Beautiful Boy

Jay and I went to visit his cousin Jami and her new baby boy yesterday. His name is Brandon Michael Moritz. He was born September 16th, 2004, weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19 inches long. He is quite adorable and this is an especially exciting birth because Jami is the first cousin out of ten to have a baby! The next generation has begun! Congratulations Jami and Brian!!

I'm sooo excited because Jay and I are going on vacation on Sunday. We are going to be heading up to the Adirondacks. In case you don't know where that is, it's up-upstate New York. It's where all of the beautiful moutains and trees are - unspoiled, untouched nature at its finest! I can't wait to see it for myself - never been before.

We are staying at the Garnet Hill Lodge and we have a room with a balcony overlooking all of nature's splendor! We plan on going horseback-riding, garnet mining, and 'sploring! We are going to be there until Thursday. I can't wait to post all of my pics from the trip! Woo hoo!

Coming to a Living Room Near You!

Well, I had cameras filming me (and Jay!) twice this week so far!

On Sunday, Jay and I went to a commercial shoot for a new restaurant opening in North Bergen, NJ - Nazmi's Steak & Seafood. I had received a casting notice in my email and responded to it. I got the gig and was told to bring a friend. It was quite disorganized and not many people were there to be filmed. I guess they had the cameras focused tight on us so you couldn't tell how few diners there were.

Jay had his first acting experience! We were filmed walking into the restaurant, enjoying eachother's company at our table, and eating various courses. It wasn't so bad though, while we didn't get actual money, we got a lot of good food : ) We had bread, calamari, steak, veggies, and Baklava (which Jay liked surprisingly!)

Then last night when went and saw my friend/co-worker Allison Castillo perform for Comedy Central's Premium Blend. Two shows were filmed and for the second, we were right up front. Allison rocked the house and the crowd was amazing! I'll let ya know when those shows will air. You might even see me! A few times the cameraman was right next to my face! Yikes!

As a side note: Allison Castillo performs at The Village Lantern on Bleecker in the village in NYC doing her show - "Sweet Paprika" with other talented comedians every Friday night. Diana (AKA Jersey Girl in Nashville) and I spent many nights there sipping Appletinis and my fav - Vanilla Vodka and Coke. Those were the days weren't they Di? Ah those British lads...

Workin' for a Living

Well the other night I had the opportunity to earn some overtime so I went for it! The HBO documentaries people needed an extra hand at a screening for a new documentary - INDIAN POINT: Imagining the Unimaginable http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/indianpoint/index.html It took place a the new Time Warner Center near Columbus Circle - beautiful place!

My job was primarily to direct guests to theater and to the reception. I got to some a few "famous" people so it made my night! First, I saw quite a few Kennedys including Rory (the director) and her brother Robert Kennedy Jr. Their father,if you couldn't guess it already, was Robert F. Kennedy. She was the cousin that was getting married when JFK Jr. crashed his plane (he was on the way to the wedding.) Also on hand was Karen Duffy (former MTV VJ, Actress/Model.) You'd know her if you saw her. Another cool thing about "Duff" is that she grew up in Park Ridge, NJ like me! I wanted to introduce myself but she was always with another much cooler celeb that I'll mention soon (or you could just look at the sexy pic I've posted with this entry ; )

Two celebs actually spoke to me! Art Garfunkel attended the screening and when he came out of the theater, he came right over to me and said, "Where do I go?" I said, "The reception is this way." And he said, "But how do I get out of here?" And I said, "Oh, the elevators are right over here." Woo hoo!

Then the man with the most beautiful eyes spoke to me! Alec Baldwin! He came of the theater and said, "This way to dinner?" And I said "Yes, this way." Woo hoo! Earlier though, I almost walked right into him - literally! I was rushing to get into an elevator to run downstairs for something and he was coming out! I had to quickly step back to avoid a collision! I laughed all the way downstairs! Of all people!

Dinner was quite yummy too! We had a buffet of chicken, fish, pasta salad, regular salad, bread + servers brought trays of lots of other goodies around too. Dessert was my favorite part - mini cheesecakes and chocolate tarts, mm mm good!

