Where does one begin except with the sad note that NO CAMERAS were allowed! So I will just have to tell you all about it. Okay, I have to add pictures, because I can't stand to not have pictures on my blog, they just won't be my pictures.
First off I decided not to wear a quilt but a plum colored silk top, I thought the quilt would add more than 10 pounds on camera :)

I walked into the party to find a camera right in my face that looked me over head to toe, boy that was awkward. On my left was a wild guy hosting the bar called
the Margarita King from San Francisco. He was making mojitos, margaritas, and some pomegranate mixed drink. Evidently this guy does the bar for events like the Grammy’s, he was really fun. After getting a mojito, I walked through the room. There was a very nice jazz band playing in the corner. In the kitchen I find none other than
RICK BAYLESS with his full staff preparing the appetizers.

He just won the
James Beard award for the best restaurant in the country on Monday, and here he is at this party.
The cameras were everywhere and usually about 9 inches from your face. It was a little uncomfortable to say the least. How can anyone eat all those yummy things, (ceviche, goat empanadas, little hot chocolates with tequila and a churro on top) constantly going buy on trays with cameras every where you look. It was hard enough drinking the mojito and making sure a big chunk of mint leaf was not stuck between my front teeth.

When
Oprah came in she looked just as beautiful as she does on tv. She came by and said hello and shook hands with everyone. Where did all those words go that were on the tip of my tongue just moments before? After a while she went up to the microphone to talk and said a few words about neighbors and community and good friends. And then she said she brought a good friend-
Michael Buble! 
(who had just spent the last hour and a half hiding upstairs in the bathroom) He sang four or five songs about three feet away from me. I wanted to back up but I was cornered with the piano player a couch and a tree right behind me. Oprah and several of my cute, thin, young, single neighbors danced away to Michaels crooning.
Mel, I wish you could have been there, you would have loved it!
After Oprah left and the cameras started to turn off, I made it to the kitchen to try some of the yummilicious appetizers and treats and got a chance to chat with Rick Bayless. He is so down to earth, a nicer guy could not have won that big award. It is so funny cause Juan (my husband) just met him on a trip to Dallas at a restaurant event and brought back an autographed cookbook for me last month.


As we got ready to go we were told that we would get a call from the studio and that we were to come over at 7 am next Thursday morning for the live taping of the show. Eek! All that footage really is going to be broadcast for the world too see.
We all left with a big gift, just like when you go on the show. Inside it was a trifle dish filled with, a Michael Buble CD, Frontera grill salsa and chips, and the Margarita king’s margarita mix and cocktail shaker.
I hope I don’t look like a big dork on tv, it feels so unnatural to have that many cameras watching your every move. But it was a lot of fun!