Unbelieveble Experience

I had an incredible experience in less than 24 hrs here is how it happened.

Mon 1/28

- 2:15 pm left work
- 2:30pm-4pm picked up Veryll in Cleveland and headed to Atlanta
- 8:20pm left for Chicago, IL
- 9pm central time we were making inbound flight to midway airport and the wind guss was so bad i for the first time in a long time actually felt fear. not just fear, but i thought the plane was going to flip over in the air and crash into the ground. My life flashed before me like never before.

in fact the pilot (God Bless him) used wisdom and circled the city 3 times trying to make the safest landing and finally did.

- 11pm central time Veryll and I went to a tappa's pub with our friend Ting Ting and we had a blast.

Tues 1/29

- 5:30 am woke up. I watched the morning news and they were expecting a storm to blow through Chicago later in the afternoon. Not a good sign - our flight was at 4:44pm and would likely be canceled. I knew we needed to leave earlier.
- 6:30 am left for the Oprah Winfrey Show
- 7am wait in line
- 9am show started. i was so impressed with the studio. the whole production...from us checking in to the end of the show was very professional. the guest Gavin De Becker talked with Oprah and other guests about following our intuition. his book "The Gift of Fear" speaks about listening to that inner voice. (HOW COINCIDENTAL WAS THAT). The show aired live in Chicago and it was a nice experience to see how everything runs - we also sat in on the after show taping.

- 10:30am left the show and went to the hotel to check out
- 10:45am followed my "intution" aka THE HOLY SPIRIT's voice and called Airtran to get on the next flight out. found out that there was a 12:30pm flight so Veryll and I caught a cab to the airport.
- 11:45am arrived at the airport and checked in
- 12:40pm left chicago
- 3:30pm eastern time we arrived in Atlanta, Ga
- 6:15pm arrived home
- 7:00pm turned on the weather channel. delays in chicago airports for 3.5hrs!!!

Wow in less than 24hrs we were in another state, got to hang out with Oprah and her crew and got back home in time to have dinner with Javan ... How cool was that.

Jermaine

Oprah and the Windy City!

Well I'm still in disbelief that we actually got to sit in an audience with THE Oprah Winfrey for an hour and half today at a taping of her show!!! Yep you read right:)

About 10 days ago I got a phone call from the Audience Reservation dept and they had received an email request for tickets that I had sent in a week prior. There was NO way I was turning down the offer cos I've heard people wait years to get tickets! So I got the tickets, called J - I dont think he believed me - and we made travel plans.

We got to Chicago last night after quite a rocky landing too I might add - lets just say we dont need to ride any rollercoasters for quite a long while! It took the pilot three tries to land that plane cos the wind was so bad. It was the scariest moment we have ever had and I know we weren't the only ones on that flight praying.

Our friend, TingTing, picked us up from the airport. we grabbed a rather late dinner at Quartino's (a cute little Tappa's pub) and then headed back to the hotel. It was fun catching up after 2yrs.



This morning was an early start. We had to be at Harpo Studios by 7am. A crowd had already gathered and everyone was super excited - I'll let J write more about the show and stuff cos he wants to! Lets just say that this was definitely a super fun experience. It wasnt one of those fun, audience involved shows but it was very interesting and hey it was just great to be sitting in the same room literaly a stone's throw away from Oprah! It's also her birthday today so we got to sing Happy Birthday to her. She's so short and actually not as big as she looks in pictures and on tv. She's also just as fun as she comes across on tv. I'm so glad we got to go and experience this. Btw the show aired today - it was live in Chicago at 9am and then aired around the US today at 4pm. I dont think you would have spotted us in the audience since she has a special guest and mostly chatted with him but I assure you we were there!

Baby Shower for Donna

Our friend Donna is expecting her first baby in just 3wks! I hosted a shower for her today. We had a really great turnout and it was a lot of fun. Here's a few pics...(sorry you missed it Jody)

invitation (I blurred it so all the details wont show up!)


everyone got popcorn to take home

yummy cake that Lisa made


Donna is definitely glowing!







we decorated onesies for the baby




proud parents to be

we're looking forward to meeting this beautiful baby:)
~Veryll

Around Savannah (part 2)

olympic torch in Savannah




Lunch at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons restaurant (if you dont know who this is...where have you been hahahaha! She's on the Food Network). I'm not a fried food kind of person but OMG that fried chicken was delish and the pound cake was soooo good! definitely worth the wait to get in there!








(that tree is estimated to be 300yrs old)
Proudly South African:) love it!!!

so that was our fun weekend getaway!
~Veryll

Around Savannah

The weather was nice (as in sunny) but chilly (as in that sun doesnt mean warm!). But it wasnt raining so we decided to do our tour on Sunday. We enjoyed it. Definitely a great way to see a place if you dont have much time and hey the parking was free and we got chaffeured around town!
The City Market




Old buildings in Savannah and Paula Deen's store and restaurant





what diet:)

now thats some yummy ice cream!








- posting (more pics coming!)