Our SAG Experience!

Jon and I rushed home after church, quickly changed our clothes into "SAG worthy" attire, shoved in a sandwich, and drove over to the Shrine Auditorium for the Screen Actors' Guild Awards. We arrived at the USC parking garage at 1:45pm, checked in, then waited with the gathering seatfiller crowd. They herded us onto shuttles after a 45-minute wait, then had us stand in a line outside the Auditorium for 30 more minutes. Then, slowly, we proceeded through the metal detectors and up a back staircase to a seat-less holding area above the main auditorium. We could peer through the curtains to look down at the fancy tables and lights being set up for the high profile guests. We waited (standing) for almost an hour and a half longer.

At 4:30, we were again queued up and led down to the main floor, where we lined the walls on the two sides of the auditorium. On our way, we passed Jenna Fischer, Marg Helgenberger, Sandra Oh, and Vanessa Williams. (So exciting!)
From our walls, we could see everything: The television and movie actors bustling in and out of their tables, greeting each other, walking by us to go to the bar, and the video crew making finishing setups on stage.

Jon and I whispered back and forth: "There's Steve Carell! There's Kevin Dillon. There's Joshua Jackson. There's Heather Graham. There's Leonardo Dicaprio!" It was crazy to be there, attending the show (from the sides) with the actors and actresses who paid $1000 per ticket to be there.

Slowly, our fellow seatfillers began to filter in and out of the seats on the main floor. When someone with a headset directed you to a table, you booked it over there, plopped into a seat, mentally noted who you were sitting at a table with, then hopped out as soon as the seat owner tapped you on the shoulder (or looked confused). The process then began again from the sides(unless a nearby seat was also empty, which you could then rush over to).

It was so exciting! You won't believe everyone we saw and sat with there: See my SAG Spottings.

We love L.A.!!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

To celebrate two years of marriage, Jon and I spent 24 hours in Long Beach. We used credit card rewards points to stay in a cushy hotel, The Westin. On Friday night, we took the free downtown metro over to the P.F. Changs, where we used our gift card (thanks, Ethan!) for a three-course dinner. (Note the cake picture…) On Saturday morning, we used the Westin exercise room and heated pool to get energized for our day. Then we grabbed some apples from the bowls in the hallways for our breakfast (who needs to pay $20/person for continental Westin food?).

It was great weather for walking down to the pier area, where we saw Gordon Ramsey and crew setting up for a “Hell’s Kitchen” segment. (Jon was quick to spot him – isn’t L.A. great?)

We then went to the Long Beach Aquarium, which was nice, if a little crowded. It was the most random schedule of events there that day: Jesse Billauer giving a lecture (he was a great surfer, then had a spinal injury that put him in a wheelchair, and he’s now an activist for the disabled), a VERY loud live band playing in the middle of the building, and two girls performing a dance in wheelchairs to “Holla Back Girl”…

Jon also took some great sealife pictures you can view here.

To end our (too) quick trip, we savored some Cold Stone Creamery treats, again using a gift card (thanks Aunt Leslie!).



Our weekend didn't end there, however... (see next post)

SAG Awards

Everyone should tune in to the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) Awards Show this upcoming Sunday evening (January 28, 2007). You might just catch a glimpse of Jon or Grete in the audience with the actors!

No, we’re not nominated for anything. We’re seatfillers! So you may see us scurrying from empty seat to empty seat around the tables… Should be exciting!

Scooby-Doo

In honor of the passing of Iwao Takamoto, the animator who created memorable characters like Scooby-Doo and The Jetsons' Astro, Jon and I made Scooby-Doo macaroni and cheese for dinner.

(Well, we also didn't want to put forth much more effort for dinner than that mixed with tuna, but I wanted to make the situation more noble than unhealthy.)

Welcome back to L.A.

...After our 4 hours of sleep, we went with the Eloes to the airport for our 7:30am flights. We said goodbye to our burnt orange SUV rental (and our good friends, of course), and boarded the flight back to L.A.
I don't remember any of it because I immediately passed out in my seat.


While waiting for our luggage at the other end in LAX, we were reminded of the entertainment-centered city in which we reside: Snoop Dogg and his entourage were also exiting from their Chicago flight. I don't have a picture of Snoop Dogg encircled by his 7-10 member entourage, but here is my phone pic of the backs of two bodyguards waiting for his luggage. (Snoop was waiting outside in one of many black Escalades.)

Happy New Year!

In an unexpected twist to our New Year's Eve festivities, our friends Ryan and Kim had a cancelled flight, so they joined us all (Anthony, Allison, Jon and me) that evening. We rang in the New Year at midnight, then promptly went to bed for 4 hours...

Ryan looks a little pensive...

*Clink*

Our host and hostess