Good Things Are Happening

To start, a sad thing: the memoir I pitched to my editorial director a few weeks ago was rejected. I felt bad, but... two novels I've pitched have both gotten nods of approval. Just waiting for my publisher to give the final word! I was forwarded a manuscript that I absolutely fell in love with on Monday and I spent the past two days or so just reading through it and loving it. I pitched it today and my ed. director actually complimented the pitch. He said he liked the way I presented it, which was nice because that's one area where I'd been struggling. It's nice that people are taking notice of—and calling attention to!—the progress I'm making.

In other news, I have not been making progress in the kitchen, as some of you may have noticed. The past few weekends have been kind of crazy. After flipping through a bunch of Matt's cookbooks, I decided that they're just all too advanced for me. I understand it, but it's too complex. Too many pans, too many cuts, too many ingredients. So I ordered a simple one for myself from Amazon the other day. It's not diet-ish, so I won't be going all over NYC looking for random "light" ingredients, but it's easy. And that's a good start. Hopefully as the days get cooler, the kitchen will be more comfortable to cook in. We're just getting to the point now where we don't need the air conditioner in the living room, but the bedroom is still too warm at night. But we're getting there. I can't wait for all the windows to be open and the breeze to carry itself through the rooms. At that point, I'll light my fall candles, crack a book (or a proofread!) open, and just go to town, figuratively speaking.

Last Saturday was actually a really beautiful day: warm in the sunlight, chilly in the shadows. Matt and I went to the farmer's market in Inwood, which is only two stops away (compared to roughly 20 to Union Square) and much smaller than we were used to. Because it was so close, though, we found ourselves willing to buy cold products that we knew would make it home before melting or going bad. We bought delicious chocolate milk, different types of cheese, maple cotton candy, and a bunch of veggies: peppers, brocolli, tomatoes, corn on the cob, carrots... Lots of stuff. And then we used some of the cheese (I think it was ricotta made of goat cheese) and the tomatoes and some fresh basil for dinner later that night. It may have been the first time Matt made us dinner since he's been out here, actually. It was delicious.

Before dinner, though, we got sandwiches for lunch and had a picnic in the park near our place. Spread out a blanket, read some books, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. (Pictures at the end of this post.) About an hour or so into our picnic, we were approached by the most adorable bulldog puppy I've ever laid my eyes on. It was his first time at a park and he was so curious and cute. It made me want one so bad. We've agreed that our next place needs to have certain things, and one of them has to be that pets are allowed. This will let Matt's parents visit with Sammy and it'll allow us to get a dog—something Matt can't stop talking about. We have the perfect schedules for one, but it's really not worth delving into too much right now since we have until at least June to worry about that. And it's only September.

After the park, we ran to Macy's because I wanted new shoes. I found a pair of Lacoste/Converse sneakers that were out of my price range, but I held on to them while I tried on a bunch of flats. After waiting more than a half hour for one particular pair to come up from the storage rooms, the store announced its closing and the person helping us apologized that I never got to try on the shoes I wanted and gave me a HUGE discount on my sneakers. They ended up being $40. Which is not bad for a $70 pair of shoes.

Oh! Another good thing. I've been picking up some pretty repetitive freelance—proofreads for work and now an old project is coming back to my old office and they've offered me some work on that, too. The extra money is much appreciated, especially since we have so many things on our list for the apartment, like a shredder, an air purifier, and a headboard or artwork for the head of the bed. I enjoy that my career choice/skills allows me to do extra work; overtime is limited at my office right now and has to be approved beforehand, so I can't go in too many weekends in a row to get ahead because it's kind of unnecessary. I worked six hours this past Sunday, but I won't try to go in again until sometime in October, if I have to.

Hm... what else. Matt and I are going home this Saturday! For the past how many years, we've made sure to get to the Bloomsburg Fair at least one night and we plan on continuing that tradition while we can. (We like to eat!) I also plan on visiting my grandparents this weekend. (Grandma told me she misses me the other night on the phone. It was sweet.) Matt couldn't get Sunday off, so we'll be on a bus Saturday morning at 8:30 and probably Sunday morning at 9:30. And then Matt'll go to work and I'll do more freelance work. So it'll be like I'm going to work, too. Except I get to do it on my couch. And maybe take a nap in the middle of my shift.

