Transcripts For WRC Today 20120716 : vimarsana.com

captions paid for by nbc-universal television announcer: from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to today on this monday morning. i m savannah guthrie. i m willie geist in for matt this morning. something like 94 degrees in new york today and we re the lucky ones. we re getting used to this, aren t we? a scorcher across the country. heat reports in 12 states. headed into the 90s this afternoon. could be hotter tomorrow. we ll tell you just how hot it s going to get where you are straight ahead. new details on an accident involving robert kennedy s daughter kerry. she was charged with driving while impaired and told police she had taken the prescription drug ambien earlier in the day. kennedy s doctors was looking into whether she may have had a seizure. more on that coming up. we also told you about the mother diagnosed with the flesh eating bacteria days after giving birth to twins. she s undergone 20 surgical procedures. this morning she ll open up about her recovery for the first time in an exclusive live interview. the blame game in london. who pulled the plug on concert performance by music legend bruce springsteen and paul mccartney. you just don t do that. the story in a minute. we begin with the return of the brutal heat. the weather channel s stephanie abrams in for al this morning. good morning. we ll talk more about the heat in just a minute. but first i want to take you into houston and talk more about the lightning strike that killed two during a soccer game and injured another. they were taking shelter under a tree, the absolute worst spot you can be because lightning will go to the highest point. one man died at the scene, a second taken to the hospital, a third treated for burns. the temperatures, the plains, midwest all the way to the northeast, we will see the 90s. we will see the triple digit readings yet again, all thanks to a big high pressure that is sitting over the area. that is keeping us baking here. you can even see portions of the plains. there is the ridge with the jet stream to the north. allows the warm temperatures to go far to the north as well. there is a cool-off in store. we ll see temperatures back towards average. chicago, mid-80s, back there by wednesday. stephanie, thank you. temperatures rising on the campaign trail as well as president obama and mitt romney trade jabs over romney s days with bain capital. the president is refuseing to back down. nbc s peter alexander is in washington this morning with more. peter, good morning to you. reporter: savannah, good monday morning to you. this furious back and forth is more intense in the last few days with charges and counter-charges. as the president heads to ohio to campaign, a leading democrat says mitt romney is running from his business record at bain capital like a scalded cat. those are his words. a romney adviser is accusing the obama campaign of lies. in what s become an increasingly bitter slugfest, both president obama and mitt romney are fighting to control this summer s political debate. in an interview with nbc s norfolk, virginia affiliates this weekend the president rejected romney s call for an apology over the obama campaign s attack. first of all, you re not going to apologize. no, we won t be apologizing. reporter: in fact, the obama campaign is doubling down with a new ad using romney s rendition of america the beautiful to go after romney s jobs record. for his part romney is slamming president obama for what he has called an outrageous and reckless campaign. whatever happened to hope and change. i m mitt romney and i approved this message. reporter: in an interview with cbs news, the president admitted washington feels as broken as four years and conceded his handling of the economy, the basis for romney s attacks is fair game. you don t hear me complaining about making that argument. if i was in his shoes, i would be making the same argument. reporter: romney who spent the weekend relaxes in his summer home in new hampshire, attending church sunday morning is still fending off the timing of his departure from bain capital. one of his partners from bane told msnbc that even though he s listed on documents as the ceo of bain after 1999, he was no longer running the firm then, when companies bain managed began outsourcing the jobs. during the time, we could hardly get mitt to come back to negotiate the terms of his departure because he was working on the olympics. reporter: still democrats continue their offensive against romney. stop whining. i give him his own advice. stop whining. reporter: during our interview friday romney challenged the obama campaign, once again insisting he would only release two years of tax returns. their strategy is to, quote, kill romney, end of quote. the american people want instead a discussion about the direction of the company. reporter: there is growing pressure for romney to share more of those tax returns. you ll remember his own father released 12 years worth during his 1968 presidential bid. now, savannah, some prominent conservatives are urging romney to put more returns out. they say get it over with. one even calling romney s refusal to do so, quote, crazy. savannah. peter alexander, thank you. steve schmidt is an msnbc political analyst and served as senior adviser to john mccain s campaign in 2008. steve, good morning to you. good morning, savannah. let s start on the issue of tax returns. if you look at what presidential candidates have turned over in the last years you see mitt romney is on the letter of the law but the low end of the norm. do you think he left the impression with voters that perhaps he does have something to hide? well, i think one of the things that characterizes our politics today is the collapse of trust in institutions of government by the american people. so when you don t disclose something, one side is demanding you disclose it. people in your own party are saying you want to disclose it. i think the american people look at it and they go immediately to what s he hiding whether he is or not. you think you should turn i over to make the issue go away. i think it s a difficult issue going forward. they have a decision to make. if they are going to fold on this and release more, they should do it now. if they are going to dig in on it, they need to make hur they are going to dig in on it permanently and ride out the bad press that s going to come from it. on the issue of bain capital, it seems the obama campaign is going to try to turn this major credential romney has to run for president into a liability. have they been successful at doing that? they haven t been successful so far when you look at the polls. it remains a very, very close race. there s no doubt they are trying to knock down one of the central pillars of romney s candidacy, which is his ability to give a critique of the president on the economy from his private sector experience. the obama campaign is going at that very, very hard right now. if nothing else romney is now on the obama campaign s agenda. he scheduled five network interviews late last week to respond to these issues. in one sense are you surprised the romney campaign isn t better prepared for these attacks? it s well-known this was obama campaign s plan to go after him this way and newt gingrich did it during the primary? the bain attacks have been a centerpiece of attacks since mitt romney since 1994 when he ran for office. they knew it was coming. this is much more part of the rhythm of a presidential campaign. this is mitt romney s first real defensive posture since he won the republican nomination. both campaigns go through this. is the campaigns that are best able to handle the down cycles that wind up on top in november. real quickly, romney asked the president to apologize for these attacks. is that smart? no, i don t think it was a particularly smart thing to do. for one, mitt romney is not a particularly sympathetic character on this front. no one feels sorry for him. the race is about the american people. it s not about mitt romney. it s not about mitt romney s feeling on an issue like this. mitt romney would have been much better off hitting back, pivoting, pivoting to a contrast on the economy and begin taking the fight to the president. steve, i can t let you go without asking about the vp selection process. you were the man who was integral in the selection of sarah palin in 2008, do you think the romney campaign should go for a game change or play it safe? no, i think it s a very different election cycle. four years is a long time in politics. i think the romney campaign has been very safe, very cautious and i think you ll see them look to a very safe, very cautious pick in this race because they are in a very close race and the fact is we went four years ago. steve schmidt, great to get your perspective. thank you so much. good to be with you, savannah. thank you. now let s get a check of the morning s other top stories. for that we send it to natalie at the news desk. good morning, everyone. the race against time to secure the release of a 61-year-old pastor kidnapped in egypt. the reverend lewis was taken hostage with two others as they traveled by bus to mt. sinai. the pastor is diabetic and does not have his medicine. his family is calling for his immediate release. meanwhile secretary of state hillary clinton pushed the case in egypt for release of americans while visiting cairo this weekend but received a nasty welcome as her motorcade was pelted by shoes and tomatoes. this is the first visit since the election of the president mohamed morsi. now declared a civil war by the international red cross. the declaration could have an impact on potential future war proceedings for war crimes. this as government forces clashed in damascus for a second day. some shocking video captures the moment a deadly landslide plowed through a canadian town. take a look as images show a boat escaping the slide by seconds. this, police say, at least one body has been found in the deb. three others, including a german tourist and two sisters aged 17 and 22 are missing. sportsmanship is taking the lead at the tour de france after someone dumped tack on the raceway scuttling sunday s stage. some had flat tires, one crashed as a result. police are searching for the vandal whose disruption shook up the leaderboard. bradley williams. a giant inflatable slide went tumbling across the sand. as you can see, some more concerned than others with the runaway slide. this couple making sure they keep their towels safe and sound. a towel check. you have to see this. this could be a very foul ball when a fan made a very risky catch. you ll see what i mean in a minute. the flyball went right to the fan. he caught it right between his legs without spilling a thing or injuring a thing. he got a little help from a fellow fan who plucked the ball from its landing spot for him. can we see it again? see that in slow mo. talk about major talent there. they should sign him up. here you go. in slow motion. into the stands and off the fall ball. replay. there you go. that is the catch. what would you do, willie, refreshments or protecting. i wouldn t have caught it where he caught it, put it that way. the refreshments would have been gone. natalie, thank you. now let s get the weather forecast for stephanie abrams in for al. hi, guys. we ll see some nice weather, you have to go to southern southern california. that s where we are going to see the cooler temperatures. because, of course, the heat is dominating here across the board, at least through the day today. you ll have a look at tomorrow coming up a little bit later. now here s a look at what s happening outside your door. a pleasant monday morning. good morning. tom kierein in storm center 4. right now the humidity around the region has dropped a little bit since yesterday. it s 77 at reagan national, we re in the low to mid-70s throughout much of the region now. and throughout the day today, not quite as humid as it was sunday. afternoon highs, mid-90s, though, and lots of sunshine. a few clouds popping up. only the slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm tomorrow. hotter tomorrow, hazy willie, over to you. all right, stephanie, thank you. now to our exclusive interview with the infamous captain of the costa concordia. six months after his ship crashed into the coast killing 32 we have his first american interview. michelle kosinski is on giglio island. michelle, good morning. reporter: hey, willie. capital schettino sat down and spoke for an hour and a half, he s accused of manslaughter, abandoning ship. he says he s willing to take some, but not all the responsibility for this disaster, calling it a really bad day in his life. no one can ever imagine the pain that you may experience. simply sorry is not enough. captain schettino accepts responsibility for the january crash of the costa concordia that sent more than 4,000 people scrambling to get off, 32 of whom did not make it. i m not blaming nobody. i m clear with my conscious. reporter: calling the disaster a chain of unfortunate errors. he said they didn t intend to pass as close to the island as they did, pointing to possible technical problems. something went wrong. the rock was marked on the chart, but the depth of the water on the chart was more than in reality is. reporter: again insisting his turning the ship closer to land saved lives. we would collide straight with the bottom side of the rock and in that case really died thousands of persons. reporter: why didn t he sound the ship alarm and first told authorities it was a power outage. my thought was control the panic. first we were not aware. then the extent of the damage hitting the rock. there was panic aboard, some jumping into the cold sea to escape. yes, some swam exactly 20 meters thanks to somebody who decide to anchor the ship there. meaning himself. he denies abandoning ship, said the tilting threw him in a lifeboat while he was helping people. he tried to persuade another lifeboat to bring him back. at the end of the story, find a scapegoat, to blame. the captain, end of story. i take my responsibility, of course, as a gentleman, as a man, as a captain, i took my responsibility. reporter: he says, yes, the captain is always responsible. but this was an accident and all the blame should not lie with him. he was not paid forth interview, by the way. he said he was doing it to tell the truth, not to try to justify his actions. michelle kosinski for us. thanks so much. 7:17. here is savannah. the tragic death of sage stone, the death of the son of sylvester stallone. the autopsy won t be done for months but we have found more about how he was living at the time of his death. mike taibbi with more. how are you? reporter: good morning, savannah. this one kind of came out of nowhere. sage stallone, the oldest of sylvester stallone s business. he was in the business, but not on the party circuit, never a fixture on the gossip pages and supposedly in excellent health which makes it a mystery. he had a curious name, sage. he cast him as his son. having me was like being born again. reporter: two decades later, sage stallone, who was sylvester s son from his first life. friday attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. he didn t answer the phone. we sent the housekeeper over there after lunch and she made the discovery. reporter: the next call from the housekeeper to police. as the officers arrived, had exited the location and determined the subject, sage stallone was, in fact, deceased. reporter: no suicide note found and no evidence of foul play but a coroner on the scene spoke briefly about what was found. there are some prescription bottles. however, i m not going to detail what they were or how many. reporter: predictably the speculation has started, one stallone friend telling a gossip website there was a substance abuse problem and stallone was living like a recluse, like howard hughes. stallone s longtime lawyer said there was no problem with drink or drugs and the 36-year-old was planning his wedding. was in love with a girl. they were going to go off to las vegas and get married. he was full of life and full of energy. reporter: though he had had several minor acting roles, sage stallone worked mostly on the other side of the camera, directing an award winning short and distributing cult films. sage was definitely under the radar, didn t seek attention like his dad. he wasn t a mainstream guy. his interests were alternative. he always did his own thing. reporter: now unanswered questions. how long had he been dead when his body was discovered. what caused his death at such a young age. sylvester stone issued a statement