MORE shows to see!

In my quest to see how many different live show tickets I could request, I stumbled across The Martha Stewart Show website. On the website was an announcement that they were looking for couples that met online to join the studio audience on Valentine's Day. As you may know, Nick and I met through Match.com in 2003. So of course I filled out the request form last week and last night I received an email inviting us to the show. I don't know anything regarding what the show will be about or who the guests will be but we'll be there! Maybe she'll be giving out trips or dinners, or heck, even some chocolate will do.

So if you already think we're nuts get this - We were also given 4 tickets to the Conan O'Brien show on 2/25. I'm not sure if we hit the talkshow lottery or what but I always thought these tickets were hard to come by since the website says it could take up to 2 years to get tickets. I'm sure the novelty of it all will have worn off after seeing Regis & Kelly, Martha Stewart, AND Conan O'Brien within a month! Oh well, better take advantage of these opportunities while we're here.

Recap of our Regis & Kelly Visit

We started out early. VERY EARLY. I was up at 4am and was at the train station before 5am. I met my friend Tina on the train, she had gotten on at an earlier stop. She had 2 other friends she had invited so there were 4 of us total. We rode the train an hour and fifteen minutes into Penn station in NYC. We then caught a cab up to 67th Street and Columbus Avenue where the ABC studios are. We arrived at about 6:45am and we were about the 3rd or 4th group of people to arrive. We were told to stand in a line right against the building. There was a motorized coffee coach available to us with FREE coffee, hot chocolate, french toast, bagels, donuts, brownies, anything we wanted. ABC sure treats their guests well! It was freezing out and although I had a warm coat I decided against bringing gloves and a hat because I didn't want to tote them around NYC all day. Well, I froze....next time I'll bring them for sure. We stood in the ever growing line until about 7:30 when they opened the doors and we went through a security check similar to an airport. We then go into another line where we waited until 8:45am. The show is live and it starts at 9am so I thought we would have gone in earlier. They then opened the doors to the ground floor studio and we walked single file through a bright blue narrow twisting hallway and into the room where they tape the show. A woman was handing each of us a card with a number on it as we came in. It was not at all what I expected. The room itself was much smaller than I thought and the chairs were those small moveable metal chairs with a padded seat. Gelman, the executive producer came out and gave us a quick lesson on how to clap (twice as fast as you would normally) and cheer real loud, hoot, holler, and make lots of noise when they prompt us. They allow photography during the entire show as long as you have your flash turned off. They then brought out Regis & Kelly and the show was taping! There were about 4 cameras taping at all times and unfortunately one of the big ones was right in front of us, partially blocking my view of Regis. It was hard to pay attention to what Regis & Kelly were talking about because there was so much activity between all the cameras and the producers prompting them with cue cards, etc. They talked about current events for about 10 minutes then called a viewer at home to ask her a trivia question. She got the question right which means that she picks a number between 1-150 and the audience member that is holding that card wins the same prize as the caller. She picked 19 and I was 14! The girl sitting right in front of me! Argh! So close! She won an 8 piece Waterford Crystal Dining set. The first guest was Queen Latifah. She looked absolutely amazing. She's lost quite a bit of weight and she was more beautiful in person. She was promoting her new movie called Mad Money. The next guest was Kathering Heigl from Gray's Anatomy. During commercial breaks Regis & Kelly would come right up to the audience and talk to people, sign autographs, and take pictures with people. The producers would literally be pushing them back into their seats so they were in place before the commercial was over. Unfortunately, I never got my picture taken with either of them but I did take a picture of Tina with Kelly. It was a great experience and we had a great time. I want to see what other shows we can go see now! Rachael Ray, The View, Martha, Letterman, Conan O'Brien, or Saturday Night Live are on my list!

Is it too late to say Happy New Year?

We've been a busy bunch lately. To summarize the last few weeks: We spent a week in the Bay Area over Christmas and had a great visit with friends & family. It never seems that we have enough time to spend proper time catching up with everyone during our California trips. It's usually spent driving long distances to meet friends for lunch then hurry hurry cause we're meeting someone else for dinner somewhere else in the Bay Area. Exhausting but always worth it. By the time we all adjusted to Pacific Standard Time we were leaving back to the East coast.
We celebrated Lauren's first birthday on Monday! Where has the time gone? So much has happened for us this year yet it has flown by. Lauren is emerging into a toddler rather than a little baby. She has two bottom teeth and her hair is starting to grow. She says "hot" but she's turned it into two syllables "ha" (short pause) then "t". She stands without holding onto anything but she hasn't taken any steps yet. She loves to torment Andrew by taking apart his train tracks or dropping his train cars on the floor. It drives him crazy and she knows it because she always does it with a little smile on her face. I guess that's what younger siblings are for!
Today a friend called to invite me to see Live with Regus & Kelli with her tomorrow (Thursday). We're getting up super early to get on the 5am train into New York City. The guests that we'll see are Queen Latifah and Katherine Heigl. Should be interesting! Maybe I'll win something!