Celebrity Sightings

I was cleaning out a purse the other day and came across a small yellow notebook I had been carrying with me while I was living in Phoenix. Inside this S.Y. N. is a very large signature. Here is my story:  Megan, Emmalia, Kaira and I  went for lunch one day to a place called Sweet Tomatoes. They have a great salad bar and a small selection of pastas, breads and desserts. It’s a great place for a salad fix plus the kiddies like it for the macaroni and cheese and soft serve ice cream. 

  

As we were visiting, in walked a very familiar and striking face with a lovely woman on his arm. Both tanned, they gave off the air of athleticism, money and confidence. She was wearing white and he a polo shirt and nice pants. They were with an ordinary couple who could have been any one of our friends. The man had his gray hair combed back off of his forehead in a style one doesn’t see on many men. 

“Megan," I said, "Does that man look like Clint Eastwood to you?” 

“Sort of.” she said, as she pulled out her smart phone and googled his name.

The foursome sat in the booth across the aisle from us revealing only their profiles. The woman was younger than he, but not young enough to be his daughter. Hmmm. 

“I’m pretty sure that is Clint Eastwood. At least, he looks like him. I wish I had my camera. Then I could get a photo and have a closer look.  My mom would absolutely know if that is him or not. She would be going nuts.  If I knew for sure that was him, I would ask him for his autograph.”

Megan is reading his bio off the internet. An older looking Clint Eastwood fills the 3x3 screen of her smart phone. Definitely older than this man across the way. 

“Perhaps he has had some plastic surgery lately...”

“I wish I knew if that were him or not...”

And so our conversation went. Megan said she would go get something off the bar and walk around the booths the opposite direction and thus get a good look at his face. So she did. As she came toward our table, he lifted those incredibly blue eyes and met her gaze. 

“ It COULD be him,” she said, “He has blue eyes.”

“If only...” I began.

“OK, mom, I can take a hint. I’ll just go ask him!”

Now I get cold feet. uh. “I wasn’t asking you to go ask him.”

“Clint” is at the ice cream bar. Megan gets up and walks over to him. She says, “ Our entire lunch conversation has been about how much you look like Clint Eastwood. Could you give me your autograph for my mom, please?”  

He sets down his icecream. He takes the notebook and pen and walks over to a booth. “What is her name?” he asks. “ Kim”, replies Megan, and he pens his autograph. 

“Thank you so much!” Megan said, “ And for the record, ARE you Clint Eastwood?”

The man gives her a big smile, “Have a nice day.”

Meanwhile I am dying of embarrassment, and dying of curiosity as well!  He returned to his company, dessert in hand. 

Megan googles his signature. The “E” is a little different. The “Clint” looks the same. Hmmm. Perhaps we will never know.

Fast forward a few weeks....Sam and I are in Chicago having dinner with David at a famous steak house called Gibsons. The walls are lined with autographed photos of celebrities. I spot one of Clint. This time the “E” looks a lot more like the one in my notebook. So, I am still wondering. But I have a story and I’m stickin’ to it:  I have Clint Eastwood’s signature!

Clint Eastwood was not the only celebrity we ran into in Chicago! While waiting for our table we sat at a triangular median in the road near the restaurant. A coffee shop sits in that triangle, as well as a large fountain surrounded by tables and chairs. While enjoying a fresh lemonade, we noticed this rather tall, athletic young man taking photos with people who approached him and chatted with him. Then we heard his name spoken: we were sitting within 10 yards of Derrik Rose, Rookie of the year for the Chicago Bulls.

We were shown to our table which backed up to three young women already enjoying their meals. The waiter approached them and said to the taller, slender one with reddish hair, “Have you been to the ladies room? You will find your photo just outside the ladies’ room.”   So, of course, I had to go to the ladies room. I take a good look at the gal as I pass. She does look familiar....then I scour the walls with my eyes looking for...Rihanna!

The following day, Sam and I were waiting at the Chicago Tribune building to board a double decker bus for a two hour “Hop On, Hop Off” tour of downtown Chicago. The ticket attendant asked us if we liked Bill Clinton. “Mmmm,” shrugging my shoulders non-committally, knowing that I am in Democrat Country, “he’s alright, I guess.”  “Well, if you want to see him, he is right over there, signing a proclamation for energy efficient automobiles.”  We get our change from the attendant and mosey over to see what former President Clinton is doing. This time I got the photo!

Later in the day, toward evening, Sam and I were walking to McCormick and Scmicks Restaurant to meet David and Leilani. A crowd was gathering outside the Bentley dealership. The dealership was decorated with white tents, tulled tables, and flowers in tall vases. It looked like a wedding reception. We joined the gathering throng of people and discovered that Buddy Perretti, the chef on Cake Wars was making a stop here. He had designed a cake for the Bentley event, to celebrate that they began carrying the Rollys Royce. We waited around and were soon rewarded with the arrival of a forklift crossing the barrier. From the other direction, a refrigerated cargo van backed into the cordoned off area. The common worker bringing the fork lift was replaced with a tuxedoed man who drove it up to the back of the truck. Then the reveal! The back end of the truck was rolled upwards and a very large cake in the form of the Chicago skyline was presented. Buddy Perretti made his rounds to the crowd, signing autographs and shaking hands. We left to meet the young folk---before they cut the cake and made all the formal speeches.What a fun place to be! Phoenix...Chicago....and the adventure continues!