In this video I talk about a few site announcements including my trip to NYC to film on the NATE BERKUS SHOW!!! I was so excited!! Here is a rundown in case you aren’t able to watch the vid.

Monday- I get an email from the producers of the Nate Berkus Show wanting me to be a 1 of 3 contestants to compete in a cooking contest to be judged by CURTIS STONE and NATE BERKUS!! My thoughts: yeah right!!! This is a joke!

Tuesday- Got a phone call confirming that hey it’s real. They love my blog and they really want ME, yes little ol’ me to come on the show! I am pumped!!! They tell me to choose a dish that I think is the bomb.com .

Wednesday: I’m calling up everybody in my family and telling them the fun news! I’m freakin out over what to wear, how to do my hair, what to make!!! I have a week before the show!!

Thursday: I go shopping for an outfit. I’m told to wear black and white. I buy 5 black and white outfits, the accessories, shoes, the whole nine! I gotta represent!!

Friday: I decided to make my red velvet cake. The show emails back and says not to do a dessert. I freak out! Then I decide to make my vegetarian chili. I hear Curtis Stone loves healthy stuff. So I go to the store buy all the ingredients to do a test round.

Saturday: I spend the day perfecting the chili recipe. It must be perfect!! It was!!

 

Sunday: Finished up shopping. The show says don’t do chili. They really want a recipe that I’m known for. Macaroni and Cheese was the obvious.

Monday: I head to the store to get some mac and cheese ingredients to tweak the recipe to perfection. Made a pan of Mac and cheese. It was the bomb!!

 

Tuesday: Decided that I hated all of my outfits and took them all back. Got 3 more outfits. Packed our bags for NYC and finally went to bed at 4 am. and had to be up at 6pm to catch our 9:30 am flight to NYC!!!

Wednesday: Arrive in NYC. Our driver picks us up and takes us to the Lucerne hotel. I’m EXHAUSTED!!!!! It’s the afternoon and I just want to eat and take a nap. The show calls and says “don’t wear black and white. Wear color. No patterns” I’m freaking out. All I have is black and white. I throw something together. Whew things really do change fast! I go out to eat at  a wonderful Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel. So good!! I’m exhausted by now. I wanted to sight-see but it was cloudy, drizzling and I so needed sleep if I was gonna look half-way decent on the show. I crash for a nap and sleep nearly the whole day while hubby and son went exploring NYC.

Thurdays: SHOW TIME!! I arrive at the studio and is taken to my private green room. I leave for hair and makeup, meet the other contestants, get briefed on how the show was gonna go, and before I know it I’m getting mic’ed up and ready to shoot!! It was fast and felt like a dream! Surprisingly, I wasn’t too nervous even though there was a live audience and I was abut to meet Nate and Curtis!! Something about the lights and cameras calmed me.  We filmed our segment flawlessly!! Only one retake!

Nate berkus Divas Can Cook

Probably looking at my dish and thinking “yeahh…wait until yall taste this!!!”

Our plane was canceled so the show paid for another night at the hotel for us. They were really good to us the entire time! I was sooooo happy because this gave me the rest of the afternoon and all day Friday to explre New York! Hubby, son and I got to venturing out as soon as we got back from the show. We went to the Hudson, had some wonderful food, went to the park, walked EVERYWHERE and didn’t get back in until late that night.

I didn’t want to leave : (

Friday:  We spend all day exploring. We took the subway to Times Square, ate at Planet Hollywood, went shopping,  and took Isaac to the mega Toys R Us. We got back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the airport just in time. Our flight left at 9:30 pm and we were all like zombies by the time we arrived home at 12:30 am.  I had a BLAST but it felt so good to crash in my own bed. I think all 3 of us slept all day Saturday lol.

Overall I had sooo much fun!!! I LOVE NEW YORK and could totally see myself living there for a while, but my heart belongs to the country lol I never thought I’d miss the sound of birds and bull frogs but I did. Although…I AM ready to go back to NYC!!!!!! I’m hooked now!!!

 

MORE PHOTOS COMING SOON!!!! I HAVE A TON!!!!!

 And oh yeah…I WON THE COOKOFF!!!