I apologize for the mish-mash of subjects. This is kind of how my brain has been the past few weeks. One topic to the next. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... One of these days, I'll focus a bit more. Maybe. Time to work out!

The Day the Pipes Burst, or Why We Are Now Considering Renter's Insurance

So to draw on my last post quickly, I'll just say that the 5k was fun, even though our group really didn't stick together much once the race started. And Matt had to pee the entire 3+ miles. But we made it and had enough time to eat lunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in Columbus Circle and then make a quick stop at Whole Foods and then a nap.

My diet has been substantially better than it was in weeks past; I'm trying really hard to remember that what I eat goes directly to my hips. Although I'm eating better and staying hydrated, I've still been having some pretty abnormal stomach issues. Am going to ride it out for a little while to see how I feel in a week or so, but I've been asking people in the office for the names of their doctors or the clinics they go to, just in case I don't start feeling 100 percent again soon. The stomach issues have kept me from doing much exercising this week, but I'm going to try to do a little P90 cardio (did circuit earlier in the week and was sore for three days; definitely out of shape again) after I finish this blog. Try to get back into it at home and then I'll hit the gym again. It's just so hard to go alone.

________________

Anyway... to the issue at hand. The reason renter's insurance has been a hot topic in our apartment this week is because on Tuesday morning before work, I noticed water dripping from the light on the ceiling in our bathroom. I woke Matt up, even though it was his day off and it was 8:00, and told him I was going to text the super and let him know. The super lives on Long Island, so I figured he'd be a few hours until he came to check it out.

Two minutes after I texted him, he was at the door. Guess he was in the building. So he came in, checked the leak, and then went upstairs. Matt moved from the bed to the couch in the living room, I went to work, and I didn't see the super come back.

At about 10:00, I got this text: "The ceiling is fucckkkkedd."

Followed by these photos:

The super and plumber and construction crew spent most of the day in the apartment above ours, replacing the bathtub and fixing the broken pipes while water poured down into a big blue bin in our bathroom. Apparently, there had been a leak for some time and it must've destroyed the underside of the tub. Had I not noticed the dripping, and had Matt slept until his usual 1/2:00 in the afternoon, I'd imagine things would've been much, much worse.

Around 3:00, Matt was itching to get out of the apartment, but neither of us were comfortable with people coming in and out of our place without either of us there. So he was on lock down. And he made sure to let me know how unhappy he was about that. We had had plans to spend the night in the B&N at Union Square, browsing, but those plans went out the window when the hole in our ceiling was still there around 4:30. I called at 5:30 when I was leaving work and they were just starting to patch it up. By the time I got home at 7 (yes, it took me more than an hour to get home because there was a huge delay because the A-train SUCKS), the super was just finishing up the patch job on the ceiling. We immediately got changed and got Matt some fresh air.

After spending a little bit at the B&N on 82nd, we bought some bathroom cleaners and then had dinner before returning home... where we Swiffered (wet jet, dry, and wet and dry again) the bathroom floor, the hallway, and the kitchen for a very, very long time. Sure, the workers had cleaned up the mess, but they left a lot of dirt, plaster, and chunks of ceiling in their wake. I'm still finding pieces of the ceiling. On Wednesday, I came home, did some work, and then attacked the rest of the mess in the bathroom. Everything had a layer of dust on it and the dirt in the tub was ridiculous. The cleaners worked wonders, though. And I was actually pretty proud of myself.

So, this whole ordeal was not our fault. And luckily it happened in the bathroom and not above our TV, dvd/bluray collection, or computers. However... had it, what would we have done? My mom was nice enough to get us a really reasonable quote on renter's insurance, but we're still trying to figure out if we want to spend the money. It's like... do you hand over money for something that may never happen, just in case? I mean, we do that our whole lives with savings and college funds and everything else, but at least when we do that, if we decide not to go to college or we die before we use our savings, that money can be used for something else. If I fork over hundreds of dollars for renter's insurance every year and nothing happens to my apartment, then I'm out money.

However, if I shut my mouth, pay the money, and then, god forbid, a pipe bursts in the living room, then I'll be very, very thankful for that insurance. Or if someone upstairs leaves the gas on and the place explodes when we're not home, that money would be helpful. Or if someone breaks in through our fire escape and steals all of Matt's expensive toys... It's a good idea. We're just not seeing eye to eye on it right now. When I say yes, he says no. When I say "eeehhh maybe not," he doesn't agree or disagree. I feel like I'm just going to have to make the decision. It's not that much money, and it'd be good to be insured.

