So, a few months ago when I learned she was going to be in Los Angeles signing copies of her new book, Unlimited, I automatically requested the day off of work.
Last Thursday was the day! I made the 5 hour drive down south Wednesday night and stayed with a friend. At 7am the next morning, I headed over to Barnes & Noble to meet up with Kelly (who roomed with me on the JM cruise! Hi Kelly! <3), and met some other "JM Crew" people. At 9am the doors opened and they handed out wristbands for the signing later that night. Now, by this time it was only 9:10am, and we were told to come back at 5:30pm. WHAT TO DO ALL DAY, YOU ASK?
We participated by being "audience" members of Extra with Mario Lopez to start. To be honest, it was quite boring. I only stuck around to get a free t-shirt.
Then, we headed over to Nordstrom. Jill was also introducing her new clothing line with K-Swiss that day, and doing a talk and M&G before the book signing.
So, since its JILLIAN, I ended up buying one of her $98 hoodies. My lord. When the total came to be $104 I died a little.
After I spent a seventh of my rent, we headed over to the Farmers Market part of The Grove. I needed a banana. I fed the craving. Then we wandered around Forever21 & Anthropologie a bit, and just ended up awkwardly waiting around Nordstrom for a few hours. Surprisingly, the entire day went really fast, thanks to spending it with some amazing people.
So, I was wearing my new Jillian hoodie. I was joking around and saying that if Jillian was wearing the same thing, I'd have to take it off for the photo. Tell me why, when Jillian walked out, we were almost TWINS? She was wearing the SAME hoodie, in the SAME color. Both of us had it unzipped, with the sleeves rolled up. White tops, black pants. I had a bright orange bra on that you could see; Jillian had grey and bright orange sneakers on. Ok, seriously?! It’s not like I spotted her before hand and thought, "Oh, I'm gonna dress exactly like her today!" NO. I had my outfit picked out for a week. I specifically bought new clothes JUST for this day. (True story.)
I ended up laughing it off and just saying, "Fuck it. Twinsies."
Yup. Twins.
Jillian was so cute. I was second in line to take my photo with her, and when I walked up she was like, "HIII." Then she seemed to be side tracked and she grabbed my wrist and was like, "I am so sorry. Hold on." So I'm standing there. Jillian is just holding onto my wrist. I think I probably had the dorkiest grin on my face because I'm thinking, "Jillian Michaels is holding onto me!" Gah. Haha. She keeps apologizing, and calls over her assistant. Rosie comes over and she asks her to hold out her hand. Jillian places a piece of gum that was in her mouth in it. Then she turns back to me and says, "I am SO SORRY! I have garlic breath right now!" I just burst out laughing, "It’s OK! I just ate a mint so I wouldn't have bad breath!" "OK, good!" We're laughing. She asks what my name is, I tell her, and she thanks me for coming. We take our photo and then I'm shooed away. I expected it to be really quick. And that it was. Besides the minute of wrist holding. <3
We're given free PopChips and Vitamin Waters. Then, our photos are printed out and put into paper frames. I laughed out loud again when I saw the photo. Totally twins, dude.
After we all gather our belongings, we head on over to Barnes & Noble to wait for the signing. We meet an inspiring woman named Ruth. She's lost 101lbs! Get it, girl! (HI RUTH!!) Once we get our seats and get situated, it’s just an hour or so to wait.
The signing started at 7pm. Jillian came out and talked for a bit, and then answered some Q&A. Then the long line to wait for autographs and photos.
When it was my turn I walk up and Jillian has her arms wide open. "Joslyn. Why do you look so familiar?" I say "Because you saw me earlier today!" and she's like, "Right! The K-Swiss event!" but she’s giving me a, 'but why do I SPECIFICALLY remember you?' look.
"You kept apologizing to me. For having garlic breath."
"OH MY GOD. ITS YOU." She grabs my arm again and starts blabbing. "I felt so bad. I was standing there thinking, "This girl probably HATES ME!"
(At this point I think I give her a "you're crazy, I'd never hate you look.")
I had my photo from earlier tucked inside my book and I started saying, "Do you think yo-" before she cut me off and was like, "Yeah? Whats up? Ask me."
-u can sign this too?"
Jillian looks at the photo and I was saying how we were pretty much matching earlier. (I took my hoodie off so we wouldn't be matching again in the second photo!) She had changed jeans and shoes, and I mentioned something about earlier her sneakers matched my bra. She laughs and then signs the photo like this:
"We ARE cute." is all I say when I read it. (God. I'm such a blubbering idiot.)
All of a sudden, Jillian goes, "What are we LISTENING TO? Doesn't this make you just want to blow your BRAINS OUT?! Can't we put something fun on, like Pink? Oh come on, Cher." (It was the soundtrack to Burlesque, BTW.)
I don't really remember how it was wrapped up. We took our photos, said goodbye and then I kinda was just full of all kinds of happiness. I love that woman.
OH. Story: we had hung out with two awesome peeps Linda & Mike all day. Somehow Jillian thought I was Mike's wife and said, "Oh she's so cute!" I was wondering why she kept looking at me and smiling while Mike was talking to her. And when he was finished she waved to me and said, "You guys have a good night!" Pretty sure I just stared at her and barely smiled when she said that because I was confused. But when Mike was telling Linda what Jill had said, I laughed as it made sense. "Oh, NO. Jillian thought that I WAS your wife!" Oh silly girl...
So afterwards, I grabbed a cup of coffee and then I had to say my goodbyes, seeing as I was crazy and was driving the 5 hours home. :(
It was only around 8:45pm when I left, and I got home around 2:20am. Not TOO bad, but I have the amazing Cindy Lou (and caffeine!) to thank for talking to me on my entire drive home and for keeping me awake.
The next day at work sucked. I was a zombie of myself. But would I have made any changes to the day? Heck no. It was perfect. And if it’s any more possible, I love Jillian Michaels MORE for being so down to earth and awesome. Girl crush, girl crush, girl crush. <3
