Don't Forget to Elf Yourself!

My friend Marianne posted one of those "Elf Yourself" dance videos on her blog which made me realize that I had yet to Elf myself this year! For further proof that I have way too much time on my hands click on the link below to enjoy an elf Christmas dance featuring some of the men who made TV enjoyable for me this year. Enjoy!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/jeasAbjwgqxC1P89xbKU

And I'm back!

Today is my 29th birthday. 29 - yikes! A friend from college wrote a blog post about the age of 29 that I found to be so true and hilarious. I think her post perfectly sums up why the age of 29 is somewhat of a quandary.

In high school I made a pretty big deal about my birthday complete with a countdown to remind all my friends how many days they had until they could celebrate me. Looking back now in my wisdom as a 29 year-old I realize this sounds extremely narcissistic. But at the time I honestly think I just enjoyed any reason to celebrate anything. Thankfully I have always been blessed with wonderful friends so they didn't get too annoyed (I think). For my 18th birthday they took the opportunity to make sure everyone in the entire school was aware of the blessed day. Travel back with me to that day...

November 3, 1998: I wake up, get ready for the day and then head outside to get in my car and that's when I see them. My 1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse (affectionately known as Mitsi) is covered in small pieces of paper donning my high school crush's face. 'My friends are so funny!' I thought sarcastically. I spend the next several minutes removing the papers from my car before driving to school.

When I do enter the school I see that my sweet friends have painted happy birthday signs on butcher paper and hung them in different hallways! I love the signs and decide that maybe I can forgive them for the incident with Mitsi. I make my way to my locker and see that someone has taped up this Titanic Poster of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet dancing with one slight alteration - my face was taped over Kate's. If you'll remember 1998 was the height of the Titanic phase which also happened to coincide with the height of my Leonardo DiCaprio obsession phase. Again a nice gesture and since I didn't even know what photoshop was in the late 90's taping my face to a poster was definitely the next best thing.

I walk to class, and wait - what's that I see people wearing? Oh Lordy, my "sweet" friends have passed out the tiny pieces of paper with my crush's face on them and people are wearing them as pins on their clothing. People I don't even know. Unbelievable. I get to class and see more papers with his face on them all over my chair and hear the laughter of my friends as my face turns bright red. Admittedly, this whole scenario isn't quite as bad as it could have been however because my crush was older than me so he thankfully had graduated and therefore was not completely freaked out that someone was semi-stalking him (at least as far as I know).

I'd say the memories of that birthday are right up there with the "Backwards" party I had in elementary school. Everyone wore their clothes backwards to the party and we did an obstacle course in the front yard backwards. For the record I still think this is a genius idea for a birthday party - try wearing your clothes backwards for a while and you'll see how fun it is too...okay so maybe it's more fun if you are under the age of 10.

Idaho?

It's Friday afternoon and I'm ready for the weekend which means I'm not really in a "working mood" if you know what I mean. Therefore it seems like the perfect opportunity to share another little piece of my craziness. The Sooners take on the Bengals of Idaho State tomorrow night which has caused the word 'Idaho' to be in my discussions and thoughts this week. Idaho...it's a fun state name largely because this is what goes through my mind every time I hear it:

I saw a shirt that had the same slogan at Urban Outfitters years ago and since then whenever someone says Idaho the response in my head is "No, U-da-ho!" followed of course by silent laughing to myself. Okay- occasionally I let those thoughts form into words and actually say it to someone, it's just so funny to me! Hopefully this will now have the same effect on you whenever you hear 'Idaho'. You're welcome.

Noooooo!!!

It can't be true...I can't believe it...I don't understand...why? why?? why??? As I went through my Monday morning routine of catching up on pop culture news I found this article which details that...

Emily Blunt & John Krasinski Are Engaged

The first line of the People article states, "John Krasinski and Emily Blunt will soon be husband and wife." I'm not sure there's ever been a more heartbreaking statement. Most who know me are well aware of my adoration for John Krasinski. I admit I wasn't aware of who he was prior to The Office and since I realize that I technically don't actually know John, part of the crush stems from my gut feeling and belief that his character Jim Halpert must be extremely similar to who the real John Krasinski is. I mean it just seems natural for him to play the charming, funny, and laid-back guy that everyone loves. I came very close to proving this when we had a "chance" encounter on the streets of Charlotte back in 2007. Now feels like an appropriate time to relive this story so if you have a few minutes I invite you to sit back and travel down memory lane with me...

