I already knew her number one choice, but some of the others were a bit of a surprise.  Let’s take a look:

1.  David Duchovny, of course

2.  Matt Damon

3.  Edward Norton

4.  Ed Westwick

5.  Colin Farrell

6.  Nick Lachey

7.  Rob Thomas

I think Susan may have a bit of a thing for the bad boy!

How about you?  Are you a woman who can’t resist the danger of the bad boy?

Why do you think that women tend to go for this sort of guy?

Who are some of your other favorite celebrity bad boys?

For more Aloha Friday fun, visit An Island Life blog.

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I like to use the Bengal Tiger metaphor.   If you saw one at the zoo, it would be neat but not as thrilling as if you happened to see one walking down the street.   When we were in Vegas a few weekends ago, we were lucky enough to have such an experience!  (Celeb sighting, not tiger in case my metaphor was confusing as I’m not really great at metaphors.)

We came out of our hotel and began walking down the strip.  We were on our way to the casino next door to our hotel because they had $5 blackjack tables (without skanky pole dancers).  As I’ve explained before, I am not much of a “high roller” so we had to actively seek out the bargain (and skank-free) tables.  Just as we left the hotel, we noticed a van parked on the little side street and a bunch of people with cameras setting something up.

Of course, my celebrity radar went off.  I’ve been on enough stalking expeditions to know the signs of a potential sighting.  We slowed down and tried to get a look at who was there and what they were filming.

Brad asked, “Hey, doesn’t that guy look familiar?”

I agreed.  He did look familiar and even if he wasn’t famous, he was cute.  So we stuck around a little longer to try to figure out who this mystery guy was.

We noticed he was standing with two other guys wearing the same disheveled looking suits.  We couldn’t get a good look:

Then the guy with the curly hair turned around and we immediately knew who it was!

It was the cast from Glee!!!

Actually not the whole cast because it appeared that just the guys were there.  This was fine by me.

Note: I actually do really wish the female cast members were there because I adore Jane Lych-who is also on the show Two and a Half Men and played in Role Models.  I would have loved to have met her and tell her that she is HILARIOUS, but it just wasn’t meant to be.)

Confession Time: I hate to admit this, but I’ve only seen one full episode of Glee (the premiere last spring) because it comes on Thursday nights.   I really liked it, but my tivo is already about to explode from everything that it has to record on Thursdays.  I just didn’t think that I could add another show.  I am sensitive to my tivo’s needs and realize that the tivo-owner relationship is a delicate one so I never want to do anything to upset it.  I am clearly an idiot because everyone but me seems to watch and LOVE this show!!  All I ever read is Glee, Glee, Glee and how awesome it it is.  I feel so out of the loop.

It didn’t matter that I had no idea what the character names, or even better, the actor names were.  I still couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sneak over and ask for a picture when the guys weren’t busy with the photoshoot.

First I went over to the main teacher guy.  After a quick imdb search, I know that this is Matthew Morrison (who plays Mr. Shuester).  He was incredibly nice and seemed happy to oblige me with a photo.  I asked the guy that was standing with him to take the photo because Brad was off hiding around the corner.  He didn’t want to participate in this stalking endeavor.  Anyway, it turns out that the guy that I asked was the photographer for the shoot so he made a joke about the fact that a professional was taking our photo.  He was quite charming.

Please don’t look too closely at me.  I was pretty much up the entire night before so I’m looking very rough in this shot.  Instead, look at this adorable creature standing next to me.  OMG–I’m totally crushing on Matthew now!!  I just love guys with curly hair and that whole messy tie look is just so sexy!!

I didn’t say much to him other than “Hi, do you mind taking a quick picture with me,”  because I was scared that he might start quizzing me on his name, the show or some other information that I didn’t know. Look people, I can only be obsessive about so many things and with Ryan Gosling and Twilight, I’ve already got a lot on my plate.  So, I just said “thanks” and got the hell out of there as quickly as I could.

I then approached the tall, cute guy we originally noticed at the beginning of this adventure. His name is apparently Cory Monteith and he plays Finn on the show (once again, thank you imdb).  He wasn’t as friendly as Matthew.  He actually seemed a little shy.  Who cares?  He’s tall and cute!!

Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo with Mark Salling (plays Puck on the show).  I know, I know…tragic!

I tried, but he had this girl with him that kept shooing away all the female fans.  I don’t know who she was but I immediately HATED her with every fiber of my being!!!  She was preventing me from getting close to this:

How adorable is he!?!?!?!

