Adventures in Israel, part 1

"Excuse me ma'am, I need to pat down your hair."

We're in the Miami airport with one hour left before we board our flight! Our day started at 6 this morning--well really the real party started last night. My mom & I both drove to Houston to spend the night with Bonnie & Robert before our flights today. We had dinner at Houston's where we all enjoyed the worlds best veggie burger! You've got to have one before you die! And it's so healthy you probably won't die! So so good! After dinner we reevaluated our luggage & took out & re-packed till we felt like we were close enough to 50lbs to be safe. By the time that was done, we slept a few hours, got up & got ready to go! Our flight from Houston to Miami left at 10am, the driver from the long term parking lot dropped us off at the British Air counter (where we told him to drop us off) & said, "y'all must be early, they're not even open yet.". We said, "oh I'm sure they'll open for us." Well, we were at the wrong terminal! Read, Holly! So we booked it down to the American counter & were SUPER RELIEVED that both our suitcases were 50lbs! Yea!! Mom got a "heavy" tag but I did not. Maybe they know I do Weight Watchers commercials. Don't call me heavy! :) security was easy (though they did have to pat down my pony tail--I guess unless you've always had hair this thick, it's hard to believe someone's not trying to hide something in there. Luckily I was not.) went to our gate, saw all our group, had time to get coffee, go to the bathroom, take some pills & board our flight! 1 hour & 50 minutes later...Bienvenido a Miami! Since our big suitcases are going all the way to Tel Aviv, all we have to do here in Miami is eat! And I'm good at that! Eat, freshen up, meet some people, return some calls, show some people my commercial on you tube, buy some stuff using the Amazon for iPhone app & we're ready to go!

When we land in London, I think it will be about 6am local time. We leave for Tel Aviv at 8:15am. Just enough time for some tea & crumpets! :) Then on to Israel where we'll spend our first night on the Mediterranean Sea!

I'll try to update again when I can, wot be for the next day or two at least.

Mazel tov!

Hey ya'll I'm going to Israel!

That's right!  On Tuesday my mom & I are leaving for Israel!  We're going with a group of about 50 people from my church for 11 days!  I'm kind of in denial that we're leaving in 4 days.  My suitcase is open in my guest room & there's piles of clothes & bags of trip essentials but I haven't actually put any thought into packing.  Maybe after I finish the current load of laundry I'll do that.  Maybe.  I was doing some reading this morning on the places we're going.  Most of the places evoke memories of song lyrics from Sunday School days.  After a while though, I realized I was combining lyrics & therefore events.

So ladies & gentlemen, I give you my Sunday School song mashup!

Joshua picked the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
Joshua picked the battle of Jericho & the walls came tumbling down...
The rains came down & the floods came up
The rains came down & the floods came up
The rains came down & the floods came up
And all Pharaoh's army did the dead man's float
Pharaoh Pharaoh Oh baby let my people go
yeah yeah yeah yeah
And I am one of them & so are you
So let's just praise the Lord
Right arm, left arm
Right foot, left foot
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord He wanted to see
What did they see when they spied out Caanaan?
Ten were bad & two were good

Kind of like the Cliff's Notes version of my travel book (hand motions optional).  :)

Hopefully I'll get a chance to update a few times during the trip.  Not sure what the internet situation will be.  I'm super pumped about it!  Now...off to pack!  :)  Maybe.

Kale Chips

I've been curious about these for a while now & today I happened to see kale at the grocery & decided today was the day to try them!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
Olive oil (I use my Misto---LOVE IT!)
Seasoning of some sort (I used Julio's)

Directions:
Tear kale off the main stalks into bite size pieces.

Place pieces on baking sheet.

Mist with olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt (or whatever your preferred seasoning is).

Pre-baking

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Ready to eat!  

Yes they are super weird to eat--crunchy little leaves. But not bad. I'm not sure how to keep them yet. I feel like they might crumble if I put them in a ziplock bag.

Zero point snack. Worth trying! 

Warning: people might say you're eating rabbit food & you will not be able to argue. :)

Valentine's "Book Club" Skinny Appetizers

"Book Club" is code for "Bachelor Watching Party" :) and tonight we celebrated this day o' love by partaking in some of our favorite loves! Cheese and chocolate!

