Living so close to Hollywood, I spot movie stars all the time. Which is why I had the same thing happen to Ruby in One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies.

On election day, when I went to vote, the very next person who used my voting booth was (drumroll, please) Tom Hanks! A couple of days later, I was at the Ben and Jerry’s in Brentwood getting some Uncanny Cashew, when who should come strolling through the door but Angelina Jolie! A few days after that, I was at my son’s flag football game when I noticed some suspicious looking men in black hanging around, with these weird little headsets stuck in their ears. You guessed it: they were Secret Service. Why were they there? Because Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was there to watch his son playing on the opposing team. My daughter is the editor of her school’s newspaper, so she went over to Arnold and asked him if he would be willing to be interviewed. He flashed her his movie-star grin and said that he would. He took her number and said he would call. I’ll be sure to let you know if he actually does…

Recently, my daughter and I both came down with sore throats, so we went to see our ear, nose and throat doctor in Beverly Hills. While we were sitting in one of the examination rooms waiting for the doctor, we heard his secretary telling him that Lindsay Lohan was on the phone. We hoped she would be coming in to the office before we left, so we could catch a glimpse of her, but she never did show up. Disappointed, we headed toward the door. And who do you think was walking in? George Clooney! He had a full beard, because of that movie he’s shooting in Casablanca, but we recognized him by those twinkly eyes of his. Then, when we left the building, we saw all these paparazzi hanging around. The funny thing is, they hadn’t even recognized George Clooney. But they were excited, because they said they had just gotten some great shots of Jake Gyllenhal, who had walked by not five minutes before. (Dang! First we missed Lindsay, and then we missed Jake...) The photographers told us the reason they were there was because they were waiting for Britney Spears to come out of the building across the street! We wanted to stick around to see her, too, but we only had a couple of minutes before our next appointment. We ducked into the little restaurant next door to get some soup to go, and the next thing we knew, there was Reese Witherspoon, heading right into the our doctor’s building! My daughter and I could not believe it. We had to leave before Britney came out, but spotting George and Reese within five minutes of each other had been pretty darn exciting. I hope you don’t think I’m making this all up – because every word of it’s true!  

Another time, when my niece Liz was visiting, she said she wanted to see some famous people. So I decided I'd bring her down to this popular spot in Santa Monica, called The Promenade, to see if we could find any. We were looking for a parking space on the street, when we saw a man sitting in his car. I pulled over behind him and waited for him to leave. When he didn't go anywhere, I pulled up next to him and tapped on the horn to see if he was planning on leaving. He looked over at us and smiled - it was Sean Penn.  

Once, when I was shopping in Neiman Marcus, I thought I heard Marge Simpson talking. I looked up and there was Julie Kavner, the woman who does Marge's voice for The Simpsons. And in my dermatologist's office, I spotted Kelsey Grammar, of Frasier fame, and another time I saw Cher there. 

Not long ago, when I was taking my morning walk, I saw a man jogging towards me with two German Shepards. And when he got closer to me, I realized it was Jim Belushi. And recently, my daughter found out that one of the girls in her SAT prep class is Jim Carrey's daughter. 

Because I live near Hollywood, I've even gotten to know some famous people. Who? Well, I'm friends with Marg Helgenberger, from the CSI show, because my son is good friends with her son. Marg's husband, Alan Rosenberg, one of the stars of The Guardian, was my son's basketball coach. I've known Taylor Negron for years. He's the really funny actor who played the public relations man in Angels in the Outfield and the nanny on So Little Time, the Olsen twins TV show. Taylor and I like to pretend we are brother and sister. And I've met everyone from all the different casts of Saved By the Bell, because my husband was a writer/producer on that show for ten years. Harold Ramis, the man who had a starring role in Ghostbusters and later directed Analyze This, is also a friend of mine. And my husband is friends with John Carpenter, the director of Halloween. In fact, John even used my husband's old bed as a prop for one of the murder scenes in that film. Richard Lewis, one of the regulars on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seventh Heaven, is a friend of ours, too. And we used to be close friends with Robin Williams. In fact, his first wife introduced my husband and me to each other. But we've lost touch over the years.

Keep your eyes on this page for reports of future star sightings!