It was April, 2007, George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, and John Krasinski had been in various cities around North and South Carolina filming their movie Leatherheads. Unfortunately most of the cities were at least an hour away and filming was only happening during the week when I had to be at work. I started hearing stores from friends and friends of friends who were lucky enough to run into him when they were in Greenville, SC. My jealously continued to grow when people started emailing me pictures.

Picture of a friend of a friend that was emailed to me after a sighting

He was so close, yet so far away. I just knew that I had to have some connection to meeting him. Then it was announced that they would be filming in an old football stadium in downtown Charlotte. This was my chance - he was going to be in my city! After a few days went by without a chance encounter with John while he was in Charlotte I decided it was time to figure out how to be in the right place at the right time. Of course the stadium was a closed set so I figured access would be difficult. I was volunteering with a high school ministry called Young Life at the time and thankfully my high school friends were well aware of my love for John. A high schooler named Bailey and her friend Julia approached me with the news that Bailey's dad was an extra in the movie. This was my in!! They said they would accompany me to the set and since we knew the film was set in the 1920's we debated raiding the Young Life skit closet for some flapper clothes in an effort to look like we belonged on set. After some debate we decided we would just go in normal clothes and if we got caught we could just say we were trying to visit Bailey's dad. Clearly a surefire plan...

I pick up Julia & Bailey after work around 6:15, since Bailey knew they usually wrapped around 7:00 we were hoping to catch John as he left the set. We park across the street from the stadium and walk over to the parking lot of the stadium. There are no security guards but we are all a little on edge and nervously laughing or maybe just laughing at ourselves for actually doing this. We see several people in 1920's clothing at the north end of the stadium field but can't see well enough to tell if John is in the group. A random guy dressed in normal clothes comes walking through the parking lot toward us. We look at each other - fearful that our plan will be busted only 2 minutes in but then he smiles at us and says, "George has already left." I let out a sigh of relief since he doesn't appear to want to turn us in even though he thinks we're here to see George Clooney. As if we care about George! I reply, "What about John Krasinski?" He replies, "Yeah, they both just finished for the day and they usually duck out quickly to their dressing rooms on the other side of the stadium." We thank him for his help on our journey and decide that since we're there we might as well look around and then make our way to the other side of the stadium.

At this time all the extras in their 1920's clothing start walking toward us and we decide to just walk with them wherever they are going. In our 2007 clothing we definitely stand out. We realize they are going to this window to either pick up a check or something official. That is not exciting so we go through an open gate inside the stadium. It was pretty cool, they have all these old looking billboards around and the field has been made really muddy. Bailey said that John plays a superstar football player in the movie so his picture is on several billboards as if he is endorsing products. We took advantage of the photo op in the stadium.

Julia & Bailey inside the stadium

Can you tell how excited I am?

The Billboards with John's picture

After the photo session we walk around to the south side of the stadium and go back into the parking lot area, but on the south side now. We are trying to head in the direction of where the random guy said the dressing rooms were when we encounter a security guard. Everyone tries to avoid eye contact but he still sees us and asks in a suspicious voice, "What are y'all doing here?" We reply with silence at first and then Bailey says, "Just walking around." So much for our plan. The security guard laughs and I exhale, thankful that he's not taking us to jail. He tells us, "George is gone for the day." I'm a little annoyed that everyone apparently thinks it's 1995 and we're here just to see George Clooney. I calmly reply with, "What about John?" He says, "Who?" I'm thinking it's unbelievable he doesn't even know how John is but instead of telling him that I choose to simply say, "John Krasinski". He looks very confused and before he has a chance to reply again to tell us he doesn't know who that is, a lady sitting in a white van to the left of us with the window rolled down says, "I just dropped him off at his hotel." Our heads turn sharply to the van lady on the left and Julia asks as innocently as possible, "Which hotel?" The van lady pauses, then smiles and says, "The Westin." We thank her, exit the parking lot per the security guard's demand and briskly walk back to my car. We decide we must go to The Westin.

Bailey, Julia, and I walk into the Westin and conclude they must be staying on the top floor so we take the elevator to the 25th floor. When we exit we do see some suites but unfortunately no famous people are roaming around the halls. Shocking - I know. We decide to go back to the lobby/bar area. We sit there for about 10 minutes hoping they will walk by while also trying to think up another plan and then decide we are going to ask the valet/bellhop men outside if they have any information.

