My full days adventure of September 26, 2007. I got up after 3 hours of sleep at my 'adopted' niece's apartment. Got driven to Pittsburgh Int. airport at 4 in the morning. My flight left at 6:50am and I anxiously made the hour and a half flight. I wasn't traveling with luggage, so I didn't have to wait around for any bags. I arrived at JFK around 8:15.

I followed the signs to the Airtrain and rode it to Howard Beach Station. I was thinking this was going to be something like an actual 'station', it wasn't. Just a roof and tracks. The train came and I hopped on. Standing amongst some really interesting people, to say the least. I was riding along thinking, I hope this is a subway, we were above ground, I thought a subway meant just that - underground!

Hey what can I say, I'm from the middle of no-where, lol. Finally made it underground and rode for quite a while. Interesting things I also saw on there, some sort of a grade school had a bunch of little ones on some sort of school trip, the little ones were adorable, the adults looked just a little cautious. Don't blame them there, there were some shady looking ones on there too. I'm not one that people mess with and I was cautious, lol.

Anyhow, I got off the A train at 168th and caught the 1 line up into the Bronx and got off at 225th. I had been sitting either riding in a car, flying and on the subway for somewhere around 3 and a half hours. I got down to street level and walked around a bit just to get my legs moving again. I walked around the street and lo and behold, there was the Starbucks behind the Applebee's. I knew I was going to be on a 30+ hour stretch without sleep, so I went in and got myself a carmel frappachino.

Twas very good.

I got to talking to the girls behind the counter. They asked me where I was from and I told them where and that I traveled all that way to see Gloria for the first time and that I had been waiting for this for 11 years. They were amazed that I would come that far, so I proceeded to tell them about Conga and that there would probably be a Conga showing of at least 10-20 on the low end, possibly more, since I didn't know who all was going to show up.The manager was extremely impressed with our group and the dedication that has been shown to Gloria. I told them, hey, she's one of a kind and and an extremely wonderful woman and she acknowledges her die hards, lol. I also bought another album while I was standing there, why, I had no clue at the time. So outside I went and stood around, mainly against the wall.

This guy came over and I kinda looked at him and then said 'Conga'? he looked at me and said, what's Conga, but that he was a huge Gloria Estefan fan. So I told him about Conga and that there would be more people from the group coming. I think he was thrilled to know that there were more people out there that loved Gloria as much as he did. He told me his name was Joseph. We were chatting Gloria up and a woman comes over, she looked familiar, so I said 'Conga' again, she said Yep, it was Jennifer. Joseph looked a bit taken back, lol. Like he didn't believe me at first, and Jennifer and I told him all about the group and to check it out. He has joined since, lol. While we're standing there again chatting up Gloria, another woman comes over and looks at me and said 'Shawna', I said yep, which one are you, or something like that, lol. This one was Anita, who was also meeting Gloria for the first time.

I think Samantha was the next to join, then she left for a bit and Rich had been calling me and keeping me posted on his progress into the city. Well, he finally showed up. So fun was being had by all. By then security, a radio station and a TV station had arrived. We milled around watching all the activity and chatting about our favorite Diva and about the happenings of everything around us. It was alot of fun and I'm glad I've made some new friends!! It would have been hard not to when we were all barricaded in like sheep in a pen by that time, lol.

The closer it got to 5, the more anxious and nervous I got. I'm starting to shake now writing this, lol. Go figure! Many thanks to my nicotine and prozac, lol.

So... here comes even more fun! LOL!

It's 5pm and here it comes, the signature black SUV with the extremely black windows. Hey isn't that illegal in some states? LOL. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest (thank god there for my heart med, lol and yes I'm bad, I'm a smoker). Anyway, Emilio and then Gloria emerge from the SUV to the screams of an excited crowd. It was an amazing feeling for me at that point. So Conga starts screaming: Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, lol, she looked over at us and gave us a huge THUMBS UP and a big grin. Then I said to the gang, hey let's yell CONGA!! So on a 3 count, we did. I'm sure she heard that one, we were LOUD! LOL! She was probably thinking, knew my peeps would be here in full force, lol. If she was, she was most definately correct! Being what? 15-20 strong.

So, the time has come to start lining us up at the door. They put the rails up going down the ramp and we had to walk down around then back up to the door. Rich went down first and as we turned to go back up, he said to me, you go first, I was like, Uh Uh NOOO Way! He said, Oh yes you are, so alas, I did. So we're waiting and I start shaking, BAD, before they even open the door to let us in. Tears sprung up and Rich kept telling me to calm down, it would be fine. Gotta love him, lol. Easy for him to say, he'd already had his first time, lol.

We stood there and waited for Gloria to finish with the press, which seemed like FOREVER! I mean, I was nervous enough! I was getting impatient, not to get it over with, but to actually be able to meet and talk to her for the first time.

So.. and the time came. Security opened the door and told me to walk around the press and stop. I did. There she was sitting at the table and I really started shaking. It was hard to keep my teeth from chattering and the guy said Ok, go ahead. I went to hand my camera to Rich and this girl standing beside me said, no, we're not doing any pictures, just signing, there isn't enough time to go through the line. I don't know if Gloria heard her or not. But I walked over to Gloria and said Hi. She said Hi back. I said to her, hey, chck this out and pointed to the rain symbol tattoo on my ankle, she looked a little shocked and said 'Is that REAL', I said, YEP! She laughed.

