Adventures in the City - Last Day!

The last day of a vacation - especially when it's also your travel day - is always the worst.  That was Saturday for us.  

We were up early, packing and showering.  I wanted to sleep until noon, but that wasn't going to happen no matter what.  We left the hotel at 9:45 and walked the six blocks to Times Square to the Hilton Doubletree where I was going to be filmed for Kindle Love Stories.  I was so nervous that I thought I was going to be sick.  I had carefully picked out my outfit - the list of colors I was not allowed to wear was pretty much my entire wardrobe so I was nervous about that too.

We got there and were escorted into the filming/studio space.  The entire crew was amazing!  They were all so friendly and encouraging and just genuinely happy people, that I was instantly relaxed.  I brought hubby and son with me to witness it all.  I mean, how often is something like this going to happen to me??  

They touched up my hair and makeup and then got me wired up.  And for the next forty-five minutes, I had a blast!  The questions were very fun and I wasn't prompted in advance so when this airs, just know that it was all spontaneous.  I did stumble a few times and they had to re-shoot, but all in all, it was a lot of fun.  I was sorry when they said we were done!  Normally I'd say I have a face for radio, but other than the flat hair, I think I looked okay.

When we were done, we took a few last minute shots of Times Square and grabbed some lunch before going and checking out of the hotel.  Hubby went and picked up the car and we were on the road out of the city by 1:20.  I felt like we had lived an entire day by that point, but unfortunately, our long day still had a long day to go.
 
The drive back to North Carolina took ten hours - and that was with stops for gas and dinner.  It's become a bit of a tradition to stop and eat at a Cracker Barrell on our road trips and this day was no exception.  The last twenty minutes of the drive was the worst.  We were all frantic to get out of the car and just be home.  Me?  I was frantic to get back to my dog.  My poor little Maylene who I missed so darn much!!  Our reunion was very sweet and it felt so good to walk through the door and just be in my own house!!

I slept like a log that night.

Home Sweet Home.  

RT Booklovers Convention Roundup - Part One

Alright, it took a week for me to do it, but I'm finally back in the groove of life.  Hard to believe that a week away can mess with you so much!  Sheesh!

So, RT Booklovers Convention was AMAZING!  This was my first one and I'm pretty sure it won't be my last.  I met so many amazing people - fans, bloggers, authors - I was completely blown away.  I'd never been to Texas before so that was pretty exciting for me too. 

I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Dallas mid-afternoon.  That place is HUGE!  I checked in, went to my room, did a little happy dance and then went back down to the lobby level to explore a bit.  Everyone who registered for the convention got a free goody bag/tote.  Inside were books, post cards, swag...tons of stuff.  The entire lobby area was decorated with giant posters of some of the biggest names in romance - everywhere you looked, there were pictures of books!

I was fortunate enough to meet up with some great ladies at that point from the Fresh Fiction Blog and Book Partners in Crime.  Such an awesome group of ladies and throughout the week they were incredibly gracious to me and helped me because I was a bit overwhelmed. 

After hanging out with them for a little while, I went back to exploring the hotel - like I said, it was massive.  My room was on the 17th floor overlooking the atrium and bar/restaurant area.  At one point I met up with author Sara Humphreys (who is super cool!) and talked with her for a bit.  Then I was wandering around and was coming up the escalator from the lower level and who do I see hanging out in the little food/snack market? 

Jill Shalvis.

I gasped and the people behind me were like, "Oh my god!  Are you okay?"

Um...yes.  Just having a major fan-girl moment.  Don't mind me. 

Did I go over and say hello?  No.  Instead I was going for cool.  Calm.  Collected. 

I left the market with $22 in candy and soda. 

Go ahead, you can say it.  LOSER!!!

And to keep the loser vibe going, I ate dinner by myself and then locked myself in my room because I was completely overwhelmed.  It was nice having the whole room and king size bed all to myself.  The view outside the room wasn't all that great.  Who knew there was so much construction going on in Dallas or that all of the roads were torn up?  So I kept my curtains closed most of the time. 

But still...deluxe room to myself.  Room service.  No cooking for a week, meeting all of my writing idols and the TV remote all to myself.Not a bad way to travel...