**Warning: Probably the longest blog I've ever written...You've been warned!**
Well, it has honestly taken me a couple days to process this very big day; it was extremely special, in more ways than one, and since it was my Christmas/21st birthday present, I was soaking up every minute of it. Now seems like as good a time as any to let you all know about it. I didn't go to class Tuesday, because it would have been pushing it too close for the meet and greet by the time I got out. I was able to sleep in a little, take my time getting ready, and get everything together for later on that night. We were ready a little earlier than we thought, so we left around 11:30 or so to get on the road. We stopped at a Starbucks not too far outside of the city to get some coffee, then got back on the freeway. I was supplying the music, of course, with the sounds of the Jonas Brothers. I was really starting to get pumped for the show, but starting to get nervous at the same time for what to expect. My mom and I were having fun, just talking and joking around in the car. We still had plenty of time, so we stopped at Wal-Mart, so I could pick up a couple magazines with Taylor Swift on them, then headed back out.
We made our way into LA, and decided to have lunch at our usual place, Paty's, in Toluca Lake. They seated my mom and I in a different room than we usually sit in, so it was a nice change; new scenery. We split a roast beef sandwich and two salads, which was all delicious. I know it's just pretty basic diner food, but it's always fresh and tasty! We were done pretty quickly with that, then decided to drive around the area. I'm sure you all know why by now, but nothing exciting was going on. There was still plenty of time to kill, so we decided to go into Trader Joe's for a few minutes. I think just about everyone in LA was there, as well. Okay, obviously not, but every time we go to one of the stores down there, they're packed, since the health nuts shop there. Everyone insists on pushing past with their baskets or walking around you if you aren't going fast enough. I was starting to get annoyed; my mom picked up a few things, then we walked across the street to a thrift store. Last time we went in there, a few months ago, they had some pretty nice things, so I was excited. I looked around for a little while, and found a really cool make up case, that's vintage, but in really great condition. Plus, the fact that it was only 2$ was pretty awesome!
As soon as we were done, I was ready to head towards the theater, just to make sure I had plenty of time, because the nerves were already starting to kick in. We got in the car, trying to put the address for The Pantages in, but it wasn't coming up, so we just took off, hoping we'd get there...With a bit of tension in the air, and cars coming out of every which direction as my mom was pulling out, it was quite a moment, but we made it to the theater with no problem. We parked, then walked into The W Hotel, which was where everyone with the meet and greet was supposed to go. It was very swanky; red, black, and white, was the color scheme, there were sitting areas, a bar area, etc.We walked up the stair case to a sitting area, and honestly, I was nervous that we'd get there and it would be a ton of girls just staring one another down, thinking you're competition for possibly getting in the way of their precious Joe or Nick. We made our way upstairs, where only one family of three was sitting. The girl looked about my age, or maybe younger. I gave a small smile, being friendly, and to my surprise, she smiled back. We exchanged a few words, then my mom and I decided to find a restroom. We returned to the area a few minutes later, and continued talking to the family, and pretty soon the daughter (who I later found out's name is Ariana) and I were talking all about the Jonas Brothers, especially Nick. From there, we were talking about our ages (we're the same age), school (both going to community colleges at the moment), and a few other things about what we were sort of expecting that night.
We then decided that we were going to stick together when we went inside to hang out with the Jonas Brothers, which put my mind at ease, because I had been a bit nervous about just hanging out alone...LOL.
After waiting about 30-45 minutes, with more girls trickling in, things were really starting to happen. The security started tightening up, and the special door was opening up more often. Ariana had started talking to another girl, Daniella, who was from Costa Rica, so she decided to hang out with us, and we clicked as well. Finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for came. Ariana and I said goodbye to our parents, and the three of us lined up, talking with others in line, about the Jonas Brothers, of course; they checked us in and we walked inside to a sort of board room/conference room, where a DJ was set up, a backdrop on one side that said Jonas Brothers all over it, some couches, and a table with refreshments. We found a spot against the wall towards the opposite side of the room, just waiting to hear what would be happening. The three of us were really starting to freak out, growing more anxious by the minute. One of the ladies in charge walked to the center of the room, telling us to line up, and we would be taking our photos with the Jonas Brothers pretty soon. Not much later, the doors finally opened and the Jonas Brothers stepped in, they waved to us and walked right into place for the photo. The line immediately started and people were starting to fly through. Between the three of us, we were trying to figure out who wanted to go first, and I decided that I would, because I was feeling confident and ready to go.
