Red Carpets and Grocery Stores: A New York City Day

If it weren't for my brother, father, and my agent, I would have never seen a New York City show. It's thanks to the first that I sat, front-rowish, at "The Phantom" and "West Side Story." It's thanks to the second that I experienced the phenomenal "Wicked." It's thanks to the third, Amy Rennert, that I once saw "The Lion King" during a weekday matinee—a celebration, years and years ago, of my beginning in the land of published books. Yesterday, my husband and I were again in New York, this time to see the moving "Billy Elliot," and this time, again, thanks to my brother and front-rowish. I am, obviously, a very lucky girl.

My husband and I had terrific weather; we had time to walk and to see. Elizabeth Law was our gracious hostess early in the day before she went off (but you'll have to check Facebook to see my blurry proof of this) to discuss political, theatrical, and literary affairs with The Naked Cowboy and to see a show of her own, spreading word of Allen Zadoff's new book everywhere she went.

After "Elliot," my husband and I headed toward Columbus Circle. We stopped at the Hearst Building, where a scene from a movie was being shot, and then moved on. In the gonzo Whole Foods on Columbus Circle, we waited in the express line with our dinners in hand—which would have been interesting enough (the Whole Foods lines snaking long and far—part political movement, part hunger), but which was made a tad more interesting when the stunning Salma Hayek appeared with her gorgeous little girl—just a mom buying the ingredients of the evening's meal.

On our return trip south, we were regaled with a tale about a Spider Man filming—if you wait until dusk, a woman offered, pointing to the Hearst building, you'll see Spidey climbing that wall.  It would be awhile until dusk, so we moved on. We'd seen enough celebrity for the day, or thought we had, but when we turned the corner on 34th Street to wait for the Bolt bus outside The New Yorker Hotel, more crowds were gathered.  It was a red carpet affair, and right before our eyes (and my tiny Sony camera) was Sonja Morgan, of The Housewives of New York. Soon that carpet would host Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Christine Aguilera, Evan Rachel Wood, Phylicia Rashad, and others; we'd see only Phylicia before our bus departed.

But all in all, it was an interesting moment—a New York end to a very New York day, in which it was almost possible to lose myself and my complicated ways.