Celeb Sightings

There's lots to update from my mom's trip up, but I thought I'd start by doing a special post for all the celebrity sightings we had!

My mom planned her trip around the annual Lincoln Center Film Society Tribute & Gala. This is the event I went to two years ago when Diane Keaton was honored and last year when Meryl Streep was honored. This year, it was Tom Hanks!! The event is really a fundraiser where people pay significant amounts of money for dinner and the Tribute, but the past 2 years they've sold leftover tickets to the Tribute only (no dinner) a couple of weeks before for only $45-$50. Unfortunately, they didn't do that this year. They did have a lower-priced option for a cocktail reception and the Tribute, but we still weren't willing to pay $350. However, we did head over there to get a glimpse of the red carpet. It was a blast!! I did my best to get shots of as many of the celebs as possible. We saw:

-- Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson

-- Adrien Brody
-- Charlize Theron

-- Jeremy Irons - that's his back to the camera. He rode in on his motorcycle and the paparazzi went nuts for it.

-- Julia Roberts!!! (Also saw her a few years ago, here). We were across the street, but that was close enough that I could hear her awesome laugh at one point as she talked to the reporters. Love her! But, baffled at the tribute speech she gave to Tom that night...you may have read about it in the news this week.

-- Eli Manning

-- Geoffrey Rush

-- Christie Turlington & Ed Burns

-- Steven Spielberg

-- Sally Fields (in the blue dress)

-- Christopher Walken

-- Jim Gregory

-- Model from some reality show (Top Model??)

-- Ron Howard

-- Glen Close

-- Regis Philbin

-- Bruce Willis -- this was probably the highlight because it was so unexpected! We were walking past the door where "normal" people went in and he walked out of that door and straight past me while I stood there staring with my jaw dropped! He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and there seemed to be some sort of altercation going on - not sure if they wouldn't let him in because of his attire or what. His new wife was also with him, but standing off at a distance. He stormed off and they hailed a taxi. My mom waved at him and said hello. She loves to say hi to celebs!

Other than the Gala Red Carpet, we also were treated to a few other random celeb sightings. Here's the list:

-- Chace Crawford -- after class on Thursday night, we happened upon the set of his new film, Twelve. He was standing off to the side and we walked right by him. I wanted to tell him he came to my church, but a security guy asked us to move along. I am a fan of Chace!! This is my 3rd time to see him in New York City (here, here)...we're destined to be friends!

-- Joann Woodward -- we ate dinner at Paul Newman's & her restaurant in Westport, CT on Saturday night. Joann came in to eat dinner there, too! My mom was ecstatic and even said hello to her!

-- Jason Castro (American Idol) -- My mom wasn't with me on Tuesday when I saw him wondering down the street near where I work. He's tiny! He was actually also at my church a few weeks ago, but in the morning service and I went at night that week...some of my friends saw him then. He goes to the church in Texas where my Pastor used to be on staff, so it makes sense that he stopped by. Our church is really becoming a happenin' place with two celebs in a months time!

I also came up with the list of all lists before my mom arrived. I found 2 websites that track where celebrities live in New York City. I now have an awesome list compiled of addresses of the homes of the stars! As we walked through different areas of town, we enjoyed referring to the list to see where different people live. Most of them are apartment buildings, so there really isn't much to see, but still fun to know who lives there! Here's a list of whose homes we saw (I've grouped people together who have places in the same building):

-- Michael J. Fox, Bette Midler

-- Renee Zellweger

-- Heath Ledger's last home

-- Alex Rodriguez, Denzel Washington, Sting

-- Jerry Seinfeld, Diana Ross, John McEnroe

-- Blythe Danner

-- Madonna (she just purchased a Townhouse on the Upper East Side last week)

-- Tom Brady

-- Robert Redford

-- Jacqueline Kennedy's old home

-- Ralph Lauren

-- Joann Woodward

-- Naomi Campbell

-- Matt Lauer, also Alex Rodriguez just sold his place there for $10million

-- Dustin Hoffman, Tiger Woods, Bono, Demi Moore, Steven Spielberg, Donna Karan, Steve Martin

I still have a long list of homes to see - will try to conquer that soon since the weather is so great!