Shameless

I have always felt comfortable in the knowledge that I am not one of those people who makes a big deal out of famous people. The few times I have seen "famous" people (like Elizabeth Kartchner, for instance), I have left them alone and just admired them from a distance. I don't want to be just another person who goes up asking for an autograph and a picture. Maybe it's because since they are famous, I want to be different by not intriducing myself. Am I making sense? It's like I retain my individuality by not jumping on the bandwagon. Well, all that changed this past Friday. I found two kind girls to watch my children and headed off alone to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Seattle. I was incredibly excited. I had signed up to take only 2 classes (for the sake of getting back to pick up the kids): one from Creating Keepsakes and one from...drumroll please...none other than Stacy Julian herself. If you are not a scrapbooker, this name probably means nothing to you. But to me, it means a LOT. Like, this woman changed my life in a big way. Anyway, so I was increibly excited to take her class.
So I sat through the 2 hours of traffic and finally arrived at the convention center. Got an awesome parking spot and joined the crowd of about a trillion women going to CKC. Seriously, there were SO many people there. Wow. It was nothing compared to CKC-Houston in January. (Yep, two conventions in one year - I'm pathetic.) As you see in this picture, I was so excited that I grew a quadruple chin. Oh wait...maybe I've always had that. So I got there early and had time to sit outside my class and wait. Sitting...sitting...who should walk up but Stacy Julian! My heart started pounding. I kept looking at her, as if she would recognize me from me reading her book or something. Wouldn't that ROCK? "Hey, I recognize you as one of my biggest fans!" So I sat there listening to her talk with other famous scrapbookers and didn't say a word. My chance was past. Never mind...I still had my class.
My first class was awesome. But that's totally not the point of this story. Jump ahead to 12:30pm. I have just eaten a delicious and overpriced lunch of cheese tortellinins with pesto sauce. Oh, and a Butterfinger. What, quadruple chin?
Stacy's class was...there are no words. Even though I was alone with nobody to get excited and share this with, I still LOVED every minute of it. I learned so much. The 2 hours went by way too fast. I knew I had to book it out of there right at 2:30 to try to beat traffic to go pick up the kids. I took a couple terrible pictures of Stacy teaching and tried to persuade myself that it was the memories of being in her presence that counted. (Wow, the more I type, the lamer I sound.)
After class ended, I quickly gathered up my things, took one wistful glance at Stacy, and hurried out of the room. I called Andrew on my way to the elevator. He answered! I asked him where he was, and his answer was music to my ears. "I'm just pulling in the driveway, and I have the kids with me." AHHH! You mean I have time to go meet Stacy? Life could not get any better. I turned around and practically ran back into the classroom. I stood in line with the other women waiting for a picture with this amazing woman. I couldn't believe myself...I kept thinking as I stood there, "Are you kidding me? Are you honestly one of those shameless women?" But I am. Because I asked some stranger to take my picture. And here it is...my prize for my shamelessness.

Stacy is even more amazing in real life than in her books. I have never met someone who felt so...warm. And genuine. I wanted to hug her. But I didn't. Well, I did side-hug her for the picture. Shameless? Completely. Awesome? Absolutely. Thank you, Stacy Julian, for taking a picture with me. I'll never forget it.