First of all, Day One of Rhinebeck was absolutely phenomenal, from a business standpoint. The weather was perfect, so there were huge crowds already assembled at the gates when we arrived. Our booth was hopping from the get-go, and the pace really didn't let up all day. Since my parents came along to help out, I did manage to get away long enough to hit the fleece sale and to visit Nanney Kennedy and get some yarn to finish off my vest. I did not, however, have a chance to take any photos of the day, as has been the case the past few years. Visits with people I love to see were far too short, as they also tend to be.
Anyway, toward the end of the day, I was busy ringing up a customer when David says to me, "I've got a big sock purchase to ring up here." So I told him I was nearly done with the current customer and could help him shortly. He was working with a really tall blonde woman, but I was busy with the other customer and not paying much attention. At one point she called him by name, but I wasn't sure where she knew him from.
At any rate, I finished up with my customer and hurriedly started ringing up the HUGE pile of RedMaple socks he had in hand, as the woman said to her male companion, "I need to go get something from the cashmere place," and rushed off, leaving him with her credit card to pay. He asked us who had cashmere, clearly not remembering where it was he needed to follow her, so I told him it would pretty much have to be Springtide Farm, who are in the next barn over. Then I gave him the total and he handed over the credit card. I swiped it first, then looked at the name - UMA K THURMAN.
For real.
Showing posts with label celebrity sighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrity sighting. Show all posts
17 October 2010
10 December 2008
A Very Memorable Evening
Before I left for work Monday afternoon, I called David at the warehouse to decide whether or not to take Tuck to work with me (I did) and just to check in, since he's usually home when I'm leaving. One of the first things he said to me when I called was, "You need to make sure you don't get home too late tomorrow, because we might have plans. And you're not allowed to ask any questions." I'm kind of used to his surprises and not the type generally to get to wound up about it, so I dutifully didn't ask any questions other than, "What time is 'not too late'?" He told me by 6PM, which is usually quite doable even when I feel the need to sleep at the clinic, and so I went along to work knowing something was in store.
Fast forward to this morning, when it was snowing and the roads were getting a bit slick right at rush hour, and I was dead, dragging tired. I did the prudent thing and took a nap at the clinic, after calling home to check in and let David know I wasn't heading home right away. Plus I confirmed again the "home by 6PM" plan still stood.
When I woke up from my nap in the afternoon, however, I checked my e-mail and saw one from David saying that we needed to be leaving the house by 5:45PM and wearing nice-ish casual clothes for an evening out. So suddenly getting home by 6PM had turned into home, ready, and heading back out the door by 5:45PM, with me unshowered and leaving the clinic with no time to spare. Eep!
So I rushed home, called ahead to have David pick me out some appropriate clothing, and still took a shower (since I was in no condition to be seen in public otherwise). And then we started driving. All he would tell me was that we were heading to Manchester, New Hampshire, about an hour away, and asked if I had ID and my cell phone. Then as we neared Manchester, he got a phone call from an unidentified source and began discussing a meeting place.
I ran down a mental list of possibilities and had a bit of a short list of who the mystery person(s) could be, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it turned out to be his production manager, Christine, along with her husband, Michael. At the rendezvous point (Taco Bell), they hopped into our car and I was informed that we would be heading from there to Concord, the state capital another half hour away.
After we got back on the road, Christine let slip that she had just talked to her brother. This was a huge clue. Christine is originally from Buffalo, and her brother Art runs a nightclub there and has a second business as a concert promoter. He's a very well-connected guy, and Christine has all kinds of stories about the famous people she's met through him. Anyway, I knew that Art had promoted a show once before in Concord, for someone I'm a longtime fan of. So when we got off the freeway and approached the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, I was not at all shocked to see the name David Sedaris on the marquee.
Since Art was the promoter for this event, we had comp tickets for the show, which was especially nice given our current budget crunch. The best part, though, is that we all went out to dinner together afterwards. I got to spend an hour in a restaurant seated across from one of my favorite authors.
I actually saw Sedaris do a reading once before, back when I lived in Pittsburgh. I went with my friend Eve, and we waited afterwards for well over an hour in a very long line to get my books signed. Because of the sheer number of people, he had very little time to chit-chat and could only really make a brief inscription and sign the books, but he had a little rubber stamp with him and stamped each book when he opened it with something in Thai. I was told later that the word translates as "Inspected". He told me at dinner that he got the stamp from an office supply store in Bangkok and plans to do the same in Tokyo.