[Rant Alert (sorry but it has to be said):   I'm still a little annoyed by the fact that he didn't seem to want to be approached by fans.  I try to keep in mind that he may have just been having a terrible day and wasn't in the mood.  And of course if that is the case, I totally respect that and believe that he has the right to not feel like taking pictures, doing autographs, etc.. However, I can't help but think that maybe he just didn't want to be bothered by it and that is UNACCEPTABLE to me.  Because if Ryan FREAKING Gosling can sign autographs and take pictures with fans for almost an hour after his show, I think you can suck it up and do the same thing.  Because even if Glee is a good show , it is NOT The Notebook!!!  End Rant.]

I can’t wait to see the photos they took outside the hotel!  If anyone comes across them, please send them to me.  They will look something like this (but way less dorky):

Do you watch Glee?  Who is your favorite guy on the show???

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If you are new to Monday Mentions, check out this explanation to learn more.

• I’m loving The Office this season so far.  First, we had the best wedding in the history of TV weddings EVER!!! It was probably one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen.  It is hard to top such greatness, and I can’t say that this latest video could ever do that, but  I did get a kick out of this new girl group called Subtle Sexuality (with Kelly Kapoor and Erin Hannon, featuring ‘Nard Dog and introducing Mr. Understood-Ryan).  Go and check it out on their website.

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Halloween costumes cracked me up.  Of all the costumes, Brad chose to be the DJ guy from Yo Gabba Gabba.  How funny!!  I’m guessing it is because his kids like the show (at least that is what I’m hoping).  Angie got into the Halloween spirit to0 by spraying her hair gray and rubbing fake blood on her face (at least we hope it is fake blood).  You have to see it for yourself!

• So I promised my kids that on November 1st I would take out my Dead Man’s Bones cd (sniff, sniff) because they were so tired of me playing it over and over again in the car.  Ha–the jokes on them!!  I switched it out for the New Moon soundtrack!!  So now they get a full month of depressing, teen angsty music so that mommy can get herself ready for the next installment of Edward and Bella’s beautiful love story.  I mean seriously, can you believe it???  New Moon is only18 DAYS AWAY!!!!  As for the soundtrack, so far I’m really enjoying it so far.  It is actually a good transition from Dead Man’s Bones. The sound is actually a little similar in some of the songs.    You can listen to it here for free if you haven’t already gotten your copy.

• Speaking of Twilight goodness, before you click on the next link I need you to make sure you are sitting down and have taken a nice deep breath.  I am not responsible for any injuries you may sustain when you view this photo.   This magazine cover of Robert Pattinson that Sue posted yesterday nearly took my breath away.  He is absolutely gorgeous.  You can see all the photos here if you can stand it.

That’s it for me.  Please leave a comment in the links with your Monday Mentions.  I can’t wait to check them out!

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I’m Leaving Las Vegas
Lights so bright
Palm sweat, blackjack
On a Saturday night
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving for good, for good
I’m leaving for good
I’m leaving for good

I have now been to Sin City two times and I think that is my limit. I guess I’m just not a Vegas kind of girl.

1. I like to gamble (more specifically play Blackjack) but I don’t like to lose. Actually, losing makes me sick to my stomach and the more I lose the more I want to throw myself into the Lion pit at the MGM hotel.  Sadly, Lady Luck was not on our side this trip. We were up and down the whole time but in the end, we came home losers.

2. I have no problem with the fact that there are strip clubs galore in Vegas (well, actually I do) but don’t throw the skanky girls in my face when I’m least expecting it. We came back to our hotel after a long night of walking (see #3) and what do I see as we come through the doors of our hotel casino? Oh, just a few pole dancers on top of the Blackjack tables.  I had no time to prepare myself.  There they were in all their skanky, STD-filled glory.

I actually think the idea is brilliant from a business perspective.  How is a heterosexual male supposed to make good betting decisions with butt cheeks and boobs all up in their face?  As for me, I think I’ll pass on losing my life savings while having the pleasure of getting sweat on by dirty whores.  No thank you.

Oh, sorry let me guess.  They are paying their way through med-school.  Whatever.