We walk out to the back entrance and the valet guys all ask us if we want a car, we reply that we are waiting for someone. The we make crazy eyes at each other trying to get someone to speak up and be the one to ask. I step up and try to make small talk with the man behind the counter. "So, do you ever see any celebrities here?" I ask. He replies, "Yeah actually Mandy Moore just walked out here, she's going to the Bobcats game." We freak out that we just missed seeing her- any sense of playing it cool that we had achieved is now gone. I ask him if he watches The Office, he replies no and I tell him he really should because it's very funny. After that perfect transition, I ask, "Did you know that George Clooney is filming a movie in town?" He replies, "Yes, in fact he is staying here." Bailey pipes in and asks if this entrance is where they come in and out of and he says it usually is. We thank him for talking to us and decide our new plan is going to be to come back tomorrow to the hotel and wait in the lobby.

We are heading back around to the front of the hotel discussing our new plan for tomorrow when Julia points across the street and says, "Y'all...is that John over there in the sweater?" I look across the street and see three men walking with their backs toward us and the one on the left looks like it could be John from the back. Again we lose all sense of playing it cool and literally run across the street to where they are. As we're running the guy in the middle puts a baseball hat on and once we get across the street we realize it is in fact John on the left and George in the middle (with the baseball hat on as a disguise)!! I believe it's at this point that I started shaking with excitement. We stay maybe about ten yards behind them and begin whispering to each other about what we should do.

Finally I think to myself this is my chance - I have to say something, we have to meet. So after a mental pep talk, I try to move over to the side a little to be in their peripheral vision and yell out, "John?!" None of them respond or turn around. I think they must not have heard me. "John!!" I yell out again, louder this time. No response again except for Julia and Bailey silently laughing at me. We cross another street and then the non-famous guy in the trio nudges George's arm and points for him to go to the other side of the street. As we are crossing the street again to the other side we realize they might be trying to get rid of us. When we get to the other side I yell out, "Excuse me!" even louder. No response again. Julia decides my plan is clearly not working and yells out, "Can we please take a picture with y'all?" They all stop and look back. There he is - I am face to face with John Krasinski! (about 5 feet back though). This is it, fate is about to be set in motion - I start sweating and my mouth goes dry as I can't believe that I'm standing on the same sidewalk with the John Krasinski. I'm sure he's in the process of realizing I'm the girl he's been looking for all his life and it's going to be one of those "love at first sight stories". I picture us laughing about how we met when we're on Ellen and Oprah since they'll both invite us on to give us some engagement presents.

I'm abruptly woken up from dreaming about being Mrs. Krasinski when I hear George Clooney respond with, "Sorry ladies, we're working, we can't right now." Wait....what?!?!? My jaw drops, I am in shock - first of all George Clooney talked to us...and second of all they are clearly not working because they're not in 1920's clothes...and thirdly I don't even care about stupid George being in the picture, he can take the picture of John and me for all I care, how come he gets to speak on behalf of the group?? Julia is clearly not in the state of shock that I am and so as they turn around and start to walk away she tries pleading and is yelling out, "Please, it will be quick!" Bailey takes a different approach and tries to prove that we are true Office fans by yelling out, "I love The Office...Michael wears women's clothes...that's funny!" (This episode had just aired which explains her 'Michael wears women's clothes' comment.) I think I see John give a laugh but they don't stop and instead keep walking the other direction from us at a brisk pace. I snap out of my state of shock and try to quickly get a picture of their backs as they walk away but some parking guys got in the way right as I tried to take it so it didn't come out well at all. We continue to follow from a distance as I try to take another picture, but we were practically running to catch up at this point so those pictures were blurry and then they turn a corner out of sight. No good picture is obtained. And no on-the-spot proposal from John. And therefore no engagement presents from Ellen and Oprah.

The best picture of John & George...so sad

The day wasn't a total loss though, the three of us had a very good laugh recounting all of the events, especially Bailey yelling lines from The Office. And we can still say that we saw them which counts for something, right? Plus now I have a legitimate reason to dislike George Clooney. I truly believe if it had just been John that he would have taken a picture with us. I think George is probably tired of having to stop for pictures at this point of his career, but John isn't sick of it yet and would have stopped. We didn't go back the next day because we were emotionally drained from the rejection and also I'm pretty sure we would have been banned from the hotel due to our day of stalking around Charlotte.

So that's where my story of fate gone wrong began and now with the engagement of my dream crush to someone who is not me, it takes another step in the wrong direction. Sigh......I'll leave you this excellent picture of the man who will not be my husband while I follow Michael Scott's strategy for dealing with heartbreak by listening to the preview of James Blunt's Goodbye My Lover several times on itunes.