WEBVTT - Mazel Tov! 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.640 You are listening to What in the Winkler and iHeartRadio podcast. 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.160 Welcome back to another episode of What in the Winkler. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:15.960 I am so excited because today I'm going to talk 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.800 about Ace's bar mitzvah, and so many of you guys 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:26.279 have asked me for details and for pictures, and obviously 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.639 I'm so thrilled because i love nothing more than talking 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.879 about it. So I'm very excited to just chat with 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.479 you guys today. I this is the second time I've 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.600 ever done in alone episode, so we'll see how it goes. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:47.680 But I had my son's bar mitzvah over the weekend, 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:53.040 and uh, he's my first child, So I have three boys. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.440 Ace is thirteen, Jules is nine, and Gus is seven, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:03.080 and so this was the first bermitzvah in our family, 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:08.680 and I had been planning it for over a year. So, uh, 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.280 it's basically a wedding, not for everybody, but definitely for 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:19.480 me and my family. And I think like the most 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:25.080 incredible part about this whole process was that Ace really 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:27.120 wanted to plan it with me. He had like a 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.160 lot of ideas and a lot of he had a vision, 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.760 and so it was him and I really doing it together, 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.440 which I thought was so special. I think I've talked 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.199 aout this before, but my husband and I are both 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.240 born and raised in Los Angeles. We both have really 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:48.160 big families. My husband's one of five kids. Everyone is married, 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.360 everybody has kids, so on his family on his side alone, 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.200 like his immediate family when we travel with them, is 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.760 twenty six people. And then his mom is actually one 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.640 of four kids. His dad is one of three, so 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.680 it's a very big family. So and then on my side, 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.520 I have two brothers, so there's three of us. We're 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:14.480 all married, we all have kids. So family alone was 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.000 like a huge part of this bar mitzvah. But also 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.079 because Rob and I are both born and raised here, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.960 we had a lot of our friends, and then my 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.079 son had a lot of his friends, so it ended 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:30.680 up being about three hundred people, which is insane. And 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.519 I talk about my wedding all the time because I 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.200 loved every minute of it. I loved it so much. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.920 It was one of like my favorite core memories of 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.280 my life. And to this day, I always on my anniversary, 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.280 I say that I miss my wedding. And now I 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.359 feel this way about Ace's bar Mitzvah. I planned it 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.800 for so long. I worked so hard on it, and 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:58.320 in one night, it's like over one weekend. And so 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:04.800 I had the most incredible party planners. I literally, like, 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.239 I cannot say enough about them. I know that some 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.680 of you that listen to this podcast know me really 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.520 well and some of you don't know me at all. 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:19.320 But I am not the easiest. I am just complicated. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.840 And for me to have no notes for these women 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:29.000 and no like there was nothing that didn't go exactly 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.800 the way I had hoped is crazy. They are the 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.200 most talented women in the game. The company is called 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:40.520 Harper Sloan Productions, and I actually know Claire Davis, the owner, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.120 because when I was a teacher, I taught her son, 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.640 and so I had gotten really close to her and 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.280 her family. I had gotten really close to her child, Harper, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:56.320 and when it came time to plan this event, I 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.240 reached out to her and she said to me, like, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:00.920 I want to do this with you. I want to 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.200 work with you, like you were so incredible to my son, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.560 and I want to I wanna I want to plan 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:10.960 this incredible celebration for your son with you. And so 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:15.440 we did, and at the beginning when I was first 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.880 looking for a location, I looked everywhere in LA like I, 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:21.040 because I knew it was going to be a lot 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.279 of people. I wanted it to be different. I wanted 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.600 it to be fun. Obviously it's the most important thing 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.880 for the kids, but I really lived like wanted it 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.080 to also be amazing for the adults that were coming. