If you don’t follow me on Twitter, or we aren’t friends on Facebook, then you probably missed me fah-reak-ing out on Saturday.

Why?

It was a bucket-list style evening. I attended a Hollywood premiere with my favorite man on my arm. Not only did I attend, but I had a spot in the press line, meaning I interviewed the likes of Grayson Chance, Guy Fieri, Peter Jacobson, and Owen Wilson.

Let me back up.

A while back, Rayovac contacted me to ask if I would be interested in covering the red carpet for the world premiere of Cars 2. I have some on-camera experience and frankly, I’m a ham, so I jumped at the opportunity. I’m also a huge Disney fan, and was well aware that Rayovac batteries are the only batteries that you can buy in Disney Parks (because if you’ve ever gone on a Disney Vacation – something inevitably runs out of batteries – usually the parents themselves but I’m pretty positive that Rayovac does not make human batteries. Anyway, I digress.). Rayovac had a large hand in sponsoring Cars 2 – so in the end a beautiful partnership was made.

And I have the photos to prove it.

When we arrived in Hollywood at 4 pm there were already throngs of fans pressed up against the barricades – and the red carpet set up in front of the El Capitan Theater (where the premiere was held) was nothing short of insane. The traditional “red carpet” was actually “black” carpet because it was themed as a racetrack with tires stacked up all along the way and life-sized remote control versions of Lightening McQueen, Mater, and the new cast addition Finn McMissile rolled down the carpet itself to make their entrance.

No. Big. Deal.

(That was sarcasm.)

We interviewed the crowd across the street about their excitement over the premiere, and even talked to one somewhat reluctant policeman. Then we headed back to the press line where I was not afraid to geek out over the fact that right in front of where I was standing it said “Rayovac / Chic Shopper Chick”. I had no trouble admitting to folks that this day was more than out of the ordinary for me and pointing out the fact that this was pretty much the coolest thing to ever happen to me. I’m no Giuliana Rancic (but I could be!).

The celebrities started arriving on the red carpet and let me tell you – it is harder to interview someone than I initially thought. The actual interview process isn’t that bad – but trying to get them to STOP in front of your spot (when they could be talking to the likes of Giuliana Rancic) is no picnic. It didn’t help that Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, and the head of Pixar basically stood right in front of my spot for an hour, chatting – blocking any access I had to interviews. I even asked security to ask them to move, but they took one look at them and told me “Ma’am – that’s the CEO of Disney and I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be the one to ask him to move.”

It’s good to be Bob Iger, y’all.

Even with Mr. Iger blocking my game, I still managed to get an interview with Grayson Chance, Guy Fieri, Peter Jacobson, Caroline Sunshine (of Disney Channel fame), and Owen Wilson. Grayson Chance is adorable, and so sweet. YouTube fame has not gone to his head in the least. He even sang a few bars for us on camera – I’m excited to share that footage with you soon. Guy Fieri is a fireball and was such a fun interview – I even had the chance to interview his son, Hunter. Peter Jacobson (of House) is new to the Cars 2 cast as the voice of Acer the Pacer – one of the bad guys. He was so down to earth – I really enjoyed interviewing him. I even bumped into him again at the after party and had the opportunity to chat a bit off-camera as he built Lego cars with his 8 year old son.

Interviewing Owen Wilson was pretty much the craziest mob scene in the world. First of all, the man had on beige suede shoes with his blue suit. That has nothing to do with the interview – but I just couldn’t stop staring at them. Bold move, Owen, bold move. Anyway, he is every bit Lightening McQueen – I could hardly stand it. He is confident, composed, and witty – and not at all intimidated by the fact that 10 people were shoving microphones in his face at once. Let’s just say that no one had a one-on-one interview with Owen – 8 or 10 at a time seemed to be par for the course. I asked his publicist if I could get one more question in and she just told me “I think he’s done”.

Ok, then. :)

Check out the official video from Rayovac with all of my interviews and red carpet coverage below!

Not long after that everyone started filing into the theater to watch the movie, so we closed up the interview shop and headed for the theater ourselves . We put on our super-special 3D glasses (I cannot believe I didn’t get a photo of me wearing my special Cars 2 glasses – because those things are HOT), munched on our super-special Cars 2 popcorn, and giggled like a fool when the lights went down and everyone burst into applause. I quickly became immersed in the movie but every now and then it occurred to me that I was watching a movie for the first time with the cast and crew who MADE it and well – that was pretty surreal.

You didn’t come here to read a review of Cars 2, so I’ll just say quickly – it’s very Mater-centric, visually stunning, and pretty clever. It will make millions. There will be a Cars 3. The world will rejoice. Or at least, in my opinion.

Hey, maybe I’ll be at the premiere of Cars 3?!

What, too soon?

After the movie we strolled out of the side entrance to the theater right behind it to Hollywood High School to the opening of the World Grand Prix attraction where the after party was held. If you live in the LA area be sure to check this out – you can view the movie at the El Capitan and then head over to the attraction after, just like we did for the premiere. There you’ll find the Tokyo Tower Gravity Slide, Mission McMissile Spy Game, Springtime in Paris Eiffel Tower Bungee Jump, Wall O’Tires Climbing Wall, Time Trial Race Track and even more. I felt like a big kid – and all of the kids of the cast and crew were obviously enjoying themselves as well.

Check out our official video recap from the afterparty!

We were wandering around the World Grand Prix attraction in awe, bumping into celebrities like Cheech Marin, Wilmer Valderrama, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Owen Wilson, and more. At one point, we stopped as John Lasseter posed along side of his newest addition to the Cars franchise – Finn McMissile – to snap a photo. As he walked away Morgan stopped him and told him how much we enjoyed the movie and Mr. Lasseter stopped to talk to us, asking how we enjoyed it, if we were having a good time, etc. He was so nice and seemed genuinely interested in how we enjoyed the experience.

I was totally geeked out at that point.

John Lasseter with Finn McMissile

Of course, before we headed out we did a few wrap-up shots at the after party. One of them involved me climbing into a real race car, through the window, IN A DRESS. Sadly this shot did not make it into the final video but I felt it was necessary to point out that I climbed through the window of a race car in hopes of getting the perfect shot.

Proof that I climbed in this race car!

Who am I kidding? That makes a great story!

I could not have imagined a more amazing night. We stayed at the after party until we were kicked out – almost literally, and then I buzzed about what an amazing night it was the entire ride home.

This post is plenty long enough, and I’m cringing as the word count climbs even futher so I’m going to wrap it here. HOWEVER – I’m currently working on editing together some of my personal video footage for a little Cars 2 Remix – so I’ll have another post up within a few days with that in it! In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my little peek into Hollywood!

Disclosure: I have a working relationship with Rayovac and this post is a direct result of that relationship. As usual I keep it real and all thoughts, opinions, and insanely excited moments are solely my own. :)