THAT TIME I MET HODA KOTB IN NEW YORK CITY....

The sites and the food in NYC were really great, but let me tell you about the most surprising part of the trip. A little background first... So my favorite type of person is someone who is genuine and keeps it real - no matter what. I don't have to guess how they feel or what they are thinking all of the time. They just say it like it is and I can therefore be myself around them, too. I don't know Hoda Kotb personally, but gosh I know that if I did, we would be best friends forever. Hoda has been on TV for years, but I started I listening to her show on SiriusXM consistently about six months ago and that's when I really got to know her and love her. She's always happy and she's always open about those little personal things that you might think of or ask yourself in the back of your head, but never say out loud. Her happiness always seems to rub off on me and she just keeps it real... And that's my favorite type of person to be around - or listen to in her case. 

So my dad and I were hanging out outside Rockefeller Center one day last week when we decided to duck in an NBC gift shop to warm up. It was totally empty in there! An employee came up to us and told us that it was empty because everyone was in another gift shop in the building meeting Hoda. I screamed, "Hoda Kotb????!!!" My dad said, "Who is Hoda Kotb??" Ha... We jetted down to the gift shop and there she was. She was having a book signing for her new book, "Where We Belong: Journeys That Show Us The Way." I snatched a book (more on the book below), stood in the modestly long line, and the next thing I know she was giving me a big hug. We chatted about how much I loved her show and she signed my book... 

Just in case you can't tell how excited I was... :)

Her book "Where We Belong: Journeys That Show Us The Way" is a collection of inspiring stories about how people weaved their way through unexpected experiences only to arrive at their sole purpose in life. These people followed their gut, their heart, and path of most resistance in pursuit of the one thing or things that made them truly happy. Some of the stories are those of celebrities (Laila Ali, Mark Burnett & Roma Downey, Margaret Cho). If you still have no clue why in the world God placed you here (as I often feel sometimes myself) then this is one of those books that might shed a little light on your situation and give you hope. Super good...

I'm just still so excited that I met her! :)