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.360 And honestly, three hundred people was like cutting it off, 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.520 cutting list off because my husband Rob and I really 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.640 wanted it to only be adults that had a real 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:49.120 connection to Ace and like knew him, and so it 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.599 wasn't just like people that we know, but people that 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.640 really knew our family well and really knew Ace. So 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.640 I looked all over Los Angeles and then on the 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:04.719 last stay, Catherine Claire's partner said to me, I went 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.640 to this incredible bar Mitzvah at Catch Steak. Ketch is 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.839 a it's a restaurant group here in Los Angeles. They 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.440 have one in Texas, they have them in New York, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.400 they have one in Miami. I've never been, but it's 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.719 like a total like seeny yummy place and there's Catch 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.360 La and Catch Steak here in LA. And so she said, 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.320 I went to this you know party at Catch Steak, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.880 and I think you should just look at it. And 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.360 we went and looked at it and it was definitely 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.159 out of my price range, but I was just like 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.279 obsessed with it, and I was like, I'll cut things 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.400 here and there and I'll just like make it work 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.960 at this place. So I booked it a year in advance. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.080 We had like everything planned. In January, they called me 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.560 and said that they were closing Catch Steak, but that 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.840 I could do it at Catch. They're like main a 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.720 flagship restaurant. So I went to go see Catch. They 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.960 were so increased of all the people at Catch could 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:09.080 not have been more lovely and wonderful. And I went 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.240 in I saw it. I never even went for a tasting. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.040 I was like, this is it. Let's just do it. 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:20.719 And so that was like the first little like maybe 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.159 like trip was that, like I had it planned at 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:29.400 this place, the place was closing two months. The place 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.960 was closing fourteen days before the party, and I had 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.600 to you know, switch locations. Did that. Everything was fine. 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.040 Then my mom got really sick, which I've talked about, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:45.440 and you know, for me, families the most important thing 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.120 in the world. And to not have my mom. There 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.039 was just like something that I had come to terms 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.240 with and was going to It was going to be 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:57.000 what it would be. And you know, if my mom 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.520 couldn't be there, my heart would be broken. And I 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.440 knew that Ace and my family's hearts would be broken, 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.880 but I would we would still, you know, make it 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:10.080 incredibly special for Ace. But it was something that I 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.600 had just sort of come to terms with. And then 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.200 two weeks before his bar mitzvah, the fires happened in 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.000 La ten days actually, I'm sorry, ten days before his 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.400 barmitzvah was scheduled to happen, and so many of his 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:30.040 friends and our friends lost their homes, were displaced, family 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.880 was displaced, family had lost their homes. It was just 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:38.960 like a really heavy time. And during our evacuation the 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:44.720 first night when we were evacuated and we left, i 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.480 A said to me he was really obviously freaking out 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.560 about the fires. We all were, and he said to me, like, 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.200 what about my bar mitzvah? And I said, look, Ace, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.440 either way it's going to be what it is. We're 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.160 either going to have it on the eighteenth and it's 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:59.480 going to be incredible, or we're going to push it 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.440 and it's going to be incredible. Either way, we're gonna 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.920 get through this. And you know, it's not just the party. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:07.880 I know that I'm talking a lot about the party. 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.560 Ace worked for over He started going to Hebrew school 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.280 when he was in fourth grade. You have to learn 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:19.800 an entire new language with an entirely different alphabet. You 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:24.520 read from the Torah, you have to write a speech 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.360 about what it is that you're reading about. You have 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.680 a half Torah portion, you have all these things. So 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.880 it's a lot of work also to have a bar mitzvah. 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.920 It's not just the party, which is obviously incredible in heaven, 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.439 but it's also a service where you, as the bar 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.960 mitzvah about Mitzvah, lead the service and you you know, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.320 read from this scripture, which is the Torah, which is 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.520 the most you know, the holiest. I don't know, I 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.679 guess book. You know, we have his Jews and it's 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:04.200 a scroll and and so there's there's two really important parts. 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:08.800 And so he'd worked also so hard we'd like basically 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.680 focus just solely on the bar Mitzvah. He wasn't able 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.920 to play the sports he loved to play because he 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.000 would have tutoring and he would have to go to 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.440 meet with the canter and all this stuff. So it 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:24.760 was like an incredibly emotional time. And ultimately I said 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.240 to Claire and Catherine, if we can move this party, 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.920 and you know it doesn't it doesn't affect us financially, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:34.640 like if we can, if we can just move it, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.960 if it works for the vendors and for the the 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.640 temple and for the restaurant, let's do it, because I 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.640 don't A said to me, like, I really don't want 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.600 to like have this celebration when so many of my 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.240 friends are feeling so much pain. And I thought, what 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.280 an incredible thing for him to be able to at 0:09:54.559 --> 0:10:01.160 you know, thirteen