NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Friday is the first day of the rest of Martha Stewart's life.
It's also the day she's due at a minimum-security federal women's prison in West Virginia to start her five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale.
Stewart was sentenced in July to five months in jail and five months of home detention, after being convicted in March on four counts of lying to investigators about her well-timed sale of ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL: Research, Estimates) stock at the end of 2001.
Last month, Stewart asked a federal judge to let her do her time as soon as possible so that she could put her "nightmare" behind her.
"The best word to use for this very hard and difficult decision is 'finality,' and my intense desire to put this nightmare behind me, both personally and professionally," Stewart told reporters on Sept. 15.
Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum granted the request and ordered her to report to prison by Oct. 8.
Stewart had hoped to serve her prison sentence at a prison in Danbury, Conn., near her home in Westport, and her 90-year-old mother. Her second choice was the federal prison in Coleman, Fla.
Ultimately, the federal Bureau of Prisons assigned Stewart to the minimum-security women's prison in Alderson, W.Va., known as Camp Cupcake.
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| Martha Stewart, convicted for lying about her ImClone Systems stock sale, was ordered to report to prison by Oct. 8. |
The West Virginia facility, which once housed Billie Holiday, as well as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore -- both of whom tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford -- has no perimeter fence, and inmates can spend their free time playing volleyball and tennis or even doing aerobics.
But despite Stewart's enormous talents as a trendsetter and entrepreneur, prison guards will be watching her like a hawk to ensure the 63-year-old inmate does not conduct business behind bars.
Last weekend, she was spotted in the Bahamas with friends, taking time to relax after the wedding of her longtime publicist Susan Magrino, according to a published report.
How did she spend her last few days before heading to prison in West Virginia?
A spokeswoman for her company said Stewart was in the office Thursday and has been working all week, staying at her home in Westport.
Even after Stewart steps foot inside Alderson, her lawyers will continue working on her appeal. A day before she was to start serving her sentence, the lifestyle trendsetter's legal team accused prosecutors of withholding evidence and sent a letter to federal prosecutors and the judge who oversaw the trial, hoping to overturn Stewart's conviction.
Stewart's legal team argued that the federal government should have provided them with documents that emerged as evidence during the recent perjury trial of a key prosecution witness in the case, ink expert Larry Stewart, who is no relation to Martha.
On Tuesday, Larry Stewart was acquitted of criminal charges that he had lied on the stand.
If Stewart begins her prison term Friday, she would be out by early March -- just in time to begin work on her television program during the five-month home detention period.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO: Research, Estimates) has already renewed its namesake founder's contract as chief editorial and media director. Stewart and her company also plan to team up with reality show guru Mark Burnett when she returns to her multimedia empire.
The company's stock has jumped in recent weeks and is near its 52-week high; investors seem to be relieved Stewart is putting her ordeal behind her.
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