Back From California
Hi!
I returned from California late last night to find an ice covered car in the airport long term parking. The drive home was slow but uneventful and I finally crawled into bed around midnight.
So to catch you up on the doings of the last few days...when last I blogged I was on a train. Judi and I checked into a very interesting hotel called The Standard. They had egg chairs hanging from the ceiling, shag carpet on the walls, and very strange furniture. The couches were very low, the rooms had silver beanbags, and the showers and sinks featured orange tiles from a 1970's style dorm room. During the evening, at check in, a young female reclines in a glass box behind the front desk on a twin mattress and checks her email. She's dressed in just a T-shirt and boxers. It's called the chicquarium, I found out. Instead of plants they have a cactus in each room, boxed water instead of bottled, and they also have a DJ scrambling party music in the lobby. The food at their restaurant was fabulous though.
So Monday we were picked up by Jeff, a sales rep with Sterling, and we went around to see some independent bookstores and sign their stock. We went to Vroman's, Mrs. Nelson's, Book Soup, and the San Marino Toy & Book Shoppe.
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After that we headed to lunch at Smitty's Grill. They make fantastic homemade potato chips and a giant chicken pot pie. I just got the Chicken Caesar Salad.
Then Jeff dropped me and Judi off at the Clarity Media Group Offices where I had a session with former award winning television reporter and anchor, Susan Campos. She was fantastic and made me feel right at home on camera. Which is good since I have a television spot coming up and I'm a bit nervous.
We finished with Susan at 8:00 pm and she dropped us off at a restaurant where she knew the owner. His name was Dmitri, I think he was Greek. He took very good care of us and arranged a table though we didn't have a reservation. Someone famous must have been inside because there were some paparazzi standing around waiting for someone to come out. I never saw anyone I recognized but they might've snuck out the back way. It's called The Tower Bar. Here's a menu. We got Truffle Mac & Cheese to share alongside our fish dishes. It was my first time eating truffles and it's not what I expected. To me it's very pungent and tastes almost like a woodsy, firm mushroom. The picture of Mac and Cheese below is the closest thing I can find to how it looked. This one is from a different restaurant.
Finally got back and climbed into bed.
1/11/11
THE BOOK GOES ON SALE!
Tuesday morning Judi left. She was supposed to spend opening day with me but she hurried back to NYC because another snow storm was coming and her flight that afternoon was canceled so lucky she got out in the morning. I had a fun day. I ate breakfast with my movie producer, Raffi, who'd just returned from China bearing gifts. He brought me a beautiful scroll that he got made in the Forbidden City. The person who did it was a nephew of the last emperor of China. The large calligraphy symbol is one of four that means tiger. On the upper right is my name in Chinese script. On the left is a wish for luck or good wishes, and the entire bottom is the seal for the artist and his name and title which is rather long. Raffi tagged along to the first stop I made which was the Barnes & Noble store in the Grove. It's a beautiful outdoor mall and Mario Lopez happened to be filming an episode of his show right outside the bookstore. I also got to see the car from The Green Hornet movie pull into the parking structure. For some reason I thought it was just a crazy car with machine guns on the hood and when the valet said it was Green Hornet's car it threw me. I guess I assumed the car would be green for some reason. It's not in reality.
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Next, I headed to the Westwood B & N store. Signed books there.
Then, I went to Santa Monica to the B & N on the pier. They had the poster up which was cool. David helped me out. He doesn't look too happy in the picture but he was very friendly.
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The coolest visit though was the Americana Mall B & N store. I met with Bob who I think is the store manager. He said there are some people here who'd like to meet you. He took me over to some very exuberant employees who were very excited. They had not one display but two and more Tiger books than any other store I'd visited. They have a poster up on the highest window of the building. The mall is beautiful too. In the pictures you'll see Jessica, Jenn, Tammy, and Bob, and there was one more but I didn't get her name.
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So after my adventures, I flew home and woke up today to see Tiger's Curse climb the rankings. The highest I've seen it on Barnes & Noble's website is 2! That is AWESOME! It's still steadily climbing Amazon's rankings as well. Two of my sisters in Arizona took a trip to their bookstore and took pictures with my youngest nephews. You can see he's much happier holding the toy than the book. Aww. My two little handsome princes in training.
Whew! Busy long weekend which I am happy to wrap up. Have a happy day everybody!