years old, put into words. And so 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.600 miraculously we were able to completely just shift the bar 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.199 mitzvah a few weeks and do it on February eighth 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:13.840 instead of January eighteenth. The temple was available. Our rabbi, 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.079 who is beyond words, who I've known since I was 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:18.880 a teenager. I went to camp at a camp called 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.360 hess Kramer, and he was like the rabbinical student there 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.960 when I was a camper, and he married Rob and 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.719 I because Rob's family and my family both belonged to 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:32.360 the same temple randomly, so my mom like had her 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.840 confirmation at this temple, I mean when she was, you know, 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.880 a teenager. So he was supposed to go actually on 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.000 a sabbatical, and January eighteenth was going to be his 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.760 last uh bar Mitzvah service that he was going to do, 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.960 and he he even said like, I'll wait till February 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.600 eighth and then I'll go on my sabbatical. So it 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.720 was just like everything just sort of was was looking 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.640 like we were going to be able to switch it 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.760 and it was going to be seamless as seamless as 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.520 it could be. We were definitely gonna lose some guests 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:12.920 who we love, but we also understood completely. And on 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:18.120 January thirteenth, my mom or January twelfth, actually my mom 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.760 went back in the hospital and I was just like, 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:25.280 you know what, let's do this. Let's just switch it. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.960 And so we did, and it ended up being the 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:36.240 best choice for our family because on February eighth, Saturday, 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.240 my mom was able to be at aces ber Mitzvah. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.800 She even came to the party for a little bit. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:49.000 She our whole family was there, and I don't know. 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.800 It was just like it was. It was incredibly special. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:06.440 Ace loves loves loves to ski. On my first date 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.480 with Rob, he said to me that skiing was a 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.280 very big part of his life and I was like, Okay, well, 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:13.800 I mean it's not a big part of mine, but 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.920 we'll see. And so far two out of three of 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.440 my kids are obsessed with skiing, Ace especially, And so 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:25.240 we decided to make Kat turn Catch into like a 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.040 ski shellet to be like, and we called it Operate Ace. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.400 And so when you first walked in, there was like 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.680 all this snow everywhere and a huge neon sign that 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:40.080 said you're an Ace, and like it's so first of all, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.560 I just want to say that I know that this 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.480 is insane, Like I know that the fact that there's 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.440 merch at these parties for thirteen year olds is mentally ill. 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.480 But whatever, we did it, and Ace actually designed them. 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.920 There's a brand called Essentials that is just a very 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.640 cool brand, and Ace wanted to do like a riff 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.080 on that, and so his sweatshirt said Ace Centrals Asentials 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.680 established twenty twelve because that's when he was born. And 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.960 we had that like the whole area for the merchants 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:17.439 at like Ace's ski shop, and there were ski lifts 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:22.840 and skis everywhere. And one thing that my party planner 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:24.560 did that I thought was just so amazing was there 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.600 were framed family pictures of us and all of our 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.320 friends all over the venue, which I thought was just 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:38.520 like the most amazing, beautiful little touch. I had soccer 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.800 Bit come and they are a Swedish candy brand. They 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.400 do like a bunch of gummies, but it has like 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.400 no red dye and no bad stuff in it, and 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:53.000 they were delicious. They did the candy. We had an 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:59.000 incredible DJ and dancers. I worked so hard on the montage, 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.920 so at bar Mitzvah's there's always like a little video 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.840 with pictures of the child from growing up in the family. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.480 I worked so hard on this with this amazing man 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:16.920 named Ari who literally he went through six iterations of 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:21.400 the montage with me until it was like perfect. I think, 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.640 he I hope he'll work with me again because I 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:28.520 have two more bermitsupposed to do after this. And I 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.880 cried literally from the beginning of the day. I actually 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:36.360 started crying at the rehearsal on Thursday, and then at 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.320 the end of the Romtzvah. Rob and I both gave 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.280 a speech at the end of the service, and I 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.880 hysterically cried during my speech and Rob was like, come on, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:46.440 come on, you can do it. You can do it. 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.920 And literally two seconds into Rob speaking, he started hysterical crying. 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.440 So we were both It was just like a really 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:58.640 emotional day and it goes by so quickly. After the ceremony, 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.480 I had Courage bagel, which if you're in LA is 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:06.640 the best bagel in Los Angeles, hands down. So we 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.480 like hung out, had some bagels. Then we came back. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.560 We rested for a little bit, we went to the 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.720 party and it's like this incredible and first of all, 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:21.520 it's so expensive. It's a wedding, so I can't say 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.760 the final amount because I don't even think my husband 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.440 knows how much because I literally like sold my soul 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.520 to get as far it's the done. But I really, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:37.120 I I don't know. I don't regret one minute of it. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.840 I am so sad it's over, Like I cannot believe, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.480 like I have that like sadness after a party when 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.320 it's just like you work so hard on something. And 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.480 I had weekly meetings with my party planner, and now 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.280 it's done, and like business just goes on as usual 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.680 and I only I have three years until I get 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:05.160 to do rules is but to see, I mean, there's 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:09.440 all the extra stuff, which is crazy, and it's you know, 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:16.400 bringing in snow is you know, insane. But at the 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.720 end of the day, what it's really about is like 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:24.680 making these incredible special memories for people that you love 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:28.600 so much, your family, your friends, for me and for Rob. 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:34.080 Our friends and our family are so intertwined. All of 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.800 my friends know my parents, know his parents, all of 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.920 his friends. You know, these are my friends from high school. 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.440 These are my friends from elementary school who I get 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.760 to raise my kids with. And my son has gone 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.080 to the same school since kindergarten, so these are friends 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.440 of his that he has been in school with since kindergarten. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.840 And when I was putting together the montage and I 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.080 was looking at all these pictures and of all these memories, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.600 and of like how loved my son is and how 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.119 loved we are as a family, and how how tough 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:10.080 the last couple months have been for my family, with 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:15.000 my mom being so sick and the chance that she 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:16.960 wasn't going to be able to celebrate this moment with 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:24.399 us or be here with us. It was like everything, 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.240 like the emotion just sort of like takes you over. 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:33.479 And really what I felt was gratitude and like so 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.320 grateful that I will have this memory for the rest 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.920 of my life with all these people that I love, 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:44.480 and that I got to see my son just so 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.600 filled with love and supported in a way that like 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.680 I feel like all you ever want is for your 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.480 kids or for you or for you know, to be seen. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:02.000 And I felt like this night was so ace and 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.119 it was so us as a family. It's funny when 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.640 I welcomed when I said my speech, I welcomed everybody 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:10.680 to my bot mitzvah because that's what it felt like. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.320 As had to keep reminding me, Mom, this is my 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.639 bar mitzvah, like this is for me, And I was like, no, 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:26.439 I get it, but like really it's for me. But 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.600 it was so incredible to have a night where it's 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.399 like the world feels so heavy right now in so 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.000 many ways for so many different people, and nobody is 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.399 any different, Like my situation was my mom. But but 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.879 some families lost their homes, some families lost everything that 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.120 they own, some family who knows what people are going 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.480 through in their lives, like literally you never know. These 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.119 are only the things that I even know about. But 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.040 it was like one night where everybody just came together 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.679 for one for the same goal, which was just to 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:07.520 like have fun and and celebrate. And I just am 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.680 so like I can't get over it. I can't get 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.199 over the night and and what and what it was like, 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.760 and like I just want to look at the pictures 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.960 all day long. I had the most incredible photographers, these guys, 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:28.160 John and Joseph, and they were just, you know, so incredible, 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.560 and they were always like whenever I turn around, they 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.960 were I got to see a few of the pictures 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.280 and they were just they caught every moment. And and 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.240 now like when I keep going over it, I'm like, wait, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:42.760 what happened at this time? What happened at this time? 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.480 What happened at this time? But I feel like I'll 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:48.600 have these pictures now to remember for the rest of 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:53.520 my life, and I just I don't know, I feel 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:58.080 I feel really I definitely went for it, Like I 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.600 definitely was like, we're gonna do it, We're gonna do 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:05.720 it right. The crazy thing was that every single time 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.359 my party planner was so incredible, and every single time 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:11.119 I like didn't have a drink, there would be like 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:17.840 another drink. So I definitely had some tequila. But I 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.119 I just I don't know. I was able to be 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:27.560 present and to see this incredible experience through the eyes 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:32.199 of my child and for him to be like so 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.680 lifted up with so much love and support is all 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.959 I could really ask for. Like I don't I don't know. 