If you know me well, you know that I LOVE celebrities and I LOVE meeting my favorites. My absolute favorite is Giada De Laurentiis and today was my 6th time meeting her. I have been to every one of her book signings and I just adore her. I have all 6 of her cook books, I make her recipes, I record her show Giada At Home (Saturday mornings on the Food Network), and I watch her on the Today show. Needless to say, I am a huge fan. She once did a show on her favorite places that she likes to eat in Santorini, Capri, Venice, Florence, and Rome. Blake and I went on a Mediterranean cruise a couple years ago and I had to eat at all the places she recommended. I would ask the owner of the restaurant if we could sit exactly where Giada sat. Yes, I am little obsessed. When I was pregnant with Carter and we did not know if we were having a boy or girl, if it was going to be a girl we were naming her Giada! She is so kind and I always love meeting her and getting my latest cookbook signed. Every time I meet Giada, she takes the time to talk to me about food, recipes, Italy, or today... Carter! Let's just say if you were at Santana Row today, Carter stole the show!
Since I am such a HUGE fan, I knew the new cookbook was coming out months ago and knew about this book signing forever. I purchased my book and ticket for the meet and greet and counted down the days for today to be here. Blake, Carter, and I drove to San Jose last night, we had dinner with Kelly on Santana Row, did a little bit of shopping and called it a night. Saturday morning finally arrived! I was going to see Giada again and Carter was going to meet her for the first time! Giada started with a question and answer session in the center courtyard at Santana Row. I had a front row seat and was the first one with a mic to greet her and ask my question. She may not remember me, but the staff at Sur La Table knows who I am and remembered me from previous years. I got to ask her a question, but she could not take her eyes off of Carter and his adorable shirt that my sister and I made for her today! The shirt said: "I (heart) Giada" with a picture of her new book cover below. Giada quickly stopped answering my question and asked me to bring Carter on stage. She wanted to show the crowd his adorable shirt. What I LOVE is how great Carter acted and he was all smiles! Giada kept talking to him and was telling me how cute he was and the next thing I knew everyone was taking pictures of my little man and his shirt (people even wanted their picture with Carter). After getting off the stage we got our picture with Giada and Jade, her daughter. Next we got back in line with Blake (he was holding our place for the book signing at Sur La Table) and we were inside getting our cook book signed and talking to Giada again. We talked about Carter and Jade and being mommies and how quickly time goes by and how fast they grow up. It was a perfect day! I just love Giada, her cooking, her shows, plus she is beautiful! Thank you Blake for taking me over night to stay at Hotel Valencia and making all my silly dreams come true! You are the best! Giada's next book comes out Fall 2013, so we have a little wait until the next time we meet. Can't wait!
