Who Would Have Thought?

Sometimes life is full of interesting surprises.

Surprise #1:

The other night I rented a bunch of movies. (Doesn't it seem like I just quilt and watch movies?) I rented Nancy Drew, starring Emma Roberts. To be honest with you, I never really had any desire to see it. (although I was a big fan of the classic Nancy Drew books when I was young.) But since I earned a free DVD rental at my local Blockbuster, I picked up the movie and took it home. During one scene where these kids were dancing at an old mansion, I saw this darling girl in a pink fedora hat. Wow, that looked like Daughter #2. She looked so cute. And next there was a scene with a lamp falling onto the floor right next to someone's nice legs wearing leopard-skin high heels. I thought those legs looked familiar! I called Daughter #2 and asked if she had worked on Nancy Drew. Lo, and behold, the pink-fedora-hat girl was her. And the leopard-skin-high-heels girl was her too. Who would have thought?

(Oh, I miss the days of watching movies and TV and seeing Daughter #2 somewhere...I really miss the days I could go along with her and watch her work. I miss the excitement of being on a movie set...and most of time I sat with the crew. But there's really nothing like it. And the food is great too!)

Surprise #2:

You never know who you'll see in movies and TV. Once many years ago an actor friend of Daughter #2's recommended his friend for some acting lessons. I talked to the actor to get the name of his friend. He told me the name of the actor was Rainn Wilson and he gave me a phone number. I said "Who is she?" He said, "You mean, Who is he? It's a guy." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought the name Rainn was a girl's name. I'll give him a call." Well, life got busy and I never did get around to calling Mr. Wilson. Daughter #2 ended up taking acting lessons from someone else.

Many years later I was watching the credits on the TV show, The Office and there was that name, Rainn Wilson! He is none other than the character "Dwight." Sorry, Mr. Wilson, that I thought you were a girl. And sorry I didn't call you! Who would have thought?

Surprise #3:

Years ago Daughter #2 worked on a Nickelodeon show called "Ned's Classified." On it she portrayed a cheerleader. There was another cheerleader named Shanica Knowles. (here they are together in 2004.)She was very young and just getting started in television. Backstage I had an interesting conversation with her mother. They had come from the midwest and packed everything up and moved to Hollywood. She told me her daughter was going to be star. She was also keeping track of all the money she had paid out because she said she was make her daughter pay her back every dime when she became famous. Well, her daughter is not what I would call "famous" but she does have an occasional role on Hannah Montana. I'm happy for her and I do wonder if her mom's been able to recoup all the money she felt was owed her. Who would have thought?

Surprise #4:

When my kids were little, we would carpool to school with our neighbors the Patridge family. They lived in a house on the next block that looked just like ours. There were 3 girls and 1 boy, and our kids all went to the same schools. The oldest daughter of the Patridge's was the shyest, sweetest girl named Audrina. She was so shy that you would have to describe her as "painfully shy." You know the type. The kind that can barely make eye contact with you. She was very pretty, I remember. She was very smart and polite, too. A few years later the Patridge family moved to another neighborhood a few blocks away. I kind of lost contact with them as the kids got older. The last time I saw Audrina she was a darling little freshmen with braces playing waterpolo with Daughter #1. She came up and spoke to me briefly at a game and I wished her luck in the upcoming waterpolo season.

Well, have you seen the recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine? It features the girls from the MTV series, "The Hills." Audrina is one of those girls! Her hair is dark now, her braces are gone. (side note: Have you noticed how white her teeth are? I have a friend who says she watches that show just to see how much whiter Audrina Patridge can get her teeth with each new episode!) I was surprised this was the same girl! One of their neighbors told my son how it is living with the paparazzi stalking her when she visits her family. Paparazzi in Yorba Linda? Who would have thought?

Yes, yes, I know none of these surprises have anything to do with quilting. But wait! Here's one for you..

Surprise #5:

I sorted through some quilt tops I will be doing next week and check out this lovely one I get to do! I can't wait. I love it. Really! Didn't you think I'd add a little quilt surprise too? I'll post pictures when it's done! I must go buy this fabric collection. Anyone know the name?

Have a great weekend!