Going to Oprah's Party

I met my friend and fellow coach Martha Monaco at JFK after months of anticipation for the Oprah Magazine 10th Anniversary Party. The weekend started with a reception suare on Friday afternoon at Gotham Hall in Manhattan. We received beautiful gift boxes to start the part right. Inside our boxes was a beautiful journal, pen, makeup bag, lip gloss, scarf, and signature O tote bag. We were also given our very official lanyards for the ticket to the next day's seminars, and an engraved invitation and ticket to Oprah's night at Radio City Music Hall. Waiters worked the room with gorgeous strawberry lemonade vodka drinks and cold noodle salads in pretty pink take out boxes. Official looking photos were taken of the guests by the L'Oreal people there, but only after a lip gloss touch up by the make up artists. The room was covered in gorgeous pink peonies and purple lilacs. Pink tulle hung from the rafters way up high and crystal chandeliers created a decadent feel. What a beautiful beginning to a fabulous weekend. The next day was started by a welcome speech from Oprah herself. She talked about how happy she was that we had given ourselves this weekend to celebrate with her. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love" was the keynote speaker- and gave a hilarious talk about her journey in her book. We learned why diet sodas will make you fat from Dr. Oz ( your body is ticked off by the trick of having something sweet without the actual sugar behind it, so it gets even by craving sweet things after you drink it!) Nate Berkus told us one of her biggest pet peeves in decorating is when people leave their mantles exactly the same FOREVER. He wants us to rearrange things so that we see them in a new light. Martha Beck talked about her experience of having her son with down syndrome, Adam, who turned 22 that day. We roared with laughter when she said that upon his birth, Adam peed in the face of the Dr. who told Martha she should abort him. She brought Adam out to the crowd at the end and they both took a bow. It was so touching and a double hankie moment. We had a date with Oprah at 8pm that night. She gave an amazing speech about her life and a lot of the obstacles that she encountered on her road to success- like when a threatened coanchor demeaned her and told her she needed a makeover- so she went to a super posh salon, where they proceeded to burn every single hair off of her head. Oprah had to come back to work bald! She gave us encouragement to get us through times when you want to give up. The Rockettes and Hugh Jackman ushered a cake onto the stage and sang and danced. It was a great celebration!