Meeting Alison Sweeney – Author, Actress & Mother

A couple of Mondays ago, I had the opportunity to meet Alison Sweeney at Duff’s Cakemix in Los Angeles. Melissa Musen Gerstein of The Moms was hosting a meet & greet with Alison, who was promoting her latest book Scared Scriptless. You probably know Alison from her various TV show credits, such as The Biggest Loser or Days of Our Lives.

I had been to Duff’s Cakemix before, having taken my daughter to decorate cupcakes over Spring Vacation.

When I arrived, I saw how cute the room was decorated with cupcakes & cakes specially made by Duff’s bakery team.

It wasn’t long before Alison Sweeney arrived. After posing for pictures with some of the guests, she sat down with Melissa for a brief Q&A. I found her to be sweet, down-to-earth & a wonderful mom with a parenting style very similar to mine.

She spoke about her son who doesn’t have his own iPod or iPhone. Alison specifically tells him, “This is not your iPod, it’s the family iPod & I’m letting you use it.” She also talked about being a strict parent & not wanting to be a “friend” to her two children.

Here she is talking about being a “type-A” mother: http://instagram.com/p/pCBq1LCFGX/

Being a working actress, she loves telling a story that affects people & making them laugh or cry. Being a performer is in her blood. She mentioned playing the violin as a little kid & Alison’s mom said that she always performed the best when there was an audience.

With that said, she also shared that her younger daughter is the “performer” in the family. However, Alison does not want her to go into the entertainment industry. She is really concerned about her daughter facing rejection.

During the Q&A, I was able to ask Alison a question about her fitness routine as a busy working mom. She talked about working in exercise as much as possible, but during hectic times (like her book tour) she sometimes has to forgo her exercise routine. So during those times, she just focuses on eating clean, healthy food & not indulging in alcoholic drinks (which we all know can be high in calories).

Speaking of calories in drinks, one of the sponsors for this event was Arizona Beverage Co. They provided the Skinnygirl Sparklers which are a low calorie sparkling water mixed with real fruit juice. I sipped on the pink grapefruit & also the tangerine mango. Both were delicious, but I found the pink grapefruit flavor to be very refreshing!

After the Q&A, Alison signed copies of her Scared Scriptless book & we got to pose for pictures. I started reading the book on the plane this past Saturday, on my way back from Park City to LA. I’m halfway done! It is fun fiction, an easy-breezy book – perfect for the beach, during vacation or while you’re on a lunch break! Alison briefly describes the plot in this Instagram video here.

Alison had to dash off for another promotional appearance, but the rest of us got to decorate cupcakes at Duff’s Cakemix. Here’s my finished product! I chose “M” for the initial of my last name. The bottom portion of the pic shows my workstation & the box that we packaged our cupcakes in.

Thanks to The Moms, Alison Sweeney, Duff’s Cakemix & Arizona Beverage Co. for an awesome #SweeneyMamarazzi event!

Disclosure: I was invited to attend a promotional event. I did not receive monetary compensation for this post. All photos, videos, thoughts & opinions are 100% mine.