Home Depot video shoot

Hello all! First of all, I have to send out prayers to those in Oklahoma. We are just seeing all the news this morning and it’s heartbreaking.

I’m back today with a recap of the recent Home Depot video shoot at my house. When they contacted me about doing a video in the backyard a couple months ago I was all, sure, that sounds like fun! I don’t have to leave my house, low stress right?

Well then I realized I was doing interviews for three hours and the nerves started to creep in. ;) I gotta say, in the end it was actually a really fun day and I feel like it went pretty well. (Everyone else said so too, but I’m still not sure if they’re supposed to say that or what.)

The promotion was set up so that I could chat with about 15 other bloggers via the phone while I was taped. We were talking about the new Procter and Gamble cleaning items at Home Depot specifically -- they are great for outdoor grime and dirt. The bloggers and I talked about getting your outdoor spaces ready for the season and some fun entertaining ideas.

I’ll share one of the videos with you soon (I haven’t seen any yet – yikes!!) but for now I wanted to share what went into the shoot. It was mind boggling! The production crew came a couple weeks earlier to check out the house and patio, and when six guys walked in I started to realize what a big deal this was. ;)

The day of the shoot we had more like ten crew members and then the producer from NYC (thanks Evan!) and the PR contact from Chicago (hey Mara!). They were super efficient but still took a couple hours:

There were monitors and cords and stuff everywhere! It was insane! (In a fun way!)

Here’s a better view of the kitchen:

Thank goodness for the new, bigger kitchen table. ;) There’s no way all of that would have fit on the old one.

Speaking of, the old one served as our food station – both breakfast and lunch were catered in, ohh la la!:

Having the food brought in was actually a huge relief to me. All along I had been planning on feeding everyone and that was a huge thing I didn’t have to worry about that day.

The patio was as crazy as the inside – they moved everything around so the fireplace was the focal point:

We had a beautiful, sunny day so the big screen was up to offer some shade for the shoot – I asked if they would leave it and they said no, dangit. :)

My sis was there for the day, thank goodness! It was a relief to have her there to help me prepare and just for support. She got a bunch of pics while I was getting prepped for the shoot:

Nice face:

I have to say, EVERYONE was awesome -- the crew, Evan, Mara – they all made it fun and it was surprisingly laid back, which is good for me. I feel comfortable in front of a camera and have done it numerous times in my life (both for blogging and in my previous life in PR), but if everyone is stressed and hyper it makes me nervous.

It was quite fun and even though I was nervous, I was way more relaxed than I thought I would be. I didn’t mess up too bad – except for the time I kept saying “cucumber” instead of couponer – over and over. And over. It didn’t help that I’d also hear everyone inside through my earpiece cackling every time I said it. :)

You know how you say something wrong a couple times and then your brain just quits on you and you just CANNOT say it right after that? Yeah. I think it took six tries before I got it.

Oh well, everyone needs some outtakes right??

It was a fun day and we flew through the interviews – the crew was packed up and the house was back to normal by mid-afternoon. It was a blast and I couldn’t have done it without my sister there with me:

Love her. :)

The lovely folks at Procter and Gamble and Home Depot have put a little giveaway package together for one of you to win! You’ll get all the items I talked about that day – the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Outdoor Pro pack, Mr. Clean Outdoor Pro spray, a roll of Bounty paper towels and a $50 Home Depot gift card!

WHOOT! I have already tried the cleaning supplies and they rock! Anyone else obsessed with the Magic Erasers? Love them. And with the gift card you can kick off Memorial Day right with some flowers from Home Depot, or maybe some outdoor pillows? Hope the winner does something fun with it! :)

**This giveaway is now closed – the winner has been contacted.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here. Remember if you are anonymous, leave your email as well! This will be open through Thursday at noon.