To All My Journal Friends

HAPPY EASTER!

Why I like New Jersey

(Dar: I know you're gonna disagree with this entry...TOO BAD!! LOL!!)

1. We have actual seasons: it rains in the Spring, gets hot in the Summer, cools off and leaves fall in the Fall and snows in the winter..JUST LIKE GOD INTENDED!!

2. We have beaches, mountains, green valleys and a beautiful area called the Pine Barrens, a place filled with brackish water and pine trees.

3. Not everyone from New Jersey actually says: New Joisey, goil (girl) or Oh my Gawd!! No, we're not all like the Sopranos, either..

4. We live close to the greatest city in the world, NYC!! A mecca of culture, clubs, restaurants and theatre!! And we don't have to drive there because...

5. We have mass transit! We have a vast network of buses, trains and taxis.

6. We have many quaint towns, my town included!

7. Sure, our cost of living is higher than most states but incomes are alot higher to compensate.

8. Alot of actors/actresses come from NJ. Susan Sarandon is from the next town over from me, as was the recently deceased Robert Pastorelli (Eldin on "Murphy Brown"). Robert Hedgyes (Jaun Epstein from "Welcome Back Kotter!") is from my town..ah, the list goes on and on...

9. New Jersey is rich in history, as we are 1 of the original 13 states!! Woo-hoo! Some of the homes in my area are over 200 years old!!

And last but not least...

10. Since we are a major port for the import of gas, our gas prices are among the lowest in the country!

Ok...so it really stinks (literally and figuratively) up by Newark/ Elizabeth (refineries galore!!)..but please, next time you make a joke about New Jersey being "the armpit of America"..remember: Some of us really DO like it here!!

"The View" experience

Ok...so I didn't get to be on TV :(  But I had a great time! We took NJ Transit into Penn Station and then took a short cab ride to the studio. We arrived at the studio at 900am, a half hour earlier than we had to. But there was already a line. We stood outside for about 1/2 hour and then made our way into the building. Once there, they check to see if your name is on their list and then you move to the next line to have your bags checked and to go thru a metal detector. After that, you stand on line for about an hour, waiting for them to send you up to the studio. They call you by number (we were 100, 101 and 102) and you cram into an elevator with about 15 people and head upstairs. Once inside the studio, someone shows you where to sit. We happened to be dead center, about 5 rows up. Surprisingly, the studio isn't as big as it looks on TV. It's deceiving!! I always thought that they moved from each "area" (i.e. from the table to the couch to the fashion show area..) but IT'S ALL THE SAME AREA!! They just move the "area" to center stage on rollers. When they had the fashion show today, we were directly in front of the models when they showed the audience. I don't think that you could see us, tho. Doesn't really matter, tho.

The cast was very nice. Star came up into the audience and showed off her engagement ring, Elizabeth Hasselhoff came out to dance with the audience before the show began...they all talked to the audience during commercial breaks.

All My Children is in the studio directly across the hall (we're talking yards, not 1000's of feet)...When we got off the elevator, The Big One and Jessica saw "Ryan" from AMC...They were hysterical!! "Oh..he did a triple take..he smiled at us!!" Too funny!! For some reason I was looking in front of me as I walked, instead of in back of me....so I missed him!

Denis Leary and his wife gave everyone a copy of her book, An Innocent, A Broad. I was really hoping that jamie Pressly was going to give everyone some free lingerie ...but that didn't happen. She came across as rather defensive, I thought. I might be, too, if I knew that every time some did a Google search about me nude pictures showed up!! LOL!!!

My favorite person on The View has to be "The Viewmaster" himself, Bill Geddie. He's very self-effacing and funny.

Ok...I'm sure I've bored a few people to tears by now...and OH! Look!! Time for me to run to Church and pack up some Easter food baskets! Where does the time go?! LOL!!!!

Peace....and thanks for tuning in!  ;)

Almost ready to leave..

Just a quick post before I go...Little Sharon had to cancel because she has a casting call!! I've been up since 630am...actually, earlier. Having nightmares about finding the right subway to take! LOL!! I asked Ray (my 16 year old) if she wanted to come along but she's gonna pass....too tired.

Post when I get back...ohhh, I'm sooo excited!!

Going to see "The View"..woo-hoo!!

Just got back from shopping for the outfit I'm going to wear when I go to see "The View" tomorrow. Denis Leary and his wife are supposed to be the guests, as is Jamie Presley from "Happy Family"...Funny thing about her...I wasn't sure who she was so I did a search, clicked on one of the links and VOILA!! Nude pictures of Jamie Presley!! LOL!! Now I feel like I know TOO MUCH about her!! After seeing those pics, I now understand why she was chosen to do the lingerie segment on the show tomorrow!!

If you get a chance, watch tomorrow (Wednesday) and see if you can spot me..I'll be wearing a yellow print shirt with a blue tee-shirt under it, khaki pedal pushers...I'm tall and wear glasses. I'll be with Little Sharon who is short and Japanese, Jessica who is tiny and cute and The Big One who is tall and has blonde hair. I'll smile at all of you!! I sure hope that it's not true about the camera adding 10 pounds..or I'm screwed! LOL!!

John from Losing It mentioned in his journal the other day that he'd like to meet all his AOL j-land friends someday. Me, too. Wouldn't it be great if AOL set something up for it's journalers in some central location and provided discount airfare?! It would be so much fun!! But then the question comes to mind: Will these people all really like me once they meet me? Is the cloak of anonymity for the best? Yes..we all know each other's names and some other things but do we REALLY know each other? I suppose some may know others better than some of us...but still, since we are not in physical contact, it's hard to know if you really do know a person. Oh, I'm beginning to ramble...