Erin made these super yummy Fillo Shells with Snickers in them from Hungry Girl via WW.  Two shells for 2 pts+!

She also made this AMAZING Chocolate Marshmallow Bark...melt chocolate chips, stir in mini-marshmallows, flatten out to the bets of your ability & put in the fridge till it hardens.  Then chop up....so good!  I think it was like 3 pts+ a serving...I can't find the recipe right now, let me know if you want it.

And I made these Skinny Baked Mozzarella Sticks from Skinny Taste--2 pts+ for 2!  Mine kind of melted, I should have watched them better....so good though!

Served them them with a veggie marinara...YUM!  

My two current favorite recipe websites are www.skinnytaste.com and www.eat-your-self-skinny.com.  Both include the WW pts+ with their recipes & all that I've tried so far have been delicious!  Bon Appetit!  

Oh look there I am on The Bachelor!

No I'm not really ON The Bachelor...I was on during The Bachelor tonight!  Speaking of The Bachelor...I LOLed when I read this on my favorite crafty blog today...

Are you a Bachelor watcher? I am. Pure smut, but I love it. I’m behind a week, so don’t tell me who is off.

Want to know how I justify my Bachelor enjoyment? I say it is Biblical. Have you read the story of Queen Esther? King Xerxes was the Bachelor and Queen Esther received the final rose after he dated lots and lots of eligible bachelorettes. Read the story for yourself here. And if you want a more in depth study of the story of Esther, the Beth Moore study is pretty much amazing.

P.S. I’m kidding … I don’t think dating 25 women at once is biblical. It just does sort of happen in the Bible. Not saying its how it should be done and clearly the results aren’t all that great since nearly every couple breaks up in the end.

So funny.  And so true.  Also so funny to think that everyone watching The Bachelor tonight saw Bonnie & I.  It's still surreal.  Do you think Ben was watching?  :)  

5 Point Personal Pan Pizza!

I just discovered single serving thin crust pizza dough at HEB! Not only do 3 come in a pack, but they are only 3 points each!  They're about the size of a tortilla & are super delicious!

I've eaten one for dinner the past two nights: load it up with veggies (portobello mushrooms, red onion, green bell pepper & artichoke) and topped it off with reduced fat mozzarella cheese. Voila! 5 point pizza!!  And let's be honest, who doesn't love pizza?  And for 5 points+, you can really LOVE IT!

J.Hud's Lasagna

Just made this no noodle veggie lasagna that Jennifer Hudson (or as I like to call her "J.Hud") made on the Dr. Oz show--ya'll--it's so good!  AND...5 pts+ per serving!  And they're good serving sizes...not weenie!  The recipe makes 12 servings.  I served it at "book club" tonight (aka The Bachelor viewing party!) & it was a HIT!

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant(s), trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices   

2 large uncooked zucchini, trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices   

1 large egg(s), beaten

3/4 pound(s) part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup(s) basil, fresh, cut into thin strips   

1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese (I used reduced fat)

4 cup(s) store-bought marinara sauce, divided        

1/2 pound(s) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided    

Directions

First roast the veggies--preheat oven to 400°F, coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Place eggplant on one prepared baking sheet and place zucchini on other prepared baking sheet; coat vegetables with cooking spray. Roast 8 minutes; turn over vegetables and roast for 7 to 10 minutes more (total roasting time should not exceed 20 minutes or the vegetables will get too mushy); remove from oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine egg, ricotta cheese, basil and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese & set aside.

When veggies are done, reduce oven temperature to 350°F. 

The recipe called for a 8x14" baking dish, I used a 9x13" though & it was fine--coat the baking dish with cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of sauce (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) on bottom of pan. Layer eggplant over sauce (use all the slices, even if you have to overlap them). Cover eggplant with half of marinara sauce and then spread half of ricotta mixture on top; sprinkle with half of mozzarella cheese. Top mozzarella cheese with zucchini and cover zucchini with remaining marinara sauce; spread with remaining ricotta mixture and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Bake until the bottom starts to bubble, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove lasagna from oven and allow it to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Notes

They recommended using a mandolin to slide the veggies & after having difficulty slicing the eggplant into such thin pieces I think I will invest in one for next time!  


