Celebrity Crush

Disclaimer: My primary celebrity crushes are Nicolas Cage and Shane Battier. (I felt the need to preface the next statement with a reminder that I always have questionable taste in celebrities.)

I love Mandy Moore. Love her. For a long time I kept things I liked about her isolated in my mind. I liked A Walk to Remember. I liked her Wild Hope album. I liked the way she dressed. I didn't add that up to: Mandy Moore is precious and I'm a little obsessed.

That changed over Spring Break this year. For those of you who missed it, I went to Savannah with my mom for a few days. We had a lovely southern time eating Fried Green Tomatoes (capitalized because they were That Good) and bumming around the pretty parks. It was relaxing and tasty and fun.

Halfway through the trip we wandered down to River Street. It was mid-week and the crowds were minimal, and we were debating fudge v. pralines in a candy shop when two familiar looking people quietly crept to the counter. I stopped responding to my mother, who I think worried that I'd gone catatonic. It was Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams. Looking adorable and happy and casual and on vacation. They bought their pralines and left before I picked my jaw up off the floor. NO ONE ELSE IN THE STORE NOTICED WHO THEY WERE. In fact, I doubted myself. I mean, what are the odds that two of my very favorite singers wandered into the praline shop where I was pathetically considering two pieces of fudge and a chocolate covered pretzel? I made Mom listen to the Wild Hope album twice when we got back to the hotel while I looked up Ryan's concert locations for the week. I'm sorry, Mom.

The next morning I googled her name to see if she had been spotted drinking chai tea in a Starbucks in LA so that I could stop obsessing. And you know what I found out? She married Ryan Adams the day before. IN SAVANNAH. This led to a full-on fascination with her, poor thing. (to clarify: I have neither the time nor the psychosis to spend more than about 5 minutes a month thinking about her. Don't worry.)

I said all of this to tell you that if you're looking for new music, her new album Amanda Leigh is fabulous. It's on repeat in my car and on my computer. That might be the longest advertisement ever. If you're looking for a single song, use iTunes to get "pocket philosopher." The lyrics alone are worth it.