My Lucky Day!

Okay, so if you know me, you know that I'm a fan of several "bloggers" out there, and that I actually created this blog, sort of "in honor" of one of one of the most well known bloggers of them all - Rosie O'Donnell. I found her blog way back when she started on the View, but by then she'd been doing it for years. I wish I had known about it earlier, when it could sort of be more "organic". By the time I happened upon it, she had so many fans visiting every day that it lost a little of it's charm/intimacy. In any case, I was hooked from the start, and through Rosie, I found Ross the Intern and ANT, the comedian - and I've been a regular at all of their blogs for the last year+. Because of that, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet ANT this past summer when he came to town for a show he was in. He could not have been more kind, gracious, welcoming, considerate - the whole evening, he made sure that we (my friend Kristy and I) were taken care of. Then, he asked me to meet for breakfast the next morning so we'd have a chance to talk. Here's a picture from that morning:

Isn't he cute as a button? He, more than any other, has been so unafraid to connect on a real level. Recently, I posted on his blog (nbc.com/ant) about some big decisions I was making about my life, and literally 5 minutes later, my cell phone rang, and it was him. "Talk to me, what's going on?" He proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes telling me how I deserved nothing but the best, and encouraging me to demand nothing less for myself. He was really something. (Especially given the fact that at the time, he was at the bedside of his life partner, who passed away about a week later. He still took the time to call me, which I think is pretty amazing.) Now, backtracking a bit, I found ANT through Ross "the Intern" Mathews (you know, the cute funny guy from the Tonight Show, who does all of the fun assignments for Jay?) If, for any reason, you don't recognize his name, you'll surely know his voice when you hear it. Here's my favorite ROSS assignment:

HYSTERICAL!!!!!
Since then, Ross appeared on Celebrety Fit Club (hosted by ANT) on VH1. He lost over 60 pounds, and to this day, he posts new blogs every day at NBC.com/rossblog. Sometimes, he does what's called a "teleblog" where he asks for phone numbers and randomly calls a few of his blogger fans (called "blog buddies") and records it for a blog. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get a call! (It might have been because I submitted my number 50-60 times as evidenced here:

From: Ross Mathews [mailto:hellorossm@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 2:59 PM
To: Monson, Donna
Subject: RE: TELEBLOG


Donna! Only one entry per person - you're jamming my email!
Thanks!
Ross

Subject: RE: TELEBLOG
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:59:29 -0600
From: Donna.Monson@qwest.com
To: hellorossm@hotmail.com


Sorry, I totally got addicted. I stopped a few minutes ago. How embarassing!

From: Ross Mathews [mailto:hellorossm@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:00 PM
To: Monson, Donna
Subject: RE: TELEBLOG


I appreciate your enthusiasm! :)
Ross )

It turned out several of us were sending multiple requests, and so he got a bit overwhelmed by the response. Funny!

Anyway, want to see it? I'm caller #3. Check it out!!!!

SANTA HATS!!! YAY!!! SANTA HATS ARE FAMOUS NOW - hooray!! Wasn't his diagram perfect??

So, my Christmas is off to a fantastic start. And, my sister, her husband, and my baby nephew Olan will be here in a matter of days - life is good!