I also think I'll add mushrooms & maybe some other veggies next time...just to make it even more delish!   

Here is the ONLY downside--I had a super hard time cutting it & having it look pretty--see my plate--

But it does show all the yumminess that's inside!  :)  Enjoy! 

S'morbles

I watch so many competitive cooking shows that sometimes I like to challenge myself to make something using only what I already have in my pantry.

Today's challenge: make a dessert for the youth leader retreat.

Ingredients on hand: Pillsbury crescent rolls, marshmallows & Dove dark chocolate squares.

Result: S'morbles.

Yum. Don't tell Weight Watchers. :)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello!  I discovered these last spring & think I've even shared them before, but I wanted to re-share as I just made a batch & they are so good!  These are originally from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook  but I tweaked them a bit to make them 2 points plus each!

3/4 C. butter or margarine
1 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
2 eggs (I use egg whites)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 C. flour
2 C. oats
1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips (sometimes I use 1/2 C cinnamon chips & 1/2 C chocolate chips)*

Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes.  Makes about 55 super delicious cookies.



*If you want to use the cinnamon chip/chocolate chip combo, add the nutmeg....so good!!

THE Commercial

Just in case you didn't see it on Facebook.

The Enchiladas that will "Blow Your Mind"

Get ready for your mind to be blown!  :)  Bonnie tweaked my account of the recipe I posted a few weeks ago to share with a WW group on Facebook.  Here is is:

Ingredients:
•20 corn tortillas (small)
•about 6 baby bellas
•1 yellow onion
•1 green bell pepper
•1 red bell pepper
•1 zucchini
•1 eggplant (small)
•~19 oz. red enchilada sauce
•2 cups reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
•olive oil
•salt, pepper, fajita seasoning, cumin, paprika, chili powder (whatever you like)

Prep:
Pre-heat oven to 350
1.chop all veggies to your preference (don’t forget to peel your eggplant)
2.put all veggies big mixing bowl
3.drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive on top of veggies
4.season w/ a little salt, pepper, fajita season (~1 T), cumin, paprika, chili powder, etc
5.mix w/ hands (or wooden spoon if you are afraid to get dirty)
6.sauté all veggies till super soft in a skillet over medium heat
7.heat up enchilada sauce on stove top
8.warm tortillas (oven or microwave will do)

Assemble:
In a warm corn tortilla, put the following:
•1-2 spoons of sauce
•heaping spoonful of veggies
•little cheese (1 cup of cheese should be rolled up in the tortillas)

Then:
•roll up & place in a 9x13 baking pan
•pour left over sauce over & in between rolled enchiladas and cover tortillas with the remaining cup of cheese
•cook 20-30 min or until they look good to eat.

Salsa Recipe

Once I came to terms with the fact that I can eat an entire carton of salsa in 24 hours I started making my own!  Since it's a zero point snack it's ok to eat the entire thing in 24 hours, but it's more budget friendly to make your own than to keep buying it!  :)

Here's my recipe (it's easy to customize to your own likings!):  (makes about 40 oz of salsa--fits in my 1.75qt. pyrex bowl perfectly!)

• 3 cans (drained) diced tomato* (sometimes I use plain, sometimes chipotle, sometimes green chili--depends on my mood at the grocery).  
• 1 T. dried cilantro (I don't love cilantro, feel free to add more or add fresh if you love it!)
• About 10 slices jalapeño* (I de-seed as much as possible)
• 1-2 minced garlic cloves*
• 1 onion (I like purple)
• 2+ tsp. lime juice (to taste) 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 green bell pepper

*I keep cans of diced tomato, jared sliced jalapeños & minced garlic in my pantry so I always am ready to make salsa!

Chop all ingredients as fine as possible & put in blender.  Blend/stir/puree until it looks like good salsa!  :)  Refrigerate for several hours (overnight is best) to let all the juices marinate.  Enjoy!

Skinny Recipes

I just discovered this website, www.skinnytaste.com & wanted to share it with my bloggy friends.  I'm making her Cranberry Pear Sauce & Sweet Potato Brûlée for Christmas tomorrow.  She must have done Weight Watchers at some point because she puts all the points plus (and old points) values on her recipes!