Colleen
I returned from California late last night to find an ice covered car in the airport long term parking. The drive home was slow but uneventful and I finally crawled into bed around midnight.
So to catch you up on the doings of the last few days...when last I blogged I was on a train. Judi and I checked into a very interesting hotel called The Standard. They had egg chairs hanging from the ceiling, shag carpet on the walls, and very strange furniture. The couches were very low, the rooms had silver beanbags, and the showers and sinks featured orange tiles from a 1970's style dorm room. During the evening, at check in, a young female reclines in a glass box behind the front desk on a twin mattress and checks her email. She's dressed in just a T-shirt and boxers. It's called the chicquarium, I found out. Instead of plants they have a cactus in each room, boxed water instead of bottled, and they also have a DJ scrambling party music in the lobby. The food at their restaurant was fabulous though.
So Monday we were picked up by Jeff, a sales rep with Sterling, and we went around to see some independent bookstores and sign their stock. We went to Vroman's, Mrs. Nelson's, Book Soup, and the San Marino Toy & Book Shoppe.
[image error]
After that we headed to lunch at Smitty's Grill. They make fantastic homemade potato chips and a giant chicken pot pie. I just got the Chicken Caesar Salad.
Then Jeff dropped me and Judi off at the Clarity Media Group Offices where I had a session with former award winning television reporter and anchor, Susan Campos. She was fantastic and made me feel right at home on camera. Which is good since I have a television spot coming up and I'm a bit nervous.
We finished with Susan at 8:00 pm and she dropped us off at a restaurant where she knew the owner. His name was Dmitri, I think he was Greek. He took very good care of us and arranged a table though we didn't have a reservation. Someone famous must have been inside because there were some paparazzi standing around waiting for someone to come out. I never saw anyone I recognized but they might've snuck out the back way. It's called The Tower Bar. Here's a menu. We got Truffle Mac & Cheese to share alongside our fish dishes. It was my first time eating truffles and it's not what I expected. To me it's very pungent and tastes almost like a woodsy, firm mushroom. The picture of Mac and Cheese below is the closest thing I can find to how it looked. This one is from a different restaurant.
Finally got back and climbed into bed.
1/11/11
THE BOOK GOES ON SALE!
Tuesday morning Judi left. She was supposed to spend opening day with me but she hurried back to NYC because another snow storm was coming and her flight that afternoon was canceled so lucky she got out in the morning. I had a fun day. I ate breakfast with my movie producer, Raffi, who'd just returned from China bearing gifts. He brought me a beautiful scroll that he got made in the Forbidden City. The person who did it was a nephew of the last emperor of China. The large calligraphy symbol is one of four that means tiger. On the upper right is my name in Chinese script. On the left is a wish for luck or good wishes, and the entire bottom is the seal for the artist and his name and title which is rather long. Raffi tagged along to the first stop I made which was the Barnes & Noble store in the Grove. It's a beautiful outdoor mall and Mario Lopez happened to be filming an episode of his show right outside the bookstore. I also got to see the car from The Green Hornet movie pull into the parking structure. For some reason I thought it was just a crazy car with machine guns on the hood and when the valet said it was Green Hornet's car it threw me. I guess I assumed the car would be green for some reason. It's not in reality.
[image error]
Next, I headed to the Westwood B & N store. Signed books there.
Then, I went to Santa Monica to the B & N on the pier. They had the poster up which was cool. David helped me out. He doesn't look too happy in the picture but he was very friendly.
[image error] [image error]
The coolest visit though was the Americana Mall B & N store. I met with Bob who I think is the store manager. He said there are some people here who'd like to meet you. He took me over to some very exuberant employees who were very excited. They had not one display but two and more Tiger books than any other store I'd visited. They have a poster up on the highest window of the building. The mall is beautiful too. In the pictures you'll see Jessica, Jenn, Tammy, and Bob, and there was one more but I didn't get her name.
[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]
So after my adventures, I flew home and woke up today to see Tiger's Curse climb the rankings. The highest I've seen it on Barnes & Noble's website is 2! That is AWESOME! It's still steadily climbing Amazon's rankings as well. Two of my sisters in Arizona took a trip to their bookstore and took pictures with my youngest nephews. You can see he's much happier holding the toy than the book. Aww. My two little handsome princes in training.
Whew! Busy long weekend which I am happy to wrap up. Have a happy day everybody!
Colleen
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