Celebrity Sightings

Since moving to New York I've seen a few celebrities. Not as many as you'd think, but then again while walking down the street I tend to have my head in the clouds.

My first celebrity sighting was in Greenwich Village, in the fall of 2006, while trying to find somewhere to have lunch with my Dad. Meandering up 4th Avenue, we happened to be behind Jon Stewart who was out with his son. Weird to see such a cool and witty celeb running along the sidewalk yelling 'now we're swimming we're swimming' while miming front crawl while his two year old son ran beside him laughing and squealing. So cute though. I think I fell a little bit in love with Jon Stewart that day.

Since then I've seen a number of less well-known celebs: the mom from Knocked Up in Scoops on Bleeker, the supporting nurse from Nurse Jackie at the YMCA on the elliptical trainer opposite me, and once when I was having coffee with a friend at Joe's Coffee at 13th and 5th, Parker Posey was apparently sitting next to me, waiting for her coffee - though to be fair that doesn't really count as a 'sighting' as my friend didn't tell me that until she'd left.

Which is fair enough. With the exception of the mom from Knocked Up, who looked as though she was thrilled that I'd clearly recognized her, most celebrities probably get sick of being constantly stared at/pointed at etc.

The other day I even saw Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen at Cafe Loup. And it's sort of weird to see someone I consider a big celeb, because I'm not used to seeing them, and so it takes me a minute sometimes to realize that I'm recognizing someone famous, as opposed to someone I recognize from uni or whatever.

But yesterday, I had probably what would be for me the ultimate celebrity sighting, and again at the YMCA (what's up with that? I thought celebrities could afford

personal trainers? Is the economy that bad??). Again, head in the clouds, I came into the Y, gave my card to the girl to scan, hopped down the stairs and just as I was about to enter the Ladies' change room, a hoard of kids came out, jerking me out of my reverie. As I glanced up to avoid them I noticed that they were with a lady, not much taller than they were, and I thought, once again: hey that lady looks familiar... (Brain: whhrr whrrr... click click...) Then as she looked up at me, everything finally clicked into place and I thought: oh my god, that's Sarah Jessica Parker! And just as I thought that she glanced away.

Wow. Awesome.