My Weekend in Provincetown

MOVED!

This weekend, I took a trip to a place that caused me to vow never again to complain about the amount of gay men in the city of Boston, as I had found a placed that trumped it 10 times over. That place is a little beach town on the tip of Cape Cod called Provincetown. It’s adorable, ecclectic, fun, and populated by exactly 5 straight men, most of them married with children. 

I’m not complaining. I had a wonderful time. I just went to more gay clubs this weekend than I have in my entire life up until this point. (My favorite part: the playlists! Artists heard on our first night out included Janet, Paula Abdul, Madonna, the cats of Mamma Mia!, Rhianna, and of course, a Whitney medley!)  I guess I asked for it as I traveled there with four girls and four gay guys. The girls didn’t stand much of a chance. 

We headed out on Friday afternoon, taking the “fast ferry” to Provincetown, which we did not fully appreciate until we doubled our travel time on the way back by taking the “slow ferry.” 

We had a little too much fun jumping on the outer deck to see if we would move backwards on the boat as it moved forward and taking contemplative pictures in the setting sun. When we got into town, we quickly found dinner at a cute little restaurant, where the host offered to store my suitcase while we ate, but not before joking about stealing it and/or selling it to the highest bidder. Ah, small town charm. 

The next day, we walked out of our hotel to find this view while waiting for the shuttle to the beach: 

Needless to say, it was a welcomed change from city life. While at the beach, I managed to get myself into the water and give myself a wicked sunburn. (Damn you, lack of sunscreen! I’m still recovering.) My friends and I also managed to witness FISH MURDER! It started out innocently enough.

Oo, look! Pelicans! Cool! Aw, look at them swimming. Hey, they caught a fish! Nature is so cool. Wait…what is it…ew…ok, that pecking is mildly disturbing. OMG! HIS BEAK IS COVERED IN BLOOD! Did you see that? He just ripped the fish in two…and, wait, what is that bird doing? HE SWALLOWED IT WHOLE! Ah! I HATE NATURE!

Needless to say, I’m scarred for life and will now find the pelicans shounting “Mine!” in Finding Nemo horrifyingly terrifying. I will provide pictures (if anyone actually wants to see them) once my friends upload them onto facebook, but I’m sure the mental image painted above is enough. Despite this unfortunate act of nature, it proved to be a much more positive beach outing than my California beach outing. 

The rest of the weekend is a blur of eating way to much fried food, seeing far too many unattractive shirtless men, listening to endless amounts of dance music, and making a slew of new friends. All in all, it was a wonderful trip out of the city, but I’m always happy to be back in Boston. 

Traveling Troubles

MOVED!

I didn’t intend to spent my last moments in both New York City and Wilmington in tears, standing before some sort of transportation device. In fact, I intended to leave happy and refreshed. That was the whole point of getting away. The Universe, again, had different plans for me, and you know how well those plans usually play out. 

Let’s start with New York. When I last left you, I was on my way to the Big Apple, happily typing away thanks to the free Wi-Fi on Bolt Bus. Sadly, that bused turned out to be 2 hours late, an early warning of what was to come. I enjoyed a mildly stress-free weekend, meeting up with my camp friend, Lindsey, and my school roomie, Jillian, all while staying with my sister. We had some nice meals (I finally fulfilled my rib craving at Wild Wood on Park Ave. that I’d had since watching hours upon hours of “Thrill of the Grill” week on Food Network) and hit up some fun bars (I recommend Beauty Bar in the East Village: $5 drinks AND Eighties music? Sold!). My annoyance (and my later problems) began to arise, however, when my sister, Stephanie, decided to spend the night in Brooklyn instead of meeting Lindsey, Jillian, and I out on the town. Thus, I was left with her keys for the night. 

Sunday morning, I said good-bye to Lindsey and met Stephanie and my grand-parents (in town for a conference) for brunch with some acquaintances of theirs who are involved in theater. (The woman is actually now an anchor on The Onion News Network!) The brunch was nice, as I love chatting with theater people. I made a great contact, and they assured Stephanie and I that our money spent buying tickets to the matinee of “Sunday in the Park with George” was well spent. 

