Now I'm back from Cali, Cali, Cali

I, your prodigal blogger, have returned from Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I was not discovered and asked to be in the next Ewan McGregor movie, but I did have some star sightings, and, more than that, an unbelievably fabulous time.

First things first. Our flight. Lange (my college roommate and one of my best friends) and I drove to Birmingham because we had free Southwest tickets. Southwest, for those of you who don’t know, does not assign seating. So when you get on the plane, you just kind of cross your fingers and hope you don’t get a middle seat.

I got a middle seat.

As Lange and I boarded, we noticed fewer and fewer available seats. Only middle seats were left. After Lange sat down, I pointed to the seat behind her and asked if I could sit there. To my astonishment, the two guys sitting there did not cringe when they said the seat was open. I, once again, thought back to a year ago. Their reaction probably would have been a lot different. But both arm rests came down easily and my seatbelt was
comfortably loose. Yay!

Our time in Los Angeles was fantastic. And the Oprah show was quite an  experience. We lined up at 5:30 a.m. Monday morning with thousands of others in the parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl. It was really cold, but we were just so thrilled to be there. We got into the Kodak Theatre (where the show was taped—the same theater where the Oscars had been the night before) about 10 a.m. It was pretty cool to see the stage still set up from the Oscars. Then Oprah came out. I think I know why so many people lose their minds when they see her. They’re delirious from waiting and lack of food. But it was pretty darn exciting to see her, even if we were up in the balcony.

Oprah’s guests were “The King’s Speech” Colin Firth (Dreamy Mr. Darcy…sigh), Geoffrey Rush and Tom Hooper. Anne Hathaway was there, as was Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo. The kids from the PS 22 Chorus in Staten Island, N.Y. sang and then Katy Perry came out and sang with them. All in all a pretty cool day.

My food was pretty good, too. Though I did indulge a few times. I mean, I’m on the West Coast. Clearly I have to eat some In-N-Out Burger, right? It was totally worth it.

Below I’ve posted some more pictures from my trip. It truly was an experience of a lifetime.