5) 
Sam Nixon, from Pop Idol, 2003
We all know that I'm a reality TV junkie, and this was around the beginning of my addiction. During my semester in London, my friend Josh and I became addicted to Pop Idol. How addicted? So addicted that I ran up a RIDICULOUS phone bill voting for Sam Nixon. (Sorry, Mom!) So addicted that I cried when I left London to go backpacking in Europe and Sam got voted off that same week. (I'm sorry, Sam. I failed you.)
Anywho, this moment makes the top 5 even though I didn't actually meet Sam. We were in Leischter Square to celebrate a classmate's birthday, and a few of us were a little distracted by the large crowd at the movie theater. Turns out, it was the premiere of Love Actually, a film loaded with lots of real celebrities.
Whitney, Melissa, and I decided to skip out on the birthday celebration and celebstalk. We are in a position where we can actually see the people exiting the limos. (After some standing on chairs, and bribing a waiter at a restaurant nearby to let us sit there...I can be charming when I have to be.) Hugh Grant steps out of the limo and W and M freak out. I laugh at them. I begin making fun of them. More celebrities do their thing (Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, etc.) and then something happens...
A limo pulls up and the remaining Pop Idol contestants step out. I see Sam Nixon and I freak out worse than W and M did for Hugh Grant. "OMG IT'S SAM FROM POP IDOL! I LOVE YOU, SAM!" *facepalm* I will never live this moment down.
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Don Mattingly
I met Don Mattingly at one of our basketball games, and he has yet to come back to a game since then. I put the blame on other people or his schedule, but it could very well be that my ability to embarrass myself extends to people never returning to our events. (Sorry, bossman!)
So, I caught wind that DM was here (don't ask me how) and wanted to meet him. My inner teenage self had a crush on DM and he was here...AT MY PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT! My inner 13 year old thought this was more meant to be than me and Chipper Jones or me and Scott Rolen ever were! So, I made my co-worker stalk him with me. Yes, stalk. There is no better term to use than stalk. I'm only a little ashamed at my lack of professionalism in the midst of stalking. Since I had already lowered my professionalism to a new low for even me, I let my co-worker talk me into thinking that asking for a picture wasn't THAT bad since other staff members already had. (Who make way more money than me and who are way more professional than I could ever dream to be.)
When I finally got up the courage to ask for a picture, which he agreed to (see above), want to know what I said? Not "OMG! I've had a crush on you since I was a kid and you have aged so well!" (Thank God!) I opted for the smooth line of, "My dad thinks you're awesome and I need to send him this to make him jealous."
3) 
Kenneth Branagh
This only ranks in the middle because I really didn't do much to embarrass myself. When I first arrived for a semester in London, it was at the end of a run of a play that Kenneth Branagh was in. I begged my way up the food chain to purchase a standing room only ticket in a play that was completely sold out, even of standing room tickets. (Tears of an American woman can make some British men cave...but only some....only the weak ones.)
After the play, I was wandering around lost (as I had just arrived in London the day before). A very nice looking man exited the theater and being the sheeple that I can be, I flocked to him like all of the other people were. Once I realized who it was, I tried to think of something clever and witty to say that would also scream COME HOME WITH ME. Instead when he told me "hello" and looked at me, I melted. Literally. Maybe not literally, but it felt like I was getting shorter.
So, I didn't say anything embarrassing, but I did stare at him with a creepy open mouthed smiley face with some creepy eyes, so I don't think I needed to say anything. My face, by itself, can betray me in the face of men who are triple threats - hot, famous and foreign.
2) 
David Price
I'm sure you can guess where the embarrassment of this story is going. "Hey, will you take a picture with my travel gnome to go on my Christmas cards?" Did I mention that I'm smooth and have moves like Jagger? If I haven't, that line should prove it. This is one of those awkward moments I warned you about. I don't remember professing my undying love to David Price, which is truly a shame because any man who will take a picture with some random chick's travel gnome, deserves it. So, David Price (if you ever stumble upon this...), I love you, and thanks for being such a good sport. (I wish I had more to say about our interaction than this.)
1) 
Buster Olney
I love Buster Olney. Not in a creepy way. It's probably more admiration than love, if we're being honest. My former boss knew how much I love Buster's work. (We're totally on a first name basis...in my head.) When people on the internet criticize him, I stare their words down on my screen and defend him in my head while mentally poking a voodoo doll of those mean people.
My boss knew that Buster was coming to a game, and had me working will call. Nobody told me this was happening, but apparently the entire office was laying in wait of his arrival to see my reaction. He walks up to my window while I'm looking down, and when I look up and ask if I can help him, before he can say his name, I respond with, "BUSTER OLNEY! I LOVE YOU! I mean, not like love you love you...I love the stuff you write. You're my favorite person on the internet. We should follow each other on Twitter. Oh crap, I'm going to shut up now. Here are your tickets, enjoy the game." (FYI, I don't think I took a breath during any of that.)
I hear all of my co-workers laughing at me and Buster's wife is smiling while he's mentally filing a restraining order against me. (At least that's what I feel like he was doing.) According to any witnesses, I blushed and gushed and there may have been the start of tears. (Can you imagine what would have happened had there not been a glass window between us? Thank God for glass windows!)
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So what have we learned for all of this? If I don't make things awkwardly uncomfortable for you and profess my love to you, can you really call yourself a celebrity?
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