After brunch we headed out to see said production of “Sunday in the Park,” which, as it turns out, was the LAST performance of the show! I’d sung some of the songs before, but I’d never seen the whole show (apart from various scenes from the original with Bernadette Peters that aired on PBS), so I went in with an open mind, and I was not disappointed. I wish I could compel people to go see it, but obviously I can’t. It was one of the most unique productions I have ever seen: The whole show revolves around the French painter Georges Seurat painting “A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte,” and as he sketched on stage, his drawings and painting came alive behind him (using some new projection technology), creating both the painting and the setting of the show. It was, to say the least, magical. The performances were moving, and unexpectedly funny. Jenna Russell was amazing, and both she and Daniel Evans choked up during the final song, causing me and I’m sure the whole audience to choke up and then stand for the last five minutes of the show. The applause during the curtain call was deafening. It again made me realize how much I love theater.

But I digress…(I had to take a break from the flow of the story because the play was just that good.) when we left the theater, it was raining, causing Stephanie and I to scramble first to find a cab and then to give up and jump on the subway. (At this point I was done with subways, as Stephanie lives so far north, each time we returned to her apartment was an hour and fifteen minutes on the subway. Not. Fun.) I had to grab my bags from my grandparents and run to my bus. I, luckily,got there with time to spare, so Stephanie and my grandma said good-bye. As I stood waiting to board, flustered from the rush and feeling done with public transportation from all the subway riding, I noticed some people talking with a Bolt Bus employee about how their tickets had the wrong date on them, and they were thus having difficulty boarding the bus. It appeard to be some technical glitch with the Bolt Bus website. As I heard this, I glanced down at my ticket, just to be sure. Of course, my ticket too ahd the wrong date: the date I had come to New York not the date I was leaving. My heart dropped. I did not feel like dealing with what would happen if I missed this bus. I started to think that I would just book a ticket to my parent’s house, because this constant stress of crap happening to me was becoming too much to handle. I eased my way over to the group of angry patrons, hoping they had made enough headway that I could get on without problem. Things seemed to be heading in that direction, and then, my phone rang. 

I still had Stephanie’s keys. Not only her apartment keys so that she coudln’t get home, but her work keys, whose disappearance would cause her more than a little grief the next day. According to both my sister and my mom, I couldn’t get on the bus. At this point, I was more than annoyed. I had already been upset that Stephanie had basially abandoned me (and not for the first time) the night before, leaving me to get myself and Lindsey back to her apartment without her, but now I had to miss my bus, which I was already shaken up about the possibility of missing, to wait around for her to come get her keys.

On the phone with my mom trying to figure out how I was going to get home, as the group of disgruntled Bolt Bus riders boarded the bus, I started to cry. From exhaustion. From annoyance. From being overwhelmed at standing on a busy sidewalk of New York with a bright pink suitcase yelling at my mom that it wasn’t my fault Stephanie forgot to get her keys from me. The Bolt Bus woman came over to ask if I was getting on the  bus, and as I turned to her, face covered in tears, she must have thought I was getting news of a family member’s death. Her face changed, and she left me alone, feeling like an idiot. A crying idiot.I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t get back, so much. I am just a person who doesn’t take a change of plans well. Added on top of everything else, this felt like a big deal. 

I dragged my bags four  blocks to Penn Station to buy a train ticket, where I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t getting into Boston until midnight and scarfed down some greasy pizza, waiting for Stephanie. When she got there, I tried not to take my anger out on her, as I greatly appreciated her waiting with me for the next hour for my train to come. I finally got on the train, calmed myself down, and fell asleep. Sadly, the train got in an hour and a half late, making it 2AM before I went to bed, allowing me only 5 hours of sleep before getting up for class at 7AM. Awesome. 

Trip number one: done. Status: much more tired than before. 

Up next: Train trips 2 and 3.

Loving and Hating…but mostly hating.

MOVED!

Loving: My Saturday night spent out on the town with my uncle. We started at an art opening, where I got to drink free alcohol (delicious Pinot Grigio) that wasn’t in red or plastic (or both) cup and rename art work with one of my favorite family members. Uncle D then took me to Rocca in the South End for a delicious and painfully filling Italian meal. Class level for the weekend: a perfect 10. 

Hating: My apartment. It’s dirty. There are bugs. There are dishes in the sink that I refuse to clean (hint: because they aren’t MINE!), plus, while I LOVE LOVE LOVE my roommate, it’s so hard to share a room with after sophomore year in college. 

Loving: That I’m heading to NYC on Friday. It’s seriously all that is getting me through my week. 

Hating: That I am having trouble saving up money to spend on myself in NYC because I am forced to buy trash bags, toilet paper, aluminum foil, and other random essentials for our apartment that no one else will buy. Plus paying all those stupid bills. Damn you, Comcast!

