Scott threw me a surprise party (my first ever) to commemorate a goal that had once seemed only a dream.
I came home to find balloons hiding something on the wall and my friends screamin' "surprise!"
-- I was momentarily confused, but then Scott moved the balloons to show me the news:
Before my first cookbook came out, I spent many nights on the floor crying -- worried it wouldn't sell.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think when I started blogging that it would turn into one book, then two, soon to be three, with another three on the horizon.
And never, in my wildest of wildest dreams, did I think any of my books would become best sellers. I'd have felt successful if I'd sold 1,000 books so when I first heard I'd sold 20,000 I nearly fainted. What? Is that true?
Then we crept to 40,000. Then 60,000 and I dared to ask -- could I ever reach 100,000. I did.
But I couldn't have done it without you. Your local support. Your word of mouth campaigns. Everything I do, I do for you. And today will always be one of the happiest in my life -- and I owe it all to you.
Scott made me stand by the sign with all our friends:
Jim, my best friend.
Chef AJ, and her husband Charles.
and Shawn!