I'm taking deep breaths, trying not to panic, but then I start thinking about how there are several things I want to say, I was going to lean in for hugs (whether they initiated or not) and I've noticed how quickly the others have been going through, and the nerves start a little bit more. But, I still felt good. I walked around the corner of the banner they were standing in front of and saw Kevin, because he was first. He stuck out his hand, I shook it and said, "Hi, I'm Shelby!" (I could see Nick, and I think that's really all I started focusing on, which did not help, let me tell you). From there, I just went down the line of shaking hands, going to Joe next, then finally Nick. He was standing there, and I almost couldn't stop staring as cheesy as it sounds, HAHA! I couldn't believe the moment I had finally been waiting for was about to happen. The dark green shirt he was wearing really made his eyes just sort of POP out like crazy! They were gorgeous. I just kind of froze, not really sure of what to do next. They weren't really initiating conversation, which most stars I've met have in situations like this, whether it's just "how are you?", "where are you from?" sort of things. I think that's when everything else just went out the window, because I'm not always the greatest at initiating conversation or keeping things rolling when they dwindle off, nor am I at initiating hugs. I thought they might be more touchy feely, but they weren't, so I didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable; I'm not one of those girls that can just do that. I probably put way too much thought into it, but oh well. So, I basically just got in place, squeezing in between Nick and Joe. Right before, I finally decided to say something, which was, "My friend, Steph, says hi" I was looking at Joe, then turned to Nick when I said, "She loves you." He glanced back down to me (he's a little bit taller than I am), and said, "Well, tell her hi!" I think I just nodded, I'm not exactly sure. I had planned to say/ask a few more things, but at that point I think I figured if I tried, it might come out in a bit of a jumble, so I just didn't. We posed for the camera, and that was it. Each of them seemed really nice and made incredible eye contact, like you had their undivided attention. There just didn't seem to be a lot of time for chit chat necessarily.
I don't remember saying bye, I just remember walking out into the hallway next. I'm telling you the only time I get incredibly starstruck where I can barely say a thing is around the Jonas Brothers, especially Nick. It's like he says something, and I can't speak. It becomes physically impossible! HA! I waited for Ariana and Daniella to come out, then we all just stood in the hall while the others went through. We were all a little stunned at how fast it was all happening, and thinking, "Is that it?", "Are they still going to be in there when we go back in?" We really had no idea. We noticed some girls standing by the door, just watching the guys, because you might as soak up as much time of them as you possibly can, right? I mean they were RIGHT THERE! So, we're watching them and Nick glanced our way a couple times, then Joe did. Pretty soon, the security guard told us we need to move, so we all took a couple steps over, and he was like "No, you're going to have to go back further," so we all just moved further down the hall, all kind of wondering what was going on, and whether or not they'd still be in there.
We walked back a few minutes later, when this guy with the Jonas team approached us about doing an interview, just answering a few questions about the guys. We were like, "Yeah, sure!" Why not, right? We hung around a bit longer, and just a little bit later, the meet and greet was over. We all walked back inside to get our stuff, and the Jonas Brothers were gone. It was a little strange because we were under the impression that they'd be there with the DJ most of the time, or thinking that they'd be walking around, just mingling with everyone. Instead, it felt extremely rushed, which seemed ridiculous for the amount of money we all spent to do that. Everyone started grabbing their stuff, because there wasn't much else to do with the guys not in there. Ariana, Daniella, and another girl we met by the name of Taylor and I, talked for a few minutes, then tried to figure out what to do next. We ended up going over to see what the interviews would consist of, and a few minutes later, Ari and I went out on the balcony with the film crew to talk about the guys.
They asked questions like why we loved them, recalling the first song of theirs, and other things like that. The "reporter" pointed out that we must really like them, because we seemed to be smiling a lot while we talked HAHA...I guess that's a good thing? It was fun being able to do something like that, and hopefully they'll post it on their site or YouTube in the next few days. We finished a few minutes later and walked back inside. We decided to meet up with our parents, because there wasn't anything else to do really.
