I knew if I pried myself from a toasty warm bed this morning and ventured out into the arctic tundra of downtown Cowtown, I would be rewarded.
And I was.
Huddled around the most popular item in Sundance Square (a bright orange heater), some football fans and I noticed a lovely young woman in a parka and a beret setting up for a TV crew.
"Maria Menounos," we all said at once -- revealing just how addicting Access Hollywood can be.
After filming a quick segment, she happily posed for pictures with some of the people hanging around Sundance Square. In the 8-degree weather, she welcomed the extra body heat.
Heading back to her hotel, she stopped at a street corner and chatted up one of the downtown security folks, taking a moment to express a little motherly concern that he stay warm out there all day. He smiled and tried to look tough.
And as she walked away, a ray of sunshine on this gray and brutal day, he looked at me and said: "I'm in love."
See, told it was worth going out in the cold.
p.s. One of Maria's latest tweets says: "Rolling blackouts today forced me to get ready in the dark.if my makeup is a mess on access hollywood tonight-u'll know why!"
No worries, Maria. My friend the Steeler fan said you looked hot on the coldest day of the year.
