a brush with fame...sort of

I think we've all had a moment of meeting a celebrity whether it's taking a picture with them, having a conversation or just seeing then from afar in real life (not on tv). I have had a few- in junior high a few members of the "Saved by the Bell" cast came to our local mall- including the cute Mark Paul Gosselar. My girlfriend and I went and Mark was on stage with a mic and he told us a riddle that my friend answered correctly, so she got to go onstage to meet him and he gave her a hug- she was so star struck she refused to wash her shirt for months! It just hung in her room on the wall.

Shannon Miller went to my high school, she was a year ahead of me. She was very quiet and so tiny walking around in the hallways. Now, in my hometown Edmond, Oklahoma, she has her own parkway named after her and big "welcome to Edmond" signs that say "Home of Shannon Miller, Olympic gold medalist."


Then in college my soccer team was flying out of California after playing a tournament there and we got a double whopper in one night- first we saw Danny Glover who was in a HUGE hurry with a few big guys hovering around him. He let us snap a few pics and signed a few autographs and seemed annoyed that he'd been spotted- you'd think he'd be happy to be mugged by athletic college girls- sheesh!


Then we found Bob Barker sitting and waiting for a plane. He loved having us all sit with him, chatted away, signed autographs, lots of pics, etc.

So a few weeks ago Ryan and I are flipping through the channels after the kids are all in bed and he catches a glimpse of a girl and flips back to her. He says "that's Erin Tietsort". Erin was a girl we met in college, she and I were friends and she hung out with me and my room mate when I shared an apartment my junior year. "What? No way." The girl looked like her but what the heck would she be on tv for? It was a reality show about a tanning salon on E!, not our typical watch. So we googled "Sunset Tan" and sure enough, Erin is part of the cast. I'm shocked. Have you seen the show? I mean really, I'm shocked. It's not something I can watch with my kids in the room.



Then on Saturday we head to the mall to pick up a birthday present for Tessa's friend at the Disney Store and Ryan spots Erin!!! He's across the way from me and keeps pointing and trying to mouth something (I'm awful at reading lips) so it takes me awhile to catch what he's saying and then I realize. We chatted with her, she was visiting her family and she was amazed at our 3 kids running around us (most of our friends from college are- we rapidly expanded right after college having 3 kids in 4 years!) After we said goodbye to her I told Ryan "Wouldn't it be cool if she wore a piece of my jewelry on the show and happened to "accidently" plug me?" He said "Don't you dare ask." So I didn't. But I hope that this show is just a stepping stone for her, maybe someday she'll be in movies and I can say "I used to have girls nights of movies and brownies with her!"