Rachel Ray!!

So I started the day early- in an attempt to catch the 6:40 train- it ended up being the 6:56 train, but it all ended well! I made it to the "line" for the audience around 8:40 and there were about 20 people in line already. I held the place for Brownwyn and Sterling who came about 9:10 and it was a good thing- they did turn people away. Apparently, just getting "tickets" isn't enough, you also have to be one of the first 120 people in line. We chatted with some of the people around us. the weather wasn't really that bad as predicted, but by the time they let us in, we were freezing!

The green room was really crowded and small, but the bathrooms were GORGEOUS,
the donuts and COffee were DUNKIN DONUTS (I had milk, Bronwyn and Sterling,
water). We hung out for a while, then we were ushered into the studio by groups.
The Warm-up guy, RC Smith, had really high stiff hair and a really hilarious
laugh! He was really cracking us up and explaining everything along the way

BTW this pic of RC was a Stock Photo- they made us turn off cameras and Cell phone in the studio!! YOU KNOW I woulda gotten some AWESOME shots too!!

Rachel came out and did a short segment with Samantha Harris- the most interesting thing I learned about her was that Kit from Project Runway is her Fashion Stylist!! and she is an ambassador form Operation Smile- which is an amazing Organization. Then there was a costume change, then Lindsay Price from Lipstick Jungle was there with her parents. Then a Kitchen MAkeover with an audience member. RR's Hubby dropped by for a few minutes and they kinda cuddled and smooched- oh and all of the ugly rumors about her just need to STOP! she is beautiful, bubbly and TINY!! that whole thing about the camera adding pounds is SOOOO true, because she is slim! ANd it was quite obvious both of them are happily married!*but I digress* Then a cooking segment with Tom Colicchio (this was SUPER cool for me!! I am huge TOp Chef fan!) and we got to eat paninis. Then another costume change where we watched a blooper reel, then cooking again for a yummy looking Popeye risotto. between all of that was the hilarious breaks where we horsed around wit RC- mostly playing Name that tune, clapping, whooping, clapping some more- got a little tired of it might add! and then listening to jokes. My side of the studio was dubed the "Desparate Housewives" side (I think I was the reason for that- I kinda boogied with an older camera man and "made his day"). I think the most interesting thing about the day was just seeing how much work and how many people are involved in a show like this! Truth be told, one of the most surprising things was how hard it was to see and hear the actual show- most of us were watching it on the monitors even though she was less than 50 feet away!!

So as I mentioned "swag" _ yeah- we got broth in a box- RR's newest supermarket hit. and a magazine, and some floss, T shirt and a rubber bracelet from Operation SMile. We got chocolate dipped Biscotti for a snack-So I really don't want you to think I am a selfish snob and I don't mean to sound ungrateful (after all the tickets are TOTALLY free) but the last show I watched had a $250 bedding set from West Elm for each audience member!!

But seriously. it was a blast! WE really enjoyed it all and everything went smoothly! My kids were happy when I got home (hopefully the Smith's were too) and no body got hurt- although now I am trying to figure out Popeye Risotto. Since she filmed three separate shows there might be a small chance you see us on at least ONE of those times- also the camera man became my friend ;). The shows should probably air around the end of next week or early in the week after that- I THINK! They tape like five shows, three days a week! It was Yum-o!! I completely recommend it! (oh and SAT word for the day- viscous, as in pertaining to Aged Balsamic Vinegar! And never get showed up by one, stubborn Spinach leaf!!)

RR

Everyone keeps asking about the RR show (for good reason- I texted about all of you!!! to tell you!!) But it looks like blogger will be shutting down in 10 minutes- so I will tell you more soon.

The whole spirit of the show was a BLAST! The warm up guy really made the difference! His name is RC Smith and we actually spent a good deal of our "time" with him. Rachel is adorable and fun, and SOOO talented at interviewing and cooking!! We saw some great stars and got to see some of the fun interactions that go on between the staff and stars and audience!

