Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr. Spotted.

Just when people think that celebrities are fully guarded and do not mingle with the commoners - not that I'm saying or complaining that I am a commoner - my friend and I were proved wrong.  Maybe heavily secured celebs are usual in California.  But it's the exact opposite in the Big Apple.

It was just one of those ordinary days when my friend, Rachelle Que and I met up to explore New York City.  And we've decided to have lunch at Nero at the Meat Packing District, and head towards Union Square thereafter.  Don't you just love the Meat Packing District?!  I super do!  It's sandwiched by my most favorite and third most favorite parts of Manhattan: Greenwich Village and Chelsea (Midtown is my second favorite, especially the Rockefeller Center/5th Av. area).  Besides the famous fashion houses such as DVF's, this area is known for its great food!  The über chic French restaurant, Pastis is here too!  Wouldn't you be considered famous if you are frequented by the Upper East Siders and if you were featured in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada as well as in the book, Bergdorf Blondes?  But my experience at Pastis should be the subject of another post.  It deserves its own after all.

Yes, it was one of the many afternoons in March that New York's weather is confused - yes, I meant confused, not confusing; it did not know whether it should let the sun shine brightly or if it should give a little drizzle.  That day, Mr. Weather decided to make it cool and cloudy, and a bit bright.

It was expected that people are outside and on the streets, going around, shopping, having lunch, or just enjoying the already nice weather as the cold and frosty winter is coming to an end.  We decided to take a stroll from the west to the east for 3 main reasons: first, the day is really nice; second, we're thinking we might see or run into something we might like - and we in fact did; and third, we were just so stuffed from lunch and would love to walk and burn some unwanted calories.

And who would have thought that an Urban Outfitters store was lurking in some corner near Union Square! It's exactly at 6th Av. and W14th St.  Our eyes grew big and our jaws dropped as we physically discovered - yes, something that need not require the help of Google - one of our favorite stores!  Not that we have a lot.  Or maybe we do.  But we just really love Urban Outfitters so much.  I could stay there all afternoon just checking out the stuff they've got and be occupied by the clothes and novelty items they have there.  And we tried to locate and visit the Urban Outfitters stores in Manhattan by letting our feet take us wherever, without looking them up online.  And I am positive that we were able to successfully check them all out.

So we did not waste time, crossed the street as fast as we could and headed towards the store's entrance.  The store's staff's super nice by the way.  For some reason, whenever I go to Urban Outfitters, I go immediately to the basement.  I guess I'm used to thinking that all Urban Outfitters stores put their men's section and their sale area on that level.  But on that day, Rachelle went ahead of me to the basement.  I was close behind her.  But on my way down the stairs, my eyes kind of wandered around and settled on a familiar face I couldn't recall at that time.  The guy stared back at me, and I saw that look that said, "Ooops, somebody spotted me."  And there went the light bulb; I just did an eye-to-eye with no less than Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass)!  If our jaws dropped upon the sight of the store, this time, our jaws fell on the floor, and bounced on the flights of stairs until it reached the basement ahead of us!  Rachelle literally turned around with her mouth open and I was doing just the same!

He lined up at the cashier and we saw him kissing a girl, whose face was blocked by a post.  Rachelle was quick to guess that it was Jessica Szohr (Vanessa Abrams).  And she guessed it right!  It was so funny that we even had to think if we're up to uproaching them to have our photos taken with them.  We waited for the first person to break the ice.  And we followed suit.

By the time that we approached the couple, Ed was already paying for the item that he got.  And so, we kinda spent some time chatting with Jessica.  Rachelle was quick to notice her lovely scarf and her interesting headband that is a fashion statement in itself.  Of course, we found out later on that the headband came from the store called, Anthropologie, at the Rockefeller Center - another favorite of Rachelle's.

We got the chance to take photos with the couple and told them how much Asia, and particularly, the Philippines, loves their show.  After we thanked them and went back to shopping, the people suddenly started noticing the couple and the crowd around them started to grow.  We were lucky to have spotted them first.  Not only did we get the chance to have a souvenir photo with them, we were also able to spend some quiet time, just chatting and saying our hellos.


Rachelle and I looked for the bag that Ed purchased and thought that it must be a gift he got for Jessica.  And we took a picture of it too!

We left Urban Outfitters filled with so much awe that we eventually and inadvertently ignored even the grandeur of Barnes & Noble, the temptation of DSW, the bustling cars and the noisy crowd at the Union Square.  We walked towards Broadway and nonchalantly shopped at another favorite, the Japanese brand, Uniqlo in SoHo.


As the day was about to end, and winds began to get chilly, we decided to cap it off with an iced grande green tea latte in our hands.  At that time, everything that happened began to blur - a blur that surrounded Ed and Jessica in our minds that day; and which lingered for months - and even for years.









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