After a 9 hour Greyhound trip in a bus with a busted horn...welcome to the real America, Dane!

Graceland!

this couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at Graceland...they'd been there three times. They were so cute.

Graceland is seriously amazing.  We stayed so long that three full tours passed us.  Elvis had the craziest, most over-the-top, gaudy, freaking amazing style…here’s the sitting room (note the glass cubes figurines on the table…he had these themes running through the house.  Glass cubes, freaky white monkey statues…and I love the Peacocks!)

The TV room

Everyone is really quiet in Graceland…like visiting church.

The Car museum was INSANE.

The Gates of Graceland

Thomas is secretly a Southern boy

Getting a shirt at Lansky's

BEST. VACATION. EVER.

I miss Oklahoma. A LOT. And going home to do a reading was amazing…mostly because I got to see so many people I love and miss.

And I got to stay with Kent and Brenda Johnson, who are the coolest people in the world with the most fabulous garden (not to mention the best squirrel – Federica):

The reading was INTENSE. I had this surreal moment as I signed books where it occurred to me I was actually SIGNING BOOKS and it blew my mind.

Thank you for the posters, Erica! And for the flowers, Carla!

But the best part was having all the people I love around me supporting me…Thomas (who rocked the B&N on the electric guitar), Martha Weiss, Sarah Jacoby, Emily Johnson, Steve Sanders….my mom and dad… people I haven’t seen since high school….Kerrie Loyd and her extremely blond and gorgeous family….

The adorable Blakely

BFF Emo...Brooklyn in the house!

Other BFF Steve

High School buddy Nathan and his lovely lady Gracelynn

Steve, me and Kathryn Primus (who I haven't seen since Freshman year of HS and is still one of the coolest chicks I know!)

my new fave Hollywood couple: Terry and Teri

The gorgeous Loyd Clan

And I sold 85 books!

But even better than all that was seeing my father’s library at the bombing memorial…he donated his collection to the Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (which he helped found).   I’ve never actually seen the library until this trip.

But when I saw this, I cried:

My dad is the world’s leading expert on International Terrorism…he was researching, writing books and doing simulations when people still thought studying International Terrorism was a completely crazy endeavor…well, unfortunately, he proved them all wrong. But fortunately too…because his work is more important than anyone could have possibly imagined.

I'm still kind of crying...I'm really proud. But, ummm...where is MY book, pops?

view of the Memorial from the Insitute

the ceiling of the library, a memorial to those who have died in terrorist acts.

And not to brag too much…but his former students now populate the highest level of the FBI, CIA and government. The work he’s done has such a far reach…of course, it goes way beyond anything I could write here…and I will embarrass him if I write about it right now…a besides, I plan on doing a book with him. So more to come on that.

Then I took the Dane to the stockyards, which blew his mind…

I think he was expecting a “theme park”…but he found Oklahoma totally “authentic”. Of course it is…there aren’t many tourists who come to Oklahoma. The stockyards is the real deal.  And yeah, Cattleman’s is the best steak in America.

and no, we didn't do the lamb fries. I don't love my state enough to eat lamb testicles. Sorry, Oklahoma.

Danish Cowboy

And then we went to the Greyhound to head off to Memphis and meet Elvis….but more on that LATER!

pops, me and mom...wanna see the real Oklahoma? Hang at the greyhound station downtown.

OFF TO GRACELAND!!!!!!!!

…or you might end up doing stuff like this.  And photographing it.

Note:  My mom got me that Brooke Shields doll when I was a kid because she heard they’d be collectors items.  Up until a few weeks ago, I’d resisted the urge to open the box and decrease the value…but recently I figured, what the hell?  You’re only 33 once! And, by the way, I once saw Brooke Shields in a restaurant in NYC…I went up and told her I had this doll.  She said, “I hate that doll.  When I was in college, I’d come home and find my roomates had hung it by a little noose.  They thought it was hilarious.”  She was pretty cool.  

Katie’s Reading was amazing.  She really blew it away…her stuff is so funny and dark.  Not to mention, she looked hot.  I mean, way too hot to be a writer to tell you the truth!  Anyway, I was really proud…and the best part of the whole thing was getting to see her and Chuck in NYC, ‘cause I miss them very, very much.

Also cool…we were late, and this dude was standing outside the Happy Endings Lounge where they do the reading series (which, by the way, is marked with a Chinese restaurant sign – totally confusing)…we started to talk to him, and I realized it was Arthur Nersesian, who wrote The Fuck Up, which is a great book.  He was in the process of editing his new novel down for the reading (using a pencil, so cute). He was down-to-earth and cool, and even gave me a shout-out before he read, which was, of course, completely thrilling to me.

yeah, I'm that big a dork...I asked for a fan pic. what can I say? writers are rockstars to me.

Then there was a surreal moment when we took a picture – Katie, Arthur and me in the middle – and I thought, wow, I’m here with two writers I admire.  Then Katie said, “Now we got a picture of three writers!” and I realized, whoa, I guess they consider me a WRITER too.

Freaky.

Carol Koss is one of the best teachers in America…she taught me creative writing in high school, and I’m just one of a gazillion students who adore her.  Another one of her students told me that when he goes out with her in Oklahoma it’s like going out with Mick Jagger…that many people love her.  I still remember how much she taught me in high school.  She made me love writing.

Emily feels the same way…sometimes Carol was the only reason we could find not  to skip school.

She came to visit NYC (her hometown) and took three of her students out to lunch, including Emily and I…and she hasn’t changed a bit…she is still as brilliant and inspiring as ever.

Now, sixteen years later, I still have the star she gave me Senior year at the end of our creative writing class so that “we’d have something to reach for”…I’ll keep reaching, Carol.  And thank you for teaching me how!