(diva)logues

Hold my beer and watch this...

 

Decided to start getting some photos to post a little house tour on here, based on some feedback I received.  I may do it over the course of a few days though, so it's not one big mile-long post.  Which it seems this one might be anyway. 

That being the case, I figured I'd get Bryn on board for cleaning her room since, well, the bed is rarely made & clothes are always all over the place... mostly the floor.  And if I'm going to post photos, there should at least be the illusion that her room is untouched by a teenager.  Nothing but realness here, folks.  Honestly, I've given up on arguing about it & most of the time I just close her door so it's out of sight. I'm all about the old trick that if I can't see it, then it doesn't exist.  However, if she caves & gives me a clean room once a week, I'm good.

 

So we had this conversation...

Me:  Soooo, Bryn...  I need you to do me a favor.

Bryn:  What is it?

Me:  I need you to clean your room so it's photo-worthy.

Bryn:  Why is a TV station coming to film it?

Me:  laughing... Uh, no, but that's funny.  And is that the only way I can get you to agree? 

 

Two things are funny about that...

1. Is it too much to ask for a kid to clean their room without a tv crew coming over?? 
2. It is probably weird that we have had that happen at my old house twice. 

 

Great Day St Louis came over to film my craft room back in 2010 & 2011.  And I went back to look at the links I provided on my blog, but I guess there's no archives for video that far back on KMOV because apparently it's been deleted.  Which stinks since I have no recording of it either. 

But I did save this screen shot from the 2nd episode on their website.  Bryn & I were both sitting at our desks pretending to be working...

Another illusion that I sit at home in high heels to do scrapbooking.  Only on TV, folks, only on TV...

The topic for that episide was "mom caves" so they did an interview & video about the entire craft room. 

The first time they came over though was to do a shoot on my wrapping paper station.  A friend of mine knew Claire Keeling who used to do their interviews back then & she told her about my craft room, so they called me.  Here's some pictures from the prep for that shoot.  The drawers I had installed were extra long so they could hold rolls of wrapping paper.  And all the cards on the counter were cards that I've made.  She asked me about the larger of the two card spinners.  It was actually an old paint chip card holder from a paint store that my sister didn't want anymore so she gave it to me...

The room was pretty big... 565 square feet of bliss.  If you were ever looking for me back then, it was highly likely that I was in that room.  I have significantly down-sized to a small bedroom for my craft room/office, but I love it just the same.  You can see the old room in it's entirety & read more details about it here. 

 

And here's my current room.  It's a lot less pink & green, and a lot more white.  And it's a lot smaller.  The zebra print rug HAD to be there again though even if it does take up almost the entire room.  I love that thing...

I'm not crazy about the scrapbooks being in all different colors/patterns.  May invest in the same color for all of them eventually.  There's even more inside the walk-in closet too.  I've used that closet as an extension of the room, so it's where I have my printer, cutting board, card spinners & additional storage.  Not quite like the other "wrapping paper station" I once had, but I can close the door to the unorganized non-pretty stuff so that makes me happy...

 

You'll begin to notice that I have those gold polka dots on the wall in a few of the rooms in our house.  They're self-stick decals that I found on Etsy.  I love them.  It gives the illusion that I have a wall-papered wall, but much easier & they're removeable if I ever get sick of them.  Bryn sarcastically asked me at one point if I was going to put them in every room.  I said, "Well I don't know... I just might!"

She's got a really great eye for design, but her advice on polka-dot excessiveness fell on deaf ears. 

Kind of the same way she ignores my request to clean her room... 

 

 

"Dance, dance, dance..."

Just a quick recap from an eventful and FUN weekend...

• On Friday night, we helped my sister's boyfriend out with some new advertising & promotional pics for Shock City Studios.  He'd like to start promoting having more karaoke parties there, so we brought Bryn and my friends' daughters so they could sing & pretend like they were having a party.  And then they all left with cd's of all the songs they sang.  Soooo CUTE!

• We have a new addition to the family & his name is Junior.  My mom told me she was hoping for a REAL "junior," but alas it's only a Gecko.  He looks like a snake with 4 legs... and you KNOW how I feel about snakes.  And... his home is in my craft room.  Something is very, very wrong here.

• I found out that my TV appearance finally aired when someone who works at the Y asked me if I was on TV.  I said, "Yes, back in December."  She said, "No, I just saw you yesterday?"  Nice.  They were supposed to email me & let me know when it was going to air so I could set the DVR, dang it!  Anyway... as you already know, they came over to tape this 2nd segment at the end of July, but it finally aired on Friday morning.  You can watch it here.  Not amused that they mispronounced my name... it's DEEE-na... NOT De-ANNA.  Kinda funny that the lead-in to the "Mom Cave" segment is about the Rally Squirrel.  Go Cardinals! 

• Did LOTS of Zumba on Saturday.  Love when that happens!  Had my regular 75-minute Zumba class on Saturday morning that I attend.  And then on Saturday night, I did an intense hour Master Class taught by Jason Thompson.  He was AMAZING.  The boy can flat DANCE.  He's from Kentucky, but travels around doing Zumba videos with Beto (the creator of Zumba), Zumba conventions and special Master Classes.  I think my friend & I may have to stalk him, so we can take another one of his classes.  It was THAT good...

• And I finished this page that's been in progress on my table for quite some time now.  The color combo started off because it matched all the crazy colors in my photos, but then it just seemed like too much, so I reprinted the photos in black & white.  Still not totally thrilled with the outcome, but quite frankly I'm sick of looking at it.    

So I called it finished & I'm moving on...

Just pretending to be working around here...

 

Well, I'm still here!  LOL  Just not getting a lot of work done.  Actually I don't think I've accomplished anything creative this week at all, other than to pretend to be scrapbooking during the video shoot.  As much as I love wearing high heels, I would not usually be wearing them to scrapbook.  I'm usually lucky if I've even changed out of my work-out clothes & showered before I get started.  

Anyway, the video shoot is over.  Not sure of the air date, as they still need to shoot 2 more rooms for the segment I'll be in.  And frankly, I'm not looking forward to seeing it anyway.  Pretty sure I looked like a complete dork.  Wasn't aware that I was going to be interviewed and be the ONLY one on camera... giving a tour of my room, answering questions... basically looking like a nervous dork.  At the end they shot some video of Bryn & I in the room... her coloring at her desk, me working on a scrapbook page & then working at my laptop.  Then they shot some video of my kitchen & living room.  Thank goodness I had the whole house cleaned & not just the craft room.  Who knew?!

Other than that, I've been having a lot of fun.  A concert on Wednesday night and Bryn & I have been hanging out with our friends all week.  Bob probably thinks they've moved in, which actually would be fine with me!  Heehee!  Essentially though... no work and all play.  And many, many laughs. 

Life is good.  Very, very good. 

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!  I'm off to Zumba!  YAY!         

UPDATE:  You can view the video segment here.  Fast forward to 6:10. 

Well that's random...

 

source

• A couple weeks ago I noticed I had a link to my blog for my volleyball tubes on the Tip Junkie website.  I hadn't heard of this site before, but it's kinda cute!  Thank you, Tip Junkie!
• I'm going to be on TV again.  The producer from Great Day St Louis emailed me and said they were doing a segment on "Mom Caves" and said I had "an amazing one" and asked if they could come back again & shoot some more video.  They'll be here on Wednesday.  Will find out when it will air then.  What the hell am I going to wear is really the only thing concerning me right now.  You can see my other appearance in December right here... fast forward to about 7:30.  Big dork.  
• Bryn is spending the night at my sister's house tonight, along with her cousin, and they are going to be at her boyfriend's studio (he's a music producer)... singing songs (karaoke style) and making cd's.  Ummm... when can I come & play?  I want to sing, too!
• So... of course that means "date night" for Bob & me.  Dinner at a new (to us) restaurant, then spending the night Downtown.  Bob told them it was our "anniversary," so we're supposed to have a special room.  And I'm guessing there will be "treats" delivered to our room as well.  Love it.  ;-)
• My friend told me that if I went to the Fox 2 News website, there was a link to a U2 360 page where there was a 360 degree photo of the stadium.  If you knew where you were sitting for the concert, you could zoom in & find yourself.  Could NOT believe it, but yes... I found myself & my friends right here.  So cool.  And scary.  One just never knows when they might be being photographed. 
• And the heat wave continues.  Will attempt to not look like a sweaty pig on "date night" tonight. 

Hope you have a GREAT weekend everyone!

And we have video...

Found out from my friend, Jodi, that this was online.  To see my TV appearance from this morning click here. 

FRANKly my dear, I don't give a damn...

Ah... Frank.  Frank, the old & overweight volleyball ref, who's on one huge ego trip.  I had one nerve left last night and he got on it.  Apparently I wasn't aware that there are "special" rules to follow when he is refereeing your game.  And the jack @*% kept pointing at me & holding up the game, until I'd look at him... THEN he would move on with the game & let the server serve the ball.  This, by the way, is probably the ONLY way he can get a woman to look at him... when he blows his whistle.  And did I mention we won ALL 3 GAMES last night?  Take that... Frank.  First place this season... kiss my butt. 

Ok... so on with the holiday cheer!  

 

 

 I've had 2 days in a row of lunch with the girls this week.  Needless to say... I've been laughing my butt off! 

And my TV segment aired this morning.  I've had a couple people tell me I sounded so calm, to which I replied... I can assure you I wasn't!  And isn't it always weird to hear your own voice?  I always think, "Do I really sound like that?"  I didn't see video of it on their website, but I'll keep an eye out for it!  

Behind the scenes in TV land...

 

Well, I did it!  And I managed to get through the Great Day St Louis TV shoot without being too terribly nervous, thanks to Claire & her crew.  They were very laid back, down-to-earth & put me at ease right away.  I was relieved that they were so happy about the room & how well it was going to work for this shoot.     

Before we even got started, Claire & the producer discussed what we'd be talking about after asking me a lot of quesions about my room & specifically the gift-wrapping area since that was the focus...

 

Then we got our microphone packs on & got started taping.  The producer had Claire do so many retakes of her introduction of me in my craft room, it was amusing.  It was at that point that I was feeling less nervous.  I really wasn't sure where to look while she was talking, so I just looked at her & smiled.  I think I may have looked down out of nervousness, but we'll see when it airs. 

After the intro we walked over to the wrapping area & talked about how I designed it to function & then they wanted me to wrap a gift.  So I just wrapped an empty box & stuck a bow on it.  It was quite the exciting wrapping job, let me tell you.  I didn't realize we'd be doing that as part of the shoot yesterday or I may have been a little more prepared crafty-wise.  LOL.  And the camera guy was so close to me while I was wrapping it, that I kept thinking "I hope my hands aren't visibly shaking too badly." 

I think I may have stumbled over my words a couple times, but Bob, who was standing in the other room, said I did great.  He loves me though & would say that if I slipped & fell on my butt.  So again I say, we'll see when it airs.  When we finished our part of it, the camera guy went around the room to get some more close-up shots... 

Then the producer had Claire & I reshoot the intro without saying that we were "gift-wrapping for the holidays" because she loved the segment so much that she wanted to be able to re-run it again... maybe in the Spring.  Afterward they were still talking about my room & said it was "so big I could throw a party in this room."  I said, "Well, I did have an art camp for kids in here this summer."  The producer said, "Oh wow!  Could we come back & shoot that if you do it again?"  She also suggested I could come back... probably to the studio next time... & make cards or something crafty.  The producer gave me her card & told me to email her with ideas. 

A HUGE thank you to Bob for coming home from work to take pictures for me because of COURSE this will be going in the scrapbook!

This Great Day St Louis episode is set to air on Thursday morning at 10am if you're local.  I, personally, will be setting the DVR because that's Zumba time & there's no way I'm missing my favorite class!  ;-)

UPDATE:  You can view the video segment here.  Fast forward to 7:30. 

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up..."

Well, tomorrow is the big day... I think.  I haven't heard it's been rescheduled yet anyway.  So, for now I'm going to assume that Great Day St Louis is still coming over.  The craft room is as organized & clean as it could possibly be... or rather, as clean & organized as it's GOING to be.  And hopefully when the camera crew gets here, all goes well and they don't wonder why my friend, Stephanie, sent them here. Ha!  Should find out from the producer when this segment is going to air after the shoot & then I'll know whether there will be a video clip on their website as well.  My heart is racing just thinking about it.  Ok, breathe...

One thing is for sure though... this impending TV shoot & an upcoming cocktail party we're hosting, has kept me organized with less piddling around in the craft room than I can usually find myself doing.  Even still, I'm managing to spend some time at night after Bryn goes to bed to stay current on my December Daily book...

 

Off to run & then to finish cleaning...