Diamond Bar

I'm at my parents' house in Diamond Bar, CA. (On Tuesday at work I was talking to an author who said, "Oh, are you going to Gold Bar?" haha--wrong precious substance.) I lived in this city from 8th grade through high school. It's a pretty nice place to live, I suppose. It's beautiful, with rolling hills, lots of green, flowers, wilderness, wildlife, peaceful. I don't like the car culture, though, but that's just me. I do like visiting--my parents' house is spacious yet comfortable, and the backyard is full of fruit trees, balconies, paths, ponds, swings, even a tennis court.

I played tennis with my parents and my uncle this morning, and then went for a short run/walk around the neighborhood (Snoop Dog lives in my neighborhood--I know which house is his, but have never seen him. There's always a car with a guy--body guard--sitting outside of it.). Saw two rabbits hanging out, they didn't seem afraid of me. I think one of them was named Peter. ANYway, Diamond Bar is about 40% Asian, which you can believe was a huge shock when I moved here from Upstate NY, where you could count the number of Asians in my school on one hand.

Last night I arrived around 7 pm, and I went with my parents up to this community center up on a hill to see the fireworks. (My fellow spectators were probably 75% Asian.) You could see the fireworks displays sprinkled all over the horizon. People kept saying things like, "Oh, do you think that's in Rowland Heights?" and "Is that in the City of Industry?" or "Maybe that's the Disney Land show." Typical Southern California. It made me realize what a different world I live in now. I feel lucky to have lived in many different places.

I'm back home primarily for a family reunion in the San Diego area that starts on Sunday--my cousin Jimmy is being ordained as a minister. For once, I hadn't made plans in advance to see any of my friends--I've been so busy, and to be honest, am feeling a bit burned out. But after a relaxing evening and morning here, I sent out an email to my friends--"I'm here!"--it's last-minute, so who knows if I'll get to see any of them. But I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and seeing all of my cousins' little kids--there are a few new additions I haven't met yet.

Anyway, there wasn't really a point to this post, but as I vowed to post once a week, I wanted to check in. I hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July!

Poetry Friday--an ode to school librarians

Hey, look--two posts in two days! The other day, the lovely J. Patrick Lewis left a comment and poem on my blog, and I thought I'd re-post it as my first-ever Poetry Friday post:

Apropos of nothing at all, Alvina, I wanted to share with you my admiration for school librarians. I meet so many of them on author visits. Anyway, here's a
new sonnet:

xo, Pat

School Librarian Day
April 4

The School Librarian

A sign hangs on her door,
BOOKLYN, NEW YORK [sic]
WE OPEN UP THE MIND
YOU’LL NEVER CLOSE!
When you walk in, the whole library knows—
A welcome bell hums like a tuning fork.
She’ll tell you what to read and what to skip.
You name a book; she heads right to the shelf.
The rumor is she’s read them all herself.
No one has ever run a tighter ship.
These days, a job like hers is electronic
Because computers answer every need.
Librarians belong to a new breed.
But here at Booklyn, isn’t it ironic?
She still treats books like they are dreams come true.
And you had better treat them that way, too.

Thanks, Pat! Happy Friday, everyone.

Work, Spring list, stuff

I think I'm recovered from ALA now. I hope to do a whole wrap-up on Monday over at the Blue Rose Girls. But in the meantime, I'll just say that it was busy, exhausting, thrilling, and fun. I attended the Caldecott/Newbery dinner for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I seemed to have barely a minute free from Saturday through Monday, was booked most days from 8:30 am till 11 at night. It was the busiest conference I've ever attended. But more on that later. I got home late Monday night, only to go to work early on Tuesday to prepare for our Focus meeting for our Spring 2008 list. For those of you who don't know what Focus is, it's sometimes called Launch, sometimes called Presales. Basically, it's the first formal meeting that we have to introduce our books on a certain list to the sales force. Generally, we have a Focus meeting, then a Presales meeting, and finally the formal Sales meeting. At my company, the editors usually only get to present their titles at Focus, and then only the editorial directors present at Presales and Sales (although this policy keeps changing). Just to give you a sneak peek, my four hardcover titles for the Spring 08 list are:

Sergio Makes a Splash by Edel Rodriguez: this is the first picture book both written and illustrated by Edel, and he's using a completely different art style--very simple, graphic, bright. Sergio is a penguin from Argentina who loves water but doesn't know how to swim.

