#NASBoston: being on CatholicTV!

I wish I never had to come down from the high that was #NASBoston! But then... Monday happened, and it welcomed me very quickly back to reality. Ah, well. It's ok. :) What's reality vs being ON TV?!

You guys... it was incredible. Amazing. Fun. Encouraging. AWESOME.

This was actually the very last pic we took of our time at the studios.

I keep going back and forth if I should do a play by play of the weekend... and I suppose that's what I will do. It's more fun. At least I hope so! I will have 2 parts:

#NASBoston: being on TV (this one!)

#NASBoston: exploring the city (tomorrow!)

So... grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and let's get started. :)

It's how I do.

I was tweeting up a storm because besides talking my mom's ear off over and over and over again... it's all I really could do to contain my excitement and nerves. I AM FLYING TO BOSTON TO BE ON TV... I wanted to run up to everyone and talk about it. But... that would be weird, and no one really cares.

My flight was uneventful... I was able to read and journal and think. Lots of thinking. I enjoyed some good coffee, and the amazingness that is JetBlue. If you can fly them, DO IT!  Once I got to the airport in Boston, I walked around a bit, and then decided to head towards Morgan's terminal. After going back and forth whether to wait for Morgan or head to my friend Shaelena's house... I decided to just hang out at the airport. I read... drank more coffee... did a TON of people watching... watched the cops with the bomb dog to check out a bag that was left alone (at the end of the bench where I was sitting!)... and tried really hard not to fall asleep.  A little after midnight, Morgan made it and we were OFF! :)

We got to the Brighton area around 1am... and Shae stayed up. {Let me just stop for a sec and dote on Miss Shaelena. SHE IS THE BEST HOST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! She (and her roomies) let us crash on her air mattress, use the ONE bathroom, offered all of her food, listened to A LOT of God talk allll weekend, was excited to hear about our TV debut, made a Google map of all her fave things, played tour guide, hung out with us, laughed with us... and just made the entire weekend that much sweeter. Seriously, Shae... if you read this, THANK YOU! I am so grateful for everything that you did for us. The weekend wouldn't have been the same if you were not part of it. Looooove youuuu!}

Ok... so, we got in. Chatted with Shae. And, then... tried to sleep. Amongst the nerves... sleeping in the same bed with a friend that you have now just met for the SECOND time... and knowing we had to get up early... "sleep" was not what really happened. I think we just closed our eyes and tried really hard not to move and make the bed noisy. ;)

THE DAY HAS COME!!!

 Eeeee!!! We got ready, had coffee, chatted more with Shae. Took some pics. That's what good bloggers do, right?  I wish I had more selfies to share... but, alas! My screen is cracked, riiiight in front of the camera. Boo.

Anyway... check out Morgan's if selfies are yo' thing. :)

Bonnie (the wonderful Director of Marketing and Programming) finally picked us up... and sh*t got real, people. I like to talk a lot when I am nervous... and I was in the back by myself, and I felt like I couldn't really do that. So, I was just nervously twitching back there.

Maybe I wasn't, but that's what it felt like. The ride was pretty short and we got to the studios.

Bonnie showed us around a bit... and then we were able to go to Mass. The network airs Mass every.single.day. LIVE. It's really awesome. :) If you watched a little bit before This is the Day, then you may have see Morgan and I there.  Let me just say, though... most distracting mass EVER. With the camera moving all around and the fact that WE were going to be on LIVE TV so soon... the fact that I was able to stand to receive the Eucharist was a miracle in and of itself.  But, it was a nice calm, even if I was distracted. Jesus does have a way of doing that.

After mass, we chatted with a few people. And everyone was so nice and so welcoming. I mean, we felt like we belonged there just after stepping in the doors. CatholicTV, you have some amazing people working for you! Bonnie, then, took us on a tour of the actual studios. It was neat to see behind the scenes. I know very little about the world of TV, so it was quite fun!