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.879 I mean it was really we had an arcade that 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.600 that had like signed that said Ace's Arcade, and then 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:50.919 we had like a claw game that had all of 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:56.600 these different like there was like, uh gift cards or 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.480 I had the DJs. There's this thing now where like 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.240 if kids dance and they like are really participating, they 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.480 at prizes. So I handed out some spider sweatshirts, which 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.720 is always a big hit. Shout out to Jen Meyer 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:18.200 and I I I just like, I don't know. There's 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.879 like times in your life where you just feel like 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.879 the work you put in and and the love that 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.800 you give sort of like it's you don't always feel 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.439 like it comes back. And I just felt I don't know, 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:38.119 I just felt so grateful and happy and it felt 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.959 like the perfect night, Like I don't know, it just 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.720 it literally felt like the most incredible night. And I 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.119 I'm aware that, like in La bar mitzvah's kind of 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:52.560 become this thing. There's that that movie You're not Invited 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.720 to my bar Mitza that I'm saying the movie, I'm 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.240 aware that bar Mitzva has become this thing where it's 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.000 like everyone's just trying to like, oh, do the next 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.200 and it's they become like the status symbol. And that's 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:05.639 not what this was. I'm not gonna say it was 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:07.560 like a simple bar mitzva because it wasn't. It was 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:10.400 over the top, it was fancy, it was all the things. 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:15.400 It was expensive, but it was at its core anchored 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.280 in so much love and so much pride and so 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.560 much happiness, and it had nothing to do like you 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.600 can throw the best party, you could spend hundreds of 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:28.240 thousands of dollars and it could be like you could 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.560 feel nothing. You know that it doesn't. And at the 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:36.040 end of the day, what really matters is that is 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.600 like the way in which when you go to some 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:43.600 place and you feel like, okay, like this feels cozy 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.320 to me, this feels fun to me, This feels. This 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.360 feels like I'm I'm getting you know, what I came 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:52.600 here for. And I felt like every single person at 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.320 that party felt that way, like, oh my gosh. Also 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.800 the horror, like when we were lifting up, they lifted 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:03.439 up me and Raw and Ace and then Jewels and 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:08.160 Gus and they were like when we came home, Gus 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:10.240 that I can't wait for three years because then I 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:12.360 get to go up on that chair again. It's just 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:15.600 like it was just every single person had the best time. 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:18.760 Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. My friend Jamie Gleisher 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:22.520 lives in New York. She is incredibly talented. She makes 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:29.080 these insane beaded bracelets and necklaces and sun like bedazzled 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:32.359 sunglasses and mirrors. And she flew in from New York 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:37.080 and I had her come out and do a bead 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:42.639 bar and it was so insane. I am going to 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:45.000 share pictures on the Instagram. And then I had this 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:48.280 thing called Dragon's Breath, which is like this candy that 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.360 you eat and when you blow out, it's like you're 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:56.200 blowing out steam not steam smoke, but it's not smoke. 0:23:56.280 --> 0:23:59.560 I don't even know. It was amazing. Basically every single 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:04.000 thing that was at this party was a shared vision 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:09.200 of me and my planners. And I feel like I 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:13.959 cannot say enough good things about every single person that 0:24:14.000 --> 0:24:18.080 was involved in that night. Every single waiter at Catch, 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:24.520 every single bartender, every the manager, the security, the oh 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:26.679 my god, the security. There was all this paparazzi outside 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:30.480 in the security. The security was like getting umbrellas to 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:33.639 like shield kids from It was just everybody was just 0:24:33.800 --> 0:24:38.120 so incredible and kind and it just felt like the 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:41.560 best night. And I can be the kind of person 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:44.479 sometimes to find like the one thing that wasn't great 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:47.560 and focus on that, because I don't know, sometimes that's 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:51.280 easier than just feeling like full of love and gratitude. 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:55.160 And I can honestly save that today and this whole week. 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:59.320 I just feel like I'm on cloud nine, and that 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:01.200 my mom was able to be there, that my best 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.919 friends were able to be there, that my son was 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.560 able to have this incredible experience where he could just 0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:11.720 be wrapped in so much love and so much support 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:17.639 is just something I'll never forget. And I cannot start, like, 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:19.919 I cannot wait to start working on Jewels's. I have 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:21.639