Bethenny in Columbus!

O.M.G. Today I full-filled a life-long dream. OK, so it's only been a dream since I started watching Real Housewives of New York, so like a 3-year dream, but that is when I first fell in love with Bethenny Frankel. She wasn't technically a housewife; she was a 30-something single, independent woman with no children and had been working her whole life towards making a business as a natural foods chef. She would talk about how she's worked so hard for so long and had little to show for it. She would often question her choice to focus so much on her career because it had caused her to let her personal life fall by the wayside. Bethenny was immediately my favorite Housewife because she was HILARIOUS, honest, and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She often admits that she has a biting tongue that can get her in trouble but it's who she is: take it or leave it. And I'll take it!

Bethenny's celebrity sky rocketed after two seasons on RHONY and once she got pregnant and engaged (in that order, you go girl! Welcome to 2011!) she left RHONY and started her new show, Bethenny Getting Married?, that showed her trying to balance her career with being a wife and mother. This is when the world fell in love with Bethenny and I became obsessed. I can relate to her so much and everything she says on her show I feel like she's talking right to me. I know this sounds weird, but before you call the authorities and have my Bethenny Frankel shrine removed (just kidding...maybe), hear me out. So many of the issues Bethenny has worked out, or is working out in front of all of America, I feel like I've had or fear having. She talks openly about how it was difficult for her to figure out how to eat healthy and she based her whole career off of the fact that she used to have really bad eating habits but took control and learned to cook her own meals. She doesn't have the best relationship with her parents, her father who she barely spoke to passed away during her last season on RHONY and her mother barely recognizes her existence, and although my relationship with my dad is excellent, her experiences with her mother are so similar to mine with my mom, it's actually really freaky.

She took a huge risk being so open and honest about her issues with her family that I can't help but respect the crap out of her. One example really stands out to me. On her last season (show changed name to Bethenny Ever After) she was talking about her breakdown at Thanksgiving. She admitted she took on too much, doing 100 things including hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her new in-laws, and the turkey didn't cook all the way through and, well, Bethenny flipped her lid. She started yelling that Thanksgiving was ruined and that it can't be fixed and stormed out of the room. Her therapist was asking her how her mom acted around the holidays, and Bethenny said "everyone walked on egg shells around her." Her therapist said "how do you think your in-laws felt when you started yelling?" and Bethenny said "like they were walking on egg shells around me." She's also mentioned how her need for perfection is why some of her past relationships didn't work out and I can 100% relate to all of that. I've gotten better about my need for perfection but I remember my mom used to flip out if things weren't perfect, and I also used to be that way, making it hard for anyone to be around me at times. THIS is why I love her so much: because I will be watching her show, laughing so hard I'm crying, and then 5 minutes later, I'm yelling at my television "ME TOO, Bethenny, ME TOO!!"

So when I heard Bethenny was going to be 5 minutes from me this morning, I knew I would regret not going and meeting her. Even though it was a quick meeting (she signed my bottle of Skinnygirl Sangria, took a picture with me, and I was out) I'm still so glad I got the chance to tell her how fantastic she is. I'll give you a play-by-play of the encounter, in case you were wondering exactly how it went down.

My Conversation with Bethenny Frankel:

Me: "Hi, ohmygod, I love you so much, ohmygod, it's so nice meeting you, ohmygod"
BF: "Hi! Well, I love you too."
(end scene)

True story, Bethenny loves me.

I almost didn't go because I felt guilty leaving work to stand in line for an hour and a half to get a bottle of booze signed by a reality TV star, but as soon as it was over, I knew it was all totally worth it. So, moral of the story, guilt fades but signatures last forever :)

This picture is posted on the Skinnygirl Facebook page. They wouldn't allow us to take our own photos but they took a photo of each person with Bethenny and posted it on Facebook right away. Another reason why Facebook is the bee's knees: instant PR! Please disregard my appearance. I am, what you would call, a hot mess. And I don't even care.

So, if anyone wants to pass this little entry on to Bethenny Frankel (or her assistant Julie who was there too) I would appreciate it. I'll mention you on her show when she invites me to visit her, Jason, Bryn, and Cookie in NYC!

*Disclaimer: I'm really not as big of a freak as this post makes me sound. I really am a normal person, I just get excited when I meet famous people. Heh.