________________

In other news, I'm hearing of many friends losing their jobs recently (either being laid off or being so frustrated that they're treated so poorly that they quit), and I'm becoming more grateful for mine. I've made a ton of friends so far (and being invited out way more than I ever was in W-B; I guess sometimes a fresh start really is best) and I really do like most of the work. I've been keeping a record of everything I do every day, just in case I'm ever asked if I ever worked on a certain book, and I finally made a list of every book I've worked on since I was hired full time. Along with the title, I recorded what I did with the book.

Since July 2, in some capacity, I have worked on 90 books for my company that weren't mine to manage. Since July 2, I have been managing/have managed 25. These are crazy numbers. I knew they'd be high, but I didn't know for sure if they'd be this high. I'm very happy with this number and the fact that it's this high when I haven't even been there full time three months yet.

Matt's going to start his next job search this weekend. He's drafted a cover letter and I'll be helping him mold them to fit the companies. I don't think any of the places he actually has on his list are actually hiring right now, but he's going to apply anyway. He wants something better than DBK, and I'm certainly not going to stop him. We'll see what happens. I'll keep everyone updated.

Well... off to do some cardio in my living room. Or at least, see if it's possible. Matt does Insanity in the living room every single day while I'm at work. So I should be able to do P90 in the space. We'll see. This is one of those times where I wish the living room was carpeted...

Matt's off tomorrow. And I can't wait to spend an entire day together. These things never happen. I think we're farmer's market-ing and then having a picnic in Fort Tryon park. That's all we have planned so far. It's going to be nice not to have smoosh everything in before 2pm.

It's All Here: Cancer walk, author meetings, parents' visit, etc.

I feel like I can't even really remember anything past last Friday. What was the date? Where was I? Did I do anything with my days/nights? The days have been blending together and I don't like it. Other than work Monday through Friday, I don't have much stability in my life. So that's the goal of next week: create a routine. And freakin' stick with it.

This will include the gym. And will absolutely include a better diet. And I seriously need to stick with it. I've been so tired and grumpy and have just felt so sluggish. I miss the two- to three-hour work outs. The discovery of my jeans becoming too big even after they've gone through the dryer. The ability to think clearly. My body has been betraying me in recent weeks and it's time I start fighting back. I haven't cancelled out all the progress I made last year (give or take 5 pounds, depending on the day), but I certainly haven't lost any weight on top of that. And I'm sitting here, on my couch, feeling like crap (specifically about today), and paying for a gym membership I'm not using.

To kick off my "official" return to fitness, Matt and I have registered to walk in (I'd never be able to run) a 5k in support of breast cancer research. This walk will be so much more than health-related, actually. Awesome that we're donating money, and it's great that I'm going to try to use it to kick-start my own personal battle (against my growing waist), but it's also the first time Matt's going to meet someone from the office! My friend, Julie, messaged me Tuesday night after the office draft (she and I are two of four girls that were selected to participate) and asked me if we'd be interested in walking with her and a few of her friends. I immediately knew I wanted to, but I asked Matt when he got home and he was all for it. So at 9 a.m. Sunday morning, we'll be signing in and at 9:30, I believe we start walking. In addition to meeting Julie, Matt will also get an up-close-and-personal view of Central Park. We've briefly walked through a bit of it before, but we'll get to see more this way. We should be done with plenty of time to spare, so we can come back here and relax before he has to go to work. Should be a good day.

Next weekend I may try to work some overtime. Not necessarily for the money, but because of developments made today. So far, I have 16 books for the Spring 2013 season. This means that I'll be managing the production of a handful of reprints (cover design, catalog copy, back cover copy, scanning, light editing) and all that plus heavy edits of new books including a BDSM book (written by a local elf—check this out), a novel about a basketball coach, an encyclopedia about sports parenting, and a healthy cookbook. I will touch every single page of these books, and I couldn't be happier. Though I could do without the elf bondage, which will surely make me super uncomfortable. However, she's well known. And this could be good for sales. And has the potential to be thoroughly entertaining.

