Behind the Scenes Thoughts: Friday

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I don't want you to miss a moment of my Behind the Scenes posts so if you missed my recap of last Thursday, feel free to pause now and go read them..  Today I'm going to share a little bit about my day on Friday (now that the show has aired I can finally talk about it!).  After another night of stressful sleep my alarm went off at 6:00 am.  I had planned to get up and shower and then order breakfast but when I finished showering and blow drying my hair I heard my phone ding with a text message.  The driver had arrived and was waiting downstairs.  Luckily, I had packed up my suitcase the night before so I just closed it up and headed out the door.

We were taken to 30 Rockefeller Center where The Dr. Oz Show is filmed.  I was slightly in awe of the entire building and everything that it holds.  We were taken to individual dressing rooms that had a couch and a couple of chairs and a TV.  My dressing room was across the hall from The Weather Channel Studio so I got to see some of the behind the scenes while they were not filming - and then I actually watched them while they were on-air.  It was so surreal!  A few minutes later I met with a few different producers.  They told us how the show was going to work - Dr. Oz would begin reading our story and that's how we'd find out if we were in the Top 10!  They said we'd then have 30 seconds to explain why we think we've inspired America or why America should vote for us.  They encouraged us to practice in our dressing rooms while we had a few moments.

Not wanting to get on camera and look or sound unprepared I took this advice to heart and began writing some notes and practiced reciting what I wanted to say.  Then I was taken to wardrobe, hair and make-up.  An amazingly talented group of people helped make me look and feel gorgeous for the show!  I started to get nervous while in the make-up chair so I just kept saying my "speech" over and over in my head.  Once that was done we were taken back to our dressing rooms for a few minutes and then we were taken into the studio where the audience was already seated.

All morning, I kept thinking to myself, if I'm in an aisle seat or near the front I've got a real shot at this!  When they escorted me to my seat my head started spinning - I was in an aisle seat in the front row!  Soon the show was starting and Dr. Oz was coming down the stairs and I got to shake his hand!  We watched as they filmed the first two segments and naturally I wanted to eat the pizza that he prepared on the show!  It looked really yummy!!  When the show breaks for commercials they play music and at one point Dr. Oz started dancing!  He's a really good dancer!

Finally, it was time to announce the Top 10!  As he began reading the stories my nerves came back in full force.  As he started reading my story I think I blacked out a little.  I couldn't remember what he read, I couldn't remember crossing the stage and I couldn't even remember what I said but I hoped it was pretty close to what I had practiced (thank goodness I did that!) and then I was standing in the truth tube next to the other finalists.  I was completely in shock!

Frankly, part of me still is!
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Normally I post about my meeting and what I learned but this, in my opinion, is so much better.  I did however update the STATS bar on the left side.  I realize that you don't really know this because I don't post my current weight but people - I've broken out of having a weight in the 200's!!!!!!!!! (So much excitement and so many exclamation points!)
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Hey Chicago area friends - if you want to see me on television again tune in to FOX Good Day Chicago around 8:15 am on Thursday.  Assuming there are no big news developments or something like that you'll get to see/hear from me, again!
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As a reminder, the voting is open through May 13 and you can vote 10 times per day (tell all your friends!!).  Regardless of what happens I have already won my life back!  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the kind words you have shared with me this week.  I have loved reading every single word because it's good to know that we are not on this journey by ourselves.