saying he was devastated and grief stricken over his death and called him a talented young man houst. bruce springsteen and paul mccartney thrilled fans in london. that is until organizers pulled the plug. natalie is here with details. natalie, what s going on. willie, it s hard to imagine. springsteen said he wanted to play the park for years and mccartney was his treat. no one expected the show to end the way it did. it was the big finale, the crowd singing along and enjoying a rare collaboration with two members of rock royalty when it all came to an bankrupt end. the mikes went dead. someone pulled the plug on the boss. among 76,000 fans was nbc s simmons. no one knew what was going on, mccartney, springsteen, it s amazing. people were dancing. suddenly, the band is singing, playing but you can t hear it. performing an endless play list. he had been playing three hours when he was joined by a special guest, paul mccartney. they treated fans to i saw her standing there and twist and shout. how could anyone dare pull the plug on this dynamic duo? apparently the folks who live here in the affluent neighborhood surrounding hyde park who demanded a noise curfew and this concert had gone past the time limit prompting someone to shut them down. it was a bit of confusion. angry e street guitarist took to twitter saying, english cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn t want to hear one more from bruce springsteen and paul mccartney. another, i m jamming with mccartney, don t bug me. even the mayor weighed in on local radio and said, if they had called me, my answer would be jam in the name of the lord. we are talking about rock and roll god s from both sides of the pond. they issued a statement saying it was unfortunate the concert was stopped but it was laid down by authorities in the interest of health and safety. rock royalty. shut down the boss but paul mccartney in london, sir paul mccartney. you ever wonder how they play an air guitar, you know. the show must go on. thank you, natalie. still ahead, was she impaired or did she suffer a medical emergency while driving? new questions about kerry kennedy, robert coming up, dangerous waters. two divers get the scare afterlife time from a great white shark. katie holmes s new role as a single mom and the big decision she just made for suri. that s after your local news. stronger. believe. happier. healthier. i believe weight watchers made me more powerful. it s time to believe again. stand up and take charge. i believe if you want to change your life, you can. believe in yourself [ female announcer ] weight watchers rated number one best plan for weight loss by u.s. news and world report, again. [ jennifer ] join for $1. weight watchers. believe. because it works. good morning. it s 7:26 on this monday, july 16th. i m aaron gilchrist. the rain overnight is gone now. things are heating up out there. tom s here with your forecast. it s still pleasant now, though. around the region, we re generally in the low and mid-70s. it s turned a little less humid overnight. now 77 at reagan national. and later today, though, hitting the 90s, low to mid-90s, but not terribly humid. more of the same tomorrow, though, a little bit hotter. near 100 on wednesday with more humidity around. sweltering humidity during the day and maybe some strong storms afternoon and evening that may linger into thursday, part of friday, some passing showers and thundershowers, but dryer and a bit cooler for the weekend, aaron? thank you, tom. we ll check for trouble good morning. if you re traveling along 29 in maryland, southbound sluggish as you make your way from lockwood drive, and pretty stop and go all the way to the east/west highway. a live look at prince wailliam parkway, lots of volume. and stop and go all the way to the beltway. you re underspeed, that drive taking 21 minutes. aaron? thank you, danella. ocean to find a great white shark swimming right towards you. it happened as two divers were in australia as attacks are on the rise. luckily those divers made it back to their boat and we ll have their incredible story coming up. good morning, everyone. i m savannah guthrie alongside willie geist in for matt this morning. details on katie holmes life after tom cruise and what she has planned for suri in new york city. then we ll meet the young mother battling a flesh eating bacteria. she was diagnosed in may, days after giving birth to twins. two months later she s in rehab. an exclusive live interview. follow-up to our investigation into the truth about your baby can read investigation. the accident that may have led to kerry kennedy s arrest for driving under the influence. jonathan dienst in north castle, new york, with the latest on this story. good morning. reporter: good morning. those close to kerry kennedy are asking could it have been a seizure and not prescription pills that caused the crash here on friday but police say they are awaiting their lab results to determine what, if any, drugs were in her system. investigators say after the crash, kerry kennedy spoke of taking ambien, a strong prescription drug. the sleep aid that carries warnings not to drive after taking it, as well as the possibility of a side effect where users engage in activities like driving without being fully awake. it looks like they are drunk but they are not. it s ambien affecting a certain percentage of people in this way, which i term ambien zombies. people driving without absolutely any memory of doing it. reporter: one source said close to kennedy said her doctors are looking into whether the mother of three had a seizure and that could be the result of the accident. a spokesman said preliminary drug tests showed no alcohol or drugs in her system but law enforcement said detailed drug tests are still out and they will show whether or not a drug like ambien was in her system. she seemingly passed out in her lexus near this exit ramp. they say she had sideswiped a truck. other motorists called 911. two sources close to kennedy say she has no recollection about the crash. she said she was only speculating when she said maybe, maybe she took an ambien instead of a different pill that evening. in 2006 her cousin and former congressman patrick kennedy crashed his car into a security barricade during the middle of the night. he blamed his disorientation on ambien and another drug he was prescribed. he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of prescription drugs. kerry kennedy is also the ex-wife of governor cuomo. she was devastated when mary kennedy, her ex-sister-in-law killed herself. mary was my best friend, the best friend anyone could ever imagine having. reporter: kerry kennedy was in exclusion all weekend. we do expect to see her tomorrow when she s due in court on that misdemeanor charge. thank you. 7:33. here is willie. the hunt is on for a great white shark that killed someone in australia. this was right in the same area. here is nbc s stephanie gosk. the deadliest shark zone in the world. there have been five fatal attacks in months. the latest victim was 24 years old, an avid surfer taking advantage of the clearwater and great waves. just 100 yards offshore, he was attacked by a great white shark believed to be as large as this one, 15 feet long. riding on a jet ski, in front of us, attacked by a shark. took my mate to the shore, went straight out. there was blood everywhere. the shark was still there. a massive, massive white shark circling the body, the half that s also left. i reached to grab the body and the shark came at me on the jet ski and tried to knock me off. nothing i could do. i did everything i could. the beaches are closed while officials search by helicopter and boat for the shark. the order has been given for us to attempt to catch the shark if we re able to. if you do catch the shark, what happens then, do you kill it? the decision is made then whether we kill it or not. reporter: experts aren t sure why it s been so deadly they expect population growth and popularity of watersports are to blame leading to harrowing encounters like this one last week. two spear fishermen can t get back to their boat. a great white shark is in their way. not exactly the catch they were looking for. but the encounters and the attacks don t scare everyone out of the water. soon after he was killed a long board competition nearby went forward as scheduled. it will never stop surfers going in the water. once you re a surfer and only a surfer knows the feeling. we cannot stop surfing. even though they know off the coast of southern australia, they are sharing the water. stephanie gosk nbc news, london. that sight of the shark coming to the diver. they were enjoying it. once on the boat they could laugh. now to stephanie in for al. celebrating birthdays on the plaza. what has been the favorite thing for your birthday. shopping. is it ever too hot to go shopping? no. i m glad you said that. i m glad you said that. if you are shopping in through portions of the southwest, it is hot, but it s also humid. you ve got that southwest monsoon. that means we are seeing the showers. there are flood advisories posted, actually. but look at this! we get that heating of the day and we get the storms that are firing up and that is going to continue through the day today here into the southwest. otherwise, man, if you are shopping into the twin cities, you better go inside the mall of america to get away from that heat. now here s a look at what s happening outside your door. a pleasant morning underwhay. good morning. tom kierein in norm center 4. mostly around the region, we re in the 70s, and a little less humid overnight. it s started to drop a little bit humidity wise. but later today, it will be hot. even with moderate humidity, it will be into the mid-90s and feel like nearly 100 with the moderate humidity. and then near 100 on tuesday and again wednesday. wednesday afternoon and evening, willie, back inside to you. all right, stephanie, thank you very much. coming up the new book, pulling back an issue that affects millions of americans. the book your baby can read the investigation and interview behind it after this. . 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that s 1% back on. wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! 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[ male announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend s life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog s mind so he s up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we re making the world a better place. one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend. back now at 7:41, this morning on rossen reports, big news about a story we ve been investigating about the popular reading program your baby can read. today national correspondent jeff rossen first went after the truth about this product. big developments. big developments. a lot of parents have this in their homes. i ve been looking into this company for two years. we did stories about how your baby can read was raking in millions experts say by misleading parents. now the company said what we exposed here on today caused them to go out of business under a pile of legal bills. what you are about to see will amaze you. which one said keys. the commercials were amazing. what about this word? swing. good job. these words say? those babies sure look like they are reading. if you bought this $200 program, the ads say your baby can, too. my daughter began reading by the time she was eight months old. your baby can read came with flash cards, pop-up books and lots of dvds for kids to watch. they said it was based on science that all baby can read. seize this small window of opportunity before it closes. warning if you miss that window, your child would fall behind. so we had experts review the program at harvard. are those babies reading? no. and tufts. it s an extraordinary manipulation of facts. and nyu. i think it s misleading. i think it s false, and i think it raises false expectations. experts say this isn t reading, it s just memorization. in fact, they say it may be harmful to babies by urging them to watch tv. and this is the man behind it all, dr. robert titzer, the creator of your baby can read. they say it was our interview in 2010 that exposed the truth about his claims and caused his empire to come tumbling down. we re changing how people think about reading. we spoo with experts, harvard, yale, tufts, nyu, cornell, penn. they say your program is not only misleading but false. they are all wrong. we have a book full of studies that support these, our program that s literally thicker than this. can you provide us that research? yes. yes, i can. instead of published research on your baby can read, he sent us this customer satisfaction survey conducted by his own company along with general studies about child learning that experts we spoke to say he s twisting and taking out of context. i m not a traditional expert as far as reading, a reading specialist person. i m looking at this from a different perspective. the name of the program is your baby can read. the baby does learn to read. based on that interview, the parent company fired him. now they are suing him, too, calling his appearance on the today show disastrous, causing substantial damage to sales. once a company valued at 50 to $60 million, they are now in financial peril. by the way, much of the research he cited for the program seemed to be based on his own daughter using it. my children could read better at age four than i could at age at my age. you re saying your four-year-old was a better reader than you as an adult. of course. not only that. i was teaching college at the time. she could read better than my college students. now the company s website said they are out of business. while we vehemently deny any wrongdoing, we cannot longer continue operating. child advocates call this a victory for parents. we are so glad you took this on. in fact watchdog group called complaints against your baby can read with the federal trade commission and they are investigating. the company did not respond for kmont but dr. titzer got back and said our stories were biased and maintained he had experts. best advice, talk to them, read to them. you can get the same exact benefit, better, and it s free. your baby will read. eventually. jeff rossen, thanks for the update. appreciate it. coming up next, katie holmes and suri out and about this weekend and the incident that made suri a little upset right after this. 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[ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you ve earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. this mom has been doing it for years. she s got bounty. in this lab demo, one sheet of new bounty leaves this surface cleaner than two sheets of the leading ordinary brand. bounty. let the spills begin. the moisturizer in other body washes sits on top of skin. only dove has nutriummoisture, which can nourish deep down. dove body wash with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin. we take it on ours. this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz now for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends july 31st. katie holmes is moving quickly to make big changes in her life following her recent split with tom cruise. now she s reportedly sending suri to catholic school. mara schiavocampo has more on that. good morning. reporter: good morning. while tom cruise has been busy on the set of his latest movie, katie holmes has been seen all around new york city, what many call a public relations war following the divorce. it has become a familiar scene in new york city, the paparazzi capturing photos of katie holmes out on the town with her daughter suri. this weekend mother and daughter were seen at a children s museum, eating lunch after a visit to a famous toy store fao schwartz and seeing a puppy. it comes after filing for divorce from tom cruise, that reportedly caught cruise by surprise. it took 11 days for the couple s attorneys to reach a settlement, one that may include a role that religion plays in suri s life. cruise is a scientologist. holmes was raised in the catholic church. now according to our sister company e! news, holmes enrolled 6-year-old suri at a prestigious catholic store in manhattan, the same school attended by caroline kennedy, lady gaga and hilton sisters. katie holmes was raised catholic. she attended catholic school growing up. there have been reports she joined a catholic church, enrolled suri in school. at that school she would have protection and security but also be able to live like a normal girl. reporter: while many celebrities go into hiding following news of a divorce, holmes has done the opposite getting photoed all over new york city. she showed up for a scheduled shoot at project runway and took her daughter out for ice cream and the zoo, a strategy some say has been crafted to control her image. she went straight to the most public city in the world, new york city. she s showing what a normal mother she is. for katie holmes to make a clean break, she had to show to the public she was done with scientology. she was done with this marriage. this divorce is about one thing and one thing only. she has clearly conveyed that message. reporter: some say is further evidence of pr savvy, holmes is on the cover of elle magazine. looking at the pictures of suri not getting the dog i m thinking thank god i don t have paparazzi following me and my kids. i m thinking just this weekend at a restaurant i m glad there wasn t paparazzi. if you re going into a pet store and not coming out with a puppy, that s the look you get. an interesting story in new york times, a lot of people have perceived katie as a heroine, a lot of people seeing her as an example that she took control of her life after several years. the quick settlement hoping interest would die down, that didn t work so far. a surprising name throws her hat into the ring to be a judge on american idol. coming up after your local news and weather. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i ll be right back. they didn t take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. it is time to say so long to the foot long, man. who are you talking to? 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[ both laugh ] choosy moms never stop choosing jif. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbaa.lt dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. good morning, everyone. the time right now is 7:56. the return of some serious heat later today. here s storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein. well, right now it s a beautiful summer morning. around the region, we ve got lots of sunshine. temperatures now as we approach 8:00 are near 80 in the district and by the bay, but elsewhere we re in the mid-70s, most locations. it s turned a little less humid overnight. the rest of the day, rather humid. afternoon highs, mid-90s, lots of sun, just a slight chance of a midafternoon thundershower. and then on tuesday, heating up. near 100 during the afternoon with hazy sunshine and hot and humid on wednesday, afternoon storms might have some showers and thunder thursday into friday morning. nice weekend to follow, angie. nice weekend to follow, angie. all right. we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here. good morning. if you re traveling the outer loop of the beltway approaching new hampshire avenue, a crash there is going to block two of your left lanes. you are starting to see a delay, really in the college park area. slow on the outer loop, as you make your way towards that crash. let s head over to i-270. as you make your way southbound in this area at i-270 at i-370, the crash has moved to the left shoulder lane. and as you head all the way down to the lane divide, you are seeing some delays. crossing over the 14th street bridge, slow as you head into july 16th, 2012. we ve come outside to bond with all the good folks who have taken time out of their morning to come to the plaza. a beautiful day. good morning, everybody. i m savannah guthrie outside with willie geist. matt is off for today. coming up we ll have an update for that mom who had twins and was overcome by this flesh-eating bacteria. just a couple of days after giving birth to the twins. an exclusive interview with the mom. lana kirkendall is her name, underwent surgical procedures in the last two months. there she is coming up. she ll open up about her recovery and beautiful twins. i like her shirt, faith, hope, lana. we ll talk about the book, a provocative title called fat sex. a programming note, sir elton john sits down with matt in a candid interview. outs his home in london. he said between his past dicks to drugs and alcohol and the aids epidemic, he s lucky to be alive. talk about that and his relationship with princess diana and elizabeth taylor, his son and a whole lot more coming up tomorrow on today. look forward to that. we have exciting news to share. as of today msnbc.com is nbcnews.com. have no fear, you ll still find the top news and information you ve come to know and trust. again, it s nbcnews.com as of this moment. you have to change your book mark or home page to nbcnews.com. nbcnews.com. let s head inside to natalie for top stories. good morning, natalie. good morning, everyone. days after our last heat wave, blistering temperatures from the dakotas to the southeast. at least a dozen states under heat advisories. combined with lack of rain, it s devastating corn and soybean crops and hindering crews fighting a wildfire in northern california. president obama intensifying his critique of mitt romney s business records during a town hall meeting in cincinnati, ohio. romney said this morning attacks are dishonest and misdirected. however romney is under pressure from his own party to release more of his tax returns. the legacy of penn state football coach joe paterno up in the air as pressure mounts on the university to take down the statue of the deceased coach. this comes after a report showing paterno and other officials did not act on child sex abuse against against jerry sandusky. this weekend an artist removed a halo from paterno s head from par painting on campus. women ages 19 and 22 reported missing on friday. police say interviews of the suspect in the case led them to the missouri field where they found the bodies but they cannot yet confirm their identities. meantime authorities have arrested that suspect. ford is recalling more than 10,000 2013 escape suvs. ford says it has no reports of any accidents or injuries related to the problem. now for a look at what s trending today, a quick roundup of what has you talking only. france s far right party says it will sue madonna over a video backdrop used as a backdrop in paris. it depicts the party leader with a swastika on her forehead. she used the same backdrop when she kicked off her tour in israel. entertainment blogs talking about more respect to american idol. she e-mailed the show s producers saying she would like one of the judge s spots left open if stephen tyler and jennifer lopez leave the popular singing competition. the now popular robot updated a viral video, a clip from his version of evolution of dance. walk like an egyptian. walk like an egyptian jump on it jump on it jump on it the original evolution of dance video has almost 200 million youtube hits so this robot better have some good batteries there. it is 8:04, back outside to stephanie with a check of your weather. very cute, stef. very cute. we were dancing on the the plaza. we found people from minne sn t snowta. it s hotter there than our pick city albuquerque, new mexico, if you can figure that out. our highs are right where they should be in our pick city, around 90 degrees. there it is for you. 89 with a fewew isolated storms. and speaking of some isolated storms, we ll see them popping on the map today, but they will be scattered in nature and not a lot of rain overall. otherwise, that heat is going to be expansive, right through the center of the country. now here s a look at what s happening outside your door. another heat wave underway, got to mid-90s yesterday. we ll do that again today. good morning. tom kierein, storm center 4. right now, 70s around most of the region. reagan national is at 80, later, into the mid-90s. and a small chance of an isolated afternoon thundershower. otherwise, mostly sunny and sunny and hotter tomorrow, up near 100. and then some likely afternoon storms after we reach near 100 again on wednesday. and some of those storms wednesday afternoon could be severe. maybe some showers and thunder around on thursday into friday back down the plaza to savannah. all right, stef. thanks. up next, a today exclusive with the mom stricken with the flesh eating bacteria. how is she doing now? we ll catch up with her right after this. 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[ jennifer ] better. stronger. believe. happier. healthier. i believe weight watchers made me more powerful. it s time to believe again. stand up and take charge. i believe if you want to change your life, you can. believe in yourself [ female announcer ] weight watchers rated number one best plan for weight loss by u.s. news and world report, again. [ jennifer ] join for $1. weight watchers. believe. because it works. [ jennifer ] join for $1. stayfocus lolo, focus.ya. let s do this. i am from baltimore. south carolina. bloomington, california. austin, texas. we are all here to represent the country we love. this is for everyone back home. it s go time. across america, we re all committed to team usa. new mom of twins we told you about who survived a flesh-eating bacteria. we ll speak live in an exclusive interview with her in just a moment. first nbc s gabe gutierrez in greenville, south carolina, with the latest on her recovery. gabe, good morning. reporter: willie, good morning. by all accounts lana kuykendall s turnaround is incredible. two months ago she was in critical condition at greenville memorial hospital. now she s in rehab and could go home later this week a mother s motivation on display. having twins can be challenging enough. for lana kuykendall, the first few weeks of motherhood were overwhelming. almost. she is just a tough cookie. when you re ready, we ll walk over there. reporter: this the first video of her we ve seen since she was hospitalized two months ago. amazingly despite the pain, she smiles often. as her husband darren looks on, kuykendall is able to walk, climb downstairs and lift her legs. remarkable considering surgeons have removed so much muscle tissue. she s a fighter. she works hard every day and pushes through it. reporter: just days after giving birth in may at a hospital, kuykendall drove home to south carolina where she noticed a spot on her left leg. at first she thought it was a blood clot but doctors here in greenville soon discovered it was a flesh-eating bacterial infection. it was very scary to see her be as sick as she was squiggly. reporter: her husband, a firefighter, watched her suffer through multiple surgeries as her friends raised money for her recovery. we re all in disbelief and shock. this wasn t exactly we ve heard a lot of. turns out kuykendall was the second recent case of that rare flesh-eating infection to draw attention. aimee copeland is in her third week of rehab after two months in a georgia hospital. unlike copeland, kuykendall was able to keep her limbs. that s mak amazing. reporter: those arms allowed her to hold her twins in the icu. her friends think it may have helped her heal proving you should never underestimate a mother s motivation to bond withler kids. kuykendall might go home as early as this week. there s no telling when she will return to her job as paramedic but first she has a lot of catching up to do with those twins. thank you. lana is with us exclusively with her husband darren and dr. spence taylor, one of her many hospitals. good morning. good morning. two months, more than 20 surgeries. you look fantastic. how are you feeling? i m okay. you ve been through a lot, though, haven t you? i have. it s been a long road, a lot of which i don t remember. but we re recovering and that s what matters. i understand your doctors say now you could go home as early as tomorrow, at least sometime this week. let s put aside your own health this morning, are you able to tangle with those infant twins? yes, i think i am. they have been visiting the hospital, so i ve been practicing. so tell me about that trip after you had the babies, you re on your way back from the hospital up to south carolina from atlanta. you notice that bruise on your leg. you knew instinctively that you ought to go to the hospital. what told you to act so quickly? well, blood clots aren t something to be played around with. they can become dangerous. that s what i thought it was at the time. that s the only thing that actually entered my mind. i just knew i needed to get help. darren, you call this a miracle, frankly, that your wife is alive. while lana has been rehabbing, you ve been home with the babies. how are they doing? they are wonderful. you ve had a heavy load to bear. how have you made it through? it s been tough, the most devastating thing i ve ever done in my entire life. the uncertainty, not knowing from day to day what was going to go on with her, with her health. you know, with all the surgeries, you know, it was touch and go each and every day and it was very stressful. what do you want to say about your wife, the woman sitting next to you. you ve been married four years. what have you learned about her over the last couple of months? that she s very strong. her faith in god has really pulled her through, pulled us all through this. that i knew she was a fighter from the word go. i love her with all my heart. she s the best thing that ever happened to me. dr. taylor, let me go to you. congratulations first on the great work you ve done there at greenville memorial. why was it so critical to our viewers watching at home that lana see that and get to the hospital as soon as she did. part of the hero story in this is these two individuals have background in health care as paramedics and recognize there may be a problem. time is of the essence. if there s a flesh-eating bacteria, she had a group a hemolytic stress infection, time is of the essence. immediate recognition, getting to the doctors as soon as she did, coming to the place that has physicians in house 24 hours, 7 days a week is really important a lot of heroes here but all pale in comparison to the courage kuykendalls have shown. kudos to them. patients all physicians aspire to take care of. lana, what will it be like to walk in and see those two little babies. refreshing, nice to be home with the family, hopefully start our life as a family in a few hours. you look great. those babies look beautiful. enjoy them. lana, darren kuykendall, dr. taylor, thanks for being with us. certainly, thank you. thank you. new details on the shake-up at american idol but first these messages. with the capital one cash rewards card you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash well, except her. no! but, i m about to change that. every little baby wants 50% more cash. phhht! fine, you try. 