Erin was here.

A far from complete list of celebrities and quasi-famous people I saw/met/talked to at Sundance ...

• Randy Quaid - on the street, very sweet and signing lots of autographs.
  
• the younger Baldwin brother - Stephen?  No one was really recognizing him.
  
• Mary-Kate Olsen - I'm a pretty short girl and I felt like a giant when standing by this pint sized person.
  
• BONO - saw him in a deli eating lunch with his entourage.
• Ben Kingsley - sweet and patient with lots of people wanting photographs.
• creepy reporter dude from Extra (Jerry Penacoli) - such a creep.  In full hair and make up.  Kept dropping hints to us that he was "on tv" and "in the buisness".  Then proceeded to hit on me and my co workers.
  
• Jeff Rice - a total sweet guy.  Buying tons of Sundance merchandise for his family.
• Tony Hale - one of the nicest guys (celebrity or not) that I've ever talked to.
  
• Paris Hilton - walking down the street being absolutely accosted by paparazzi.
  
• the back and huge hair of Giada DeLaurentis.  Seriously, huge hair.
  
• Scott Fisher - sat and talked and had a drink with him for a long while, having no idea he was a semi-famous up and coming musician.  Commiserated with him over the freaking cold weather and both of us missing So Cal.

There are so many more directors/cast/crew that I met or helped out at our store that I can't even name.  Most people were so nice and patient and laid back.  I didn't get ANY pictures of anyone I met -- partly because I was restricted while I was on shift (which was most of my time up there) and partly because when I did see people when I wasn't working, I didn't want to bother them by asking for a photo or trying to run after them and flashing a camera in their face.  The only regret I have is not asking the girl at the deli to take a picture of me with Tony Hale.  Because he is the coolest.  And was so nice to me.  But I felt bad with him being so nice to ruin that with "can I take a picture with you?" especially when he wasn't being recognized at the time by anyone else and I didn't want to ruin it for him.  It's got to get annoying at some point, right?

This is how it went down:

I'm in the middle of an incredibly crazy shift at the merch store, because all the stuff just went 20% off and it's flying off the shelves.  Seriously, people were going mad for SFF fleeces and beanies and posters.  I tell my friend Rachel that I HAVE to have a diet coke or else I'm going to pass out, so I grab my wallet and coat and run outside to the deli next door.  I'm sitting there in line with about 4 people in front of me and only one guy behind me.  I'm just looking around and see the profile of the guy behind me.  I think to myself "wow, that guy looks like Buster!".  It didn't really occur to me that it *could* be Buster. 

So I keep trying to sneak looks at him without being totally obvious but he's looking the other way.  Then it's my turn to order and so I order and pay and then think, well, it's now or never you're going to regret this if you don't find out for sure.  So I turn to him and pat him on the arm and say "Excuse me, are you an actor?".  As soon as he turns to me I'm staring the one and only Buster Bluth in the face and practically start giggling to myself inside.  He says "yeah, I am!".  I'm like "I'm so sorry, I don't remember your name - but you're Buster, aren't you!"  He smiles and says "Yes!  I'm Tony, who are you?" (sticks out his hand to shake mine, and trying to look at my credentials to see my name).  I'm like "I'm Erin, I'm just a volunteer here at the store next door, but I have to tell you, Arrested Development is one of my all time favorite shows and I was so sad when it was canceled and we watch the DVD's all the time ..." He's like "Ooohh, thank you so much!  That was the funnest show to work on, everyone is so nice and so fun to be around and are still all my best friends!"  I'm trying not to fawn him to death by this time since I'm still kind of awkwardly grasping his hand so I hurry and compose myself and say "Oh my husband is going to be so jealous that I met you ... he loves you too!"  He smiled and said thank you again, then said "Are you from here?  Do you like working at the festival?"  I say yeah that I'm a local, and it's my first festival, and it's been really fun so far and kind of crazy ... and then he grabs my hand again and says "Oh, you are so sweet, we've all descended on your city and taken it over and you're here giving your free time in the name of film and that's so awesome of you to do!"  I'm like "Oh, yeah, I mostly just wanted to do it because I don't work and I wanted to get out of the house away from my toddler son for a few hours but yeah it's fun ..." he laughs and says "I can imagine - I have a two year old daughter!"

So then it's his turn to order and pay and so I shake his hand one more time and say "thank you for being so nice!" (I'm such a huge dork!) and tell him good luck with the film he's in ("The Year of Getting to Know Us" - of course I can't think of the title when I'm standing there next to him but luckily I remembered he was *in* a film in the festival.)  And he says "Thank you!  Have fun with the volunteering!"  I just can't stop telling everyone what a genuinely nice guy he was.  I mean, totally looking me in the eye our whole conversation and honestly interested in talking with me.  It was one of the highlights of the festival for me, by far.

That's it for now.  I've got "SFF recap - workin' my tail off", "SFF recap - free SWAG I scored" and "SFF recap - sweet movies I saw" posts in the works for the next few days.