Our SWAG wasn't as AWESOME as I wanted (so selfish, I know!!), but it was so good to be there and to feel the spirit of the show. I have actually confused a few people with the word swag- I know it as definition #3, but Derick knows it as the less cooth #4 and almost swallowed his tongue when I said it.

Will post pictures and more details in a while, but the short answer it- it was a blast and a fantastic day!! THANK YOU SO MUCH BRONWYN AND STERLING!!!!! (and of course RR and RC!!!)

Sweet dreamers.

last night Gibson wanted Delaney to read books with him in his bed. Delaney was really sleepy and was really relaxed while we were reading. Gibson begged me to let her sleep with him. After lots of giggles and shrieks and even more giggles, Gibson came out and said Delaney was asleep. less than a half an hour later, they were both out. I snapped the picture and about an hour later when we went to bed, I asked D to put Delaney in her bed to keep her safe. She woke up and screamed for about 10 minutes. D said she might be wet, so I went in to change her.

*for a special bonus* a story within a story- Delaney has been taking her clothes off- ALL OF THEM- over and over for the last two weeks. we have been changing her sheets over and over again as well! so in the last couple of nights, I have been taping her diapers with packaging tape to keep them on. Last night when I changed her, I was reminded that DERICK had gotten her ready for bed- How was I reminded you might ask??? BECAUSE THE DIAPER WAS TAPED TO MY DAUGHTER!!!!!!! ALL THE WAY AROUND MY DAUGHTER-ON HER SKIN!!!! luckily she was a little sweaty and it didn't completely adhere and rip off her skin!!!

anyway, we decided to let her sleep with us a little to calm her down, and put her back in her crib when she fell back to sleep. The FUnniest part of this story is that at 2 AM Gibson comes in and jostles me awake and says "Mommy! I lost Delaney, Mommy! I can't find her!" I reassured him that she was in her crib and that he could go back to bed. SO CUTE!!!

Recognizing genius.

This morning my son wanted to wear his "crocs" (they're fakes). He proudly stated that they are waterproof. I said, well, they don't stay wet, but they have holes, so water can get in. We went around like this for a while, some other stuff happend, we went to the gym, I worked out, then we left. As we were walking out, I noticed he had his sneakers on. I asked him about it and he said to me "I recognized that the crocs had holes in them and that my feet would get cold." I said "Recognized is a really big word Gibson". and he said "I recognized that I can use big words."

So there it is, genius. Of course he gives us several examples a day of him NOT being one, but he says gems like this, that are as intelligent as they are ADORABLE!

Happy BDAY D!

My hubby turned the big 41 on Saturday! my mother-in-law came up and we went out to On the Border for a birthday lunch. we came home and watched Stardust, ate cake and cookies and lounged around. Good times, good times.

I also had to finish a talk for church, and I worked on my knitting project. WE really know how to rock in this house!!!!

A few words about "THE CLUBS"

I am such a book club geek and I will admit it! I had TWO thise week and since I had a knitting project in progress, I was in heaven- sitting around knitting, talking about books and being SPOILED by a WONDERFUL friend who made me a yummy cake and THEN the best coconut macaroons I have ever eaten!!!

Mish, our hostess for book club, went ABOVE and BEYOND this month- she actually called the author of the book and we all got to talk to her and aske her questions about the book, characters, and the process of writign and publishing a book. We read the first book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Trilogy, An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aiken. It is really a fantastic book that views the story of Pride and Predjudice from Darcy's perspective and gives us insight into him more as a character.

Mish also (somewhat) hostessed the Pre-teen Exclusive book club that I WAS invited to (ok, I did ask to come too) where she made the FANTASTIC macaroons! We were discussing the book The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale- a fun book that has girl power with out being preachy. I enjoyed hearing the 9 to 13 year old girl's opinions and especially the random sweetness that we tangented off in to!

