Thanks Oprah!

OMG....did you happen to see Oprah today? My teenage idol, Rick Springfield, was on today!!! I had major teenage flashbacks watching the show. Ok....this is a big clue here.....next to Michael Buble is Rick Springfield and you knoooooow what a Buble stalker freak I am...and I mean that in a sane normal stalker kind of way.

Rick Springfield was the second concert I had ever attended and I almost wasn't allowed to go. I was so busted and grounded for sneaking out of my house to be with the neighbor boy that I was forbidden to see. I was more upset at the thought of missing the concert than getting busted and grounded for 3 months. But my mom had a glimmer of kindness in her and let me go to the concert.

Jen had a wall of "Rick" in her room. It was the coolest thing ever. Hey....it was her first attempt at scrapbooking on a life size page! LOL Ah....those were the days of...um....I can't say innocence cause that I was not! Those were the days of my fist obsession....LOL...now I am a grown woman with a new obsession. {Big Buble Sighs}.

**Stampin Stuff** I made this card Friday night at Ivy's Stampin Up Party. It was so fun to get creative and hang out with some pretty crafty and creative girls. Oh and I got to get some therapy out of it too. Hey...what are friends for? Ivy has already emailed me and asked about my decision. I'll fill you all in soon and then I and tell everyone. It's exciting.

**American Idol** Tonight is the boys night. I am going to be at a First Communion meeting so I'll have to DVR it. Don't they know Tuesday and Wednesday nights are not good for me? Geeesh.

**Gratitude** I am so thankful for Rick Springfield and my teenage years. Such fun, great memories and good times. Even more grateful that Jen was right there with me.

Hug and Kisses To Oprah

Did you see me on Oprah today? LOL....I was visable 3 times for a total of about 5 seconds. LOL Mary called me at work to tell me she saw me.

When the girl won the shoes and came onto the stage I was over shoulder with my bright pink sweater. Then there were a few other moments when the camera panned across the room. If you weren't seriously looking for me I was easily missed.

I have to say it was really fun to watch the show today from the viewers angle because at the show you get caught up in the production of it all and don't really pay attention to what she is saying. The ice cream was awesome...I still have my gift card. I used my Container Store card for house stuff...I still have $75 on my card. I gave the Carmex away in Christmas stockings. I kept some post it notes for me and shared with Sarah. I haven't used my Williams Sonoma pieces....yet.

**Stampin Stuff** Here is my final Valentine's Day card of the batch. By now you should know the ingredients for this scrappy card...if not refer to the last 4 posts.

**Gratitude** I am grateful for my friends that accept me with flaws and love me regardless. With my friendships, I am blessed to have guidance when called upon, comfort when needed, laughter til I cry and the love in my heart to return those things to my friends.

**Random Blogging** Had my review at the bank today. I felt like I was reading my kids report card. Denise gets along well with others. Denise is organized and motivated. Denise communicates well with management. Denise completes her work and assigned tasks in a timely manner. Denise is a pleasure to work with. I am happy to report that I received all A's on my report card. LOL

Life is good. See you on the blog!

Tuesday's Oprah

Set the DVR for Tuesday, January 15th to watch Oprah...that's my show....Faces Behind the Names. The commercial is about Gayle traveling across country for a grilled cheese sandwich and they show the chef making our sandwiches. He's the only person that didn't give us anything so I can't remember his name.

Sunday PMS Check

Wow....it's been a while since I have done a PMS check. So here goes...the first check of 2008!

• Pysically-Um...yeah...nothing has changed on that aspect of my life. I really really really want to lost 30 pounds. Have you ever noticed that successful people are successful because they work so hard at being successful....no matter what it is they are trying to accomplish? So when I am whining to myself about my jiggly butt, flabby arms and my 30 pounds....I ask myself why am I not losing any weight? Well the real question is....am I working hard at being successful at losing those 30 pounds and the answer is a big FAT no to match my big FAT butt!!! I resolve to work hard this week and my first stop is going to be a visit at this FREE diet journal that calculates it all. Feel free to join me on this adventure.


• Mentally- I have to cut back on over extending myself...I hate to say no because I am really a people pleaser. However, I need to put me first because I really am stressing myself out to the point of heart palpatations. I will be delegating more to others and letting go....yes letting go is a good thing.


• Spiritually-I have been listening to lots of podcasts regarding The Secret. Each person on the podcast has something specific that they focus on as their prime reason on why the Law of Attraction works for them. This point struck me and has stuck with me.....Anyone can be grateful after the fact....but being grateful for all that you have and enjoy right now before attracting more into your life is key to the success is gaining more of what you want in your life. Hmmmmm....that makes so much sense to me. So I have been making it a point to just take a few moments each day (in the shower where I get my only "alone" time) and just saying thank you and taking in all that I am blessed with in my life.

