Love, Love, Loving Italy!

Ciao Bello!

Well this has been an interesting week as far as press goes. I’ve never had so many untrue stories written about me at one time! I haven’t given a comment to anyone in the press. I’m not going to comment on rumors or lies. And I love my Bravo family. I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunities that have also come with it. In any case, my true friends and true fans know who I am, I answer only to God, and I thank you all for your kind wishes, thoughts, and prayers.

This was my absolute favorite episode ever. Even with all the crabby people around me, even traveling with “babies and old people,” even getting overcharged at the hotel, it was all worth it to be able to introduce Milania and Audriana to her Italian family. I’ve heard from so many of you that you cried when Joe’s Nona cried – I did watching it too! She is so sweet! Can you believe she’s 83 years old? Doesn’t she look great? And isn’t our whole family beautiful? Did you see our gorgeous cousins? You guys need to take a trip to Sala Consilina, especially if you want to meet hot Italian women or great looking guys!

I just love the area. It’s so beautiful. I was so honored to be able share our hometown with you. My parents and Joe’s parents came to America around the same time. They had to leave everything behind – except, as you saw, my dad still owns the small house he used to live in, although it’s empty now. It’s my dream to be able to fix it up for him one day… Joe was born in Italy and lived there for a year. My mom was pregnant with me when they came to America. It was very hard for them. They didn’t speak English. My mom told me she would cry herself to sleep at night, wondering why they left Italy. But they wanted to come to America – the land of opportunity. You can see we weren’t born with silver spoons in our mouths! My whole family worked so hard from the day they got here. Slowly, we built our businesses up and we were proud of our success. The economy isn’t great right now for a lot of people, but it’s not that shocking for us to go back to tightening our belts. We grew up that way. Money is just money. Family is everything.

It is truly amazing that we had three generations from three different families there and all of our parents are still married. I loved being able to show you guys the church Joe’s parents got married in. Joe and I grew up together in America. His parents brought him to the hospital to meet me the day I was born. After more than 10 years of marriage and 4 kids, of course every day’s not going to be perfect, but we’re both really easygoing, and we make up really quickly. How could you stay mad when you have such a beautiful family? I love him. He’s my best friend. Didn’t he look so hot in his scarf?

It was hilarious that they showed Joe kicking the suitcases out of the elevator. I don’t know if you’ve ever traveled to Europe with kids, but it’s not very suitcase friendly! And I didn’t over pack! I packed for two adults and four kids, including a baby! I don’t know why Jacqueline said we only took our luggage because we thought it would get stolen. We were leaving the boat for good. Everyone had to take their luggage off the boat and into the bus. I guess us doing it with 4 small kids was just the funniest.

I have to say, I’m a happy person no matter what, even when things are difficult. That’s how I live my life. Joe and I have taken our kids to Italy a couple of times, and I’ve been there when I was pregnant. It’s no big deal. Of course, adding twenty other people and a camera crew to the trip is going to slow things down and make it harder – did you see how crammed we were in that hot bus? – but you just have to laugh about the craziness and appreciate the amazingn sights around you. We did that entire trip in just 6 days. Hardly enough time for the jet lag to wear off and not enough time for the babies to adjust. It was a crazy trip, but I love, love, loved it!

I don’t know why Caroline was so crabby. I know she was sick before we left and in pain, but she could have stayed home like Dina. What did she think it was going to be like with 20 people and babies? It wasn’t a romantic honeymoon for her and Albert. I don’t know why that shocked her. And I’m sorry she felt uncomfortable when we were all speaking Italian, but hello, it’s Italy! Her Italian grandfather might not have taught her Italian, but I think she’s had plenty of time over the years to learn it if she wanted to!

And yes, of course I know what a bidet is. I just don’t call it by its American name: “bih-DAY.” It’s an Italian thing, so I call it by its Italian name. In any case, I’m kind of glad we don’t use those anymore. My chuckalina definitely doesn’t need a douche!

I’ll be honest, I fast-forwarded through all of the scenes with Danielle. I hope she finds her birth mother, but her life is not part of mine. I don’t really talk or think about her outside the show. Our families never mix. I wish her all the best in whatever she does next.

For those of you asking, the dresses the girls wore to our family reunion dinner were custom made by cillasebastian.com. Check out the website. Her stuff is amazing!

Thank you all for continuing to support my book “Skinny Italian.” Now that you’ve seen my hometown, you see how important it was for me to capture those recipes and family traditions to pass down to my own kids. It’s my love letter to my mom and my four beautiful daughters. I’m so honored to share it with you all, and I love to hear from you about your own families!

To everyone I met this week at appearances, I love you. You are gorgeous! If you haven’t had a chance to come out to a book signing – I’m working on more national appearances, I promise! – Here’s a little peek as to what it’s like. A mom in the crowd at Barnes and Noble last night in Deptford, NJ took this video (I had no idea!), but pretend it was you in line, I’m smiling at you, and telling you I love, love, love you!

http://www.twitvid.com/AZVDJ

Check my website www.teresagiudice.com for my latest news and schedule. There are also gorgeous pictures from inside my book, a list of the recipes, the table of contents, etc. And yes, it’s a great book for vegetarians, gluten-free diets, and I include all the nutritional info with each recipe.

And follow me on Twitter @Teresa_Giudice! I read each and every message and answer as many as I can. Muah!

Tanti Baci,

Teresa