How I Met Your Extra

Wow – life has been busy. I was in Colorado for an amazing vacation with my brother and some great friends (see pictures) and then I had a school visit in Denver. Great day. At one point, I was trying to explain that I had just finished a book and was going to ask the kids when the book would come out (being that I told them earlier that it takes a year for a book to be released once the art is done). And in true publishing mindset fashion – I said, “I finished the art for this book in fall of 2006, so when will it come out?”. A kid in the first row raised his hand and said, “Fall 2006 hasn’t happened yet!”

Oh yeah. He was right. It hadn’t.

I then flew to LA for a few days to see some friends and I also had a meeting with my agent out there. It was a crazy few days.

I got to see my friend Bryan Konietzko’s studio at Nickelodeon where he creates his show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Definitely inspirational and cool to see where all the magic happens.

I also got into a car accident. Here’s a bit advice – when you rent a car, make sure you take out the full rental insurance policy. I’m sure glad I did – because when you’re in LA and you get into an accident, odds are the cars involved are nice. As in a Jaguar and two Mercedes nice……

Everyone involved was safe, but it was sure a bit of a shake up.

I also got to be on TV. Not because of the accident, but because my friend Carter co-created How I Met Your Mother, which is a sitcom on CBS. I had the great opportunity to attend a taping of the season finale and then Carter asked if I would like to be an extra. So look for me in the bar scenes of the season finale! My first professional acting gig involved the cast of How I met Your Mother and me. Yes, my 1st scene involved 1 extra and I was that one extra. When you see me sitting at the next booth over and it may look like I’m talking to someone, but there was no one there….that was ACTING!

After LA, I returned to LA, where I met up with my friend Chris Milmoe (Boyfriend from “Page by Page”) and his family and I hit the mountain for 2 more days. Then reality was back and I returned home, worked on some projects, had a local book signing (it was very successful, the BN was able to bus in 140 kids) and then I took off to Virginia Beach for the Virginia State Reading Association Conference. Came home. Went to Worcester Art Museum for Art All State training, saw my mom, had dinner with my brother and sister and now I am packing to go back to Virginia for an 8 day book tour. Baghead is nominated for a Virginia state award so a bunch of schools are having me down.

When I get home, it’s straight to the Public Librarians Association conference in Boston, then up to NH for a school visit, then down to RI to drop off artwork.

So yeah – I’m keeping busy. And I’m also looking for a new hat. A new hat comes along every once in a great while. And in my travels, I’ve managed to lose my two favorite hats - my favorite winter hat and my favorite baseball cap. My brother and I wandered around the mall looking, but to no avail. I’ll be sure to keep this pressing issue at the forefront of my blog.