Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's The Holiday Season

Have you noticed that December is chock-full of events and important dates? It is almost impossible to have a free weekend in the month of December. This weekend, besides experiencing the best day of my life, I also had a very fun and Christmas spirited weekend.

On Friday, I went to my first annual cookie bake. I couldn't believe how many cookies were under one roof! Because it was my first cookie bake, I tried my best to impress the crowd and experienced bakers. I went with Chocolate-Chip Oreo Chunk Cookies, and I tried another recipe, which I wasn't crazy over. They were sugar cookies covered in green sprinkles and topped with a candy cane flavored Hershey kiss.



You can find the recipe for the Chocolate-Chip Oreo Cookie here, and the Sprinkled Sugar cookie here. 
The party was a success and lots of fun! Who knew that cookies and wine tasted as good as cookies and milk!

I also wanted to share a couple pictures of our Christmas Trees. Yes, trees...we have 3.


Sunday, December 4, 2011

"Baby! It's Tara!"

You ready for this?

This weekend I met the one, the only, Regis Philbin!! He had a book signing at Diane's Books in Greenwich, Connecticut. I can't even explain in words how excited I was. I couldn't even sleep the night before! I kept imagining what it would be like, and what I would say to Regis, and what I would wear, and how I needed to put on a little extra makeup (ya know, photo opportunities) I was so excited!

Because I like to prepare for such events, we left home at about 10:30 and arrived in Connecticut about 1pm. While driving though Greenwich I was over come with butterflies in my stomach, and was on a roller coaster of emotions. The town was crowded, people were on the streets, and a police officer was directing traffic on Greenwich Ave. In my mind I was assuming that the crowd was for Philbin, this was a big day for the town...or so I thought.

After driving for about 15 minutes to find parking, we headed down to Diane's Books and guess what...there was NO line in front of Diane's Book Store. Not a single soul waiting outside of the store. Can you believe that? I mean...when we called the day before the woman who worked at the store told us that there had been a lot of calls about the signing so she advised us to get there early. I guess I forgot to consider the fact that I called about 8 times that week, and I had Johnny call a few times too.
After finding out there was nobody in line, we decided to scope out the site of the book signing. This place was tiny, and cluttered, and had barely enough walking space. I was thinking it would be a very intimate setting for a first meeting with Regis.

Because we had some time to kill and I was feeling safe about leaving the book store we went out to lunch at a diner, right around the corner. At about 2:20 we were back in front of Diane's Books. This time, there were 3 people waiting. One man came all the way from Redding, PA and some other woman was there who was from Massachusetts. She had apparently seen Regis a time or two before. This was not her first rodeo. She kept asking everyone how many famous people they've met in the past, and if they still watched the show with Kelly, because she was NOT a fan.

At about 2:30 the line started to form. There ended up being about 35 die-hard fans waiting in line.






At about 3:15 a town car pulled up and out popped some scrawny, very fashion forward male that weighed less than me and who wore glasses that took up 3/4 of his face. The crowd in the line speculated that he was the publicist of Reeg...and low and behold, it was.
After this, the line went into a frenzy. The conversation within this line was like no other. And by the end of the wait the consensus was that they did NOT like the new show and that they weren't a fan of Kelly Ripa.

During the last half hour the worker of the store brought out a journal and told us that they wanted us to leave a personalized note to Regis, and as a gift from the store they would give it to Regis. Wowwie Wow Wow!
My message went a little like this:
Dear Regis, I can't believe that I am finally meeting you.
Every morning I watched you and could count on you to make me smile.
 If you ever are looking for a new co-host, I'm your girl. I love you and miss you.
Tara,
Albany NY
Yea, that's right. I did it. I left my blog page. I am hopeful that Reeg will be my newest follower (one can dream).
After signing the journal I knew my time was coming. Johnny kept saying, "look there's Regis," or "I bet that's Regis." Every time he said that I grew closer and closer to wanting to hit him. (Joking, domestic abuse is NOT okay). He reminded me of the boy who cried wolf, from that point on I didn't believe anything he said.

At about 3:30 I knew it was time to get the show on the road. About 2 minutes later, Frank Gifford walked out of the store. Frank is Kathy-Lee's husband. Kathy-Lee was a former co-host of Regis. (Grr...do I need to explain everything to you people????) 
I couldn't get my camera out fast enough, but Frank is in the yellow

Finally at 3:35 the book store workers and police officer announced that is was time to start the signing. At that instant my whole entire body went numb, or so I thought. They let the first 8 people in, then the second group. Then, finally it was my turn.
Upon entering the store I heard the most wonderful sound ever. It was the infamous voice of Regis Philbin. This was my first glance at Reeg.... 
OMG! What was I going to say?!?!? It all happened so fast! By the time I reached the table I screamed/wined/whaled: "Hi Reeeeeeeeeeg." After that very moment, our eyes locked, everything went silent, I saw nobody else in the store and he said "Baby! Tara's here!" My heart melted. I melted. I was on the verge of tears and cardiac arrest.

After that, I simply asked if I could take a picture with Regis. But, his rude and bad attitude publicist said, "He really can't." I wanted to cry. Usually I would have walked away, and just would have accepted the word "No," but this was Regis, I drove 2.5 hours to see him! So, instead I stood to the side and waited, and waited. While waiting I was able to snag these pictures...





As the line died down I walked back up and said, in my kindest voice, "Can I please take a picture?" The book store owner shook her head, and before she could say "No," again...I squatted down and Johnny snapped a picture.

I loved every minute. I am pretty sure Regis loved me too. I wish my visit with Regis was longer and that I was able to get in a few more words. BUT, he said my name and hopefully after reading my note in the journal he will be a follower on my blog. I couldn't have asked for a better day.


**There is a lot more details to my day, but this is quite long as it is. However, if you would like to read more about my day...you can check out the Greenwich Times. You can find pictures of me stalking Regis.


 
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