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about large people. the notion that large-sized people are unattractive to everyone, that they are asexual, that they are not interested in sex. the truth of the matter is, there s no difference between large-sized people, small-sized people. as far as sex goes, everybody is interested in what they are interested in. it s not just sex but romance and intimacy and connections with people. there really was no discussion out there, any substantive discussion about what it was like for people. i think most people have the wrong idea. you collect a variety of stories, people s real life stories. what are some of the common threads in the book, people s experiences. it s really fascinating. i interviewed men and women. not everybody in the book is large. there are people with eating disorders or gained and lost a tremendous amount of weight. there are people who have had weight loss surgery and also those who appreciate large people. that s their preference. and there are many themes that run throughout the book. i d say the primary and most important theme is that because of the messages people are given about size, starting from very, very young, they believe they just aren t worthy. keri, let me bring you into this. no matter what your size, this is something many, many people can relate to, how body image and the desire for sex, whether you feel like you re valuable enough to have sex, it all is so interwoven, isn t it? exactly. it s all about body image. positive body image and sexual communication are going to be stronger links to a happier, healthier sex life than weight alone. i see this in my practice all the time. clients whether 5 pounds overweight or 100 pounds, a person with a positive body image does better. images seem so unrealistic, lots of women in particular, i think, don t feel good about their bodies and don t want to get naked with anybody. absolutely. and rebecca points to one of the classic examples in her book of barbie. if barbie were a real person she would be 7 tall and wear a size 5 shoe. that s not a real human being. those images in our culture can be damaging to anyone s self-image regardless of their weight. that can lower your self-esteem. someone dealing with weight issues and poor body image it can affect their libido. this is personal for you. you ve gone through a struggle. you tell a story devastating to hear about how your grandmother when you were a very young girl said no one would ever love you. yes. when i was nine, my grandmother announced to myself and my family that no man would ever love me because of my size. i started to get a little bit chubby around six and was put on my first diet by a pediatrician. that diet started a lifetime of yo-yoing up and down, of eating disorders, of terrible body image problems. and although i ve done a lot of work to be comfortable in my own skin whatever size that i am, you never get over that entirely. you know, it really sticks with you your whole life. i m not the only one in the book who was told that. your hope the book is a message of acceptance. this is a message of acceptance and understanding and empowerment and really connection for all people. thank you so much, rebecca. keri glassman as always. we ll be back right after this. good morning. it s 8:26 now on this monday, july 16th. i m aaron gilchrist. let s go to storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein with a look at our forecast. tom? good morning, we re in the 70s right now. a little less humid overnight. here s your seven-day outlook, and heat wave today, tomorrow, wednesday, into the upper 90s on tuesday, near 100 wednesday. getting more humid wednesday. could get some storms. it does look like wednesday afternoon and evening, maybe off and on on thursday, some thundershowers and thunder. and that ending friday morning looks like that s the best timing on that.ity and good morning. crash on the beltway, outer loop as you make your way towards university boulevard, blocks the left lane, and you are seeing some delays as you make your way past new hampshire avenue, you re slow, but delays actually start in college park. also checking delays on i-66, a live look at nutley. very slow in this area. from fairfax county parkway to the beltway, you re at 30 miles an hour, looking like a 19-minute drive. aaron, back o 8:30 on monday morning, 16th of july, 2012. we have smiling faces, people waving on rockefeller plazas we say hello this monday. i m savannah guthrie alongside willie geist, natalie morales. coming up, have you ever dreamed of being your own boss. yes. who among us haven t. we re going to introduce you to a woman who left the corporate woman. she was an accountant, a successful one, now in the olive oil business. some good ideas if you think you d like to start a business of your own. you ask who doesn t want to be their own boss, i ask who doesn t like finger lickin ribs. the grill all fired up to make the best ribs ever. we are prepared to lick our fingers. then we ll switch gears after you lick your fingers, ask the doctor about embarrassing questions you don t want to ask. everything from problems with your nails to pink eye and much more. then later e! news correspondent here to talk about hottest celebrity news, biggest movies at the box office. plus that concert we talked about, paul mccartney, bruce springsteen concert they ended up pulling the plug on. first we want a check of the weather. stephanie abrams here for al. i found some girl scouts. first find out their troop number? do you get a patch for coming to the today show? any cookies in the area? no cookies. you have cookies? you do. we found cookies here. they will hand cookies? they ll hand over their cookies while we re doing the weather. let s have a look at what the forecast is looking like through the day today. oh, yummy! nice and hot across the country, but temperatures are going to cool off in the coming days. as we head into tomorrow, another hot day, but by midweek, we ll be back down to average in the midwest and northeast. look what i found! shortbread! now let s see what s happening outside your door. good morning. here, a beautiful summer morning underway. we ve got sunshine. temperatures are in the 70s to near 80 degrees. and it s rather humid, but not the stifling humidity we had yesterday. later today, climbing into the mid-90s, though. and we ll have a few clouds popping up during the afternoon. some of them could be producing a passing thundershower, a small chance. and near 100 tomorrow and again wednesday, and very humid on wednesday. afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms then, maybe a passing shower thursday into friday morning. abby is turning 16 today. you have many years before you get on one of willard s smucker s jars. willard, over to you. once again from your nation s capital, some fantastic out there. from north dakota, remember the lawrence welk, joe ronning, 104 today, enjoys singing in his choir, people love his jokes. stephanie herbowy, 107 years old today. recently presented the bronze star for her late husband s service in world war ii. terrific. wilbur and elizabeth lancaster from columbus, ohio, home of the famous glider. i ll have a dozen to go. 75 years they have been married and this is their anniversary. can t beat that, you love somebody and they love you. ruth staunton, clinton, maryland, that s down the road. famous for cooking and sticking to her healthy diet. lazarus todd, sterling, virginia. that s over here a few miles. 103 years old. a proud world war ii veteran. loves to golf and be with his family. paul forsythe of jacksonville, florida is 103 and is very, very active and enjoys watching all kinds of cheerleaders, especially the jacksonville cheerleaders. i like cheerleaders. now back to new york where they like cheerleaders. all right, willard, thanks. coming up, how you can save money on wedding gifts without looking like the cheap skate. this is today on nbc. but they can be really well thexpensive.ted a puppy, so to save money i just found them a possum. dad, i think he s dead. probably just playin possum. sfx: possum hisses there he is. there s an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. we re back at 8:36. she s worn many hats from district attorney to judge to legal analyst, now she s adding novelist with her new book sly fox. good morning. good morning. what do i call you, d.a., judge, political candidate, novelist. through the course of my career i can tell you a lot of defendants called me a lot of different things. i m happy to talk about a system i ve been in for years, a system that s compelling and fascinating and at times unjust. this morning we ll call you novelist. okay. works for me. i m reading the book, a young fiery assistant district attorney fighting the boys club. does that remind you of anybody. gee, i don t know. how much of the book is about your life and career. it s loosely based on my career. the main character is someone who enters the system when it is an old boys club, westchester county boys club, not a crime to beat your wife, only a crime to kill her. she is confronted by a system she sees as unfair. what she tries to do is level the playing field. this one female prosecutor in a sea of men, one female d.a. with 40 police chiefs. she has to outfox her superiors to even get into a courtroom. danny fox is somewhat my alter ego, based loosely on cases i ve tried and actual events. think about it, willie, a woman prosecutor like dannie fox sees in an autopsy photo what her male counter-parts may not. you have to read the book to know what i m talking about. it s astounding to hear you say it wasn t a crime, at the time the book was set and you were working to assault your wife domestically or girlfriend. how much of that has changed in a quarter of a century until now with domestic violence. it s interesting. it took a long time. the thinking was you beat your wife. if she didn t like it, she would up and leave. there was a whole movement and dannie fox starts one of the first domestic violence units in the nation. she is confronted by a system that favors the criminal and not the victim. in fact, she thinks that instead of the criminal justice system it should be called victim s justice system. the victim never chose to be part of the system in the first place. through sly fox the reader gets the sense of the fight to get the level playing field, the necessity to change the law, to change attitudes and that comes slowly. put dannie aside, what was it like for jeanine pirro to walk into the room as the only woman and try to engage in a fight with a group of judge, with a group of prosecutors, with a group of criminal attorneys, defense attorneys who maybe didn t want you in the room. that s very wise of you. you know what, you had to be competent, you had to be prepared and you had to have a sense of humor. any woman back then in the late 70s who had a chip on her shoulder, it was not going to work. you had to believe. i was a believer. i was idealistic. i was eager. i wanted so much to make a difference. i wanted the justice and the equality that i learned about in law school to apply in the real world. but it s ever so far from the real world. i think what the readers want in sly fox they want the inside and outside of the courtroom, machinations, how you get justice in a system that may not really be as level as we think. can i ask you to put on your legal analyst hat for a moment. whe we were talking about tom cruise, katie holmes, she filed for divorce a few weeks ago, already a settlement in the case. are you surprised how quick that happened? we re used to long protracted fights. i was surprised. you have two smart people who don t need the made red and bitterness that accompanies these separations. there s no reason for the public to be involved. they are both smart. i think she is very bright. she has now gotten full custody. he s got visitation. but make no mistake, willie, that can change. custody is an ever changing thing, it s an ever fluid situation. another name that s going to be back in the news this summer, scott peterson, eight years after being sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and unborn son he s filed an appeal. he said pretrial publicity compromise. any chance the appeal is overturned. i read the appeal. what shocks me is it took eight years to file an appeal. these death penalty cases, they take forever. i don t think there s issues that will cause a reversal. however, no one has been sent to death since 2006. there are apparently several hundred guys on death row there. we ll see what happens. i don t think anything will change there. novelist jeanine pirro. great to see you. you can read an exert on sly fox on today.com. thank you. thank you. how to get money to start your own business but first this is today on nbc. announcer: today s working home is brought to you by mcdonald s. i m lovin it. back now at 8:44. this morning on today s working woman, being your own boss. these days more and more moms are also busy entrepreneurs. nbc s mara schiavocampo has one woman s story. good morning, savannah. one of the fastest growing groups of entrepreneurs in america today is women. in fact, according to the small business association, women-owned businesses contribute close to $3 trillion to the economy. we met one mompreneur who left the corporate world for the world of olive oil. this mom of two turned a passion of olive oil into a business. a cpa by trade, she left her job for a new adventure in olive oil. for inspiration under the tuscan sun. that was really the first thing that exposed me to olive trees, the lifestyle around them. so without that, i probably wouldn t have even noticed what was going on in napa valley. reporter: with a $15,000 loan from her parents, she started with a travel-sized bottle of olive oil. i thought back to the wine industry, how did they begin. we were the first olive oil tasting room in the united states. with her daughters by her side business has grown an average of 20% a year. i m looking for my passion. i know, i see through her how it s fun. work can be fun. with olive oil as the inspiration, o kelly recently expanded into products made from all natural ingredients made of oil, of course. there s a lot of risk there. we re pushing it hard and running into issues. the nice thing is these issues feel very familiar. they are not as scary. reporter: she also notes although her two daughters don t necessarily want to follow in mom s footsteps, she s happy to show them the importance of taking risks and following your heart. a great story, mara. thank you. jean chatzky, author of money rules. some people have a great idea, how do you know it s good enough to risk their jobs. i don t want to encourage people to quit their job in today s economy without doing considerable research. you have to go out in the market and figure out is this new and different. if it s not completely new and different, have you been able to tweak the existing idea enough to make it stand out so you actually have a basis. the first step is really to do a business plan. what would that have in it? take a look at the marketplace, the pricing, how much it would cost you to launch this business, when you could expect to turn a profit. if this is something you don t know how to do on your own, there is a wonderful organization called score, service core of retired executives. they will help you for free, score.org put together a business plan. free, we like the sound of that. you have to put together a business. the one we just profiled, she borrowed money from family. that is a good idea? i wouldn t go to friends and family first. it s a good way to ruin a friendship. i would go to kickstarter.com is a crowd sourcing what does that mean? it means you put your idea out there and people will come and contribute money for you to get your idea off the ground. you may also want to look at small business loans, micro loans for women. if you go to google and type in micro financing for women in the united states, you ll actually get a list of places that provide small amounts of capital, particularly for women, to start. if you do borrow from your family, make it legal, do it in a business-like way. absolutely. you want the paperwork there just to make everybody comfortable so everybody understands what the back and forth is going to be. in terms of resources and startup, you say you ve got to think outside the box. what do you mean by that? save money any way you possibly can. if you ve got a food business and need a professional kitchen, maybe you work with a local restaurant to use their kitchen on the hours where they are closed. maybe you don t hire expensive labor but get interns from the local community college that you can hire on the cheap. what about protecting yourself from liability? would you recommend someone get llc right away or too soon? talk to a lawyer. an llc, patents, trademarks, copyrights, all of these things can be very, very important. get some legal advice. okay. jean chatzky, good advice. thank you. up next, the secret to grilled success. but first this is today on nbc. this morning, host and author of best ribs ever. how are you? it s a subtle title. that s why i like it so much. tell me what you love about ribs. you re obsessed. you use words like majestic to describe them. what is it about ribs? ribs are the most iconic barbecue. you pick them up, eat them with your hands, meat next to the bone is the most flavorful. when you eat a rib, you know you re eating great grilling. make sure i get the name right lone star beef ribs. first of all, the ribs, these are beef long ribs. this is the beef equivalent of a spare rib. we start with a rub, salt, chili powder, pepper, oregno, cumin. we sprinkle with the rub, the first step. you re not bashful at all. dump it on there. not at all. then the gesture is rubbing the spices into the meat. rub and sauce together, that s not too much. we re going to do three things. the next preparation is a mop sauce. it consists of beer. good place to start. and vinegar. any particular kind of beer you want to tell people to use? well, a lone star beer would be great. and coffee. traditionally applied with a barbecue mop. we re going high-tech with a sprayer. come over here and let me show you what i have going on here. a rack of ribs we put on earlier. these have been smoke roasting for two hours. the way you apply this mop sauce, you spray it on the ribs. what the mop sauce does is it keeps the ribs moist, adds an extra layer of flavor. let me interrupt. that s just a gardening sprayer you can get anywhere, hardware story. exactly. the third and final step. one common mistake people make with ribs is applying the sauce too early. i m a big advocate. by the way, rib rack here enables you to cook four racks of ribs in