Our family had a freakout moment this morning when we thought the highly anticipated package from WW Corporate had arrived containing pictures & a DVD of our commercial.  It turned out to be a Christmas present.  You should have seen (and heard) the change in climate & volume when we discovered it was not what we thought.  Haha, so we are still waiting....maybe later today!   

Smoothies!

I have one of these everyday!  It's like a milkshake....it's half your recommended fruit intake for a day & it's only 3 points+!

In a blender mix:

• 1 C. fruit (my favorite is a frozen strawberry, mango & papaya blend from HEB)
• 1 C. skim milk 
• 3/4 tsp Truvia
• 1/2 T agave nectar
• 1/2 T vanilla

Put a straw in it & enjoy!!

Butternut Squash "Fries"

I got this idea from Hungry Girl & was pleasantly surprised by how good they were! And ZERO points! Zero point French fries? Sign me up!

Peel & de-seed a butternut squash. Cut like you'd cut up a potato to make fries. Cook at 425 for 40 minutes (turn half way thru). I seasoned with just salt & pepper because I wanted to see how they really tasted before seasoning too much. They were so good! Similar to sweet potato fries, but a little less dense. I'm a big fan! Please forgive the quality of the pic--I wanted to eat them so I didn't take too much care when I took it. :)  They were a great side to my veggie burger I had for dinner last night!  I will definitely make these again!

Recipe for Veggie Enchiladas

My friend Jenny made my day today by asking me to share some of Bonnie's & my favorite recipes since doing Weight Watchers.  Coming from someone who once when we were in college made a pumpkin crunch cake & I proceeded to eat the.entire.thing, I am honored that she would ask!  The problem is that both my sister & I make things up & usually don't make the same thing twice.  But it's also a good thing--recipes can be easily tailored to your likes or dislikes.  We're both going to work on writing down some of our favorites.  I happen to have this one for veggie enchiladas on my computer already & since my success story on weightwatchers.com gives a shootout to it (though my sister totally made it up) I figured it's a good one to start with!  Now, I'm neither a photographer nor a pro chef (though I do watch so much Cooking Channel & Food Network that I feel like every time I make dinner it's a competition).  So don't expect too much...just some yummy food!


Veggie Enchiladas (makes about 20--each enchilada is 2 pointsplus)

Ingredients:

·      20 corn tortillas (small)

·      about 6 baby bellas

·      yellow onion

·      green bell pepper

·      red bell pepper

·      zucchini

·      ~19 oz. enchilada sauce (I like green chili)

·      2 cups reduced fat Mexican blend cheese

·      olive oil

·      salt, pepper, fajita seasoning, cumin, paprika, chili powder (whatever you like)

Prep:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. chop all veggies (really small—except for bellas, they can be bigger)
3. put all in big mixing bowl
4.  drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive or canola oil on top of veggies
5.  season w/ a little salt, pepper, fajita season (~1 T), cumin, paprika, chili powder, etc
6.  mix w/ hands
7.  sauté all veggies till super soft
8. heat up enchilada sauce
9. warm tortillas

Assemble:  In a warm corn tortilla, put the following:

1. 1-2 spoons of sauce
2.  heaping veggies
3.  little cheese
4. roll up & place in a 9x13 baking pan
5.  pour left over sauce over & in between rolled enchiladas, pour left over cheese on top
6. cook 20-30 min or until they look good to eat.

Enjoy!  I serve these with brown rice mixed with salsa--about 1 cup salsa for every 3ish cups of rice (not rocket science--whatever looks right)--just stir in the salsa when the rice is almost finished.  Once most of the liquid is absorbed it's ready!  And it's the same points plus value as brown rice!  :)  

Who's that girl on the Weight Watchers website?

 

It's me!  And Bonnie! One of Bonnie's co-workers discovered us on there this morning!  We'd heard that someone from WW would be contacting us at the end of November telling us if they'd decided to use the footage of us & when to expect to see it, but we've never heard from them!  So I guess they're using some of it at least!

The only way we can find them if by searching "Holly" or "Bonnie" on the website.  So here they are:

Bonnie's: http://www.weightwatchers.com/success/art/index.aspx?SuccessStoryId=15981&sc=600

Mine: http://www.weightwatchers.com/success/art/index.aspx?SuccessStoryId=15991&sc=600

Pretty exciting!

