The one about the celebrities

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Since today is Blog Me MAYbe's "May I tell you something about myself?" day, I thought I'd share a little about my minor (but still exciting for me) brushes with celebrity.

Several years ago, I was in New York City for a few days with my husband. He was working, so I had my days free to explore. One of the things I loved to do was walk around and take in the sights and the people around me. New York is such a great place for writers!

Scott Speedman at the New York film premiere
of Barney's Version in January 2011.
Photo by Justin Hoch,
photographing for Hudson Union Society.

During one of my walks, I saw a man sitting alone on a stoop and looking as though he might be waiting for someone. He was very familiar to me, and it took me about a nanosecond to realize that he was Scott Speedman, an actor I knew from one of my all-time favorite television shows, Felicity. To say I was excited would be an understatement!

I couldn't believe that I'd actually seen him--and I was surprised that no one else seemed to notice him--so I walked down to the end of the block, turned back, and walked past him again. Sure enough, it was Scott, and this time he made eye contact with me and smiled! (I smiled back, of course.)

I continued past him to the other end of the block, turned the corner, and called my sister. Her response to my excitement? "Who's he?" Oh, well. I decided to cross the street and stare look at him some more from over there. (I didn't want him to think I was stalking him.) Later, when I was back at the hotel and had time to process the event, I became upset with myself for not speaking to him. I still kick myself about that, all these years later.

Actor Ed Westwick on the set of Gossip Girl,
 season 4 on July 6, 2010.
Photo by Audrey Aït Kheddache.

My second brush with celebrity was more recent and started on Twitter. First I should say that, despite my "advanced" age, I love watching Gossip Girl, a teen drama series. One of the stars of that show is Ed Westwick, a British actor who, like Hugh Laurie, has the most remarkable American accent. (His character is American.) I've had kind of a married-old-lady crush on Ed since I first saw him on the show. My husband jokes that I'm being ridiculous. I say the same about him and his crush on Renée Zellweger. We've agreed to no longer speak of these things...

Several months ago, I noticed that Ed was on Twitter, so I followed him. One day I saw that he was online and responding to tweets, so I decided to try my luck and send him one myself. He ended up retweeting me, which made me schoolgirlish-ly excited. Then a few weeks later, he tweeted that he was moving over to Formspring, so, fangirl that I am, I followed him there. (Formspring is a question and answer social network.) I asked him about the best moment of his life so far, and he actually chose to answer my question, responding, "Meeting the one!" Wow: an actual comment from Ed Westwick! I floated on air for days after that.

So there you have it: the story of my celebrity encounters. Have you ever had any brushes with celebrity?

* * * * *
Photo credits:

Scott Speedman. Photo by Justin Hoch (http://www.jhoch.com/), photographing for Hudson Union Society (http://www.hudsonunionsociety.com/) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Ed Westwick. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreyak/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreyak/4769551760/)
[CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Blog awards!

Many thanks to the wonderful Caitlin at All About Growing Up and Becoming a Famous Author, who recently passed on some blog awards to me: The Versatile Blogger and The Irresistibly Sweet Blogger. Make sure you check out her blog; she's incredibly funny and encouraging!

So now it's time for me to pass on these awards to others and share seven random facts about myself. Here we go:

1. I'm a binge cleaner. I do the necessary daily chores like dishes and laundry, but I don't do the real cleaning until I know I'm going to have company. Guess what? My friend is visiting this week...

2.  I used to be a college instructor, but my dream job for when both of my kids are in school is to work at a library or bookstore. I just love the idea of being surrounded by books all day!

3. I love taking a big spoon of peanut butter and dipping it into a dish of chocolate chips. (My mom started me on this when I was a kid. Thanks, Mom!)

4. Don't ask me to choose! I have a horrible time making decisions, even simple ones.

5. I love to make soup. It's freezing here today, so tonight I'm trying a recipe for butternut squash soup.

6. One of my favorite TV shows of all time is Felicity. I once saw Scott Speedman (he played Ben) sitting on a stoop in NYC. To this day, I'm kicking myself for not talking to him.

7. I've been watching Gossip Girl on Netflix for months. It's my guilty pleasure. I love the drama!

And now I'm passing on these awards to two of the many blogs I really enjoy:

1. April at A Writer's Ramblings
2. Shannon at Books Devoured

Have fun!