Sunday, February 13, 2011

Alison and I went to the Lawrenceville Caravan Stop

So chocolatey, yes?

Similar to the last Caravan stop story, Alison and I wrote this tag-team-style. The caravan stop in Lawrenceville took place on Friday 2/4/11 and it was right next door to the Gwinnett Braves stadium, so that was pretty cool. Sorry it took us over a week to get this up -- we both got sick and she was busy with school and I was busy with work and everything was crazy.

Alison: so, what time did we get there?


Lauren: COLD.


Alison: Ok, Cold o'clock. Got it.


Lauren: Also, rainy. Cold and rainy. And standing outside.
You'd better be glad I heart you.


Alison: :D
<3


Lauren: (My butt is still cold.)


Alison: I'm saying. That's what you get for having a badonkadonk.


Lauren: hee heeeee


Alison: We were handed official Braves ponchos!!


Lauren: We were #131 and #132 in line, and I had my umbrella and the G-Braves staff was super-nice about handing out the ponchos.
Time stopped, but eventually, people squinched up and we barely got under the edge of the end of the Publix roof.


Alison: yeah, it stopped because it was cold o'clock


Lauren: The nice cute dads in front of us made room, and a lady in front of them kept telling us how cold it was on her iPhone. Not helpful, lady!


Alison: Cute Dads were really nice. And one was also a "realist."


Lauren: They were fun to talk to. There were some kids behind us who kept us occupied in line too -- some UGA students and a couple of kids from Villa Rica. What up!

Alison: So, while in line, Homer and Chopper entertained the crowd a bit, especially the poor kids. Homer wasn't nearly as touchy feely this time around.


Lauren: It was totally a different Homer than last time around. ;)
We got inside and they were barking to have all our items out for autograph before we got to the table. I thought Fredi Gonzalez was going to be there for some reason, and I was trying to find his item in my bag, so Alison went ahead of me because she was ready. This wasn't the plan!


Alison: Well, that's what happens when your bag is too big.... hahahhaha  ;)


Lauren: It's true!


Alison: So our new bench coach was first. He was so friendly!


Lauren: Carlos Tosca! He had such a nice face. Kinda reminded me of my dad.


Alison: I had him sign the sticker they gave us instead of the ball in my purse. My hands were numb, and I just wasn't about to go digging anymore.


Lauren: I had him sign the sticker too.


Alison: And then, of course, I promptly dropped everything in between the coach and EOF...


Lauren: Your poor hands were purple. I tried to get you to wear my gloves! But noooo...


Alison: hahahah


Lauren: :D


Alison: But then you wouldn't have gloves!


Lauren: We could have traded!


Alison: hahah


Lauren: AND I had my cute stripeys in the car


Alison: True. Oh well. Too late now!


Lauren: :D
Well, it's not like any of the guys were shaking hands.


Alison: anyway, I apologized, saying, "I'm so so sorry. My hands are just numb. I didn't mean to throw things at you!"


Lauren: It was cute. ;)


Alison: And the thing is, I was the first in line... for our section. There was nobody in front of me, so everybody was looking down the line at me. How mortifying.


Lauren: Good thing you're cute. :D


Alison: And EOF totally was looking at what I had in my hands before I dropped all of it. And it was a picture of him!
Ha! Cute like a 17 year old. :P


Lauren: No, Cory Gearrin thinks we're 22, remember? haha


Alison: Right. I'm still going with 17. :D ANYWAY!!!!!


Lauren: I'll take 22 because later someone asked me what college I go to. :D


Alison: EOF chuckled a bit at my dropping all my pictures and stuff
was super nice about it.


Lauren: He was in a really good mood! Glad to see he seems to be 100% healthy again. :)


Alison: Oh my gosh, he was so nice!

Alison's EO autographed picture


Lauren: So I handed EO two pictures, he said, "Hi, how are you," I said fine, smiled, and told him the pics were from Baseball 101. He actually looked at them then and was all, "Oh! Did you have a good time that day?"
I told him it was an awesome day, and told him I had two other pictures I was going to bring of him on his bucket (1 ~ 2), but they didn't come out. He echoed, "of me on my bucket?" and laughed, and I said yeah, in right field when we were fielding pop ups and I told him that the pictures were really cute and I thought he'd like to see them. He was so nice. :)

My EO autographed pics


Alison: What a doll.


Lauren: Seriously a sweetheart. He didn't have to sign both my pictures, but he did, and it was nice that he talked more than, "hi, how's it going"
CK was next ;)


Alison: So, Kimmie was doing this head-cocked-to-the-side thing


Lauren: like a puppy?


Alison: like a cat. :P


Lauren: heh


Alison: And I smiled at him and handed him his photo and very brightly said, "HI!"


Lauren: I adore the photo you took to have him sign, with his gleaming spikes and flushed cheeks.


Alison's autographed Kimbrel picture


Alison: I don't really remember what else I said to him, to be honest. He seemed to like that photo.


Lauren: Well YEAH


Alison: He kind of paused to look at it before he gave it back.


Lauren: You should send him a copy, addressed to his new nickname. Like, an 8x10 :D
do iiiiiiiiiit


My Kimmeh autographed picture


Lauren: so when I handed Kimmeh his picture, I told him I took it in batting practice, and he stared at it for a second and I said something like, "So, I have a tendency to nickname people, and you have a couple of nicknames... but what do you want us to call you?"


