My Television Debut!

Some of you may have heard, but I had my first big tv break this week! Well maybe not a big tv break, but I am going to be on tv. For those of you who watch the Rachel Ray show, you might (well actually WILL) see a familiar face on there very soon. I spent 3 hours on Monday in a store being filmed and then 5 hours today at the Rachel Ray studio to be part of a trendy head band segment. It was so fun to be an actual GUEST on a show! If you are at all like me I am always wondering how people get picked to be part of these daytime tv shows? So for all your "Curious Georges" like me, let me explain how I got to do this!
Back in September I received 4 tickets to the Rachel Ray show. I had actually requested them months before when my mom and sister were visiting. The day before we were set to go, one of the segment producers called me and asked if I would be interested in being a part of the show I was going to be in the audience for by answering a question with Rachel and Monique(the guest for the day). Well the answer I gave for the question was not the one they wanted, but I did talk for a little bit on the phone with the producer. By the way, I have no idea how they picked me to call for that show except maybe they just drew me out of a hat! Well while on the phone she asked if I would be interested in being a part of another segment for a show and I was like "sure, why not" So for a few weeks after that show she called me about doing different segments for them, but it just never worked out for various reasons. I had recently forgotten about it when on Friday I get yet another phone call from the same person asking me if I would be interested in doing the segment on 'Holiday Hair" for them. We talked for a long time, they interviewed me, I sent in pictures and wala Monday morning I met a producer and a cameraman at a store in the Upper East Side. They closed the store and for 3 hours while I shopped for head bands and was interviewed about why I want to add head bands to my holiday outfits this year. Basically the whole thing was me wanting to add a little "trend" to my classic style of dress. I had a great time and loved having the opportunity to be on camera!
Well today I actually went to the studio and was on the show with Rachel Ray and a celebrity stylist as a model showing America how you too can add a little style to your holiday wear by adding a trendy headband:-) Although it was a somewhat silly segment, it was so fun for me. Today I showed up at the studio, was escorted to a dressing room, was given yummy food, had my hair done by an amazing celebrity stylist, had my make up done by the Rachel Ray make up artist(and boy did she put some make-up on me! my fake eye lashes are still on and part of me really does not want to take them off. haha) and hung out back stage for about 4 hours!
So when you watch it you will see the video of me before hand where I am shopping and talking about wanting to add this style to my look. Then you will see me on the show with the Celebrity sylist and Rachel Ray. It was so weird to have Rachel playing with my hair and all up close and personal. It was definitely an experience I will never forget!

When I had a dream of living in NYC I never thought about all the cool things I would have the opportunity to do here, but I really am so thankful! As much as there are some really difficult aspects of living in a city this size, there really are some amazing perks! I think today was one of those perks!

By the way, the Segment is supposed to air on the show on this Monday November 16. I will update again when I hear for sure, so check back soon!

Free Sermons

I just have to give another plug for the vision campaign that is going on right now at Redeemer. It is a really exciting time right now in our church! If you remember I wrote about it last month right HERE Although I know most of you who read this blog are not New Yorkers and are not directly involved in the campaign, I did want to encourage you to go HERE and download the free sermons. I have to say that I really do enjoy all of TK's sermons, but the ones that have been preached as part of the campaign have been phenomenal and incredibly impacting for me personally. The whole theme of the campaign is Hope. Each week TK preaches a different sermon on hope. Although his sermons are not normally free, Redeemer decided as part of the campaign to make them available for more people. "Hope for the family" and "Hope for your work" are two of my personal favorites, but I still have not heard the last two in the series (those are coming up this week and next) The one on the family is specifically about marriage. I have to admit I tend to shy away from sermons on this topic, but I was so encouraged by this one. I would challenge ALL of you single and married folks to listen to it. I walked away so challenged. I know listening to sermons takes time and we are all busy, but you can easily download these to your computer, put them on your ipod, and listen on the go. I have started listening to sermons on my commute to and from work and it has been so good for me. There is nothing like hearing the word of God in your ear as you push through the rat race of midtown New York City.

So there you go. There is my plug. Now go listen and be challenged and encouraged by the words of this man but most importantly the gospel of Christ!

Casa Creativity

Saturday my friend Hannah came over to bring some creativity to my apt. Back in September my parents helped me paint a wall in my living room yellow as well as my hallway. I love to decorate, but in NYC there is not much space and money is tight! So in just a few short minutes Hannah came up with a great new rearrangement for my living room as well as some creative decorating ideas. Although it is not finished, I wanted to post a few pics. Below is my cute living room and bedroom. If you remember from a earlier post, my mom is making me some cute new curtains and pillows that will be ready the end of this month. The colors will be green and black. In the meantime I am sporting Orange. The furniture is old and pieced together, but until I can afford new furniture(which hopefully will happen one day) I don't think this looks to shabby! Hannah gave me a great idea of framing paper(pictured above the tv). Thankfully NYC has some super cute paper stores and we just had our first Manhattan Michaels open a couple weeks ago. This is a super cheap way to bring color to a room. I bought the red piece of furniture from a friend who was moving to a smaller apartment, but I think its from Crate and Barrel. I hope to make a trip to Ikea soon to buy a new coffee table and something to put on the coffee table. Other than that, this is what it looks like!

My hall is yellow as well. Right now there is nothing on the walls, but Hannah gave me a great idea for it. I will post pictures when I complete it!

And this is my small bedroom. And when I say small, I mean small. We moved the bookshelf from the living room to my bedroom which I LOVE, but it does make the space a little tighter. My parents are staying with me for Thanksgiving and literally today I was thinking, "I wonder if both of them will be able to stand in here at the same time" I mean it's not that bad, but I like to call it "cozy". Actually I really love the smallness of it. It's the one place in the city that is mine, and it's all I need. I have learned that I don't need much space and I don't need much stuff! Hannah is going to come back and help me with the walls, but I think for now the room is quite cute!

I will post some more pictures when I get my new curtains, but this is what my home looks like. I didn't bother posting pictures of my kitchen or bathroom, but maybe one day I will be motivated. And did I mention that my backyard is Central Park? I live one block from one of the best parks in the world and I love it!