The Blue Stone by Jimmy Liao: our follow up to The Sound of Colors, this is another 80-page breathtakingly illustrated book. This one follows the journey of a blue stone as it is transformed from one thing to another. It's carved into an elephant statue for a museum, then becomes a bird statue in an elderly woman's garden. It becomes a stone cat in an orphanage to keep the children company, and a heart-shaped necklace for a teenager's first love. This is a story of the different possibilities of life, and finding home again.

Crocs! by David Greenberg, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger: another installment in the "gross animal" series, alongside Slugs!, Bugs!, Snakes!, and Skunks! When a boy and his dog need a break from the busy, dirty city, they go to a tropical island for vacation, not realizing they're about to encounter an islandful of crocodiles.

The Postcard by Tony Abbott: his follow-up to Firegirl (now out in paperback), this one is quite different. I like to call it Holes meets Chasing Vermeer meets Carl Hiaasen. When Jason's grandmother dies, he's sent down to Florida to help his father deal with the funeral and selling of her house. A mysterious phone call leads Jason to discover an old postcard that launches him on a journey to uncover family secrets.

So, keep an eye out for these books come Spring! In terms of my workload, I'm almost done dealing with this list, and am about to start concentrating on my Fall 2008 list. I have a lot of novels on that list, so I'm anticipating more craziness. I had a moment of despair today thinking about it. There are times when work is hectic, but I can see an end in sight, I can see it getting better. But today, I realized that for the next three months its only going to get worse. My cube has been a disaster zone for the past month, and it's past the perfect mess state, and has now reached the unproductive, I-can't-find-anything state. But I stayed at the office till 9:30 tonight, put together my new shelves that I ordered from OfficeMax, and managed to create a semblance of order once again. I went through old emails from a month ago and responded and sorted emails dated up to June 7th. I'm hoping to get through another few weeks worth tomorrow. I'm feeling better. I'll have two days next week to catch up, and then I'm off for vacation to Southern CA for a family reunion on the Fourth of July. I have no more trips planned for the rest of the summer, so I should have plenty of time to get work back on track.

I think I can, I think I can.

On a brighter note, last night I went to see Manu Chao at the Prospect Park bandshell. It was a miserably hot, sticky night. The subway down there was slow and crowded. I was sweating sweating sweating. But after I finally met up with my friends, drank down a cold beer, made a work call, and finally the music started, all was wonderful again in the world. The rain held off until the middle of the encore, and by then it was welcome and exhilarating. We danced in the rain. Later that night, my phone stopped working. It said "Car Kit" on the face of it, for some reason. I googled it and discovered this was probably due to water damage. I thought I'd have to buy a new phone. But today, I went to Verizon, and instead of asking me if the phone got wet, the technician said, "Well, this is usually a sign of water damage, but as there is no physical evidence of this, we'll replace the phone." Woo-hoo!

Sometimes things work out.

Okay, I pounded out this post because T.S. complained that I don't post a lot anymore. Happy now?

Oh, one more thing. I FINALLY finished reading Carter Beats the Devil which some of you have noticed has been in my "What I'm Reading Now" queue for probably the last 6 months or so. You probably thought I just wasn't updating it, but you were wrong. I've really been reading it for that long. I kept putting it down and starting other things and losing it and then finding it again and reading more. It was a really really great book, and I wish I had read it without all those breaks, but regardless, it was still a fascinating, compelling read.

I'm hoping to finish New Moon tonight, which I've also been reading for a while.

And with that, I say good night.

Crazy busy, company outing and Corporate Challenge, and off to ALA

It's been another crazy busy week (Connie and I cranked out four acquisition proposals in a day and a half, including one last-minute auction project), but capped off with our very first company outing in Central Park, complete with hula-hooping, three-legged races, egg carry, bake-off, basketball, volleyball, softball and kickball, and more. I was roped into helping organize a softball game, and as I mentioned here, I also suggested kickball. The main game was softball, though, and I'm glad it was. I played on our company softball team back when we were based in Boston, and even though I've never been very good, it just brought back good memories. I played catcher, the position I used to always play back in the day. It's just a plain ton of fun. And I was captain of the winning team, woo-hoo! We won 4-0 after 7 innings. During the game I kept feeling like I was pulling something (what's the muscle on the back of the thigh?), and also got hit by the softball on my right knee while running to third (actually, I was already standing on third when the ball hit me), but I'm not really complaining, it was a great time. What I always loved about our softball team in Boston is that it united people from different departments. I have very little contact with coworkers outside of the young readers division, so it was good to meet some new people and get to know some familiar faces better.