Loving: My political science class. It’s nice to be in a regular class again, especially one that is actually interesting. If anyone has any questions about the black/white achievement gap, the lack of women in science and engineering, bilingual education, or teacher pay, I’m your girl. 

Hating: The girl who chooses to sit directly in front of me in my Political Science class, despite the fact that there are only EIGHT people in the class, and thus ample numbers of seats that are not directly in front of me. Plus, she seems to not understand the concept of a start time to class, as she comes in EVERY DAY around 6 or 6:15, feigning embarrassment, despite the fact that class starts at 5:30. This shouldn’t bother me that much, but on top of everything else, it makes me want to punch her in the face. 

Loving: That they are making Rock Band for Wii.

Hating: That I cannot afford a Wii OR a rock band for the Wii. Or a Wii Fit, which looks totally awesome too. 

That last one is completely random, but really…they HAD to make Rock Band for Wii? Because I didn’t already want to spend all my nonexistent money buying a Wii and a Wii fit? 

Sorry to be such a downer lately. I’m just in that place where every little thing is driving me crazy to the point where I will punch anyone in the face who even looks at me on the T. For real. 

Deep breathes…ok….so NYC in four days. Visit to my parent’s in 10. I can last til then, right? Right. 

Oh, and in my annoyance, I’m hoping I didn’t start some kind of internet fight here. Oops.

Feelin’ Classy

MOVED!

Last night, Lynn and I headed out for a night on the town, aka dinner in the North End then a show at the Improv Asylum. I had been wanting to see a show there for three years, and with my new summer slash fall goal of doing all the things in Boston I’ve always wanted to do before I (possibly) leave come December, it seemed like a good time to go. Plus, I got special $10 tickets on Goldstar, so score!

Dinner was a delicious Italian meal (of course) of baked ziti followed by some torrone from Modern Pastry. The show at the IA was really good. High points were a lovely song and dance about assholes on the T (a subject I know all too well) and and an interview with a 38 year-old-scientist who is getting married in two weeks. It wasn’t as funny as the show I caught three years ago at Second City, (Damn you, Chicagoans and your mildly superior comedy troupes!) but good none the less. Lynn and I also fell in love with the tall-skinny actor with glasses, because that’s how we roll. We had a few down moments, mostly involving the drunk bitches next to us screaming out “SKETCHY GUYS” every time they asked for a prompt from another section of the audience. I really have no tolerance for drunken outbursts in public, unless it’s me, which really, it never is. 

We were supposed to head to our sorority sister’s going away party when we got back, but the thought of having to take another T ride into Allston at 11 and then possibly have to walk or cab back if we didn’t leave by 12:30 was not appealing, especially when the party may not even have been fun. I’m such an anti-college student in this respect. If I am not guaranteed to have a good time by putting in the effort to get dressed up and go out, I would rather put on pajamas and watch Friday Night Lights DVDs, which is exactly what we did.* And it was a fabulous end to the night. 

*I fear for what I would be like in a relationship because of this. Aren’t you supposed to want to go out and be crazy when you are single? And stay in and watch DVDs when you aren’t? I would NEVER leave my apartment after 10:30 if I had a boyfriend. For real. Maybe that’s why I never have one. It would just be bad for my social life.

Story Time

MOVED!

I have a few minutes before heading out to brunch slash final project meeting with my roommates, but I will tell these stories if it kills me!

Story #1: Thursday was a particularly long day at work where I may have almost fallen asleep several times at my desk. I dragged myself to class that night, sat down in front of my professor, ready to push through class. (Although, I do love my Thursday night class. All we do is sit around and talk about television.) Anyway, my professor says not to get too comfortable. We are going on a field trip across the street to see a taping of “The Soup”! (Yes, our classrooms are in the same building as E! We are also right next to The Weinstein Company offices.) So we packed up and headed across the street and into an E! studio. Behind us was the E! News Set (also the set of various scenes in Knocked Up) and in front of us was a giant green curtain, aka “The Soup” set. 

Now this is where I should pause and say that I am mildly obbsessed with “The Soup.” We have a series recording on our DVR, and my roommate who works at E! has basically stalked Joel McHale several times. This could not have been a cooler trip for us. 

Anyway, Joel came out and was adorable, as expected. The audience was very small and basically made up of friends of people who work at E! so we felt very exclusive. Joel came around and talked to the audience, and by some sweet miracle, I got to talk for our class. I made a slight fool of myself:

Joel: And how did you guys get in?

