Birthday Post--We're Four.

I walked into the store this morning and it was decorated for our birthday! Halley and Mel (with Amie's help) gave us a celebratory window (including a beautiful book sculpture of the number four) and it's all very festive. That's Halley hiding behind the counter in her party mask.

Jason was reminding me where he was four years ago. He came in at 5 pm to move cases back to their places, because we had the carpets cleaned the night before.

"We had the carpets cleaned the night before? Why did we do that?" I asked.

"Because we couldn't do it earlier. We had just finished getting the store painted," he noted.

Then Amie told me we had all the book cases sitting around in the middle of the store. "Don't you remember that Sarah and I wound up setting them up because you couldn't make up your mind? You came in one morning, looked at them, took a big sigh, and then it was ok."

For some reason, several of these opening memories have faded. I remember cleaning. I remember paint fumes. I remember posing for a picture. But some of it's a blur.

I have much clearer memories of our grand opening events, which actually happened in early May. Jane Hamilton, Dwellephant's marketplace and book signing, the UWM/Marquette undergraduate readers (we're doing that again this year, on May 3 and 10, and we're up to six schools), and of course our ribbon cutting with best friends Mameve Medwed, Anita Shreve, and Elinor Lipman. Did I mention the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library Literary Lunch with Ms. Lipman on April 23? Buy your tickets here.

You can read it all in the email newsletter that just went out. There are only a few typos.

Meanwhile, celebrate with us today. Have a cupcake at 2 (or while supplies last) and we'll have another round at 6:30, celebrating Danielle Trussoni and our event with Angelopolis and Angelology. More on our upcoming events page.