3. I don’t know about you but when I’m on vacation I try to avoid exercise at all times. I like to sit, lounge, lay, ride, but walking is not a verb that I like to incorporate in my vacation vocabulary.  I felt like all we did on this trip was walk and walk and walk.  Everything looks so close (note:  it isn’t), so we made the mistake of saying, “Oh we’ll just walk instead of getting a cab.”  I thought my feet were going to fall off at one point. I attempted to wear heels one night but thankfully I listened to the little voice in my head that said, “ARE YOU CRAZY??  WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?  TAKE THOSE DEATH SHOES OFF RIGHT NOW!!”  and so I opted for a more comfortable option.  Then of course the whole night I see all these girls wearing their gorgeous, sexy high heels and I’m feeling all sorts of shoe envy, while I’m schlepping around in my flip flops.

4.  I could really do without the whole “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” mentality. Whoever came up with that slogan just needs to be  taken out to the desert and shot.  Ok, so maybe not shot, but at least permenantly take their pen, paper, computer, whatever away so they can’t invent anymore ridiculous slogans.  I wish I could elaborate more, but let me just say that you really don’t know people until you go to Vegas with them.

5.  Then there are the boobs. They are everywhere.  And I’m not just talking about the slutty Blackjack pole dancers.  I’m talking about the tourists.  Or maybe they all live there. Maybe they put boob enhancing vitamins in the water or make breast implants mandatory.  I have no idea, but everywhere you turn is a girl with a gigantic knockrs. Of course, most are fake, but does it really matter?  When we first landed, I went off to find information about the shuttle to the hotel and the guy behind the counter kept looking past me while he was talking to me.  I turn around to find out what he is staring at and right behind me is a pair of perky (fake) double Ds.  No wonder he was so distracted.  I would have been distracted too.

6.  The guys in Vegas all think they are the guys from The Hangover. On our flight to Vegas, the guys behind me on the plane were all laughing and bragging about how they had lied to their wives and girlfriends about where they were going this weekend.  Then they started singing T-Pain’s catchy little diddy, “I’m In Love with a Stripper”.  I thought I was going to puke by the time I got off the plane.  I had to physically restrain myself because my desire to turn around and smack the stupid, smug looks off their faces was so great I could hardly stand it.  It wasn’t just on the plane.  Noooo…these types of guys are everywhere.

So, you may be wondering if we had a good time at all.  Yes, there were some highlights:

1.  The U2 Concert–the reason we even went out there in the first place–was once again INCREDIBLE!!  I loved every minute of it.

2.  I loved the Bellagio fountains and of course I had to get this picture of my husband and his best friend doing the final scene from Ocean’s Eleven.

Move over Pitt and Clooney!!

3. The rides at the top of the Stratosphere.  I’ve mentioned before that I’m a thrill-seeker so it won’t surprise you that this was my one “must-do” of the trip.  Here’s a picture of Brad and me after the Big Shot.

4. And finally the absolute highlight of the trip—a surprise celebrity sighting!!!!

I’ll fill you in on the details about this encounter on the next post because this is already getting way too long and I need to go help my son with his book report.

Stay tuned….

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Let’s start with a few oldies but goodies…first up, Frank Sinatra.

You can’t have a Vegas post without at least mentioning Elvis.   I’m doing you a favor and not including sequin-jumpsuit, terrible sideburn, chubby Elvis and going with Viva Las Vegas Elvis.  You can thank me later.

Next up we have one of my absolute favorite movies EVER…Swingers!!   How could you not fall in love with Vince Vaughn’s obnoxious, but lovable Trent…

Then there is the hotness trifecta of the Ocean’s Eleven guys.  I loved the first one, but I wasn’t too thrilled with the sequels that followed it.

My favorite guy from the list…sexy, sexy Josh Duhamel!!

I never saw “What Happens in Vegas” with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz.  Have you?  Is it as terrible as it looks?  I may have to just sit through it because I think I need a little dose of Ashton*:

*Demi Moore is one lucky cougar!!!!!!!

Finally, we have Bradley Cooper for The Hangover.

Have you ever been to Vegas?

If you could take one of these guys on a wild, weekend trip to Vegas, who would you pick?

For more Aloha Friday fun, visit An Island Life Blog.

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I have no links to post this week since I have been away, but I’m hoping you will have some great new discoveries to share with me.

Leave the link to your Monday Mentions post in the comments if you write one.  I’m so looking forward to reading it!

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I was afraid that maybe that is what you thought after I dropped off the face of the earth this week.  Combine my bloggy disappearance with the events of last weekend and I can’t blame you for drawing that logical conclusion.

