Anyone who knows me, knows that I am IN LOVE with Gwen Stefani.  I've been a huge fan of No Doubt since 1995 with the release of Tragic Kingdom and when Gwen came out with her solo material, I stood behind her with her second solo release of The Sweet Escape.  So, when she came up to the Z100 studios for the morning show, I had to be specifically invited to the event.  Once again, thank the heavens for David Brody...

I barely slept the night before it happened, I was too nervous to actually look presentable.  Everything just didn't work.  Regardless, I grabbed my pictures of when I went to the No Doubt band house in Anaheim, CA (I'm not completely crazy, it's the No Doubters pilgrimage) and headed over to the station. 

My heart was pounding when I entered the studio.  Gwen hadn't arrived yet, so I grabbed my pictures, put them on the table of things for her to sign, then quickly put them back thinking Gwen would think I'm a psycho.  Unfortunately Brody knew of these pictures.  Gwen came in a few moments later with her son, Kingston, her publicist and her nanny.

There she was. 30 feet away from me.  I was FREAKING OUT (on the inside).  She entered the studio and I stayed outside.  Brody comes up to me and asks me to put my pictures back out because he told her about them and she thought it was "really cool" and she "didn't know anyone actually did that."  GASP!

While the interview was taking place, I started chatting it up with her publicist.  She was so nice.  Gwen comes out of the studio, starts signing T-Shirts, CDs, etc.  I had a sticky note on one of my CDs that said "Please write 'To Chris' " The publicist points at me and says to Gwen, "That's the fan who went on the pilgrimage."  Gwen looked up and said "Oh my God, that is so cool."  All I could do is stare at her.  I had so much going through my head that I couldn't get a single word out.  She continued to talk to me about the band house and how her cousins still live there.  I was eventually able to tell her what a huge fan I was (so cliche, but it's all I could say!).  She kept on telling me stories about her memories and how cool I was for being such a huge fan.

When it was time for pictures, I nervously went up to her and asked if she would mind.  She said, "Of course not!"  Someone took the picture, unfortunately there were 4 cameras going, and Gwen was not looking at my camera.  It's fine.  I look like a nervous wreck.  I asked if I could shake her hand, she giggled and obliged then she grabbed Kingston and started heading out.  Right before she exited, she made sure she said a special goodbye to me.

I called my friends afterwards and told them that I could die happy.  Well, once I meet the rest of the band...