Month: February 2016

Are you searching for a new book to inspire you? One that will motivate you to make a change, in you! Then, look no more because  crownheightsmom has the perfect book for you.Trust me, there is no better time than now, to start reading a  book like this. Let me present, best-selling author and TV host Hoda Kotb’s newest book,Where We Belong : Journeys That Show Us The Way  . It is a definite must-read that will leave you inspired, motivated  and possibly rethinking  your life path and and where you belong.

I  just got through   reading this book which I  received   recently at a  MOMS  and Secret Resorts & Spa   luncheon  and book signing with Kotb.  The event, held  at Manhattan’s Hunt and Fish restaurant  in mid January  made for an wonderful afternoon that was filled with  laughter, tears , the sharing of personal stories and a delicious meal  amongst a group of mom bloggers—all fans and cheerleaders, of Hoda Kotb .

The book, released on Jan  5 is filled  with  inspiring stories of  individuals who answered “the call”  from within.  Individuals, whom were able to  the answer the questions each of us will ultimately ask ourself one day. The questions of what is your life purpose and where do you belong?

Hoda explains it  best  when  she writes in the book—-Most of us wonder what we’re doing. We float around in the glass half-empty, gaze out into the world of possibilities, and wonder if we should get off of our raft and climb out. Maybe even today you asked yourself: Is it too late to do that thing that made me so happy when I was young? Could what matters most to me finally be the center of my life? Can I really trust this yearning voice in my head and longing in my heart? Do I feel like I’m where I belong?

In person,  Kotb is very much what you see daily on Kathie Lee & Hoda. During the fourth hour of Today alongside  Kathie Lee Giffords she is witty,  fun and  full of big smiles. In person she is the same way.

The mom bloggers chewed down on  delicious eats from Hunt and Fish including servings of salmon, chicken, pasta , salad and even french fries . To wash it down they  sipped on speciality  fruit drinks .Midway through the luncheon  Hoda walked in dressed in a vibrant fuchsia and purple dress that popped against her  tanned skin tone . Greeting the more than 30 moms in the room she took out her cell phone  and started takings pics of everyone in the room  before sitting down with MOMS co-creators Denise Albert and Melissa  Gerstein for a frank 20-minute girl  chat about the new book, surviving cancer, getting  divorced and her wish to have children.They were joined by her  co-writer Jane Lorenzini.

The breast cancer survivor and former Dateline correspondent   really impressed the   bloggers .She shared so much of herself  and  even  gave out  hugs in addition  to signing books  for everyone.

About  surviving  breast cancer she shared.  “I wrote in my journal every day.” Adding,  “at the bottom I would write one word . That one word  everyday was FORWARD, because I wanted to keep moving . I wanted to move forward .  Kotb would have that word  written on a ring  which she wears daily . Says the  journalist, “whenever I get scared, I look down.”

On regrets she tells the  group, “all of a sudden life gets away from you and you ask, what happened? I  look at my life now and every time I see a baby carriage or a baby stroller I melt. It happens every single time and it is hard,” Kotb  shares about not having kids of her own. She goes on to say, “I feel like something is missing but what do you do when you can’t fill that space?  How  do you do it?”The answer  she says  can be seen  with  a family in the book who  adopted late in life or as  Kotb recalls from personal experience when, ” I looked at PEOPLE magazine and I saw Sandra Bullock, [adopted ] and you go look what she  did .  I always thought about maybe starting a summer camp for kids. I thought that would help or that I wanted to be a school teacher.”

So  adoption  just might be an answer  for  Kotb. Says  the journalist, “Something is missing!  And you know, the people in the book did say   often you don’t know what is missing until you find it.  All of a sudden you  go ‘How have I lived this long without X. So there are a lot of things I am thinking  about.”

Kotb uses her life path as a  teaching tool .”I  got married late in life. ….. I had a failed marriage ….and I  had breast cancer.” Adds the  on air personality, ” If I didn’t  get sick I wouldn’t have  had the guts to go in and ask for this job.”

Hoda couldn’t agree more that  the book comes at a great time of the year as  people make their New Years resolutions and self reflect.  “Now around the first of the year  people are rethinking their lives and wondering what they should be doing. ” Or ,as she also puts it quite eloquently,  “suddenly you feel like, am I just taking the path of least resistance,  just sorta  hopping on the train  and letting it go or am I choosing? ” Adds Kotb, “the thing about this book is everybody  chose.They put their hands on the steering wheels and they drove!”

Part of the reason  I love what I am doing now [with Kathie Lee] is for the first time in my life we get to bring JOY.–HODA KOTB

 

Kotb is  in the drivers seat .Joining the  fourth hour of Today  alongside  Kathie Lee in 2008 she says she loves it there  but can still remembers to that time when she did not find her purpose. She tells the story of covering  Hurricane Katrina  and the effect it had on her [She used to live in New Orleans].  “When you cover something that is personal you really feel it. Covering Katrina  made me think about all the other stories I’d  covered that weren’t personal to me  but were personal to somebody and I wished I had handled it differently because sometimes as  journalist you go in and you go out because you don’t have time to put your whole heart into it . It hurts your heart to do it over and over  and part of the reason is that you kinda get hardened .”

I love what I  am doing now ( with Kathie Lee)because  for the first time in my life we get to bring joy.We get to lift people up and it is cool.”

Even with two New York Times  bestsellers behind her– Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives and Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee she  continues to be the genuine no-airs-about-me, lovable and approachable on-air personality  viewers are drawn to.

Hoda says it best when she says,  “There is something to be said for being exactly who you are authentically, because if you are not, people sense it.” .

So true Hoda…..so true .Continue to  stay exactly who you are. This is why we love you! ———by Debra Lewis-Boothman