The truth is that I’m just out of town.  We’re in Vegas to see U2.

We’re having a pretty good time so far (I’d say great but we are down $25. If you are thinking that the fact that I’m disgusted with having only lost $25, you may be thinking that I’m not Vegas material.  And you would be right.) and the view from our room is awesome.

Sorry for leaving you high and dry with the eye candy this past Friday.  I had an idea to do a Vegas themed edition but didn’t get a chance to schedule it before I left.  Real life (grad school project, packing, kids, etc..) got in the way.  On the same note, since I’ll be home late on Monday, I’m going to schedule my Monday Mentions post right now but I’m just opening it up for you to share all the great links you found this week.  I’m a bit behind on all my internet-ness so I’m leaving it up to you to catch me up.

Kind of off-topic, but since Krissa left this comment on my last post I was thinking that I’d post the answer here in case anyone was wondering.  She asked (in regard to my meeting with Ryan):

How has the come down been? or are you still flying high???

The come down was pretty rough the first couple of days. I truly felt like I was a heroine addict going through Gos-withdrawal.  However, whenever I look at the pictures I am transported right back to that amazing moment and all is right in the world.

Sigh.

Ok, that’s it for now.  Everyone is giving me evil looks for spending too much time on my laptop.  See you soon!

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If you haven’t yet watched Sarah Silverman’s video where she shares her ambitious idea on how to solve the problem of world hunger, I suggest going over here right now and checking it out!!  (Warning–some strong language…NSFW)

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I just don’t get The Bloggess, but I absolutely ADORED this post about her messy house.  Hilarious stuff!

And lastly, check out this article about Dead Man’s Bones if you haven’t already read it.  I loved reading about the guys’ childhood obsessions with ghosts and just how the whole concept of their music developed.

What have you discovered this weekend????  Leave your link to your own Monday Mention post in the comments and I’ll be sure to stop by to check it out!!

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There are times when I’m glad to have a blog and this is one of those times.

I feel like I need to get all these details recorded properly so when I’m 95 years old and possibly unable to chew my food or recall my own name,  I will still be able to ask someone to read this back to me so I can remember the feeling of pure unadulterated bliss that I experienced that one cold October weekend in 2009.

The evening in DC started off on the same crazy note as it did in Philly.  We arrived at the concert venue (this time a Synagogue) and had another unexpected Gos-sighting.

We were walking to get a place in line and my friend glanced through these two double doors and said, “Oh my God, there he is!!!“  I backed up to peek in, and lo and behold, THERE HE WAS!!!!!!  I squealed and ran away like I was about eight years old.  Scratch that.  My eight year old daughter wouldn’t have even reacted like that big of a lunatic.  Clearly, I need professional help.

We took our place in line (much closer to the front–thank goodness) and waited in the pouring down, freezing rain for the doors to open.  It was painfully cold.  By the time I got inside, my feet were so numb I thought there was a very good possibility that they might actually fall off.

Something funny happened as we waited.  The security guard came out to tell us that there was only five more minutes and he said, “Ladies and gentle–oops, I guess I should just say ladies.  Wow, there are sure are a lot of you ladies here tonight.”

I guess to an outsider it would seem a little funny to see so many grown women waiting in the pouring rain for hours to see some random band.  Little did he know that it would take a combination of the biggest blizzard/tornado/tsunami/hurricane the world has ever seen to even make us think about getting out of that line.  Surely, a little rain and cold wasn’t going to stop us.

Once we got into the Synagogue, we made our way to the front and were seated about 3 rows from the stage.  I was ecstatic to see how close we had gotten!

Once again, Dead Man’s Bones put on an incredible show!  I loved being so close.  I could really see all the cute expressions that Ryan made while he was singing.  There were a few times that I had to remind myself to breathe.  By the time the concert ended, I actually felt dizzy.

Several other times I had to grip my friend’s leg.  I’m not really sure why I did this.  Maybe it was so that I could stop myself from passing out.  Either that or I thought at any given moment I might actually run up on stage and rip Ryan’s clothes right off.  I just felt compelled to brace myself multiple times during the concert.  (Kate, if you have bruises on your leg from my death grips, I am so sorry.)

Honestly, can you really blame me?  Look at these photos that someone with a better camera than me snapped last night:

Can you really say for sure that you wouldn’t have been just as crazed as me if this is what was standing about ten feet in front of you?

