On This Day Last Week (Tuesday)

I meant to add this to yesterday’s post but didn’t get the chance so I will start off saying that I really enjoyed my stay at the Hampton Inns Madison Square Garden. The staff was super friendly from the time of check in (even with the slight credit card problem) to the time of check out.

This is our room. I am in the far bed close to the window. When they say NY hotel rooms are small they are not lying. The room was super comfortable and honestly it felt like I was staying in someone’s bedroom and not a hotel.

It was an early morning for me on Tuesday. I was woke up by the construction going out on the street or the building across the way from the hotel. I was surprised at how early it happens though.

One of the perks was the hot/cold breakfast that was served daily. The selection was amazing. They always had fresh fruit, yogurt and eggs out.

As we were walking down Broadway we stumbled upon the Snapple people and they were giving away FREE bottles of Snapple juice and of course I was super excited to see what it was and practically did a happy dance right there in front of the Snapple people.

This is the Bret Michael’s drink “Trop-A-Rocka” He was the winner of Celebrity Apprentice. The drink was delicious. Fingers crossed that it will make its way to Canada very soon. If not I will be hitting up the stores when I go to Chicago. [There is where I admit I have a crush on Bret :)]

I met up with the Montreal bloggers early that morning and we made our way to:

This was my first time visiting the Strand and wow what a bookstore. They had several floors of books. I looked around the first floor, the second floor at the YA and children’s books and then made my way to the basement to check out their review books.

Of course no trip to the Strand wouldnt’ be complete with buying: (totebags and books)

I bought:

• This is New York by M. Sasek (Michael and I were talking about this one before I went and he said he would like to have it so I was happy to pick up this for him.)
• Dream Life by Lauren Mechling
• Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev
• I Now Promounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan
• 5 postcards (not pictured)

I also managed to pick up a few Strand bookmarks as well that they had on the counter.

We also decided to check out the hidden gem of Housing Works . What a cute looking used bookstore they have. I meant to take some pictures but I was too busy looking around. I ended up buying 6 books at $3 each.

This is where we parted ways with Donna and her husband and the rest of us went to Wendy’s for lunch after much searching for a place to eat. After lunch Tina and Avis went off and Linda and I went back to the hotel room to drop off our books and pick up the papers so we could get our badges and be ready for the next morning because I was also taking part in the Children’s Book & Author Breakfast.

Upon arriving at the BEA convention you can’t help but be overwhelmed. The Javits building is huge. I couldn’t get onto the convention floor but looking in was amazing seeing all those booths and people setting up.

For dinner we went and ate at what I think was a hidden little gem called Franchia. The food was delicious. We all had something different, I had the Pumpkin Noodles Salad. It was to die for. This is a cute little place with the cutest bathroom by far of what I saw in NYC. I would definetly go back there to eat again.

With a quick trip to JC Penney after dinner in a hunt for sneakers (for me and more poor blister. No Luck!)we went back to the room to plan for the next day.

Check back tomorrow to see what happens at BEA.