It's 7pm on a December evening in Manhattan. My phone rings, it's the publicist for Mariah Carey. She's performing her Christmas show at New York's Beacon theatre. I'm told we have 20 minutes to get there and if we make it there's a reward, a UK exclusive interview with Mariah herself.
As ITV's Good Morning Britain and Lorraine show's Los Angeles senior producer this year has certainly had some starry eyed surprises and I've had the pleasure of meeting some of Hollywood's biggest A-List stars.
January 2016 marks my first full year in Tinseltown and what a surreal year it's been. I always said I wanted an exciting job with variation and my wish certainly has come true in this role, no one day is ever the same.
Oh and we got the interview with Mariah, she was her fabulously festive self, in fact it was the second time I've met her this year. How did that happen?
AWARDS SEASON
For those working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles the start of 2016 is an insanely busy period of work. It goes by the name of 'Awards Season'.
This January and February the World's eyes will be on Hollywood as stars are rewarded for worthy performances on the small and big screen. And it all cumulates with the 88th Academy Awards on 28 February.
I'll be working very hard over the next few months with our presenter Ross King and cameraman Daniel Brown to bring all of the action from Los Angeles for ITV's breakfast TV viewers.
It's always a roller coaster couple of months, lots of fun and lots of hard work. If you want to come along for the ride with us I'll be keeping everyone up to speed with what we get up to and reveal some of the behind the scenes action in this blog.
First for anyone that doesn't realise, there's a lot of hard work that goes into mounting a successful award show season for an actor or movie, in fact there's a whole team that plots an entire campaign. None of it happens by chance and it costs a lot of money. But the rewards are big, especially for those that walk away with the ultimate prize, an Academy Award.
To be serious award contenders actors attend countless events and give numerous interviews to be in with a shot. Why? They've got award show voters to schmooze.
Luckily for them, at this time of the year there is no shortage of events in Hollywood geared to awards season. And where there is a Hollywood star walking a red carpet you can guarantee that the world's media will follow.
We cover all of the major events and award shows and this weekend myself and Ross King kicked off with our first red carpet of the season, the Bafta Tea Party, at the iconic Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
The event brings a slice of Britain to Hollywood, and is always supported by stars in town, with awards in their sights.
Red carpets in Hollywood are insane. They certainly like to fill them up with as many media outlets as they can. The Bafta Tea party is a pretty tame one compared with some that I've been to. At times you feel like sardines.
Attending these events really makes me realise what a magnificent machine Hollywood is. So many people are involved each with a different job to fufil, from PR's managing the red carpet arrivals, to publicists darting around to secure interviews for their clients. Nothing is left to chance.
You always know when the first big name has arrived by the shouts of photographers and the sound of camera flashes. That's when we go to business and it's every media outlet for themselves. The aim - secure that golden nugget from the biggest stars in attendance.
Ross is a great presenter to work with because he's so experienced and a lot of the stars recognise his face. That makes it much more likely they will stop for a chat. At this event we had a pretty good turnout.
Here's Ross catching up with fellow Brit Jane Seymour. She lives in Los Angeles and is always game for a laugh with Ross. (Every time I see her I can't help but think of her character in Wedding Crashers, I love her in that movie)
Downton's Joanne Froggatt was telling Ross about life since the show ended. Downton is such a big success Stateside.
And he also grabbed a moment with Alicia Vikander. She's tipped as a possible Best Actress Oscar contender for her role in the The Danish Girl.
That's what I love about these pre-Oscar events. We might be interviewing a future Academy Award winner, but it's written in the stars.