The Red Carpet Treatment

So, I realized a dream:

Not necessarily of attending the awards show, as I never dreamed that would be a possibility...but of hanging out with some of the best writers in movies and television for an entire evening.

This was all made possible by my friends Meredith Forbes and John Marshall, who invited me to the Writers Guild Awards East in New York City as their guest. Which they could do because John was HEAD WRITER and EXECUTIVE PRODUCER of the awards show this year.

Seriously. So cool. 

And Meredith is his wife and one of my very best friends. (John is also an Emmy-nominated writer who worked on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, The Chris Rock Show and a bunch of other stuff. Meredith is an actor and performed a sketch with host Colin Quinn during the awards show that parodied the movie "Her." The sketch was a highlight, and after the show a reporter from New York magazine interviewed Meredith about her performance. Fortunately she is used to this kind of stuff, so she handled it beautifully. While I gawked and took photos of Meredith being interviewed.)

Here's a fun fact: After three rounds of alterations, my insanely expensive (but purchased on sale)
Marc Jacobs jumpsuit still did not fit correctly, so Meredith had to pin me into it. This meant that I
could not have any liquids all night lest I have to use the restroom. It also meant that
when Meredith was urinating in a stall she called out to me at the sink and asked, "Jealous?"

The day of the awards, I ran around the city with Meredith, first getting our lashes done, then getting our hair styled, then hanging out at the Edison Ballroom during a sound check and rehearsal:

Where the show was held. Scenes from the Godfather were filmed here.
Although not during the awards show.

While the real talent was rehearsing, I took the opportunity to see what it would be like to be onstage. And even in my pretend world I am someone who presents an award rather than wins one.

I should be analyzed.

Colin Quinn made a joke in his opening monologue about how
the award resembles female genitalia. Me standing with a picture
of the award at that height is not an accident.

After rehearsal, Meredith and I got dressed and went outside so we could get the full experience of entering the show via the red carpet:

Those autograph seekers were not looking for my autograph,
rather Archie Panjabi's, who was entering the awards show right
next to me. That did not prevent me from grabbing a book and
signing my name, however.

And by the way, here is a side view of my shoes...which I forced Meredith to take after I kept whining about how they looked "orthopedic" in the photo above.

See? Not orthopedic. But I will need orthopedic shoes after
wearing these all night...

It was an incredible night. Not only were there are million amazing writers in attendance, there were also some performers lending their star power to the event, including Ethan Hawke, Keri Russell, Kate Mulgrew, Colin Quinn, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Rhys, and the aforementioned Archie Panjabi.

John and Meredith. John's gorgeous suit is by Alexander McQueen.
Meredith's gorgeous dress is by "Le Closet" (pronounced Clo-ZAY) as she likes to refer to
clothing she already owns

And trite as it may be, although I did not come away with an award at my first red carpet event, it was an honor just to be invited.

UPDATE: And here is a photo of Mer with host, Colin Quinn: