Saturday, April 24, 2010

Hello, Ruby Friday...

Yes - it's true... Friday, April 23rd, 2010 was officially RubyTown, USA day in my hometown! She arrived the day before and had a full day scheduled on Friday!

Ruby Gettinger has her own reality TV show on the Style Network and if you have not yet watched it, you are missing out! The idea was hers in the beginning and so she got a camera, and had her friends Jeff and Georgia follow her around in hopes of making a documentary of her weight loss and journey to healing. Somehow Style heard about it and approached her to turn it into a reality TV! Yakima, WA won the online contest to have Ruby come to town and give a sneak peak of her Season Finale which will air on Style on May 2nd! When she started out, Ruby weighed 716lbs... to date she has lost over 400lbs - doing it the hard way... eating right, and exercise!

She is so inspirational and charming... with her southern drawl and the love that spills out of her you can't help but fall for her! She's adorable and we were so 'e'cited' to see her! She made us all oh so 'hacky'!

Soooo... Friday morning I headed out to North Town Coffeehouse and waited for her arrival! Yes, I know - the sacrifices I make so I have a life to blog about for you - the people! So - I got my red leaf cran-apple iced tea and scored a nice chair... and called my friend to let her know I was there and waiting. Before I know it, my friend is calling me from outside the building and she is saying to come out - they are talking with Ruby... so much for getting there early and scoring a chair?! So - I go out and actually manage to get a few minutes 'alone' with her! God is good...

Here she is - with Foxy (of course!) and her nephew Jim (and a Style Network rep):
So Lana, Shana, and I got to visit with her, hug on her, and tell her our stories...

She's such a hugger!

Me, Ruby, & Foxy!


Tellin' her my story...
(80lb loss & then a YEAR long plateau-
& how she inspires me to keep going!)

(Another hug comin' on! Yay me!)

(this is her 'new boyfriend'! LOL!)
...then she was ready to head inside -
but first, she had to film an intro for her show...


After we saw her at North Town, we all headed over to The Lunch Box and grabbed a quick bite then walked over to Gilbert Cellars to see if she was still there. She was - but mostly everyone else had cleared out so we hung out for a bit there and then split up for a few hours.

I reconnected with Shana, Lana, and Grandma (...their friend Ruby Sue showed up as well while we were waiting in line) at The Majestic, where they were giving a Sneak Peak of the Season Finale! I am a fairly new fan - only catching the last several episodes, and catching up via YouTube & Hulu over the past couple of months but there were people there who had literally been with her throughout her entire journey! I won't say anything about the finale other than it will not disappoint!

She is so stunning in person... her charm and joy and the love of God just exude from her and she literally stayed to hug every neck and chat with every person there! She asks questions, and really listens and hears... she does not take this international platform lightly - she knows that this is so much bigger than her!

One of my friends Lana had a pretty funky zipper necklace on and Ruby just loved it... well - the Lord told Lana to go buy her one - so while we split up - the girls all headed OUT of TOWN to buy it and were able to give it to her after the show when we all went to chat with her. She was so blessed - and I am SURE she will be wearing it soon!

Shana had the great idea of giving her an autographed bottle of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter butter spray, too! LOL! She loved that... it just cracked her up!

We said our goodbyes feeling sorry for her because the theater still had a ton of people waiting and we headed out! We decided we NEEDED food so we all went over to Applebee's and ordered a late dinner. We get our food and are almost done eating when who walks in? Ruby! LOL! She came right up to us and started chatting like we were old friends... we joked that she'd have to stop stalking us... every where we went today - there she was! It was sort of freakin' me out a little! LOL! She was like, "Ya'll gotta come to Georgia - we'd have SOOoooo much fun!" Oh... we would!

So - a few behind the scenes things...

We talked with her about Denny... oh we talked to her! LOL! She knows... she completely knows how he is and she gets him... she will always love him and he will always be a part of her life!

She kept joking about her new boyfriend... some local Yakima guy who was hanging around... every time she would say it he would blush a bit! She whispered to me that she was just jokin' - "but look at how cute he gets when I say it..." He told her he was taking off at North Town and she was like, "Now how can this be a date, if ya'll keep leavin'?" Too cute!

Jim was AWESOME... he was the keeper of Foxy and E! recorder among many many other things! He was great to have there!

She told us how the whole thing even got started (which I mentioned above) and she is seriously aware that this is a God thing! She knows it is helping people to change their lives - including herself! She is amazing...

The 'crew' with her all had to wear "Team Ruby" T-shirts at the theater, and apparently the one she calls "Bossy" was a little grumpy about it! LOL! She never did introduce him with a name - just, "Oh this is Bossy... he's SOooo bossy, ya'll!? Do you see how bossy he's bein'?" When she mentioned he didn't like his shirt - we decided it would be a great idea to have her sign it, then we'd all bid on it, and he could take it off! LOL!? (Hey - it was a brilliant idea!?) Ruby LOVED the idea... but Bossy was not goin' for it... unless he got the money - but that just made it seem dirty somehow?!

Lastly - what struck me most is how genuine she is... she is so transparent, and really - that is what makes her show work! The only things we don't know are the things SHE doesn't know... and she is on a journey to learn the truth. I know from the people lined up to greet her and the stories I heard yesterday - there are many on their own journey to truth - and Ruby is helping to pave the way!

Here are a few more pix of the night! Enjoy!

Ruby's Arrival at The Majestic


Talkin to a packed house!

Me & Ruby - we're both so hacky!

My friend Shana & Ruby

Ruby Sue (from NC) & Ruby (from GA)...

Lana & Ruby
(see Lana's necklace!? She bought one just like it for Ruby
because Ruby thought it was so Sexy! LOL!)

In the right corner there... yeah, that is "Bossy"!

Here she is with her 'favoritist' autographed bottle of butter spray! LOL!

Scrap Hacky, Ya'll!
~Karrilee~

2 comments:

Pam said...

How fun!! That's such a neat experience- glad you got to hang out with such an inspirational lady!!

Unknown said...

Thanks fore much for posting that! It was great!

Sherry