I handed her my cd's (2 of them) and she looked at me and I said Shawna, she goes, is that with a W or a U and I was like, Uh, Uh a W. She laughed and then said, who do you want the other one to go to. I told her, um make it out to Karen, a friend of mine that just had a stroke, Gloria said, Awwww.

So she signed them and I looked at her and said, can I get a shot with the two of us. In the way that Gloria has with people, she said, sure, c'mon over here beside me and hand your camera to him, which Rich later told me 'him' was Frank, I didn't recognize him. I was glad that it wasn't across the table, that would have sucked. Did someone say something to the girl that said No to pictures to begin with, if they did, I bet that woman was fuming. Gloria does what Gloria wants and I know we love her for that. So I handed my camera to Frank and he took the shot.

After he handed my camera back to me, I told Gloria, look at me and held my hand out, I'm shaking, she grabbed my hand and said, No, No, don't shake. That was amazing to me and actually did put me at ease just a little. I also said to her, did you like the 50th birthday book from Conga, she said, Oh, I loved it, I need to sit down and write out an email to you guys, but I haven't been home for a month. I told her I contributed to it this year, since I was shy about doing it last year and that I knew she'd definately read it. She said that was great.

So, off I went, I got to the door and I was in tears, they had finally let loose, lol. Some people looked at me with grins on their faces, probably knowing how special Gloria is to her fans. So I stood out and waited for Rich to come out and we got scolded for standing where we were and moved out towards Applebee's.

We went around and talked to Pete who was in line and I had to get my nicotine fix for my nerves, lol. And it was decided to go to Applebee's for dinner along with Amy, Alison and Anita (I hope I got you lady's names right, lol, forgive me if I didn't).

So anyhow, we went in to sit down and waited for the rest of the crew that were coming in. Chatting about what had just happened and sharing our digital photos. I was still tearing up, lol. Gloria just gave me an awesome feeling!! I felt like I was touched by an angel (literally), no pun intended there, lol. The others came in and we got a table all together, which was really nice. We coerced the waitress to grab shots with each of our cameras of the whole group. She was gracious enough to do it. We had dinner, shared some stories and had some laughs.

Gloria still wasn't done signing, so Pete and I were the first out the door, lol. That's when I got the closeups of her coming out. I was glad. They're some cool closeups.

So we went back into Applebee's and Pete offered to take me back to the airport, I accepted. He wanted to show me Manhattan all lit up, knowing that we have the photography in common, and I thought that was really sweet. My thanks again to you Pete for that.

Finally making our way out of the resteraunt, we started saying our goodbyes and Rich getting directions on how to get out of there from Pete. I saw the manager in Starbucks and wanted to thank her for having ice water and coffee offered to us while we were standing out there in the hot sun. The Starbucks people were awesome, really great people! And not to mention alot of fun, lol. She surprised me by remember that I had asked her (at Rich's coersion, lol) if we could have a few of the posters that they had hanging in the windows. She handed me 2. I handed the one to Rich who gave it to Anita, sweet guy, he is!! We chatted with her a bit and thanked her and went on our way. Finally found Pete and said our goodbyes to Rich and Anita.

Pete drove around and showed me the city at night, I have to say it is beautiful all lit up at night. I'll be back someday, lol. Hopefully next year when the third Noelle book comes out, lol.

Off to the airport we went and I called Rich to tell him I was there. I couldn't afford a hotel room, so I stayed at the airport all night. I tell ya, I fought quite a few times to stay awake. Wasn't anything open inside, so I mostly sat on the cement outside cause it was too cold inside. It stayed a balmy heat until about 4am, then the temp spiked downward. I think that's what kept me from falling asleep on the curb, lol.

I caught my flight at 8 the next morning. When I sat down in the plane and buckled in, I was OUT. Next thing I know, I heard the captain announcing that we were making our final decent into Pittsburgh. Woke me up real quick!!

The rest is kinda obvious. I caught my 45 minute ride, then the hour drive home. I didn't sleep until last night which I got about 4 hours.

So all in all, I had about 7 hours of sleep from 5am Tuesday morning till today. Think I'm tired. Guaranteed!! But I'm also still reeling and just so, uh, overjoyed. But that word doesn't fit either.

My many thanks goes to everyone who made my first meeting with Gloria such a special event and one that will always hold a place in my heart.

I definately can't ever thank Gloria enough for being who she is and saying the right things to put me at ease. And for making me feel like I was actually worth something. I love her very much! So very much!!

That's what I came away with from her.

90 Millas will always be a special album for me because of this event.

Hope you enjoyed my story, sorry it got so long. Forgive me, I have this hidden writing thing that I keep to myself (till now). When I write something, I go all out, lol.

I can't stop looking at this picture and smiling. Hmm, maybe it's time to go off the Prozac, lol.

I know I've got some mispellings in here, oh well. I'm tired, lol. And still so MUCH on a GLORIA HIGH!!