Rebecca spots Patrick Swayze!

Exciting news! I saw Patrick Swayze coming out of his trailer just two blocks from where I work. I was walking down the street, sipping my Starbucks, when Johnny Castle himself stepped out of his trailer and made eye contact with me.

No, I did not run away with him! But I did smile and then keep walking. It was a very exciting Tuesday trip to work. I did not have my camera with me but the stalker gal in the video above certainly did! She spotted him during a much busier time (the street was deserted when I had my little Swayze moment) and she got video! Oddly enough when I got to my office I realized Patrick Swayze had been all over my work neighborhood the day before working and celebrating his 56th birthday. So happy birthday, Johnny Castle! Hope you're kicking cancer's ass!

Also? Dale owes me scads of photos he's taken, which is why I haven't updated more recently. Let this post shame him into handing them over! Hee!

Edited to add: Um, it turns out Johnny Castle is a porn star in addition to being the name of Patrick Swayze's character in Dirty Dancing. So, um, yeah, I meant the movie with Jennifer Grey and not the "gay for pay" porn star Johnny Castle! In case there was any confusion!

Night Time Movie Shoot in the City

A couple of weeks ago, when we heard that Brangelina Jolie-Pitt was in town and that Angelina herself was filming at night all over Chicago, we decided to go downtown and get dinner and just peak around the "set"--which was actually most of the city! Look at those big lights! Dale was excited about the big lights.

It's a boom camera car. It's painted matte black so the movie lights do not reflect off it and into the scene! Neat!

Huge-normous light brightens the night sky for the movie shoot.

Another huge light brightens up the opposite end of the street.

We didn't see Angelina but we did appreciate a nice mid-week night out and a sushi dinner!

Chicago Bears Dude

A Chicago Bears football player was filming a commercial on the street a few weeks ago near Dale's building. He took a few photos.

There's been a ton of commercials and films shooting in the city this summer, including the next Batman movie, Angelina Jolie's new movie and numerous commercials.

Chicago Bears dude.

Stephenie Meyer Book Signing

I've been turning all my gals onto my latest guilty pleasure--Stephenie Meyer books! She writes very entertaining (slightly trash-tastic) novels. Her latest is Eclipse and since I'd pushed Rebecca P. into reading the first two novels, we decided to go together to get the new book on the day it was released--August 7--and it just so happened that the author was in Naperville doing a book signing on the release date.

The event was such a huge deal that the signing was moved from the book store to the local college auditorium. We got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened and found quite a line! It wrapped around the building.

We felt a little old among the crowd of mostly teen gals. We were mostly bitter because it was roughly 1000 degrees with 100% humidity! Still plenty of time for a self-portrait!

The line wrapped around the entire block. When we got inside, we were handed a copy of the book and Stephenie Meyer gave a brief Q&Q. She then sat down and signed each book of each person present. There were 1,000 seats and it was sold out! And people brought all of her other books to have them signed as well.

Because the book is a sequel lots of folks got started as soon as Stephenie left the stage to start signing. We were 650 and 651 of 1,000!

We patiently waited our turn, enjoyed the complimentary water and Stephenie's favorite treat--chocolate chip cookie dough!

And finally--at 9:30--we got our books signed! Stephenie told me she liked my name and I told her that I am a fan of her most loathed character--the guy that is the greatest threat to the main love story--Stephenie gave me a high-five after I told her I am "Team Jacob." We had a moment and it was the bee's knees!

Dale meets Floyd Landis

Dale had an exciting celebrity encounter last weekend! He went to Floyd Landis's book signing on Michigan Ave. last week. Floyd won the Tour de France last year and is in a battle to keep the title; he's been accused of doping, an accusation he stridently denies.

Dale arrived early and got a great seat to meet one of his bike-riding heroes.

Floyd and Dale--so cute and nerdy!

Dale had a hard time getting this picture. Everyone--including the pro photographers in his midst--was calling Floyd's name. Dale hollered out, "Floyd! You have dreamy eyes!" and Floyd looked over and stared at Dale like he was deranged.

Later Dale had Floyd sign his book: To Dale. You have dreamy eyes! Floyd.

Edited to add: Dale read the book and thoroughly supports Floyd's fight to be the rightful winner of last year's Tour de France!

Relaxed Weekend in Chicago

We love Chicago! Dale and I were contemplating how to waste a perfect Saturday when we noticed that Food Network's Alton Brown of Good Eats (which just so happens to be Dale's favorite cook on his favorite cooking show) was appearing at the Crate & Barrel flagship store on Michigan Ave! Very exciting. We didn't get to meet him--the crowd was insane--but we did get to see him talk about knives (Dale loves kitchen knives and I love gadgets) and quality.

Alton Brown is famous for being as much a teacher as a cook and his show is populated with silly visual gags and props. To demonstrate the elements of a knife, Alton brought out a huge foam rubber knife. Very amusing. He made jokes and talked about how much he loves the pricey Japanese Shun knives.

We also wandered around Michigan Ave. for a spell and wandered in and out of a few shops and had a light lunch. I had fun checking out the kitchen gadgets at Sur La Table and had a cheap and delicious salad for lunch. We also always enjoy seeing folks performing on the street.

This gentleman was beatin' it out on his drums. Dale used a couple of different processing techniques on these shots and wanted to share them!