There was one part in particular that just about did me in.  Ryan was singing a song (I forget which one) and he started breathing heavily into the microphone.   Seriously, the word hot doesn’t even begin to describe how it sounded.  Um, yeah.  I’ll just leave it at that because this is a PG rated blog and I don’t think it would be proper to elaborate.  Just trust me, it was HOT!!!

Another favorite part was when they performed one of the new songs that isn’t on the cd.  Ryan sung it almost “a capella” and let me tell you that it had to be one of the most romantic songs I’ve ever heard in my entire life.  The way he sung it was just beautiful.  He had his eyes closed for most of the song and his voice was so vulnerable and tender.  My friend Kate looked over at me and at the same time we both whispered to each other that we wondered who he was thinking about when he sung this song.  Of course, you all know who I hoped he was thinking about.

I bought a t-shirt after the show (which I of course I had to wear to bed last night) and then we went back outside to wait for Ryan and Zach to come out.  It was still raining so I was starting to get worried that they wouldn’t be signing autographs or taking pictures.  There was also a much larger group of girls waiting this time which also concerned me.  I wondered if this might scare them away.  To me, it looked almost like a mob of crazy stalkers just waiting to attack.  They frightened me so I can only imagine what Ryan and Zach must have been thinking. (Don’t you just love how I talk about them as if I wasn’t a part of the madness.)

To pass the time, my friend Kate and I discussed our strategy.  Yes, this time I was on a mission and I wasn’t going to let my nerves take over and ruin everything again.  I had 3 goals tonight:

1. I wanted Zach and Ryan to sign my cd case.
2. I wanted to actually talk to Ryan instead of just standing there looking like a zombie.
3. I wanted to get close enough to smell him.

We devised a foolproof plan to achieve all 3 of these goals.  Now that the plan was set, it was time to put it into action.

First up, Zach came out.  I approached him hesitantly because my friend Kate said, “Girl, I wonder if he is going to recognize you from last night.“  Ugh, the pressure.  I wondered the same thing, but felt like with all the girls they meet that he probably wouldn’t.

He took the cd case and looked up and said, “Heyyyy, I remember you.” He asked me how I thought the show compared to last night and we chatted a bit.  Once again, I was totally blown away by his amazing personality.  I gushed about him a lot in the last post, so I won’t repeat the same stuff but just know that he is still cute as ever and everything I said still applies.

Here is a pic of him signing:

And here is a close-up of his autograph:

[Sidenote:  I think my husband has a bit of a man-crush on Zach.  Both he and my friend's husband couldn't stop talking about the impression that he made on them on the ride home in the car.  It isn't like I blame them, but it was actually pretty funny to hear them gush about him.]

We had a few more minutes to wait until Ryan came out.  I tried to center myself so that I would not make the same mistakes that I made the previous night.  I took deep cleansing breaths.  I practiced my lines in my head.  I was determined to get this right!

Here is how it all went down:

When it was our turn, I approached Ryan and asked him to sign my cd case.  I was shaking like a leaf but I managed to get the words out.  While he was signing, I worked up enough nerve to ask him my question.  As the words left my mouth, I kept thinking to myself that my voice sounded so weird.  Has that ever happened to you?  I don’t know how to explain it.  It just sounded like I was talking in slow motion or something.  It sounded like this to me:

“Heyyy, IIII waaaassss wonddeeerrrinnngg abbbbouttt thhhhee nnneewwwww songgggsss yoooouuu sunnnggg tonnniggghttt.  Doooo youuu thinnnnkkk yooouuu willlll reelleeeasse themmmmm?”

Ugh.

Luckily, he was able to understand the complex language of  Fan-Girl, but in case you weren’t able to I will translate for you.  I asked him about the new songs they performed at the concert. I told him that I loved them (which I did!!) and wanted to know if they had any plans to release them.  He thanked me and said that they were planning to release them but didn’t like the way they came out when they recorded them for this album.  He said they needed to redo them and he hoped they would release them down the road.  This isn’t a word for word transcript of the conversation but I’m pretty sure that is what he said.  Let me remind you that my brain was still pretty much mush at this point.

[Looking at that photo, I wonder if I could retrieve the DNA from that pen and cd case for cloning purposes.  If anyone reading this has directions on how to accomplish this, please email me privately.]

Close up of Ryan’s autograph:

I will cherish that cd case forever and ever.

After he finished signing, it was time to put phase two of the plan into action.