I did finish my knitting project btw and it is soooo totally cute, but I can't post pix and patterns until the person I made it for gets it!

Coconut Macaroons (From the BH&G cookbook & Mish!)
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup Sugar
1 1/3 cups flake coconut
Preheat oven to 325, line cookie sheets with Parchment paper (or lightly grease). mix egg whites and canilla on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar about a tablespoon at a time and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart. bake for about 20 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. makes about 30 cookies.

they are lovely and fluffy and crunchy and creamy. I am going to mess around with them and see if I can use eggbeaters or splenda or something, and I will let you know the results!

I'll take' em!!!

Aisle five!!

I found my thrill...

On the McGill Hill!!

After we all warmed up by the fire (Marshmallows included!!!), my friend called to invite us to go sledding at a place called McGill Hill in New Hope, Pa. When we got there I was stunned to see how steep it was! I was sure Gibson was going to say he was too afraid ( and I SOOO wouldn't blame him, cause I was too!!!) but he jumped on and went down before I DID!! I went down a couple times on the two person sled to ease into it and then I was hooked! I had SOOOOOOO much fun! the hills and sleds were super fast. Even though it was raining and freezing, it was still a fantastic time!! we even went to the steeper hill on the other side!

Wendy had some issues going up the really steep hill! She must have fallen three times and that was AFTER I got out the Camera!

This was such a momentous thing because when I was a child, my asthma was so bad that walking up the hill after sledding down was nearly impossible. Even though I lived in Ohio where we had copious amounts of snow every winter and had a HUGE hill on our property, I could only go down the hill maybe three times before I just couldn't breathe enough to go on! As I was chugging up the hill time after time, I was marveling on how "easy" it was! (I mean- it was a TOTAL aerobic workout, but i could BREATHE!!!!)

After we sled for about 2 and half hours and were soaking wet and freezing, we went to a yummy, cozy pizza shop and slurped down HOT, garlicky pizza! What a great day!

Snow business!

We finally got a SNOW day!! We had so much fun! Gibson ran out and was playing in it before I even got out of bed- I felt like such an AWESOME mother when I got up and realized my kid had been outside without me knowing for a half an hour!

I dashed out after bundling up Delaney and all of us (the two neighborhood families too) started building an igloo! We got to about 18 inches and were too frozen to continue.

Girlfriends!

Just wanted to shout out to all my GIRLS that made my B Day Merry! First of all- Tuesday night we (seven of us!) hit Pizzaria Uno and the movie Juno (I call it Uno and Juno night). I got no pictures of the suspects involved, but we had yummy food and a goofy, if not somewhat embarassed, time at the movie!!!

Then on my bday I hit my Fav dance class at the gym and the teacher who is a girlfriend of mine gave me a hot pink and black feather boa and demanded that I use it during class. After a luxiourous sit in the steam room and shower, all of us got ready and went to Elements of Asia- a YUMMY Asian fusion restaurant where we ate LOTS of food and watched Delaney simultaniously tear up and charm everyone in the joint! These are my FABULOUS friends Aliah and Faith, and of course my sidekick Delaney!!

Breakfast of champions!

Delaney got shoes and chocolate for Valentine's day-such a girl, right?? Here is the "Christmas dance" adaped for "chocky". The shoes are on her high chair behind her.

B Days and Stuff.

Thanks for all my LOVELY friends out there! It is so nice to be reminded about how much people love you.

Kinda on a wacky mind trip that weaves in and out of martyrdom, pity, gratitude and clutter.
I am good, just on that trip right now. ;)

I have book CLUBS (YES TWO) this week and a knitting project underway! I also had THREE GIRLFRIEND dates in the last two days! Lunch "on the border" a group of 7 at "Uno and JUNO" (what a wacky quircky scream of a movie!!) and then lunch with some gym girls after my Favorite-est dance aerobic class (complete with gifted BOA!!!) and lots of Phone calls and SERENADES from my fantastic friends and family in my life.

