Lily Allen + Samantha Schaefer = BFFs(?)

The Royal Premiere of 'The Other Boleyn Girl' surpassed my expectations. The movie itself was wonderfully done (though, I definitely prefer and recommend the book). However, it was the star factor that still has me going back and being like, "Wait, did that just happen?"

Take, for instance the picture that I found of myself online at several websites. I was walking in with famous Brit singer, Lily Allen, and got stuck behind her during a huge photo shoot. Oops!





I was trying to quickly get out of the way so I wasn't "that girl" to the celebs. But too late.

So here's the whole story: After work Tuesday, Denise and Lillian, two of our supervisors took us down to the Radisson Edwardian on Leicester Square, right next to the Odeon Theater where the premiere was. We had a couple of snacks and drinks before heading toward the red carpet, which in this case, was actually a turquois color. Here's me with Sarah (far left) and Alex, the two amazing girls I intern with on the turquois carpet.



We timed our entrance just right. Literally, as we were walking up the carpet, Natalie Portman was just 10 feet away from us doing interviews and Eric Bana who played King Henry VIII just a couple feet further. Then out of nowhere swoops in Scarlet Johansson, passing within an arms length infront of us. I am using all of Alex's pictures to document the night because my camera's night vision quality was absolutely awful.


Our view of the Odeon walking up.


Eric Bana doing interviews.


Natalie Portman doing interviews (the one with the hair slightly up, with the beautiful curl). She looked absolutely amazing.


Scarlett Johansson as she walked past us.


Scarlett working it for the cameras. She is even more gorgeous and very tiny in person.


Scarlett and Natalie walking onstage before the movie began. Isn't Natalie's dress stunning? Alex was third row, so was able to take these amazing photos.


The main cast on stage as the director, Justin Chadwick spoke. He's so young and great at what he does.

I was up in the balcony level, which actually proved quite fun. When Prince Charles and Camilla arrived, they were seated at the bottom of the balcony, about 15-20 rows in front of us. The cast also had seats nearby. It was hard to comprehend at the time that I was in the presence of royalty, let alone the future king of England. They seem like such friendly people. Denise, our boss, got to meet him earlier in the day at a luncheon for trustees of a film board. She raved about Charles and even Camilla (I think she's on Team Camilla, not Diana. My boss, Lillian, is definitely rooting the other way.) At the end of the film, Charles and Camilla walked up the stairs and stopped just a couple rows in front of us to talk to friends, so I got a good close-up view. I was tempted to snap a picture, but no one else was, so I didn't want to be rude about it. You'll just have to take my word for proof.

Overall, an incredible evening. I know I will never get to experience anything like it again in my life, so I definitely enjoyed getting dressed up and living in the moment. London is an amazing city--a financial headquarter and a huge cultural and entertainment hub--that I'm so lucky to get to enjoy at this point in my life. I know at the end of this, I'll be anxious to get home and back to the pace of the States, but in the meantime, I'm really appreciating all the experiences, whether or not they involve the Royal family.

I have a few more pictures of Dover Castle and the Canterbury Cathedral that I need to upload and tell you about, but I need to get going at the moment. I'm working on planning Pete's and my Easter break. Next week (beginning the 1st) is my mid-term break, and Pam and I are going to Paris and Rome. Pete is going to meet us in Paris for a couple of days, so I'm really excited to explore the city with him. My suitemate freshman year/roommate part of sophomore year is living in Paris for the semester, so she's going to be an awesome tour guide as well. Two weeks after our mid-term break is Easter break, and Pete and I were wanting to go a little further east like to Budapest or Prague or Vienna, but flights are proving difficult. So I'm still looking around. Hopefully there will be some breakthrough.

All right, I'm out. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Also, one more thanks to Alex for the photos. They are magnificent.