glaad los angeles

1: celeste and i with matt bomer 2: drew barrymore
3: celeste and i with ross mathews 4:jennifer lawrence

saturday night saw the second of three (but the last i'm going to this year) of the glaad media awards that my company sponsors.

the los angeles event is particularly well-attended by celebrity guests, and this year, there were some big names on tap. i was exciiiiiiited!  and, when we had a last minute (three days before) cancellation at our table, and there happened to be an actual boy that i might actually want to bring as my date, i invited the mexican to join me.

he canceled his existing plans for the evening and happily agreed to be my date. so come saturday night, he joined me at the hotel after i had finished my 'work' portion of the event, and was putting the final touches on my appearance.  we got to know more about each other hollering back and forth between the hotel room and the bathroom while i curled my hair. is it weird that i thought that that was kind of fun?

the truth is, i have given up on trying to impress men.  that's not to say i don't make an effort to put my best foot forward, but i prefer to do so in a natural way.  it was actually the bulgarian who 'taught' me that.  after showing some interest in me during some of my sweatiest 'hair up' moments while setting an exhibit booth, he made me realize that i want a man who thinks there's something cute about glasses and buns.

1. celeste and i with chris and scott evans  2: celeste and i with darren criss  3.bill clinton  4:celeste and i with alex newell
1. celeste and i with eric dane and rebecca gayheart  2: tobey maguire, perks of being a wallflower cast (mae whitman)
3: ryan murphy  4: charlize theron and leonardo dicaprio

at any rate, when i had finished getting ready, my handsome date and i headed downstairs to start the celebrity gawking.  javier had told me that bill clinton was the person he was most excited about seeing (and i knew he would not come through the press line), but i found it amusing how little he knew about the folks that did.  most of them were b, c, and d list celebrities, but, what can i say, i watch a lot of tv.

we chatted with my colleagues as we played the 'guess what he/she was in' game, and i was glad that my co-worker mike, and his wife celeste were back at the event. we make a good spotting team, and when the time comes for photos, we've got a rhythm down.

javier and i

we were waiting for someone to come through who we really wanted to meet, and for me, that person was matt bomer, from white collar.  i went a little bit stalker on him, but i got the photo i'd been hoping for.  in the process, i also met eric dane (gray's anatomy) and his wife rebecca, ten danson and mary steenburgen, alex newell (glee), and ross mathews (comedian, formerly from jay leno, currently on chelsea lately, but a favorite of mine from his olympic coverage).  and finally, it was time to head into dinner.

on our way into the room, we passed by chris evans (captain america, the avengers) and stopped to take a photo with he and his brother scott, before finally making our way to the table.

we enjoyed an unusually good dinner (i don't love hotel food, but this was good hotel food) and the program began!  presenters included such names as leo dicaprio, charlize theron, tobey maguire, jennifer lawrence, harvey weinstein, and matt bomer.  and of course, the most illustrious winner was former president bill clinton.

javier was elated, and despite the fact that clinton has gotten (obviously) older, he is still dynamic and charismatic, and it was a very cool experience.

my date was a perfect gentleman and i thoroughly enjoyed my evening with him.  i couldn't have asked for a better companion or a more unique experience!