As per usue ... a few pictures ...

map and guide of Park City

Paris Hilton getting accosted by paparazzi.

Can I just say that I am exhausted.  EXHAUSTED. 

Last night was the closing party for the festival and it was so fun.  So random, but so fun.  Random because the theme was "cowboy"?  I guess?  All the bartenders were dressed up in western wear and there were giant covered wagons everywhere and the food was cornbread muffins and chips and salsa and there were 2 giant inflatable cactus' in the middle of the dancefloor?  Random. 

Tony Hale was quoted in this article and summed it up the best:  "Nothing says Sundance and independent film like people dancing in covered wagons."  So true!  And so funny!

Oh, and did I mention that the day before I MET Tony Hale?!  And talked to for a few minutes, just him and I, one on one.  And that he's about the nicest and sweetest celebrity that I've ever met.  And that it took all the willpower I could muster to not ask him if he'd say "heyyyyy brother" for me? 

Seriously.

I want to write more, and tell you about all the awesome movies I saw and the fun I had and the great people I met and the crazy celebrities I had to deal with and the freaking awesome U2 experience I had and share the pictures I took ... but right now I think I'm going back to bed.  So it will have to wait a little while.

Well, maybe one or two pictures ...

cactus in dance floor

me, rachel b & rachel y

(Read the previous post about me volunteering for the Sundance Film Festival.)

Tomorrow is the beginning of my great Sundance experience.  Well, except for the little meeting I went to about a month ago to choose my venue and enroll for my shifts.

instruction.

Sundays are good for:  sledding and playing in the snow:

puffy.

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His arms were permanently sticking out like this because the jacket was so puffy.

whee!

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He loved going down the hill by himself ... but only on his tummy, otherwise he would tip over!

at the end.

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What he looked like at the end, when he sledded right over to me.  Snot running out of his nose like a faucet, cheeks as red and as frozen as his snow-covered gloves, and giggling like a crazy banshee on crack.

heading home.

Heading home for some warm milk (him) and hot chocolate (us) and a nap (all of us).

For Pregnancy Flashback Friday

So I was very blessed in that I had a pretty awesome pregnancy.  I not once got "morning" sickness, I didn't have to wear maternity clothes until well past 20+ weeks, I was put on a strict "one-milkshake-a-day" diet by my ObGyn because I wasn't gaining enough weight (for real!), I didn't have ligament pains or Braxton Hicks contractions or any of that.  I didn't even get one stretch mark.  Don't hate me too much, please. 

But what I did get were cankles.  Seriously fat, ugly swollen Shrek feet.  For reals.  It didn't help that the last trimester of my pregnancy was June-July-August in Southern California -- it was SO hot the summer of 2006, too.  It also didn't help that I was on my feet most of my days at work.  My feet were so swollen some days that I would look down at them literally expecting to see my skin cracking open at the seams.  I was "dentable" -- my coworkers got a great laugh out of poking in my foot with as much pressure as they could -- and then taking bets on how long it would take the dent to subside.  Sometimes it was 30 or more minutes.  It was gross, uncomfortable, painful ... and a little freakish. 

At work I first got special clearance to wear flat shoes (otherwise we were encouraged to wear heels).  Then I got clearance to wear my flat Crocs.  Then I got further clearance to wear my flip-flops, because my feet were to swollen to fit into my clog-Crocs.  THEN my feet got too fat to fit into my beloved Rainbows and so I resorted to wearing slippers around my desk area ... and going barefoot when I was teaching a class.  I also kept a bucket of ice water under my desk and would soak my feet during down time.  People would come by my desk from all over the building to see the freaky swollen feet girl. 

Here's a picture of my feet, when I was about 6 months pregnant (not too much swelling yet, pretty close to normal)

rainbows, pre swell

And here's a picture when I was about 8 months pregnant, on my last day of work.  (Sorry for the crappy picture quality)

rainbows, post swell

A little while ago I posted about me becoming a volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival this year (well, technically next year, since it's in January '08).  I'm getting more and more excited about it.  I only signed up to be part-time, which is committing to a minimum of five 4-hour shifts - but with the unlimited possibility to pick up more.

I have thoroughly read and signed my volunteer agreement and release form:

agreement

I agreed to not take any stalkerazzi photos (at least during the times that I'm working!) like this one:

Jennifer A. at Sundance

I'm hopefully going to be working inside of the retail store located in the Egyptian Theater in Park City (one of the main venues for films and Q&A sessions at the festival):

The Egyptian

I get a free film voucher for every 4 hours that I work ... so that's at least 5 free films.  I've been poring over the entries list trying to decide what I want to see.  I'm extra excited, too, because my Aunt has a house in Park City right off main street, so I have a place to go before and after my shifts.  That's going to come in really handy, too, when I can park in her driveway and not have to fight the festival parking or take a shuttle.  Plus most of my family goes up to the festival at some point -- it's fun to just walk up and down main street looking for celebrities and getting all the free SWAG everyone is giving away.  Now they'll also be able to come visit me!