Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Prize Pitcher

Yesterday I went into the city with my son to pick out the pitcher for Jeff and Sue, winners of the Get a Load of This contest. I'd promised them one of the ceramic pitchers that are typical here for serving wine--every Triestine has one of these at home. These pitchers usually have something written on them--either the name of the restaurant or a saying in the local dialect. Well, when I went to the shop that sells them, they said they don't make the ones with local sayings anymore. Ack! So the best I could do was to find one that has Trieste written on it, so I hope that's okay with Jeff and Sue. Here are the photos:



I'll get this off in the mail and into the hands of the Italian postal system (I'm not Catholic, but crossing myself nonetheless) by the end of this week. And I forgot to mention the bonus prize...aside from the pitcher, Jeff and Sue will be the proud new owners of about 5 pounds of bubble wrap!
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Jeff mentioned in the comments section of the contest post that the blogger world is a small one, and he's right! When he emailed to give me his address, he revealed that he and Sue are the proud parents of Jay Asher, one third of the Disco Mermaids. For those of you who may not have heard of the Disco Mermaids, they're a group of 3 children's authors who started a blog a little over a year ago to chronicle their path to publication. During that time, all three have signed with agents, and Robin and Eve (the other 2 mermaids--both statuesque blondes, but so nice that you can't help but love them!) are on the cusp of having their first sale.
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Jay had his first sale last fall, and it was a whopper. His agent sold his novel for teens called Thirteen Reasons Why, which will be released in October of this year. This news was huge in the world of children's lit, because as a first-time author, Jay's advance was, well, huge. Forget that it was huge for a first-time author...it would have been huge for a twentieth-time author. Which only goes to show how much confidence his publisher (Penguin Razorbill) has in this book.
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And like Robin and Eve, Jay is down-to-earth and an all-around nice guy. To illustrate this, Jay blogged about his wife's reaction to the news that his book sold, and then she became the photographer for his blog posts showing him telling Robin, Eve, and yes, Jeff and Sue--his parents. So here's the link where you can meet Jeff and Sue: http://discomermaids.blogspot.com/2006/10/when-i-told-my-parents-jay.html when Jay told them about his book sale.
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Jay, when you do this again for your next book sale (or movie deal, or Printz Award, etc.) I'll be looking for the Triestine pitcher in the background. ;-)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sue says that the pitcher will look great in our curio cabinet.
I hope she lets me try drinking some wine from it once in awhile!
Since the sale of Jays book it has been quite an adventure for all of us following blogs as every week something new and exciting seems to surface. We have noticed all along the way the interesting and supportive comments you have made Natalie.
So when it came to your contest we could not hold back. We went to the internet and found literally hundreds of electric dryers until we finally came across one that looked more similar to yours than others we had found. The internet has no bounds.
Will be waiting anxiously for the pitcher to cross the Atlantic and get to us hopefully sometime this year!
Thanks again Natalie!

TinaFerraro said...

Natalie--my china cabinet is filled with that pattern, what we call the Fruili china (although I agree it's really more ceramics). I did a double-take when I saw it on your site. Each visit we pick up a new piece, this last time a spaghetti bowl in Cividale.

Jeff and Sue, you WILL enjoy it!

Disco Mermaids said...

Can my mom and dad try out for the next contest? I also have a brother who recently visited Italy, so he may be whooping up on all the Disco Mermaids' relatives.

Bring it!

-Robin

Disco Mermaids said...

You're on, Robin! We can have a good ol' fashioned international Family Feud (Disco Mermaid-Style)...battling for Natalie's love.

It's brought!

- Jay

Natalie said...

Wow, Jeff and Sue...researching dryers on the internet definitely qualifies you for the prize, then! Bravi!

Tina, this pattern must be a Friuli thing, then...I hadn't thought about that! Do you guys have a pitcher to go with the spaghetti bowl?

Robin and Jay--Do I have to stop this car and separate you two?? Sheesh! There's enough Natalie love for all the Disco Mermaids, so pipe down back there! And yes, Robin's parents can enter the next contest, with the aid of Robin's brother. Jay, your dad mentioned he and your mom want to come to Italy within the next three years...you might want to tell them to book their tickets sooner if they want to be serious contenders. ;-)