Hugh! My, Oh My, Oh My!!!

So, you want to know "Did she really go last night?" Well...

YES!!! I went to the World Movie Premiere of
"X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE"
And YES,
I stood 4 feet away from

The Man himself,
HUGH JACKMAN!
Yahoo! (Eric, my love, thanks for living with my embarrassment! You are a good sport! :D )

I arrived at Tempe Marketplace around 2:00pm to get my "seat" for the RED CARPET. There were tons of people there so I couldn't get close to the stage at all. Instead, to save my place, I sat on my lawn chair reading "Angels & Demons" for a couple hours right in front of the Press Line. Then my wonderful sister Shanon arrived and I started to get excited! The crowd was filled with all ages: kids, teenagers, young adults, stay-at-home Moms, grown men, all the way up to several grandmas, too! It was really fun to see the spectrum from people who enjoy these comic book movies to people who enjoy sexy men! (Did I just write that?!?) At 5:30pm Hugh arrived on a Harley motorcycle and the crowd went wild---I may have even screamed a little myself! :D

Harkins built a large stage at the beginning of the Red Carpet where Hugh stood and thanked everyone for coming. Then he introduced the cast and excitedly said things like "G'day, Mates" and "Crikey" while he spoke---and oh that accent!!!


After the welcome, the entire cast walked the Press Line, talking with all the "Real Deals," like: E! News Channel, Entertainment Tonight, Fox News Channel, all 3 major TV Networks, TV Guide Channel, and on and on. Then they worked the crowd, where they all stood 4 feet away from us---we stood second-person-back behind a lovely (and short, yeah!) grandma & her young teenage grandkids. You ladies who wonder if Hugh truly is as good looking up close, well I'll let you be the judge...

Okay, some of you are wondering how Tempe, Arizona was able to host the World Movie Premiere of "X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE." Well, about 3 weeks ago, Hugh Jackman announced on YouTube that there would be a contest to see which American hometown would host the Premiere. Fans across America nominated their hometowns and then voted for the next 3 weeks. In the end Tempe won out of the thousand+ nominated cities, so yeah! How fun for the fans that a place other than LA or NYC got to host it.

These amazing pics are courtesy of my sister Shanon and her giant, awesome camera! Shan, you are soooooo wonderful for coming with me! Thank you!

Hugh holding a microphone out and telling us that we were LIVE on TV. As you can see, he loved the cheering response.

Eric, look away...

Huh? What? The camera must have slipped down Shanon's hand and shot right here, cutting off Hugh's head--the desired picture, of course. Weird! How did that happen?!? Oops. Oh well. Liev Schrieber & Hugh JackmanLiev Schrieber

Eric & I are big fans of Liev and when he stopped to sign autographs right in front of me, I said, "Liev, we loved your guest role on CSI! You were awesome!" He looked directly at me and surprised said, "Thank you. Thank you VERY much!" Yes, I am cool! :D

(Right now, Eric is so embarrassed for me.)

Ryan ReynoldsLynn Collins

This actress was wearing some rockin' awesome heels, so I told her that I loved her shoes. Well, Lynn (yes, first name basis) then told me the website where I could get them, too. Yes, I am hob-knobin with the stars about wardrobe---did you ever have any doubts it would happen?!? Hilarious! :D Will.I.AmTaylor Kitsch

Thank you to my wonderful husband for being man enough to let me go see Hugh and still love me, his nerdy Hollywood-watching wife! You are the best, babe!

What a fun night! And though I will now have to endure a good amount of ribbing from some family & friends, I am really glad Shanon & I got to go and be a part of this fun Movie Premiere. It was nice. Very nice!