a small space. you like the way it cooks better rather than laying them on. i do. it helps melt off the fat. the last step here is actually to baste the ribs with the lone star barbecue sauce. bear bones barbecue sauce. then the ribs go over the direct part of the fire. we re working with an indirect grilling setup, coals on the periphery, meat in the center, we re burning, lacquering the sauce into the meat. these are three different things, the rub, the spray and now the barbecue sauce. exactly. okay. tell me what you re doing with the woodchips and why they are in water. they go on the coals to generate smoke. come on over. these are a batch of ribs we made earlier. the ladies step in to generously taste test. the meat will shrink back from the ends of the bones by one inch. good morning, ladies. majestic ribs. i use those words, too. you are not a fall off the bone kind of guy. i m not. fall off the bone rib are boiled. i think ribs should have chew to it. that s why god gave you teeth. turns out there s nothing you won t grill we have corn and cake. angel food cake, yes, jalapenos, a great desert and not a bad breakfast. for people who like the traditional pork baby back how are they, ladies. they are finger licking. my hands are tied here. delicious. thank you so much. i ve got to itch my nose is the problem. you ve effectively grilled everything on the table. barbecue, not just for breakfast. thank you so much. best ribs ever. they are the best ribs ever. yes. coming up, new details on the shake-up of american idol. who is left at the judges table and who might replace jennifer lopez and stephen tyler. breaking news at 8:56. we have more on a big problem on the red line. danella sealock is here with an update. at dupont circle, a train was disabled and stopped service for a few minutes. now, normal service is restored, but you may still experience some delays if you re traveling on the red line. just be aware of that as you re making your commute. other things to look out for if you re traveling along route 50 alongside the beltway, nice and clear. inside the beltway, under speed at about 38 miles per hour, heading into the city. angie, over the to [ mom ] dear chex cereal, i ve never written a fan letter before, but you ve done the impossible. you made gluten free cereals in a whole bunch of yummy flavors. cinnamon chex and honey nut chex are two of our favorites. when my husband found the chocolate one, we were in cereal heaven. the only problem is, with so many great flavors, you re making it very hard to choose. your fans, the mcgregor family. cause we love chex. [ male announcer ] and now try new gluten free apple cinnamon chex. [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who s good with money. see what s free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. good morning. as we approach 9:00, temperatures, low 80s around the metro area, upper 70s elsewhere. later today, climbing to the mid-90s by midafternoon. small chance of an isolated thundershower. otherwise, partly sunny to mostly sunny at times. and then tomorrow, hotter, up near 100 with hazy sunshine. near 100 again on wednesday. but likely some afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms off and on into thursday and friday morning. angie? thanks, back now with more of today this monday morning, the 16th day of july, 2012. going to be a bright sunshiny day. it is going to be very hot in new york city and across the country, a humid day as we get another heat wave. good morning, everyone. i m savannah guthrie alongside willie geist. maybe not the day to stand next to a grill and cook ribs. you re suffering for your art. best ribs ever. just ahead one of my favorite segments on the today show. i ve got to admit, embarrassing helt questions answered. have you ever had something you were too embarrassed to ask your doctor? fear not, you ve submitted your questions to us. we have kept your anonymity and we re going to ask the doctor all about it. tune in for that in a couple minutes. one of my favorite segments, cool viral videos everybody is talking about on twitter. keeping up with the hottest headlines and tweets to tell you what everybody is talking about. then the perfect couple deserves the perfect gift. show you how to get high-end quality at low end prices. that s coming up. good wedding gifts but you don t look like a cheap skate. exactly. before wets to that, get to natalie at the news desk. good morning. good morning, everyone. just days after our last heat wave broke, a second round of blistering temperatures will stretch from the dakotas to the northeast. at least a dozen states are under heat advisories combined with the lack of rain this hot weather is devastating corn and soybean crops and hindering crews fighting a wildfire in northern california. president obama intensifies his critique of mitt romney s business record during a town hall meeting today in cincinnati, ohio. romney said this morning that those attacks are, quote, dishonest and misdirected. however, romney is under growing pressure from members of his own party to release more of his tax returns. a race against time to secure the release of a 61-year-old american pastor kidnapped in egypt. the reverend lewis was taken hostage with two others as a travel by bus from cairo to mt. sinai friday. the pastor is diabetic and does not have his medicine. his family is calling for his immediate release. sportsmanship is taking the lead at the tour de france after someone dumped tacks on the raceway scuttling the stage. some got flat tires and one rider crashed as a result. officials are searching for the vandal whose disruption shook up the leaderboard. bradley wiggins who escaped the tacks, slowed the pace so the defending champ who was caught in the melee could catch up. there was a bouncy build up to the olympic games. they twirled in air after jumping from the bridge. artists from around the world taking part in the cultural celebrations ahead of the opening ceremony on july 27. it was a cool weekend at the box office as ice age: continental drift took the top spot with $46 million in ticket sales. the amazing spider-man in second place and ted came in third. we promise this doesn t stink, a skunk put his nose where it didn t belong getting a bottle stuck on his head. a good and brave samaritan called animal control and they came and removed the boelgts. the skunk was just fine and so grateful it didn t even spray anyone. a romantic mystery has one photographer asking for your help. angela golic was snapping pictures of the washington war memorial when she caught take touching scene. a man in an air force uniform proposing to a woman in the lighted pavilion. when she later reviewed the pictures she felt they belonged to the couple and embarked on her search to find them. she s posted images on facebook and youtube and they are going viral online as romantics chime in to try and track them down. we sure hope they found them. it s four minutes past the hour. back outside to stephanie. beautiful shot. i got the chills when i was looking at them. we have dancers on the plaza training with the rockettes. they do all type of dance. lyrical. contempb rather. modern. modern. hip-hop. jazz. contemporary. they like all types of dance. are you going to be dancitoday? a little too hot here throughout portions of the plains into the midwest, and also into the northeast. that s where we still have heat advisories. also into st. louis, 95 for you. minneapolis, you re the hot spot at 100 degree. you re at the point farthest to the north. let s have a laook at what we ae going to see, the heat, because of the big high pressure. now here s what s outside your door. good morning. around here, we re beginning to heat up, although still a pleasant summer morning underway. all those areas in the orange, into the 80s. west and north, though, still in the 70s, many locations. later today, the mid-90s. and we ll have quite a bit of sunshine, just a few clouds in and out, and a small chance of an afternoon thundershower. near 100 tomorrow and again wednesday. and more humid on wednesday. could get afternoon and evening strong back inside to you. to today s health where we answer medical questions you re too embarrassed to bring up with your physician. for purposes of our segment, she has heard it all. yes, i have. you should tell your doctor if they have something embarrassing. they don t care. no, they don t. we ve seen everything. please ask us if you re concerned. we ve been collecting questions. i recently developed toenail fungus. could i have gotten it from getting pedicures. you can get toenail fungus from pedicures, caused by one of many species of fungus that invades the nail by direct contact. it is possible to get it through a pedicure. what happens it causes the nail to turn white, then over time dull and distorted. but eventually it does damage the nail causing it to get thick and crumbley and yellow. you can get it on fingernails but typically on toenails because it thrives in a warm moist area. the treatments doesn t eradicate but causes new nail to grow cleanly. pedicures are a good way to get them if they do not sterilize because you pass client to client. locker rooms are also a good area. wear slippers or thongs. see a doctor? you can try over the counter creams and ointments. they don t tend to be that effective. they offer other options. there s a nail polish for six months, an anti-fungal medication. there s a laser treatment. it s very effective but costly. toe fungus, check. let s move onto pink eye. we have a question. i think i have pink eye. i haven t had it since i was a kid. what causes it. pink eye, what it is, an inflammation of the membrane that sits on the whites of the eye on the inside of the eyelid. not only causes pink eye but tearing and discharge. you ll notice in the morning your eye lashes may be crusty. it s caused by a viral infection most commonly but also by a bacterial infection. it is highly, highly contagious. if you have it, do not touch your eyes. if you do, wash your hands. if you re a parent and your child has it, you could easily get it from them so follow the same precautions. if you had it, should you wash your pillow case and sheets? you certainly if you had that discharge on your eye, wash the pillow case, discard any mascare, eyeliner, try to stay makeup-free, take out your contact lenses as well. something to see the doctor and get the drops or clears up on their own. the majority of cases are viral and go away on their own in three days. if it s bothering you, topical drops. if it s more severe and thick discharge you may need to see a doctor. my next question, i have a wart on my hand, is it contagious. it is contagious. warts are caused by a virus and they are transmitted when you touch skin to skin contact, which can happen by shaking hands or sharing towels and washcloths. it is difficult for adults to get it because we ve built up immunity as adults usually. kids and young adults are more susceptible because they haven t developed that immunity. if you are an adult and you have a wart on your hand, it could potentially spread to another area of your body. not likely but it s possible. okay. what is the treatment? many, many options. most over the counter ones do work well. gels, pads, ointments on the wart. for kids they tend to go away on their own. for adults they persist. if it s stubborn and not responding to over the counters, you can go to your doctor who give you all sorts of prescription topical creams, freeze it, cut it out if needed. it s viral, something you can catch. is the tried and true measure, wash your hands? that would be one way. if you re an adult, try to be conscious not to shake someone s hand if you have it. it s very difficult for an adult to get it. last one is a doozy. are you ready? quote, i notice my urine has a strong odor. is there something wrong with me and what is causing it. urine odor. that is something embarrassing to people. urine order can vary. it depends what your secreting. normally dilute urine has no odor. if you re dehydrated and urine becomes concentrated it can take on a strong ammonia scent. if it s sweet smelling that can be due to diabetes. if it s foul smelling, it can be due to vitamins, eating certain foods like asparagus. that s a well-known one. if it s foul smelling and you re having pain it can be a urinary tract infection. is this something you keep an eye on? if it continues. the majority of the time there s nothing to be concerned about. if you re having pain, stopped eating asparagus and vitamins and still have the smell at women s health we recommend you seeing the doctor. you re earning your salary today, a lot of good questions. thank you so much. coming up next, pop culture headlines including who is going to judge american idol next year. later making over the backyard deck is cheaper than you think. we ll show you how after this. i dare you to dare me what s today s dare? erase the damage of 100 blow-drys [ female announcer ] with daily moisture renewal from pantene. the pro-v system nourishes to lock in moisture erasing the damage of 100 blow drys for a silky, soft touch. think only salon brands can do that? i took the dare. will you? 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[ jennifer ] join for $1. weight watchers. believe. because it works. back now with the headlines, trending topics and viral videos that are hot right now. jason kennedy is an e! news correspondent. good morning. great to have you here. thanks for having me, natalie. appreciate it. let s rundown the box office in the news, ice age: continental drift in the top spot. any surprises. ice age came on top, $46 million, did better than ice age 3. as you see the spider-man franchise coming in at $35 million. they have gotten close to $200 million. i think the big surprise was ted at number three, $22 million this week. it s made $160 million. who would think that a talking teddy bear would give the spider-man franchise a run for their money. i ve got to see ted i saw spider-man. it s not for kids. major announcement at comic-con. have you been to comic-con before? i have not. seems like everybody is there. seems like a good time. you re out of place if you don t dress up. the big story is the walker dead trailer debuted, it s 4:00 long. the fans that go, they love it. zombies are big. the fans dress up like zombies during the panel and have a zombie obstacle course. you spend $45 for people to run around and grab you. that s the big thing. long story short, some big changes coming to the walking dead. other things, jessica beale, will play the villain in the new wolverine movie coming out. don t get too excited she hasn t made a decision yet. she s in negotiation toss talk about that. she s supposed to be married in the next few months. she s got a lot of things to decide, movies, married, what happens happening? good to be in those shoes, to be wanted like that. world of music, we saw the bruce springsteen, paul mccartney concert that didn t get cut short because it went long. officials in the uk pulled the pug a little bit. what happened? bruce is known for going long. he was on stage three hours. he brings up sir paul mccartney. in the middle of the song before they can end the thing and say good-bye to everybody, at 10:30 some noise audience kicks in at hyde park. it s an affluent area. they decide, no more music, the police pull the plug. how can you end that, concertgoers. rock royalty. you had an nbc employee there. how can you pull the plug on rock royalty like that. twitter sphere went crazy. my favorite, mccartney on stage. don t bug me. that was great. good tunes there for sure. we ll hear more from that. also, rolling stones speaking of good music. a lot of talk whether they will reunite for the 50th anniversary tour. what s happening? it s their 50th anniversary like you said. they are just coming out with a book. everybody in the band has been hinting that they might return to do some live shows. we do know this week some sort of announcement will take place about live concert gigs. but they did say they were in the studio. they are rehearsing. this is big. they haven t been on stage together since 2005. i guess it happens. there was some bad blood in the past but has all that been cleared? yes, keith, everybody, they are getting along now. american idol, we ve been talking about the changes here. j. lo last week was talking with us and sounded like she was going to quit the show. turns out, it looks like it was happening. you know more than anybody. she all but said she was leaving. she confirmed specifically to ryan seacrest on his radio show. she started crying saying this is a tough decision. she wants to get back