Cuisine and Screen: Screen in LA: The 2020 Golden Globes

For those of you who know me, you know I'm obsessed with all things movies, celebrities and awards shows. (It even says that about me in my blogger bio on the right!) My mom is the only other person I know who gets just as excited as I do over this type of stuff. After decades (literally) of watching awards shows and wondering "who are these people?!" in the bleachers on the red carpet, we decided to take action on this bucket list item and finally figure out how to be one of those people. So I did a bit of sleuthing and discovered a package that included bleacher seats on the red carpet. A few phone calls and credit card numbers later, we had our reservation.

We checked into the Beverly Hilton the Wednesday prior to Sunday's show. Things were already getting set up, and they were literally rolling out the red carpet. Each day, security presence increased more and more in the lobby, and crews worked 12 hour days to build platforms over the pool for the HBO party, grids for spotlights outside, putting up signage and building our bleachers. We got super excited seeing all the directional signs to the Netflix/Amazon/Disney parties, and we also began seeing celebrities in the lobby! Pierce Brosnan, Giuliana Rancic, Ryan Seacrest (basically every E! personality) - everyone was buzzing with excitement. We met multiple groups of women who had done this for several years. One group had done this every year for 20 years!

FINALLY, it was the day of the show. The first hour of the red carpet was slow, but once things started moving, we felt like we couldn't blink or look away, because we didn't want to miss anyone. It was such an adrenaline rush. Our hearts were pounding. I just wanted to see the stars, but my mom wanted them to see HER. And they did. I have never heard that woman shriek so loud! But it worked! Well, MOST of the stars turned to wave and smile and acknowledge the crowd. Some of them clearly wanted nothing more than to move it along and get inside. It was difficult to savor who we just saw, because sure enough, another A-lister would be walking up right behind them!

We were getting nervous when it was 23 minutes until showtime and Brad and Leo had not walked the red carpet. Leo has been my #1 since 1996. That is a 24 year love affair. When they finally walked in front of us, I felt like I left my body. It was so surreal, and everyone went bananas. The best 3 minutes of the trip.

It was a thrill to be in the lobby after the show let out - I was shocked that security seemed to disappear, and the celebs were totally mixed with us civilians. I was nervous for them! My mom shook hands with Rami Malek, congratulated Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger, said hi to J. Lo, and we spoke with Nicholas Braun (who we met on the street earlier that day!) and Kieran Culkin from "Succession" (I nearly died). It was truly a dream come true and an overwhelmingly incredible experience.

Here is just a tiny selection (seriously, I have hundreds of photos) of some of the stars we saw: