How To Dress For the Emmys, as if I know!
When people hear about my Emmy nomination, the first question is “What are you wearing?” I have to admit, this has kept me up at night. The countdown is on, I will be in New York City June 13 for the Emmy Awards.

Imagine you are a regular mom who is blogging in her pajamas at her cluttered kitchen table, and YOU have the chance to go to the Emmys. Is the panic attack setting in yet? It sure doesn’t help that you flip through magazines in the salon and notice each magazine has a “Worst Dressed” section for every event ever. (Great!)

So, if any of you have wondered, “What is Rachel going to wear?” I am going to answer that by blogging this adventure until we all come up with a good answer.

The Good News & The Bad News…
Believe it or not, there are two Emmy Award evenings. They do this because there are so many categories and awards and not all categories are televised. I mean who wants to see who got Outstanding Grip, or Outstanding Gaffer or Outstanding Best Boy? I have been doing Signing Time for 7 years now and STILL have no idea if we have a Grip or Gaffer. Anyway, the televised awards are being held in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre June 21. The awards that are not televised will be in New York City June 13. Last year my category, “Outstanding Performer in A Children’s Series” was televised, this year it is not. It feels less stressful to me to go to the awards that are not televised and the date works better too. We have cancelled so many family vacations each year for Signing Time. An event on June 21 would have landed in our family trip this year, and we have cancelled one already.

Back to THE Dress and a Little Background…
My Grandmother is Alyce King.

She is one of The King Sisters.

Our family had the King Family Television Show before I was born. The famous designer Bob Mackie used to design all of the King Sister’s and King Family’s gowns and costumes. Since I was not born yet, I thought it would be SO wonderful if I could get a Mackie gown! I called in a favor and they took my call! Sadly Mackie is not doing couture gowns anymore but they do have a warehouse of things and his partner Joe asked me to go try on gowns, take photos and send them to him so we could see what style and length we like.

I walk into Nordstrom and they have 6 gowns, 3 of which look so pageanty I don’t even bother, these gowns. Then I started thinking, who buys these anyway? I should go to Nordstrom Rack where all un-bought gowns go! In the meantime I started searching Ebay (YES I used GoodShop with Signing Time Foundation as my foundation of choice!) and I searched my size and gown. I quickly discovered I needed to search MINUS “wedding” and “night”. Well, I was surprised at some of the great things that came up. I actually ended up buying one of the dresses (a brand new $480 dress for less than $70 including shipping) and I found another dress that I just love and I emailed the seller and asked if they would just give it to me! LOL They are asking $400, puh-lease! I also said that I know it is a crazy request, but they could donate it to my foundation as a write-off, or I could return it AND I would blog about their store if they did… I haven’t heard back.
(To be continued…)
P.S. for some reason I can’t upload photos (ARGH) webmaster is working feverishly to fix this.

Yesterday was Lucy’s 8th birthday. When she woke up, we all hopped into her bed. She looked at us and said, “I don’t feel 8!” We laughed and told her that is a pretty common feeling, NOT feeling a year older on your birthday. She got ready for school, sporting her new High School Musical t-shirt, she brushed her teeth with her new High School Musical toothbrush and then opened her present, High School Musical Barbies.

She had a great day at school and thankfully I did remember to drop off donuts to her class. That was a close one!

After school we asked her where she would like to have her birthday dinner. She wanted California Pizza Kitchen. We drove downtown to CPK and found a parking spot right in front. (Which was miraculous) As Aaron parked I looked out my window and noticed a small group of people standing less than 5 feet from my car door. First I recognized Kenny Ortega the director of High School Musical! “NO WAY!! That’s Kenny Ortega!!!” I shouted to Lucy and signed to Leah. Then I realized that Vanessa AKA Gabriella and Zac Efron AKA Troy were standing with him!!! Zac had a hat on and Vanessa had BIG sunglasses, you could tell they were trying NOT to be recognized. “Oh my gosh!! Lucy look it’s Zac and Vanessa!!!!” I threw open my door, grabbed Lucy and walked the 4 steps to stand in front of them. “I am sorry to bother you, but it’s her birthday today and she’s even wearing her HSM t-shirt and got HSM barbies as her gift can we just say Hi?!!!” They said, “Happy Birthday!” and Zac asked Lucy to give him “5″. She did. Kenny started waving at Leah, letting her know it was okay to come out of the car. Leah wheeled forward in her heeleys, white as a ghost with her jaw to the ground. “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!”, she all but screamed. Zac said, “I like your heeleys!”

We let them know how much we love HSM and are excited for the next one. (They shoot here in Salt Lake City). And you may have recognized “Coach Bolton” in our Signing Time DVD “Family Feelings and Fun”.
Then they quickly made their way through the mall before too large of a crowd formed. we stood their stunned. I realized my legs were shaking. LOL. Lucy looked at us and said, “This is the Best Day Ever!” We had to agree.

After lunch we ran into Kenny again. He stopped Lucy and was talking to her. He had his little Yorkie with him and told Lucy that he loves her name, and when he gets another Yorkie, he is going to name it Lucy.

When I told my sisters what had happened they all asked, “How did you pull that off?” I just laughed, “Oh what we won’t do for a birthday around here!”

We didn’t get pictures with them, but I will be posting Lucy’s afterglow picture when we got to the restaurant.
Here it is!

This morning I am going back to Ghana! You may have noticed that we have moved my Ghana Journal, Blog and video to the Signing Time Foundation site. All future updates about Ghana will originate on the foundation site. I posted the details about today’s trip in a post called, “Going Back to Ghana Saturday.” Hop over to that site and subscribe to the blog for updates about our continued work in Ghana. Again, I have NO idea if I will have internet access while I am there. I promise that I will journal and take pictures!

I will be back late Thursday night.

Rachel

When Aaron and I were in Las Vegas last week, Leah broke one of her toes! She was at a roller rink with Alex. They were not skating but climbing up an obstacle course/bounce house. She was standing at the top of a cargo net watching Alex on the rope swing. As she says, “Patiently waiting for my turn!” She lost her balance, and started to slide down the net. As she slid, one of her toes got stuck in the cargo net webbing.

Doesn’t it seem like we are breaking a lot of things? I broke my elbow last May, Leah broke her thumb in January and now her toe! Somewhere in there Aaron had his wrist x-rayed after a “rough” weekend of snowmobiling… he pulled a tendon and had to wear the same hand splint that Leah had for her broken thumb, a larger version of the splint obviously Let’s see… Oh, Lucy had an MRI of her brain 2 weeks ago and nothing is broken in there… That’s the good news!

I like to bake cakes. But I usually bake them when I am not really into eating cake. Is that strange? Probably. I baked a cake 2 weeks ago, it was a Pecan Pie Cake, recipe from a Southern Living Magazine of course!

Aaron keeps asking, “Why are you baking a cake? I always have to eat the whole thing!!”

I do have a piece but that’s all. I just want a taste, but you can’t really bake a taste of cake.

This week I baked a Lemon Cream Cheese Cake (not cheesecake). I haven’t had my taste yet. Can you tell I like just a taste of coconut too? Baking cakes and not eating them.. just one of the silly things I do!

This morning I was volunteering in Lucy’s class for a couple of hours. When I finished, I walked out to my car and I looked at my cell phone. I had missed an extraordinary number of calls. My first thought was “Uh-oh!” There were multiple calls from Two Little Hands, my sister Emilie, and my husband Aaron. I checked the messages. The first one was from my friend and employee LeeAnn, saying, “Congratulations!!! You have been nominated for an Emmy for “Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Television Series.”

I sat in the car for a minute and thought does she really mean I got nominated?

I called LeeAnn back to verify and I asked her to look at it again just to be sure before I called or emailed everyone. My first call was to my mom. Then my phone began buzzing and ringing nonstop!

I just had to share with all of you too! Can you believe it? Me!!! Rachel Coleman, from Signing Time! Here is the proof. Scroll down halfway.

Last year I posted about my tulips and daffodils and how I do love the flowers that herald Spring. Last Fall I got a message from our office that a package had arrived for me with a letter and bulbs. I double checked the message to make sure I heard it correctly.. Bulbs? Sure enough one of our Signing Time fans who reads my blog and happens to work in landscaping mailed me bulbs!! She even sent bulbs that would match the ones I had shown pictures of. (Thank you Wendy!) But I haven’t SEEN my tulips yet. Just as the weather warms up and my bulbs almost bloom, BAM we get hit with another snowstorm. I can’t really complain because I love the skiing, but I am really ready for the flowers! My daffodils are up, but my tulips have not bloomed, yet.

I was in California last week and it was 88 degrees Ahhh! It felt so good and it makes me remember how much I love Los Angeles. I performed in Yucca Valley and in Los Angeles. The 2 hour drive to Yucca took 3 hours and 45 minutes, which makes me remember what I don’t love about Los Angeles. LOL

Baby Celebration was a blast! I loved seeing so many fans and so may great little signers. I even recognized a few from the auditions we just held. As I walked through the convention center I was shocked at how many different vendors recognized me and asked to take pictures with me and wanted to get their products in our shows! Yeah! Is it silly to say it was the first time I felt like a star? Seriously, don’t laugh!

The last few weeks have been crazy and I think we will be in a holding pattern of “crazy” through June. I’ve had a hundred things to share but I just haven’t been able to sort it out in a way that seems blog worthy:) So here’s a top 10 list in no particular order.

10. I have lost 1 pound a week for the past 20 weeks!
9. Leah came in 5th place in her school Spelling Bee - the word she missed was “asceticism” … can you blame her?
8. I wrote 16 songs in 10 days
7. Lucy got sent to the principals office (LOL)
6. I completed 3 photo shoot days - standing, smiling and signing from 8AM-6PM
5. Cancelled my trip to France in June
4. I am coordinating Lucy’s fetal surgery for spina bifida reunion that will take place in Park City, UT in June
3. Leah wrote a report about her “Hero” - I cried as she read what she wrote about me!
2. Aaron is the lead editor on the new shows (this means we are BOTH up to our eyeballs in Signing Time!)
1. I have been invited to come back to Ghana in May for a world summit to address the education of deaf children (This, of course, is scheduled right in the middle of production for our new shows!) At first I said, “No. I just can’t go.” Now I am having second thoughts.

Plus- I am on a talk show this Friday, I perform in Las Vegas the first week of May. I am filmed for the new shows the second week of May. I have a Marketing Retreat the third week of May and somewhere in there I am trying to squeeze in 6 days in Africa LOL - WHEW! I am not complaining, I am just blown away at what is going to happen in the next 60 days. Is this where I finally learn to ask for help? Anyone interested in a nanny job for 2 adorable, brilliant little girls? You might also need to cook and clean and do laundry.

If there was a reality TV series about my life from now to June, even I would watch it!! I am just dying to know how it all turns out! The cool thing is, it is all going to work out! It always does!

On Friday I will be a guest on the very first edition of “Home Team” - this is a brand new morning talk show on KJZZ in Salt Lake City, UT. Every week they will have a segment called “Her-Story” and it will feature an inspirational woman or family. The best part is, the host is my very own sister, Julie!!

If you would like to be part of the live studio audience this Friday, please send an email to: karen@chriscomediaservices.com with the subject: “Home Team Audience 4/18”
Include your name, email address and phone number.

Taping Details:
Friday 4/18 @ 9-11am
KJZZ studios 5181 Amelia Earhart Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116

I hope to see you there!! (No, I won’t be wearing bright orange or colors on my fingers this time.)

I have received a number of request and questions about Ghana. Yeah! I am glad you all enjoyed the experience as much as we did. It is still something I think about daily. Aaron is working on the video this week and we are hoping to have it as a special feature on an upcoming Signing Time DVD. Yes we have video of the crocodile run, the canopy bridges and my feeble attempt at carrying water on my head.

