For our second morning in NYC, I brought Rootie breakfast in bed. Don’t say I don’t know how to treat a lady! The sandwiches from Starbucks looked unprepossessing, but holy moly they were delish:

After breakfast, Dr. Ruth and I split up for the first time since she got here. It was rather traumatic, actually. For her part, Rootie went off to MOMA and then walked the city. I was very amused to see this bad boy on her role of pics when she returned, as you may remember it from my own visit to MOMA a few months ago:

I love that painting! But this totally freaked me out:

Yeah, that cup, saucer, and spoon are all fur lined. Are you as skeeved out as I am?

Rootie also took time on her rambles finally to have the treat she’d been talking about the entire trip…. an NYC hot dog from a street vendor!

I wish I could have been there for her first hot dog. They grow up so fast!

That reminds me…. where was I, you’re asking? I abandoned the good doctor to meet my AMAZING agent, Rebecca, for lunch. I got ridiculously lost (in a taxi! Thanks!) but eventually found her in this incredible Japanese restaurant which is sort of hidden. I had eel, because I can’t get enough eel. Mmmmmm…Eel! I don’t have pictures, though, as Ruth had the camera and, quite frankly, I never remember to take any.

But I had a great lunch with Rebecca, then we went off to Orbit to meet with Alex Lencicki and Jack Womack, Orbit’s two publicity gurus. My editor is off on vacay, so I missed my Devi, but the meeting with Alex and Jack was great. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to be with such a great publishing company. I know it’s hard financial times, and that a lot of publishing companies have had to cut back on their publicity, but Orbit is still full steam ahead and doing everything they can to launch Tempest Rising in style! Plus everyone there is just cool, which makes it fun too!

After I left Orbit, I met up with Ruth back at our hotel, where we collected our luggage and made the trip into Brooklyn, to Williamsburg, where our friend’s Dr. And Mrs. Whisky (Sam and Kristin) live. The good Dr. Whisky was out shilling his delicious liquid wares, but Kristin was there to meet and greet. Ruth, Sam, Kristin, and me I were all friends at the University of Edinburgh, so this was a mini Uni of Edinburgh reunion. Our First Lady of Whisky took us to one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been to, because it had THIS:

Yes. that’s a taco van parked INSIDE the patio area of the bar. And no, there’s no door. So they must have built the wall AROUND the taco van. I nearly wept for the glory of it. And the queso and guac we bought from said stand? OUTRAGEOUSLY DELICIOUS:

Other cool things this bar had was this sign, which I would like to carry with me everywhere I go:

and an old fashioned photo booth, which yielded these bad boys:

Love it! After we left the bar, we collected Mariah, another friend from Edinburgh who was was in to be part of the reunion, from a street corner where she was waiting with her luggage. Then we met up with Sam, Kristin’s husband, and his colleague, David. We went to another amazing Williamsburg restaurant (seriously, this place rules) for outrageously delicious burgers.

Hijincks ensued. The ladies on the one side of the table were behaving quite well…

But Dr’s Ruth and Whisky? Can’t take ’em anywhere!

After dinner we went to a place called Barcade which is exactly that: A Bar Arcade. First a Beauty Bar and now Bar Arcade? Seriously? Did these people know I was coming? Because that’s what nearly happened when I found out they had this:

So Barcade rocked. But soon enough we were back at home, admiring Dr. Whisky’s whisky. This was the latest shipment:

And Mrs. Whisky is one wife who loves her hubby bringing home his work…

So that was our second day in NYC. The pics are great, but they don’t do justice to the laughter and the friendship I am so lucky to share with these amazing people. Thanks for everything, guys. I love you all!