Not a damn thing to do with food...

"Oh my God, you guys! We totally saw Kelly from The Office!!!"

...but I have to mention it. As Shane and I sat waiting in the JetBlue section of JFK for our flight to Cancun, a very slender, attractive Indian-American woman sat down across from us.

"She looks like Mindy Kaling, " I thought. I snuck another look -- the woman still looked like Mindy Kaling -- and began to get moderately excited.

Then Shane leaned in close to my ear, and spoke in his he-thinks-he's-whispering-but-really-it's-louder-than-that-and-I-start-to-get-uncomfortable voice, "PSST! She looks like Kelly from The Office."

In a hushed voice, because possible-Mindy is four feet away from us, "I know!"

And in a split moment, my TV geekiness goes into overdrive as I try to remember if The Office was on break, if I've ever heard that Mindy is from NY, and laughing as I think of that bit when Kelly asked Jan what "second base" meant.

She's seated near the gate for the Burbank flight, but why is she flying JetBlue?

So Shane and I sit there for about 20 minutes, shooting glances at each other, shooting glances at her, generally acting like idiots and getting increasingly excited.

Our flight is called for boarding and as we're standing in line, Shane says, "I'm going to get her autograph!" And I, giggling, say, "NO! I don't think they like that!" As if famous people are some exotic species.

Anyway, in the following weeks, I've tried to confirm this sighting. The Office was definately on a break from shooting (it was January 2) . And now, I just found this on Mindy's blog, dated January 4:

"I went to New York, took cabs everywhere instead of walking, and visited A Salt & Battery, Mas, The Fatty Crab, Donut Plant, and Babbo."

See?!?!! She was in NEW YORK! It was her! (Also, I lived in NY so why haven't I eaten at Mas, The Fatty Club, Donut Plant, and Babbo?)

(She also claims on her blog that she "put on seven pounds over the holidays" but I can't see how that is true. She is super fucking skinny. But maybe she stepped on the scale while clutching a giant Coach bag. )

Shane and I took seeing Kaling as an auspicious beginning to our trip.

UPDATE: More Proof!! Kaling digs JetBlue!

As a side note, on our Jungle Crossing tour, we met Atom Egoyan, director of Where the Truth Lies (allowing me to make a Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon joke), his incredibly awesome and friendly actress wife Arsinée Khanjian, and their son.