Me: I’m with my class, courtesy of Jason. 

Joel: Oh, yeah, the AV class.

Me: (a little condescendingly… unintentionally of course) TV Class.

Grace (whispering): That’s the same thing.

Me: Well, now I feel pretty stupid.

Joel laughs. I hang my head in shame. 

Watching the show tape was kind of surreal. It felt like a completely different place than what you see on television, and it was so interesting to see how he would try out a joke, see it didn’t work, meet with the writers, then come up with something so much better in two minutes. We tried to hear our laughter on the finished show, but alas, all we heard was the awesome stage manager yelling. 

This is probably not interesting to anyone but me, so I digress to…

Story #2: Thursday night was my friend Chrissie’s 21st birthday, so she got a table at Winston’s to celebrate. (Getting table service in LA has been a goal of mine so: check!) Anyway, Chrissie is kind of seeing Jeremy Piven’s assistant, and once we were a little tipsy, Chrissie got a text from him saying “I’ll be there soon. Jeremy might come.” We all paused to take a moment and think about how Jeremy Piven was probably coming to her 21st birthday party. I had flashes of my years of watching Cupid and Entourage, while Jillian basically fell to the floor. I put it out of my mind, thinking it wouldn’t happen, but came out of the bathroom some time later to find Jeremy hugging Chrissie and dancing with my friends! Sadly, by the time I got over there, my friends had already talked to him, and I didn’t want to be creepy and stalker like, so I simply danced by them and said nothing. Still…Jeremy Piven came to my friend’s birthday party! It was pretty exciting, for me personally. He was shorter than expected.

The rest of the weekend has been spent being tired, seeing “Saving Sarah Marshall” and then using that as an excuse to stay in and have a Judd Apatow movie marathon. (Very fun. I highly recommend it.) Tonight is a Passover Potluck that I fear will turn into me bringing my delicious brisket and everyone else bringing things like fruit and veggie platters and gefilte fish. Someone needs to bring an actual dinner dish. This is a concept lost on many college students. I’ll let you know how this goes.

A Glimpse of What’s to Come

MOVED!

I feel I’ve neglected you, dear blog! This week has been crazy ridiculous. I didn’t even twitter today. *GASP* A giant amazing post is forthcoming, but to give you a taste, it includes not only me going to a taping of “The Soup” (Joel McHale totally talked to me out of ALL the kids in my class. OMGZ FANGIRL SQUEEE….and I loathe myself….) but also Jeremy Piven coming to my friend’s 21st birthday party. For real. Oh, LA…

Oh, and while it’s on my mind, Jim and Pam make me drip loneliness. I literally threw a pillow across the room when he pulled out the ring, both out of a ridiculous amount of excitement for them (Yes, I am that invested in fictional characters), and out of my own self pity. Damn the lack of real Jim’s in the world. Damn.

Things I’ve Learned About Myself This Weekend

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1. Two nights out a weekend is my limit: Thursday night I somehow spent all of my cash and lost my favorite jacket on the ride home. Friday night I went to a pretty exclusive club and had to fend off sketchy club guys all night. Not that either of these nights were not fun in their own special way, but by Saturday night, I had absolutely no desire to drink or leave my apartment ever again. SNL was the perfect entertainment, and you know what? It was free. Score. 

2. I am not a beach person: Saturday we ventured to Hermosa Beach. It was sunny and 85 degrees. Who wouldn’t want to be at the beach? Apparently, my body. After laying out for about an hour, I went to get up and find food with Grace. I made it about halfway up the beach before I started getting those black spots in my eyes that happen right before I pass out. I ran into the nearest bathroom to get out of the sun, but the second I came out, I literally couldn’t see Grace standing in front of me, and my head felt detached from the rest of me. I was forced to sit on the ground against the bathroom building, as there were no benches or other shaded areas around. Thanks beach planning committee! The rest of the afternoon, I couldn’t sit in the sun for more than 20 minutes without feeling nauseous. Luckily, this served as the perfect excuse to eat ice cream, as the shop was shaded and cold, and hey, I had to get my blood sugar up, right? It also gave me the perfect excuse to not go out Saturday night. Again, score. 

3. I want, nay, need gladiator sandals for this summer: My flip flops are no where near fancy enough to go out in, but my feet simply look too beautiful from my pedicure to wear regular shoes much longer. I’ve found these at Target:

They are $15 and thus, entirely practical. However, I’ve also found these and several others at Urban Outfitters:

Sadly, they are $145 and most decidedly impractical. There are also several pairs I’ve noticed at Steve Madden. Sadly, all are not as practical as the Target pair. 

