Lunch with Jill from STARTING OVER

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the daytime TV show "Starting Over." If you are not familiar with the one reality TV show that is actually good and HELPS women change their lives, then let me give you the two cent tour. Starting Over is a show that helps women overcome obstacles in their lives. Six women move into a house together, agree to have their lives recorded and in exchange get to work with two of THE great life coaches, Rhonda Britten and Iyanla VanZant. (And Dr. Stan too!)

One day I was watching the show and one of the women (Christina) said "I need to sell this artwork that I made. That's my assignment. But I have NO IDEA HOW to market myself. I have no idea what to say to people who come up to me." Well, I nearly JUMPED OUT of my skin. "I can help! I can help you pitch yourself, Christina!!" I shouted to the TV, but of course the TV did not answser back. I did some searches online and found some of the women who had been in the house. I did not easily find Christina, but I did, however, find my favorite S.O. roommate of all time, Jill. I loved Jill from Moment One, because she was BOLD, FUNNY and she had an ATTITUDE.

I decided to email her and just let her know how much I really appreciated everything she was willing to share on national TV. There were two episodes in particular that really stuck with me. One was where she was talking about the process of finding her father and the other is a now famous conversation/revelation/moment of truth that she had with a CUPCAKE. Oh, yes, could I ever relate to that!! My 'cupcake' is actually Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, but enough about me!

Jill and I met at an incredible Caribbean restaurant here in the city called Negril. 362 W 23RD. Really excellent food and a nice, friendly staff. I had this frozen Mango drink that was HEAVEN and a rice/tofo/veggie sweet potato mash. I won't give away all of the details of our conversation, but suffice it to say that Jill is just as you would hope. FUNNY, down to earth, warm, smart, just an all around blast! And someday she might move to NYC, which I'm very excited about!