My friend Kate said, “Hey Ryan, we are here celebrating her birthday.  Do you think that she could get a birthday hug.”

There was a split second where I worried that he might say no, but he responded in the sweetest voice I think I’ve ever heard in my whole life, “Oh no, you missed it.  We  just sung Happy Birthday a few minutes ago.  You should have been here.“  Then he opened his arms up for the hug.  I felt like I was about to melt but I pulled myself together and nearly leapt into his arms.

I made sure to take a deep breath to take it all in this time.

Now, at this point in the story, you may think that I’m crazy (Ha!  I say this as if you weren’t already thinking that).  I am now going to try to put into words what he smelled like because I know that if I was reading this that is exactly what I would be wondering.  I feel it is my duty to give you the multi-sensory report.  Bottom line:  he smelled really good!! Very clean and definitely sexy (despite the fact that he had just finished performing and was on day 3 of this sweater.)  I have been racking my brain all day trying to pinpoint the smell because it seemed kind of familiar to me and I think I may have figured it out.  It reminded me of Old Spice.  Now don’t quote me on this because I could be totally off, but I had an old boyfriend that wore it and the scent was definitely in that same family.

Ok, so back to the hug.  As he was hugging me he said, “Happy Birthday” and of course like a complete doofus I said Happy Birthday back to him.  I quickly corrected myself and said, “Thank you,” but the damage had already been done. I had practiced all my lines but he caught me off guard with the “Happy Birthday” and I couldn’t think on my feet fast enought to come up with an appropriate response.  Damn it!  I’m so not a smooth operator.

The hug was quick and after it was over (oh how I wished it would never end…) my friend Kate snapped another picture of us together and I really like this one because you can really see how tall he is in it.

As I type this recap, I’m still feeling high on Gosling.  I can’t even put into words how exciting this weekend was.  I feel like I’m floating on a cloud and I never want to come down.

Unfortunately, I have to get back to real life.   Life that involves the carpool lines, endless loads of laundry, and cleaning up cat puke.  Life that doesn’t involve hugging Ryan Gosling.  Sigh.

Thanks for following me on this crazy endeavor.  I’ve really enjoyed sharing it with you all.

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Let me just start by setting the scene.  It was an unusually cold and rainy day.  Please keep this detail in mind as I tell you about the next thing that happened.

We arrived in Philly around 4pm and decided to try to go and pick up the tickets (which were on will call) since we had a few hours to spare before the concert began.  We pulled up to the church (yes, I wrote church…did I mention they were performing in some rather odd venues?).   Anyway, Brad pulled our minivan into the alley so I could leap out and run in to see if we could get the tickets.  I just about had my umbrella out and ready to go when we noticed that there was a U-Haul parked there.   We saw a bunch of guys unloading things from it.

That was when I first saw him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Ryan Gosling was about ten feet away from me.   Let me repeat that.  RYAN GOSLING WAS ABOUT TEN FEET IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!!!!!!

He looked like an angel to me.  This is all I can remember for sure.  I can’t remember many details from that first sighting because it was then that I experienced my first case of Gos-induced brain mush.  It was as though I had entered into a catatonic state.  Do you remember the episode of the Brady Bunch when Cindy went on that tv quiz show and looked like this every time the cameras were rolling:

That was how I must have looked, except that I think there may have been some screaming involved as well.

It was though time had stopped and the earth was no longer spinning on its axis.  At least that is how it felt to me.  If I didn’t hear the muffled sound of Brad screaming, “Get out of the car.  Why are you just sitting there?” or feel my heartbeat pounding out of my chest I may have thought I was dead.

Thankfully he went back into the church, so I had a few minutes to clear my head and devise a plan.  The plan was to call my friend Kate and ask her what I should do.  Unfortunately, she was not home so I screamed a completely incoherent message into her answering machine saying something like “Oh my God, Ryan Gosling is right in front of me.  Oh my God, I have no idea what to do.   Why aren’t you home?  How can you be out at a time like this????  I don’t know what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was at this point that Brad was about to kill me.  He was so mad at me I could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears.  He was like, “Get yourself together, woman.  Get the hell out of the car and ask him for a picture!!!”

But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I know, I know….I am a total coward, but I did have my reasons and let me try to explain.