After it was all over, I got a ride all the wayto Jersey in a towncar paid for by HBO!

All that and a white wine spritzer, and I get 4.5 hours of overtime! All in a day's work : )

Big News Tuesday

Well, I have some exciting news to share! First of all, as you see in the picture to the left, I have red hair now!

This past Saturday I went to get a make-over - my mom's treat (an early b-day gift). I let the lady do whatever she wanted, so here I am! No more blonde! I'm still getting used to it, after all, I've been blonde my whole life!

My other news is even BIGGER! My best friend in the whole wide world, Kristine (AKA Camps), got ENGAGED yesterday!!! I'm so happy for her and the lucky guy - John. They've been together for years. Best of all, I get to be her maid of honor!! Mega-responsibility in the next year or two to come!!

It was really sweet how it happened. John conspired with Kristine's dad. He asked her dad to pick a nice restaurant - Golden Dynasty , schnazzy chinese place. Her parents told her a few days ago that they wanted to take her and John out for his birthday since they missed it while they were on vaca. She told John and he acted like it was an inconvenience but went along with it. After they ate (Camps, John, her parents, and her sisters), they all got ice cream for dessert. The waitress brought out hers with a fortune cookie on top. "You got a very special fortune, open it!" Kristine opened it and inside was the ring - awwwwwwwwwww : )

Its a princess cut, solitaire, platinum ring. John kept it simple so that he could take her to the jewelry store to pick out her setting. John's so smart he even sweetened the deal with Kristine's favorite recreational activity - shopping!

Good luck & Congratulations to you both, love you lots!!!!!!

Oh Hugh

Yes, I am aware that this is a very sad picture of my boy Hugh Jackman (ha - if you could tell it was Hugh!) But nothing could be sadder that the autograph he signed for me last night.

As you know, I went to The Boy From Oz on Saturday with my mom. It was a fantastic show and our seats were equally amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I had seen it once before.

I was so psyched to get his autograph after the show. I had the best picture from eBay of him as Wolverine and a silver sharpie - a thing of beauty! As soon as the house lights went up we exited the theater. We were lucky because we were on the aisle closest to the exit door and just outside that was the stage door. But egads! A huge mob was already waiting for my beloved Hugh! When he came out, I had no chance! It was too crowded, too hot, and I was battling a lousy cold.

So I decided I'd come back before the show closes September 12th and try again. Well, I went last night. Everything was perfect - the picture, the pen, and I'm apartment/cat-sitting again so no worries about catchin' a bus. I got there waaay early - I was the first one. About 15 minutes later, a man came to join me. The tough security guy questioned what we wanted Hugh to sign. "Just one! He's only signing one!" That's all I wanted him to do, just one. I waited patiently, not making a peep. I had the primo spot at the front of the railing, right by the door.

Big meany yells, "No pens. Put away your pens! I gotta pen!!" Grrr.... I wanted Hugh to use my silver sharpie : (   Ah well... I figured.... either I'd get him to use my pen anyway or black would be good enough.

Well just about 11 pm. the stage door opens and there he is, the Australian God himself - Hugh Jackman! At this point, there once again is a mob of camera flashes, screaming fans and a sea of arms weilding Playbills that begged to be signed. Hugh makes his way over to the crowd to his right, of course I was at his left. After he was done with all of them he came over my way. He had the black sharpie in hand - uh oh. It gets worse. He took my picture, turned it sideways and scribbled hapharzardly and handed it back to me! I quickly grabbed my cellphone to snap a couple shots. It was working too well because it was dark. I had strike while another person's flash was going off. Hence, this lovely shot.

I will be posting a picture of the autograph in question soon. At least when Camps and I went, we got decent ones although they were on our measly Playbills. We got good pics then too. I'll have to post those.

Sadly, I went on eBay this morning. A perfectly written, crisp, signature of Hugh's on a publicity photo was going for a mere $4.99, so I bid on it and won. Oh well.....