Campfires & Red Carpets

Last night after just hanging out around the lake rental, driving up to St. Cloud for some lunch and then back home for another killer game of Sorry!, the kids and Gerry and I started a little fire in the pit down by the lake - bunching up newspapers and laying out the logs. It was a good fire, if a little smoky (which was actually wonderful as it kept the mosquitoes away - I don't think I was bit once!)

Every now and then I'd run back up to the house to check and see if they'd gotten to the category I was waiting to see - Best Actor in a Miniseries. Finally there was Helen Mirren (looking remarkable!) and Hugh Laurie announcing the nominees.

I was bummed that they weren't showing the nominees sitting in the audience (as they usually do) but instead projected a little montage of them in their nominated roles. That meant that Andre would HAVE to win if there was a chance of showing Ami in the dress. Fingers and toes crossed - the envelope...

"Andre Braugher for 'Theif!'"

I was SO excited!

Not only is he a great guy - just a really wonderful person and a heck of a dad - but Andre's an absolutely amazing actor. YAY!! And, of course, his series has been cancelled, like so many of the award winners - what is UP with that?

My happiness turned to pillow-throwing, all-out yelling GLEE when he thanked his wife, Ami, and the camera showed her (oh, all too briefly!) wearing the RED DRESS!

In all honesty, I didn't know if she'd be wearing the dress. She'd picked out a stunning brown gown, very simple, and I thought she might go with that. I was SO jazzed that she chose my dress. She wrote to me a few days before the award, "It's so simple and sexy. The length is perfect. It's lightweight and has that retro/classy look about it. I can't wait to show Andre. He's gonna love it."

That's the absolute best thing I could have read!

I'm so happy for both of them - and, of course, I'm happy for me, too. Even better, after all of my screaming and happy shouting, the kids came up, we hugged, then we all went back down to the lake and toasted marshmallows and ate smores until bedtime. And that is exactly the best thing in the world to do after you've seen a dress you've designed (and knitted) at an awards show on national TV.

I may work up the pattern and sell it - it's a nice shape and very flattering - I have to see what Ami feels would be the right thing to do (in a way, it's HER dress...)

And, the icing on the cake? Ami's a knitter - she loves knitting, she's good at it (she learned by knitting socks in Maryland during Homicide) and that's how we became friends, as knitting buddies. All good things through yarn. I'm telling you, the stars were in alignment on this one! And, yes, I did knit the dress in absolute record time, and my fingers still have the blisters to prove it.

At any rate, I would absolutely LOVE that tape, Sorka - thank you SO much for going to the effort of taping it!!

Scrip Update
Target to the rescue!! My Dr. phoned the scrip into Target today, we stopped by on our way to the State Fair (much, much about the amazing time we had there today) and picked up the albuterol. It was so easy, and everyone was SO nice. (I hate when folks characterize the NYC area as full of rude folks, but it is true that I do get tired of the underlying nastiness quotient that you have to deal with on a daily basis over stupid little things - like picking up prescriptions - when folks make you feel like you've ruined their day with any request, no matter how small.)

Folks here are just so - darned - NICE! I am loving it. And my kids don't seem odd when they say, "Please" and "Thank you" - at least they don't get the comments, "What nice children!" that they do back home, everyone here seems to say it. That's nice, too.

And we found on-street parking for the State Fair 1 1/2 blocks from the main gate. Could life be better?

Tomorrow - Our Day At The Great Minnesota Get-Together
I won a stuffed dog at Whack a Mole - or should that be Whack A Gopher?