the night I met Gary Allan...

I lovelovelovelove Gary. Love him. Thursday night is the 8th time I've seen him (since 2008) & we already had tickets to see him next month in Chicago (#9!) 

A local radio station had a contest for their Up Close concert series. You could win tickets to see Gary in their studio. I entered online daily like five days in a row. One night I got an email saying I won tickets. I kind of wondered if it was spam but it said I'd be emailed more details October 31. So I waited...

& October 31 I woke up & checked my email & sure enough I had won tickets!

via Instagram

I could not even believe it! 

So Thursday night came & I didn't get chosen for the meet & greet (I was #166. They called #156 & #176) but I was just glad to be there. Except that he only sang five songs. His new one was one of them.

It ended all too soon & we thought we'd walk around to the alley & catch him getting into his bus to leave. Well there was a parking garage that required a passcode - no alley. We decided to head around the block toward PF Changs. When we turned the corner there was a public parking garage & we were sure we could get through to where his bus was. We were sure the two garages were connected. We headed around the wall to start up the sidewalk toward the garage & as we rounded the corner, there was his bus!

 Long story short - he came out!

I want to kiss his face!

I did not expect to be able to take a photo with him or talk to him - I thought he would be in a hurry & jump into the bus. Fortunately for us, he headed toward us! There was one other boy there who got an autograph & a photo. I can hardly remember what happened - I was so shocked that this was really happening! He shook my hand & I just said, "ooohmyyygoddddd!" like a total fan crazy little girl. So embarrassing. He put his arm around me & I put my arm around him & we smiled... & TJ couldn't work the camera. So he gave it to me & I zoomed it out & handed it back & Gary told him to hold the button down. Gary put his arm back around me & I put my arm back around him & knocked his drink out of his hand. #fail He said, "That's ok. It didn't get me." So embarrassing again. So then TJ had his photo taken with him & we said thank you & walked away...

& when I got around the corner I started jumping up & down. Then I remembered I had one of his CDs in my purse that I wanted to get autographed. But I was too embarrassed to go back.

Hoping to get a 2nd chance in Chicago next month! #fingerscrossed