After my blog that showed Alfred and the first elephant carving, my friend Natalie called and said, “I love my elephant! When can I come get it?” I started laughing and said, we actually got you something else. Natalie thought I was kidding. She said, “I read your blog and it says you got it for me.” I started laughing and I told her to wait a few more days and she would read in my blog about what we special ordered for her instead of that elephant. She still thought I was teasing.

A few days later one of Lucy’s workers came over for a yearly interview. We were talking and she looked up at a shelf in my living room and said “That’s Alfred’s elephant!!!!” I was sort of shocked that she too had been reading my blog. I guess there are a lot of lurkers out there. Don’t worry, I love lurkers.

I asked Aaron to take some photos of the different pieces we brought home. Here they are with descriptions!

Here, of course, is Alfred’s Elephant

Here is our special order for Natalie. Elephants, Mother and Child.

These are the tortoises we special ordered for Lucy. Keep in mind, special order means he carved them at our request. Remember we had asked for a baby turtle and like a true businessman he carved a larger one as well.

When we went into Accra I told Aaron and Leah that if I saw any figures that looked like me (at any point in my life) I would buy them. This one has no resemblance at all, but I bought it anyway:)

Later in Aburi I found this figure and it cracked me up. Leah said, “That doesn’t look like you at all!” (I’ve trained her well!) Then she asked, “Will you please stop buying naked ladies?” LOL I guess she prefers wooden animals.

The night that we did not find a family of four carving, but Alfred promised to carve us one, I bought this wooden bowl. It was perfect to keep our cocoa beans and money in.

Alfred’s older brother, William, carved this family of four for us. He taped a piece of paper with his address and email address to the bottom of it. It is about 10 inches tall.

We picked up a small piece called “Lovers” for our neighbors who had fed our fish while we were gone.

The final piece is the large “Unity” carving that we had picked out and when we returned Robi was looking at it. He later special ordered a smaller one.

In Aburi there was one shop with countless necklaces. We picked out this one for Aaron’s mom. She loves jewelry and asked us to bring her something back. I should have bought two. Can you see the necklace on the lower right hand side? I wore the necklace to her birthday party and she noticed it, “Did you get that in Africa? It’s beautiful.” I smiled and said, “It’s for you!” She was surprised and happy.

Luckily, giving away all of our clothes and supplies left plenty of room in our suitcases to carefully pack all of the carvings. We were happy to find that all of the pieces arrived without any breaks or cracks.

Today I got some more good news for the Signing Time Foundation. You can now use Good Search.com as your search engine and raise money for The Signing Time Foundation! When you search the internet and use Good Search with Signing Time Foundation as your non-profit of choice, each search generates 2 cents for us. This may not seem like a lot, but think of how often you search the internet and think of how many of us there are! It uses the Yahoo search engine. One way to remember to search for us is to set www.goodsearch.com as your homepage. It’s just a little thing, but it can make a big difference! So, spread the word, the more the merrier. Do a great thing and start using GoodSearch today!

I know that most of you who see me daily on your TV screens recognize the bright orange sweater, but you may be shocked to know that in real life I rarely wear that. Actually I wore it a few weeks ago to my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday party because I had just come from a performance and had no time to change. Sure I felt silly, but all of the kids thought I was better than a party clown! My own nieces and nephews shied away, slightly shocked and nervous to see Aunt Rachel’s alter-ego in real life.

As proof that I have more than that one outfit here is an interview from last month when I traveled to Oklahoma to be the keynote speaker at the OKFCEC (Oklahoma Federation of the Council for Exceptional Children) Conference. I flew to Oklahoma three days after returning home from Ghana.
It was great meeting Tyler Suiters from KOCO. I had met his wife Kimberly and daughter Sloane when they came to Utah to be part of our Baby Signing Time DVD’s. I think the interview turned out great!