meeting a real live celebrity.

and not just like, seeing one from across the room. i really met a celeb.

at one point in my life, i had a thing for knitting.

sounds nerdy, right? but there's a small circle of knitting that's actually very hip.

and that's where it got me.

co-worker {at the time} jan and i went to los angeles to visit the knit cafe - a swanky shop on melrose, owned by a former tv exec who gave up the crazy biz for a more friendly, shop-around-the-corner-esque life, and home to our new favorite knitting book.

a vacation dedicated to knitting. yeah, i'm admitting that.

the girls in the shop were so flattered by our visit.

couldn't believe we came all that way. to knit. in their shop.

so, there we are. knitting. talking to the girl behind the counter about the socks we were endeavoring when julie bowen wandered in.

no bra, no make up, freshly healing from a chemical peel, and knitting a yellow baby sweater for charity.

back then, she was the neutrogena girl.

or the love interest from that one show - ed.

since then? oh, you know... modern family.

when the girl behind the counter told julie we came all the way from salt lake to knit, she told us we were too young to vacation in l.a. without "trashing it up"...

so she drew us a map to the best place to find all the trashiest celebs {better than an autograph, right? it sat on the fridge for years}

"real celebrities" she called them.

she sent us to robertson.

to dine at the ivy

or the newsroom

to kitson

where lindsey lohan and paris hilton were found shopping a couple days prior.

it's the place where famous-for-being-famous people go when they want to be spotted by the paparazzi.

she was very nice. and we shared a couple hours together in the store with her.

i think she'd remember us...

and she's really famous now.

i mean... today, she was on oprah.