Happy Halloween!

On Thursday we had our company Halloween party. Here are pics from throughout the day:

we sure have a weird cast of characters at our editorial meetings.

Adriana as Arthur

Deirdre as the Substitute Creature (by Chris Gall)

Mara as THE CURIOUS GARDEN by Peter Brown

Pam and I are Rachel and Tina from GLEE

Emma as Squeaker, Leslie as Lucy from Peter Brown's CHILDREN MAKE TERRIBLE PETS

Yes, Julie and Emma Andrews's THE VERY FAIRY PRINCESS (aka Allison) has an office job.

Connie as a crying baby from YOU ARE MY LITTLE CUPCAKE

Julie as Homer Pudding from Suzanne Selfor's SMELLS LIKE DOG

Kate as a DUFF (by Kody Keplinger)

Adam as TWILIGHT!

Ian as a squirrel from David Sedaris's SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK

Victoria as a Lee Harvey from the upcoming YOU KILLED WESLEY PAYNE by Sean Beaudoin

Happy Halloween!

See pics from previous years here and here and here.

SHARK VS TRAIN and HAPPYFACE book trailers

Yes, we're silly. During our office Halloween party last year, I decided we should take advantage of our costumes and film a few impromptu book trailers. First, here's one for SHARK VS. TRAIN by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld.



voiceover: Connie Hsu
Shark: Alvina Ling (aka, the editor of the book)
Train: Maria Mercado (aka the designer of the book)

And here's one for HAPPYFACE by Stephen Emond




Singer: Alvina Ling
Happyface: Connie Hsu (aka, the editor of the book)

And here are our costumes:

 (2nd Happyface is the designer of the book, Ben Mautner)

pumpkin and costume answer

And the answer to the "which pumpkin is mine?" question:

Sara was right! You know me so well. But I wonder if it's because the pumpkin I carved in 2003 us suspiciously familiar:I wanted a scary pumpkin. But thanks for all of your guesses and kind reasons for why you thought a particular one was mine!

I marched in the NY Halloween parade on Tuesday in Greenwich Village, which was a lot of fun. I think 2003 might have been the last (and first) time I did it. I love seeing all the costumes, and was obsessed with a group of 15 or so people who all dressed as bananas. Here's a video:



And as for my costume, I was indeed a squid. My friend Julie's mom made this costume for her when she was in high school, and it's been making the rounds ever since.

And so now...it's the night before the marathon and I'm decompressing (not, as I mistakenly said earlier today, decomposing). I have butterflies--am both nervous and excited. I don't really doubt that I'll finish, but you never know what can happen. My left knee has been bothering me--popping. But I think I'll make it through.

I can't believe it's here! I think it'll be a big letdown afterwards, but I'll enjoy it while I can, and I'll enjoy my after party as well. Stay tuned for an update, I'll post on Monday at the latest--I'm taking the day off to relax and recover.

Oh, and the good news is that I've surpassed my fundraising goal, so thank you everyone for your support!

Happy Halloween!

NOTE: New pic and video added at bottom of post

Just a few pics from my weekend. I should have more pics after tonight:

Pumpin-carvin' Friday (can you guess which one is mine?):
(I'll give the answer later this week. No prize, but you'll get fame and props from me)

Costume wearin' Saturday (can you guess what I am?): Alexis in the cutest costume ever: Cupcake!

Mariko is dressed as the lower east side bulding, Blue:

No candy for me, but I still like to get in the spirit of the holiday. Happy Halloween!

**Additional picture and video**

As Sara says, you can't see my whole costume, so here's a better picture of it that Mariko took. We're actually all dancing around a robot ghost:

Here's a video of it: