Weekly Faves

Wow, where have I been???  Ha! I was stuck in my laundry room sometime last week with the storms…but that was last Tuesday.  So I am not sure at all what I have been doing. I am going to blame my absence on blogger. You know, it has been having problems lately.

Anyway, I still have several favorites from last week (and the first of this week) that I must share.

Today Andrea from J&A and Co. shared this really cute tutorial on some birthday gifts that she has made her friends. I think the cost was less than $5. Go here to learn how! (Andrea, I want to be your friend in real life – you give the best, most thoughtful gifts!)

I know I have mentioned on here a few times that I went to the Oprah Show several, several years ago.  My friend Janie, in honor of Oprah’s last day, wrote quite a recap of our trip. You must read it. Also, follow Janie’s blog. She is a million times funnier than I am (which may not be saying much, but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.)

As I was going through my emails from 2004 looking for a picture (yes, I still have emails back to 2004…actually, back to 1998), I also found this recap from our friend Kelly who got us the tickets:

First of all HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Katie  has a "top 10 dream/ wishes to do list". (What a great idea and tonight I made one for myself as well.... shouldn't we all have one???)... but one of her dreams was to see the Oprah show. So, I wrote in and got a call from Harpo studios saying I could have 4 tickets.
On Sunday Janie, Katie, Emily, and I went to Chicago. It was a great trip. We stayed at the Omni All Suites Hotel (where Oprah's guests stay) for 3 nights. We went shopping, to museums, and ate at a lot of neat places. Overall, the trip was wonderful.

As for our main reason in going.. Oprah....it was an experience of a lifetime. It is a pretty tough ticket to come by and a true blessing we were able to get 4 tickets. We arrived early (about 5:45) even though we were asked to be there between 7-8 AM. We wanted good seats. In fact, we were #8,9,10, 11 in line so only 7 people were in front of us (7 rough women were in front of us in head to toe denim...not the type of people you usually see in the audience).

When it was time for us to go from the "Audience Waiting Room" (which is the room AFTER security) they began seating people in the studio NOT by number. I was getting a little upset after waking up extra early and being in the front of the line... and not being seated #8-11.... but then they called out, "The party of Kelly Brown" to be seated.... most people call in numerous times to get tickets, but since Harpo studios actually called me to give me tickets (due to my heartfelt email) we were considered "guests of a producer" and ended up with FRONT ROW SEATS!!!! (Yes, the 7 rough looking women in demin were in the back.) So it ended up good... I would be upset if I were the first one in line and sitting in the back though but it just shows the Oprah show is DEFINITELY a "production" and the audience was "placed" in a specific place.

Good news...Janie got to shake Oprah's hand!
Bad news... it wasn't what I had dreamed it to be... it is a "job" for Oprah and we got to watch her "work" instead of going to a "show" and being "entertained"

Bad news....The topic... or lack there of... was a recap show of her previous after the show clips. We watched clips of Jim Carey, Gweneth Paltrow, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Christiana Augiulera, etc. and then Oprah commented on them.

Good news (sort of)... we got 3 free CDs... Barry Manilow, Celine, and Christina (great re-gifts)
I definitely want to go back to Chicago... I loved it... and I even want to go back to an Oprah taping to see a REAL show taping... one with a topic or guest celebrity....but in the end it was a great trip... even though it wasn't her "favorite things".I will let you all know when it will air (sometime in Dec.) Katie and I have on pink, Emily has on black, and Janie has on red.... I still can't believe we were 5 feet from Oprah.

Talk to you all soon... have a great weekend... travel safely!

Oh yeah... one more thing... Emily and I ran into Jerry Springer and got our picture taken with him.

Wow, this post is getting long. I guess that is what you guys get for my lack of “talking” for a week.

Back to the purpose of this post, my favorites for the week. Now, seriously, you guys KNOW my love for the little babushkas. Have you ever seen anything cuter than a babushka cake pop? Created by The Cake Poppery via Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Over the past few years I have become a lot better about wearing sunscreen.  I am pretty much freaky about it and am scared to be outside for more than 15 minutes without it.  (These are just the beginning of my “issues.”) I was pleased to see that this week on Target Addict she posted that Target’s house brand sunscreen was ranked #1 by Consumer Reports.  Because, seriously, sunscreen can get expensive.

This week on the Tiny Prints blog they posted the cutest cupcakes that were inspired by one of their invite designs. I love it when the party comes together like that! (Cupcakes created by Uh, oh Cupcakes.)

This weekend we did some stuff around the house and had a few people over, so I actually have something to write about this week! Yay for my blog having maybe a shred of content that someone else didn’t originally create!  (I am like google of the blog world….at least that is what I am telling myself.)