One of the things I always wonder about celebrities is whether they're genuine or if they've let it all go to their heads. The few I've met have generally been decent people, which is always nice to see, and David Sedaris doesn't seem to be an exception to that. The dinner conversation ranged all over - from the phenomenon of people constantly misremembering that my David and I are from the Norths (Dakota and Carolina, respectively) when we're actually from the Souths, to learning new languages, to kids vs. pets, to his irritation at Hugh painting his office lavender while he was away on a book tour - and I found the author to be quite delightful company.
It was, I think, the best surprise ever.
p.s., if there are any Torontonians reading this, he'll be doing a reading at Massey Hall Wednesday night (That's tonight!).
Fast forward to this morning, when it was snowing and the roads were getting a bit slick right at rush hour, and I was dead, dragging tired. I did the prudent thing and took a nap at the clinic, after calling home to check in and let David know I wasn't heading home right away. Plus I confirmed again the "home by 6PM" plan still stood.
When I woke up from my nap in the afternoon, however, I checked my e-mail and saw one from David saying that we needed to be leaving the house by 5:45PM and wearing nice-ish casual clothes for an evening out. So suddenly getting home by 6PM had turned into home, ready, and heading back out the door by 5:45PM, with me unshowered and leaving the clinic with no time to spare. Eep!
So I rushed home, called ahead to have David pick me out some appropriate clothing, and still took a shower (since I was in no condition to be seen in public otherwise). And then we started driving. All he would tell me was that we were heading to Manchester, New Hampshire, about an hour away, and asked if I had ID and my cell phone. Then as we neared Manchester, he got a phone call from an unidentified source and began discussing a meeting place.
I ran down a mental list of possibilities and had a bit of a short list of who the mystery person(s) could be, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it turned out to be his production manager, Christine, along with her husband, Michael. At the rendezvous point (Taco Bell), they hopped into our car and I was informed that we would be heading from there to Concord, the state capital another half hour away.
After we got back on the road, Christine let slip that she had just talked to her brother. This was a huge clue. Christine is originally from Buffalo, and her brother Art runs a nightclub there and has a second business as a concert promoter. He's a very well-connected guy, and Christine has all kinds of stories about the famous people she's met through him. Anyway, I knew that Art had promoted a show once before in Concord, for someone I'm a longtime fan of. So when we got off the freeway and approached the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, I was not at all shocked to see the name David Sedaris on the marquee.
Since Art was the promoter for this event, we had comp tickets for the show, which was especially nice given our current budget crunch. The best part, though, is that we all went out to dinner together afterwards. I got to spend an hour in a restaurant seated across from one of my favorite authors.
I actually saw Sedaris do a reading once before, back when I lived in Pittsburgh. I went with my friend Eve, and we waited afterwards for well over an hour in a very long line to get my books signed. Because of the sheer number of people, he had very little time to chit-chat and could only really make a brief inscription and sign the books, but he had a little rubber stamp with him and stamped each book when he opened it with something in Thai. I was told later that the word translates as "Inspected". He told me at dinner that he got the stamp from an office supply store in Bangkok and plans to do the same in Tokyo.
One of the things I always wonder about celebrities is whether they're genuine or if they've let it all go to their heads. The few I've met have generally been decent people, which is always nice to see, and David Sedaris doesn't seem to be an exception to that. The dinner conversation ranged all over - from the phenomenon of people constantly misremembering that my David and I are from the Norths (Dakota and Carolina, respectively) when we're actually from the Souths, to learning new languages, to kids vs. pets, to his irritation at Hugh painting his office lavender while he was away on a book tour - and I found the author to be quite delightful company.
It was, I think, the best surprise ever.
p.s., if there are any Torontonians reading this, he'll be doing a reading at Massey Hall Wednesday night (That's tonight!).
15 September 2008
The Panopticon Comes to Common Cod
On Friday, I somewhat reluctantly left David at home and made a special trip down to Boston for the inaugural meeting of the Common Cod Fiber Guild. I didn't go to join, as my schedule makes it hard for me to get down to the city, but they had a very special guest I couldn't miss a chance to see, especially as he was so close by and I happened to have the night off.
I took very few photos of the event, but it was really wonderful - both to see so many people I know and to hear Franklin's talk, which was every bit as entertaining as one might expect. Here's the author just before he began. It's not a very good quality photo, but I like the graphic aspects of it.