The kickball game was a little scrappier and shorter, just three innings, and I think we lost 4-2 or 3-2. But it's just so fun seeing grown adults playing kickball. It's fantastic.

And THEN, later tonight, I ran in the Chase Corporate Challenge. My team introduced ourselves to each other by saying our name, department, and our running experience. It was weird realizing that I was actually one of the more experienced runners there. I'm used to being the amateur runner, the one just starting out, the one who never quite considered herself a runner, but now, 15 years later, multiple races, half marathons, and a marathon under my belt, including 3 or 4 Corporate Challenges, I guess I'm an old pro. There were so many people running their first organized race, and I must make a special shout-out to Jill, who only started jogging a month ago. She finished, and ran the whole way. Congratulations, Jill! You'll be running marathons before you know it. I remember my first Corporate Challenge in Boston my first or second year working at my company--it was my first official race, too.

Just as the race started, I heard someone call my name, and who would it be but Cheryl! Scholastic had the coolest T-shirts. Ours was plan navy blue with our logo on the back. And I didn't even wear mine because there were only larges left. I'm determined to make sure our company has a cool T-shirt next year.

I've been running regularly, but haven't been working on my speed. I made my goal to finish with an average of just under 10-minute miles, but after a quick start, weaving through the crowds, I ran an 8-minute first mile. I decided to try to keep up the pace. It was hard, I tell ya. But after raining for about a half hour before the race, the sky opened up, rainbow and flowing clouds and blue sky, and it was absolutely gorgeous, a little muggy, but overall perfect running weather. I crossed the finish line at 31:22, which if you subtract the 2 minutes it took to get to the starting line, means a net time of 29:22. Which means I ran about 8 and a half minute miles!!! (right? I'm horrible at math, as I mentioned in #6) I've never, ever, run a race that fast. Maybe being sore from softball and kickball actually helped, because it felt good to stretch out my muscles by running.

Phew. Then got caught in the rain on the way home. I'm absolutely exhausted.

Now I have to pack for ALA. My basic schedule is here, so if you're going, please stop by the booth and say hi!

I hope I'm not too sore tomorrow...

I <3 Lily Allen

Lily Allen is awesome. Went to her concert last night at the Warsaw in Brooklyn. Even though she complained at the start about being sick and having the runs (I forget how she said it, but in her cockney accent, it was adorable), she put on a kick-ass show. I was pretty close to the stage, but also right next to the speakers. I'm a little deaf this morning.

Here's her Smile video.


(If this doesn't work, you can view it here.)

I've decided I want to see more live music. I love it.

I'm a nymph!

What type of Fae are you?


I find this somewhat accurate.




via KTBuffy

8 THINGS ABOUT ME MEME

I've resolved to post at least once a week, even if it's just a stupid short little thing. This was actually one of my New Year's Resolutions, and as it seems it has fallen to the wayside like a few others (including my limit on sweet baked goods a week--damn those cupcakes!), I've decided to strengthen my resolve again.

Both Elaine and 7 Imp tagged me for this meme a while ago, and I'm finally getting around to it. Here are the rules:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

This feels similar to the 6 Weird Things Meme, but I'll try to think of different things. Let's see. Habits?

1. The first thing I do when I wake up is turn on my computer

2. I often narrate my life in my head as if I were a character in a book (I suspect that a lot of book people do this--am I right?).

3. For the last month or so, for no explicable reason, I've gotten the song "Red River Valley" stuck in my head as soon as I enter the bathroom in the morning, and often find myself singing it in the shower.

4. I always keep my fridge/freezer stocked with Hot Pockets, Tater Tots, tofu, and spinach.

5. Unless I'm carrying something heavy or wearing very uncomfortable shoes, I'll take the stairs up and down from my 6th floor apartment, even though I have an elevator.

