Eat, Pray, Love: Red Carpet Premiere!

Hey there! Late last week I got a text message from work asking if I wanted to attend the movie premiere of Julia Robert's new flick Eat, Pray, Love and walk the red carpet. Heck yeah! Why not?! I have to say the only other time I've walked any carpet, was Diddy's "white carpet" at one of his all-white parties in the Hamptons. BTW, really Diddy? White, the least flattering color on most regular-sized people, at a cookout?? I still remember being super safe while drinking and eating so my all white didn't turn into all stains. Anyway, I was too excited to get the invitation to view the movie ...Only problem for me is I uploaded the book to my Kindle, but hadn't had the chance to read it yet. I quickly began and I'm proud to say I actually finished it Tuesday morning while getting my nails done for the big red carpet walk that night. I usually don't get my nails painted, just buffed because I don't want to look down, see a chip in the polish and wonder if I'll have a little Essie or OPI in my salad.

I was so busy last week with menu planning and recipe writing that when I got the call I just knew I didn't have time to run out and find something to wear, so I called in a professional and all I had to do was try on the options and decide. We do this for Cooking for Real too, no way I know how to find things that look good on camera or know the right cuts. The cuts I know are cuts of meat. :-). I get questions here and there on the blog comments about wardrobe so I plan to do an interview with my on-set stylist when we tape in a couple of weeks. I'll post it as soon as I get it all edited and try to help any curvy ladies looking for the right pair of jeans :-).

Ok, so after getting dressed and practicing poses, I headed out to the premiere. On the way over to the movie my bff asked me to send her a picture of my clutch purse because we traded pics and comments for days over what to wear and she already approved everything else about my outfit via emailed pics, but hadn't seen the purse. I took a quick pic on my cell and sent this over ...As I focused I chuckled a bit to myself because usually when I take a picture of my lap, it's of food I'm eating in transit :-). This time, it's a cute and sparkly number by Nicole Miller.

I got there early and called the pr rep. for the event to let her know I was there and she asked me to circle the block until the red carpet was ready which was perfect because it gave me time to reflect and think about how I would answer certain questions about the book or expectations of the movie while on the carpet.

You want to hear a crazy full-circle story? So, the last time I was on the red carpet, I was reporting for HOT 97 at the premier of Jay Z's docu-movie Fade to Black back in 2004. I'd forgotten the name of the theater, but pulling up Tuesday night it all came back to me and I realized I was about to walk the carpet at the same venue I last reported from when I worked in radio. If you would've told me then I'd leave my job in a year and change careers to chase another dream, only to end up walking the carpet 5 years later, I would've made the crazy face at you. Let's be real this was all about the movie and the stars, but for me it was a neat moment to thank myself for chasing the dream. I'm having fun and enjoy all of the challenges that come my way. Thank you so much for watching.

So, I got there and it's just like you've heard it described before ... there were a jillion camera flashes and people yelling my name and which direction to look in order to catch their camera's lens. Here are a couple of the shots I found out there ...

I'd step, stop, smile and repeat for about 30 feet of the red carpet then the next segment of the carpet was for television media. This is where I felt like Kathy Griffin on one of her episodes. She was talking about an awards show where she actually saw or heard someone say the didn't want to interview her and they did it in a nasty way. I guess the only difference is I went in knowing on the scale of A to Z, I surely am not close to an "A" :-), and it's ok with me. I didn't hear or see any thing like what Kathy shared on her show, but you kinda do this slow walk to allow anyone to call you over for an interview. Like a pony show. I did the slow walk and after a few steps, the CBS crew stopped me. I felt like a kid finally picked for the team. After that quick interview I did a few more on camera and then moved even further down the red carpet to speak to radio, print and online media. This is where I stood just 5 years ago waiting for a quote from Jay Z. I started in the print section with New York Magazine, then moved on to Yahoo and many other domestic and international news outlets. When I was done I turned around and took a picture of the scene from the end of the red carpet ...After the red carpet duties it was movie time and I don't remember open bar at the Fade to Black movie premiere, but at this one they had all the popcorn and drinks lined up on the counter for the taking and huge bins with water bottles in them. I opted for a bottle of water and saw myself to my seat. They were numbered and I sat down in my chair almost at the end of a row with only two other people in it. Not 5 minutes after I sat down, one of the two people leaned forward and said "Sunny?" and turned and my row mate was Sandra Lee and one of her girlfriends! I scooted over and we chatted a bit. She is so sweet guys, just how you'd expect her to be. I always enjoy bumping into her! Then down the aisle came another familiar face to join us in our row ...
That's Anne Burrell and her guest Justin. We actually took that picture at the after party for the movie just a few blocks away. Shortly after she got there, the lights dimmed and the experience started. The movie was good, but for movies adapted from books I always wished I'd seen the movie first and then read the book second. Only really so I don't spend the entire movie checking off changes made for artistic reasons. Some of the dialogue in the movie Eat, Pray, Love was familiar and even word-for-word. So, if you've read the book, it's a neat treat and a pat on the back to the insiders. It was cool to hear laughs for jokes I knew were on the way like what the lady says when Julia (Elizabeth) marvels at her boyfriend washing her intimates as no man has ever done before. I won't say more just in case you plan to see it :-), but there were many laughs throughout the movie. It's not all sappy girl-flick stuff.

After it was over we decided to check out the after party at the Metropolitan. It was crowded but we found a little corner to stand in and chit chat over drinks. After talking it turns out, Anne's friend Justin and I know some of the same people because he produces shows for MTV and VH1 and I spent many years in the music business as a DJ, host or journalist. Small world, eh? Just a few seconds after whipping my phone out for the picture above, guess who appeared over my shoulder?Yup, I turned around to put my cell phone away and someone said something like "she's here". Look close! It's the star of the movie, Julia Roberts talking to her co-star, Richard Jenkins. He plays an important character in the book/movie named, "Richard from Texas". I've liked him in so many productions, but I think Six Feet Under was pretty darn good and the last episode goes down as on of the best finales in my lil book. We stuck around for a bit and Anne and Justin headed out for more of the NYC night and I headed home for my Brooklyn bed :-). I have more posts on the way soon, sorry for the brief absence, I had more things in my inbox than my outbox :-).