Meeting Jane Seymour!

So, I have decided that Saturday February 9th, 2008 is officially the best day of my life!  I got to meet the one person I have looked up to since I was 3-years-old...Jane Seymour!

Let us relive that day shall we!

I had to get up at 6:15am to get dressed and ready to go by 7:30am.  By 7:45am I was already really excited ready for the 3-hour-drive up to Kansas City!!

When I finally got to Kansas City it was about 11:00am.  The auction didn’t start for an hour, so Malinda and Brad (my ride) wanted to drop by the mall for a bit.  That mall was huge!  It had a 2-story carousel, a Godiva store (which I had to stay away from so I wouldn’t go in!), and a Macy’s, along with many, many other things!  So that was pretty exciting.  By the time I finally found the Nebraska Furniture Mart it was already 11:30am and I still had to eat lunch.  I decided to eat at a Quizno’s which was inside the building.  It was about 11:45am by the time I got inside and I only had about 10-minutes to order, eat, and get into line.  So I took a few bites and hurried into line, really excited for what was to come.

As I walked into the “dream room,” as it was called (for me it had the right name!), I sat down and then I spotted Jane standing off to the side in the other corner of the room.  I was SOOOO excited that I could have just jumped up and down…but I didn’t want to get thrown out before anything even started, so I decided to control myself.  Then one of the event-coordinator’s from the Nebraska Furniture Mart got onto the microphone to remind everyone to buy one of Jane’s books or movies for her to sign at the autograph session later on.  (me: “oh crap!”)  I had her book at home, but I didn’t bring it for her to sign because it was sent to me with her name already signed in it!  I had just brought a picture for her to sign to put into my Dancing with the Stars memory book I had made about her (which I had also brought with me.)  So, anyway, I went and picked up one of her books and I also picked up my favorite movie, “Somewhere in Time” for her to sign.  Unfortunately when I returned to get my seat, there weren’t any seats left, so I ended up having to stand!

When Jane finally came out onto the floor, she was describing all of the items that were being auctioned off for charity.  When the auction was finally over, a few people got up to have a closer look at some of Jane’s collection items that she was going to be talking about during her design discussion that was coming up; but unfortunately, there still weren’t any chairs left because people just put stuff on their seats to save them!  So I ended up standing again.  : (

At about 1pm Jane started her discussion about how to furnish your home without spending too much money.  She also showed us a few pieces of her home collection including some that haven’t been released yet.  (I fell in love with one of the lamps she showed!)  After taking a few questions, Jane thanked us all for coming and sat down for the autographing.  I was soooo excited…but nervous at the same time because I was so close to meeting Jane!  When I finally got into line, there were a lot of people in front of me.  So many, that I couldn’t even see Jane!  So of course, the whole time I am worrying about not being able to see her, because she could only stay until a certain time seeing as how she had to catch a plane back home.

But waiting in that line didn’t seem so long, because this really nice lady (Cathy, I later found out was her name) and I talked the whole time.  She looked at my scrapbook and told me that it was amazing.  She does a lot of presentations and other things using design and she said that I had an amazing gift for art.  She persuaded me to keep out my scrapbook and have Jane look at it.  (I wasn’t going to because I knew she wouldn’t have much time.)  So I decided to kept it out.  The next thing I knew, there were only 4 people in front of me…then 3 people…2…1…Oh My GOD!!  Finally, after standing in that line for over an hour, I got up to see Jane!  She just smiled at me and she was sooo kind!  I was shaking a bit, but she just shook my hand and said, “Hello there, it is very nice to meet you.”  It was great!

Then after she signed my book and my movie cover I asked her if she would sign a page of my scrapbook that I had made.  I just thought she would sign it and move onto the next person, but she actually sat there for 5-minutes and just flipped through the entire thing while telling me how amazing it was!  “I don’t even have a picture of me dancing,” she said in her British accent.  “I would be so delighted if I could have a memory book!  Would you be interested in making one for me if I commission you?”  About this time, I didn’t know what I was hearing!  Jane Seymour wanted to commission me to make something for her?!  Wasn’t this supposed to be the other way around?!  I couldn’t believe it!  But it was really happening!  I told her if she wanted one that I would make her one without pay, but where would I send it to?  Jane said, “Here, you can get a hold of someone at this email address, and they will let you know where to send it.”  OMG!!!!!! All I could think to do was continue to thank her for signing everything for me.

Then the lady who was standing there watching over the line situation took a picture of Jane & I.  It was awesome!!  Finally, after taking up about 8 to 10-minutes of Jane’s time I left her and skipped merrily to a place where I could put stuff into my bag so as not to lose anything.  Overall, I had a great day!  I got home really late and was barely able to walk having been standing for hours, but I was satisfied!

And there you have it!  The day that my #1 dream came true!  ::sigh::  I still look at that picture of Jane and I and can’t believe it!