Michelle Obama seemed starstruck herself Monday when she appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

"It’s the Tonight Show!" she said, after Leno thanked her for coming.

Questioned by Leno about Sarah Palin’s Republican convention wardrobe – which reports say cost the Republican National Committee $150,000 - Obama declined to criticize the Alaska governor. 

Obama said she and her husband buy their own clothes. But she said she wanted to be "empathetic."

"A V.P. pick, it’s like being shot out of a cannon. All of a sudden you’re at the center of attention, and you want to look good," Michelle Obama said.

So where does Michelle Obama shop?

"Actually, this is a J. Crew ensemble," she said of her yellow sweater, skirt and blouse. And "you can get some good stuff online."

Obama also said neither of her and Barack’s two young daughters are really excited about his presidential campaign. In fact, they’re a little miffed that his TV ads are all over television.

"’You’re going to be on all the TV? Are you going to interrupt my TV?’" her mother said 10-year-old Malia asked.

"He said ‘no, we didn’t buy time on Disney or Nick [Nickelodean],’” Michelle Obama said. “She said, ‘oh good,’ then just got up and walked away.”

Michelle Obama also said she’s enjoyed campaigning for the past 20 months. "I enjoy it more than I ever thought I would," she said. "It’s just been an amazing experience."

Michelle Obama also said Barack’s grandmother is "doing OK," but that she has her bad days. Sen. Obama spent a few days off the campaign trail in Hawaii last week to visit his very ill grandmother, the woman who helped raise him. The woman Obama affectionately calls "Toot," also has a nickname for Obama, Michelle revealed: Bear.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports on how while some of Barack Obama’s advisers once viewed Michelle Obama as an unpredictable force who sometimes spoke her mind a little too much, she is now regarded within the campaign as a disciplined and effective advocate for her husband. Advisers also believe she’s gone a long way toward making more voters comfortable with the idea of a black first lady.