Favorite NY Memories #9: Hugging Tim Tebow

Not only is hugging Tim Tebow one of my favorite New York memories, it's one of my favorite life in general memories. I actually added "Hug Tim Tebow" to my bucket list, thinking there would be no way I would ever be able to complete such a goal. But I did.

My love for Tim Tebow has been well-documented, and I even hung out in front of the Best Buy Theater (or rather, the Nokia Theater at the time) on the night of the Heisman Trophy presentation two years in a row (2008 and 2009) to catch a glimpse of him (the second year, he even got to see me walk into a parked car, because I am super smooth). But, these sightings left no time for hand shaking or autographs, much less hugs. But then, in May 2011, Tim Tebow was named the new spokesperson for Jockey and was scheduled to attend a Jockey event at Macy's in Herald Square. Among other things, this event offered people the opportunity to take a picture with Tim. As soon as I saw that on the little promotional flyer, I had that event marked on my calendar as Hug Tim Tebow Day. This was my chance!

Eric and I arrived at Macy's two hours early and were able to secure numbers that would get us a photo with Tim. With our prized photo tickets in hand, we were able to watch the Jockey fashion show taking place in Herald Square before it was photo and hug time. But before we knew it, the moment was upon us.

This little card might as well say, "YOU ARE GOING TO MEET TIM TEBOW!!!"

There he is!

Eric went first, shook Tim's hand and got his photo.

Hottest picture ever? Yes, I believe it is.

And then it was my turn. I walked right up to him, introduced myself and asked for a hug. AND THEN WE HUGGED. And it was glorious. The man is an excellent hugger.

We then posed for our picture, I mumbled some completely ineloquent things, and then it was all over. But, boy oh boy, my day was MADE.

Me with TIM TEBOW.

It should not surprise you that Tim was completely gracious, friendly and welcoming. And hot. And awesome.

Although my Tim Tebow Hug was my most favorite celebrity encounter in New York, Eric and I really debated this item number on my countdown because there were so many other wonderful celebrity events, too. Some were chance encounters, like running into Tracy Morgan at our grocery store (regularly!), or meeting Joe Biden just last weekend.

Ellie and Joe Biden

Some were red carpet events, for movie premieres or awards ceremonies (the Tony Awards were a favorite celebrity-watching event of ours).

Top row: Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon

Bottom row: Al Pacino, Paul Rudd, Sarah Jessica Parker

Others were planned events, like book signings or official public appearances.

Top row: Tom Hanks, Nick Offerman, Joe Montana

Bottom row: Darren Criss, Rainn Wilson

Other times, we caught people filming movies or television shows.

Top row: Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin filming 30 Rock; Lea Michele and Kevin McHale filming Glee

Bottom row: Willie Garson filming Sex and the City 2; Matthew McConoughey filming The Wolf of Wall Street

But the one event that really tried to give Tim Tebow a run for his money on this countdown was the Dexter Season 5 Finale party. I went to the party for the Season 4 Finale in 2009, but Eric was out of town so he missed out on the free food, drinks, and meeting Desmond Harrington ("Quinn"). So, the next year, we made sure we were both going. The Season 5 Finale party was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Times Square, and Eric and I went early to secure a spot at the event. It was well worth the wait, as we ultimately ended up being among the 100 or so enjoying free (strong) drinks and food, meeting cast members and watching the season finale with them. It was awesome.

Enjoying some Dexter-themed cocktails at the party

Me with Jennifer Carpenter ("Debra Morgan") and David Zayas ("Sgt. Batista"), and Eric with Lauren Velez ("LaGuerta")

Yet, despite all these super fun celebrity encounters, Tim Tebow still wins out overall, taking the ninth spot on our countdown. As if there was ever any doubt, am I right?

To read more about the events in this post, click here for Tim Tebow, here for the Dexter finale party, here for our NYC Celebrity Sightings List and here for a complete selection of red carpet events.

"The Dark Knight Rises" Premiere

Tonight at midnight, my handsome husband will be making his big screen debut as one of Gotham City's finest in the long-awaited, much-anticipated new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises!