And this one is for Rabbitch, as requested:
Aside from enjoying the company of some wonderful people, the highlight of the evening for me was getting to hold the christening shawl. It's every bit as exquisite as it looks.
I took very few photos of the event, but it was really wonderful - both to see so many people I know and to hear Franklin's talk, which was every bit as entertaining as one might expect. Here's the author just before he began. It's not a very good quality photo, but I like the graphic aspects of it.
And this one is for Rabbitch, as requested:
Aside from enjoying the company of some wonderful people, the highlight of the evening for me was getting to hold the christening shawl. It's every bit as exquisite as it looks.
27 August 2008
Starstruck
Okay, so this is my first big fashion industry show, and it is HUGE. It takes over the entire Las Vegas Convention Center complex, which is several enormous buildings, plus the adjacent Hilton - a big complex in itself. It's not just designers showing their lines here; there are buyers looking for product, of course, and sales reps looking for lines, other designers looking to see what's out there, suppliers looking for potential customers - upwards of 100,000 people. Like I said, HUGE!
For all that, though, the "Ecollection" section where we are feels small and intimate. And we've got musical entertainment. Yesterday, while I was stuck at the booth by myself, a singer with guitar started playing and singing. A lot of his repertoire were songs by Toad the Wet Sprocket, which was a band who started up when I was in college 20 years ago and one I absolutely loved (not the least because they had a really cute lead singer). I only got to see them play once, back in '95, but it is one of my favorite concert memories.
As I sat there waiting for potential customers to stop and ask about David's line, I thought, "Boy, that guy is doing a pretty good job of sounding like Glen Phillips." When the mini-concert was over, David's production manager, Christine, came back to the booth and our conversation went kind of like this:
C: "That guy used to be the lead singer of this band, Toad the...."
Me: "OMFG, it was Glen Phillips!"
C: "Yeah, I went up and introduced myself."
Me: "OMFG, I am soooo jealous!"
Not only that, he was there with Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, another band I love. They played today, and Glen got back up on stage for several songs with them. And this time, I got to go over and say hi and had a really nice conversation with a musical idol. And then David brought over socks for them all.
What's even funnier/odder about all this is that all last week I had Nightingale Song by Toad bouncing around in my head for no apparent reason (It's a YouTube video, but I can't figure how to turn off the autoplay so I'm just linking - and I'm not sure what the deal is with the trains). I hadn't even heard any of their music in quite a while and it just popped up in there.
So yeah, it totally made my day.
Small World
The other freaky thing that happened today is that this morning we were sitting in the booth when this guy comes by looking at the line and he turned out to be someone I knew from college in South Carolina. For those who may be a little confused, I started college at a small school in South Carolina, then went to Spain for a semester, then went to the University of Maine, where I earned my undergrad degree - a little complicated, but that's how life often works.
Anyway, this guy was a year behind me, but he had an older brother in my class, we lived in the same dorm and basically ran in the same circles (not hard, considering there were barely 1000 students at the entire school). He actually ended up rooming with my former roommate when I left for Spain. Now he's in charge of sales for a knit fabric producer in South Carolina with a division that specializes in organics. So freakin' bizarre to bump into him like that after 20 years.
When we were in school, he was a buff, blond 18-year-old hottie. Now I can work a fitted t-shirt so much better, despite having a little extra flesh of my own. I think I even have better hair - what's left of it. Is it bad that I feel just slightly good about that?
For all that, though, the "Ecollection" section where we are feels small and intimate. And we've got musical entertainment. Yesterday, while I was stuck at the booth by myself, a singer with guitar started playing and singing. A lot of his repertoire were songs by Toad the Wet Sprocket, which was a band who started up when I was in college 20 years ago and one I absolutely loved (not the least because they had a really cute lead singer). I only got to see them play once, back in '95, but it is one of my favorite concert memories.
As I sat there waiting for potential customers to stop and ask about David's line, I thought, "Boy, that guy is doing a pretty good job of sounding like Glen Phillips." When the mini-concert was over, David's production manager, Christine, came back to the booth and our conversation went kind of like this:
C: "That guy used to be the lead singer of this band, Toad the...."
Me: "OMFG, it was Glen Phillips!"
C: "Yeah, I went up and introduced myself."
Me: "OMFG, I am soooo jealous!"
Not only that, he was there with Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, another band I love. They played today, and Glen got back up on stage for several songs with them. And this time, I got to go over and say hi and had a really nice conversation with a musical idol. And then David brought over socks for them all.