I may even be acquiring a few new books, depending on how my editorial meeting tomorrow works out. I'm meeting with the director to go over the writing book I pitched a little while ago, plus a memoir and a novel I found in the submissions inbox last week. I've written reports, done my research, and hopefully at least one of these (would love if all three!) will be approved. That'd be my third big meeting of a very short week.

On Wednesday, I met with the woman who wanted to gut and totally rewrite a memoir we published in 2010. My associate publisher managed to convince her that the book was just fine and we agreed to change the cover and include a few new chapters, which will be way easier than basically rewriting the entire book. The author is... very loud. Has a very strong personality. She intimidates me. But it's worth the challenge.

Today—before I left the office to work from home with a brutal stomachache that has since calmed itself—I met with the author of the basketball novel. All the contracts are signed and everything's good to go. Problem is, we're going to try to get it out at the very start of the Spring season. So we want the book in the warehouse by February, which means to press in January and to production in December. Which doesn't give us a whole lot of time to work on it (considering it does need some work [show, don't tell]). But, again, it's indicative of most books in the industry today, as in... it's rushed. So I may pick up a few hours on the weekends to try to punch out some editing (and get paid for it) in an empty office sans distractions.

It's really crazy to think of everything I'm doing right now. And I've only been on staff, officially, two months and some days. Meeting with authors, pitching proposals, editing entire manuscripts (unsupervised). The pay's not great, but... I'm kind of at the point where I can just shrug and accept it for now. I'm doing everything I ever wanted to do and I'm only 24 years old.

Now, if I can only get Matt to where I am... While his job was great to start, he's starting to realize that it's not everything he wanted it to be. The management isn't what he wants; he works six days a week because the chef fires people left and right. There is no second chance; you're just gone. And Matt's sick of being attached to something that's open (and serving some type of burger) 365 days a year. In a more upscale restaurant, not only will burgers not be an option, but he'll also get some pretty important days off. Thanksgiving, Christmas... Probably not New Years. Maybe even a certain day of the week. Alinea in Chicago (his dream restaurant) is closed on Monday and Tuesdays (I think) and from mid-December to mid-January because the chef believes holidays should be spent with family. How awesome would that be? There are places like Alinea in New York. And I think the past few weeks have convinced Matt to start looking. He wants to update his resume this weekend. I'm all for it and am willing to help in any way I can.

While Matt is somewhat unhappy with DBK, my parents and I really enjoyed dining there this past Sunday. After touring some popular areas of Manhattan (Battery Park, the World Trade Center, Union Square, and Central Park) and then dining at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill on Saturday night with everyone (Kerri and Nick included), my parents and I took a more relaxed approach to Sunday. We went to brunch, saw the GW Bridge, watched a movie, and then went to Times Square. I showed them my office, Madison Square Garden, and the Empire State Building, and then we went to dinner at Matt's restaurant. Just before dessert, I asked the waiter to send a message back to Matt. Just a simple hello. The waiter had other ideas, though. He brought me back into the kitchen to personally deliver my message and Matt just about flipped out. He asked me to leave, told me he was busy and embarrassed, but the other chefs all shook my hand (and apparently yelled at him for being such an ass to me!). The next thing I know, our table is flooded with desserts. The head pastry chef (who has been on Top Chef Desserts—see him here) even personally delivered a blueberry chocolate cheesecake type dish that wasn't even on the menu yet. He said it'd be debuting later that week and wanted to know what we thought of it. (It was delicious.) After that, another chef brought out this cute little play on dippy eggs made of white chocolate, rice puffs, and a sugared passion fruit jelly. It was even presented on a tiny cast iron stove. When we were leaving the waiter thanked us and said, "Next time mention you know the chef sooner. You'll get like, four free courses!" Will have to remember that. ;)

It was nice to see my family this weekend, even if most of the weekend didn't go as planned. It's difficult to shove six people in a space that two normally share, especially when it's 90° outside. But I think it went as well as it could and I enjoyed spending the day with my parents, talking and just catching up. It was a nice way to end the summer. Not sure who will be visiting next, but the more people come out, the more we'll get used to having and treating company. We may try to go home before the end of September, since both of us want to go to the Bloomsburg Fair. But I'm not sure if that'll work out since Matt rarely gets weekends off. But we'll see.

I can't really think of anything else. Pics of dessert and the weekend are on my FB. I think it's almost time for dinner. Have to see what my stomach can handle. Hopefully it can take one of my mom's homemade stuffed peppers!