Sunday, September 26, 2010

Meeting the Blogging Queen

On a total whim, I decided to have a little "me" day in DC yesterday.
A little birdie had told me that the National Book Festival was going on and I decided that I was going to be there. 
I mean... what's the point of living this close to DC if I don't take advantage of the many cool things it has to offer?

So, yeah... that's me,
all sweaty and hot with no makeup and a bad haircut
standing next to the Pioneer Woman who was looking all cute with her totally adorable necklace.

Let me just say that it is sooooo unlike me to 
a) willingly pose for a picture
b) approach someone out of the blue to ask them to pose for a picture with me and
c) hand my camera to some random stranger (who turns out to be the food and wine editor of the Washington post) to take our picture.
(This is not a multiple choice.  If it were, the answer would be d. all of the above!)

(Oh, and e. might be... post said picture on on my blog, but I've gotten far more free with that lately.  sigh... more on that another day... maybe.)

So this is how it went down...
I got to DC, scoped the place out, found the appropriate tent with 15 minutes to spare.
I settled in and listened to Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef talk for a bit.
Kind of cool.
Then... standing just outside the tent was a familiar face.
(Familiar to me, but of course, she doesn't know me from Eve.)
A few people were approaching her and taking pictures.
Next thing I know, I'm standing there making a silent request to her handler (the food and wine guy),
handing him my camera, and posing for the picture.
My mind raced to come up with something to say.
It came up with, "Hi, I'm Colleen."

Brilliant...

(But, seriously, I thought she should know who she was sharing her personal space with.)

Food and wine guy handed back the camera noting that the quality of the cameras that he had been handed were far better than the normal point and shoots and asked what that was all about.
I off-handedly said something to the effect of "that's all her fault" as I gestured toward toward PW.

(Mental forehead slap!) 

"My fault?", she laughs.

I silently slink away...  

She spoke.
Everyone laughed.
I kept my mouth shut.
I couldn't be trusted to come up with anything intelligent to say,
so I stayed far away from the microphones during the Q&A session. 

I had plans to redeem myself at the book signing.
Coming up with five second sound bites that might be remotely relevant or interesting is difficult, 
but I had a few plans.
Unfortunately, I never made it to the signing, so I'll have to redeem myself at another time on another day.


15 comments:

Brooke said...

AGHHHHHHHH! I am so jealous. I love her! I think I might have made a much bigger arse of myself than you did.... if that makes you feel any better. I am pretty darn good at doing that! The photo is DARLING!!!! YAY for posting :D

Leslie said...

sister...i am not even sure where to begin. do i start with, "Holy Cow, OMG!!! you got to meet RD!!!" or "Holy Crap OMG, you said what!?!?!"....this has to be a even better story in person, although i did laugh my way through it...so it just might warrant a phone call in the am.

koreen (aka: winn) said...

Oh, gosh, Colleen. You did better than I would have. By the way, what you said was not only truthful but brilliant. Seriously. :D

I would have been all "where's Marlboro Man?" and made an ass of myself THAT way. ;)

Cheers to your bravery and cheek!

Kristi @ Mi Vida Ocupada said...

She is a Goddess! Who doesn't love P-Dub???!! and this is the first photo I have seen of you, now I know exactly who your kids look like!!
PS You are much younger than I had imagined (please don't be offended by that!)

Jess said...

Holy crap Colleen! Look at you! What a fun experience. :)

I think being in the presence of that silly lady, there was not a thing in the world you could have done to make her think you're odd. She is the queen of that too.

Jientje said...

Now I'm jealous! How awesome!
But YOU are the cute one in this picture I think!

Ashley Sisk said...

I'm jealous, envious and know that I probably would have just stood there in awe of her presence. She is so striking and such an amazing woman. And you're pretty cute too. I don't see sweat at all!

Kathy Campbell said...

Oooooooh congratulations!! SO awesome!!

Alyssa S. said...

OMG, what a photo op! I'm SO glad you took advantage of it and got a GREAT pic (you are adorable, don't let anyone tell you anything different...no makeup and all!). What a fun experience. She is so wonderful, I'm glad you got to meet her if only to tell her your name :)

EG CameraGirl said...

WOW! What a great experience!

jp said...

so cool, i love her!!

Brown Family Blog said...

Ohhhh! Yay! How awesome!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Very cool! Sounds like a great time and you were so brave! YAY you for stepping out of your box. :)

Susan said...

I am SO envious! What a great picture! I’m glad you were brave enough to ask for a photo!

Jenny Esterbrook Photography said...

Oh my gosh, I soooo loved this post! Too hilarious and you are sooooo lucky! I think I would've peed my pants because I was so excited so at least you didn't do that, ha ha! Wow, too cool :)