Hi guys,

I wanted to let you know how my trip to New York City went. The purpose of my trip was to promote Cartoon Network’s “Get Animated / Red Rubber Ball” campaign during National Boys and Girls Club Week. Basically, I appeared on some TV shows in order to encourage kids to stay active, get outside and play, and to socialize with each other in person. These days, kids have so many gadgets that it’s hard to get them to put down the video games and go outside to play; but we all know the amazing benefits of physical activity! All together, I made 5 press appearances: Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show (which will air this week, check your local listings), ringing the Opening Bell at The New York Stock Exchange, Associated Press and The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. Each show was fun to do in its own way, and I was even able to do some of them with kids from the local Boys and Girls Clubs. They were all very excited to be on TV and were constantly texting their friends about it.

During the Good Morning America segment we had a cute demonstration of the game “Four Square.” The kids were a bit nervous, but it all turned out ok. There was a funny accident when one of the balls hit the anchor, but he was really cool about it and made the kids feel comfortable. Next was The Rachael Ray Show and it was my first time appearing on her show. I was looking forward to it because I’m a huge fan of hers, as I just recently got into cooking and she always has such a great audience. Ringing the Opening Bell at The New York Stock Exchange was a very educational experience. It was interesting to see how everything works on the trading floor, especially nowadays with everything that’s going on with the global economy. And, of course, we can’t forget my first game of beer pong! The last appearance of the trip, and probably the most fun, was on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. I think he’s a great guy, very funny and he’s doing a great job since the show is so new. I won my first game of beer pong, which was fun because I hadn’t even heard of the game until a few hours before the show!

Overall, the trip went really well and hopefully I was able to get out the message of encouraging kids to stay active, socialize, and just be kids, to the audiences of each of the shows. After Jimmy Fallon was over I raced to the airport to catch the last flight of the day to Miami, as I had some work to do here for the Sony Ericsson Open. It’s been great having so many friends from the tour in town and getting to see them all.

My next event is the Nautica South Beach Triathlon, which I’ll be running in for the second year in a row as part of the KSwiss relay team. I’ll be running the 4k leg of the race, along with Leanda Cave (swimming) and Katya Meyers (biking), on April 5th. Stay tuned for that, as I’ll of course be posting pictures or videos as soon as I have them.

Thanks for all your support, you guys are incredible, as always, and your great feedback and support really encourages me!

Anna