I should learn how to be more practical. Maybe that will be a project for next weekend. 

Week-end Wrap Up

MOVED!

My weekend in a nutshell. Here goes: 

Friday: I get up and get ready for work, as per usual. Ten minutes before I am supposed to leave, my boss tells me that it is really slow today, so I don’t have to go in! I decide to be productive and start writing one of my three final papers I have due in the next three weeks. Then, Jillian and I go out to lunch at Eat Well, then walk to The Grove to see Leatherheads. (Yes, it didn’t get stellar reviews, but my love of John Krasinski rises above the critics.) The movie is cute. Nothing life changing, but I was not expecting much. Friday night, we meet up with tons of people from our program at Happy Endings on Sunset, which is the bar equivalent of a frat party. The night ends up as most frat parties do. I’ll leave it at that. 

Saturday: Jillian, Grace, Grace’s friend Sam, and I head to Joan’s on Third for lunch, which is always a good idea. Afterwards, Jillian and I run some errands, stopping by Sephora and Bloomingdales, where I spend entirely too much money on moisturizer and Elle McPherson bras. We head out early Saturday night to go see Minnie Driver perform at the Hotel Cafe. She is delightful, to say the least. Her voice is impressive, and she tells some adorable and amusing stories about her songs. My love for her grows 10 times. Grace and I then head back home, because we are old women, while Jillian and our friends Rachel and Pauline go out and end up sighting Tom Calicio at S Bar! So jealous. Other drama in my life resurfaces, but I am still too paranoid to talk about such things on my blog. Maybe one day…

Today is just being lazy and making dinner for my roommates. It also includes Jillian and I stupidly sleeping through our registration times for fall classes and getting mildly screwed in the process. (You know what BU? I didn’t even want to take pilates anyway!)  Perhaps some Pinkberry is in my future as well. Only three more weeks left of work! This semester went by entirely too fast.

Amanda Recommends : LA Edition

MOVED!

Before I get sucked into an all-night Degrassi marathon, I decided to make a little list of my favorite spots in LA, just in case anyone wants to tour the city, Amanda style. Here goes:

FOOD

Joan’s on Third (8350 West Third Street) - A popular celebrity hang-out where I personally believe their food to be baked with cocaine. Halfway through the week, I’ll start thinking about the Grilled Maple Rosemary Chicken sandwich, until it becomes the only thing on my mind. There is not a lot of seating, but I somehow always find a table. Plus, they bring you adorable bottles of water for free. I also recommend their Chinese Chicken Salad. It’s light but filling, and amazingly delicious.

Eat Well (7385 Beverly Blvd.) - a short walk from my apartment, this little restaurant with plenty of sidewalk seating has become my group’s go-to brunch place. Their breakfast plates are huge and pretty reasonably price, plus their sweet potato fries are TO DIE for. The wait staff is pretty cute as well.

Pink Taco (10250 Santa Monica Blvd.) - The name is questionable, but the food is fabulous. I don’t even like Mexican food, but I ordered and adored their fish tacos, which came with a cilantro-chile sauce and a fabulous guacamole. They keep you in chips all night, and their margaritas are huge and amazingly worth the $10 price tag.

25 Degrees ( 7000 Hollywood Blvd) – Located in the famed Roosevelt Hotel, this hamburger bar served one of the best hamburgers I’ve ever eaten. You choose the meat, cheese, and any topings to make your own perfect burger. Plus, you absolutely have to start out with their fries, which are seasoned with sea salt and thyme, an original and delicious combination. When I left, I felt like I was going to explode, but it was totally worth it.

BARS and CLUBS

86 (6533 Hollywood Blvd) – My group’s go-to place on Hollywood Blvd, this bar never has a line, but usually has a good crowd. Located in a basement space, the bar has a cool vibe, with live bands, plenty of seating, and fun red tinted chandeliers. Plus the drinks aren’t too expensive…for LA that is.

Boulevard 3 (6523 W Sunset Blvd) - Our go-to club. There is usually a short wait, and guys have to pay a cover, but we never have any trouble getitng in. Once inside, you have a choice of hanging out in the large outdoor patio area, the dark and cozy lounge, or the huge dance floor and bar. The crowd is slightly crazy, egged on by the muscular guys on stilts walking around and the group of dancers that put on a show every few hours, but it’s always a good time.

