(From Jennie Thompson, TODAY Producer)
When you work at TODAY, there are some days you have to stop, take a deep breath, pause for moment and really take in and appreciate all that is going on around you.
Take this morning for instance.
I was at the studio by 7am to set up for a live cooking spot with Giada De Laurentiis. WATCH VIDEO (Who, by the way, REALLY is as nice as she seems. And I would know! I've worked with her for almost 2 years now and in the last 6 weeks, I think I've spent more time with her than my husband.. and I know she's spent more time with me than her husband! Those pastas she's been making here all week from her new book "Everyday Pasta" are SOOOOO GOOD. Check out her Tagliatelle with Short Rib Ragu. It's got dark chocolate in it. RAVE reviews from our studio crew who always gobbles up all her food the moment she's off air. The recipe is on TODAYSHOW.com)
Anyway, the real fun didn't really start for me until 9am. As Giada's producer, I am responsible for making sure all the elements are organized for her live spot. We started "teasing" it at about 9am. (Teasing is a word we use for when our talent says "Coming up in our next half hour...") So there were live shots to deal with for that as well as making sure every little detail was set for the spot itself at 9:45.
Also, I had a camera crew taping behind the scenes of the preparations of Giada's spot. We usually don't do this but we did it today because in the coming weeks.. we're going to be unveiling our new kitchen which is up 1 flight of stairs from Studio 1A. When we do this, we're going to air the tape we shot today... to show everyone how we used to do things and compare it to the way we'll do things once this new fabulous kitchen is all ready for air. (The new kitchen is pretty cool. You could fit 4 or 5 people in the monster refrigerator. And there are 4 ovens. And a center island with bamboo countertops.. we'll have to see how that holds up.) Anyway, having this camera crew around meant more logistics to organize.
On top of all that, "Go Diego Go" was featured on our show today. WATCH VIDEO My children LOVE Diego, so way before I knew how busy I was going to be this morning.. I had promised them they could come in for the live performance. So I recruited my husband to bring them. At 9:05, I waited outside for my husband, 3 1/2 year old daughter, 1 1/2 year old son and babysitter to arrive. While waiting for their cab... I said "Hi" to Whoopi Goldberg who happened to stroll by on her way into our studio.
From 9:15 to 10am, I never stopped running. To studio 1A to make sure Giada and my behind the scenes camera crew were all set.. to the control room for the live spot.. and then outside to be with my family for Diego where I watched my 3 1/2 year old go absolutely crazy with joy when she found herself about 2 feet from Baby Jaguar.