There are certain people in life that we look up to.
People that help us strive to meet our every day goals, give us the strength we need to continue, and a lot of times help us smile along the way.
I admit, some of the people I look up to are a little odd...
Jessica Simpson...Mary Kate and Ashley...I'll just stop there.
Unfortunately I have never met any body really famous...Unless you consider Reggie Bush famous. I think I wanted to ask him to sign my shirt, but instead I asked if he wanted mine...In reality, we know Reggie Bush should never wear a shirt. What was I thinking?
So you can imagine my nerves when my friend Kristin(hey Stuft Mama!) told me a certain Mama was coming to town. Mama Pea that is.
I about died.
If there is one thing that this blog world has taught me, it's that there are amazing people in this world who are brilliant, talented, smart, amazing, and doing their best to make the world a better, healthier place. Peas and Thank You was one of the first vegan blogs I started reading, and I'll never forget staying up late at night nursing Boo and laughing hysterically reading the stories of the Pea family.
Since I had told my mom about her, and made a lot of her recipes for my very meat loving family(and they LOVED the vegan meals too!), I decided to bring them along to the event.
There were numerous food vendors offering samples galore of their products. Everything from desserts, breads, desserts, more bread, oh and vinegar and oil...
I could in no way pass this up. I plan to drink it straight from the bottle...
My brothers however were extremely excited for the sausage and pork vendors...
I had a slight panic attack that I would walk up to Mama Pea with my brothers behind me munching on a hugh jass piece of sausage...
Ummm..I don't know them...
Luckily they never left the line.
As we walked around I began to get super nervous, and started to ramble off into my head as to what I would say to her.
" I love you?" No, too creepy.
"Can I come over for dinner. " No, too stalker-ish.
" I love Mmmm Sauce!" ...
Mmmm sauce=Cookbook=dangit I forgot it!!
Whyyyyyy?
Should I have her sign my shirt instead? Should I ask her if she wants my shirt?
All nerves aside, Baby Boo and I walked up to her booth and were instantly greeted with smiles.
There was Pumpkin Spice Bars, Smoothies, and Blueberry Streusel muffins(from the book) so kindly awaiting for us.
And standing right beside was an ever so drop dead gorgeous Mama Pea who quickly greeted me!
I said, "Hi I'm Ari!"
And then I said this...
"I've tweeted you a few times..."
Omg...Seriously? Quick! Ask her to sign your shirt!
Luckily Mama Pea, Sarah, was so nice that I think she brushed it off, or didn't notice...lol
She is stunning right?
Not to mention friendly and easy to talk to, despite myself being totally socially awkward.. :-)
After our little meet up, I had the opportunity of sitting through a kids cooking demonstration from Mama Pea, Lulu, and Gigi!
The stars of the show:
These girls!
They are everything and more! Their personalities shined through so much during the cooking demonstration! You truly can see why Mama Pea has so many amazing stories to tell!
For the cooking demonstration they made smoothies and blueberry streusel muffins! It was informative, entertaining, and delicious!
And of coarse they had samples!
This, of coarse was Baby Boo's favorite part!
Afterwards, I said my goodbyes and said I would Tweet her, just kidding, and then left feeling extremely happy!
It was such a great experience to meet Sarah and experience first hand her passion for what she does. As I sat in the audience at the cooking show, I looked around at other moms thumbing through her cookbook in awe. You could just see the look in their eyes, and feel that they wanted so badly to feed their families healthier, and that this was an answer to prayers. Watching Mama Pea was so breathtaking, especially for me being practically a new wife and an extremely new mama, and see someone so amazing and talented touch the lives and influence others out there. Not to mention being an amazing wife and mama as well!
And it doesn't hurt that she makes incredible delicious food!
One of the samples they had at the booth were these Pumpkin Spice Bars, which my mom and I LOVED. So the next day I made some for my mom to travel home with, minus the cream cheese frosting...
You see, I bought cream cheese, but I kind of bought the wrong kind...
French onion and pumpkin don't go well together...right?
So I just made a simple glaze instead. Either way...
Pea-Riffic!! :-)
Thanks Mama Pea for your influence for healthy living, your incredible heart, and your stories that keep me smiling! I won't ever forget it!
Now, will you please sign my shirt? :-)