There's No Place Like Home

Over the past two months I’ve been to Indiana, New York (twice), Dallas, Texarkana, Knoxville and Los Angeles. I have to say, it is so good to be home knowing that for at least the next month, I’ll regularly sleep in the home that I work hard to pay the morgage for. As of tomorrow, I have 28 days to write an entire (albeit small) instructional book so needless to say, I’ll be chained to this laptop for a while.

When we last left off, I was in Knoxville shooting a Holiday Open House special with 12 other DIY personalities. Setting aside the gajillion degree weather during what was supposed to appear like a winter shoot, the trip was a total blast! Actually, it was like living in our own episode of Surreal Life. We did most of our work in different houses and weren’t all required to be on camera at the same time. When we weren’t needed, we all hung out on the couches in one room watching TV together–at one point I was in the bathroom getting make-up applied when I hear one of the hosts scream my name. I ran out to see the whole group pointing at the screen, hysterically laughing at a particularly embarassing old Knit Bit of mine that involves me strapped to a fake rocket and being shot into space (a barbie doll acting as my body double). Nice. After that, the TV mysteriously changed channels. 😉 It’s so weird hanging out with a bunch of people with the same job when it’s something as unconventional as being a How-to TV host. I mean, it’s not like I get to talk shop a lot–well, except with Jennifer P. Everybody was so nice and down to earth that I was honestly sad to leave them. I taught Andrew from Tricked Out to knit, practiced fake (joke) smiles with Steve from Creative Juices, swapped industry tips with Paul from Kitchen Renovations and hung out with the entire group every single night in our hotel restaraunt. It was good times. So, since a pictures say a combined thousands of words–words that I’m sure you don’t have the time or desire to read anyway were I to write them, here are some photos for your viewing enjoyment.

Andrew Totolous learning to knit.

All of us prepping for a promo photo shoot.

Me, Jen & Steve hanging out in between shots.

Ahmed (Dirt on Gardening), Cathie (Creative Juices), Karl (DIY to the Rescue), Jennifer (Craft Lab) and me behind the bar that was built for the Holiday Party special.