the would-be writers guild

We saved a ton of money flying out of NYC from our house-hunting trip instead of Philly (yep, that’s me talking like a local), which gave us barely more than 24 hours to introduce the city to newcomers, Andrea and Alison. (By the way, a friendly shout-out to Alyssa for offering us her apartment! Thanks again!)

Of course, one of the spots we had to take them to was Carnegie Deli for their world-famous cheesecake. Honestly, I don’t even order cheesecake anymore because the stuff at Carnegie is so fluffy and decadent, it has ruined me for other cheesecakes forever.

While dining, a lady and her husband were seated at the table behind us, and I quickly recognized the lady as Jill from the reality show The Real Housewives of New York City. I passed my camera to Andrea and acted like I was posing for the picture. I’m sure Jill didn’t catch on at all.

(Seriously, what is up with the head-tilting? I know I was trying to duck out of the way of the picture, but this is going too far.)

Here’s a closer shot:

Check out her ring at the bottom of the frame! Whoa!

The next morning, we were standing on a corner near The Plaza Hotel when a pale pixie-like maiden stepped out of a cab. I made eye contact with her, and quickly recognized her to be none other than everybody’s favorite spider-loving gal, Kirsten Dunst. She made her way past us as we all frantically whispered to each other, “That’s Kirsten Dunst! That’s Kirsten Dunst!” I found myself sort of walking in a panicked circle wondering what it was I should do. Because clearly I was supposed to do SOMETHING.

Alison retrieved her camera and began walking down the street behind her and got kind of a semi-far away shot of the back of her. I would ask Alison to e-mail me the picture, but I am lazy. And besides that, I don’t think Alison knows that you can even do that with pictures, so why destroy her view of the world? You’ll just have to trust me. I saw her. She was pale. And thin. And very pale. With messy hair. Did I mention pale? I did? Yes, she was very pale.

Finally, I’d like to share one more celebrity encounter with you, because I know you are riveted. While it didn’t happen on this trip, I have been in the gleaming presence of one other star while visiting the city that never sleeps. When we visited with Mr. and Mrs. Smith last year, we exited a Broadway show to see none other than motivational speaker extraordinaire, Tony Robbins, walking out with a crowd of worshippers people.

They stood around him on the sidewalk and he was saying something clearly meaningful to them and when he finished, he bowed to them, kissed his hands and then raised them in a large sweeping motion. No kidding. And we were all like, “Dude. I. Am. So. Inspired. I. Can’t. Even. Move.” After seeing him, I can definitely say I was motivated. I’m not sure for what, but definitely something incredibly important and inspiring. Definitely.