Celebrity Autographs And Celebrity Addresses

Melanie LaRae Osorno knows about beating the odds.
The 27-year-old Salt Lake City woman survived birth with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. So winning a one-of-a-kind car - a restored '63 VW Beetle used in the movie "Herbie: Fully Loaded" - and meeting the movie's star, Lindsay Lohan, is not that big a deal by comparison.
Still, Osorno was excited showing off her prize, just arrived in Utah, during lunch hour Monday at The Gateway.
"Nothing like this has ever happened to me," Osorno said. "This is just awesome."
Osorno, a nursing assistant at Wasatch Valley Rehabilitation Center, called in to a radio station in June, winning tickets to see "Herbie" and a chance to win a trip to Hollywood for the movie's premiere. She won the trip, chosen from 50 or so other qualifiers.
"We walked the red carpet," Osorno recalled. "We got to meet Lindsay Lohan, Larry King, Matt Dillon, George Lopez . . .."
At the June 19 premiere, Melanie's name and those of 19 other trip winners from around the country were put in a drawing for the Bug.
"Lindsay Lohan stuck her hand in there and called out my name," Osorno said.

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"I started crying, I was so happy, and [Lohan] gave me a hug. Her exact words to me were, 'It's OK, honey - don't cry.' "
The ivory-colored Beetle has a red, white and blue racing stripe over the top, and the trademark "53" on the hood, doors and trunk. The glove-compartment door bears autographs from the movie's stars.
Osorno said she doesn't know the car's value - "To me, it's priceless," she said - or how much she might have to pay in taxes for it. She doesn't plan to drive it, but occasionally will bring it out for display.
How does it drive? According to Osorno's husband, Alejandro, "it's pretty good for the year it is."