This week was a big week not just for Violet but for me, too, as we here at Mar Jennings Multimedia prepare for the Fine Living Network to begin filming multiple segments featuring yours truly that will air throughout the year. How exciting right? As their new “Home Expert” I hope this will be just the beginning to many more new and exciting opportunities with them. They are such nice people and so enjoyable to work with.
Violet will also have an important part, as she will get her close-up as well. That said, she was back to the doggy beauty parlor. She got a haircut trim–and so did I. (Yes, of course a different establishment!) It was also time for my camera-ready manicure, or what I call a MARicure as it requires no polish or buffing. Violet sat properly on my lap with her two paws on the table. A sight for everyone to see and unless you were there I’m sure it’s hard to even image such a thing – was that even legal? Don’t scold the owners of the place: truth be told she started in her “travel bag” and someone asked “what’s inside?” A puppy schnauzer I replied. “Go ahead and take her out””_well I don’t need much encouragement so out she came and stayed on my lap for the entire MARicure. That was a real treat for her and me. What a funny sight, really: not only was I the only man in the place, but I was the only one with a lap dog!
This was our final destination as we began the week shopping for props before heading back home to create breathtaking flower arrangements for the shoot. That’s what I love most about my segments, whether I’m filming for the Today Show, Better TV or my own show MJH&G (Mar Jennings Home & Garden). The locations, also know as “sets,” are real, not built in a studio where the prop department creates the illusion of a home. Rosebrook Gardens is not just a home but also the backdrop of many national and local productions. I’m so proud to offer my home first when an idea or the concept of a segment begins to take shape. My garden, garden studio and home offer both inspiring locations but have also inspired projects that are proven to work because I live with them every day. Now that’s what I call reality TV!
On Tuesday I was up till three in the morning finalizing a brand new PowerPoint presentation that will make it’s debut next Wednesday at the Westport Public Library for one of my book signings and lectures. It’s fabulous and offers some of the most amazing photographs never published in my book or here online. I also added some interior shots as well for the piece de resistance. Violet was right there on my lap till the end of its creation.
Violet really continues to be such a smart, quick learner, and very well-behaved. So the next day I decided to call Kenna; I thanked her again for taking such good care of Violet for those eight weeks of her life. It’s hard to believe that she just turned 14 weeks on Friday.
With the first day of Spring on Friday it was the perfect reminder of new beginnings. I found an excellent babysitter for Violet – my dear friend Mary – and hopped on a train to the city to meet with a production company to discuss some new show ideas as a follow-up to our prior meeting last year. A different side of MAR would be revealed: jeans, a tight T-shirt, and razor stubble, plus a leather bomber jacket to complete the look. A departure for me, but what the heck – it had been a busy week and at least I was clean and looked pulled together, just in a different way. However, at Grand Central Station I was recognized and they commented on how great I looked. Who new this boyish casual look would get so much attention?
As for Miss Violet, well you can say she is a well-adjusted little girl and learned this week how to sit, fetch and stay. But she did display a side I was not pleased with: she had a pee pee accident while I was in the city. Poor Mary’s white shag carpet was the recipient. Definitely NOT my idea of “interior decorating!” (Who has shag carpet anyway? haha) Either Violet must have thought the carpet was grass or she was just being a “bad girl” and testing Mary. Either way, it’s unlike my Miss Violet and I hope that it does not happen again while under someone else’s watch. Come to think of it Corky in her last months did the same thing in the same spot. Perhaps it’s a schnauzer thing or just them trying to tell me something about Mary. Just teasing, as no one could ask for a better friend – anyone who’s ever been to her house knows what a superb cook and hostess she is.
I created a Twitter account to post “what I’m doing,” and find myself enjoying this so much better than Facebook. It’s easy and I can post any comment from my iPhone.
It’s quite addictive because you can follow people’s comments, even celebrities such as the Today Show and Ellen, and get great up-to-the moment info on what’s happening. Fun, fun, fun.
I leave you an amazing photo of Violet in the garden; it’s already become the screensaver for me and many others. Here Violet is enjoying the sunshine and the crocuses in bloom. She better get used to just looking at the flowers and not taking their heads off – a bunny did that just hours before. Don’t be a “dumb bunny” Miss Violet!
