Celebrity Sightings

I read a blog today where the author was talking about her various celebrity sightings throughout her lifetime. I have had a few that were of interest so I thought I share them. They are in order of - well, you take a guess.

Brooke Burke - Back when I used to work for KPMG I was shipped to Phoenix as a loaner employee for about 2 months. Scott came to visit me over one weekend and we went to a Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale. Brook Burke was there. I think she mostly got famous from being on VH1 and then also hosted a reality show with INXS. More recently, she was on Dancing With the Stars. She sure is pretty - and tall.

Seal- in 2007 I was asked to be staff at a work event in Maui. As we were dropping people off at the Grand Wailea (we of course were then taken to the cheaper hotel down the street) we saw Seal standing out front - no doubt waiting for his chauffeur to drive him and his gal Heidi Klum to their private airplane hanger. I own several of Seal's CD's and used to love the song "Kiss From a Rose".

Robert Redford - I was hiking at Sundance with a few friends and we were coming to a part where the trial narrowed. It was cut into the side of the hill so on your left side you could touch the mountain and the right side dropped down a long way into nothingness. 3 or 4 horses were coming up the trail at exactly the narrow spot and didn't look like they were going to stop to let us by. We all dropped off the trail and gingerly made our way down the hill a bit to get out of the way. While we were cursing them we noticed "hey, wasn't that Robert Redford?". Getting forced off the trail by Bob isn't as bad as if it were just a stranger.Jim and Ed from Barenaked Ladies (BNL) - I think my first random sighting of a BNL member was when Rachel and Linda and I went to Vegas to see a show at the Hard Rock Hotel over Halloween years ago. We were sitting on the sidewalk outside the doors waiting to get our tickets and we saw the tour bus pull up. We hung around outside the bus and were rewarded with a photo op with Jim Creegan (poor Linda held our place in line and didn't get in the photo). Maybe a year later at the Horde Tour in Park City, I ran into Ed Robertson as he was walking from a little "jam session" area to the main backstage area. We walked together for a short time - I don't remember what I said - I'm sure it was witty.

(ps, don't bother clicking, it's not really a clip. If I can find the picture I have of me and Rach with Jim, I'll post it later!!)

President Hinckley - My encounters with President Hinckley were not totally chance encounters exactly. When I was a senior in High School, my Madrigals group sang in the Administration Building at the base of the main staircase. President Hinckley was the first counselor of the 1st Presidency at the time and as he was walking by to enter his office, he took the time to shake each of our hands and tell us how beautifully we were singing. "I'm going to leave my office door open so I can enjoy your music" he said.

A year or two later when he was the Prophet, I was invited by my friend Barb to go downtown with some people to carol around temple square. We happened to have President Hinckley's granddaughter in our group and she had arranged for us to carol at his door. We sang a few songs and President and Sister Hinckley joined with us to sing Silent Night. President Hinckley then shook each person's hand asked each of the young men where they had served their mission. One of my friends wasn't yet 19. To that point, he had been trying to decide whether to go. When President Hinkley asked him where he went on his mission, he told President Hinckley that he would be entering the mission field soon. At his farewell he mentioned that experience as a turning point in his decision to serve.


I thought back to that experience a year later - having to that point felt a little badly that it wasn't a huge, "ta-da", moving encounter - and it came over me the thought that perhaps Pres. Hinckley had spoken face-to-face with the Savior in the temple. Perhaps not, but the idea that my hand was touched by someone worthy enough and in such a station to be in those places in the temple - well, then came my feelings of gratitude and awe and the Spirit testified that he was a prophet of God. Then came my "ta-da" moment!

By far, my greatest celebrity encounter was the one that was accompanied by the Spirit. I think this is one of the reasons that I'll always think of Pres. Hinckley as my special prophet.