Studio WOW!

Ohmygosh people.

Yesterday was a crazy, fabulous, long, exciting day.

I flew to New York City for a grand total of four hours to attend Slim-Fast's Studio Wow event.  And boy was it wow!

I woke up at 3am bright eyed and bushy tailed even though my alarm clock wasn't set to go off till 5am and my car wasn't scheduled to pick me up for the airport till 6am.  Who can sleep when you're about to fly to New York, I ask you?  Four car rides, four flights and lots of walking later, I collapsed back into my home at 11:15pm.  It was a long day!

At the Slim-Fast Studio Wow event, I was able to meet four of the other Women of WOW! bloggers, some awesome people behind the scenes at Slim-Fast and, well, some other folks that were more "in front of the scenes."

Here's the "in front of the scenes" people.

Ali Auerbach, Robin Miller, Joey Maalouf, Nigel Barker, Jacqui Stafford

Talk about a fun bunch of people to have one-on-ones with!  Each of them was fabulous, but I just have to give a special shout out to Jacqui Stafford who personally declared me her new BFF.

I think she felt lucky to have met me.

*ahem*

The Studio Wow event was all decked out Slim-Fast style.  It looked amazing and we all decided we wanted to live there for the duration of the Women of WOW! program.

Here, I'll give you a quick tour to show you why....

The downstairs area where we did a quick video interview:

Upstairs there was a lounge area:

The "Welcome! We're so glad you're here" area:

The hair and makeup area:

The totally cute and totally fun kitchen area:

Where I just HAD to take a picture of these super cute Slim-Fast shakes that I now realize, upon uploading, has my big ol' finger in it:

Doh!

And last, but not least, there was Jacqui's fashion/style area... which I didn't get a picture of because Jacqui and I were busy being new BFF's and all.

But wasn't the event all cute and stuff?!

It totally was.

After taking a tour, (the one I just took you on) we loaded up in some cars and headed to lunch at Bryant Park Grill.  Super yum.  The bloggers and Slim-Fast representatives got to know each other a bit better over lunch and then we grabbed a quick blogger photo afterwards in the park. 

Then, it was time.

Time to go through the whole "experience" with the experts.

** Warning! ** You will see some very unflattering pictures of myself as we proceed.  Keep in mind these are my "before" pictures of me at a weight that I am sorta-kinda embarrassed to show you, but for the sake of keeping it real, which you know I'm all about, and to maybe help you make your own Slim-Fast "vow to wow" with me, I'm showing them to you.

Against all better judgement and all that is screaming within me to not show them to you.

And besides... I'll be a smoking hot super model by the end of April, so it's all good.

I think.

Okay, maybe not.

Just tell me I'm gorgeous after you read this post today, mkay?  That may help take the sting of how I look in these pictures out a little.

Here we go!

This is my new BFF Jacqui Stafford.  She's beautiful and brilliant and British.  Kinda like me.  Except the British part.

After looking at this photo I now realize that my shoes did not match my outfit AT ALL.  Good thing I write a blog about being lazy and not how to be stylish in New York City at a brand event with celebrities. Otherwise that would have been totally awkward.

Jacqui gave me some fun style tips, showed me how to tie a scarf that I got to keep, in some fun new ways and made me adore her all in one fell swoop.  She's pretty amazing.

After Jacqui made me love her, Joey Maalouf showed me how to restyle my hair in a fun new way while I got my makeup touched up by a lovely woman that I didn't properly meet (sorry lovely woman that I didn't properly meet!).

In about five minutes flat Joey parted my hair differently, added some loose curls to accentuate the ones I have since giving birth to three children, and showed me that I don't have to look like a lazy mom ALL the time.

Then.  THEN.  *heart starts to pound*  I was whisked off to my "photo shoot" with Nigel Barker.

We shook hands, chatted a bit and then I told him that before we started I wanted to take a picture of him taking a picture of me.  To which he said jokingly, "Are you telling ME what to do at MY photo shoot?"

"Yes, yes I am. Now go over there and let me take a picture of you!" I said all boss lady like.

Wasn't he sweet to comply?

Would you ladies like to see that picture again?

I thought so.

Now this was the really nerve racking part of the day and why my heart was pounding.... Doing a photo shoot where YOU are the subject.  Eek!  I never felt so awkward.  Mainly because it wasn't just me and Nigel in the room, but me Nigel and about 8 other people all watching ME stand there all dorky like.

Here, let me walk you through this....

This is me realizing I'm about to have my photo taken by Nigel Barker in a room full of people that all are watching me.

They put on a Switchfoot song I like to loosen me up a bit, which helped, but it was still a bit awkward feeling.

I danced, jumped, laughed, tried to "work it" all while cringing on the inside.  But I must have really worked it because...

This is me making Nigel beg for more of my fabulousness.

Then. THEN.

This is me when they put "the fan" on me.

That's right people.  They did the FAN THING.

*sigh*

I've always wanted to do the fan thing.

...well, 30 pounds lighter and with shoes that match my outfit.

But I must have made quite an impression on ol' Nigel, because this is me when Nigel asked me to leave the Lazy Dad and run off with him.

To which I promptly turned him down and told him the only man for me is my hunky hunky husband that's back home caring for the children we brought into this world together.

True story.

In my head.

After I left Nigel all heart-broken I met with Food Network Chef Robin Miller.  Which I didn't get a picture of because my car was already waiting on me to take me back to the airport, but I was SUPER excited to talk to her.  Mainly because it was my mission to leave the Studio Wow event with LAZY MOM RECIPES that were 500 calories for the Slim-Fast 321 plan I'm on - 3 snacks, 2 shakes or meal replacement bars, and 1 - 500 calorie meal.  I knew I'd have problems with that 500 calorie meal, so I was hopeful she could help me.

And guess what y'all?

Robin not only delivered... she wrote a whole cookbook about it! 

That's right lazy moms! A WHOLE cookbook of five ingredients or less recipes that are all 500 calories or less!

COULD. YOU. DIE?

You can find her cookbook in The Lazy Mom Store.  I've already ordered mine and she gave me permission to share some of the recipes with you over the next few months during the Women of WOW! program!  I was SO excited about this.

So yes!  It was a crazy fun day!  After a short conversation with Slim-Fast's nutritionist, Ali Auebrach, I was shuffled off to a car and headed back to the airport.  I couldn't believe it was all over so quickly.

Thank you to all of you who held my hand through all of this yesterday via my Facebook page!  You all were so sweet to encourage me and I truly appreciated every single ounce of it.

You can now find me on Slim-Fast's Women of WOW! Facebook page where you can meet the other 9 bloggers participating in the program and see my Slim-Fast related posts.

I'd love it if you left a comment on my area of that page and shared your own "Vow to Wow" with me!  I've got lots of helpful weight-loss tips to share with you in the upcoming months, not to mention, healthy Lazy Mom Recipes, giveaways and more!

Woohoo!

And let's all forget how I look in the above pictures and concentrate on how FAB I'm gonna look at the end of the program in April, mkay?  It will help me sleep better tonight if you say you will.  So thanks in advance.

Oh, and get ready for my WOW moment people!!!

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Women of Wow Program. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

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Posted in: Slim-Fast