Martha, Martha, MARTHA!

Oh my goodness, what a FUN morning!!! I was in the studio audience of The Martha Stewart Show this morning and I had such a great time! I'm still on a high from the whole experience. Michele Manning, the owner of Movin' Moms (where I took a few Strollercize classes) was invited to bring a group of moms to the show back in February. They invited her to come back, so she sent out an email to all the moms on her list. I invited my friend Jen Wilkin to come along with me which made us a group of 10 moms from New Jersey. We got up really early, put on our "brightest" clothes (they requested that we wear bright colors) and drove into the city. We had to be there no later than 8:30 AM, so we left my house around 6:50 to avoid traffic. We got to the studio in Chelsea (26th street, on the West side of Manhattan) around 8:00 AM.

Here's Jen outside the studio. It was one of the coldest mornings we've had so far this season ... we even saw some snow flurries on the drive into the city!

There was a guy standing inside a little garage right next to the studio, so I asked him if he'd mind taking our picture ... he looked at me kind of funny and then said, "Um, okay, but I'm waiting for someone." I said, "Oh, you're waiting for Martha to arrive?" Then I noticed the wire in his ear, like he was a member of the Secret Service or something! He took the above picture and I felt rather silly for asking him to be our photographer, since we watched Martha pull into the garage shortly thereafter.

When we got inside, they checked our IDs, gave us our tickets, then checked out coats. We had at least 30 minutes to wait while everyone else checked in, so we sat around and talked.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with Sam and Johnathan, a couple who came to the show because they enjoy cooking and entertaining. Jonathan is in jewelry sales and Sam is an actor, but he runs a dog-walking business as his 'day-job.' They have a weekend home in Woodstock, so they often take some of the dogs there for cage free boarding in the country ... they call it "Woofstock Doggie Camp!" You can check out their website for more information.

Here we are in the studio as everyone was still being seated. It was such a beautiful set!

Here are some of the other moms from our group. The one of the right is Karen and she's 23 weeks pregnant ... she said if she has a girl, she's probably going to name her Reagan :)

Here's Kelly and Michele Manning (the owner of Movin' Moms)

We had excellent seats ... we were right in the center, on the second row. There were a few seats down on the floor, but those were reserved for pretty special VIPs! Stew Sr. and Stew Jr. were both there, the owners of a high-end grocery store here called Stew Leonard's.

This is the guy who gets the audience pumped up and excited ... I think his name is Joey. Whenever I've watched the show, he has gotten on my nerves, but he was actually more funny and likeable in person.

Here's a little video clip of the studio before the show started. There was a DJ playing fun music, getting everyone in a good mood.

So, we were lucky enough to be there with some very exciting guests ... her first one was Snoop Dog! I guess the two of them met backstage at David Letterman back in March. Click on this link to watch a little clip of Snoop Dog and Martha (less than a minute). For the entire Snoop Dog segment, you can click on this link - it's 6 minutes and 45 seconds long. He was really funny, especially when he described his own personal language.

Of course, I was bummed that we couldn't take any pictures during the show or even during the commercial breaks. Oh well. By the way, the show started taping at exactly 10:00 AM because it airs live in 65 markets. In NY, it airs one hour later at 11:00 AM.

After Snoop Dog, Martha did a stenciling craft to put Thanksgiving designs on cloth napkins and runners for the table. Rather boring. Actually, it was kind of cool, but boring compared to Snoop Dog! Then she showed a video of some time she spent in Maine with a conservationist. Every member of the audience was given a copy of his book called "saving Maine; An Album of Conservation Success Stories" ... it's a hardcover book with gorgeous shots of scenic Maine.

Her next guest was Austrailian Curtis Stone, otherwise known as the "Take Home Chef." His show on TLC has most women in California excited to go grocery shopping! He finds people at the grocery store and offers to go home with them to cook them a meal. He's now been to 140 homes and his show is a huge success.

He and Martha made Espresso flavored creme brulee ... then he gave everyone in the audience a Breville Espresso Maker!!! What an amazing gift, since these things retail for $199 each. Rather than making each guest lug home a big box, they gave us these cards with a redemption code. (I scanned the front and the back of the card so you can see ... I know, I'm a freak!)

I tried to redeem mine, but after waiting 20 minutes on hold, I decided to do it later ... Jen redemed hers and she said it will be here in 3 weeks.

Neither John nor I drink espresso, but his mother Nila makes it almost everyday in a little espresso maker on the stove. Whenever John's family comes over, they always ask Marcelo (Maribel's husband) to make it for everyone (I guess he's the pro in the family) ... he'll have to learn how to make it with my new machine! I do enjoy lattes though, which consist of a shot of espresso and steamed milk. This machine has the wand for steaming milk.

After the show finished filming, Martha talked to the audience and did a Q&A session. She was really nice and it was a great way to wrap up the show. What a wonderful morning we had!

As we were all leaving the studio, I stopped a girl who had been seated in front of me ... it drove me crazy throughout the entire show, trying to figure out how I knew this person, and then it finally hit me! Two years ago, she had been in one of my classes at Montclair! After our last class (adolescent literature) we all went out to a restaurant and she told us a funny story about getting her ring stuck on the wrong finger and having to go to the jewelry store to get it cut off. I reminded her of this story and we laughed. What a small world that I would run into someone at the Martha Stewart Show whom I met 2 years ago!

After we left, Jen and I had a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant called Seven. Thanks for going with me, Jen, and for driving too! I had a fabulous time!!!