SquawkRadio

WATCH THE RACHEL RAY SHOW, THURSDAY (TOMORROW!) MORNING, YOUR LOCAL TIME!!!  HERE’S LAURA’S OWN DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIENCE—AND CHECK BACK TOMORROW AFTERNOON TO DISCUSS THE SHOW!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It’s the hap-happiest season of all!!! (Ok I will stop singing now).

Here is why I am so happy (aside from my cutie pie that is getting ready to walk):

Leslie Ferdinand, Eloisa James, and the Rachael Ray experience. And of course my husband, but we will get to him later ;O).

How this all started:

Many of you know that last year the Squawkers and Squawkettes helped out Leslie and her family. They lost everything when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and all of us were devastated by what Leslie had to go through. Many of you may not know how much Eloisa helped out with the whole fund drive, the organization, and how she helped me send a surprise Christmas in a box to Leslie that year. 

How did I go to the Rachael Ray Show, you ask? Well, I emailed the Rachael Ray show about Leslie’s story, Squawk Radio, the fund drive, the Christmas in a box, and well… Christmas comes every year, and with the help of the Squawkers, we set out to maybe orchestrate something that could add to what the fund drive did for Leslie last year.

Now, when you guys watch the show there is no direct mention of Squawk Radio (they wanted to focus on Leslie’s story and how I wrote in, and of course the BIG surprises for her)… but I wanted to give you some behind the scenes stuff of how this all went down- don’t worry over there in the hen house! I am not going to give away any secrets.

Only that I had a ton of support from all of them ever since the Rachael Ray show called, when the field crew came to my house, when I went to NYC, and after. I can’t explain the stress (that good type of stress full of excitement and the unknown) of it all in any kind of coherency because it would sound something like this:

“OMG I AM GOING ON TV AND WHAT TO WEAR AND OMG WHAT IF LESLIE HELP AND WT……………” ok see?

Apparently, I had nothing to worry about. I hope you all have a chance to watch the show tomorrow to see what happened~!

The Rachael Ray Experience:

Tim and I dropped my daughter Evelyn off @ my parent’s house then hopped a plane to NYC. We passed on the hotel and decided to stay with my Aunts in the city. That was a blast and a life saver because all of the shirts I brought to wear on the show did not look right at all. I ended up wearing my Aunt Caroline’s very pretty blue sweater.  Here’s me and Tim. 

The ride to the show was long, traffic was packed, but we were able to do some sight seeing as we passed the Guggenheim, The Waldorf, Central Park, and other fun buildings (Colgate head quarters- they’ve been creating bright smiles for 200 years! and so on…)

When we finally entered the lobby, plasma televisions with the Rachael Ray logo were on the walls. There were 2 people with head sets waiting for us, and then they moved us up to a waiting area until our production team arrived (as if I wasn’t nervous enough already~!). It was very busy and the place was just electrified with energy. Everyone was so friendly to us, and we met a ton of fun people who worked for the show.

Before we knew it we went through orange and yellow painted halls to make up. The make up artist was basically from my home town (our high schools played each other in sports). She was really nice! Then we met the producers and talked with them until it was time to go on the show.

(I really should add in here someone mistook me for a famous person! And my husband said I looked just like Katherine Zeta Jones, and that I unknowingly was making origami with paper napkins because I was so nervous :O)).

Before I went backstage, Tim went to sit in the audience. It just so happened that the same day Emitt Smith was there! We were really excited about that… and managed to see him walk by two windows :O). He looked so nice, as did his dance partner.

Now this is where I started to get a little terrified. Nervous is not the word. I was all out of paper napkins and was about to create the first soda can folded dove-without knowing it.

I am so glad that the producers were there to talk me out of being petrified. They were all so fabulous that I put my Coke can in the recycling bin and was able to walk a straight line. (At this point I didn’t know if/when/what Leslie would be there, if she was, when would I meet her finally? What would Rachael be like? Where was Tim in the audience? Where was Eloisa? And so on…)

The behind the scenes team on the Rachael Ray Show made this one of those lifetime experiences. The fast paced world of TV takes a certain kind of warrior Pollyanna Wolverine type. You know, those multi tasking geniuses that can do ten things at once, but still make the people in their presence feel like gold in the process.

Even with all of that, right before I went to sit next to Rachael at her kitchen table, I had one of those heart stopping OH (insert expletive here)! moments.

MORE TOMORROW!  I have more pictures and I have to tell you about the day in New York with Leslie and Eloisa… but let me ask you this.  If YOU could go on any show in the world, which one would you go on—and why?