Well, as most of you know, an era has come to an end. Oprah signed off after 25 years on the air yesterday. I know most people claim to be fans, and I am one of them. When Oprah was on the cover of Vogue when I was in college, I framed it and hung it in my bedroom. My biggest desire was to go to an Oprah show taping.  Years back, I came across a spot on her website for “last minute e-mail reservations” to the Oprah show. I immediately freaked out and sent an email stating how much I would love to see a taping. A few days later I received a call from “The Oprah Show” asking if I was available for a taping in Chicago in just 2 days. After a few thoughts of “Is this really Oprah calling?” I told them I would be there for sure! Now, getting my husband to go with me was another story. For some reason he was not the least bit interested in a road trip to Chicago to see one of the most famed women in the world. How crazy is that? No matter how much I pleaded and begged he was not in to it! So my sister and I made the trip.  Our show was with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law sharing their new movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The show required us to attend a free viewing of the movie the night before at a local movie theatre. The energy was high and we felt like MVP’s as our names were on a special list and the producers of Oprah pepped us up before the movie. The next day was the big event. We went early to the studios and stood in line outside. When they finally started letting everyone in, the excitement was uncontrollable. I was almost in tears. It is always interesting to hear about people getting Oprah “tickets.” From my experience, they have never given tickets. It is all done by reservation. When we finally made it up to the front desk, security verified our ID with our name on a list and we were allowed to go in. Up a flight of stairs, hundreds of excited women were put in a holding area until we could go in the studio. On the wall were photos of the many celebrity guests and on televisions played past episodes. Suddenly we noticed something odd occurring. Certain people were being asked to come into the studio before others. Women started talking and wondering “Hey I was in line before them, why did they get to go ahead.” Finally those of us left were able to go into the studio and find a seat where we wanted. The others who had gone in earlier were strategically place near the front of the stage & random spots around the studio.  My heart was beating. We found seats and got comfortable. Each seat had a full box of tissues underneath. These people knew what they were doing! Finally a woman comes out to get us pumped up about the show (Like we weren’t already!) She encouraged us to yell and clap loud for the guests, especially for Oprah (like that would be hard) and as well when they introduce the movie. (So when you see audience members act like they just adored the move, note they are prompted to do so!)  So I thought the movie sucked…do you even remember that movie? But I appreciated the free viewing and Oprah opportunity! Something to cross of my bucket list!  Oprah's energy and glow is even brighter in person. Just being in her presence was something I will never forget! Everyone always asks me if I got anything when I went to Oprah. Gwyneth did make some fish and we got to try it but that was it. It was never about getting any thing; it was all about the experience of seeing Oprah in person. The Kleenex did come in handy! What is most amazing about this is that I was able to go to Chicago TWO MORE TIMES for last minute tapings! And guess what…those next 2 times me or someone I went with became the “chosen ones’ and were escorted in early and given good seats. We attribute it to the very cute and bright clothes we spent hours debating on wearing. They encourage you to not wear white/cream (it doesn’t look good on camera.) I faintly remember the guest on the show that time, a woman who changed her life and wrote a book or something? the other episode was with Lisa Ling and gang life I think? We hit the lottery again when the audience was asked if we could stay for a last minute additional show taping with Jay Leno and amazing kids. (Gretchen…please help me if my memory has gotten any of this wrong?)  My friend Gretchen was my go-to gal for the second and third road trips to Chicago.  Dear Oprah, I will miss you (but I still get your magazine delivered religiously every month.) Thank you for being a ray of light in this every saddening world! You inspire Love, your biggest fan, Holly.

 
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One of the things on my bucket list is to own, decorate and enjoy a vintage camper...pulled along by my lil' Honda CRV.  One of my favorite things in the world to do is go to The Country Living Show at the Colonial Village here in Columbus in the fall. The show comes once a year and the creative juices just get flowing with arts, crafts, good food and girl power! Each year, Sisters on the Fly, a group of women who travel with their vintage campers, make a visit at the show.
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Sisters on the Fly have a nice write up in the most recent Oprah magazine www.oprah.com or you can check them out at www.sistersonthefly.com Check out the inside of this camper...isn't it just delightful? I most certainly could spend a few husband-free days under the stars in this!
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The bed looks so soft and comfy. I am already planning my color scheme and how I am going to make my camper a rustic spa-on-wheels! The name of my baby...Lost and Found of course!
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No girls-only camping trip is good without a nice glass of wine! Oh some day my dream will come true!
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Well, I have been avoiding this blog out of embarrassment for a while now. I have to get something off my chest. Maybe you already sensed it or had a feeling about it but here it goes I… failed… miserably… at… my… cleanse. Couldn’t make it past 2 days. Didn’t help that I was PMS’ing, had a stressful work week and started to get a flare up of my Crohn’s disease. After all my prep work, money spent on food and thoughts that it was going to be easy…it turned out to be much harder. The timing was way off but the hardest part was finding food that tasted good. I was open to trying new things, such as soy yogurt with strawberries and granola. But my taste buds rejected the yogurt with determination. Yeek! What about some organic salsa with chips? The jar said mild…it wasn’t mild; it was hot and didn’t taste good either and I love salsa! How about a wonderful salad for lunch, with gluten free vinegrette? Any other day it would have been great, but when I knew I couldn’t have other things along with it, my mind started playing tricks on me and I didn’t feel full or felt I was neglecting myself.  Don’t get me started again on how gross tofu looks in the package. And because my flare up is now in full effect, I am back to eating just a few things my body can tolerate, like Spaghettios (with meatballs of course.)  I was walking down the hall at work the other day and a co-worker saw me with my breakfast. “Pop Tarts aren’t part of your cleanse are they?” she said. Next time I know not to tell everyone about it before I do it. Perhaps I’ll try again in the summer, but I’ll tell you about it afterwards. Also, I found out a few other people were trying it along with me but never told me!  (It might have helped me a little knowing that.) But maybe they had the right thought all along…don’t tell anyone so if you fail miserably you don’t have to face everyone.

 
by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan
 

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You hung my first painting on the refrigerator
And I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You fed a stray cat
And I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You baked a birthday cake just for me
And I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You said a prayer
And I believed there was a God that I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You kissed me good-night
And I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
I saw tears come from your eyes
And I learned that sometimes things hurt--
But that it’s alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You smiled
And it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking
You cared
And I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking--
I looked . . .
And wanted to say thanks
For all those things you did
When you thought I wasn’t looking.

 
Well, I am not off to a good start! Shopping at Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck, as Matt likes to call it because prices are so high!) sure was an experience yesterday. I felt like I was in Spain again, shopping at the grocery store and having no clue what I was doing. I did not recognize anything on the shelves, it was packed full of people and I felt really out of place!  I couldn't find half the things I needed and felt really silly asking some guy where the tofu was. And by the way, tofu looks really yucky in the package and I didnt know it was refrigerated. The whole thing really wore me out, so on the way home I stopped at City Barbeque and got a pulled pork sandwich with mac-n-cheese and corn casserole! Hey, I thought, one last celebratory meal before I begin!
So today I began...still feeling a little overwhelmed with what I can and can't eat, my enthusiasm has already started to waiver. Started off good with breakfast, then went to a birthday party (Shout out: Happy 19th Birthday Angel!) and had shredded chicken sandwiches and birthday cake. Yum. So... day one: complete failure. There is always day two.