Alison: poor kid looked horrified


Lauren: and you'd think I'd just asked him to divide 93845 by 13
(yes, I just crammed my fingers on the numbers just now)
but EO and Marteen were SO amused and Kimmie's all, "I don't really have a nickname" -- which I think is bull ;)


Alison: I was already to Marteen, by this point.


Lauren: I think you were :)
and Marteen pipes up, "Kitty Cat! Call him Kitty Cat!"
I looked down there, and he was grinning like a Cheshire Cat
EO was laughing, even George was smiling at that


Alison: it was pretty rad


Lauren: totally
I said something like, "well, think about it," and he handed back my picture
as soon as the picture hit my hand, a security person touched my arm and was like, "YOU NEED TO MOVE IT ALONG NOW."
Oh, I'm sorry. Was I supposed to move it along before I got my picture back? Because he was still looking at and signing my picture. I'm sorry if the players were enjoying interacting with the fans.
Kimmie didn't seem angry at all. He was smiling!
he was red, but when is he not red?


Alison: it was scared-smiling.
it was the "does she have a girly nickname? is it a dirty nickname? is it embarrassing? I'm sort of nervous about this..." smile


Lauren: He was scared-smiling all day at Baseball 101, too. Poor kid. He doesn't need to be afraid of me.
he could have ASKED


Alison: well, what if it had been something embarrassing
then all of his teammates would hear it and never let him live it down


Lauren: heh
It can't have been worse that what Marteen said ;)


Alison: and "Kimmie" is not particularly masculine... and neither is "Sweet Cheeks"
Yes, but Marteen is made of magic and he's allowed to say whatever he wants.
:D


Lauren: That made me laugh, which made me cough violently. Thank you. :D


Alison: :D
ok... George Sherrill. I had nothing for him to sign. Except that baseball that was in my purse that I refused to try to dig out
hands were still stiff
so I almost dropped everything, again, while I tried to hand him my sticker
Really cute...
I have nothing to say on him, though...


Lauren: Great eyes. The DIP was distracting, though. Gross.


Alison: yeah......


Lauren: It's a serious addiction when you're dippin' in a grocery store in the middle of the day in February.
Alison brought me a baseball for Sherrill to sign, and he signed it with ballpoint pen. After we left we realized he signed Alison's sticker with Sharpie and my ball with ballpoint pen. Why? We don't know.


Sherrill autographed baseball


Alison: hilarious.

Lauren: He was nice, I said "welcome to the team" and he seemed to appreciate that. (As if I can welcome anyone, haha, but y'all know what I mean!)


Alison: So... Marteen. I think it's pretty obvious who my "Braves Boyfriend" is. Though, just as a disclaimer, Martin Prado is NOT my boyfriend. I am NOT engaged to him. I am NOT actively trying to make him my own... my love... my precious........
right. so now that my nerdy Lord of the Rings-ing is done
He is awesome. I handed him my photo, which happens to be his Wikipedia page picture. Yes, I took that picture. Isn't it beautiful? I can't help but toot my horn a little bit. I can't take credit for it, though. It's all him.
er... I can't take ALL the credit, I mean.


Gorg.


Lauren: You caught his tongue out. It's amazing. :)


Alison: And then I told him that he was awesome, and I'm glad that he's getting better, and that I took this picture, and I put it on Wikipedia...
babble city.
He smiled at me (and I'm pretty much surprised that I didn't immediately melt into a giant pile of goo) and he said, "that's cool!" and he examined the picture a little more.
My life, by the way, is now pretty much complete.


Lauren: But he was so chocolate-y with chiclet teeth that it would be hard for most people to be normal in front of him. I'm glad I'd met him before, or I'd probably have been a little crushy.
He was so friendly, too!


Alison: So handsome that day, y'all. Seriously. Big smile, crinkly eyes
swoooooooooon


Lauren: We were hurrying through at this point because of the big angry swarmy security people. :(


Alison: yeah...


Lauren: I handed him my picture, told him I took it in Chicago, and he said, "That's a great shot!"


My Prado autographed pic from my Chicago trip


Lauren: I thanked him, and told him to have a great season or something like that, and we ducked around the corner and out of the way pretty quickly.
Some of the kids in line behind us found us as we were putting our things away, and one of the guys had his iPod Touch signed by Marteen.


Alison: hahaha
yesssss


Lauren: I guess that’s it. We both got a cold from standing in the rain.


Alison: I had to go buy new shoes because I was soaked. And we both got colds... and then we ate...


Lauren: And you drew a Brave on the table ;)


Alison: oh, yes.  haha


Lauren: it seemed like there were 3x as many security people there this time around. 

[Alison uploaded her pictures]

Alison: they're not in order; that annoys me


Lauren: I still don't understand how Marteen's first letter is an M
and I always feel like EO is hiding his autograph


Alison: right???


Lauren: aww, I forgot I drew a heart on the table :D
(of course I drew a heart, haha)

------------------------------

My full Photobucket album

Alison's Photobucket album


ETA: Forgot to mention... Kris Medlen was scheduled to be at this stop, but he wasn't there. As we were waiting to go in, a woman came out and said, "Meds isn't in there! So disappointing!" 

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