My Favorite Things...

Hi, my name is Stacey.

And I'm a Julie Andrews fan.

As a child, I tried to jump into my own chalk pictures.

I jumped off of my porch railing with an umbrella.

I soaked my clothes in a bucket and then put them on to see what it would be like to fall out of a canoe (ala Sound of Music, mom wasn't too happy on that one).

I watched the Sound of Music three times a day for a week during the summer of '92. (My poor brother can recite the entire movie.)

I dragged my husband to the Sound of Music sing-a-long for the 50th Anniversary. It was awesome.

Yesterday, I met Julie Andrews.

I found out a week ago that she was coming to Seattle to do book signings at some local bookstores. I wasn't going to go until Jeremy convinced me that it could be a once in a lifetime thing. When I called for more information they told me she was only signing 200 books and it was first come first signed at Costco. All the other bookstores you got a ticket when you purchased the book and they were already sold out. We couldn't make it to Costco when it opened because of our schedules so I had resigned myself not to go because we wouldn't be able to get there in time to be one of the 200. But once again Jeremy convinced me. He said, "When are you going to get this chance again? It's Julie Andrews. Go. What's the worst that could happen? You don't get a ticket and you come home."

So I went. I packed up Grant, picked up Abby, my fellow Andrews fan, and drove to Seattle.

And low and behold we were number 136. (Then of course we had to hang around Costco for a few more hours before 'go' time.) 

We went outside to line up a bit early and as we rounded the corner there were three screaming teenagers. Yes indeed we'd arrived just as Ms. Andrews car pulled up. The three girls screamed as she got out but she was very gracious and waved. I personally was annoyed by the teenagers and thought they were a bit silly (can you imagine people acting like that everywhere you went?), but on the inside I wanted to scream and jump and clap like they were. Thank goodness I was holding Grant's car seat AND I didn't want to embarrass Abby so I contained myself. (I warned Abby that when I get nervous I giggle uncontrollably. Secretly I hoped I wouldn't embarrass MYSELF.)

It was a great experience. Ms. Andrews looked and acted like I imagined - kind and gracious. She pointed out what a long wait it must have been with a 6 week old baby and thanked us for coming. (And she got a kick out of Abby's Yoda shirt.) Hearing her voice was surreal. I've listened to that voice since I was a kid. It was like all my childhood fantasies came flooding back by talking to someone for less than 60 seconds. Weird, yet awesome.

Oh, and yeah, she really does walk and talk like a princess.