So there ya have it. Anyone care to join me in the quest of losing 30 pounds? Warning....we gotta work HARD at it but in the end it will be worth it.

**Gratitude** I am grateful that I was given the chance to go to the Oprah show with my friend Vicki. I am thankful for all the gifts we were given that day too. BTW, the pic above is me with Vicki before we left her house for the show.

No Oprah yet!

So I left you haning on day three of my Oprah adventure. Needless to say.....the show has still not aired and it's been over a month since the taping!!!! I was trying to drag out what we got for free because I wanted you to see it on TV but who knows when that will happen. So to refresh your memory, the name of our show is The Faces Behind the Names. We were introduced to famous makers of products or companies that we all use and know.


Everything that Oprah showed she gave us....well almost everything. There was some guy there pushing a cookbook and we didn't get the cookbook therefore I can't remember his name because I don't know who he is. However, he did feed us his grilled cheese sandwich made on the panini maker she gave away at the My Favorite Things show....and no we didn't get the panini maker either...but the grilled cheese sandwich was yummy!

Ok...onto the free stuff. Below is everything that we recieved at the show and yes we got it right there after the show. As we left we received two bags of goodies to take home.

1. $35 gift card to Cold Stone Creamery. We saw a demonstration on how they make up a sundae and we all got to eat ice cream while Oprah made her own ice cream concoction and talked to the owners.


2. $150 gift card to the Container Store. They turned the whole stage into a mini Container Store and the two guys that created the Container Store gave us gift ideas and the history behind the store.


3. 4 year supply of Carmex Lip Balm. We met the sons of the man that invented Carmex along with a history of the company. By the way, a 4 year supply of lip balm is a variety of 14 different types of lip balm....mini pots, chapstick form and squeeze jelly kind. Of course, they came in a variety of flavors. Who knew...I always thought that Carmex came in one flavor....Medicince flavor!!


4. 3 items from Williams and Sonoma. We met the 90 year old man (Chuck Williams) who created the store Williams and Sonoma. His name is Williams and the first store was in Sonoma California. He gave us his three favorite items from the store which were a souffle pan, cow creamer and lemon juicer.


5. We met the man from 3M (the Post It Note people) that is responsible for researching new product ideas. He showed us a pen and highlighter with built in mini post it note flags. Oprah showed us how she uses it to highlight things in her book club books as she is reading them. We got 4 packages of the pens and highlighters.

So there you have it! That was my big Oprah adventure back on November 19th and still hasn't shown yet!!! Hellllooooo Oprah...what happened to my show. I really thought it would be shown before Christmas because they kept saying that the items would make great gifts or stocking stuffers. Who knows if we will ever see our show but it was still fun and and experience of a lifetime.

Great Lips and A Pilgrim

Ok...so this is day three of my Oprah story. I am telling you....I can drag this out for a week or more....but I won't cause I really know you are on the edge of your seat to see if I am ever going to stamp again. Guess what...I stamped and forgot to take a pic of the 32 cards I made!!!! OMG...yes I stamped 32 cards and sold them. However, I have another order for 32 more cards so I will take pics this time.

Anyway, back to Oprah. We attended the afternoon taping but were never really given any specific arrival instructions other than bring an ID and arrive at 11:00. Since we were Oprah Show Newbies we arrived early which I don't recommend because your place in line really has no bearing on your seat in the audience.

We went in around 10:45 but sat there until approximately 1:00 and the taping began at 1:30. It was a long afternoon in the big waiting room upstairs. While we waited upstairs Oprah was in the studio with the first audience taping the Denzel Washington episode that is airing on Monday.

While waiting people were slowly brought upstairs and after a few hours you just zone out and people watch. Rico and David even took a little nap while waiting. Then all of the sudden Vicki says to me...the Pilgrims have arrived. I look up to see this really tall blonde lady with a blue beaded blouse and HUGE white collar and white cuffs. She sure did look like a fancy Pilgrim and then she turned around and had a GINORMOUS silver zipper up her back. What the heck?? It looked like a zipper that would be on a pair of jeans! It was annoying me so bad that I couldn't stop look at this huge zipper on her back. Then I heard other people around me talking about the zipper. I was in great fear that she was going to sit in front of me and I would end up staring at the stupid zipper the entire show. Shwooooo.....I have no idea where she sat but it was funny.

I hinted that I was going to have the best damn lips for the next four years. That is because we received a 4 year supply of Carmex Lip Balm. A four year supply consists of a variety of 14 different lip balms....the little pots, chapstick form and vaseline squeeze type. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow, I am going to spend Thanksgiving Day with Jen's family. I feel like I haven't seen Jen in months....duh that would be because I haven't seen her since the first week of October. It has been almost two months. I am so ready to get my life back and see my best friend more often.

