crushes

as we were sitting at dinner last night (ruby river, yum), our conversation somehow turned to girl- and man-crushes. the best thing about which is that there doesn't need to be rhyme or reason for the crush; it could just be that we love them for the characters they've played (big dave and dennis franz of "nypd blue" fame); or it could be that we love them AND the characters they've played (connie and sean connery--bond, james bond--and tom selleck--magnum p.i., not girls, i know); or it could be that we just love them in whatever capacity. i, myself, love amanda bynes (even if i have yet to purchase "sydney white" and was absolutely bored midway through "what a girl wants"). ina garten (barefoot contessa, der) is my newest girl-crush. i mean, how cool is she to have left a prestigious job at the white house to open her own high-end food shoppe. (it must be spelled that way, adds more flare and sophistication.) mor leans towards (surprise) brad pitt.
"you can't have a man-crush on pitt," i tell him.
"why not?" he asks incredulously.
"because everyone--man, woman and child--in the world has a crush of some kind of him." der.
"so?" he will never concede defeat.
that's when i switched gears to big dave's man-crush. we both got a good giggle out of that. (i still remember the story of big d seeing him in nyc or somewhere. you would have thought franz was heidi klum decked out in her bedazzled victoria's secret bra and panties. giddy as a schoolgirl on a snowday, he was.)
once our filet mignon--mine--and full rack o' ribs--mor's--arrived, we continued to nit-pick the brad pitt man-crush. i held my ground, and mor finally came out with it: matt leinart. that's his real man-crush. has been since the early usc days. i maintain that yes, leinart has everything that makes someone superficially attractive (ie good hair, pretty eyes, tan skin, height, athletic ability), but i don't think he is. weird, i know. especially since one of my girl-crushes is a chubby white hamptonite. (that would be ina. i covet her house. and her cooking skills.)
now, i'm going to take a stab at some other crushes...
big dave: larry bird (his favorite no. is even 33 in ode to larry)
connie: jessica fletcher (aka angela lansbury)
john: the hell's angels with ponytails
may: the disney princesses (all thanks to miss em's obsession) but mainly belle
jase: peyton manning
erica: hilary duff as lizzie mcguire and miss scarlet
matty: kirk herbstreit and david beckham
anyway, to each his own man-crush. i have to go. ina is preparing a weekend lunch of duck salad, blueberry crumb cake and chocolate sorbet.