out in hard cover last year it was voted #1 Beach Read, & that it was hysterically funny, fabulous, etc. I went on & on. I told her to tell her manager that he or she HAD to order a large supply and display it. Of course, dummy me; I should have talked to the manager myself! [Editor's note: I ADORE you guys for this]
We head down the escalator, only to find that there are 2 humongous statues of a man and a woman. Coming down the escalator, what do we see but the back of the woman’s statue, and she had a HUGE bare BUTT!!!!! We just looked at each other and laughed hysterically! Barbara said ‘OK then, it’s just the day of huge bare women’s butts!’. It was just too funny for words.
When we got to Times Square, Barbara had the idea for these great photos:
[Editor's note: Seriously, I love you guys]
These were taken in one of the areas on Broadway that are closed to traffic. It is really pretty amazing, they have all these chairs set up (cheap ones for now, it’s an experiment to see how it affects traffic flow), and it’s so popular that it’s hard to find an empty chair. It also makes it much safer to walk through Times Square.
When Barbara & I got there, we joked that if the Naked Singing Cowboy was there, we’d get a picture with him as a joke, just for the blog, but he wasn’t there. I told Barbara about the 2 Naked Singing Cowgirls, one who is in her 20’s and hot looking, but frankly skanky because she wears pasties – ick! Then there’s this one: (These are especially for you Barbara since you left without the, uh, pleasure, of seeing her)
[Editor's note: Thank heavens the skanky one wasn't there]
Yes, this woman actually hangs out in Times Square like this, and believe it or not, she looks worse in person! The guitar is kind of holding them up, but those babies hang down really low! I’ll never forget the first time I saw her with a friend. She’s like a train wreck, you CAN’T not look at her!
I still had some time before my bus, so I found an empty chair, here was my view:”
(this is the official ASK LUPE logo).
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