What a day!

I hardly slept more than a few hours because I had to wake up at 5am to get a shower, fix my hair, and drive 2 1/2 hours from Chicago to South Bend, Indiana, in time for a scheduled TV interview with Harvest TV. My first.

And here’s the thing…when you cross from Illinois to Indiana, there’s a point (not the state border, which makes no sense to me) where you shift from Central Standard Time to Eastern. That meant that I lost an hour!

But I arrived right on time. Not a minute to spare, but I wasn’t late.

Here’s the funny thing…the broadcasting station was in the middle of a field of corn. It really was! Huge satellite dishes out front. Kind of surreal!

I was led into a waiting room that had a gigantic TV so families could watch the show as it was being taped. A woman was there, watching her husband on the show. The make-up guy gave me a little bit of make up, but just to take the shine off. I was a little disappointed–I would have liked to have had a makeover.

When it was time for my interview, I met with the show’s host, Valerie (adorable!), and we went into this gigantic warehouse. In a corner of the warehouse was a living room set–very cheerful, with sofas and pillows and a coffee table. I was fitted with a tiny microphone, Valerie practiced a moment of two with the teleprompter, and I tried not to get distracted by the enormous television monitors that were on each side of us, the teleprompter, plus the huge boom camera that swirled in front of us like a giant mosquito.

Suddenly, the interview was off and running! At first, I felt a little nervous. A few big gulps in between sentences (know what I mean?)…but overall, I think it went pretty well for a first timer. I didn’t have a brain freeze and I didn’t pass out cold.

Afterwards, I was given a DVD of the interview, but my policy is to never look or listen to my interviews. Too self-conscious. Instead, I just move forward.

Before heading back to Chicago, I zoomed around Notre Dame University–first time I’d ever seen it. WOW! What a gorgeous campus. Absolutely stunning. Then…back to Chicago. I was able to peek through the gym windows and watch my college son during his first day of basketball practice.

Gosh…I am really beat tonight. Heading to bed early…tomorrow, I head down to Florida. Excited to go…but not excited to say goodbye to my son.

Thanksgiving isn’t too far away, though. Right?