Chicago. Day Numero Dos.

Set my alarm for Atlanta time without realizing it. Since I lost an hour of my morning routine that day, I typically would have allowed that one little "loss" for the day to destroy whatever plans I had for morning. That day, I embraced the morning in a city I don’t normally feel any sort of fondness for. The view that met me when I pushed the curtains back changed that completely.

I only had three hours to eat breakfast, do my yoga, shower, prep and gather what few items I’d scattered across the hotel room. Amazingly enough, I was able to fit in a full practice. Granted it was an express practice, but I practiced all the same. AND THAT’S WHAT COUNTS. I got up, I moved, I sweat. Mission semi-accomplished. I started panicking shortly after I got out of the shower and realized I had 45 minutes to get my hair and face on and speed out the door in time to meet the other ladies headed to Harpo.

Sometimes I think others must find me totally ridiculous and awkward when they first meet me. Sometimes I just don’t have enough time to properly portray the “me” that’s hiding underneath my panicky shell. To everyone else, I’m just that girl, chain smoking and talking louder than everyone else. In real life, I don’t chain smoke either… only when I’m freaking out on the inside. Seriously. So when I was unable to smoke for my 4 hours of INSIDE HARPO, I may or may not have come off like a complete jackass.

ANYWAYS. Where was I? So, Harpo was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Like, way WAY beyond. It’s very Oprah and you’ll have to see it for yourself one day seeing as there’s a strict no picture policy in the main lobby off the street. We went back and forth between hair/makeup/green room for a few hours and got to know all the people behind the voices we’d all spoken with for the past few weeks. All of the staff were AMAZING and it was a super nice bonus that for those of us on our special “diet” we were given a great big selection to choose from straight from the program waiting for us next to the world’s largest salad bowl. Fabulous!!! I felt bad for some girls as they’d been told we’d be fed throughout our entire Chicago trip and then discovered that was not quite true upon arrival. I was lucky in that I packed all my meals for the trip. Once we got to the stage for the shoot, panic really set on. I’m surprised I have any skin left on my palms or around my cuticles from the amount of times I rubbed my hands together. It was the only thing I could do to keep from bolting to the restroom. Rosie was super nice and I was honestly surprised by how fast the actual shooting of the show’s footage passed. Once we were done taping for the show, they finally brought us onstage and shot the promo footage for the program. The greatest part about being short is that I got to stand in the front row. I’m really hoping they use my favorite footage for one of the promo spots. Time will tell!!!

We were promptly ushered back to the greenroom area after filming to collect our things and all the swag we’d ended up acquiring during our short little stint at Harpo. Some of us will be back in a month to do our big reveals, and there might even be times when our videos from this next month’s “journey” are aired. Once I know for sure, I’ll link to Rosie’s “Ready, Set, Go” site so you can browse the progress of all us ladies going through this together. I can’t wait to see what the end results are. I just want to be under 200 again, which honestly, SHOULD NOT take that long. My first goal is an easy one, get under 200. You’ll have to hang around for my second goal. No seriously, hang around, because I have a feeling this is only the first part of an amazing journey for not only myself, but the other ladies involved as well.