Phew!!!

Man, it's good to be home. I had such a great time on the East coast ... up until the last few days. I was so excited before that, enjoyed every minute of it. I, literally, was the only person smiling on the subway from Brooklyn (where I stayed with my sister) into NYC. (I'm sure the regular passengers thought I was nuts. I was just so excited to get into the city again!)

But the second to last day of my tour I got the Big Sign that it was time to go back. I had a lot to do - certain stores I had to stop by and sign books for, a store event that night, an afternoon online appointment... But to start I had a killer amount of email to answer - the night before I was up 'til 2 AM, then did two more hours that morning before I got started. So I essentially (after all that) started my day in a panic. After that, my rental car broke down, computers malfunctioned so I missed my afternoon online thing - after half an hour of needless trying - parking was impossible all day, I hit traffic . . . And basically I lost every reserve of energy I had.

Perfect time to come home and collapse!!

But - I'm already getting excited for my California part of my book tour. I have some great events and school visits lined up, and some great people to hang out with over there.

Until then,
All my love --
Kaza ;D

Sister Time...

When I was in NYC a few days ago I got to stay with my sister, Jennifer. It was great to see her, her husband Sam, and their cute baby, Isaac! Sam was out of town two of they days I was there, so at night, when I was done signing books at stores, and Isaac was asleep, Jen and I got some rare sister time to talk, eat pizza and laugh. I think I kept her up far too late, considering she had to get up early for Isaac and for work!


And, of course, while in New York, I couldn't resist stopping by China Town and getting tons (yes, tons) of amazing Chinese pastries. Jen, Sam and I shared what I didn't scarf down immediately. (If you haven't had fresh rice cakes from a Chinese bakery you don't know what you're missing! They can be gooey - and I guess might be an acquired taste - but ... yummm!!!)

And I bought myself a little dragon to add to my small collection. I like to look at them when I write.

Since then, I did a great signing in Willow Grove (Philly) and got to eat a cheese steak (yes, this is becoming all about food...)

Then I did a signing at the Barnes and Noble Power Plant in Baltimore. The coolest interior of a Barnes and Noble I've seen yet! It actually used to be an old power plant. This link shows some of the brass and metal structures running through the middle of the store!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/Baltimore%25202006/Baltimore%25202006-Images/38.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/Baltimore%25202006/Baltimore%25202006-Pages/Image38.html&h=449&w=674&sz=165&hl=en&start=4&sig2=nagxvLybcKVUje2Wv3xJsw&um=1&tbnid=z7N8vBM1dwfUPM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=138&ei=3r4cR6aAPY7mgALhxe2RCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarnes%2Band%2Bnoble%2Bpower%2Bplant%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN
This one shows the cool look from the outside. The whole area feels like a big party:
http://www.teemorris.com/blog/uploaded_images/powerplant-730871.jpg

Now on to DC and to see my brother!!

All love,
Kaza