All this book stuff is happening so fast that I can’t quite keep up with it. My book launch party was last week but I didn’t get the pics back until Tuesday and that was the morning I knocked knees with Michael Strahan so obviously, I had to wait to come down from my crazy high before organizing my thoughts into a blog post.

Then I had a minor breakdown before my NYC reading but was picked back up by my beautiful daughter Mazzy and all was even again.

Tonight, I finally have a moment to post. Well, I had to wait until my kids went to bed which took FOREVER. Mazzy couldn’t find her Boo and Harlow doesn’t know how to stay in a lying down position and I nearly lost my head. I HAVE A BLOG POST TO WRITE!!! GO TO BED!!!!!!

Anyway.

Let me start by saying that I had almost nothing to do with the planning of this party. I told my amazing friend Seri (aka Little Miss Party) that I wanted to have a book launch party and then I let her run with it. I swear to god guys, the best thing I ever did was befriend a party planner. There are few people in this world I would trust with something like this but Seri is really the absolute best at what she does and I knew she would make it amazing, starting with this Instagram friendly backdrop.

JAZZ HANDS!!!!

Look how cute it looks in photos! Please ignore Harlow’s shellshocked face. But don’t ignore my hair which was done to perfection by Beautini. I asked for instructions in case I wanted someone to do it the same way again. They said— beach waves, start the curl in the middle of your head, and keep the ends straight.

All my friends showed up which was awesome. SO. If you ever write a book, I have a piece of advice. If you want all your friends to show up for your reading, do not invite them to a party with free alcohol the week before. If they have to choose one, we all know which one they are going to pick!

We had the event at Maman in Tribeca which is a wonderful space with lots of BOOK SHELVES! So Seri decked the place with loads of copies of my book borrowed from my publisher.

Seri also had some of my favorite Instagram pics printed out and on display.

Look at these yellow chairs!

Seri doesn’t half ass anything. That’s her husband Adam, by the way.

The whole event felt kind of like my wedding. I had the best time but it passed in a whirlwind and I wish it could have been about three hours longer. Thank god Seri told me to hire the fabulous photographer Dave Robbins to take pics of the event so that I could be fully present and just enjoy myself.

Best decision ever.

Originally, I wasn’t going to bring the kids. In fact, the invitation said— no kids whatsoever. But I had a change of heart. This book is about Mazzy and Harlow and I wanted the party to be about them too.

In addition to serving picky-eater-inspired items like grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup, burnt pizzas, fried chicken on mini waffle sandwiches and milk and cookies…

Seri and her team also set up two very special stations…

Harlow’s Waffle Bar:

And Mazzy’s ice cream cart:

When you ask most kids what they want to be when they get older, they usually say something like a doctor or an astronaut, but Mazzy has held fast to the idea that she wants to own an ice cream shop one day. My book launch party ended up being her opportunity to try out her future career.

Guys. She was SO PSYCHED.

To complete the waffle trifecta, we had waffle cones for the ice cream.

I think Harlow enjoyed them better than her daily frozen waffle.

And now I will take you through a little bit of “THIS IS YOUR LIFE” with my friends and family.

This is my mom and my sister.

These are my old co-workers from when we worked in advertising together. Bailey’s kid was the first baby I ever used for #babysuiting and Rachel helped me produce the Puff’s back-to-school video last year.

This is my literary agent, Andy.

This is the ghost of assistants past, plus my current assistant Allie on the left.

This is the amazing Ruth, our nanny since Mazzy was six months old.

This is my friend and the fabulous photographer Danielle Guenther who’s Best Case scenario photo series went viral last year.

This is my editor Rebecca from Abrams on the left.

my friend Daniela from Kulinary Kids NYC and her husband Guy. I met Daniela because her son was Mazzy’s book buddy when Mazzy started kindergarten and she has been amazingly supportive of my site and book ever since.

This is me and Sarah Bennett, who looks familiar because she is the first mom featured in my Extraordinary Families series.

This is Matt and Emily. Matt starred in my Father’s Day video and Emily is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Our birthdays are one day apart and we take off from work and celebrate together every year.

This is Amri and Katya from the way-more-fabulous-than-I-am Hey Mama community.

Mike’s best friend Brian (aka Uncle Brian) photobombing Mike and me. Fun fact! Brian took the photo of my family in our pajamas that appears in the intro of the book. He is already demanding royalties.

This is the Mommy Shorts Team, minus Pam who made me crop her out.

That’s Cara on the left who manages my brand partnerships (and hooked up a bunch of them for this party!), the lovely Abby who works for Seri but helps produce all of my gift guides in her spare time (she also took my author photo which appears on the back cover!), my new assistant Allie who happens to be a video editing wiz (if you have been noticing a lot more home videos lately, it’s all because of her!), and Annie, my hilarious summer intern who still manages things like giveaways and photo contests while finishing up her last year of college.

Oh wait! Pam cleared a photo for me to post! That’s her on the bottom left!

If you don’t know, Pam has become my internal producer here at Mommy Shorts helping me build out my video capabilities and my YouTube page. But she was also a huge help in editing my book. When I got the first round of edits back from my publisher, I was told I had to cut 25,000 words. I do not think I could have done that without Pam sitting next to me as a sounding board. She was brutal with what she thought I should lose and passionate about what she thought I should keep. She read that manuscript with me over and over again as each round of  edits came back and if this book is a success, she is at the top of my list to thank.

And lastly, this is Seri, in perhaps the best photo of the two of us together ever.

In my book, there is a section called “Making Your First Mom Friend” which talks about my failure to make any friends in “new mommy” class. The end to that story, which does not appear in the book, is that I needed to wait a couple years for Mazzy’s first year of preschool. Seri and I are both not people who make fast friends immediately. It took us until the middle of the year to realize we wanted to hang out with each other ALL THE TIME, from that point forward. I can’t thank the universe enough for helping us find each other.

Towards the end of the night, I gave a babbling speech to thank everyone for attending (and to beg them to buy a book even though they could take one for free from the party.)

That’s my dad (aka Poppy) filming the whole thing. I get my love of Apple products from him.

Then Mike surprised me with a speech of his own. After nine years of marriage and two kids, communication often becomes about who is picking up who from school and which yogurt brand you should buy at the store. It was really special to hear Mike say that he is proud of me. I mean, I knew it. But it was nice to hear out loud.

I love you, Mr. Mommy Shorts!

Then Mazzy insisted on taking the mic to make some weird random beatboxing sounds. Grammy whispered in her ear and then she ended with, “I love you, Mommy” which was much more appreciated.

Where was Harlow during all this? Hanging out on the couch with her entourage.

On the way out the door, people grabbed Mommy Shorts gift bags (how fab are those bags???) filled with products from all the brands who sponsored the party, most of whom have supported my blog for a very long time. They were Olly, Pampers Easy Ups, MicroKickboard, Apple Park, Babiators, LittleMissMatched, Curel, Seedling, Honest Tea and Plum Organics. A huge thanks to all these brands for making the event possible!

Lastly, Seri had set up a table with markers for everyone to sign my book for me. A reverse signing, if you will.

When I got home from the party, I opened the book and read through a lot of the amazing well wishes and congratulations. Then right before I went to bed, I flipped to the back cover and almost started crying. Not almost. I totally cried.

There on the back was Mazzy’s writing.

When my blog started, it was all about Mazzy.

And this book launch, it’s really all about her too.

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Buy your copy of The Mommy Shorts Guide to Remarkably Average Parenting and make sure to tag your pics #mommyshortsbook on social media! I’m going to be giving away a huge swag bag (that includes all the brands who supported the party and much more) to someone in the hashtag. More to come about that later today!