There’s nothing like people making you laugh. NOTHING.
This past weekend I was one lucky gal, participating in not one but two events as part of Jen Mann’s book tour for her latest release, Working with People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Cantankerous Clients, Micromanaging Minions, and Other Supercilious Scourges.
For this leg of her tour, I thought it might be fun to get some of the local contributors to her New York Times bestselling I Just Want to Pee Alone humor anthology series (including me) to join her. We could each do a reading for the audience, yadda yadda yadda: it turned into one long day of laughter.
First, Kris Amels of Why, Mommy? took care of setting up one event in Hackensack, NJ at Morton’s the Steakhouse, which was a total hoot.
Because we were also raising money for our friend Beth Caldwell of The Cult of Perfect Motherhood and MetUp.org (mom of two, wife of one, writer of extraordinary things) who has metastatic breast cancer, countless local businesses donated prizes to the raffle and Morton’s donated all the food during the event so people could give more to the fundraiser instead of spend it on nosh.
(Yes, everyone’s generosity made me cry a little.)
Then it was my turn to host an event in Madison, NJ.
I invited local vendors to come, too, so there was food and drinks and shopping and a raffle and so many, many chortles.
Here is the full list of speakers, and where to find their work:
Jen Mann of People I Want to Punch in the Throat
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Books
Kim Bongiorno of Let Me Start By Saying
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Books
E. R. Catalano of Zoe vs. the Universe
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Books
Shya Gibbons of Vintage Dreams with a Modern Twist
Blog • Facebook
Stacey Gill of One Funny Motha
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Books
Jennifer Lizza of Outsmarted Mommy
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Books
Elly Lonon
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Books
Samara Rose of A Buick in the Land of Lexus
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
Jen Simon
Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Books
And ooooh the shopping!
I admit that I picked up a few things:
Thank you thank you thank you to all of our wonderful vendors:
Splendid Junk Vintage
Instagram • Shop
Arbonne by Tracy Barbossa
Facebook • Instagram • Shop
ShellyCakes Handmade Jewelry and Accessories
Instagram • Shop
Stitch Contemporary Women’s Clothing and Accessories Boutique
Facebook • Instagram • Shop
Autistic Hero Teeshirts
Facebook • Twitter • Shop
A special shout-out to the local businesses who donated items to our raffle:
Crowley Cupcakes!
Facebook • Instagram • Shop
Suburban Shop Shoes
Facebook • Shop
Chloe + Isabelle with Jennifer Battista
Shop
Cheryl Crouthamel, Author and Illustrator
Blog • Facebook
I mean just LOOK at the goodies we ended up giving away that night:
Plus wines and home décor and other things people were handing me up to the last minute to make sure all of the raffle bags were stuffed!
At the end of the night, I was exhausted but smiling because not only did we all have a great time (and end up with some great goodies of our own, between the shopping and the raffle), but we raised hundreds of dollars for our friend, Beth, in the process. Which made it feel even better.
If you’d like to learn more about her wonderful organization, or make your own donation, you can do so at MetUp.org at any time.
THANK YOU to everyone who came and laughed and shopped and gave and insisted I stay hydrated and shared stories and helped promote the event.
THANK YOU to Jen Mann for letting us be a part of her big day! Oh–and if you want to meet Jen, you can find all of the future dates of her ongoing book tour here.
I hope to see you all again soon!