to her family, acting. she s on a world tour right now. she s got stuff going on. then you ve got someone like steven tyler who made this announcement bankruptly. a lot of people caught off-guard saying he wants to return to aerosmith. it kind of looked like the guys in the band are saying, steven, we want you back. you need to get away from everything and come back to the band. that leaves randy. front-runners for judges, what are they talking about. we ve heard mariah, a couple other big names. we interviewed nick cannon and he said jokingly, can you afford my wife? they are low balling, not giving lucrative contracts. the show struggled in the ratings. it s still number one, so struggling, put that in quotes. can they afford someone like mariah carey, rumors. aretha franklin expressed interest. the jury is out. randy jackson are on board now but some sources are saying he won t be back either. the plot thickens there. the plot thickens. i love this video that s gone viral. got to talk about this. two guys who hitched lawn chairs up to 350 balloons. tell me about this. who knew you could do this. these guys from oregon put 350 helium balloons on the lawn chairs. this is a trial run. they wanted to fly over baghdad of all places. they were trying to get all the way to montana. unfortunately weather got in their way. my favorite part is guess how they got down if they needed to during the storm. somebody had to take a shot is my guess. somebody had a bb gun. they could shoot helium balloons down. he was quoted as saying anybody could do this. you don t need a pilot s license. it s an american and iraqi together. making a good statement. jason kennedy, good to have you here. please be back soon. you ll be back real soon with hoda and kathie lee talking more entertainment news. i m get ready. you have to start drinking. coming up, looking trim before you hit the gym with slimming workout wear but first these messages. i woke up to a new day every little thing gonna go my way i woke up to a light bulb on every little thing is possible now [ female announcer ] kraft singles have no artificial flavors and they re always made with milk so all you taste is something amazing. life is amazing with the love that i found for their destination wedding. double miles you can actually use. but with those single mile travel cards. [ bridesmaid ] blacked out. but i m a bridesmaid. oh! x marks the spot she ll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast. .to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? what s in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. he thinks you re naked. it just looks like my milk chocolate is showing. only a fool would think i d actually show up naked. so it s that kind of party.hit it! i m sexy and i know it look at that body into john stamos. honey! i think i m getting burned! eat. tastes pretty good, huh? [ men grunting ] open! [ male announcer ] oikos. possibly the best yogurt in the world. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. . still to come on today, a backyard makeover. show you some easy ways to spruce up your deck and garden on a budget. then if you re invited to a lot of showers and weddings this summer, we ve got ideas to shower them with gifts for less. first your local news and weather. the wheat in every mini-wheat has gotta be just right. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait. who s driving the.? 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat [ male announcer ] yep, there s 8 filling layers of whole grain fiber in those fun little biscuits. so they stick with you, all morning long. kellogg s® mini-wheats cereal. [ mini ] yee haw! a big breakfast in a little biscuit. crispy granola, layered with creamy peanut butter or rich dark chocolate flavor. 90 calories. 100% natural. and nature.approves. granola thins. from nature valley. nature at its most delicious. breaking news at 9:26. i m aaron gilchrist. we ve been following a bit of a confusing situation with the red line at dupont circle. let s check in with danella sealock to see where things stand now. here s what s happening. earlier there was a disabled train. that train cleared, but when it was disabled, they shut the station down at dupont circle. then again another disabled train. there were also reports of crowning at the dupont metro station. but now i m happy to say the station is open. you may see crowding and just expect delays, just in case along the redline. pretty messy commute along the red line. taking the roadways, outer loop of the beltway, slow from american legion bridge, delays continue matters. pioneers in outsourcing us jobs supports tax breaks overseas. insourcing. industry and favors bring jobs home. it matters. this message. good morning. here s your seven-day outlook. today, we should make it into the low and mid-90s with a few clouds in and out, a small chance of an afternoon thundershower, near 100 tomorrow and again on wednesday. more humid wednesday too. some afternoon and evening storms are likely wednesday and off and on thursday into friday morning. aaron? thank you, tom. on news 4 you know what, when you take a drug and you take a drink and you mix those two together, you think you re invincible. you didn t wake up some mornings thinking what did i just do? there s an epidemic, a disease out there. i couldn t remember. i came out of this hiv negative. there but for the grace of god. yes. i was the luckiest person in the world. that, of course, is the one and only elton john in a very frank conversation with matt about his drug addiction, aids crisis and you ll see much more of that on today. i m savannah guthrie alongside natalie morales. summer full of weddings and engagements and showers. we love you, friends, but the gifts can add up. they k we ll show you some lookalikes a fraction of the cost so you can decide when to splurge and when to save. also another way to save is on your deck and backyard. you re probably spending a lot of time out there this summer. we ll show you how to give it a brand-new look for just about $200 or less. some great ideas. of course we all have olympic fever already. if champion athletes are inspiring you to get active, too, we ll show you the hottest new gear to make you look trim while you re trying to slim down. let s check in with stef. a lot of people not wanting to exercis we are going to see that heat yet again. all the way up into the twin cities, we re talking about triple-digit readings into the plains as well. but we ll get what i call fro pa, frontal passage. now here s a look at what s happening outside your door. good morning. heat we ve commencing again, right now into the 80s throughout most of virginia and maryland. 83 at reagan national. and off to our west and north, still in the 70s. a few clouds in and out throughout the rest of the day, with highs mid-90s. and a small chance of an isolated afternoon thundershower. and near tuesday, up near 100, near 100 again on wednesday with more humidity around and afternoon and evening storms. and then on thursday, we might get some passing showers and thunder that may linger into friday morning, but looking nicer for the weekend. all of that red is going bye-bye soon. fropa itself out. of course. new vocabulary words. okay, stef, thanks. coming up next, great wedding gifts whether you want to splurge or save. who is at the door. somebody answer the door. it s sabrina. [ female announcer ] with its rich, silky smooth taste there s magic in every piece of dove® dark chocolate. it s all the salad andfor $25. breadsticks you want.te. 2 appetizers made for sharing. then 2 entrées from 6 of our favorites. like new smoked mozzarella chicken. 3 courses, 2 people, just $25. at olive garden. hey, becky. hey..uncle steve. for life s bleachable moments. about how older people are becoming more and more antisocial, so i was really aggressive with my parents about joining facebook. my parents are up to 19 friends now? so sad. i have 687 friends. this is living. what!? that is not a real puppy. that s too small to be a real puppy. [ male announcer ] venza. from toyota. mom! look what i found in the shed! no! no! no! were you guys just making out in here? what? no! really, cold cuts from a package? yes. [ male announcer ] it s nice to finally say yes. new oscar mayer selects. it s yes food. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait. who s driving the.? 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat [ male announcer ] yep, there s 8 filling layers of whole grain fiber in those fun little biscuits. so they stick with you, all morning long. kellogg s® mini-wheats cereal. [ mini ] yee haw! a big breakfast in a little biscuit. well, if you re getting lots of bridal shower and wedding invitations and stressing about how much to spend you don t have to. you just need to be a savvy shopper. here with splurges and low budget lookalikes is sabrina from hg tv. good morning. good morning. let s start with monogrammed robes. always a great wedding or brilgs shower gift. you can use them at the pool or after bathing. this one is $60. plush. these are beautiful with monogrammed, more of the waffle feel, thin. better for summer. about half the price. less than half the price. that is $168, these are $80. all equally comfortable. both cozy. move over here to wind chimes. a unique idea to get a couple started off on a harmonious life together. i m guessing the bigger one is the high. it is the high. it s gorgeous. they sound beautiful like church bells. so peaceful. that s $260. this is not as impressive but $60 still gives you that look. really good. i love it. perfect. a different kind of gift. picnic baskets a great, different kind of gift. that could get on your nerves after a while. on a windy day. exactly. tell me about these. this is the high. this is $200. this low is $90. this is all the zippered inserts. more accessories. an insulated bag with tupperware. this does not come with all those bells and whistles. it s a picnic. how often do you go picnicking? i don t think you need to do that unless you re a professional picnic goer. this is nice a great container for drinks, beverages. the high low again. can you get them monogrammed. they both can be monogrammed. this is the high, the smaller, cast aluminum at $70, this is $30, the way to go. they both have a sealer so they don t rust. over here, a cozy comforter, blankets tell me about these. the high is $250. it s cashmere. both can be monogrammed. this is $50 because it s acrylic. still cozy. same idea, a throw. exactly. either one can be perfect gifts of this is more of a splurge. for the home chef these are fabulous to cook in, now, i m guessing this the high. yes, at $305. american made, $60. equally as heavy. even pick up the tops and can you see. this goes to 450 degrees where this can go to higher temperatures. that s the only difference. for $60, can t beat it. cake stands here. these are great gifts for anything. bridal shower, wedding shower. absolutely. bring it with the deserts, which is a great gift. high crystal $245, low is hand blown at $60. i think you can get the exact same look. this has a little bit more ea etching. i can never tell the difference between crystal and blown glass. also a set of knives, great gift. two great gifts, one is high, one is low. heart to tell. this is big price difference $546, low is $45 for the entire set. the high is forged where these are stamped knives. okay. but it s all a personal preference in what you d rather have. glasses. goblets. these are actually not glass. those are plastic, acrylic. the set of six for the high is $95 where the low is $18. by the pool you wouldn t want glass anyway, so i think these are great, even for kids, too. $18, you can get more than one set. it really shows you how you can if you shop around get a great deal. get more for your money. everybody loves luggage as a gift. for honeymoon or all the traveling, this is $510, this is $130. this is just a little bit thicker, more flexible, so it pops back into its original shape. this $130 for a set of three, too. that s fantastic. really good deals. sabrina soto. thanks for shopping it for us, high lows. coming up next, saving you more money with changes that make a big difference in your backyard right after this. you do something to me that nobody else could do into john stamos. honey! i think i m getting burned! eat. tastes pretty good, huh? [ men grunting ] open! [ male announcer ] oikos. possibly the best yogurt in the world. i think we should see other people. in fact, i m already seeing your best friend, justin. i would ve appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you re always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. mom, we re dying. no you re not, you re just hungry. make some totino s pizza rolls. we don t have any! front. left, totino s. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino s pizza rolls. this morning on today s garden, a backyard makeover on the cheap. consumer correspondent joins us with the inside deal for your deck. sounds impossible but we worked on it. most of your summer entertaining done outside or on your deck in the yard. sprucing up the space may seem like a big job and big bill. we looked for unique ways to do it for less. backyard blahs but no green to fix the green space. no need to panic. with some expert tips you can redo your deck for mere dollars. we challenged lifestyle expert mark jennings to do a quick make over for this family on a small budget. tell me what you re interested in. we like to entertain. we would love to lounge and sit and hang. we really want to maximize this space is really what you re saying to me. we then gave him his marching orders. you have $250 though spend and nothing can be new. reuse, repurpose and redesign, that s what the challenge is all about. go shopping. bye-bye. first up, a tag sale making deals for a fraction of the cost. $169 carpet. it doesn t fit and my husband wants to get rid of it. make me an offer. $25. you got it. are you selling these? two for $40. done. next up, a consignment shop. this is a treasure. this $125 bench went for $80. i love the lines. it s really secure. i never walk by a dumpster without checking by what s inside. last, not for the feint of heart, dumpster diving, a sport for treasure hunters. look at this table. i think this will make a great bench. back at the house, mark went to work. these galvanized garbage stands will become our planters. i m going to make a couple holes in the bottom. after sanding and spraying this distressed bench, it looked new. looking for any outdoor furniture, there s a couple of things you want to keep in mind. one, is it sturdy enough to accommodate a person. two, can it last the test of time. three, can you paint it and make it look fabulous. with a little help from her son, soon we were ready for the big reveal. welcome to your new backyard deck. oh, my goodness. what do you think? amazing. i gave you three zones. a lounging zone, a dining zone, and a cooking zone. all on one deck. fabulous. the best part is i stayed under budget. how much? $215. what do you think? wow. thank you so much. my pleasure. well done. the family is enjoying it, you know, also by cutting back and trimming the shrubs in your backyard, it will create an illusion of bigger, greener garden. little things make a huge difference. coming in under budget. what s the biggest mistake people make. first of all, don t go out and buy matchy matchy things. mix and match, and don t make the table the center. push it aside and make seating areas. lounging, cooking, eating and it was not a huge deck. it made a huge difference. the deck looked older but rug made it look better. a $250 rug, got it for $25. if you search with an open mind. but janice, the dumpster. not for the feint of heart. he never passes a dumpster. if people are moving, garbage day. right on top. grab in the middle of the night. no one sees you. quick tip on the greens. plants make things look great but expensive. things out of season. ask for a deal. if they look shabby, give me off. they can always be nourished and come back to life. top of the line. look in the garbage. sometimes they have castaways they will give to you for free. paragraph great ideas. up next, break a sweat with slimming workout gear. first this is today on nbc. this morning on today s style, slimming sportswear. whether you re going for a run or hitting a yoga class, looking good may inspire you a little harder to get in shape. contributor to life and style magazine. good morning. i love workout clothes. it s gotten to be glamorous and well fitting as well. time for the olympics, a great time to get inspired, get to the gym, even take walks. women s biggest problem