Weight Watchers FAQs

It’s been a few weeks since Holly & Bonnie’s Adventures in NYC (courtesy of Weight Watchers Online) and I’ve been meaning to do another post answering some of the questions I’ve been asked most since returning. It’s been fun to get to share the tips & tricks Bonnie & I have learned while following “the plan” (remember, it’s not a “program”). As of this week the total number of friends of ours who have joined WWO is up to 13 (at least).  They should seriously put us on their payroll.  Here’s some of the most FAQs:

Did you go to Meetings or just do Online?

Bonnie started going to meetings where you weigh in & talk about the ups & downs of following the plan each week.  The statistics say that people who attend meetings regularly (versus those who just go to weigh in each week) are more successful losing weight.  When I decided to join the only meeting in my area didn’t meet at a time that worked with my schedule.  I was apprehensive that I’d be able to follow the plan by myself online but was willing to give it a try.  I was so successful that Bonnie switched to just be online. 

What’s the difference?

Like I said, with meetings, you go to the WW location to do your weigh in.  Online you pick a weigh in day & on that day when you log into the website a little window comes up saying it’s your weight tracking day!  You enter in your weight & then get to watch the little weight tracking chart go down down down!  You get stars on your chart when you lose certain amounts like 10% & another one every 5lbs.  Very exciting!  Online also costs less than meetings.  It’s like $14/month vs. $40/month.  

Did you exercise a ton?

No. I actually quit my gym membership when I joined WWO.  For the first few months I would walk in my neighborhood for about 1.5-2 hours a week but when the hottest summer ever started in May I tried to be outside as little as possible.  I did Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown DVD like 4 times 1 week & then decided I hate to workout & quit.  So no, I do not credit exercise to my weight loss success.  Don’t get me wrong—activity is good, but you can lose weight without being a workout-a-holic.  

Did you use all your bonus points every week?

Not always.  In the beginning I was too afraid to use them.  But after getting the hang of tracking & understanding the nutrition value of things I used them more.  Sometimes I used them all and some activity points.  Basically I looked at bonus points as an opportunity to eat a little extra every day or go out to eat one really good (but not so good for you) meal a week like enchiladas & a margarita. 

Did you have many weeks when you gained?

For the first 3 months I lost every week.  Then I had a week where I gained, then I lost the next week.  Towards the end I’d have weeks (sometimes 3-4) where I didn’t lose or gain an ounce.  Then suddenly one week I’d lose again.  I think the human body goes through phases of weight loss & re-shaping.  It’s odd—like your body holds onto every ounce then suddenly decides to let it go.  The beginning pounds came off faster & easier than the end ones, but for the most part, on average I lost about 1.5lbs per week. 

What are some of your favorite things to eat?

Well, everything.  And I hate when the taste of something is compromised for the sake of making it “healthy,” so I’m pretty picky & skeptical of health food sometimes. 

Here’s some things I love (and their points plus/pts+ values):

• Nature’s Own 40 calorie bread (2 points plus for 2 slices as opposed to 2 pts+ for 1 slice of regular bread). 
• Corn tortillas (2 pts+ for 2 tortillas)
• Light Baby Bel cheeses (1 pts+!)
• Salsa & pico de gallo (1pts+)
• Skim milk (no brainer to some, but it does make a difference)
• Reduced fat grated cheese (can’t tell it’s reduced when it’s in a recipe!)
• Sugar free frozen fruit bars (0pts+)
• Reduced fat Wheat Thins (3pts+ for like 16 crackers I think)
• Chick-fil-A (grilled chicken sandwich is 6pts+)
• Freebirds/Chipotle (easy to customize a salad/burrito bowl!)
• Veggie or shrimp Fajitas at Mexican restaurants

Here’s the thing:  it works if you are committed to following it.  I wanted to get to a lower BMI & learn how to make healthier eating choices.  I had an encouragement team with my sister & some co-workers & was successful.  It definitely helps to have people around you who are working towards the same goals.  I guess that’s why WW started with just meetings—it gives a good community of encouragement.  It was so helpful to have that with my sister, so try to find someone who can track with you.  Or you can call/text me—I will send you stars over the phone!  If you have an iPhone, get the mobile app!  You can track your daily points & look up food values on the go.  I have my phone with me all the time anyway—why not make it work for me!   

