MARTHA!!

It happened! It really happened! I've been waiting all year for my chance to get to go to NYC and be a part of the Martha Stewart studio audience. When a group of girls from my ward went last November but Jon didn't want to take the day off to babysit, we made a deal that as soon as he was done in clinic and I got tickets, I'd be free to go. And my day finally arrived!!

My friend Calli (who hadn't been either) and I woke up at 4 a.m. so we could leave by 5 a.m. and beat morning traffic on the turnpike to NYC. We made it smooth sailing until the Lincoln Tunnel which was predictably backed-up, but otherwise the morning went like clockwork, getting us to Martha's studio in Chelsea by 8 a.m.

They herded us into their waiting room and then started taking people back to the studio group by group, until we were in the second to last group left. We thought for sure we'd be high up in the back row, but instead we got the surprise of our lives when they sat us SMACK in the front row on the floor, not even 5 feet away from Martha herself!


The backs of our heads got on TV twice when they were zooming in to Martha, but otherwise we were too close to be seen since we were sitting right next to the cameras and teleprompters. It was awesome being that close up though!

Martha had Joan Rivers in the first couple of segments (who accidentally made some comments about how she thinks get-rich-quick-schemes get you landed in prison, whoops! That was awkward!), made some tea towels and PJ pants and gave the audience a really nice Rowenta iron, a $20 gift card to JoAnn's (although she initially announced it as a $100 gift card), and then some gardening shears and gloves from a Mother's Day gardening basket she was assembling. Then we got to stay an extra 30 minutes to film 2 more segments with Emma Thompson to be used at a later date (May 25th).

I thought Martha herself seemed very down to earth and low key. She sort of just walked onto set and started talking to her staff in the beginning, and thanked the audience afterward. It was a bit different from Rachael Ray when I saw her show-- who struck me as being a bit of a diva and yelled at her staff a lot.

After the show we ended up having to haul all of our loot in these big "Martha" bags through the subway (I thought they'd give us vouchers or something), so after having been up since 4 a.m. and all that walking and waiting, we were STARVING!! We were trying to find this little pub in Greenwich Village, and on the way we got offered a slice of free pizza, and how could we resist?


It was a good thing we had that pizza because it took us another 45 minutes to find this place-- "A Salt and Battery," which was featured on "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay for the best fish 'n' chips on the East Coast. I'm no expert, but thought they were pretty good. We also had to indulge in the Deep Fried Mars Bar, which was also featured on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." I know, I know. Enough Food Network!!

After lunch we had a LOT of calories to burn off, so what better way to burn 'em off than by walking over to Canal Street and shopping for knock off bags?? Yes! We had a blast haggling for bags and jewelry down in Chinatown, and when all was said and done and that dang Rowenta iron started feeling like it weighed 50 lbs., we headed back up the subway and home. It was a great, GREAT day!!