I learned something on my flight back to Los Angeles – I have very comfortable shoulders.

Luckily, this guy (unlike the last one) was horrified and it only happened once.

The original flight I was supposed to be on was delayed by four hours. This would have put me back in California at 1:45 am. Not only was that not awesome with Annabel, but I had another flight to catch at 7:25 am the next day. I threw myself on the mercy of the American Airlines ticketing agent, and she went above and beyond to put Annie and me on another flight. A flight that turned out to be the BEST! FLIGHT! EVER!

While waiting for our flight to board, I heard an airline employee call for Doris Roberts. I looked around, and then BAM! Doris!

Doris looking at me

Marie Barone! So awesome.

Then, when Annie and I were on queue to pre-board, I saw Food Network star Paula Deen. I wasn’t surprised – when Maya and her husband dropped me at the airport, Maya immediately recognized Paula’s husband standing outside the terminal. So with that in mind, I’d been on the lookout. Still, I was surprised she was on my flight to LA instead of on one to her home state of Georgia.

First class boarded our flight first, then Annie and I boarded. Wouldn’t you know it, the line inside the plane backed up and we were stopped right at Paula’s seat. She and her husband started cooing at Annie, and of course Annie started smiling and cooing right back. Paula said to bring Annie back during the flight and she and her husband would take care of her. Uh, OK!

Of course, the flight attendants didn’t believe me later in the flight when I said I had a personal invitation from Paula to go back up to first class. WHATEVER! I patiently passed the time until the plane landed, and then I high-tailed it after Paula and her entourage. I found Mike waiting for us at the gate, gave him a quick smooch, and then ran to grab Paula. She went outside and my stomach lurched. She was leaving and I would never catch her.

But no! She saw me coming and said, “Honey, you never DID take me up on my offer to babysit that little sugar plum.” And then, because she is awesome, Annie giggled at her, and we got what I was looking for:

and then she smothered us in butter.

This officially breaks my hard and fast rule not to bother celebs with photo requests. But for Paula it was totally worth it.

I hope this means my plane karma is turning around!

*There really WAS a Rabbi on the plane. I love it when there are important men of faith on my flights – it makes me feel like the plane is less likely to go down!