Rumer Est Immortalis

If you know me personally, or if you’ve been reading me for a while (even before I started this blog) you’ll know that I don’t fangirl about much. I mean boybanders – yes and I might have a thing for super cute way too young maybe gaybe actors but aside from that not much makes me seriously fangirly. But Lainey of Lainey Gossip makes me fangirly.

I started reading Lainey about 7 years ago after my sister Ronda told me about her site.  I always had a love of celebrity news and gossip and the more I read Lainey the more I loved her. Not only was she smart and witty but she always said exactly what I was thinking, and she’s Canadian. Which is even more reason to read her and support her site.

Lainey often speaks on her site about what she would do in certain celebrity scandal situations if she were the Dean of Faculty of Celebrity Studies and the super smart people over at VitaminWater jumped on the opportunity to have Lainey take her own class on the road.   One of those stops was here in Ottawa last night and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go and fangirl Lainey in person.

We (I brought my sister) were the first to arrive about 10 minutes early because it was pouring rain (of course it was) and Lainey was sitting alone so I went and introduced us.  I email Lainey my random thoughts all the time about celebrity situations (it’s way cheaper than therapy and what normal person obsesses as much as I do about random celebrity happenings?) and she recognized my name which made me feel good and also like I might email her a bit too much:)  We chatted briefly before she left for a quick interview and enjoyed the art at the Terence Robert Gallery where the event took place.  Seeing as that the event was sponsored by VitaminWater there was lots of tasty cocktails made with VitaminWater to go around, as well as swag bags containing a notepad and lip balm and so much awesome food.  I also introduced myself to LaineyGossip contributor and writer Duana and her sister because I have a longtime love affair with Degrassi (more Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Jr. High than the current reboot but still I love it) and Duana was a writer there.  Also really nice and lovely.  Soon enough it was time for class to start.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event because I’ve never been to a Smut Soiree but I loved it so much.  What we were treated to was a good two hours of Lainey basically breaking down the world of celebrity.  We discussed the RobSten split as well as TomKat and touched a bit on JLo, Travolta, Jolie/Pitt, but it wasn’t so much about the gossip as it was about how celebrity in and of itself is an ecosystem, and the paparazzi,  the bloggers, and the celebrities are all part of the ecosystem.  Take one piece of that ecosystem away and it crumbles.  It was the most fascinating discussion I’ve had in a long time, and almost everyone in the room participated and made valid arguments and discussion points.  I mean, I totally want to go get my MBA in Celebrity Studies!

But basically I was there to fangirl on Lainey, and I know a lot of you are Lainey fans so let me just tell you that she is super gorgeous, with the best hair ever, and really just very very nice and gracious. She knows her shit too. And she knows how to tell someone to ‘sit down’ without really even saying the words:)  Which was my favourite part of the night.

If you’re a fan and you love VitaminWater make sure you pick up the resilient-c, go-go or the xoxox – all the copy written on the bottles was written by Lainey herself.  I’m enjoying a resilient-c right now, although I will admit the lemonade is still my fave! (sorry Lainey).  Lainey is continuing to work with VitaminWater Canada and if you want to ask her a question on anything (not just celebrity related) you can tweet VitaminWater @vitaminwater_ca and use the #asklainey and she’ll pick a few questions a month to answer on their tumblr account.  Here’s the link to her first vlog.

So all in all it was just a really great experience to sit and talk for a few hours with likeminded people. I can’t wait to do it again!

ps – I took pictures of her shoes. Because they were really fucking hot shoes.