They were waiting for us in the sitting room we had previously been in. We told them how crazy it was in there, and nothing like we expected, and how they interviewed us, etc. They filled us in on how we'd missed the JoBros walk out the side door to use the restroom and how they had discovered how much Ari and I have in common. Since the concert was getting closer, we decided we'd check out where we were sitting. Ari said she was in section B seat 225. I pulled out my ticket and said, "Oh my gosh! I'm 226!" The parallels we were having with one another were something that only God could do. I was so happy that we'd instantly clicked and would be sitting together, it took the pressure off of both of us. We parted ways with the friends we'd made, and decided we'd all walk to the car to put our gift bags away in the car, when we started wondering about whether we had to wait in line or not since we had "VIP". We went up to the room to find someone, but didn't see anyone, so we walked across the street from the venue. We talked to a security guard about it, but basically...the VIP didn't do us any good. They told us we'd have to wait in line, so we walked down to the end of the street where we thought the line ended, but it apparently wrapped all the way around the building, and a little further down. After the interesting night we'd started with, we decided to just slip in with everyone else. There were more questions we had about the VIP passes that were answered, but not really in the way we were hoping. We walked inside the auditorium, and it was gorgeous. The detailing and architecture was stunning! I would love to go back to watch an actual play/theatre type production there, because it seems like the perfect place.
They were playing music before the show, mainly all the hits that are on the radio. It was getting later and the show still hadn't started yet. Ari and I talked for a bit, I scanned the crowd, and my mom told me that there were a couple people in the aisle that girls kept lining up with to take pictures. Apparently, they were from Camp Rock, but I didn't recognize them at all and my mom spotted Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's son, Connor. I also found out the next day that Hilary Duff was there and it was rumored that a few others were too! BUMMER. Finally, after delaying the concert for traffic, a shadow screen dropped and you could see the guys walk up and they kicked off the show. I heard the music and immediately knew it was "When You Look Me In The Eyes", which instantly took me back to the days when I first started liking them, and so many memories of my sophomore year! I wanted to tear up a little bit.
The show was AMAZING! I wish there was a better adjective to describe it, but it was everything I'd hoped a show of theirs would be. The energy was so high, and they had everyone on their feet, just really having a great time. I wasn't thinking about anything else; I was completely lost in the music. It also helped that we were in the second row, and Joe Jonas was SUPER close to us, making eye contact with everyone in the crowd, especially in our section. You can tell he definitely enjoys teasing the girls LOL, and was totally eating up every second of it, which was fun for all of us. I was having a blast singing along to everything; I loved the fact that they had a lot of songs that were blasts from the past (which took me back to my sophomore year), but several new songs to kick off the new era coming up for them, like "Wedding Bells", "Let's Go" and "First Time". I was taking plenty of video, which I plan to make a vlog of sometime soon! During the show, the entire Jonas family (Kevin Sr., Denise, Frankie, Danielle, and Joe's rumored girlfriend) even walked in front of us. If it had happened after the show, I would have asked them for a picture, but they were all on a mission, probably trying to avoid the crowd.
After the show, Ari, my mom and I met up with her parents at the hotel to pick up our signed guitars and posters, then walked to the car, talking about the eventful night. We said goodbye, and that we'd have to keep in contact; that anytime I'm in the area, I should give her a call and we could meet up or something.
I said if nothing else, it was a great experience and it was obviously meant to be that we met. I think it's just so mind boggling how God has all of these significant moments planned out in our lives, and thinking about that gives me peace when it comes to finding "the one" that I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I don't have to rush or worry about it, because He has it covered. I love that even in the most random of places and events, like the Jonas concert, God is still there and opening my eyes up to what I need and what He has been trying to show me.
My mom and I headed home after that, listening to some Christmas music and stopping at In-N-Out to get food because we were basically starving! I was so exhausted and was losing energy quickly, but it was all worth it.
Honestly, WHAT A NIGHT. I still keep replaying (and somewhat cringing) at how stupid I probably sounded in the meet and greet, not saying much, other than that my friend said hi and that she loves them....hahaha. It kind of gives the impression that I don't love them, but I'm sure they figured I was since I was there for the special meet and greet...Who knows?! But, now I'm just letting it go. Whatever! I'm sure they've heard stranger things! Besides, I've heard Nick likes girls who are a little on the quieter side ;) hee hee. Hopefully, in the future, maybe there will be other times...Like, say, a Dodger game? You never know. Los Angeles is a city where dreams come true.
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That's all for now,
Shelby
