Resource Girl

It is an exciting time here in NYC. Tomorrow begins the week long Book Expo America. Having been to three already, I can tell you, for a book lover it is an absolute paradise, however this year it is particularly delicious for me as I will be signing 100 copies of “I’m Here, Now What?! An Artist’s Survival Guide for NYC!” at Table 4 in the Main Autographing area at the Jacob Javits Center. It does cost to enter the event but I can tell you that you will walk away with several hundred books.

Yes, Free Books are given away on every subject matter that you can imagine. There are books about dogs, cows, boys, boats, happiness, sadness, toy trains and more.  If you love books then it is a must do this week. It runs June 1,2 and 3rd. May 31st there is also an event sponsored by The Learning Annex with the famed Mark Victor Hansen of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books that have been on the Best Sellers List like forever.

I hope to see you there!

If you are in your room painting away or are out in the park and you are taking pictures, you may be asking yourself, where can I show my work? Well the summer (non technically) has arrived in NYC and in Union Square you can set up shop. You just need a table and bring your wares. Today I went there and put my book out for everyone to see. I stayed a few hours and sold a copy. It was a great people watching event, I got some color and now I know for the next 10 days where I will be, Union Square to sell my book.

Having practiced Yoga for about a year, I can tell you that I have seen amazing results in the way I feel before, after and during. Having a full life has caused me to say these words, “I am so blessed, I am stressed”. I am convinced that less is more and constantly reassess how I spend my time. Yoga is something that I want to have in my life forever. Lulu Lemon on 65th and Broadway has free yoga on Sunday nights at 8pm. Why not try it out if you are here or planning to come to NYC? You might just like it.

Today the sun is shining brightly in New York City but I am smiling for another reason. Finally, I mean after begging for some time now, my landlord has allowed a contractor to come and replace my sinks. I consider myself terribly lucky that my ceiling hasn’t fallen in. Having had a friend that lived for over six months with a huge hole in her ceiling, I feel lucky to only have roach infested, mold, dry rotted sinks in my kitchen and bathroom.

But now they are gone, but before they left, what was I doing? Cleaning up the mold, roaches and other items like some change I found underneath the kitchen sink. Before you go thinking that I am disgusting, remember I, well I haven’t told you that yet, I have lived here 11 1/2 years and I don’t know anyone that moves their sink regularly to clean under it. I have also had numerous friends, relatives and others staying here at the Happy Harrell Hotel.

Surely this has not contributed to a healthy living and there have been times that I have felt down just by being in my apartment. I think I could be solving one of my biggest problems, and really that is what the Resource Girl does best is solving others problems here, that I have here.

Fortunately the two mexicans who are working here are whistling as they work. The appear to be relatively attentive but they aren’t going to clean the aftermath of life that was lived to the fullest. Anyway, better late than never.

Detailing work in NYC is not always respected. They do the job to get it done and to feed their family but many times it is not the highest quality. Just remember that when apartment hunting.

Sometimes in NYC you need to accept the basics: good water pressure, clean, no mold, bath and shower, laundry in the building and good light. If you are coming from a beautiful suburb, just be aware before you get here of the type of apartments you may find.

I think I will put a before and after picture on the site tomorrow.

In the past three days I have sold 12 copies. Thank you each and every one of you that has bought a copy. I love being able to help you and thank you for helping me as well. If you are in NYC, you can find it at The Drama Book Shop, The Capezio Dance Store, The Sixth Sense Candle Store, Gracious Homes, The HA! Comedy Club and the Virgin Mega Stores. You can also find it on www.amazon.com and www.borders.com. Thanks for all your support and keep following your dreams.

It is always crazy to think about a city that has 16 million people, as being a city that could be a lonely place, but it can be. After living here many years I have observed a strange occurance of loneliness. I, too, can suffer from that. There is a real sense of information and entertainment overload that it’s hard to see the forrest for the trees (I don’t even know what that phrase means) but it’s sometimes hard to get to know someone with all the other information being throw at you. I have friends in the city that I don’t know where they actually come from. Okay, New Jersey, yes, but where exactly? I have never even see their family photos.

Being a social person it is a bizarre place to live. I know hundreds of people but there are a few that I can really call friends. One of the reasons I wrote this book is because I am completely aware of the real challenges that the city presents. I feel I have successfully conquered how to find extra cash, finding a decent place to live, finding cheap eats and all of that. But truthfully in my next book I will need to address more this phenomenon of living in a city with so many wonderful things to do and share and at times no one to share them with.

Don’t worry too much about The Resource Girl as she is VERY resourceful and finds creative ways to interact with people. One of the best ways is to give of you time. I have done that with various charities and find that it is an incredibly good way to lift your spirits. Helping others that are less fortunate than ourselves, helps them and it also helps us, I think anyway, feel more a peace with our own situations.

When I was in college I always studied late at night, to be honest I couldn’t sit still any other time of the day. So many people have tried to tell me that the way to success is getting up early every morning and begining the day this way. To be honest I didn’t buy it when I was younger and the older I get, I realize that everyone is different.

Being a night owl is not a sin and trust me for someone who loves to write, there is a ton of great stuff that is out late at night, in these 24 hour Starbucks. While sitting in Starbucks reading information about how to promote my book on the internet, I was informed by the guy next to me that the woman in the corner that appeared to be homeless was in fact extremely wealthy. He knew a lawyer that was representing her case. How strange to see a woman at 2:30am reading a paper, that supposedly has a penthouse downtown.

This is one of the reasons I love New York, the idea that you can have so many diverse people up in the middle of the night, all together, reading peacefully in the same space, as if we were friends in a communal living room. It may be strange to others, but I have had delightful conversations with these strangers.

Tonight my counter mate, as I was sitting in front of the window, listened to my book journey and some of the frustrations I have had, and simply said, “Be Grateful for Each and Every Book that you have Sold.” It was funny because he said to me exactly something I would have said to someone close to me. He was so right. I need to relish more in what has happened and less in what has not happened.

After dancing my entire life, I am never more excited then when I see really good dancing. While checking out the site of this really talented guitar player that I had play at my party www.colinsteel.com I found a link on his site that got me really excited. I don’t know if these dancers are in NYC or not, but this is the kind of thing I expect from New York Dancers. I hope you will enjoy it and be inspired to dance your heart out, no matter what your day job is. Healthier are the people who dance, happier are the people who dance, “Funner” are the people who dance. It doesn’t matter whether you become famous or not, just dance!http://eassemblyline.net/01/taiko.html

Okay so I have been going to Europe for many years now and I have always been proud of myself that I can find a flight between 300 to 600 dollars. I have to inform you that this summer is different. I searched the world over, using the sites listed on the travel page as well as www.cheaptickets.com and www.priceline.com, where you name your own price and I was sad to see that this year is difficult to get to your destination with any reasonable price.

I just want to warn you and let you know if you want to just get there, pick the lowest price and then move around the continent, but if you want to go to a specific place, buyer beware. My destination is Milan at the tune of 955.00. So the Resource Girl is alerting you and hoping that you find a better price.

If you are having any better luck, do share with my readers. Do make a comment and give people hope. The Resource Girl is all about hope, but frankly I think you better watch those free downloaded movies at home to save up for Europe travel this summer or just postpone your flight to September when the rates are already showing at 500!

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