Academy Awards, Part I: Get Ready, Get Set, Go

This is just the first of my posts on going to the Academy Awards. Yes, there will be many, because how could I fit the events of that amazing day into just one post? If you know me, it takes at least 1500 words to tell you about picking out a frozen pizza at the supermarket. Oh, make that 2500 if I give you the details on how I took ten minutes giving the cashier exact change.

I have to say the preparation for going to the Oscars was the most stressful part. First of all, what was I going to wear? I had commentors on my blog daring me to wear my bathrobe and one person on Twitter suggesting that I wear a flowerpot on my head, so you can see the level of sophistication people expect from me. Add to that the fact that putting on pants constitutes a dress-up day around here and you see what I was up against. Luckily I had some help getting myself Red Carpet-worthy and all I had to do was put on pants.

But that was only half the battle. What about my mug? How was I going to go from mom blogger to someone who was Oscar-bleacher-worthy? After all, if Bradley Cooper happened to glance over my way I wanted to make sure I looked my best and I hear unibrows don't go over too big with foxy movie stars.

So to the rescue came my friend, Marygene, who showed up at my house at 6:45am on Sunday morning to do my makeup. She came over to help me and my fellow blogger Donna get ready for our close ups. Notice the huge stash of makeup she brought with her -- obviously word of my large pores and undereye circles preceded me.



And to top it off, Marygene lives in Hollywood and was nice enough to offer to drop us off close to the Kodak Theater so we didn't have to take a cab like we had planned. I have to admit I was a little nervous about taking one, since I'm from L.A. and don't even know how to take a taxi; Do you ask them up front about the price? Do you chat with the driver? Does the car have seatbelts? Can you tell them how to drive like you do when your husband is at the wheel?

Thank goodness we didn't have to deal with any of that, and Marygene dropped us off close enough so that we only had a few blocks to walk (since walking is yet another thing we don't do in L.A.) All the streets in the area were blocked off, so here's the bizarre view of a completely deserted Hollywood Boulevard at 10 o'clock in the morning (Even more bizarre: No hookers!):



We had to show our official papers from the Academy to get through the police barricade, and then it was on to a checkpoint to get our badges and gain admittance to the bleacher area. I have to say that everyone was extremely friendly and there was none of the attitude or airs that you would expect from such a high-profile event. I think I had more problems with the staff at our middle-school theater night -- I'm telling you, give a 12-year-old some power and they turn into Mussolini.

Once inside I was seated with the awesome crew from Kodak. Here is our view of the Red Carpet from our special section of the bleacher seats:



Luckily I was able to zoom in and get shots like this:



Yes, that's right - Jason Bateman is looking right at me! I think he was saying something like, "Check out the amazing blogger in row 4."

Next Up: Academy Awards Part II: Celebrities, Beautiful People, and Donuts

Disclaimer Small Print! I was invited by Kodak to be their guest in the bleacher seats at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The bleacher tickets have no monetary value and I was not paid for my attendance or compensated for writing this post. Vendor(s) mentioned in this post have no affiliation with Kodak. I do not actually think my kids' middle-school classmates are like Mussolini, more like really bossy midgets.

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tags: kodak | 82nd annual academy awards | oscars | kodak red carpet bleachers

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