What's even funnier/odder about all this is that all last week I had Nightingale Song by Toad bouncing around in my head for no apparent reason (It's a YouTube video, but I can't figure how to turn off the autoplay so I'm just linking - and I'm not sure what the deal is with the trains). I hadn't even heard any of their music in quite a while and it just popped up in there.
So yeah, it totally made my day.
Small World
The other freaky thing that happened today is that this morning we were sitting in the booth when this guy comes by looking at the line and he turned out to be someone I knew from college in South Carolina. For those who may be a little confused, I started college at a small school in South Carolina, then went to Spain for a semester, then went to the University of Maine, where I earned my undergrad degree - a little complicated, but that's how life often works.
Anyway, this guy was a year behind me, but he had an older brother in my class, we lived in the same dorm and basically ran in the same circles (not hard, considering there were barely 1000 students at the entire school). He actually ended up rooming with my former roommate when I left for Spain. Now he's in charge of sales for a knit fabric producer in South Carolina with a division that specializes in organics. So freakin' bizarre to bump into him like that after 20 years.
When we were in school, he was a buff, blond 18-year-old hottie. Now I can work a fitted t-shirt so much better, despite having a little extra flesh of my own. I think I even have better hair - what's left of it. Is it bad that I feel just slightly good about that?
02 March 2008
The People One Meets
Except One wasn't me in this case. David has been at an alpaca event in Saratoga Spring, in Upstate New York, this weekend (while I've been working for The Man). He phoned me just after starting his return trip to let me know that he'd just met Annie Modesitt, who just happened to be at the same venue for an unrelated workshop with Saratoga Needle Arts. She bought one of his sweaters for her husband.
Apropos of Nothing
29
Apropos of Nothing
29
24 February 2008
Back Home Safe & Sound
I got home this evening very much on time, with the weather miraculously causing no delays with my connections in either Baltimore or LaGuardia. Of course, now I have a splitting headache and my goddamnedRESTLESSLEGSAREABOUTTODRIVEMEUPTHEWALL!!! So I'm sure you'll understand the brevity of this post. Suffice to say that it was a wonderful, though far too short, visit. There were cheese grits for breakfast every morning (I cooked just to make sure), and my grandparents are doing fairly well given their limitations. I couldn't find any Big Mo candy bars, though, even in the heart of NASCAR country. *sigh*
I'll have more later, but I did want to share my celebrity sighting on the last leg of my trip. I managed to snag exit row seats for the last two legs of the trip and was able to get on the LaGuardia-Boston plane fairly quickly and take my seat. As I was sitting there, who should file past me in the line but Ed Helms, whom some of you might know from his stint on The Daily Show or from the US version of The Office.
At least, I was fairly certain it was him, partly because I've crushed on him just a tiny bit (What can I say? I have a soft spot for goofy, nerdy types). So once we got to Boston and were in the baggage claim area, I did what any self-respecting knit blogger would do - I kinneared him (in the same airport where the practice was born, no less).
Okay, I know it's blurry, but I wasn't 100% certain it was really him, so asking was out of the question (plus he was talking into/listening to his iPhone, and it would have been rude, not to mention potentially horribly embarassing). After I got home, though, I found the fansite edhelms.org, which had the following video interview, which was done earlier in the week in Colorado. Same hat, same jacket (same jeans?). I got my confirmation.
I'll have more later, but I did want to share my celebrity sighting on the last leg of my trip. I managed to snag exit row seats for the last two legs of the trip and was able to get on the LaGuardia-Boston plane fairly quickly and take my seat. As I was sitting there, who should file past me in the line but Ed Helms, whom some of you might know from his stint on The Daily Show or from the US version of The Office.
At least, I was fairly certain it was him, partly because I've crushed on him just a tiny bit (What can I say? I have a soft spot for goofy, nerdy types). So once we got to Boston and were in the baggage claim area, I did what any self-respecting knit blogger would do - I kinneared him (in the same airport where the practice was born, no less).
Okay, I know it's blurry, but I wasn't 100% certain it was really him, so asking was out of the question (plus he was talking into/listening to his iPhone, and it would have been rude, not to mention potentially horribly embarassing). After I got home, though, I found the fansite edhelms.org, which had the following video interview, which was done earlier in the week in Colorado. Same hat, same jacket (same jeans?). I got my confirmation.
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