But, I wish I could say that I was really paying attention... I was so nervous. Morgan and I had no idea when we would be interviewed on the show. We didn't know where that was supposed to happen. We hadn't even met the people that would be interviewing us!

Freeeeaking out over here!

At 10:19, Bonnie finally asks what time it was! Morgan and I were VERY quick to let her know... and she was all, "oh! 10 minutes is like a million hours in TV time!"

Ha. Oh. Well, us newbies here don't know any of that! Can you please just take us to the place we are getting interviewed?!?!!?

No... into the sound room we went. Oh man. Heart pounding, y'all. But, huge smile still on my face!

Ok, so... FINALLY into Studio A... where This is the Day is filmed. We are not on until the second interview. Ok.

Breathe.

And tweet. And text people. And take pics.

News Break with Kate Andrews

Jay Fadden waiting for Kevin Nelson,
who walked in riiiiight before the show started!

Behind the scenes.

Allllll the crazy... and nerves... and excitement... and the OH MY GOSH IS THIS REALLY HAPPENINGs.... led to THIS:

(And, I can honestly tell you... this is what is going on in my head right at the beginning: my MOM is watching. Niki is watching. Alreen is watching. Beth Anne is watching. It was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. People I know were actually watching. I really hoped I could make you all proud. I wanted to look at the camera and say HIIIIIIIII! But, just couldn't.)

Ahhhhh!!!! IT WAS INCREDIBLE! Jay and Kevin are THEE best. :) They made us feel so comfortable and were hilarious. They were ribbing each other before the show started, and I knew we would have a great time. 

Here are some during the show shots... all taken by Bonnie, with permission to post here. :)

Annnnnnd, this! This pic is probably my absolute favorite! :) This was taken right after the show was done. We were all just chatting and the guys were telling us how guys get the ladies' attention in Boston: instead of buying them a drink, they walk up to them and say, "I bought you a nice bowl a chowda" with a wide grin, holding a steaming cup of clam chowder. Ha, it was hilarious! ;)

Ooooor maybe we were asking about a Catholic dating show. Hmm, that could have been it!

After we were done with This is the Day, we had the opportunity to tape some station IDs (where we look at the camera saying, "Hi! I'm Jen Cox, co-founder of the Not Alone Series and you're watching CatholicTV, America's Catholic Television Network" with a big smile!) and be interviewed separately for another show, Encounter, hosted by Kevin. At this point, I have no idea when that will air, but I will be sure to let you know. :)

Morgan was up first!

Then me!

A good looking group!
Thanks for the photo, Bonnie!

And this one. :)

And now that this is really long... and you want to throw your computers/phones out the window, I will begin to wrap it up.

I would like to say thank you so very much to to all of the people at CatholicTV for such an amazing experience. As I said earlier, they made us feel right at home. We were welcomed with open arms and everyone was so pleasant and happy. We left there so encouraged and so on fire for what we were doing with the Not Alone Series.

The hosts and everyone we chatted with spoke to us as if we had something important to say.  In a world where young people so often get looked down upon or people are just awkward around us, the people at CatholicTV spoke to us... just like the human beings that we are. Another member of the body of Christ. They wanted to hear about the struggles of Catholic singlehood, and even if they didn't know what to say our couldn't offer advice, they listened. And encouraged our ministry through the Not Alone Series.

So, all you ladies that we have gotten to know... thank YOU. Without you, there would be no series to talk about. Without your prayers and love and support and understanding of where I am in life... none of this would be possible. I am so grateful and thankful to God for this amazing community of women.

And thanks to Morgan for saying yes. Yes to the idea to start an online "something" for us single ladies. It's crazy to look back on those emails and realize that we really did have "high hopes and low expectations." And we mean it from the bottom of our hearts... if we continue to reach one other person, then we have done what we sought to do. If one other person feels encouraged and reminded that they are not alone, then God is continuing to do his thang with this ministry.

I wonder where He will take it next?!







(Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see how the rest of our weekend went! I promise, more pics, less writing! :) )