I Will Never Clap Again...

Actually I will clap again someday, but I really do need to recover from 4 hours of clapping. I think if I ever go again, I will go without rings...that might help. Read on to see what the heck I am talking about.

What a great day! Did you ever have one of those days where everything just worked out the way you planned? Yesterday, I attended the Rachael Ray Show in NYC with friends. The day started out great and continued all day. Pat, Brenda and I met at 9:00 in the morning for the 1/2 hour ride to the train station. Traffic was light and we made it to the station AND found parking with plenty of time to get the 10:07 train into Grand Central Station. Arriving in NYC around 11:30 a.m. we took the short walk to the Rachael Ray Studio on 44th street between 2nd and 3rd. No one was in line for the show so we walked to a small coffee shop up the street and had lunch. After lunch we got in line and happily, there was only one group of four in front of us. It didn't take long for the line to be all the way up the street. The group of four ladies from Rockland behind us were a lot of fun and made the time pass quickly. We had a lot of laughs in line. Here is a picture of us waiting in line.
Antoniette, thanks for taking and sending me the picture! In the photo is Brenda on the left, me in the middle and Pat on the right.They finally let us in the door at 2:30 and things moved pretty quickly and efficiently through security and into the studio.

Once seated we were entertained by the audience warm-up guy, RC Smith. We were there practicing clapping (we literally clapped for 4 hours) and playing games for over an hour before the first segment even began. I was selected to do a little dance in the aisle and won a season DVD of the old late 80's / early 90's TV show ANYTHING BUT LOVE starring Jamie Leigh Curtis. Other prizes they gave away were cookie jars, boxes of Stacy Pita chips and bags of Redkin products.

We were there for segments from two shows. First of all there are really no bad seats. The audience seats are also on a "lazy susan" of sort that turns to a different section of the studio depending of what Rachel is doing. There is a kitchen section, a performing section, an interview area, etc. During the first show our seats were in the second to last row and the seats elevated as you went back. We had a good view. During the second show we had third row seats which were lower. We actually preferred being further back where the seats were elevated.

It is amazing how the show works. You don't actually see a whole show, you are in the audience for "segments" of the show. They must do a lot of editing and without audience taping to put the whole show together. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole show. Also, there were cameras and people EVERYWHERE! One boom camera came nose to nose to me, I was afraid to move.

We soon found out why we had to wait so long before the first segment started. Our first guest was First Lady Laura Bush. Apparently, due to security, getting her in and out of the building caused delays. She looked beautiful and was very elegant. She talked about heart disease in women.

The next guest was Lara Spencer from the INSIDER. She talked about skin care. She was very pretty and personable.

We were then moved back to the BLUE room (the audience room) while they set up for the next show. The room was packed (120 guests) and they served us sandwiches, chips and waters while we waited.

Brought back into the studio for the second show, we were seated in the third row. Our guest for the second show was American Idol Katharine McPhee. She was adorable and had a wonderful voice. She sang two songs and made a quick meal with Rachel.

Our Snack of the day was almonds. Each guest got 3 tins of almonds. Every member of the audience also received Rachael's latest cookbook, 2-4-6-8!

We didn't get out of the studio until 7:30. We headed back to Grand Central Station and had a great dinner at restaurant outside the station called Naples 45. We took the 9:54 back to Brewster and I walked in my door a little after midnight.

We were all exhausted and we think it was from clapping. We clapped and smiled for 4 hours. One woman sitting in front of us, said next time she was going to wear oven mitts. I called Meghan from the train and she told me she was on her way home from snowboarding and was exhausted and sore. She hadn't snowboarded in a while and fell a lot. I didn't tell her I was sore and exhausted from smiling and clapping for four hours...didn't seem to compare.

Go to www.rachaelrayshow.com for programming info. Hopefully, the shows we attended will air next week. Check the schedule for days when Laura Bush and Katharine McPhee are the guests.