I should have thought to make this post sooner... the one place I can
feel safe gushing about Grud without worrying about either my love of
the sport being questioned, or my friends wishing I would shut the
hell up about this guy already. :P

My pic of me and Grudzie is here:
<a
href="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/STLcardinals/cameraday/mean
dgrudsm.jpg">http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/STLcardinals/camerad
ay/meandgrudsm.jpg</a>

And my story:
I went to Camera Day @ Busch for the first time this year on Saturday
the 25th. I was wearing a shirt I'd made that said "GRUDZIE FAN" and
it got some attention. Edmonds smiled right at me and said "Hey, I
like your shirt!" so, as if I didn't love him already, I now love him
for being a Grudzie fan :)

When I saw Grud was slowly making his way towards us, I told my best
friend she'd have to be the one to ask him if I could get a picture
with him, because I didn't want to risk freezing up. Again. Like I
did in Kansas City when he walked right in front of me. Thank
goodness for best friends! She totally came through for me :)

I was really impressed with how long Grudzie took with the fans, he
took a long time and signed autographs and took pictures and I
completely melted every time he picked up a little kid.

Finally he got up next to us and yeah, I totally froze, lol. I just
looked up and saw these EYES. Omg, I knew they were gorgeous but
they were like nothing that shows up in camera lenses. Just the most
stunningly brilliant shade of grey-blue you'll ever see. Luckily my
friend wasn't quite as mesmerized, and she asked him if he would take
a pic with me. Next thing I know he's looking at me and my shirt (he
said something like a casual "oh, wow"), then stepping up next to me
and wrapping his arm around my waist. I guess I realize I have to
take my eyes off of him at this point and face the camera, so I put
my arm around him in turn and then I don't remember much after the
picture snapped lol.

I do remember that a little later, David Eckstein came by and noticed
my shirt and was totally sweet in making sure that I'd caught Grud
when he went by.

I took more than just the one pic of Grud, btw, and there's more at
my album <a
rhef="http://photobucket.com/albums/b6/STLcardinals/cameraday/?
start=20">http://photobucket.com/albums/b6/STLcardinals/cameraday/?
start=20</a> (There's 2 pages of pics, and some of the Grud ones are
on each page)

A couple footnotes:

1) After he'd walked on, my best friend turns to me and goes "OMG he
is freaking HOT!" I was like...omg, have you not been listening to
me all season long? But suddenly she stopped referring to him
as "your man" and he became "our man." Lol.

2) I made wallet size reprints of the photo of me & him and put one
up at work, and now I'm totally getting flak for it, lol. About
every other day, I hear my boss make some sort of smart remark about
me and Grudzie. Course it didn't help that I couldn't seem to get
myself to shut up about him once he asked. I guess it was a little
telling that I have more than a slight interest in the man when I
rattled off his salary and his birthday. It seemed pertinent at the
time... but I guess I should have pretended to be a little more
unsure lol.