Team LC Forever

Barnes & Noble, TriBeCa, March 28th, 2016. TV personality, fashion mogul, lifestyle curator and author Lauren Conrad was doing a book tour for her latest lifestyle novel, Celebrate, which teaches tips and tricks for how to throw a stellar party. Since 2007, Lauren has been a role model to society thanks to MTV. I've always looked up to Lauren and saw a lot of myself in her, and that's why I never pass up the oh so rare opportunity to meet her. The best yet most complicated thing is when meet & greet wristbands are sold before the event. Not only do you have to be available twice, but it's actually most important the first time around to secure the wristband. I had an hour to get from Midtown to TriBeCa, buy the book to get the wristband, and then get back to Midtown. I called Barnes & Noble ahead of time to make sure they would even have wristbands left at 12pm...because Lauren is an angel and was willing to meet whoever showed up, of course there were wristbands left.

Door to door I did the whole ordeal in an hour and I couldn't believe it (a bucket of sweat later). The race against time would occur again when I had to actually go to the meet & greet. I raced there right after work and the line had already begun moving. Again with the weird in between seasons weather, I was smoldering in Barnes & Noble holding my faux fur jacket over my arm waiting for my turn. Speaking of turns, the best place to be waiting in line at a meet & greet is a bookstore because at least you're occupied every time you turn a corner. With a plethora of books to discover, you even have time to read an excerpt or two. Once I got into the first three ropes of fans, things started to move quickly. I was happy to see that Lauren was taking pictures with fans, a treat that rarely happens at book signings. This meant I would have a few seconds more with her, and so I should think of something clever to say.

When Lauren asked me my name so she could write it in my book, I said, "Briana, but it's different than the way your sister spells it." I had her hooked. We then started talking about her sister and our names, and how she calls her sister "Bre-a-na" as opposed to "Bre-ann-a". We got lost in a conversation about how emphasis is everything and that it sounds classier the way I pronounce it, until a member of her team interrupted us to take a picture and move on. For a minute we had a real life conversation like friends, and when I turned the corner to exit the meet and greet and saw her adoringly proud husband William Tell waiting off to the side, I felt even more like we were friends. I got to have a glimpse insider her new personal life, a life restricted from cameras following her 24/7 like her former glory days.  I have watched Lauren on TV for the past 10 years, and it can feel like you really know someone when you cry and feel love with them, even if it's through a screen. I have always admired Lauren's strength and bravery to be who she is and never change since she was introduced to the world. All qualms may be long resolved or even uncared about at this point, but because it meant everything to me just as much as it did to Lauren, Team LC forever (sorry not sorry Kristin Cavallari) 🙌🏼