First of all, it was pouring.  I didn’t want to ask him to stand in the rain to get a picture with me.  Yes, I know, in retrospect I probably should have done it so that I could have had a moment of being in the rain with Ryan Gosling and make this dream come true…

I mean, really?!  Ryan in the rain is just like the sexiest thing EVER!!!!  However, I remind you that my mind wasn’t completely working that well at this point so I hadn’t thought of this prospect.  I continued to convince myself that this was not the right moment.

He just looked super busy lifting heavy things and the last thing I wanted to do was to interrupt him from his important work.    I mean what if he was annoyed with me and the one picture I had taken with him ended up with him having a sour look on his face.  Call me crazy, but I just wasn’t willing to take that chance.  It was a gamble but I just knew in my heart that I’d get another chance after the show.

Plus, I was shaking so hard at this point that I really didn’t think I would be able to walk.

Against my better judgement, Brad convinced me that my legs were not in fact broken and that we should at least get out and go see about picking up the tickets.  He said we didn’t have to ask him for a picture but we should at least try to arrange a not-so-chance encounter.  Sadly, he must have noticed the crazy girl in the mini-van freaking out because by the time we made it into the church he was no where to be  found.  I have a theory that he probably hid himself in a closet until we left.

We weren’t able to pick up our tickets yet and the guy at the door told us to come back at 8pm when the doors would open.  So we went down the street and had dinner.  I proceeded to down two mixed drinks.  Obviously, I was in need of some liquid courage.

We made our way back to the church to get in line around 6:30pm.  The line was already pretty long and I was kicking myself for wasting so much time at the restaurant.  Who needs food at a time like this?!?!?!

We stood in line for what seemed like an eternity.  It was FREEZING!!  Thankfully, at least the rain had stopped.  The band was running late so they didn’t open the doors at 8pm.  At around 8:30 or so Ryan and Zach came out to apologize.  Once again, it was as though my brain turned to mush because I couldn’t think fast enough to get my camera out and snap a picture. I just stood there in utter disbelief that he was right there looking so beautiful.

Finally, we got to go inside and see the show.  I’ll be the first to admit that I was skeptical about their music when I first heard it online.  That was until I listened to the cd in its entirety.  It is beautiful, romantic, haunting music and I’m not just saying that because Ryan sings the songs.  They really have created something magical here with Dead Man’s Bones.  I could go on and on about how fantastic the concert was but I feel like no matter what words I used to describe it, I wouldn’t be doing it any justice.  It was simply FANTASTIC!

After the show was over, I was on a mission.  I was not leaving the grounds of that church without a picture.  We waited outside in the cold for over an hour.   There were about eight other crazy girls waiting for them too.  I felt glad to not being the only stalker.

Zach came out first.  Let me just say that I had no idea how cute he was.  I guess I was too busy with my Gos-Obsession that I hadn’t even noticed.

And he is just about the nicest person EVER!!!  He was so incredibly friendly and was happy to chat with us about the show.  This picture isn’t the greatest, but let me tell you–he is ADORABLE!!

I had absolutely no problem forming words and stringing them together to make sentences.  In fact, I really enjoyed our conversation.

I tell you this because I once again lost all control of  my ability to speak or do just about anything when Ryan came out.  Here I was again in a Gos-trance and I had to rely on Brad to ask him to take a picture.  I can vaguely remembering him asking my name and I must have answered him because I’m pretty sure he said, “Hi Jen.“  I felt his arm go around me.  I tried so hard to stay in the moment and really feel what was happening but I failed miserably at this.  Before I knew it, the moment was over and he had moved on to another girl.

Here is our photo:

I walked away because I felt weird standing there after the picture was taken.  However, once he was out of my line of vision, all my capacities to think came back and I realized that I wanted to ask him something, so we went back over to the church.  Sadly, he was already going back inside.  I contemplated running after him and tackling him.  Instead I acted like a sane adult and watched him walk away.  Zach walked by so we asked him the question instead.  Once again, he was incredibly nice and seemed genuinely interested in talking about his music.  I’m sure Ryan would have been the same way if I could have gotten my act together sooner.  He seemed  really sweet when I watched him interact with the other fans.

Aggghhhh!!! Why did I have to freeze up?!?!?!

The night obviously was not a bust, but I really wish that I had been able to have a conversation with him.  Luckily, I know myself well enough to have foreseen that this was going to happen.   That is why I bought tickets for both shows he was doing in my area.  We are headed to DC tonight.  I plan to get him to sign my cd case and actually SAY SOMETHING TO HIM!!!!!!!!

Wish me luck!!!!!

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