Meeting Amanda Holden... Round 2! Saturday 2nd November 2013

Meeting my idol, Amanda, back in July 2012 was the most surreal experience of my life and not only that, but one that I wasn't sure would happen again. However, after a small amount of persuasion I somehow saw my family and I driving all the way to Milton Keynes to attend one of Amanda's book signings, CRAZY. We don't tend to venture far out of Norfolk, if at all, so it was quite a journey in itself! 

I should point out first of all that I met a few Holdenites on this day which was really lovely in itself. So, the signing began at 4pm and me and my sister (and others) queued from around 2:15pm and ended up being around 5th in the queue. I was surprised that Amanda wasn't late and slowly but surely we were allowed in the store and around the corner, taking it in turns to meet her as with any other book signing... Knowing that she was around the corner made me feel so incredibly nervous yet excited at the same time.

I was with my sister but I said that I would go first, the note on my book said 'Heidi JACKSON', as I knew that Amanda knows me by my name and as I watched she said 'Heidi Jackson...' and I replied 'you know don't you' to which she replied 'I knooow' so I think we then had general chat whilst she began to sign my stuff (including the huge poster from the shop window). I then passed her my gift and told her how I was disgraced at the price of the gift bag and she said 'I know, they are expensive! - would you like it back?' hahaha, I laughed and told her I thought she was worth the money! I explained the gifts and she said 'that is so sweet' before having my photo taken with her... At first, Amanda turned to me and said 'does my hair look okay?' I replied with a stern 'yes!', of course it looked fine!

Photo #1: 

We then had another, just in case... 

After these I introduced my sister and said that I was going to bring my Dad in but thought it might be embarrassing! Amanda laughed, and then greeted my sister by saying 'Hello sister! Would you like a picture?' so we then had one all together, two in fact... As after the first one I asked 'can we do a pouting one?' 'Yes of course!' (Ab had her own separate photos too)

Once we had these pictures out of the way, Amanda went to sit back down and began to sign my sister's book. 'Do you prefer Abigail or Abi?' Then before we moved on to behind the barrier with Laura and Tasha, I asked for a hug and as I went in for it with my hands full the WHSmith lady was about to say 'can you go this way please' but before she could Amanda butted in and said 'We're hugging!' I then said 'thank you so much' and Amanda replied by saying 'It's lovely to see you again! :-)' Amazing.

Once behind the barrier me and the other Holdenites kept talking to Amanda a random points, and then my Dad turned up behind me. So, I decided to shout 'Amanda!' and she turned looking my way and I said 'this is my dad!' He looked extremely pleased at this point haha, she said 'Hello Dad!' Thank you for bringing them!' before carrying on. We then continued to wait for the qeue to end so that we could have a group picture, Amanda said 'shall I come under there?' which she did and we had a group picture... Before the picture taken by my Dad, Amanda spoke to him once more saying 'thanks so much for bringing them!' and I said 'it took some persuasion' and she replied 'well it is sport day!'

Before Amanda went back under the cornered off area, I said 'Amanda can I have a selfie?' to which she replied 'Of course my love!' Oh, I remember that when I was at the desk I stood there and said 'Oh my god I'm shaking so much!' and Amanda laughed, which is where the next part of the story comes from. I got my phone out and Amanda said 'I'll do it because your hands are shaking a bit!' :') so she held my phone and kept attempting at taking the picture haha! She first of all spent ages adjusting her hair and then making sure the lighting was right, the failed yet hilarious attempt looked like this...

Yay! Second and final selfie :-)

After this, we pretty much left as we wanted to leave as early as we could in order to get home in a decent amount of time. So, there it is, me meeting Amanda for the second time. It was absolutely amazing and I'm very grateful for my mum and dad taking us to see her! I've finally got everything down so all the Holdenites can have a good read of what happened!

Thanks for reading :-) x