Since Tuesday, I’ve had the Bethenny Frankel’s theme song in my head because I heard it 8297349872 times in a 2-hour time frame. But I don’t care because I had such a fun time seeing her talk show which tapes on Ellen’s stage!

For my birthday, Bryan got me tickets to see her show and he thought maybe he’d go with me, but once he realized what a chick fest it was, he decided I should invite some of my gal pals and have a day off Mommy Duty. I gladly accepted the offer!

My best friend Stefanie and I are literally ob. sessed. with Bethenny. We think she’s so right on about everything: from motherhood to female issues to fashion. We are always talking about her and I’ve always said that Stef even kind of reminds me of Bethenny! They have a similar look and, more than anything, the exact sense of humor! So basically, we should be BFF with Bethenny. Think she’d hang with us?? Tuesday is the closest we got!

My mom is the one who introduced me to Bethenny. I never watched the Real Housewives of NY when she was on it, but I got hooked on her Bethenny Getting Married show because, hel-lo, she’s funny and it was a show about her wedding planning! Then I continued to follow her every move, so I owe my awareness of Bethenny to my mom!

Desiree and I have a zillion mutual friends so when we finally met and got to know each other, our mutual love for Bethenny rose to the surface pretty quickly. She’s also become a pretty awesome regular contributor on The Wedding Yentas, my business that’s all about Jewish weddings, and so I knew she’d get a kick out of attending the show. Not only did she attend, she fully participated!

In the parking garage waiting for the next event in the Bethenny Olympics.

When we arrived and went through the TSA-like security line 2 hours before the start of the show (those WB officers mean business!), we were corralled into the parking garage, but I, Alison Friedman, mother of Madelyn, do not wait. I act. So when I noticed a line of girls going out to a parking lot to be questioned about things, I figured it’d be more exciting than waiting in the covered parking area so out we went. Good thing, because the producers were asking us questions we might have for Bethenny. Stef and I completely blanked out which is rare for us since we never seem to shut up, but Desiree composed herself nicely, asked the producers her question, and was whisked away to a private producers’ room to be groomed to be on the show! Lucky girl!

My mom, Stef, and I returned to the covered parking garage with the rest of the dressed-to-the-nines audience for a little bit before being ushered to a holding area in the studio. Since Bethenny tapes on Ellen’s stage, we were told to wait in her conveniently placed gift shop which is right outside the stage. Lots of great tshirts and other goods for Ellen and her cause The Gentle Barn. I wanted to buy everything, but I didn’t because everything cost a zillion dollars. There wasn’t any Bethenny merchandise, but they did give her a place in Ellen’s gift shop in the form of… a cardboard Bethenny. Desiree joined us after her pow wow with the producers and we and the 250 other audience members harassed “Flat Bethenny” and took pictures with her.

Modeling for pics with Bethenny who managed to hold the same pose in EVERY PICTURE.

Finally, we were told to enter the stage and it looked even better in person than it does on her show! Des and I gushed over the Jonathan Adler design elements and we were obsessed with her bright and fun color scheme! We were basically ready to move in stat!

The warm up guy did his best to get people to do dance offs for…. Ellen tshirts? No surprise, we did not partake. Dear Audience Warm Up Guys, why all the dance offs? Can we not think of something more original? They’re not fun and predictable. The older Asian tourist always wins!

Soon enough, the show started! It was really fun to watch the process of how a show runs. I’ve been in audiences before, but I’m always fascinated to see how it all works. Bethenny is not exactly a natural talk show host — she’s still a little unpolished — but she’s very REAL, which I think makes her a good TV figure. You don’t feel like you’re watching a scripted talk show host; you feel like you’re listening to one of your girlfriends talk… but with cameras and lights on her. She’s doing fine. Her show has been picked up for national and long term airing, which will transfer to NYC, so it was cool to see the beginnings of her new career here in L.A.

Toward the end of the show, the producers switched Desiree’s seat, which was right next to me, to the other side of the audience so that her question would be in order of the segment which taped on the other side. So, we made a “new friend” who took Desiree’s seat next to me and who also asked a question. Des did such a good job with her question! She is a TV natural!

The girl next to me asked Bethenny about lap band surgery because her guests that day were Lauren and Caroline Manzo from RHONJ and Lauren had the lap band procedure. In the clip, you can see me googling a Bethenny on girl crush overdrive. Kind of embarrassing, but it’s true! I was mesmerized by her. And her wedding band. Which was 4 inches from my face. And my purse. Hmmm…

At the end of the show, Bethenny taped a few promos for the show and she let loose with the audience and her staff. She really is so funny.

Ever wonder how they do Before & Afters on TV talk shows? We now know. UGH boy do we know. After Bethenny was all done with her promos, she went backstage to “get ready.” What seemed like hours later, she came back fully dressed in new outfit with new hair and new makeup — almost like it was a different day. Because it “was.” She taped the “before” segment of a hair makeover for three women that would be taped for another episode of a show. So we saw the women with ugly hair get interviewed. Then, after our show, they taped another one and that new audience saw the “after” for these women. Interesting, yes, but we were there in the freezing studio for an extra hour and we were pretty tuckered out by then after all the sitting and standing and cheering.

Our “Bethenny” episode airs TODAY in L.A. at 2:00 on Fox and I am excited to watch it! We all had a fun time and my love for Bethenny has blossomed even more.

And this is why we live in L.A.!

Here’s the clip where Desiree is featured and where you can see me wanting to make out with Bethenny: