From my list of 36 things for the "Treasure Hunt" photography assignment... here are the things I have yet to find:

A famous person
The image of God
A dream
A political event
A holy person
A werewolf
A rural landscape
The last possible place on earth
Your worst nightmare
A road without end
A monster in disguise
A king or a queen
A proven miracle
Your favorite food
Your most prized possession

I found these but want to take better pictures of them:
A live wild animal
A new portrait of Elvis
A transmission of light through glass

On Saturday I went to Manhattan with Kristen and captured a bunch of images. On Sunday Jaime and I went to Coney Island and to Manhattan on a photo-mission! We got a LOT done, but I really wanted to get ALL of the things on the list!! It is a super fun project. As you can see all of the items on the list are really up to interpretation. I'm on my 3rd roll of film now.

This morning I got up at 5 AM and watched the sunrise from my roof and photographed it. It was so awesome, I'm almost inspired to get up at 5 AM again! It was gorgeous. Hopefully it looks as cool in black and white as it did in color. As the sun came up, it was hot pink! Really incredible!

One of my exciting moments this weekend was visiting the very subway grate where Marilyn Monroe's Seven-Year Itch "skirt blowing scene" was filmed. That was my choice for "a famous historical place."

I will try to get some of these things at the Botanic Garden tomorrow after work. If I feel really inspired I saw there was a booksigning at Borders where Oscar de la Hoya will be talking about his new memoir. Then I could get a picture of a famous person! Of course I'd have to go on my lunch hour and it might take too long...

I am thinking about finding a Burger King to function as my "king." (Too bad I don't know of any Drag Queens in NYC... I only know where to find them upstate!) It could be cute to get a sign pointing to Queens (the borough)! Hmm...

I haven't decided what my "prized possession" should be!

Aly and I are having sushi tomorrow so I can photograph my favorite food. I am thinking about trying to photograph the sushi chefs, if they'll let me!

Anyone know of any political events going on?? Between now and Wednesday? And where can I find an Elvis impersonator? There are never any Elvis impersonators when I need them.

I did not expect to get an autograph from Tina Louise so fast, but it came today, personalized to me! Very cool!

This is the site I used to get her address: Free Celebrity Addresses at Movie Eye!

I recently found out that Teri Hatcher, star of Lois & Clark (my favorite show of all time) and Desparate Housewives (my curent favorite show) was going to be at Barnes & Noble, signing her new book, Burnt Toast. I love her!! So... I did a bad, bad thing and played hookey from work. Well, I didn't TOTALLY play hookey. ACTUALLY, I decided to CONVENIENTLY get a dentist's appointment that JUST-SO-HAPPENED to be on the SAME DAY as Teri's book-signing! (That made me feel less bad about playing hookey.)

Prior to the book-signing, I finished crocheting a set of 4 toast coasters (since her book is toast-related!) Yes, I know I am the corniest person alive. But I thought that Teri might really like toast-related handicrafts!
( Toast coasters! )

I went to the book signing, and gave the toast coasters to Teri... HERE SHE IS WITH MY TOAST COASTERS! (That is a rather unflattering view of the side of me there with her. The dude there is facilitating the book-signing.)

And--she was ALL EXCITED about the toast coasters! We chatted it up about crochet, because her daughter is currently learning to knit and crochet! She said, "Emerson [her daughter] is going to love these so much!" Anyway, she was so nice! She had a very cool vintage-looking dress on. She looked very pretty, and was very friendly and smiley with all of her fans!

( Here is the autographed book. )

The Barnes & Noble event staff said they'd take cameras to get a picture of Teri and yourself. I was a little sad because you can't really even tell that's me in the picture, but after I thought about it, I decided it was much better to have a bad picture and a cute memory of talking to Teri about crochet and her daughter than to be rushed by and have a better picture.

The people who go to these celebrity events are REALLY WEIRD. I saw some "regular" people who were obviously Teri's fans, but then there are these people who are celebrity-autograph "hobbyists" and they are some STRANGE people! Many of them are a little creepy. I heard some guy keep saying he "never even once watched her [Teri's] shows." (Seriously, these events involve a LOT of standing around, waiting, time-wasting. If you don't actually care about the celebrity or her book, why are you here?) There was a retired guy in line ahead of me. He said because he is retired, going to celebrity signings "keeps him busy." (I can understand golf, fishing, and other hobbys... but celebrity signings?) A man behind me had a STACK of books, and he actually gets them signed for a REASON--he gives them to an auction that benefits a school for special-needs children. He gets the signed books because they are hot items for people to bid on. Anyhow, the people that frequent these celebrity signings all seemed to recognize and know each other. It was really weird! One lady recognized someone that "usually gets ten or fifteen books isn't here!" Even though meeting a celebrity is really cool, I realized that unless I really care about the celebrity or the book, I would never really get involved in being one of these "autograph hound" people.

The man DIRECTLY behind was was SO DISGUSTING. He was telling be about how Teri Hatcher was the most beautiful woman, and her eyes were so deep, and was I a fan? When I said I was, he said something about whether I like some of her steamier films. "Two Days in the Valley, that one really got me excited, when she had that catfight with that girl. When she was kicking that girl. Yeah, that was really, really good." He had a gift for Teri, too--an antiques flyer (like, one of those things you get free just laying around): "I know she really likes antiques." I AM NOT KIDDING. Later he said, "If I could have one dream, it would be to have one night with her, just one night." BARF!!!!! I couldn't wait to get away from this man!!

Anyhow, it was really fun to go to. I am glad I got to meet one of my favorite actresses, and that my toast coasters were a hit!

So. I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with Megan (ladymisty13) because Seth (bluemoods) inquired about the wherabouts of the Giant Fish. Since it was such a nice day, we thought it was a good time to go and look for him. ALAS! We did not see him! We will try again soon.

BUT. On our way INTO the Garden, we passed some colleagues who said, "Big Bird's in the Garden!" We were extremely thrilled! We immediately saw an area where some camera crews had set up camp. There were boxes and dollies and equipment clearly labeled with "Jim Henson Productions." It was then that I realized we were dealing with the REAL Big Bird, not just a guy in a costume.

HOWEVER. Big Bird was nowhere to be seen! But Megan and I noticed a security guard watching over a square, black 'tent.' Through a slight opening in the tent we could see what looked like yellow feathers! We realized then that the Big Bird costume was in there.

We waited and waited. At last, we saw a man go in the tent. After a few minutes, he came out in orange Big Bird Pants! The pants were attached to Big Bird Feet! The crew had the actor move over to where they were filming. Then, just before they began, someone went into the tent and got the top half of the Big Bird Costume, and lowered it on top of the actor. Suddenly, Big Bird sprang to life--it is incredible how the actors movements truly made what is essentially a really large puppet into a living thing! He was very cute to see in person!



Here is the best photo I got on my camera phone. It is of the actor in his Big Bird Pants (sitting on a green seat), and you can see the woman bringing the top half of Big Bird over to lower on top of the actor. Also, if you notice closely, Big Bird was going to be doing some gardening, so you can see he has blue bird-foot-shaped-galoshes on his feet!

14 September What Not To Wear Book Signing!

Here we are at the Border's book signing of Stacy and Clinton's Dress Your Best. Behind Clinton and Stacy are: Susan, Andrew, Mari, and me. All of us are seen here in outfits raided from Susan's closet! Clinton couldn't stop laughing at us when he was making his entrance into the book signing. It took Stacy a minute to realize who we were and what we were doing, but then she was laughing, too! I had the video camera TLC gave me to film Susan at home. I took a little video at the book signing. Not sure if TLC will use it for Susan's episode, but we'll see!


( Two more photos here... )

Susan will be filming on October 4th, 5th, and 6th, then the 11th and 12th (which is her "reveal party")! I can't believe it is so soon already! EEK!

On Thursday, I heard Bruce Springsteen was in the museum! Someone saw him on the fifth floor visiting the Basquiat exhibition. I was heating up a Hot Pocket in the staff lounge when I heard. Then, of course, I had to eat my Hot Pocket before embarking on my search for The Boss. Megan and I ate hurriedly. (Megan was "just along for the ride," but my little heart was swelling with New-Jersey-pride!)

Then we decided to try going directly to the fourth floor, thinking Bruce would be towards the end of the Basquiat exhibition, which is on the fourth floor. The exhibit ends in a gift shop. I headed directly to Hing, my buddy who was the cashier in the gift shop, to ask if Bruce had exited. It turns out he HAD, only FIVE MINUTES AGO. But! Hing heard The Boss was headed to the Egyptian galleries (3rd floor) next. (Guess where I went???) :-)

Anyhow, I got in the elevator and asked  the attendant if Bruce had gone to the third floor. He said, no--that he went to the main lobby to EXIT, approximately SEVEN MINUTES AGO. *sigh!*

Still, to satisfy my curiousity, I headed to the lobby and looked around. I even looked at the parking lot. He was GONE. Well, you can't say I didn't try. I blame it all on my Hot Pocket. Damn you, Hot Pocket!!!

The thing is, if I actually saw Bruce, I'd probably been too afraid to go up to him and talk to him. Plus he was with his family. That would be sort-of rude, you know? I just wanted a glimpse!! :-) So that's how I almost-met-Bruce-Springsteen (but not really)!