3 Days To Chrismukkah

Wow. That was a wild rush. Since my last post on December 14th, life has been tetering on the brink of insanity. Yes, it's Chrismukkah time here at Chrismukkah ground zero. I've just returned from the daily drop to Fed Ex Kinkos and the post office... both of which were nearly deserted. Even the procrastinators know it's too late now. Bozeman is a college town and about half our population has cleared out for the week. Parking spaces are once again abundant and 2 feet of snow has turned to slush. Last Friday, Michelle and I flew to New York for the weekend at the invitation of The Today Show. Minna stayed at home with Nana. A transit strike was threatened for Friday, but thankfully, the union postponed that for a few days. Even so, things started out a little rocky when we arrived at LaGuardia to find that Northwest Airlines had misplaced our luggage somewhere between Minneapolis and New York. Even so, It was first class all the way. Limo pickup at the airport, check into the grand old Essex House Hotel on Central Park South, told the bell captain to expect our luggage, and then cab downtown for a meeting with a big publishing house intereted in doing my cookbook. After the meeting, we had a perfect Chinese meal at a noodle house in the village. Living in Montana, decent Chinese is something I miss more than anything else. We called the hotel to see if our bags had shown up (they hadn't) and then walked over to Saks Fifth Ave to buy new outfits to wear the next day. Did you know that the entry level for a sweater at Saks is $400... cashmere of course. With shoppings bags full and charge accounts near their limit, we headed back uptown to the Essex House to meet publicist Edna K for Absolute and tonics. Our lost bags finally arrived around midnight and we went to sleep relieved and relaxed. Our early morning call came too soon and we rushed down to the lobby and caught the limo down to Studio 1A. They ushered into make-up and then to the Green Room. There we waited for nearly 3 hours while they finished up the live broadcast and then set up to pre-record the Christmas day episode we were there for. All the other guests preceeded us... the "gift returns lady", the Brian Setzer Orchestra, the Mens and Boys Christmas Choir. Between each guest, the union crew took a 1/2 hour break. By the time Michelle and I to hit the soundstage, we were distracted, jittery from too much coffee and unfocused. Campbell Brown did the interview. I don't remember much of it. I don't normally get nervous in such situations, and I've done my fare share of on-camera interviews, but there's just something about The Today Show and having 3 huge NBC cameras sticking in your face. You may watch our "deer in headlights" performance this Sunday (12/25) morning. That is if we don't end up on the cutting room floor. After the taping, we were literally whisked out of the studio and into a crowd of "stage door" groupies. Some whacked out guy thrust a pad of paper and pen at us wanting an autograph. "Actress?" he said to Michelle. We jumped into the waiting limo and cruised back up to the Essex House. After changing clothes and checking out we made our way back down to Saks to return our outfits. Then we went in search of lunch, ending up at the far less popular "overflow" deli across the street from the tourist packed Carnegie Deli (the wait line was down the block.) After downing 5 inch thick hot pastrami sandwiches, we spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art. Feet aching and eyes spinning, we met up with Neil, my old buddy from Jersey, for a quick cup of coffee at Starbucks on 57th. Neil headed down into the subway while Michelle and I cabbed down to Grand Central to catch the 5 PM to White Plains. Cousin Mark picked us up at the station and we had dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant in Scarsdale. The next morning Michael J. came over for a brunch of fresh bagels and lox. Another thing I really miss about New York. Before we had a chance to finish our second cup of coffee it was time to go. The car service honked and off we drove to LaGuardia. We checked in and happily allowed ourselves to be bumped up to first class. We spent the 6 hour flight drinking wine and reading the Sunday Times. When we landed in Bozeman, the temperature was 16 below. Back to reality I thought as I scraped the accumulated ice from the windshield. Monday morning was catch up day. We got the orders that had arrived in over the weekend out by mid afternoon. The rest of the week was spent balancing the phone interviews with packing and shipping. By the end of the week, It felt like I had spoken with the nearly every newspaper reporter in the country. Now it's feels like things are finally winding down. The orders are all out. The phone is no longer ringing off the hook. Only one more radio talk show to go. I'm really looking forward to Sunday... a day I understand is some kind of holiday.