That Time I Met Jeff Mauro for $20

I'm incapable of playing it cool around famous people. I think I get nervous just meeting regular people too. I'd like to apologize to everyone I've ever met for all the awkward laughing, the weird jokes, and the blushing. I don't think I could ever live in Hollywood or New York City or even Chicago because of the constant fear that I would see a celebrity and hyperventilate.

I considered myself safe living in little old Oak Park. It's not like I would be meeting Ernest Hemingway or Frank Lloyd Wright anytime soon! Wow, that was such Dad Joke. Sorry kids. But see what I mean? I'm just writing about meeting people and I'm already being weird.

Anyway, my friend Ellie and I went on a VIP Progressive Shop in Forest Park. Sounds pretty fancy, huh? For $20 we got to shop, eat, and drink at Yearbook, Famous Liquors, and Flavour Cooking School and get little gifts along the way.

At Yearbook:

The spread at Yearbook. We got to sample a couple different wines and try the food made by Flavour Cooking School. Their gift bag (in the background) had a kickoff pint glass which is designed by Yearbook Stuido. They also offered 20% off of everything in the store.

At Famous Liquors:

Wine tasting at Famous Liquors.  The guy in the picture said he goes to Italy every 5 weeks to buy wine for the store. How does one get that job?? The gift bag at Famous had a coupon for $10 off any bottle of wine.

Flavour Cooking School:

I forgot to take a picture at Flavour, but they had the best spread by far. Lots of different food and these amazing blueberry scones with lemon sauce on top. I had three of them. Flavour's gift bag had a cute little jar, which was sadly not stuffed with those blueberry scones. They also were giving all the VIP's 50% off of any cooking class, but they had cancelled the class that we wanted to take so we didn't get to take advantage of the deal.

Can you believe all of that for just $20? I wish it was always just $20 to be a VIP. I would be a VIP all the time. I imagine it to be like this - "I'd like to fly first class, please. Here's a Jackson for your trouble." Then I would wink, but I can't really wink, so I would give a fun little blink and strut down the aisle to my first class seat. I'm sure I wouldn't make it all the way there before the flight crew stopped me and explained that I couldn't give them $20 for a seat that was already booked. I'd be persistent but inevitably I'd be carried off the flight against my will and probably added to the Do Not Fly List. Wow, $20 can get you a lot nowadays. Anyway...

What does all of this have to do with Jeff Mauro?
If it wasn't for the Progressive Shop I would have never walked into Yearbook last Wednesday, which means I would have never seen Food Network Star - Jeff Mauro shopping in there with his family! When we first walked in, I saw a tall guy with a hat shopping at the opposite end of the store. He turned around and I grabbed Ellie's arm and said, "Oh-my-god-do-you-watch-the-Food-Network-do-you-know-who-the-Sandwich-King-is-he-is-also-on-The-Kitchen-Jeff Mauro-the-sandwich-king-is-right-there-in-this-store!!" Then I preceded to take off my glasses because they were fogging up and started fanning myself because I was already over-heating from excitement. See why I can't live in Hollywood?

We walked over to where he was shopping and as he was walking away I said, "I love all your shows!!" I won't go in to detail about the rest of the conversation - I did mention that I too also went to Bradley University and I may or may not have said something about stalking him. He was super nice and friendly even though I think he knew that I was super star struck. I really wanted to get a picture with him, but I was too nervous to ask.

So long story short, I met Jeff Mauro for $20. Plus got some delicious food and wine samples and free gifts from three local business. I'm definitely doing this again next year!