Eric on set in his Gotham PD uniform

You may remember when Eric was cast as an extra in the movie, and he was a part of the massive fight scene they filmed in NYC back in November. In honor of his big show biz break, Eric will be attending a Batman marathon in IMAX tonight, complete with a showing of the new movie at midnight. I know he'll be watching closely to see if he actually ended up on camera! If you're also going to the movie, keep your eyes peeled for him in the big fight scene that I believe is at the end of the movie, when the bad guys and the Gotham PD collide in one epic battle.

Police and bad guys, preparing to brawl

(source)

There were literally hundreds of extras, so of course we may not be able to pick Eric out of the crowd, but I sure hope we can! How cool would that be?!

Regardless of whether or not he actually made it into the movie, Eric did get to rub elbows with the cast and other celebrities at the movie premiere at the Lincoln Square theater in NYC on Monday. He saw Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Nolan, Marion Cotillard, Chris Daughtry, Ron Howard, Russell Simmons, Cillian Murphy, Hines Ward, Bill Cowher, Michelle Trachtenberg, Hailee Steinfeld, Aziz Ansari, Jay Manuel, Pharrell, Donald Trump and more! (All will be included on our NYC Celebrity Sightings list as soon as Ellie's naptime allows!)

Christian Bale and Gary Oldman

Morgan Freeman

Anne Hathaway

Cillian Murphy

Joseph Gordon-Levitt being all mysterious behind a passing bus

Marion Cotillard, and a shot of the black carpet

Are you going to see The Dark Knight Rises this weekend? If so, keep an eye out for Eric! And don't tell me anything about it, please - I'm planning to see it during our Florida trip next week! In the meantime, I'm just basking in the glow of being married to a movie star!

Catching Up With the Celebs

Although I have pretty much stayed west of the Hudson River since giving birth (with only two exceptions), Eric still goes into the city every day for work, which enables him to keep up our celebrity-sighting pace. Without even really straying from his normal workday path and routine, Eric has been able to spot a number of celebs in the last month or so.

First, on his walk to work one day, he happened to catch a few at the E! Upfronts (preview of upcoming shows to entice advertisers to buy commercial time) at the Haier Building, including Bill and Guiliana Rancic, Joan and Melissa Rivers and Kelly Osbourne. He also caught Mario Lopez filming Extra on the street one day.

The Rancics

Kelly Osbourne, Melissa and Joan Rivers

Mario Lopez

Eric also stumbled upon the NBC Upfronts at Radio City. There he saw Matthew Perry, Blake Shelton, Howie Mandel, Nick Cannon, NeNe Leakes, Donald Trump, Dax Shepard and Peter Krause (from Parenthood). 

Nick Cannon

NeNe

That hair is hard to miss.

Dax Shepard

(For pictures of the others, check out the NYC Celebrity Sightings page.)

If television stars aren't really your thing, Eric also caught a couple of athletes at the SportsNation Madden NFL '13 Cover Reveal in Times Square: Calvin Johnson and Cam Newton.

Calvin Johnson and Cam Newton

If you prefer movie stars, Eric also stumbled upon Kristen Wiig and Ben Stiller filming The Secret Life of Walter Bitty, right in front of his office building.

Ben and Kristen

All of these celebrity encounters occurred just by chance, which is the very cool thing about NYC. However, there was one event that Eric stopped by intentionally, although he only had to walk about a half block from his office to do so: the Men in Black 3 Premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater, where he saw Will Smith and his kids Willow and Jaden, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Nicole Scherzinger (who didn't even turn around to wave at the fans - rude!), Alice Eve, Pitbull, Donald Trump (he's everywhere!), Kristen Schaal and One Direction.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones

Josh Brolin and Alice Eve

(Again, for more pics, check out the Celebrity Sightings page!)

The MIB3 Premiere after party was held at the USS Intrepid, complete with fireworks that we were just barely able to see from Hoboken:

Fireworks in the distance

Now one of these days, we just have to get Ellie out to a red carpet for her first celebrity sighting experience! Ha!

Tom Cruise and the MI4 Premiere

I realize I just posted about recent premieres at the Ziegfeld Theater, but Eric briefly caught another one on Monday night that can't go without mention. This was the biggest premiere we've ever seen at the Ziegfeld (the Sex and the City 2 premiere was huge too, but that was held at Radio City, and the Harry Potter premiere was epic, but held at Lincoln Center). The movie? Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Tom Cruise! Apparently they held the red carpet all along the block, even out into the street. Media crews from all the various entertainment channels were there. There were huge video screens set up and just a sheer sheet of plastic separating the fans from the action, so it was easy to see in and check things out.

Mission Impossible red carpet set up in the street

I had a doctor's appointment Monday night that Eric was trying to hurry to get to (what a nice dad-to-be), so he only had a few moments to spend celebrity-watching at the premiere. But, he was successful! Right away, he spotted Tom himself!

Oh, hello to you, too, Tom.

Eric mentioned that Tom is very good-looking in person, which is, you know, shocking.

Eric also caught sight of a few other stars, including Paula Patton, Alan Thicke, Josh Holloway, J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Morrison and Jeremy Renner.

Paula Patton

Alan Thicke

Josh Holloway

Producer J.J. Abrams

Jennifer Morrison

Jeremy Renner

The only disappointing part of Eric's brief red carpet stop was that we actually could have gotten free tickets to this premiere. There was a guy handing them out outside the red carpet, and Eric and I have been waiting for just that opportunity. I mean, how cool would it be to sit and watch a premiere of a movie alongside all the stars of said movie? That's pretty awesome. But, alas, I was already sitting in my doctor's office waiting room, expecting Eric to join me shortly, so rather than grab a ticket for himself and spend the night with Mr. Cruise, Eric passed and came to meet me at the doctor. Good dad-to-be, right? But hey! At least he got to see Tom Cruise!

Recent Movie Premieres

Eric and I both work just steps from the Ziegfeld Theater, where many movie premieres are held. This makes it very convenient for us to stop by premieres on weekday evenings after work, so lately, we have been taking advantage of that. Actually, Eric has been taking advantage of that, not "we." You see, I get out of work at 5:30 and usually celebrities don't show up at premieres until 7:00 or so. By the time 5:30 rolls around, I have been in the office for nine hours and am tired, sore, swollen and, obviously, whiny. All I want to do is go home, not stand around outside for an hour and a half. Eric, however, leaves work early to catch 7:00 appearances, so the appeal is much greater for him. I have been happy to leave the celebrity-watching in his hands so I can go home and eat Dinner #1 and take a bath. Priorities, people.

Eric has been doing a great job in his role as Head Celebrity Watcher and has caught quite a few premieres in the past couple of weeks. Most recently, he hit up the We Bought a Zoo premiere, where he saw Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Elle Fanning. You know how we love a nice celebrity, so I have to be sure to give Matt Damon his due. Eric says he was one of the most gracious celebrities we have met in NYC. He spent an exceptional amount of time across the street signing autographs for fans and was very friendly and kind. In fact, he spent so much time in front of Eric signing autographs, Eric even got one for himself. You see, ever since David Blaine signed a playing card for us, we have thought it would be cool to get celebrities to sign playing cards to hopefully someday have a full deck of autographed cards. We took a little long to get on it, so I don't know if that will happen, but we now have Matt Damon's autograph on the four of hearts.

Oh, hello, Matt.

Clearly, this says "Matt Damon." Okay, just take my word for it.

Apparently, Matt also maintained his composure and good spirits in the midst of a mini-PETA protest, including people dressed in animal heads with signs saying "I don't want to be in your movie!"

Protesters at the premiere

Matt greeting fans amongst the madness

As an alternative to super-friendly Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson went straight inside and didn't so much as turn around to wave at the fans.

Scarlett Johansson inside the red carpet

I guess they all can't be Matt Damons and Seth Rogens and Daniel Radcliffes, eh?

Eric has also caught a couple of other premieres and events at (and around) the Ziegfeld, including the Hugo premiere, where he saw Tony Bennett:

Tony!

...and the International Emmy Awards at the NYC Hilton, where he saw Wendy Williams and Ally Sheedy:

Wendy Williams

Ally Sheedy

...and the New York New Year's Eve premiere, where he saw Jessica Biel, Lea Michele, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Zac Efron.

Jessica Biel

Fuzzy cell phone picture of Zac Efron

Way to go, Eric! More celebrities to add to the list!