Staying In Touch

I got a call from a close friend last night--someone I went to graduate school with. I hadn’t realized it, but we hadn’t talked since the new year-–almost four months! I used to be pretty good about staying in contact with my friends. But when I started my own business three years ago, regular calls to friends slowly became a thing of the past. And since becoming Martha's apprentice, I’ve been so busy that I barely have time to call my family, let alone my friends. But talking with my friends last night made me realize just how much I miss keeping in touch. Nothing is more important than family and close friends. No matter how busy I am, I’m going to make a concerted effort to call all my girlfriends and catch up. Most of them probably don't even know what I've been up to since moving to New York. Hopefully they'll still remember my voice. I'd love to hear how you stay in touch with your friends--especially those who live in other cities or states.

My New Apartment

It's not every day that you get to have Martha Stewart and her editorial director of decorating, Kevin Sharkey, decorate your apartment. But, I just happened to be so lucky! Since I still have my house in Florida, I decided to look for a furnished apartment in New York City. I was surprised to learn how few furnished apartments there were. I quickly realized that unless I wanted to spend $5,000 a month on rent, I wasn’t going to find anything furnished. So instead, I found an extremely small unfurnished apartment on the Upper West Side and asked Martha if she had any interest in decorating the apartment in everything Martha Stewart--Martha Stewart Everyday for the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen; Martha Stewart Signature Line for the sofa, chairs, and desk; and, of course, Martha Stewart paint throughout. To my delight, she said yes, and within a few weeks I was sitting with Kevin looking through tons of Martha Stewart Living back issues, piles of catalogs, and mounds of paint chips.

I've never done any extensive decorating before, nor have I ever used a professional decorator--it was a phenomenal learning experience. Although Kevin was a little shocked at the small size of my apartment, he assured me that he could make it work.

I became more and more excited as the process began. I was a little nervous at first. I tend to be very conservative when it comes to colors, and I knew Kevin was a little more adventurous. But Kevin worked with me and was able to pull me out of my comfort zone a little, which is what I needed.

I love everything about the apartment, and I especially love how Kevin took some color photos of my family and dogs and blew them up in black and white and covered an entire wall with the photos. It looks so artistic and helps me feel like my husband and dogs are with me. I got the "wall of photos" idea from a back issue of Martha Stewart Living, but I never thought about using family photos. It's perfect.

The apartment was revealed yesterday on Martha's daytime show, Martha. For those of you who didn’t see it, I’ve uploaded a few photos to my photo album. I have to say, Kevin is a genius!

My New Radio Show

I have to apologize. It's been way too long since I last posted. I have no excuse other than to say I've never in my life been so busy. I'm not complaining; I'm having an incredible time. Two weeks ago, I started a radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. My show, Health and Fitness Talk with Dawna Stone, airs live every Monday at noon ET and is replayed several times during the week. I cover all types of health and fitness topics on the show. My first show was on our relationship with food and stress-induced eating. The second show was on body image and self-esteem, and this week's show is on fad diets--why they don’t work and what we can do to become healthier and fitter.

I get excited about each show, but, boy, was I nervous about the first one. I've done tons of TV segments and motivational talks, and although I used to get nervous in the beginning, I rarely get nervous any more. Before my first radio show, I felt so nauseated; I didn't think I was going to make it. There was something about being live on the radio--talking into a microphone without talking face-to-face with a person--that scared me. But as soon as I got started, I fell in love with it. Who knew that radio could be so much fun?

After the show, I was walking out of the Sirius studios, and Martha was standing in the hall talking to Howard Stern. She introduced me to Howard as her "apprentice," and Howard looked puzzled. He told us he didn’t think the winner actually worked at the company, that he thought it was all for show. I thought it was hilarious Howard was so shocked that I really was working with Martha. If anyone is wondering, I have a REAL job at MSLO. I have an office, a desk, and a computer, plus I have meetings almost every day, and I have projects that I'm responsible for.

Well, I have to run--it's almost time for my radio show. I hope you'll tune in.

Dawna

P.S. Thank you for all the wonderful comments. I love hearing from you!