lunch with hoda!

i love the bas as it is known... or the book author series for those who have no idea what bas stands for. i've written about this series before... i love them. in fact, i've got two more coming up this week! can't wait.

nicole joined me for the lunch - she drove in from ohio and made it just in time for lunch! we had originally planned to go to lunch on that day, but then i found out hoda was coming and when i asked nicole if she wanted to join me at this for lunch she readily agreed. yay! the other ladies were taking pics with their books at the table and so we clearly had to have one of our own!

the way these things work is that everyone eats lunch including the author and then they speak. they had a professional photographer there taking pics and this is one of the ones they took. i thought it totally captured hoda's personality: so friendly, outgoing, and personable.

this is denny introducing hoda. usually the club has assigned tables for guests. and this time it was choose your own seat. i found a fabulous one! front and center. and at the table over from where hoda sat. 

 

hoda was there to talk about her new book about 6 people looking at an event from 10 years later that profoundly had effected their lives and it was pretty fascinating. she's really engaging!

the photographer took this of me while i asked a question. first, look at the claw hand! scary!! second, i told her that i had watched her and kathie lee that morning and knowing that we would all be at this lunch and she had to be there at 11:30, even with the time change and a private plane, i just had to try and figure out if it could be done or if they had taped... and if they had taped, do they always tape cause i thought it was live?! and further, not to be weird and normally i wouldn't pay that close attention, but b/c i was trying to figure out the whole 'can she do both things' i really looked at what she was wearing... and she was definitely wearing the same dress! she told me that they are live mon-thurs and always tape on fridays. they get three day weekends which hoda says it just awesome. she explained that she had spilled something on the dress she'd planned to wear and since she flew out after the taping finished, she had that dress with her and basically she had packed lightly!

another photographer captured image.

gosh! the photog must've liked me. i'm just not a fan of my profile... never have been. and under my chin... drives me crazy... i have such a long face and jaw that i'll never have that strong jaw... i love a strong jaw! oh well! but truly, my biggest insecurity has always been my nose... since i was a kid... and so, yes, i'm a harsh critic of myself - aren't we all?!

getting my book signed by hoda. i got to chitty chat for a minute and i asked her for a pic and she said of course! yay! some of the authors are too important or too whatever to let people take pics with them. but not hoda!

nicole got a picture with hoda too!

the pic taken on my phone- i love that cardigan i wore - it's fun and funky and i threw a red shirt under it... turns out it's quite memorable and truly stands out - which i didn't mean to do, but ended up being pretty sweet - i will definitely remember that! hoda made a comment about me being in the front at lunch and a couple other things. now maybe it is my stand out personality (!) but the loud cardigan definitely helped!

the pic the photographer took. i like the head on photo from my phone, but the lighting is clearly better here. so you get to see both!

hoda signing a book. not mine cause this was taken by the photographer... but still, i thought it was a great pic!

such a fun lunch! i am so glad nicole could join me and that hoda came to the club. she is every bit as personable and funny as she is on the today show. but she is also adventurous and smart and can be serious as a reporter (she also does 20/20) and she started as a news reporter who has traveled the world and interviewed some pretty amazing people in crazy places. love her!