Click here for the pictures that go along with this. All of the pictures are in order: http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd192/blaqklister/My%20Twilight%20Fun/
As for the Hot Topic event and 100 Monkey's show follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/vampirevaithwen
At 8:30pm on November 14th I left from a little train station… box in Chemult, Oregon and arrived in LA at 9:40pm the next day. The 16th was a day of rest before heading to the Westwood Village Theater at 2:00am on the 17th. The line was half way around the block by the time we got there (people had been camping out on the street for a couple days). Waiting in line was slow but exciting. They let us into the premiere in groups at about 2pm on the 17th. My friend and I were right on the barricade. For three hours we watched as they let in around 700 people for the premiere and several more waited across the street. Reporters and photographers walked the carpet doing interviews with fans and filming their introductions to the massive premiere. It began to get dark and three hours later the stars came out. Each of the main actors that arrived would first head up onto the stage where they would be announced and interviewed before heading down the U-shaped red carpet and rows of screaming fans. The red carpet last a total of three hours before the actors headed into the movie. I was lucky enough to catch Nikki Reed, Stephanie Meyer, and Jeffery Dean Morgan for pictures and had my Twilight book signed by Stephanie Meyer, Solomon Trimble, Justin Chon, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson.
And that was just the first day.
The next day we headed over to Hollywood for the final Hot Topic event of their tour to see Kristen Stewart and Nikki Reed introduce Paramore. They put on a fantastic show finishing off with Decode, of course, before heading up stairs for the meet and greet. We waited, yet again, until that was over before Nikki Reed, Taylor Lautner, Kellan Lutz, Ashley Greene, and Jackson Rathbone graced the stage. They did a nice Q&A of fan questions, all the while keeping up the vampire vs. werewolf persona. It was very amusing. Once they left everyone headed up to Hot Topic for a brief meet and greet with the cast where they were kind enough to provide us all with a poster for the cast to sign. They were all very sweet but the line moved very quickly and, in a flash, we were out the door.
After the Twilight event my friend and I wondered around a bit before making our way to, where we hoped, would be the right lounge to witness 100 Monkeys perform. We made it to the lounge at 9pm, when the website said it opened, but we were only an hour early. No worries though. It was a new lounge, the bartender was very friendly and we even got free drinks and met the band while we hung out. All night it was fantastic with no more that 15-20 people in the place. Jackson Rathbone (aka J Action) and the two Bens were very entertaining and were having a great time. It was more like a jam session than a concert as they let anyone come up and play with them. Jackson sang most of the night with a talented Jack White feel and not one person was completely sober (especially Jackson). There was singing, jamming, and dancing until 2:30am when they finally started to shut it down. I had a very nice conversation with the adorable Jackson Rathbone after the show and found out they plan to try those shows out every Tuesday. Another fantastic night to add to the list!
The rest of my time in Cali was, of course, a blast and we made it to the midnight show, naturally, as well as another on opening day. I flew home on the 23rd.
Though I was back home, my Twilight excitement was not quite over. The very nice retirement community I work at as a caregiver is also home to Jamee Hardwicke, yes, Catherine's mother. She is a wonderful person and always has me over for stories and swapping updates and other fun stuff. Occasionally I'll do a magazine run for her. Haha. Well before I ever met her, my boss and the receptionist let her know how big of a fan I was and Jamee ordered me a poster. When I returned from California that poster was waiting for me at work and everyone stood around when I pulled it out of the tube. Not only was it a theater sized poster it was also personally autographed by Catherine herself (pictures in the link!). If that wasn't enough it only got better. Jamee also informed me that Catherine was sending her a box of the visual companions and planned on giving me one. Also I knew Catherine would be in town this weekend for the Twilight screening in Sisters and she was staying in one of our guest rooms! Well I went to work today (Nov 29th) and called Jamee to see if I could come over to give her the pictures from the premiere I had printed out for her. She said "yes of course! I'm glad you called actually, Catherine is here and wants to meet you!" the day before this I had seen Jamee and she loved the Rosalie necklace I had on and was excited to tell Catherine. Catherine has actually known about me since before the movie, thanks to Jamee. Anyways, I sat for a moment to compose myself and headed over to her place. Jamee opened the door and I gave her the pictures and told her what they were when, out of nowhere, Catherine comes rushing around the corner from the hall and calls excitedly "Stephanie! Hey!" and gives me a huge hug. I was left in shock after that moment and a lot of the half an hour was kind of a blur. Haha. She immediately started going through the pictures and asking me tons of questions about the premiere and everything else I saw in Cali. She loved hearing about 100 Monkeys and then told me something very amusing. After Jamee told Catherine about me, Catherine surprised the people in line for the premiere that evening a few hours before I got there. Apparently Catherine went up and down the line yelling "Stephanie! Stephanie from Bend!" trying to find me! Hahaha! She said people were looking at her weird but she didn't care. I told her everything about that trip and I felt like she might spontaneously combust from all that energy. She is amazing. We talked a little about New Moon and I told her how amazing sparkly Edward turned out. She said that she panicked when she read that in the book and was so glad it turned out so wonderful. She said it was the hardest part about bringing the book to screen. The 100% for sure confirmation will happen on Monday as far as her directing New Moon. She said they were trying to give her the same budget that she had for Twilight and I said "um werewolves? Italy? On the same budget?" She rolled her eyes, "I know, right?" so we will see how it goes on Monday! A little later one of the other residents came in with a couple things for Catherine to sign for her grandkids and as I'm trying to talk to Jamee, Catherine yells across the dining room "Stephanie! Where should I sign these?" I was like umm "how about right smack on the front page in all the red!" and she had at it. She was too much fun. I also met her boyfriend and co-producer of Twilight, Jamie Marshall. He was very nice and excited to see the premiere pictures since he didn't make it. Jamee then told Catherine that I needed a picture with her so Catherine (after brushing her hair and applying a little lipstick) went rushing around the room saying "I wish I had one of my Twilight shirts on!" and repeating "photo shoot!" She had to find the perfect spot for our "photo shoot" before Jamie took our picture. I hung out for the afternoon until they had to go to Sisters for the Twilight event (tickets sold out before I could get in but I wasn't too heartbroken after that! haha). She gave me tons and tons of hugs as well. She was so excited and treated me as though we had known each other for years! It was amazing!
It was a fantastic couple of weeks and I'm slowly coming back to reality. I'm so glad I got to meet everyone and hang out with Catherine at her mom's house! It was too much fun and be sure to go check out the pictures of everything from the train to me and Catherine in Jamee's living room! Fun Fun! Send me messages and comment all the pictures which are on my MySpace page too!