On the Left Coast: Celebrity Sightings

It has been quiet on the blog for a good reason: I was in Los Angeles!

I went to visit one of my besties*, Jan. This is my third visit to see her in California and my second to LA. (We met in San Francisco one of those times.)

Work is madness, of course, so I haven't had time to download my pictures and compose my thoughts. But since one of the first things people usually ask is, "Did you see anyone famous?," I thought I'd start with that.

If you'll recall the last time I went to L.A., I saw 4 famous people on the Paramount lot. This time I saw 2.5 famous people. Let me explain.

Celebrity .5
When I was at the studio lot where Jan works, in line at Starbucks, this tall, blonde, attractive man got in line. He was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, inside, in the 80 degree weather. He also had an Australian accent and a wedding ring. So I decided he was one of the Hemsworth brothers. Jan doubts it because she says no one that famous is ever at their lot, but she agrees it might have been someone.

 
Celebrity 1
We drove up to the lovely town of Santa Barbara on Monday. While we were vintage shopping at this great store, I looked up and saw a beautiful blonde girl. I looked closer and saw that she is an actress on "Pretty Little Liars." I think you all now how much I love this crazy show. She was with who I presume to be her boyfriend and parents, and one of them said her name, so it was confirmed. I didn't say anything to her but I think the parents and BF heard me freak out at one point. Which is embarrassing, but it could have been way worse. Like read my open letter to her worse.

Celebrity 2
I was at LAX for my flight out bright and early on Tuesday morning. I was on the sidewalk at the terminal, walking to my entrance, when I saw a very energetic man get out of a towncar. It was Richard Simmons in a Carolina blue sweatsuit. He was acting entirely too peppy for 6:30 in the morning and looking almost freakishly good for his age.

And those are my 2.5 celebrity sightings for this trip. More from the Left Coast...eventually.


*I'm not usually a fan of abbreviating words like a teenager, but after they used the word on Big Bang Theory, Jan started using it for us and now I love it.

Writer Girl

One summer day in Chapel Hill, the month after college graduation, I was on campus (force of habit) browsing in the Bull's Head bookshop. The following book cover and author name caught my eye and I bought it: 

Dessen is a Chapel Hill resident, UNC alum, former UNC professor, and a young adult author. Though I'd read her first book, "Someone Like You," some time around freshman year, and seen the movie "How to Deal," I didn't know she had other books, or was a fellow Tar Heel, until "Just Listen."

I read the book in one night, staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning to finish. Though the book is about a girl in high school, and I was a 22-year-old college grad about to move across the pond, something in her story grabbed me. And I hated high school, so it certainly wasn't nostalgia. It was her words, her characters, her story.

Over the course of a year I read all her other books. In the years since, as she has released three more, I bought each on their release date and finished each in a matter of days. So, despite my fear of meeting famous people, when I saw that Dessen was going to be at the Bethesda Library last Thursday, I had to attend. 

She read from her latest book, "What Happened to Goodbye," took questions, and then signed books. Not surprisingly, the room was dominated by teenage girls. And their mothers. But there were a few people my age, so I wasn't completely out of place. One mother even asked Dessen about her intended audience, and why she thought her books appealed to more than just teens. She said that everyone went through adolescence, that it's something we all share, and tend to have passionate feelings about. And she's never met anyone who didn't have some thoughts, also usually quite passionate, about high school. I would add that her books represent a range of human emotions and experiences that just about anyone can identify with. Yes, they are presented through the lens of teenagers, but that doesn't make them less true or powerful.

Even though I was super nervous, I am very glad to have gone. She clearly loves what she does and has worked incredibly hard to get where she is. And the fact that she is a Carolina girl just makes it all the more inspiring to me.

As she spoke about her struggles to figure out her life, to write and get published, to go from waitress to professor to writer to mother, she said something that really stood out to me:

"I think you just end up where you're supposed to be, that's what I believe."

Similarly, I believe that everything happens for a reason, so I wholeheartedly agree with this. (Even though it's incredibly difficult to remember and understand in practice.) 

It was just a fun night and I look forward to spending a few weeks re-reading some of her earlier books.

