Martha Stewart Connection...

In 2006 my nephew John (above) was on the Martha Stewart show. John is a world record yo-yo champion. John does several different types of yo-yoing...the one that is amazing to me the most is where the string isn't attached to the yo-yo. He has designed is own yo-yo and is part of a national yo-yo team.

You can check out videos of John's amazing performances here or if you do a YouTube search for John Narum several videos will appear. John has performed all over the US and been on many TV shows. Not only can he yo-yo he plays in several bands (drums, guitar, singer...Tony Danza gave him a set of drums for being on his show), he is an athlete and stellar student, gives back to the community by performing at various children's functions for free and is kind to his aunt (me).

I had the good fortune to tag along when John was on Martha Stewart. The show switched the date and gave us only 48 hours notice. I was on a business trip when we found out everything was confirmed. I did some quick last minute changes (thankfully my kind co-workers made changes to their agendas) and cashed in a bunch of miles to get myself from Houston, TX to New York City and then onto Cincinnatti, OH so I could finish my business trip. I got to the hotel room in NYC a 1:00 am and we had to be up by 6:00 am to get to the studio by 7:00 am. The show sent a limo for us, we had to go through a security machine, sign in and get a name tag. We were then taken to a small 'green' room and given the freedom to roam backstage. However, we (except for my nephew) weren't allowed in front of the lights on the stage. If I remember correctly taping started at 9 and we were out of the studio by 10:30 and my nephew and sister-in-law were off to Minneapolis and I was off to finish my business trip.


One slight disappointment was the lack of food in the green room. Given that MS is famous for her food and that we didn't have time to eat before we were expected at the studio, we were surprised that there wasn't anything to eat. We did ask for food for my nephew as a growing boy needs fuel. They brought us three of the tinest scone type things I have ever seen. Those were gone in seconds so we had to ask for more...we did get a second batch...but nothing else. I can't remember the celebrity that was on the show as I hadn't heard of him.
I can't yo-yo to save my life, but of course Martha Stewart could (would you expect anything less).

The producers met with my nephew and a young female yo-yo champion and walked them through the segment.


See the chairs in the front row...see the woman sitting in the front row...that is one of the producers and that is the seat I sat in during the taping.

Unbelieveable amount of cameras and lights on the set.

Yes, those are MS's awards below...they were displayed in her conference room. And yes, we did walk by MS's office several times...she was in there with others. And no, I wasn't formally introduced to MS and if I remember correctly neither was my sister-in-law (nephew's mom).

So why am I blogging about my nephew other than the fact that I am extremely proud of him. The answer...I received an email from pingg.com and Martha Stewart as I am sure thousands of other blogs did...asking us to promote Martha's new partnership with pingg.com. My initial reaction was no I am not going to promote pingg.com, but I changed my mine since my nephew was on Martha Stewart's show...I thought I would return the favor. It is interesting that so many companies have started asking bloggers to promote their goods/services...free publicity. I would love to know how they found my little blog.

Thanks for stopping by...
Renee @ Cottage Lifestyle