6. I'm horrible with simple math (additions, multiplication, percentages). I still use my fingers to count sometimes, and never fully learned my times table. But I still got As in math, even AP Calculus in high school.

7. I take Pepsid AC when I drink alcohol to ward off the "Asian flush" (I think I have this on both my friendster and myspace profile, so I feel like I'm cheating...)

8. I'm really bad with faces and names, so don't feel bad if I don't remember you. It's me, not you. For some reason, it's hard for me to remember what people look like until I've taken a physical picture of them--even after meeting them several times. Even when I try to recall a loved one's face, I need to conjure up a photograph of them in my head.

Okay. Shoot, now I have to tag people...I'll go tag Libby, Linda, Amy, Tanya, Sara, Phoebe, Steve, and Jenny.

Oh, and if you're an author and you haven't weighed in yet, check out my poll over on the Blue Rose Girls (and don't forget that I post there every Monday--if I can post there once a week, why can't I do that here?). It's also a post about all the panels I've been on lately, and thus why I've been too busy to post.

And on a personal note, I just played in my first kickball game last night! (Yes, I joined a kickball league. Apparently two little kids who were walking by thought it was hilarious to see adults playing kickball and laughed at us). I didn't strike out as I was afraid I'd do (that would have been supremely embarrassing), but I did pop up once, and did drop a pop up. But I caught another, and got several "hits" (are they called "kicks" in kickball?), and even an RBI. Not bad for not playing since junior high! Which, when I actually thought about how long ago that would be, turns out to be 20+ years ago. And it was a TON of fun, even though the team we played was ultra-serious and competitive and didn't belong in the "just for fun" league. And beat us something like 17 to 4.

I was asked to help organize a softball game at our company picnic next week, and although I love softball and miss playing, I may suggest that we play kickball instead.

Dad ran a marathon!!!

Yesterday, in San Diego, CA, my 69-year-old father ran the Rock 'n' Roll marathon. He finished in a little over 6 hours. He was inspired by my roommate and me running last year, and I'm so proud of him. (And part of me is a bit relieved, too--I couldn't help but feel a little responsible for his decision to run, and my mother wouldn't have been very happy with me if he had hurt himself training.) We talked about running one together next year (My mom didn't seem too happy when I told her our plan). We'll see!

I'm sorry I couldn't be there with him, but I saw the pictures on my brother's flickr page. Here are a few:

at mile 10

mom and dad at the finish line

happy to be finished

Congratulations, Dad! You're incredible!!!!

Toronto trip and IRA wrap-up

I've been writing this post in between cupcake-making chores. We baked approximately 144 cupcakes, and then tonight had friends over to help decorate them. Our first 48 pictured here, guarded by Chowder:

So, as promised, my Toronto and IRA wrap-up. IRA was great--a bit quiet, as attendance was approximately half as last year's convention, but it was still an active, busy conference. Little, Brown hosted five authors: Marc Brown, Alice Hoffman, J. Patrick Lewis, Tony Abbott, and Peter Brown. I enjoyed the little of Toronto I was able to see--it was my first time there, and I'd like to go back to visit!

This may be a little more detailed than you'd like to read but here goes--everything you ever wanted to know about my trip. This is what my schedule was like:

Sunday

Evening: Arrive in Toronto. Call my colleagues and go to a cute French Bistro on King Street for dinner. We sit in a heated back courtyard, which is lovely. There's a large party that takes over half of the area--an 18th or 21st birthday party of a girl who arrives wearing a dress and a tiara. Her whole family is there. There's a long "adult" table, a kids' table, and a table with her friends. Towards the end of the night the mother stands up and gives a speech, ending with, "If any of you have funny stories or memories about XXX, now's the time to tell them," at which point my colleague Lisa and I look at each other and then look around and realize that we are now the only two people in the back area who don't belong to the party. I'm tempted to stand up and give a toast.

Monday

8:30 am: I meet poet J. Patrick Lewis for the first time. Victoria joins us for breakfast. I order an egg white lobster omelet. Pat is wonderful, funny, warm, comfortable. We'd talked on the phone and emailed, but had never met in person, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to sit down over a meal and get to know one another.