Please feel free to ask more questions!  People helped me & I’m happy to help others!  

Home again, home again jiggity jig.

We spent our last few hours in NYC spending the last dollars in our pockets!  We even bought some tote bags from the Adidas store to carry what didn't fit in our suitcases.  Bonnie arrived in NY with 3 pairs of boots & left with 5 pairs.  Not to be outdone, I definitely took lots home with me as well!

It was such a fun trip, but it's good to be home!  Our driver picked us up to take us to JFK yesterday afternoon & we told him all about everything we'd done & seen.  He told us about the people he'd driven--who was nice & pleasant to be around & who wasn't.  Chris Noth (who multiple drivers mentioned had ridden with them--he must be a man about town!) was nice, Dustin Hoffman wasn't.  

When we got to the ticket counter at the airport, my suitcase was 55 pounds.  The lady working there said I needed to empty out at least 3 pounds, "but oh never mind, you're first class, you can have 70 pounds!"  Wish we'd known that!!  We also got to skip waiting in the security line since we were first class!  Right to the front!  I really hate people like us until I got to be one of them!  We spent our time in the airport playing on the iPads located in the terminal gates to look up the designers of our clothes from the shoot and holy cow some of these outfits were pricy!  The shoes even more so!!  (Probably why they rent shoes & accessories!)  Our flight was delayed about an hour due to bad weather, but once we got on the plane all our worries were quickly forgotten.  When you are a first class passenger you're offered the beverage of your choice before take off.  I then had another beverage of my choice with my grilled chicken over couscous.  While the peons in the back got their one weeny teeny drink, Bonnie & I watched Soul Surfer (better than I thought it would be).  The flight attendant came to offer us the last bottle of our beverage of choice but we declined.  Suddenly we were landing!  In spite of departing an hour late we were arriving a few minutes early!!  Woohoo!  Not only were we the first ones off the plane but our luggage was the first 4 bags to come down the luggage carousel.  Man I love first class!  Our last driver picked us up & took us back to Bon's.   I guess it's back to normal, common life now.  It was fun to be a model while it lasted.  

We have no idea how long it will take or if they will even use any of the film or pictures they took of us.  Our guess (based on the fact that on YouTube the winners of the winter commercial contest were posted 2 months ago) is that maybe in the Spring it'll show up somewhere.  Who knows--we may just see ourselves on TV one day & that's how we'll find out!  Thanks for following our adventures in NYC!  

Adventures in NYC, part 4b

Make sure you read Part A. As tired as I am--it's 2:15am in NY--I wanted to write this while it was still fresh.  I have also been asked to post some pics, so here's some!  We weren't allowed to photograph the clothes, so I can't post any of those, but here's some color in this massive black & white post!

Thursday

"No singing, just dancing," and, “I understand why models complain about having such a hard job.”

Since we weren’t getting picked up till 11:30am, we got to sleep in a bit—which knowing now what the day would hold, I’m super thankful for! Bonnie had found the workout room in our hotel, so we weighed in & were confident that we’d fit the clothes they’d picked out for us! Thank goodness NYC is a walking city! They also had a huge bowl of Granny Smith apples in the gym! At a hotel that doesn’t even have complementary coffee this was huge! I grabbed two!  I also find it super funny that this hotel has an iPad that greets you by name in every room & has loaded on it all the hotel & surrounding area info, but doesn't have a microwave or coffee maker in the room!

Joe (the personal assistant to one of the production assistants) picked us & two other girls up. The other two girls were going in for wardrobe fittings. One had spent 8 hours the day before in a salon getting her hair done! (Sad story is that later in the day they bought her a wig to wear instead! Also a funny hair story--Bonnie & I were the only ones who did not have to have our scalp painted or made up--thanks, mom & dad for giving us the worlds thickest hair!)  We were taken to a different studio than on Tuesday. This one was apparently better for filming in & was in Brooklyn. We drove through some neighborhoods that our driver told us had been super ghetto but had become popular hipster neighborhoods where “they go to spend dad’s money.” Litterally minutes after he said that a guy rode by on a super tall bike—I mean the guy was at least 6 or 7 feet off the ground. Joe said, “I’m surprised that guy didn’t ‘accidentally’ run into us or spit on us—he hates SUVs & things like this.” Then two seconds later someone crossed the street in front of us carrying a surfboard. Where the heck are we?  I found this pic of tall bike jousting online--this is apparently what had gone on a few weeks earlier in this area--