El Carmen (8138 W. Third St.) - The only place we seem to go on birthday’s, this Mexican themed bar is a little on the dive-end of the things, but makes amazing margaritas and sangria. We always can find a table, and the walls are covered in cool vintage Spanish movie posters.

I’m sure I’m leaving out some places we’ve been and loved, but these are clearly stand-outs in my book. I’ll have to do one for Boston when I get back in the summer. Unfortunately, I’ve now made myself starving. Too bad I already ate my leftovers from Pink Taco.

“You Know You Love Me”

MOVED!

Aaannnd, I’m back. Back to LA. Back to Work. Back to tiredness.

Our journey to San Diego was fabulous. We stayed in my uncle’s beach house, which looks more like an Italian Villa, relaxed on the beach, ate some amazing food, and watched Everyday Italian about 7 times, prompting us to eat our fair share of gelato and Italian food. On Friday, I met up with my parents, who are in town for my cousin’s bar mitzvah, and spent Friday and Saturday with the family. My parents drove me up to LA Saturday, and I showed them all the highlights of my area, even the CVS and Trader Joe’s. Exciting stuff. They were impressed by the sandwiches at Joan’s on Third, though, but really, who isn’t?

Now that I’ve breezed through those four days, I can spend a little time reminiscing about the amazingness that was Saturday night. Jillian and I scored tickets to the Gossip Girl Panel at PaleyFest ’08 back in January. We (or I) decided on the GG event back when few people were confirmed for the Friday Night Lights event and the Pushing Daisies event was already sold out, so GG seemed a good choice. I thought it would be quality, but let me just say that my expectations for the night were exceeded. The panel was hilarious, interesting, and entertaining. The only downside was having to get there early (which did help us score some sweet seats), and the annoying 14-year old girls beside me (who sadly reminded me of myself at all those *Nsync concerts).

The night started with the reveal that the moderator was Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly – only my favorite magazine of all time. (It made up for missing Michael Ausiello of TV Guide, my favorite television writer, moderating the FNL panel.) Then Josh Schwartz, the inspiration for Seth Cohen and the youngest person to ever create an hour-long drama for network television (only a little something called The O.C. – now the producer behind both Gossip Girl and Chuck) came out to introduce a nice clip reel wrapping up the season thus far. After the clip package, the entire cast and creative team came up on stage. The girls looked beautiful, the boys adorable, and the panel began. Some of the boys seemed to think they were a little too cool for school at the start, but after a while, everyone opened up and had a discussion that was truly entertaining and informative. My favorite parts were probably Blake Lively discussing her mad guitar hero skills, Tim Stack asking about Josh Schwartz’s aversion to parties, and the constant references to a future appearance by a gay, jewish monkey on the show. To read a professional recap, you can go check out The Futon Critic.

After the panel ended with Tim Stack giving the smack down to some obnoxious girls in the audience who asked about the cast’s personal lives (really?), the crowd swarmed the stage for pictures and autographs. I didn’t for a second pretend to be above this practice and ran up as well. Jillian and I were quickly fearful for our lives as we were surrounded with young girls and creepy old paparazzi men with really bad BO. We kept getting close to the actors only to have them walk to another part of the stage. We also realized we didn’t have pens. Our lone goal then became getting a photo. We got the closest to Blake Lively, but the publicists and body guards started rounding everyone up. We saw our chance slipping away so we pushed our way over to the stairs where the cast was heading out. We got Blake Lively’s attention and asked her for a picture. She couldn’t have been nicer! She said absolutely, even as they were pulling her away. I went to take the picture of her and Jillian, when she goes “Do you want to be in the picture too?” I half answered something incoherent as she happily handed my camera to a girl next to us and asked her to take the picture for us. Success! My goal of getting a photo with a celebrity is fulfilled. I’ve also now seen one half of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as I spotted Alexis Bledel at the doctor’s office.

So that was my first foray into PaleyFest. It only hit me a while later that I was that close to the cast of Gossip Girl. Oh, and Leighton Meester and Blake Lively are completely that beautiful in person. Flawless. Seriously. It’s unfair. I really do love that show more than I should. It’s just so saucy. Tonight is the night of other shows I shouldn’t love so much. It starts out with a little How I Met Your Mother (very acceptable – excellent show), moves into some Greek, (quality but underrated. Seriously. You should watch it), and ends with The Hills (so terrible, but SO addicting. I can’t help myself.) I’m off to prepare!

(To see the rest of my sweet panel pics, go here. Enjoy!)