is they don t feel slim in their workout wear. we re going to show you great ways to motivate you to go to the gym. used to be you would wrap a sweatshirt to hide on conceal, now you have things. sometimes they are bulky prch. this is booty wrap, places for credit card, keys, phone. great ways without adding bulk. our first model ada, show us what it looks like to fashionably go for the run. this one is all about color blocking. can t miss you anywhere. so popular right now. i love that yellow. this is all from bb. the thing is if you have side piping down your leggings, it really makes your thighs look leaner because it draws the eyes in. same with the top and jacket, color blocking, gray on the inside gives you the curvy waist. it s such a fun way to go work out. a jump rope, this is a great way, traveling, going somewhere, pack it in your bag. some bright yellow nikes, good to go. she loves it, looking in the mirror, all excited. go work out. ada, you look great. next look right now is karen modeling for us. yes. we see here a nice long, lean effect. love that. this is fabulous. the kind of thing you can work out and wear for the rest of the day, too. it s really fashionable. you don t need a big bulky sweater. this is from lucy active wear. i love the pants. almost a built-in skirt in the pants, extra coverage over the butt which a lot of women love. she used to wear big bulky sweats now she feels slim. the skechers are great they tone your feet while working out as well. even if you go on a walk, helps with your calves and thighs. always remember take a water bottle, too. need to take a water bottle. fantastic. love that outfit. sarah, who is ready to hit the gym. come on in, sarah. time to hit the gym. this is really about the fabrics. these are the total slimming pants from marika. they literally take you down a size or two from the miracles line. a special fabric compression mesh, holds in tummy, slims thighs. built-in mesh panels, suck in waist, lift boobs, give a longer torso. black is the most popular color in terms of slimming. pop it on top to draw the eye up. that s from beyond yoga, neon bright pink. great little bag to throw over the sides from lululemon. so chic and cute. i love it, the whole thing color coordinated. she is like i look two sizes thinner. who knew, miracle pants. it s a miracle. next charisma, a great look with charisma. some women actually want to show leg but don t want to wear shorts. it s a great alternative, skort. from gapfit. gives you shorts underneath, appropriate working out but coverage of a skirt. again, keep it darker on bottom, pop color on the top. available at target. again, great bag. the watch is by p.u.m.a., which is great, tracks how many calories you re burning. cute headbands that don t slip off your head when you re working out. looks good, too. she s ready to go to yoga class. bright and colorful. i love these pants. extra panel over the stomach and thighs. the jacket from lululemon. the way it s lined, also enhances curves and gives you cinched in waist. play up the color. ladies you look great. thanks so much. coming up, kathie lee and hoda with the latest hollywood buzz but first your local news and weather. [ obama ] i m barack obama, and i approve this message. [ female announcer ] every woman who believes decisions about our bodies and our health care should be our own is troubled mitt romney supports overturning roe versus wade. romney backed a law that outlaws all abortion even in cases of rape and incest. and that s not all. i ll cut off funding to planned parenthood. [ female announcer ] for women, planned parenthood means life-saving cancer screenings and family-planning services. but, for mitt romney. planned parenthood. we re going to get rid of that. good morning. it s 9:57 on this monday, july 16th. i m angie golf. we re still seeing delays on the red line due to an earlier disabled train at dupont circle. the train has been cleared, but you re still seeing delays in both direction. be aware of that if you re taking the rails. over to the roadways, outer loop of the beltway, not too bad right now as you approach colesville road. still a bit is under speed at 36 miles an hour. now let s head over to tom with the check of our forecast. tom, good morning. good morning. temperatures now into the low and mid-80s. later today, low to mid-90s with clouds in and out and a small chance of an afternoon storm. tomorrow, near 100. hazy sunshine, near 100 again on wednesday, with increased humidity. afternoon showers and storms could get some passing showers and thundershowers on thursday, perhaps into friday midday, and then drying out after that, just in time for the weekend. highs in the 80s on saturday and sunday. angie? angie? sounds good, captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, everybody, it s a fun day monday around here and it is july 16th. hope you had an awesome weekend. how was your weekend, by the way? it was a great weekend. it was a busy weekend. it was working. you ve been working a lot these days. yes. hopefully i ll be able to announce next week why. a lot of rain last night. i love those summer storms. if you re not in danger from them, they are beautiful to behold. there had been such heat. to see the heavens open. it was great sleeping weather. i love when it rains. i can crash and sleep for a long time. nobody likes that but hodi and her hoodie. i ve been having brain problems. i ve been forgetting things mid sentence. we have conversations and i blank out. it s not like i m not fascinating. i remembered one thing i would like to announce. i spoke at the press club in washington, d.c. a great group of journalism students. they were such fun, they were a riot and up-and-coming high school students. i told them do not watch our show. you ll learn nothing here. they were great, great kids. i want to give a big thank you. that is lovely. what about what happens with paul sykes? you should start managing him. i m so happy for him. paul sykes was on our show friday. he sang this song. i don t need this world to sing my praises or to chisel out some long poetic phrases that s music. let them lay down on someone else s tomb all they need to know about me is that i loved you the most beautiful song, you guys. and get this, he s such a hard worker. he writes his own songs and they are beautiful. here s the coolest thing. his song is currently, his album is currently number 10 on the singer/songwriter chart on itunes. we are so happy. i think flowers are in order. when am i going to stop doing that on national television? it s so weird how it gets out of con trochlt control. i don t like that. lots of things you don t like. you were upset about this. you and i took a different tone on this one. in london, officials pulled the plug on bruce springsteen and sir paul mccartney because they had gone half an hour over the noise ordinance. bruce springsteen is singing this incredible concert. he loves to give more to fans than they ask for because he s a giver. out of nowhere, sir paul mccartney steps up on the stage. these guys start jamming to beatles music. it s a moment in history. it s fabulous. now he s trying to say, who pulled the plug or good night. somebody pulled the plug because there is a noise ordinance. the people who live nearby don t like all the raucous. someone yanked the plug and their mikes were dead. bruce springsteen is known for and the fans love it going way, way over. his fans love it. they said they ignore these ordinances all over the world. because they are givers. i get that. i always think there are rules for a reason. and there might be people there that are elderly or sick or have to get up early in the morning and would like to get their sleep. i think you have to consider them, at least, hoda woman. you re usually for the underdog. why in this case bruce springsteen and sir paul can do anything he wants, why? it s a moment in history. those people can get ear plugs. what if you have a morning plane and you can t walk and you just want to sleep or something. you must consider the other people. don t be so fricking selfish all the time. i was at a birthday party on saturday night. a neighbor don t say his name. the neighbor called. there was a guy playing guitar like a james taylor. you could hardly hear the guy. the neighbors called and said, can you ask that guitar player who was playing like an angel to shut it. i feel for the neighbor. i just do, having been there myself. we have early, early hours. when people have their parties and go until 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, you can t sleep. be thoughtful. start your party earlier, you know? go to bed at 9:00 like decent people do. frank and i are in our jammis, bambino in between us and out. 9:00, baby. you know what? we ll live longer. frank is going to be 82 one month from today. he looks better than men half his age. he does look great. his night-night time. you guys go to bed at 9:00. you go to bed 8:30. i love going to bed. i m so happy to crawl into bed at night. it s one of my favorite times. getting under the covers, going to bed. even when it s still a little light out. it wasn t last night. we get up early, all right? i love adele, but last summer there was somebody s birthday party in our neighborhood and it was adele singing the same freaking song, rolling in the deep. i m going to roll in the deep. somebody s going to roll. it was like 3:00 in the morning. i guess somebody called the police. nobody came. finally you go, really? i love adele, but let s hear it once or twice, not all freaking night long. i could have had it all rolling in the deep i like it at 10:00 in the morning. there is a big shake-up at american idol. there were all these rumors who was going to be off as a judgment stephen tyler announces he decided he was leaving. he said american idol was like his mistress. so she wouldn t boil his rabbit, which sounded dirty until i realized he was talking about fatal attraction. don t boil that rabbit! then j. lo announced she, too, is leaving. ratings are down over 20% since last year. nobody wants to be on it. it s not a sinking ship. it still gets ratings anybody would die for but is showing signs of aging. i wonder what s going to happen. they have some people they say are front runners. get doris day in there, one of the greatest singers ever. she s about 95, but she will bring such great, great grace to the whole thing. now the choices are mariah carey, adam lambert wow and fergie. that s quite the poof. aretha franklin wants to do it. here is the problem with aretha. she is an amazing iconic singer. aretha doesn t fly. you have to be at all those single places where they have the audition. good point. does she want to spend her life on a bus going to pittsburgh or elsewhere just because that s where this stuff is. she has to think this through. jason kennedy is with us from e! he has a huge career ahead of him. he s smart, adorable, like a young ryan seacrest. what else is going on? your friend. i wouldn t consider her a friend, but celeste holme passed away. she was in the original production of oklahoma. she played ado annie. i met her when i was 17 years old in mobile, alabama, at the america s junior miss pageant, the one i was kicked out of for talking to a boy? exactly. i didn t know the rules, see? i didn t know there was a noise ordinance. she was one of the judges and she was so lovely. people are remembered for their great accomplishments in their field, but i remember her for being a lovely, lovely woman who was as gracious as she could have been to every high school senior. there were 50 of us down there. a new study confirms women are smarter than men. jerry, sorry. i.q. expert james flynn a man. looked at i.q. tests from around the world and realized women scored higher than men did across the board. we kept saying, what s the point of this story? we already know this. part is because we have been raising wimps. men. i do, for a couple of generations now. ever since the greatest generation which was the world war ii, we have coddled and spoiled and wiped our boys buns way too long. we have not trained them how to be men. as a result, women are i m all for equality of the sexes, but i don t want to raise a kid like that. i m not saying he isn t, but i didn t want to raise a kid like this. he is not like that. you raised a good one. i don t know. he never calls me. no, no, he talks to his dad almost daily. his mother? nothing. i get the crickets. that s all right. he ll pay. here s the thing. we were talking about lying. okay, now. because i work at dateline. people used to watch the eyes. they say your eyes give a clear signal when you re lying. i thought if it was if you look down and left. when they ask a question. hoda, do you ever lie? yes. they say your eyes flash for a second when you lie. did you eat that last cookie? no. there is like a quick. this is the way they say people now do if they lie. you thought it was this. i thought it was down and left. ask me something. do you like my dress? oh, yeah. great. that s a lie, see? that s what we think. the opposite of what you said. oh, yeah. up and left. i don t know what it is. let s do favorite things, shall we? i m very excited about this. last week you and i were talking. get yours out of the way. mine is a presentation of sorts. okay. mine is if you want to waste a lot of time in your house alone, have you ever seen this game called bejeweled? oh, my god. no. this is one of those games. the goal is to get three in a row. look at it. look at the explosion. i m telling you. look what s happening. i m almost afraid to introduce this because if you do it, you could be on a plane and six hours would go by. look, i already won a prize. imagine if you had your head phones on listening to the crap you love. do you knows how many brain cells you re going to kill, hoda? what do you get wasting your life on that? you learn spacial things. bejeweled, $3.99, itunes app. what you got, girl? you and i were talking last week about beer. we had guys tell all. i only like beer when i have my crabs. i thought, hello, got on the phone. christine did and called costas, our dear friends down in baltimore who have the greatest crabs. they sent me a bushel of crabs. i ate them all weekend long. do i smell like it, hoda? no, you smell great. hi, jerry. so they sent crab cakes. we have more for the crew. they are so unbelievable. $14.99 and up from costas, the crab cakes. have a bite of that, baby. oh, my god. because they don t put too much bread in it. it s all crab meat. thank you, everybody, from costas. staying with the theme of food, this is one of the joy bauer protein pancake recipes. it was donna that got me to try these and now i m obsessed. it s oat, egg whites, cinnamon, vanilla and something else. it makes one perfect pancake. with fruit and syrup, i think it s under 350 calories. it s on our website if you search the joy bauer pancake. can t beat the crab cakes. this is so delicious. it s unbelievable. let s make ralph macchio wait. we ll talk hollywood buzz. it s strange, i m getting gray but kate still looks like.kate. [ female announcer ] nice n easy with colorblend technology is proven to give more blends of tones. for color that s true to you. i don t know how she does it. [ female announcer ] with nice n easy, all they see is you. these are sandra s homemade yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness. and fraudulence. i m in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one. hooped-earring looking into a crystal ball pops into your head. a new series on the national geographic channel called american gypsies introduces us into the traditional gypsies. you ll see two brothers, nicky and bobbie arguing about bobbie allowing his daughter to take acting classes. let s take a look. who are you to do this? you change our ways. we don t change your ways. i think it s time we adapt to the times like every other culture has. you re going to break 100-year law? i m not trying to break 100-year law. i m just trying to bend. don t bend nothing in our family s name. you won t be in the family. there is no way in the world with you can make me. if only you could choose your family. great to see you, girls. you were co-hosting with hoda last time. i was. then you were on dancing with the stars. you re a busy guy. i keep busy. what drew you to this new project? i saw some footage about four years ago, it s taken a long journey and a couple of networks and thankfully nat-geo embraced it fully. nat-geo and macchio. look at that, i m going to use it all day long. i saw footage, two film students, friends of mines were putting together a trailer. they were doing a documentary on the johns family in new york city. i just found this a fascinating subculture, arranged marriages and elder court assemblies, homeschool, their own language. they are at a crossroads of the five brothers. the father is ailing. that one scene you see nicky and bobbie, nicky holding truer to the age-old traditions and bobbie not wanting to lose that, but wanting to give his children a chance at the american dream. it s very familiar. when our daughter said she wanted to be an actress. frank and i did the same thing bobby and his brother did. when i was in st. petersburg, russia, there was a big, big gypsy element there these are home grown gypsies. they don t like using the word gypsy. why did you use it in the title? it s network tv. american gypsies is a sexier title. why did they want to do it? did they want to tell people about the culture? great question. bob sr. that is ailing feels the traditions and the culture is waning. the pull of adapting to the times, some of those traditioning will be lost. that s the age-old thing, that s fiddler on the roof. i think they want to bring down that stereotype, that negative connotation. that didn t help that clip. but that s family. it s fascinating. they respect their elders. family comes first. these are elements i believe are relatable in an odd way. even though the culture is different, not the way i choose to live my life, but i can respect that family first element. you know what s wild about looking at ralph, he still looks like a child. that s not the case. maybe in the length, but not in the waist. i m not quite benjamin button. have you started to shrink yet? how old are you, by the way? i m the big 5-o. you look the big 2-o. it s ridiculous. that is astonishing. my knees didn t get the memo, you know what i mean? great to see you. it premieres tomorrow night on the national geographic channel. and today s buzz and much more ahead. jason kennedy after these messages. it s oikos greek yogurt. it s creamy, nonfat, and it turns the next person you see into john stamos for five seconds. honey! i think i m getting burned! heh! eat. tastes pretty good, huh? best yogurt ever. yeah! 