Heart Breaker

Hi Baby Dolls!

What a happy week! Joe and I went to Niagara Falls for the first time this Saturday. It was sooo pretty (I'm actually surprised they let you so close to the falls -- it was kind of scary!), and everyone was so great. Over 1,100 people showed up for my book signing! I was totally blown away! Thank you all so much for your support! I love, love, love meeting my beautiful fans!

Then I had an amazing Mother's Day at my mother-in-law's house with family in from Italy, my own beautiful mama, and the girls' cousins, including the new baby in the family, my niece Siana. Audriana used to be the baby and now she's all grown up! Can you believe she'll be 3 in September? Doesn't it seem like yesterday you saw her be born on TV? It does to me too! I put up pics on my blog here: www.teresagiudice.com. I hope you all had an amazing weekend with your own moms, kids, friends, and family! You deserve it!

Then Tuesday, my third cookbook comes out, Fabulicious: Fast & Fit! I'll be on the TODAY show on Wednesday, Fox & Friends and Wendy Williams on Thursday, and then I'm off on my national book tour! NJ, NY, PA, and also Boston, Baltimore, LA, San Diego, Minneapolis, Miami, Orlando, and Ontario, Canada! Check out my whole schedule here: http://www.teresagiudice.com/schedule/. I'd love to meet you!I'm so excited about this book, because it's my absolute favorite. I learned so much doing the first two, and I got so much amazing feedback from you all, I'm happy I was able to put it into this book. I think it's the perfect book -- it's really your book! It has 70 all-new (no repeats!) authentic Italian recipes. Some are my mom's family recipes from Italy, but a lot are ones that I created myself over the years. My favorite is the very first one: chicken with bruschetta topping. I love, love, love bruschetta, but I'm trying to cut back on bread. I decided to make the bruschetta topping though and bake it on top of chicken and oh my gosh, is it delicious! You have to try it!

Like Skinny Italian the recipes in this book are all heart-healthy! Lots of veggie and gluten-free, and I include full nutritional info in the back so you can work within your own diet or points system. You will not believe the desserts (berry ricotta tiramisu!) are healthy!

The beginning of the book talks about my favorite (and least favorite) "F" words: Fabulous, Fourth Kid, Forty... (yes, my birthday is this week!). For the first time in my life, I've really had to start exercising and I share my fitness tips (especially for toned arms!). There are lots of beautiful color photos of the food and me and my gorgeous girlfriends (love you Priscilla and Edyta!), tons of personal stories, lots of advice on how to pick the perfect tomato, shop like an Italian, and yes, plenty of Olive Garden jokes. (And no, there is no mention in any way of any other Housewives -- good or bad! Thank you, Jesus!)

The recipes in Fabulicious: Fast & Fit! are all quick and easy -- and ALL less than 10 ingredients each (and I use the same inexpensive ingredients over and over) and less than 30 minutes start-to-stove. You can "see inside the book" on Amazon for the complete list of recipes, read the first chapter, etc: http://amzn.to/zWk87P.All right, this week's RHONJ episode: I have to say it was a mix of good and bad. I loved watching Caroline and Albert celebrate their anniversary. The pictures of Albert and Albie were too precious! I didn't so much love Caroline making judgments about me again, pretending to know what's in my head. Sad.

I loved seeing my girls get to play with their cousins. They miss seeing my brother's kids. I didn't love the talk my brother and I had. I really, really didn't want to get into it at a pool party my kids were at, because I knew how it would go. And it went that way... and worse. You didn't even see the entire argument. Joey's explosion at me was insane, scary, and yes, really, really hurtful to me. Anyone else notice that in four seasons I've never cried except when it comes to Joey? I'm not a crier! But this whole thing breaks my heart.

But it was a year ago, and I've moved on to happier, more positive things. I pray that we can all be a family again someday, and I'll keep praying for that.

To answer your questions, I don't read the other ladies' blogs. I hope they are all in happy, positive places as well.

Finally, I want to talk about my Joe. I love him for who he is. He's the same guy now as when I first met him when we were kids. He's old-school Italian, he says what he thinks, he's tough, but has an amazing heart. He's a great dad. He's my best friend. He's amazing.

Of course, he's not perfect. He doesn't always say the right thing. But I married him for him. I didn't marry a Simon. He doesn't wear bowties and drink tea with his pinkie up. He also didn't choose to be a Housewife. I did. And he let me. But he's happy for it to be my thing. He doesn't want to be a "House Husband" -- that's why you won't see him sit down for interviews. He lives his life, he tolerates the cameras in our house, and he lets it fly sometimes. I'm sure many of your men would be the same. In a lot of ways, I feel bad for Joe because this whole experience hasn't been really positive for him. He's a private guy who likes to go about his business. But since the show, it's hard for him to go anywhere without having to stop and take pictures and then worry that those pictures might be sold to a tabloid for a fake story. He just doesn't have a lot of tolerance for B.S.

In some ways, Richie is the same way. He does what he wants, says whatever he feels, and that's that. Yeah, I don't love the things he says about me (I never have), I don't think he's particularly funny, but I don't have to. I didn't marry him. Kathy loves him and their marriage is strong, and I want that for everyone I love.I'll be on the LIVE Celebrity Apprentice finale next Sunday, so set your DVRs! Can't wait to find out who wins! Tweet me your guess, and if you want me to ask anyone from the cast anything. @Teresa_Giudice.

Oh, and I want to do something special for my fans to celebrate if my third book makes the NYT Bestseller list again. Send me your ideas. I'm open to almost anything... maybe even a tattoo... OK, maybe not that. We'll see!

Tanti Baci,
Teresa xx