Purls in the Plaza

The dust is settling after last month’s craziness and I’ve been feeling a little reclusive. I’ve been spending a lot of time with my boys–the long weekend was an extravaganza of movie-going and play dates! I spent 4th of July at Jennifer’s house with the rest of the craft mafia, some other friends, and two of the producers from Stylelicious who were in town visiting. We celebrated with BBQ, bevies and Texas’s version of fireworks; a wicked lightening storm. It was a blast.

Last week’s New York trip took a total of 26 hours. I arrived at JFK at around noon and was stuck in traffic for about an hour on the way to the hotel. I almost never stay in a hotel when I’m in NY–it’s really expensive and I’d rather spend time with my friends Lori or Adina, anyway. I guess however, knowing my serious lack of an internal compass as well as my knack for being late, my publisher decided to put me up a few blocks from NBC Plaza…just to be safe. I stayed at this placed called Flatotel which was actually pretty swank. The only other times I’ve stayed in hotels in Manhattan there literally wasn’t enough space in the rooms to accommodate both the bed and an open suitcase so when I walked in to this suite to find a couch, a view and a jacuzzi bath tub, I almost fell off my platforms (again).
(This has nothing to do with anything but as I’m typing this I’m watching VH1 Classics and in a row they’ve played Bonnie Tyler’s “I Need a Hero”, Modern English’s “I Melt With You” and Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”. Oh 80’s music, how you make me smile!)
I dumped my bag and grabbed all of the t-shirts, projects and samples I brought with me for the show and jumped on the subway to meet the publicists at Sterling. We had a minor debacle to deal with when a local yarn company owner whose three teenagers were originally suppose to appear with me had her employee call the network and cancel them all at the last minute. After a bit of scrambling, the situation was handled and actually ended up turning out for the better. Thanks to friends and the peeps over at Vogue Knitting, we got six great girls to join me. Disaster averted, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed over to the Saturday Night Live set which Today is currently using as a practice space while their studio is under construction. We met up with the producer and art department to figure out what we’d need for the next day. I had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep the night before so by then I was feeling it. After our meeting was over, I walked the 4 blocks back to the hotel and made plans for a quick dinner with a friend. I must’ve dozed off for a few minutes so when I woke up and it was 7:28 I leaped out of bed in a panic, thinking that I only had 15 minutes to get ready before the car picked me up to take me to NBC. It took me until I was all the way across the room to realize that it was actually 7:30pm on Wednesday not 7:30am on Thursday. Sweet Mary. I was nauseous for the next hour until my friend who’s a D.A. got me a glass of wine and gave me a pep talk comparing how I was feeling to how he feels when he goes to court for a big case. His work is obviously much more noble than mine but nevertheless, his advice about what was really important applied to me too and was much appreciated. What he said was apparently exactly what I needed to hear, because I felt fine after that. I went back to my room, called my sweetie and then crashed by 9:45pm.
The next morning Kelly came to pick me up and we were off. Because there were so many of us (me, two publicists, 7 girls and their parents), they gave us the big, rock star green room. We all chilled while we got regular updates from producers. I got dressed and went down to make-up. I suck at remembering names, but the artist was super sweet and did a great job in minimal time. I really liked her. After that an assistant came running in saying that they wanted to use us in a tease so the entire room of people jumped in the elevator and ran through Rockefeller Plaza, making it just in time The set they created for us was so friggin’ adorable, that I almost got misty!
A few minutes later the host, Natalie, jumped into the chair next to me and almost simultaneously, camera’s rolled.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and I hope I get to do it again. I actually really like live TV because there’s no time to scrutinize over what you’re going to say.
After the shoot I walked back to the hotel, changed and left for the airport. That’s it. In and out in a little over a day’s time.
Anyway, Jenny put a few pictures from the trip in my album if you’re interested.
Extra gushy-mushy love and thanks to Suss Cousins for making me the gorgeous burgundy & turquoise tunic I wore and to Jennifer Perkins for the killer matching jewelry. You ladies rule!