10:00-2:00 pm: Off to the convention center for booth duty. I stack up a pile of Atherton galleys by Patrick Carman. Mark from Just One More Book stops by to introduce himself, and then Mo Willems stops by with his editor to say hi. It turns out the two of them were supposed to meet for an interview, so all three of them quickly disappear together. The Atherton pile also disappears in less than three hours. The booth traffic is light by steady. I enjoy talking about the books to the teachers who come by. I see a few publishing colleagues and chat.

2:30: I grab lunch and then walk the floor for an hour or so, saying hi to authors and editors I know, looking at some of the new books out. I get a copy of the Love, Stargirl galley. Jerry Spinelli had asked a while ago if he could use my name for a character in it. Ah, there I am on the back cover copy. "hot-tempered Alvina"--I like it!

5:00: Back to the hotel to work out before dinner. The hotel gym is very nice, and the treadmills have a tv built in.

6:45: Meet Tony Abbott in the Lobby of our hotel. We grab a cab to our restaurant. Right before we get in the cab, it starts sprinkling. During the 15-minute cab ride, it starts pouring rain. I say, "Wouldn't it be nice if it stopped raining by the time we reached the restaurant?" Tony laughs. We arrive at Chiado, a Portuguese restaurant. Tony steps out first. "It stopped raining!"

Dinner was divine. Wine, cheese, a fresh fig salad, the cod special, dessert and coffee, superb service, great conversation, the whole shebang.

Tuesday

9:30 am: Check work email

10:30: Meet Tony at his session with Laurie Halse Anderson. He talks about how he hates being asked, "So, what's the book about?" because it's such a loaded question, and so difficult to answer. The book is about what the book is about. He talks about the life a book takes after it's published.

12:30: Tony's signing of Firegirl at the booth. Despite the light attendance, there is a steady stream of people. At one point, I notice a large group of Asian kids walk by, see the sign that says, "Now signing: Tony Abbott" and do a double take. They put down their stuff and chatter amongst themselves. I notice that there are two adults mixed into the group. I wonder what their story is--there are rarely children at these conferences. The whole group of them go and buy books and stand in line, and soon Tony is surrounded by the excited group, all holding out their books to be signed, taking pictures. It turns out that they're from Korea, where Tony's Secret of Droon series is a huge hit, and where Firegirl is also to be translated. They had been waiting for his signing at the Scholastic booth when they happened upon our signing.

1:30: J. Patrick Lewis's signing of Tulip at the Bat and Wing Nuts at the booth. Also a nice, steady stream of people. Pat has the best autograph ever--looping big letters in a brown Sharpie. "I see you're not a doctor, " one woman in line commented. Pat laughed. "Actually, I am, " he says, "PhD." She's embarrassed. "Hello Dr. Lewis," she greets him when she reaches the front of the line.

2:30: Peter Brown arrives at the booth. I get a smoothie to go and we walk the show together. It's Peter's first time at a conference, and he's a bit overwhelmed at how big it is and how many books are published. "How does any one book ever get noticed?" He wonders out loud.

We come across Linda Sue Park signing books and I get a copy of Project Mulberry signed and say hi. She says she likes that the show isn't too busy.

4:00: Peter and I meet Mark from Just One More Book (hear my previous podcast interview with him here) for a joint interview about the author-editor relationship. You can hear Peter and my interview here.

4:30: Back to the hotel to check work email, rest, and work out before dinner.

7:00: Dinner at a fabulous Greek seafood restaurant, Mediterra with Peter Brown, coworkers Victoria and Nora, and three kidslit experts. My scallops were so delicious ("Like buttah," Victoria says), as was the dessert called "death by chocolate." Conversation ranged from favorite teachers, to scrotum, to politics.

10:oo pm: Peter and I meet up with one of his friends who lives in Toronto for drinks. Peter's friend is Middle Grade novelist Adrienne Kress, whose first novel, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman will be out this Fall. Coincidentally (more coincidences!), my company participated in the auction for this book. I wasn't the bidding editor, but I was one of the editorial readers, and I loved the book. We don't win the auction, though. A few months later, Peter mentions to me that he met a children's book author and told me the title of her book. "Why does that sound familiar...oh, I read that!" In person, she is chatty and friendly and energetic, and it was fun talking kids' books with the both of them. I also get some recommendations from Adrienne for places to go/see in Toronto.