Anyway..have a great night! I'll write about my experience when I get back tomorrow afternoon!

Peace!

I hate Day Light's Savings Time! LOL!!

Well..busy weekend. First off, Herman took back our 6 week old (if that, even) Altima and got himself a fully loaded Maxima. I won't even tell you how much it cost because I , myself, have not yet come to terms with it. When he came back with it, I made him repeat after me: "You are the bestest wife in the whole world!" "You are the most beautiful woman in the world!" "I am the LUCKIEST man in the whole wide world!!" And he did. I told him that I likened the Maxima to a puppy that a child finds and wants to keep.."Please, Shar...can we keep it? Pul-leeeze??!!! I promise I'll take care of it and I'll let you drive it alot!! Please, Shar..please??!!" I told him that yes, he COULD keep it but the talk of a motorcycle and Corvette will now CEASE!! (How do you say "mid-life crisis"??)

Well..this all happened on Saturday night. He didn't get back from the car dealership til around 10pm and no one had eaten so off to Bennigan's we go..at 1030pm. By the time we got home it was midnight, talked til 1am..which was now REALLY 2am...and I had to be up at 8am, the latest. Because I was so afraid that I would oversleep, I woke up at 7am!! Laid in bed til 8am, got up and made some tea. Herman woke up so we chatted...til I realized that I had 20 minutes to take a shower and get to Church so that I could serve communion!! LOL!! (This is the story of my life!!) Got thru that ok (and yes, I can shower, put on my sparse makeup and dry my hair all in 15-20 minutes) and then went to the Duchess Diner (I say that because Dar really misses the Duchess!! LOL) for a late breakfast. Got home, sent an emergency pleas for help email to all my Deacon's and ran out the door to pick up my confirmation partner and her friend so that we could go do volunteer work at a local nursing home. (Anyone tired yet?!) Whew...We were there for about 2 hours, wheeling patients to our Sunday service, turning hymnal pages, serving coffe and returning them to where they came from. Tiring. It's a huge place. It used to be a tuberculosis hospital back in the day. Many floors and many wings. VERY creepy, too. By the time I got home (around 4pm) I was ready to crash...but NO...there was food shopping to be done and I hate sending Herman by himself because he wil come home withe the smallest bottle (or largest bottle) of whatever we need. (Talk about your run-on sentences!) Anyway, I took a nap later on in the evening so that I could watch "The Sopranos", which, BTW, if you missed it, was GREAT! One of my favorites, so far this season.

Saturday I went to the mall and bought a book about "Weird NJ", a staewide magazine that we have here in NJ. My girls would like to do a whole "Weird NJ" tour this summer. Oh, and I FINALLY found Peter Gabriel's "Secret World Tour" concert DVD at Barnes and Noble!! Woo-hoo!! So I stayed up til 2am this morning watching it!!

And how was your weekend??!! Peace! :)

Oh Happy, Happy Thursday!!

Everyone in my house is eating dinner but since they are having spaghetti, I will not be joining them! (Spaghetti was the last food I ate before the horrible stomach virus kicked in..put it  together!!) I cannot even LOOK at it! So instead I just typed up a list of dressings and beers that we have at the restaurant. I'll hand it to all the servers so that we don't have to keep bothering the bartender.

Work was crazy today! We had a party of 42 in the banquet room, a party of 12 in one section and a parties of 9 and 6 in yet another section. But really that was it...mostly parties. And thankfully so! \

I'm looking forward to this weekend altho I will be setting my clocks an hour ahead of Friday night rather than Saturday night. Why, you ask? Well...I'd rather make the "adjustment" on a day that I can sleep rather than on Sunday, when I have to serve communion and help out at a local nursing home. So i'll be "adjusting" on Saturday, thank you very much!! Will it work? Ummm..probably not but it's worth a shot, dontcha think?

Herman and I have to go sign our tax return tonight..yippee! Getting oodles of money back because I (technically) didn't work from mid-January til early November. ( I worked but "off the books"..and only for a bit.) Then I'm off to Target (tar-jay) to buy some new work pants and some other necessities...ok, "granny panties"!! LOL!! There, I've said it..I wear GRANNY PANTIES!! Hey, they're comfortable! I cannot wear "butt floss"...besides, I don't think I have that kinda ass anyway..Ok..I'll stop now..or soon I'll be admitting that I sleep naked..Oooopppss! Damn..I gotta watch that...I'll stop scaring everyone now..

I've been trying to add my picture to the "about me" section and I THOUGHT I had it but the picture took up the better part of the page so I'm gonna work on that. So in the meantime I've added a picture to this entry..It's from Christmas. I'll take another one soon and try to add it to the "about me" department. Oh, that and I'll have to change my age because I will be 43 2 weeks from today!! My birthday is April 15th-Income Tax Day! Woo-hooo!! I already told my mom that I would like a spa gift certificate..I really need a pedicure!

Next Wednesday, April 7, me, Little Sharon, The Big One and Jessica (my favorite bartender) are going to the city to be in "The View" audience!! I'll have to go and buy a new outfit for this major event because they specifically ask you to dress in bright colors. I'm a beige-kinda girl..and pastels..Love those pastels! My biggest fear is that they will be doing makeovers and they choose me!! I'd pee from laughing so hard! My girls would be THRILLED, though. They keep telling me that I look like I'm straight outta the 70's. I see nothing wrong with that. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. The only thing I wouldn't let them do is cut my hair. I love my hair and so does Herman. Oh, no coloring of the hair either..I like the color, too. Ok..I've gone too far with this...

So, I'm off to the tax people and Target..everyone have a great night! Peace!