The episode will air Thursday, April 26, 2012 and is all about Etsy!  All the guests and audience members were either Etsy sellers or employees of Etsy.  We learned a little bit about the operations of Etsy, did some crafts with owners of successful Etsy shops, and even watched an all-Etsy fashion show.  Plus we walked out of there with lots of presents from Martha - craft supplies, gift certificates to HP, and books - SCORE!

Going to a show taping is a lot of waiting in lines and being quiet and clapping for two hours, but loving Martha and Etsy so much definitely made it a very exciting day for the audience.  We all showed off our products to the cameras and Martha requested that we all have our individual photos taken so they can be put on The Martha Stewart Show website/blog.  That is huge to all of us small business owners and we really appreciated Martha's support.  It was obvious that she recognizes and appreciates that our group of people - craftspeople - are the ones who helped make her such a success. 

A little "behind the scenes" dish:  Martha is seriously no-nonsense when she is working.  No small talk during breaks and she is not interested in any delays, but then the camera turns on and she is all charm.  It was pretty awesome to observe.  I love that she is so successful and such a strong business person.  The staff of the show were hustling non-stop and I'm sure it's beyond tough to work for Martha Stewart, but they seemed to really respect her and were proud to work on the show.  What really made me like Martha was to see how she interacts with dogs and kids.  With adults she was all business, but when there was a dog in the room - or even when someone talked about a dog - she lit up and got lost in animal land.  As a fellow animal lover I really enjoyed seeing her in those moments.

I'm not a Disney fanatic and I've never been on a luxury cruise, but we knew the Disney company would throw an amazing party and figured it would at least be a funny night.

But here's what happened: the party wasn't amazing, it was UH-MAZINGGGG.  Like, blow your mind, knock your socks off, insanely, incredibly nuts.  The ship is opulent and I now totally understand why so many people go gaga for Disney cruises. Guests can easily imagine they are in a fantasy world, living the life of a princess.  

First on our itinerary was the Entertainment Showcase in the Walt Disney Theatre.  I honestly expected to watch some promotional material on the jumbo screens.  Instead, we got several live musical Disney performances hosted by Neil Patrick Harris!

Mary Poppins showed up.

Oh, and then Jerry Seinfeld performed on stage for 15 minutes.  You know Jerome, right? 

And then Tony and Grammy award winner, Heather Headley, performed three Disney numbers.

And then Neil Patrick Harris walked around the room greeting celebrity guests like Tim Gunn, Alan Cumming, Ty Pennington, and Mayor Bloomberg (we were surprised at how excited we were about seeing Mayor B., I like that guy.)

When the show was over we were all given a glass of champagne and lead to the Atrium for the Christening Celebration.  

More Bob Iger, more Neil Patrick Harris, and then guess who waltzed down the stairs to give a toast

MARIAH CAREY (!!!!).... and Mickey Mouse! (Not gonna lie, when I was 13 I waited in line at Disney World to get Mickey's signature).

At this point Piper and I were pretty much losing our minds, but luckily a kind staff member directed us to the Animation Palette restaurant for dinner.  After dinner we went to the Europa District (think Epcot Center, but all bars and clubs) for more snacks and fancy drinks.

Oui, oui. Champagne bar for France.

Ciao! We're in Italy!

Getting randy in London.

If you want to read more about our magically enchanting night check out Piper's post on Yahoo Shine.

Abe and I eat a lot of English Muffins so when I saw this recipe for English Muffin Bread I couldn't wait for an excuse to make it.  The best part?  The recipe makes two loaves.  I had also filed away a recipe for Baked Eggs Cups.  The best parts?  They're only 100 calories and take only 12 minutes to bake (and about 30 seconds of prep time).

We also took them to The Walkway Over the Hudson, which was fun, but soooo cold and windy. 

Me, Preeya and Colleen,established in 1999What else did we do beside make them watch awesome reality tv?  We feasted.

We also squeezed in a quick sleepover with Meredith and Ari while they were upstate checking out wedding venues.  Ari was dying to go bowling so we took in a little Cosmic Bowl.  He must have been feeling the black lights because Ari creamed all of us with the highest scores in every game.

The one room we haven't touched is the living room.  It's painted a pretty marigold yellow - something I would never choose myself, but Abe and I have always loved it.  That is, until recently.  The color is super cozy, but absorbs the light and blends in too much with our honey maple wood floors and trim.  Everything feels so yellow.  But the clincher was the new couch fabric, which ended up being a very light gray (oopsie, always see a sample before you buy!)

This photo shows the old couch fabric. It was a great color, but the material was no match for a yellow Lab puppy.

In conclusion, I've made my case for painting the walls a new color and finally got Abe to agree to a change.  The big question is:  What color? and the follow up to that is:  How do I feel about accent walls?

In my head I'm picturing maybe a grayish purple or a grayish light green.  Abe is against painting the walls just plain gray, which would be my preference.

Benjamin Moore has a great website for browsing colors.  These four are my "safe" choices. I'm sure they'll look nice, but I feel like they might make me bored.

 

These totally negate my wish for a brighter room, but I feel like it would really make the wood in the room pop while camoflaging the black tv and black frame of the couch. My gut says it might look awesome, but I have a feeling it'll be tough to get Abe to buy in to this choice.

These intructions from the This Old House website gave me the inspiration and basic directions. 

I already hady two RAST chests from Ikea, some gorgeous old wood planks left up in my attic, vintage brass handles from Etsy, and fabric for the window seat.  All I needed to buy was a pre-assembled kitchen wall cabinet, two 6 foot 2x4 pieces of lumber, stain and shelf brackets.

Piles of fabric squares

Making the top of the quilt involved making fifty-six 7" stuffed squares, sewing them into strips of eight and then sewing the strips together into a larger square.  The alignment was a little off, precise measurements has never been my strong suit. 

Finally, I sewed the three layers (quilt, batting, back) together and trimmed the edges with light gray bias tape.

Supplies:

• squares of fabric - 7" is manageable. You need one top and one bottom for every mini pillow.  Use cheap fabric for the bottom layer, no one will see it.  Chopping up an old sheet is a great way to reuse & upcycle!
• stuffing (you only need a small handful for each mini pillow)
• fabric for back of your blanket
• blanket batting
• bias tape

Secret to getting your beloved cat to participate in a photo shoot?  Lots of compliments and lots of beef flavor crunchy treats.

We also pulled out this old 1940's parties and games booklet that belonged to my grandparents.  Abe found it in a side table I inherited and it's full of weird games like "Cracker Eating Content" and "Gay Nineties Party" (and they mean 1890's - suggestions include taffy pulling and polka-dot ties).

The four of us attempt board games often and it usually ends in argument.  However, Spelling Bee sounded like it could be fun so we whipped out the ol' dictionary and gave it a whirl.  We stil argued.