Hello my MARtians—what a whirlwind week it has been! And since so many of you have asked for more details on the Emmy Awards, I’m happy to oblige.
The 41st annual Emmy Awards were on Saturday night, so I traveled up to Boston the same day.
To make the experience as much fun as possible I took the train—Acela Express—which gets me from Stamford CT to Boston in just over three hours. Totally worth it to not have to drive! (Although apparently traffic was easy—and those who drove got there even faster!) But I was relaxed and enjoyed every moment of it because I decided to splash out and go first class.
In the car there were two attendants, and I was able to start with a glass of champagne and a menu-full of meal options. I had a great cheese plate and some grilled jumbo shrimp—delicious. Although the car was full, thankfully it was quiet, too, and I was able to close my eyes for a bit.
It’s a beautifully scenic route, hugging the shoreline even closer than the main highway, so there was lots to see. Including every type of weather! We traveled thru bright sun, dark clouds, dense fog and back to sunshine.
The train station was literally across the street from my hotel—the Marriott Copley Place—where the ceremony was also taking place. Thinking I was cool I checked in using the new Marriott app, and headed to the elevators. Oops! When my floor number wasn’t an option—my room was on the 38th floor—I realized I had walked into the wrong hotel! It was the one where the Emmy’s were a couple of years ago, and I went in by instinct! My hotel was right next door, so it was easy to correct myself.
After an hour or so it was time to get dressed. The dress code is black tie, but I wanted to add my own style. I wore a great dark navy tartan tuxedo jacket from Brooks Brothers, patent shoes, and jeans.
I was red-carpet-ready, and joined my director Chris Panton, Yvonne O’Kane and their families and we headed to the cocktail reception. We walked the red carpet, had our photos taken at the step-and-repeat, and got a quick drink. Then a tasty dinner, and lots of star watching. (My absolutely favorite public television celeb was there: Holly Holden, a design expert and host of You Are Cordially invited, a show celebrating elegant interior design while touring classic English manor houses!)
Suddenly it was time to go in for the ceremony!
I think we had all tricked ourselves into thinking we were calm and relaxed, but as the lights were dimming our nerves were rising. We love what we do, and are lucky to do it, but we still wanted to win!
As the joke about award shows goes, the night felt looong…but mostly because our category (outstanding Lifestyle Show/Special) was the fourth award from the end.
Hours ticked by…the tension mounted…and finally it was our category!
It’s hard to describe the feeling when you see your show up on the big screens flanking the Emmy stage. And even more special knowing it represents the hard work of so many talented people.
“And the Emmy goes to…”
Not us.
That was a hard one to hear. We all really felt our show was ripe for a win. As much as we all want to be good sports, I can admit that the oxygen went out of the room for a bit.
And then we all got back to reality: we have nothing to be sad about.
Not only do we get to be part of this show—which I really do love—we get people’s attention and enthusiasm as a result, and that feels great. It takes only a quick look at the TV schedule to realize the line up is littered with shows that never get nominated—and this was our 4th nomination!
The crowning realization? I took all of your support, love, good wishes, prayers and thoughts up to Boston with me—and I could feel that they were still with us. They sustain and energize me every day, and the Emmys were no exception.
Now THAT’S what I call an award to be proud of.
Thank you, MARtians!
