I Met Someone Famous Today.

I'm babysitting and taking advantage of having access to a working computer while the child sleeps. Blog time! It's kind of a long post, but you all can handle it.

Remember that field trip I mentioned in my last post? Well, I've been trying to forget that field trip. We took all kindergarten and first graders from our school to a Book Festival that we are having in town this weekend. Friday was children's day featuring children's authors. I did this field trip with my very first class five years ago and it was a great experience--one of my very favorite field trips. This one, however, was not as great. There were over 1500 kids there. In a small convention center. We had to have been breaking Fire Marshall codes. I compared my day to being in the Serengeti in the midst of a wildebeest stampede. That was the day. Crazy and chaotic. Hallways filled with seas of children. Me constantly counting my brood to make sure one had not been whisked away with another class of crazies. My kids were great though. I couldn't have asked for better behavior from them and praise God from whom all blessings flow, I didn't lose one of them. As soon as school was out yesterday, I only had one thing on the brain. Margaritas. I partook of several. Ashley and I went directly after school and ordered a pitcher. It was the perfect remedy. It helped to numb my mind to match the rest of my already numb body from being trampled by the wildebeests all day.
Afterwards we walked down the shopping center and there was some fun shoe shopping to be had. If I'm being honest, it wasn't exactly shoe "shopping" for me, but more of "let me try on these fugly shoes so that I can laugh at myself". Check out these little gems.
The first pair that I knew I had to try on was a patriotic pair of shoes. They were appropriately named "Liberty". I don't know about you guys, but they sure made me want to bust out with America the Beautiful. Don't you just love 'em?

The next little pair of love was this sandal. A little fray action going on. It's like wearing a hula skirt on your foot. Feet should not hula. I don't care if this shoe says Kate Spade on the inside. It's still horrid. Shame on you, Kate Spade.

And pardon my funky feet. They had been cooped up in socks and tennis shoes all day. And I was in a stampede too, remember? They were possibly swollen.

The last pair is this heeled number. This one has it all, ladies. Rhinestones, gold glitter, and animal print. That jeweled piece across the top was huge.

Sad times for this person that I was parked beside. I bet that causes quite a racket hitting against the side of their car when they pick up speed driving down the interstate.

Look at this little friend that was hanging out in the parking lot. It's rained here so much that parking lots are filled with miniature ponds and are obviously now attracting ducks.

What the heck is on this mannequin that I saw at Macy's? Ew. No need to be dressed for an Outback adventure. And what's up with all the mannequins pairing socks with heeled sandals right now? That majorly concerns me. Please don't start doing this, friends. Even if it's suddenly considered cool or fashionable or stylish. Somethings just don't ever need to happen. Like this whole mess.

This morning I went back to the Book Festival, without my students in tow. Only adults were in the building and it was calm and quiet and peaceful. Ahhhh. Much more like it.

I met this man today. Nicholas Sparks. A rockstar of the book world.

My mom and I went to a breakfast with Nicholas Sparks along with a small crowd of people. We were served breakfast, received a hardback copy of The Lucky One and had an opportunity to take pictures and meet him. He signed the free copy of The Lucky One for everyone, but I'm not everyone. I'm a brat. My life motto has always been: Brats always get their way. It's true. 99.3% of the time. My Dad picked Nicholas Sparks up from the hotel, so Dad had him sign some extra books. I wanted A Bend in the Road signed because it's my favorite that he wrote. I liked it because it was a great story, but also for the fact that the characters name is Sarah and she's a teacher. It's probably really about me. I couldn't get him to admit that, but, he was probably just embarrassed to say so. I'm pretty happy that my favorite book by him is now an autographed copy. Way to go, Dad.

After the breakfast, we went and joined a huge group for his big talk. This room was filled to the brim with women. There were maybe 10 men in the whole place. You could just feel the estrogen flowing. Every woman in that room had glitter in their eyeballs and drool in the corners of their mouths.

He was quite delightful. A treat for both the eyes and ears. He was a very nice man and threw in the perfect amount of humor. I like a person that can make me laugh. It's obvious as to why he's such a successful author. He is truly a great storyteller. He was very interesting and kept my attention for his hour and 20 minute talk. Keeping me entertained and still for that long isn't always an easy thing to do.

Meeting him and listening to his talk definitely helped to change the raunchy mood that I was in early this morning. I woke up in a fine mood, but a wardrobe malfunction quickly changed my mood while I was getting ready. I had my outfit planned and was completely finished getting dressed. I looked in the mirror and that's when I noticed something hanging near my backside.

Uh huh. A stupid security sensor. Why does this stuff always happen to me? I would have looked nice wearing this to meet Nicholas Sparks.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get it off, but I fiddled with it for a minute hoping I could will it off because I was completely dressed and ready to go and I really wanted to wear this today. Picking out an outfit is no easy task for my indecisive self, so I was angry. Of course my fiddling caused a small hole to form around the sensor, which quickly became a bigger hole because the material was so delicate and it quickly began unraveling. Oops. I'm taking my butt back to the store to tell them about themselves and they better plan on letting me exchange the sweater. It was their fault for not removing the sensor in the first place...I mean, I didn't make the hole, the sensor did, right?...That's going to be my story anyway.

I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend so far. Cherish what's left of it!