ok, so after the practice, we got in the car to drive to the hotel for the lunch. got there kinda early, because we left the practice place while most of the other people were still skating. get there, go to the buffet. now, there really wasn't anything too exciting here. that kinda bummed me out. seeing as i wanted to splurge. but that's ok. i had a little of all of the following: pasta salad, mashed potatoes, pasta with pink cream sauce, chicken with cream sauce, chicken fingers. by the time i got my food, players were starting to mull around. i was getting all sorts of excited! (like i wasn't already!!!) bobby holik was behind me in line while i was getting a chicken finger, and he says "that's what my daughter would be eating!" so i'm like, "well, they're good, big kids can eat them too"
. aaaa, just so surreal! of course, this was just a time to "mingle" and eat, not to get autographs, gotta let the players eat their food, we'll have the autograph time later.
and at each table, there was a ranger. our table was vladimir malakhov (sp?). he's a defenseman who's out injured right now. kinda funny, but none of us recognized him. i mean, we knew he was our "hockey player", just weren't sure which one he was, i guess we're so used to these guys with helmets! so my dad goes, "hi, i'm tom" and he says "hi, i'm vlad". sweet, we know only one vlad on the team, so that worked out well
.
after dinner, we move on to desserts. i had some delectable chocolate mousse, and a haagen daaz ice cream bar. delish! then we have the speech section, a video of highlights from the season so far, thank you for coming, yadda yadda. and then it's autograph time! it was very well organized. we were told that the players would only be there for 30 minutes. they were sectioned off into 4 different tables, in a row, so you could they could just pass your pennant down. first thing i did was find out which one brian leetch was at and make a bee line.
aaaaa! this is finally going to happen! i'm finally going to get brian to sign my jersey! but i get up there, and i'm told the rangers will only be signing this pennant they're giving out, and no outside articles! talk about bummed out! (keep reading...we'll return to this subject
). but i'm like, ok, i can deal, i'll still get to meet him, get his autograph, and a picture. so he's the 4th down the table, i get to him, i say, "thank you brian so much! can i please get a picture?" of course i can! but my mom is fumbling with the camera, apparently, she took a picture while he was signing my pennant, and the camera was not ready to take another one that quickly (or she was pressing too many buttons...one of the two
). so me and brian are kinda joking about it, then finally, she gets it, and oh man, it came out great! i'm so excited!
so i finish with that table, and move onto the next. 2 out of 4 done. then, my mom tells me that she saw brian signing someone else's jersey! (here's the rest of that story i promised above). so now i have to get back on the line for the first table again! keep in mind, there are still 2 other tables, and we're at about the 15 minute mark now. finally get up, he signs my jersey! aaaa! thank you brian! (you're welcome...again). at this point, they have flashed the lights. that means they cut off the lines. and i still haven't gotten to the other 2 tables! oh no! but i'm in luck, i just go over to one of them, tell the girl my leetch sob story, and she lets me be the last one. thank you girl! i odn't know your name, but you rock! so i get through that line, leaving me with one table left...just my luck! my family is on that line! so i sneak in with them! mission accomplished! i got every single ranger's autograph, pictures with a few, and my piece de resistance, brian leetch's autograph on my jersey and beautiful pictures with him
now that we've made it through lunch, do you still realize that i haven't had dinner or girls night with ice cream yet??? next reply, coming up!
, thank you for your kind words about my picture! i absolutely love it!!! oh and sharon, i have met derek jeter 
i love these things, and i haven't had one in months. figured, today's as good a day as any. also, i nice big coffee. added my own skim milk and splenda at home though 
oh, so i also had dessert. couldn't pass it up. warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. very small portion, but very very rich. yummy.
, nope, you get a genie, cause there is no smilie for gold star. so genie will do. really out of here. 
Well, at least it wasn't lunch and pictures with him.
Have a wonderful day today!!
