Weekend with Ben and Jerry
Who wouldn’t like to spend a weekend with Bradley Cooper? When the opportunity presented itself to have a free couple of days at a boutique, luxury hotel somewhere in New England where Bradley and company would be staying while filming a movie, we of course said yes.
We went with another couple. We laid some ground rules out for each other. Be cool, act nonchalant, like you’ve been here before. No stalking or paparazzi-ing. Ok, those ground rules were mostly made up for my benefit. Maybe wear an Eagles t-shirt or sweat shirt so he knows we’re from Philly too. Yo! Bradley. Whassup? Go Birds.
The other handsome movie star there was Matt Bomer. Truth to tell, I did not know who he was. Had to google him. Very handsome. Amazing jaw line.
In order to keep it cool, we needed code names, should there be a sighting. Don’t want to be yelling out Bradley and Matt all over the place. We were in New England. Ben and Jerry sounded like pretty good code names to us.
We pulled up to the beautiful hotel and entered the lobby. If you could even call it a lobby. More like the elegant and gracious living room of an old-money country estate. This is where we were greeted with glasses of champagne, where we just said our names, no registration desk needed, actually, there was not even a registration desk visible.
With a thud I realized that this is how the other half lives, and wondered how I can ever go back to my normal life. We peered around looking for Ben and Jerry. Nobody but us. But that’s ok because the champagne was fabulous. And we had two days so surely we were bound to run into him/them at some point.
Well, come to find out that this movie making business keeps long hours. Up at the crack of dawn until the close of day. And no matter who you are, I am not getting up at the crack of dawn to “run into you” accidentally. That left close of day if we were going to have any chance.
We were down to our last evening and thinking well, we had a wonderful time despite the lack of Ben and Jerry sightings. It was Ernie’s 60thbirthday and we were gathered outside getting ready to go to dinner, when who comes walking by, passing right by us to get into the hotel but Ben, aka Bradley!
He was dressed casually, hair kind of slicked back under a baseball cap. He gave us a slight smile that really didn’t even reach his amazing blue eyes. A cursory, non-verbal (see Non-Verbal post) greeting at best. Sticking to our be cool ground rules, we non-verbaled smiled back.
The exchange lasted all of 2 seconds—a very short, brief brush with fame. Meh. Forget that. I was more interested in figuring out how to get a life upgrade from Holiday Inn to boutique, luxury hotels. I wasn’t going to miss Ben or Jerry, but boy was I going to miss top class accommodations, service, food, sheets, and a never ending supply of free Fiji water.