Well we made it! The book tour has been officially completed and we are safely back in beautiful, warm and sunny Sydney for the Holidays. Looking back it’s hard to believe we went to so many amazing places in such a short time…truly a whirlwind tour. We are all looking forward to some rest and relaxation over the next few weeks and a family celebration for Christmas. I wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone we met along the way, especially those who came along to the book signings (and of course everybody who has been following the blog).
If you find a copy of “A Labour of Love” under your tree this Christmas, I hope you enjoy my story as much as I have enjoyed creating the book over the past two years.
Happy Holidays!
Much Love,
Anne xoxo
Back Home!
Last Day.
Tonight we fly to Melbourne, and officially leave the final destination of the “Labour of Love” book tour; San Diego. We’re looking forward to three days in Melbourne visiting family, before flying back to our home in Sydney for the holidays.
Yesterday I finished the media portion of the tour with three live interviews on local San Diego morning shows. First up was XETV’s “Fox in the Morning”, followed by “Inside San Diego” and KGTV’s “11 O-Clock News”. All the interviews were very successful, San Diego is such a beautiful city and we couldn’t have asked for better weather! But it will be wonderful to be home again in the lead up to Christmas.
The Last Signing.
We have officially arrived at our final destination San Diego after driving from Orange County this afternoon. Tomorrow morning I will be doing some local media and morning television programmes that will bring the tour to a close. But we are ending on a really successful note as we had a second fantastic signing at the Anne Geddes Store this afternoon. The sun was shining and so many great people came down to say hello. Thanks again to everyone who brought their beautiful little babies and children in to see me, it always brightens up my day. We even had a visit from our friends at the Disney Police Department who brought along their official police vehicle for us to take photos in!
Store Signing.
Today I had a really great book signing at the Anne Geddes Store at Downtown Disney. I love being with the team at the store and even though it was raining, so many lovely people came in to have books signed and to say hello. I must say a big thank you to all the parents who brought in their gorgeous little babies - such a special atmosphere. We have another signing tomorrow afternoon as well before we head to San Diego… our final destination for the tour…hard to believe it’s almost over!
Day in LA.
Today we drove into LA from Orange County (where we are staying) to do some media in the city. Of course as anyone living in Los Angeles knows the traffic here can be problematic at times (to say the least), so of course we left ourselves two hours for the drive and wouldn’t you know it took us less than an hour! To start the day I had a live interview on “KTLA”, followed by a taped interview for KTTV’s “Good Day LA” on the Fox Morning News.
Next up I had a taped interview for the PBS series “Between the Lines” - hosted by Barry Kibrick which is a show that focuses on interviewing authors. A highlight of our day was meeting lovely Peggy who is a fan of “Between the Lines”. She is an impressive 84 years of age and has watched every taping for the past two years. It was an honour to be on the show and to have the opportunity to speak in depth about “A Labour of Love”. I believe the show will air in the week before Christmas. Tonight I have a live interview on KOCE TV’s “Bookmark” with host Maria Paul-Brown.
So many interviews so little time!
What a bright and early morning we had with a start time of 5.30am today! We were at the Anne Geddes Store at Downtown Disney, where we had a camera and sound crew set up for interviews that would be broadcast to national morning news programmes around the country. There were around ten interviews in total, which was a little daunting to begin with because it is a challenge to actively engage with your interviewer when you cannot see them (I could hear them through a microphone and they could see me through the camera feed). In total the process took just over three hours, but it was worth it to think about all the people I was able to speak with in different cities in such a short amount of time.
Before we left we stopped by to visit our friends at the Anaheim Police Department located at Downtown Disney to meet everyone there and sign some books for the team. They are such a lovely (or should I say manly) bunch of men and women; they really look after us and the team at the store. We all wanted to have a ride in their rather unusual looking police car, which Steph will try to photograph sometime over the weekend when we are at the store for two book signings.
Entertainment Tonight.
We had a very good morning today at the Paramount Lot in Los Angeles where I taped an interview with Thea Andrews for Entertainment Tonight. It was fantastic to get a look behind the scenes of such a successful show (it has been running for 26 years) and meet the team there. Everybody was so enthusiastic, professional and friendly, it was a real pleasure. The interview was aired tonight on the 7pm show, and I also believe it will air again on the weekend show.
Austin, Texas.
What a quick trip indeed! We spent last night in Austin and have just arrived in Los Angeles on the plane this afternoon. Despite our limited time in Texas we did manage to do something authentic last night by dining at a local barbeque restaurant not far from our hotel where we all proceeded to eat far too much steak, brisket and short ribs. The smell of the wood and oak fired ovens was quite distinctive and lent a really unique flavour to the food…delicious…although I must admit my hair smelt a little like barbeque this morning!
Today we had a relatively relaxed morning of media in Austin. First up I had an a live interview on KTBC-TV’s “Fox 7 News in the Morning” and on the way back we stopped to admire the Capital Building in the city centre which has an unusual yet beautiful pink tinge to it. We were told that this is a result of the type of stone the building is made from (which can be found only in Texas). To finish our time in Austin I had a book signing at a well-known independent bookstore called “Book People”. It was an impressive store with three levels of books, I wish I could have spent some time browsing, as during all of my signings at bookstores throughout this tour we have amassed a rather large collection of reading material!
We will now be spending the next couple of days in Los Angeles doing media and visiting the Anne Geddes Store at Downtown Disney where I’m looking forward to doing a couple of signings (and maybe going on a ride or two if we have time). Tomorrow morning I will be taping an interview for “Entertainment Tonight” which I believe will air later in the day.
Houston.
Today we had a very short but packed day (or should I say morning) in Houston, which we discovered is now the fourth largest city in America. It was a bit of a shock to be back in the cold weather though, but it was made easier by the beautiful blue skies! As I mentioned in the posting last night, first thing this morning I had an interview on “Fox 26 Morning News”, followed by a taped radio interview for the “Andrew Carter Morning Show” which I believe will air tomorrow (Tuesday) morning on CJAD 800.
Last on the agenda today was my first signing for this leg of the tour, it was great to get back into the swing of things and I was really excited to see all the lovely people who came along. The signing was at a respected independent bookstore in Houston called Brazos, and I couldn’t resist buying a few books while I was there. Then sadly our time in Houston had come to an end, as we flew to Austin this afternoon where we will unfortunately be staying only one night. So many places on my list to come back to! We have a beautiful view over the Colorado River from our room. Our driver on the way to the hotel informed us that there is a very large bat population in Austin (approximately 3 million), and people often gather at sunset to watch the bats leave their daytime hideaway under the bridges over the river. In Sydney we have a similar natural phenomenon at sunset when thousands of bats fly from the Botanical Gardens at Sydney Harbour across the city to another location further inland. Hopefully we will be able to see some tonight!
On the road again!
Well we are officially back on the "Labour of Love" book tour after a very long plane flight from Sydney (I took the above photo from the plane window)! It was great to have a bit of a break but it’s also really exciting to be back on the road. We have just arrived in Houston tonight where we will get to bed early ready for our busy day tomorrow. For those of you living in the area I will be on KRIV-TV's "Fox 26 Morning News" in the morning.