We got to the studio & it is hands down the strangest building I have ever been in. When you enter the main door, it’s like you’re walking in an old library, complete with a suit of arms in the corner. Take a turn down the hall to the right & you’re in an old train car with bench seats and street signs on the walls. Keep going & you enter into a hallway that can only be described as a WW2 submarine—the kind where you flatten yourself against the wall when someone walks by. There were even fake life boats hanging from the ceiling. Each of the probably 8 rooms off this hallway were really teeny & themed. Bonnie’s & my dressing room was a tiki hut complete with a covered Jacuzzi in the corner.

 The other dressing rooms were castle themed, Asian themed, Mexican themed, etc. The hair & make up room was like an old stage with bunting painted on the walls. So weird. All us girls doing the commercial shoot had dressing rooms along this hall, as did the wardrobe & seamstress team and the hair & make up team. They all said they were pretty sure this hall & rooms had been used in a porn film & that this was the dirtiest place they’d ever been. I tried really hard not to think about it & tried not to touch more than I absolutely needed to.

The wardrobe/stylist team still had not had one of my outfits approved yet, so in between getting nails done and hair & make up started I would try one different tops, have them photographed & then they’d be emailed to “the client” (WW—who we never once met anyone who worked directly for WW this whole time!). We also filled out all the paperwork for this "job" (W2s, etc)--we got a huge kick out of signing where it said "models sign here" on all the papers! Our shoot got started at 12pm & we were scheduled to begin filming at 6:30pm. The two girls who we met on Tuesday had their call times at 8am and 10am. One was about to begin filming & the other was still getting some wardrobe details tweaked. They’d run thru the hallway area between outfits & say how fun shooting was & how huge the set was.  And how many people were out there!  For a minute I thought that maybe "so many people" was code for "Jennifer Hudson is out there."  But it was not.  There were at least 50 people though--the room was huge--a HUGE green screen that was on the floor & behind us during filming--so that we could be on the white background with the funny little words & cartoons around us.  The print set was a HUGE white wall with all kinds of lights & a fan to make us look good!  

Lunch was set out about 1pm. Not knowing how long the day was going (the schedule had “wrap” at 8:30), we ate lightly—fruit, veggies, some nuts. There was a lot of “hurry up & wait”—trying to get outfits approved, getting various stages of hair/make up done…then sitting while one of the girls who was filming at the time needed something that took priority. Bonnie was dressed about 4pm. My outfit was finalized about 5pm. Since Bonnie was sewn into her first outfit, she wasn’t allowed to sit. My top was silky & so I wasn’t allowed to sit in it since it would wrinkle. Hours of standing in stilettos=hard work.  Our film outfits needed to be "muted & not flashy"--Bonnie's wore a brown ballet neck top, black pencil skirt, brown belt & black pumps.  I ended up being a pair of skinny jeans, a navy blue halter style top & tall tall tall black boots.  They said they were trying to make me as tall as Bonnie was--and she was wearing super tall shoes!

We probably started our shoot about 7pm. Since things were running to behind and we were the last people being filmed, most of the assistants had left. Bonnie & I had the real deal stylists doing touch ups on us as they made the lighting & everything right for our shoot. Amy, the director, would ask us questions off camera & we would answer in complete sentences. All those reality show interviews make sense now. She’d ask, “What was your favorite thing about the mobile app?” And we’d answer, “My favorite thing about the mobile app was….” There were also things that had to be said a certain way--"it's a plan, not a program", "always say Weight Watchers Online", "don't say 'support group'", and don't mention brand names other than iPhone--but not Apple!  At one point Bonnie did reference Oprah & the director had to call "cut!"  She would get us to tell the same story but from someone else's point of view--like I have a story about friends I work with lining up behind me during a staff lunch one day to see what I was eating & I'd texted Bonnie that I was like the Pied Piper of Weight Watchers--Amy had Bonnie tell that story about me.  Or after Bonnie would tell a story about "lightening up a recipe" she'd have me tell it as well.  I cannot wait to see how they turn this hour-hour & a half session into a 30 second commercial!  Things were going well, until about a half hour into our shoot they called a dinner break. Apparently it’s union regulation that food is served every so many hours. My feet were absolutely killing me. I was wearing some super tall leather boots without socks, so my feet were just crammed in the leather. I wasn't allowed to take my shoes off (for fear I wouldn't put them back on) but they did let me sit & put my feet up.  After a little while someone brought me baby powder & little footie nylons & that helped a lot!

