Friday, August 29, 2008

Behind the Scenes: KITV, false eyelashes and a happy girl

How do these newscasters do it? They have to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed so early in the morning. On the other hand, I’m still recovering from Wednesday’s segment on KITV. Here’s the story.
Every other Wednesday, I’m on KITV’s morning show with Mahealani Richardson and Dan Meisenzahl, giving home style tips. I’m on at 6:45, so I try to get there at 6. Translation: I need to be up by 5, because it takes me a long time to guzzle my coffee and put on these impossible false eyelashes, which I don’t quite have the hang of yet.
Anyone who knows me knows I love makeup. I’ve been hooked since I was 13 years old and discovered strawberry Lip Smackers. But for TV, you have to spackle a lot more on just to look like your normal self. For me that means eyes that look like Tammy Faye.

This week I had to wake up at 4:30 because my daughter Nicki wanted to go in with me. She was starting school the next day, so this would be her last opportunity to see Mommy on TV. I got up extra early to get myself ready and feed her breakfast.

We arrived at the station a little after 6 and waited in the wings while Mahealani did the newscast. Nicki was enthralled. She’s such a performer that she can’t wait to be on TV someday. To Nicki’s disappointment, Dan was not there. He was away on assignment. She loves Dan! But don’t tell Mahealani that!

When it was my time to get set up, I laid out my area rugs, and Nicki my helpful assistant snapped some great behind-the-scenes photos.

My topic for the day was shopping with focus, and focusing on how to find the right area rug. Here are a couple of tips:

Tip #1: If you have a sofa you need to tie into, take a cushion from the sofa when you go shopping—you’ll save yourself a lot of guess work. I used a sample of a dark green fabric.

Tip #2: Don’t go for the obvious tie-in and look for a green area rug. Find one that has some green as its secondary or accent color. This way, the sofa will not get lost: instead, it will accentuate the green in the rug and your room will begin to feel much more pulled together.

Tip #3: Don’t let your patterns fight with each other! If there is a lot of pattern on your sofa, tone it down in the rug. By the same token, if you want a fabulous statement rug with lots of color and interesting designs, top it with a more understated sofa. Let one or the other have top billing.

Before you knew it, the segment was over. Boy, do five minutes go by fast when you’re trying to get all that information in. Mahealani was great enough to call Nicki in at the end for a little face time, so she got bragging rights to share at school.
We were out of there by 7. Mission accomplished: I got to share a few tips, give my daughter a thrill, and finally take my Tammy Faye eyes off!


For more tips from Cathy Lee logon to http://www.rsvpstyle.com/.

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