ANd there is a new niece to be excited about! and the lunar eclipse was AWESOME!

Life is good, when I can get my head out of my rear enough to notice......

SC and Stuff!

I went to SC to visit Ali and I got to visit with Jill for a very short time as well! Her home is GORGEOUS as expected and I actually got to meet the man who owns the building company! So much happend and I have tons of pictures and junk that I want to share ad nauseum of course!! We did NOT get to do the Half Marathon- Ali sprained her ankle and the nanny we bailed on us.


So I will try to go in some kind of chronological order...
The Detroit Airport has the most AMAZING light and music tunnel. I will try to limit the videos of it, but honestly, I would go there just to hang out in there!

At Ali's house!!
ALi's Spectacular corner tub!!

Ali (before surgery obviously) on a trike! Seconds after this was taken Ihad to jump in front of them to stop them careening down the hill!!Gib and Tyson on the Ali's road.

Ali's dumb dog Tyson who just flopped on me the first night there-I let him for a while because it made Ali so Happy.

We loved finally all getting together with Jill. Jill has been my BF since we were 12, and ALi is so close now, I was dying for them to meet each other. Jill found this incredible place called INK for interactive neighborhood for Kids that had all kinds of cool stuff to do inside. Her son and my son had a ball switching between playing and fighting for most of the afternoon and Jill and I just gabbed the whole time. Ali just wanted to play in the play yard the whole time- but I have to say she did the same thing at Chuck E. Cheese the night before!!!

Chuck E. Cheese

Ali loved the broken scale in the "doctor's office" because she weighed only 120!!

YES! we dressed the girls up the same and they were adorable!

The highlight for them at INK was trying on the dress up shoes.

Delaney doing the "Merry Christmas Dance" at a restaurant for the whole family- notice the half eaten plate of food- she had just shoveled a good portion down before this- there is also a video on request!!

Of course it was awesome seeing the Giants win the superbowl- we also loved having Tom Petty for Halftime and all of us were dancing!!

The biggest event that took place while I was there was Ali's shoulder RE-Surgery. She went to a total chop shop the first time evidentaly! The man who did her surgery this time was Dr. Hawkins of the Steadman Hawkins clinics and he is a total ROCK STAR! He found lots of Bursa tissue and Bone Spurs- We got to see before and after pictures and it was amazing how much needed to be cleaned up! He also disconnected her bicep tendon (Like he did on John Elway before he won the Super Bowl- yeah- that Dr Hawkins- told ya, rock star!). I think ALi was relieved because they actualy FOUND a reason for her pain- she was getting that feeling that no one believed her I think. She went straight to rehab (and I said NO, No No) and was able to move her shoulder one way by 137 Degrees out of 180! The last surgery, it took her over 4 weeks to get that far. SHe is already driving and picking up stuff and not wearing her sling- She doesn't do anything slowly!
before surgery-
with her favorite nurse Troy-
After her surgery

I left out a bunch I am sure- but here is part of our family's journey! I came back with Strep, as did Delaney and then on Sunday Night Gib repeatedly screamed with pain over an ear ache! We went to the ER where I kinda felt I had been HAD becasue he was flirting and chatting and happy to be there once we saw SHARK WEEK on the TV- but then when they put in the scope he went nuts- he had a HUGE infection and I am glad we got it treated.

BUT I was glad when he went to School this morning! I hope to recover from being gone for so long soon!

Aura- sound right?

Your Aura is Yellow

You're a deeply happy and content person, and you enjoy sharing your cheer with others. While you may seem like a simple optimist, there is a lot of thinking going on inside you. The purpose of your life: bringing joy and a better life to others Famous yellows include: Conan O'Brien, Jenny Mccarthy, Jim Carrey Careers for you to try: Athlete, Actor, Yoga Instructor

What Color Is Your Aura?