Wednesday

8:45: Check work email, send my assistant Connie a last-minute description for a novel I'm bringing to our acquisitions meeting next week.

9:15: Meet Peter for breakfast

11:00: Peter Brown's book signing of Chowder and Flight of the Dodo. We get there a little early and Victoria shoos us out of the booth. We do a quick lap around the floor and by the time we get back, a short line has formed. Peter sits down and starts signing. He starts drawing little Chowders (in Chowder) and little Kiwis (in Flight of the Dodo) and the line gets longer. Victoria comes over. "Is he drawing a new book?!" she hisses. "I'll hurry things along" I say. He stops drawing Chowders and Kiwis. The line is still long. Victoria, Nora, and Lisa all give us looks to hurry up. But I like the line--and besides, there have hardly been any lines at the conference. Peter chats it up and gets invited twice to do a school visit in Guam. But we do eventually speed things up. He sells out of books, and we even sell the display copy of Flight of the Dodo. And we had been worried that a Wednesday signing wouldn't be well-attended!

12:30: We have some time to kill before Peter's session with Elise Primavera, and so we do a lap around the session rooms and see that Janet Wong is speaking now, and go in for a bit. She's hilarious. Makes people do yoga, tell stories. We run into Yolanda LeRoy there. We sneak out a bit early to get a snack before Peter's session. Peter suddenly realizes that he doesn't have a copy of any of his books with him, and I realize that we've sold out of books. "Lisa has a copy of Chowder, at least" I say. She had Peter sign a copy to her pug, Frodo. "And we might have the display F&G of The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder..." we go down to check, and yes, both Chowders. But no Flight of the Dodo to be had. "Someone will probably be at your session who bought it today, we can borrow it from them."

We cart a box of Chowder plush (as pictured before guarding the cupcakes) up to the session room. Worried by the Wednesday afternoon session time, we wanted to give people incentive to show up. Elise Primavera and editor Ari from Hyperion are already in the room setting up. A total of ten people show up for the session, a bit pitiful, but we all make the most of it. Elise talks about her new Fred & Anthony series, and Peter talks about how he became a picture book author and illustrator, and the inspiration behind Flight of the Dodo and Chowder. After the talk I see Peter into a cab to the airport. The exhibition hall is now closed.

3:30: Met fellow editor and blogger Stacy Whitman for coffee. It was our first time meeting (well, after a quick hello on Monday) and it was great to learn more about her and her career. We had both interned at the Horn Book.

6:00: I take a trip to Queen St. West to go shopping in the freezing rain before meeting a friend (and former intern who now works for Penguin Canada) in the same neighborhood for dinner. I buy a dress and a bag. We get Korean food--all-you-can-eat BBQ. Delicious. I hadn't had Korean food in a while.

Back in the hotel room I use a hair dryer to dry my jeans and shoes so I can pack them away.

(I rescued a few Chowders to keep me company)

Thursday

8:30 am: Meet Yolanda for breakfast. The weather is brisk but beautiful, blue sky and fluffy clouds are out after the storm. We take the subway up to the Museum stop to check out a breakfast place called Over Easy Adrienne had recommended. It was perfect. Then we walk around the University of Toronto until I have to leave to catch my flight to Boston.

And that, my friends, is everything you needed to know about my trip to Toronto. Anna and Grace picked me up at the airport in Boston. The cupcakes are all decorated and safely in the car to keep cool. The big party is tomorrow! Aside from making cupcakes, we've been making paper flowers and stuffing goody bags and planning. Over 100 people have RSVPed that they're coming--it should be a fantastic time.

And then Grace flies out to San Antonio on Sunday morning and I return to New York.

Sorry for the terribly long post! More later. It's time for bed.

I've been MIA

Sorry. Busy busy busy. Got back from SF and Seattle, had to pack and move my office, tried to catch up on work (hopeless goal), and then was off to Toronto for the IRA convention (International Reading Association), and am now in Boston--Somerville, to be exact--in Grace's lovely apartment, to celebrate Grace's birthday (we had a lovely birthday dinner last night), and attend her fabulous book party on Saturday. Tomorrow! We're making 100 cupcakes today.

I'll have an IRA wrap-up soon, either here or on the Blue Rose Girls site. Stay tuned...