Bonnie was allowed to take her shoes off & put on surgeon’s booties over her feet. The stylists & film crew would wear these around the set—I guess they didn’t leave footprints on the green screen we were standing on. We really weren’t allowed to eat in our clothes since we weren’t finished filming yet. They brought us water bottles & diet cokes with straws so as not to spill, drip or mess up our make up. While Bonnie & I were semi-collapsed in our dressing room, the director, Amy, walked by with her plate of food & talked with us—she & her husband, the other director/photographer, are from LA. She’d done WW after having her second child. She was really nice & down to earth. It was good to get to know her a little better & get more comfortable talking with her on camera. After another hair & make up touch up (this happened every few minutes—it was so hot with all the lights on set!) we went back to finish our filming. Since you’re legally not allowed to say how much weight you’ve lost on tv, we were only allowed to say 24 & 47 pounds. Kind of odd, but there was nothing else to do about it. Our film shoot finished & we went to change for our print shoot. We did separate pictures & then some together. This was fun—they’d play music & tell us to dance around. They kept having to remind us not to sing along (they played Black Eyed Peas & Beyonce—not easy to not sing!). One of Bonnie’s dresses was pretty short & every time she’d raise her arms her Spanx would show, so we heard, “Bonnie pull your dress down” a lot! The clothes & shoes we wore for the print shoot were more fun than the film shoot.  For the print shoot I wore a "flirty" purple dress (that's what they kept calling it--it had a ruffle along the neckline--I guess that's flirty in NY!), pair of Fendi sandals (that cost “like a thousand bucks”) and Bonnie wore a red/almost maroon dress as well as a black & navy dress & some YSL sandals & Christian Louboutin pumps. They were some “major” shoes according to Joe the stylist. He told us that we were the only ones he got to shop for without any direction so we got the best stuff! Woohoo! And we learned throughout the day that anything they took the tags off was ours!

The print shoot lasted till about 10:30pm. It was fun because everyone knew they were about to be done for the day so multiple directors, producers & assistants were dancing in the back of the room while we were dancing on camera. One of the people dancing was our "stand in"--a girl whose sole job was to put on an outfit similar to ours & stand in front of the camera so they could adjust the lighting. It was real funny seeing her in the back with the same dress Bonnie had on next to me! They are all scheduled to start at 7am Friday morning! I do not envy them! After our print shoot was done, we were taken to the wardrobe/accessory storage room to film some behind the scenes stuff. They asked us questions about our experience & some questions to be used in the WW Online success stories. It was approaching 11, and we really had not eaten much all day—people would come thru & say goodbye while we were filming this. All that got us thru was thinking about the pizza we were going to eat. As soon as we were released we were told that everything we wore (minus the shoes & jewelry) was our to keep! I came away from this deal with some 7 for all Mankind jeans, great navy top & and an awesome purple dress. Bonnie got 2 great dresses & a top & great pencil skirt. Can’t wait to look up the designers of these clothes! I don’t recognize them, but apparently they are big time. Someone had made us dinner plates—cold tacos. We ate every bite!

We had a car called for us to take us back to the hotel where we quickly dropped off our extra clothes & then walked a couple blocks to a pizza place. We each had huge slices of pizza & split a canoli. Dough filled with icing & chocolate chips—so glad I am not Italian. I’d weigh 1000 pounds.  Best meal ever!

I am about to crash. My feet are killing me. I’m going to wear my chacos all the way home tomorrow! We don’t leave for the airport till 3, so a day of walking around SoHo is the plan for tomorrow. H&M, Bloomingdales & a few other boutiques that caught our eye! We both agree that while this has been the experience of a lifetime, we are not cut out to be models. Way too much work & pressure. And I like flat shoes too much. But it’s been such a fun time! And we still have a few hours of fun left tomorrow! Woohoo!