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[ giggles ] [ female announcer ] new quiltvent technology. only from band-aid® brand. the more options you have, nyou re trying to lose weight, the more likely you are to stay on track. that s why there are 10 delicious kinds of special k® cereal. because every girl could use a little variety. enjoy special k®, in 10 delicious flavors. so many possibilities. what will you gain when you lose? if you ve been having fun in the sun all weekend, we ll get you up-to-date on the hollywood buzz. bobbie thomas is here with things that make you go, hmm. right after your local news. [ molly ] wash your paws, mr. man! 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[ male announcer ] and now try new gluten free apple cinnamon chex. we are back on this fun day monday with today s buzz, a round-up of all the celebrity news you might have missed over the weekend. with everything you need to know about the stars is e! news correspondent jason kennedy. how are my two favorite aunts? your two crazy aunts. tom and katie, there s been a lot of buzz. it was interesting how quickly this thing got resolved. people didn t think it would be like this. they were supposed to be in court tomorrow july 17th for this big public hearing. none of them wanted that to happen. there was no hush money involved. this was worked out in the prenuptial agreement. tom will get generous visitation. katie gets primary custody and it works out at the end of the day. after his third marriage you get smart. you start making an iron-clad only frank gifford got married the third time and didn t get one of those. you learn, this is going to cost me if this doesn t work out. new thing for suri, $38,000 a year she is going to a school in new york city, convent of the sacred heart. which is a catholic school for girls. suri has been homeschooled up to this point. it s a school a lot of people have gone to, the hilton sisters have gone there, among celebrities, lady gaga went there. was tom cruise blind-sided? i think so. the way she went about this thing, supposedly she got a new cell phone and was making some calls. really laid it on. i interviewed him three weeks before the announcement went down. he was excited to be with her for his birthday and stuff. he seemed to be blown away by all of this. you wonder if she could have done it any other way because she was truly unhappy because of the amount of people around tom and the control. you almost had to. let s talk idol. stephen tyler we heard about and j. lo. and maybe randy. randy signed on, but it s not official. i m hearing he might not be returning. then there are so many names in the mix right now. we are hearing possibly mariah carey, miley cyrus and aretha franklin overed weekend said i would love to do it. if they are looking for a younger demographic, there are a lot of kids who do not know who aretha franklin is. if she wants to do it, there is a problem because she does not fly. she needs to get over this. did j. lo want to leave? they didn t want her to go? when she was talking to natalie morales last week she all but said she s done. she said to ryan seacrest, she was crying, i want to get back to my kids. they are low-balling the judges. not giving them these big lucrative contracts. aretha said i would make millions of dollars staying in one place, but there is a lot of traveling. and can they get mariah carey? there was sad news, sylvester stallone s son sage passed away. there are a lot of conflicting reports. a family friend said there was not a suicide. the coroner said there were prescription pill bottles found on the scene. he wouldn t say how many. you ve got to wait for toxicology reports. takes six to eight weeks. i read this morning, and i don t know if it s true, he wanted to get married this coming weekend. this past weekend in vegas, he was supposed to get married. i think it caught so many people off guard in his inner circle. sylvester stallone released a statement saying he was devastated. they were close. will you talk about kristin chenowi chenowith? she is doing okay. a gust of wind knocked over lighting equipment, she was hit in the head. she had to go to the hospital immediately. she is doing okay. she is at home resting. she is the nicest person in the world. besides us. but she is so tiny. she is literally 4 11 . we are so glad she is doing great. jason, thank you for coming to see us. i ve got to see us more often. your crazy aunts miss you. you can catch jason kennedy on e! news. if you let how you feel about your body interfere with your sex life, we ve got something for you. called fat sex. i didn t call it that, but the author does. write her. look who we got here. put a little pepper on that. i m a typical mom. i go to amusement parks. and my kid s games. and just like any typical mom i m thrilled when my champion loves to eat something nutritious, like chobani champions yogurt. it s a good source of protein, and most important, he loves it. so even though i m an olympian, around here, i m just another mom trying to help her champion win the day. chobani champions. win the day. i think it s sad. as a nation we are obsessed with two things, weight and sex. rebecca weinstein explores two things in a new book called fat sex, the naked truth. it s a fascinating book. you tell a lot of people s stories how they struggled with weight all their lives and their different love stories. including your own. including your own, exactly. that was weird. we were reading in the beginning what your grandmother said to you. she said no man will ever love you, something you were told at such a young age. i was 9 years old. my grandmother said it to me and announced it to the family that no man will ever love me. it was devastating then and it continued to be devastating my entire life. does it still hurt when you say the words? yeah. it took me years, 35 years before i ever admitted it to anybody. wow. it s just one of those things that you never totally get over. of course not. when you re telling the stories of different people, what s the common theme you re noticing among the women in your book? the common theme is that between the messages of society telling us that we re supposed to be a certain way and if we aren t, we are just unloveable, unattractive. people feel so closed down because they feel like it s too late for them before they ve even started. yet you speak with candor about people who did find love and found there were people out there that actually only prefer overweight ladies, right? not only are there people who prefer large people, both men and women, there are many people who don t make that their primary issue in who they love. while many, many people who are large have self-esteem issues and need to get over a lot of things, there are others who just have this incredible strength and sense of self and they have no problem finding love and no problem with relationships, and they re just as sexy as can be. i wonder if you have trouble finding people you said not only did you not have trouble, you had extra stories. people who wanted their story in your book but couldn t make it. volume two and three, i think. i had to turn down people. people were desperate to tell the truth and to be heard. and valued. that s so important. that is something nobody talks about. you do, rebecca. thank you, rebecca. it s a fascinating read. thank you for being here. my pleasure. from an intimacy kit to jewelry. is bobbie thomas here? she is. unique finds. my skin loses moisture nearly twice as fast as yours does, mom. that s why you use johnson s baby lotion twice a day to keep my skin baby soft. you ve really got this mom thing down. [ ding! ] losing your chex mix too easily? time to deploy the boring-popcorn decoy bucket. then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures only chex mix is a bag of interesting. challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting for such a lightweight. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. it s creamy, nonfat, and it turns the next person you see into john stamos for five seconds. honey! i think i m getting burned! heh! eat. tastes pretty good, huh? best yogurt ever. yeah! [ men grunting ] open! [ male announcer ] dannon oikos berry flavors beat chobani 2 to 1 in a national taste test. oikos greek yogurt. possibly the best yogurt in the world. sometimes you come across things that just make you go, hmm. like an artist who paints with her lips and perfume that smells like your favorite wine. i m all for it. bobbie thomas seems to come across those kinds of things more often than most of us. we welcome all things, especially when they are unique around here. we don t judge. let s start with the artist that kisses her canvas. natalie irish, believe it or not, created these images with her lips. she uses lipstick and actually kisses the portrait. she did the most amazing one of marilyn monroe. this is amy winehouse and elizabeth taylor. if you look close you see the lipstick marks on this. amazing. certainly is unique. b.t., only you. we have children in the studio. fifty shades of gray has everybody interested in all things interesting. i m the one holdout, but tell me. the bedroom chemist wants you to break the bedroom boredom and sends you a box every six weeks to make sure you re not bored. there s a lot of stuff in it. this is something that if you re interested sorry, that was mine. that just escaped. okay. next, another kind of unique, interesting trend that is emerging has to do with relationship status bracelets. oh, good grief. that is insane. i m telling you, claiming your territory. 12-year-olds will love it. put this on frank and he has to cut it off. he can t get it off by himself. they say single or it s complicated? you can have a husband and still have it be complicated. you ve got to wear a couple of them. this you re going to be excited about. these are by kelly and joan. a collection of fragrances meant to enhance your wine experience. believe it or not, kelly got booted from a winery because her fragrance was too strong and wasn t harmonious. so she decided this is chardonnay, your favorite. make her fragrance collection go with the wine you re drinking. this doesn t smell like wine. no. it has notes that is supposed to blend with it. there is nothing more romantic. when you had too much of this, this is when you can use the bytox patch. it s supposed to get rid much your hangover. it s filled with minerals and vitamins. okay. this is for our friend here. it s called bowser beer. for bambino? this is none alcoholic ale. this is chicken and beef flavored. loves it. oh, my gosh. can we talk about your dog? the viewers named her. this is ceecee. say hi. she s in the family. look at it. it s a crazy tongue. you go. i m not supposed to call them out, but i hear there is a rumor brian williams orders this for his dog. really? i don t like that. we are going to run out of time. this is part of this whole anatomical trend. our bodies have been inspiring fashion designers. black milk leggings and blood-splattered heels. remember the name of this. things that make you go hmm. i was telling you about percy lou s jewelry with body parts. with the doggy noses. no. this is an ear. look at her ear. it s like an ear growing out. oh, my gosh, that s disgusting. here s a nose ring. you put it on your finger. it s literally a nose ring. we have them on klg&hoda.com. look at the nose ring. all right. that was informative. thank you, b.t. you know what makes hoda go hmm? cooking. three recipes everybody should know. first this is today on nbc. [ obama ] i m barack obama, and i approve this message. [ female announcer ] every woman who believes decisions about our bodies and our health care should be our own is troubled mitt romney supports overturning roe versus wade. romney backed a law that outlaws all abortion even in cases of rape and incest. and that s not all. i ll cut off funding to planned parenthood. [ female announcer ] for women, planned parenthood means life-saving cancer screenings and family-planning services. but, for mitt romney. planned parenthood. we re going to get rid of that. time for today s kitchen, what s cooking? we are getting back for three basic recipes. melissa clark is a food columnist for the new york times and here with a lesson and the most succulent chicken any of us have seen what a position that chicken is in. yes, it is. ready to serve it up. this is one of those basic meals we should know how to make. everybody should know how to make a perfect roast chicken. this is the best one i had. i am going to take a burning hot skillet out of the oven. i preheated my skillet. i m going to be very careful. do this carefully at home. a hot skillet. i m going to take the chicken and put the chicken in the hot skillet. why did you pop the legs out? i flattened them. what is going to happen, it s going to sizzle. then the legs start cooking before the breast. it cooks evenly. it is juicy, it is succulent. who is the genius who thought of that? that is you? somebody has to think of new recipes. you re putting lemon in. i love lemon chicken. we already salt and peppered this chicken ahead. a little olive oil on the breast. then i m going to put it back in the oven. great thing about this chicken is normally a chicken like this would take an hour, hour 15 minutes, 45 minutes. what about garlic? later. the pan is already hot. the cooking, hodi. the cooking. you put it back in the oven. and if you love garlic do you love garlic? yeah, but not in cloves. i m going to caramelize. i ll put it back in, stir it up and it will caramelize in the oven. you want to try it? no. what do you mean? i m going to rip it. it s warm. this is right out of the oven. taste the breast and take the legs. they should be cooked evenly, juicy, so good. how good is that? that s perfection. that s the best chicken. seriously, the best chicken. the best crab cakes and best chicken all in one day, are we living or what? you re absolutely right. that is amazing. you want to try the potato salad? we all need a good potato salad recipe. mine doesn t have mayo. it makes it heavy. it adds the calories on. oh, that chicken is great. did i lie? want a bite? thank you. nice. instead of mayo i ve got yogurt and mustard which gives it a punchy, bracing flavor. we are not going to mix it up. there it is. fresh herbs, salt, pepper, shallots. always dress your potato salad when it s warm for the flavors. fleur de sel on top. and fudge. we ll have a baby shower. can t wait. hope there is no concert in my area. captions by vitac www.vitac.com