I. Met. Oprah.

Well, along with an audience of 150 or so other people!

My ever-vigilant online mom snagged us tickets to attend a taping of an Oprah show last week - woo hoo! Mom was spending a chunk of a week with us for babysitting help, and while she was in town, she and I got to spend an early morning/afternoon driving down to Harpo Studios off Randolph Street (did you Chicagoans know that her studio is two minutes from the highway where we all drive all the time? I didn't.) While waiting for the taping to start, we were told that we were part of the first audience to tape for the new 24th season - so we of course thought we'd get to hear Whitney Houston or someone amazing to kick off the season. But, I think we were the first show they taped, not the first show that will be shown (they didn't tell us when our show will be aired, as mom kept pointing out - over and over - and again.) Sadly, we did not get to hear Whitney sing (or win a free car), but it was still a really cool morning!

The whole experience was really fun and seems only fitting for someone who a) has lived in Chicago for over a decade now, and b) loves all things Oprah. The show we attended was about international stars - famous people from around the world that Oprah wanted the US viewers to be introduced to. We met "the Chinese Oprah" - Chen Lu Yu - and her live audience via Skype; the "most famous couple in the world" - Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were in studio from Bollywood (the 'Indian Hollywood'), and an Argentinian polo player turned Ralph Lauren model named Ignacio 'Nacho' Figuera also joined Oprah on stage for an interview. The guests were all very interesting - and funny! - people.

A few favorite memories from the day include:
- when we drove up to a nearby parking lot on our way into the studio, and mom rolls down her window to tell the parking attendant, "We're with Oprah - where can we park?"
- when we found *free* street parking (after said parking attendant told us his rate was $30.00)
- when we met two other people from Rochester, MN, sitting one row over from us in the waiting room for the taping
- when we met a couple who spent $1,000 just on their last minute airpane tickets from California to come use their Oprah tickets and visit Chicago for the first time (yes, we spent $0.00 to use our Oprah tickets)
- when we first walked into the actual studio, on the same plastic, white and silver hallway on the set that you see Oprah walk on every time, and found our seats under the hot overhead lights while Mary Blige was pumping on the stereo - it felt electric!
- realizing just how many famous people are doing cool stuff around the world that we don't hear much about
- seeing Oprah and her whole team in the studio in action; I was really impressed with her voice-overs, interviews, how she read people intuitively while interviewing them, responded to tricky questions, etc. She is GOOD at her job; from the eensy-weensy amount of work I've done speaking on camera and writing communications material, you can tell she has done this for years and is a PRO-fessional at it - very cool to watch.
- hanging out with my mom and having a crazy-lucky morning 'with Oprah' together!