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! See ya on the blog.

The Memory Of A Life Time!

Today was the BIG day!!! I went to see Oprah and it was so much fun and the memory of a life time. There is so much to tell (that was a warning that this is going to be long) and I will start from the time my alarm clock went off at 5:30 am and my first thought of the day was.....I wonder what Oprah's doing right now? LOL

I live an hour away from the Harpo Studios but with morning rush hour traffic/construction that could easily turn into a three hour drive. We were told that the doors for the afternoon taping would open at 11:00 and of course we wanted to get there early for a good seat. So we left at about 8:15 and wouldn't you know it....hardly any traffic and we were in line by 9:40. We were numbers 32 and 33 which in the end don't matter because you aren't seated according to your position in line. FYI....Starbucks was two blocks away and well.... I wasn't about to lose my place in line for a Grande Mocha. (Later, I regreted that decision.)

We stood in line for about an hour and then things started to move. Security at the Oprah show is as tight as the airport. We were instructed to take off our coats and the last person in the party (which was Vicki) was to go to coat check and the first person (which was me) was to go to the reservation check in. After check in we had to hand over our purses and walk through a metal detector. Then get in another line to watch them search your purse and give it back. Vicki got her's back as is and I got mine back minus my calendar book, paycheck stub and my business cards. I thought that was odd considering I removed my cell phone and camera in the car but didn't think anything else would be a problem.

After we got our purses we headed upstairs to the waiting room where we waited and waited and waited....for two hours!!! Good thing I brought two granola bars on Beth's advice. It was freezing cold upstairs and this is where I could have used a warm Starbucks. Basically, everyone sat in the waiting room speculating about the subject of the show. We were all in the dark and clueless.

Then we were given instructions that we would be going down to the studio and we needed to give our blue reservation card to the usher and then take a number from another usher on our way into the studio. (Someone was going to win something....what could it be?)

The studio is very small....it looks so big on screen but it's really small. You know when she walks in and it looks like a long tunnel...it's not. There are basically two levels and we were on the upper level but first row. If you are look at the stage Oprah usually sits to the right with her back to a section of the audience. We were sitting directly opposite with Oprah facing us. However, we did have the camera guy going back and forth in front of us...that was a bit annoying but at least he moved around.

The staff came out and gave us some instructions and did a little warm up music/dance time. The VIP guests were ushered into the front row at the last minute and then it happened...Oprah walked through the tunnel and the crowd went crazy! It was so exciting to be so close and actually see her in person.

The number one question I have been asked is...what does she look like. She looks exactly like she does on TV and exactly as I had imagined her to be in real person. She is pretty, average height and probably a size 14. She pretty much as people all around her telling her what to do at all times.

The show was taped with commercial breaks and during breaks she pretty much kept to herself because people would rush out to do her hair, make up and wardrobe adjustments. The infamous Dean is constantly telling her what to do and where to stand and briefing her on the next segment. (It is obvious they are close and he is her right hand man.)

OK...now the show details. The title of our show was called "The Faces Behind the Names" and we were not told an air date....just told to check the WEB site. We are guessing it will be aired in one or two weeks because everything that was shown to us we were told would make a nice Christmas gift of stocking stuffer.

As you probably know, Oprah's Favorite Things was recorded this past weekend in Macon, Georgia and will be aired tomorrow. Obviously, we were not on that show which was fine because I was just grateful to be at any show. Today was what I would call a "mini" My Favorite Things day. We were introduced to creators of many different products that we all might use or that Oprah was introduced to recently.

I don't want to give it all away but we were fed two treats and given over $200 of gifts. It was exciting to see the creators/inventors and to find out we were going home with two bags of items. Just to make it a little fun let's see if you can guess what we received by my clues. 1) Look in the pic below and you can see a clue as to what is in one of my bags...it's one of my favorite stores and the owner is 92 years old (and it has nothing to do with the Starbucks in my hand....that was just due to a stop on the way home!) 2) Oh see if you can figure out this clue.....I am going to have the best damn lips in town for the next four years! 3) I was so excited about this one I could hardly "contain" myself. 4) Let's see....if you ever saw the movie Romie and Michelle's High School Reunion.....we met the real inventor of this product and he gave us a nice supply of his newest invention. 5) Cold and creamy....and oh so yummy!! 6) Finally, only one person in the audience got this last item and it wasn't me or Vicki.....it was a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes that sell for $785 at Saks Fifth Ave.

Anyway, that was my full day and I am so happy that I was blessed to have this experience. It was a fun and memorable day that I will talk about to anyone that is willing to listen. As soon as I see the air date I will share it with all of you so you can watch. Keep taking a guess at my clues and as you get them right I'll reveal the gifts we received.