Stalking Tina Fey, Finding Harry Reid: A D.C. Story

Tuesday night I went to the Kennedy Center with the roommate to see the musical "Hair." It was fun, vibrant, and very enjoyable. She has seen it a number of times and warned me about the actors coming into the audience and touching people. (Not a fan of audience participation but they stayed away from us.) And the nudity and other stuff was to be expected seeing as how it's about 1960s hippies. But thank goodness for it all since it led to some of the best overheard conversations ever that included the words stoned, lover, crazy stalking, and genitals.

Tuesday was also the night that Tina Fey received the Mark Twain Prize at the KC. I knew she was receiving the prize but didn't know when until Karey reminded me. I actually started a post last month on how much I love Tina, but have been too intimidated to finish it. Basically, she is very high on my Women I Admire But Am Not Related To List. As in, Audrey's first, Hillary's probably second, and Tina might just be third. Love. Her.

After the play we exited and immediately saw a dozen black suburbans and a red carpet. While most of the carpets are red at the KC but this was clearly a Hollywood-style red carpet. And those black suburbans that are seen all over the city, suddenly took on a new meaning.

Now, the roommate is an expert at meeting famous people. And keeping her cool. I, on the other hand, would rather avoid them at all cost. I just get too panicky at the thought of meeting someone I admire and no doubt would throw up on. But we decided to hang out for a bit in the roped off area -- yes, they made us wait in a roped off area -- to see who we could see. I rehearsed in my head potential talking points were we to get in shouting distance of anyone but could come up with nothing more eloquent than "I AM YOU. I LOVE YOU." (Plus a variety of inappropriate comments to adorable Seth Meyers and just plain fainting if Jon Hamm were to walk by.)

Sadly, or thankfully, after waiting about 10 minutes we decided to leave as it was late and we were tired. Yes, lamest story ever. But, as this is D.C., we do have our own famous people, which is how Senate Majority Leader and recently re-elected Nevada Senator Harry Reid came to walk down that carpet. Harry Reid! A Senator! Who is very tiny in person! And who definitely made me screech, giggle, and hit my friend in excitement. Because I am just that big of a dork.

Probably for the best that we left before Tina and the others came out because I only love Harry half as much as I love them and still lost my cool. Never mind, you're right, I have no cool.

Lights, camera, action!

On Sunday I went and stood outside for 2 hours in Covent Garden, at the end of the red carpet, to watch the celebrities arrive for the BAFTAs, the British version of the Oscars.

I saw:
-Sienna Miller
-Judi Dench
-Helen Mirren
-Ricky Gervais
-Jake Gyllenhaal
-Daniel Craig
-Forrest Whitaker
-Thandie Newton (only realized later when I looked up pictures of dresses online)
-Ruby Wax (The UK's Joan Rivers)
-Penelope Cruz
-Pedro Aldomovar

My favorite was Jake, because he saw all of us standing outside and waved and made a funny face. I think I saw Helen Mirren and Judi Dench the clearest because I could see them walking down the carpet toward us before they went in. Helen Mirren is absolutely regal in person. Sienna is tiny, and Daniel is very stiff. (I don't care for either of them so I may be biased.)

Even though I couldn't see them very well, and there was a big group of people, plus a blocked-off street separating us, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I went. It was thrilling to hear the paparazzi call names - no idea what they said though - and see the flashbulbs go off, and then wait too see who was next. Because of the way we were positioned we were right near one of the entrance doors, and once inside they had to stop and pose, right in front of a big picture window facing us. Thus I got to see their backs a lot clearer than their fronts! I think I saw some other people too, but have been unable to find decent pictures online as of yet to figure out who.

I know there were a lot more famous people there, obviously, and someone saw Daniel Radcliffe get out of a limo, but between all the staff and the distance, this was all I managed to see. No pictures of them, as it was all too quick, but I do have some pictures of the red carpet and such I can post later. Something interesting that I did not know, was that the lights on the beams above the carpet, were ones that flashed, like flashbulbs, so it made it look like there were pictures being taken constantly. I don't know if it is always like this at award shows, but it added to the excitement. (And hurt my eyes after awhile.)