Rebecca and Kari's Excellent Adventure or Why It Is Good To Eat at Chipotle

Happy Monday friends!
Aww, its not so happy for you? Sorry....I am not a fan of Mondays either.
It is raining, cold and just icky here so its starting off great here.
But Mothers Day is this Sunday!!!
And I will have nothing planned in the form of a craft, project or poem on the blog here like the other bloggers. They have been furiously pounding out the Mama Day crafts for weeks around these parts and have I contributed anything?
Nope.
I am such a rebel.....
So let me be the first to wish you great moms Happy Mothers Day!
Don't you dare cook a thing, make a bed, do a dish or wipe a runny nose that day.
Tell them I told you not to.......:)


So I alluded to some kind of exciting news on my Face book page here last week about how my bestie Rebecca and I got on a TV show that is set to air in June!

Wait, let me back up a little ........

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Every year, Rebecca takes me out to lunch for my birthday. Usually it is to Olive Garden for their soup, salad and bread sticks but this year since we are on diets and are training for the 5k, we decided to go somewhere a little healthier.

We opted for ....wait for it........Chipotle because 1) you can tailor make your order to create a healthy lunch and B) their food is awesomesauce. The thing is, when you realize the irony of this story, you will laugh out loud or lol if you will. You won't woot. Please don't woot. 

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The irony is that Chipotle is, like, my all time fave restaurant.
My "go to" restaurant if you will.
The hubs and I may or may not have been known to go there twice in one weekend.
Chipotle is my restaurant soul mate.

But I am getting ahead of myself.
I promise to get to the real irony of this story.


So one lovely day last week we strolled into one of our local Chipotle restaurants for lunch.

We walk in and see basically something like this:

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 Only our camera man and sound guy are taping the chef extraordinaire making our lovely Chipotle creations.
Immediately, I started looking for the Duggar family......where is Josiah?!?!? Jim Bob???!!!
Then I asked the cashier what was going on and she said "filming" with a huge smile.


So Rebecca and I sat down to eat in the corner by the window and stared at the comings and goings of the restaurant while chowing down on our meal. We saw a girl with a clipboard running around talking to people, a makeup person and the like. 

OK so I make this sound so nonchalant.
I can only speak for myself at this point, but inside I was screaming at the top of my lungs!!
How exciting is this?!?
We are watching something really cool that not many people get to see!!!
Then a million questions start to formulate in my head.....

Are they filming a TV show or documentary?
Is this a training film for their employees?
What is this show they are filming?
Is it reality TV?
Are they looking for the next American Idol?
Where is Ryan Seacrest???


Settle. Down. Kari.

So then Rebecca and I were chatting away about life, love....what the heck am I saying.....we were completely focused on the TV/documentary/training show going on in front of us.

Then it happened.

We were looking out the window, watching some big 50 year old-ish guy in overalls walking into the restaurant and talking about how he is totally gonna get on TV because not many people wear overalls in this day and age, especially when you are a grown man and there is not a farm in sight here for over 20 miles.........

.........when............

the girl with the clipboard came up to us and asked if we would like to be on TV.

Who? Us???
Huh, let us think about YEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!


She said, I am with the Discovery Channel and we are shooting a show called America's Favorite Foods.

No, that's not what I heard.....
This is what I heard.

I am with Di......Ch......and we.......called.....Food.

Sign. Me. Up. lady with the clipboard.
I am ready for my closeup.


So we signed a form....probably promising not to sue them in the event that we look like crap on national TV......and she said it would be just a minute.

And this, my dear friends is the irony I alluded to earlier.
I am going to be filmed in Chipotle, talking about Chipotle, while eating Chipotle.

Its like the mothership was callin' me home.....


Here is how it went down:

-they interviewed three groups of people that day. 1) was the young urban type girls in their early 30's, there were three of them. 2) an African American couple with their cute little girl and 3) Rebecca and I. We were also the last to be shot...or filmed....filmed sounds so much better.

- we waited and watched while they filmed the others so we could see how they were doing it. Yeah, that did not help, it just made us more nervous.

- then the director, who, btw, was wearing the cutest long sleeve tangerine print dress with a grey scarf and Rebecca noted to me later that she never would have thought to pair a gray scarf with a tangerine dress and I knew she was making a mental note. I can also bet she has a tangerine something in her closet right now that she plans to pair with a gray something because she is always spot on when it comes to fashion.......back to the director, she came up to us and noted that we had destroyed eaten our meal and that we needed a fresh one and that they, at the Discovery Channel, were paying for our second meal. Which would have lead to squeals from us except that we were full. I mean really full. We both got salads/burrito bol's and chips and salsa so full, full. So now we are not only nervous but also nauseous.

-so we waddled up to the counter, to which the staff said, "you are back!".....yes, yes we are.
The director had told us to get what we normally eat because we will be asked about it.

Wait, no one said our first role was a speaking role!!!!!

-so then we waited while the family of three was being interviewed. I sat with my back to them and Rebecca sat facing them while they were being interviewed. So she could see when the camera crew/director was done. Meanwhile, I sat there stupidly looking at Rebecca, then at my food, then out the window.....I was a little shaky at this point. I do know when they were done and coming our way because all of a sudden Rebecca didn't know where to look either. It was quite funny to watch because I would have acted the same exact way but I just sat there with a dumb smile on my face and talking out of the side of my mouth to her half whispering.....are they coming this way??......to which she nodded and looked awkwardly at me and my salad at the same time. Don't know how that was executed exactly but I swear it happened.

- the entire crew comes up and the director says something to the effect of "its real easy, just talk to the host , he will ask you questions and you answer them". Then she says "and no one has messed up today so see how easy it is?"...to which I smart assedly replied, "great, no pressure then"....to which the camera and sound guy laughed....and I wanted them on my side because they could be my bff's in editing when I look like a deranged Anne Heche and sound like a drunk Kathleen Turner .....and the director smirked and most likely on the spot realized "hiring" me was a biiiiiiig mistake.


-so the host, who looked like a guy I worked with at Kohl's years ago....asked us questions....I don't remember exactly what those questions were but basically what did we order, do we always order this, why do we love chipotle, how often do we come, why do we come to this particular location....blah blah blah.


What I do remember is this, I sold out.
Totally.


The director stopped us mid filming and said something to the effect of....could one of you somewhere say " Chipotle is a foodies fast food heaven".

And without hesitation, I said...SURE!!!!

 Two problems I have with this: 1) I feel like I just jumped in and didn't offer it up to Rebecca. I asked her later, "did I steal your thunder?" to which she replied, no not at all but I did just jump on it. And 2) I totally sold out. I did. I would NEVER, EVER say those words. Foodie doesn't even exist in my day to day vocab.....and seriously? Fast food heaven? Sold to the Out. Might end up being the worst sound bite in history. Unless it ends up on the cutting room floor, which I am sure Chipotle, if they have a say, won't let it. What if that ends up being their new slogan? Oh geesh.........

 - I don't remember much of what else happened. I do know that Rebecca did a great job and was half hoping they would just ask her all the questions and ignore me just sitting there nodding like an idiot.

- I do remember saying the following words: organic, fresh, diet, sanitize....yes, I somehow worked in my OCD......then I said something that most likely won't make it to national TV. I said that it was a better deal than McDonald's and that how when you eat at Chipotle you don't feel like you "cheat yourself".

Yes.
 I said cheat yourself on TV.
In exactly that way.

If you are not sure to what this refers, it means pooping your pants.
Yep, only I would say to America that if you eat Tex Mex food at your local Chipotle, you won't crap your pants.
I could see the words hanging there like a cloud and I couldn't take them back......

- the rest was a blur, but this I do remember. After "wrapping" our interview and telling us "great job", we sat at our table and decided that we couldn't let our free meal go to waste so we started eating. Without even being hungry. We both just ate the meat in our salads justifying that since we are runners now or gasping joggers (sorry, that's just me) that we need protein and lots of it. So as we were innocently stress eating away after our acting debut, Rebecca nods toward someone behind me. The camera man. Taping her eating and the back of my head. He gives us a thumbs up and a big smile to which I returned the favor.......sure that's not gonna make it to Discovery Channel. Then he goes away and comes back and films me eating my food.

OK if there is one thing I don't like, its me getting a picture taken. I take a baaaaaad picture. I also look bad in video and I hate, hate the sound of my voice. So imagine my glee when I learned that not only will I get to see my mug on TV and hear my voice but I also.....wait for it.......get to see me eating food on TV. Hooray for reality television!!!!
Somehow I don't think this how the Kardashian's got started......

We did end up getting a BOGO coupon for Chipotle.
You'd have thought they actually paid us the way we hollered when they handed it to us.
Oh wait, that was probably only me who hollered.
I was just glad that whole thing was behind me.
It was fun but way too stressful.
Plus we didn't get our makeup done or hair styled like our host did.
And I am pretty sure our SAG cards aren't coming in the mail any time soon either.


But I am glad I got to experience this with Rebecca and it is a birthday lunch we will never forget.
Next year, we are goin' to Olive Garden.


And here is the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-SnMbURwNI

I am the one in the black tee and flower on my top.
Sigh.