Dream. Believe. Create.

It's Nikki Blonsky's 20th birthday! Time has certainly flown since she was a 17-year-old girl with a big dream who was tapped to play Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray. That movie and her portrayal of Tracy is what lead me and a lot of others to Livejournal communities created in honor of the movie, and to FanForum.com where Nikki even has her own board now. (If we could just get FanForum to actually function, that would be nice!)

In honor of Nikki's birthday, I have created a fansite for her at www.nikkiblonskyonline.com. Right now, the site is a work in progress, but news about all things Nikki can be found at The Blogsky, one of the many features of the site. In the near future the site will include a large photo gallery, multimedia (video and audio), and the Nikkipedia, which will contain a bio, filmography, and more.

So this weekend I had one of the most amazing nights of my life. I traveled with my daughter to Atlantic City to see Nikki Blonsky sing live, and I ended up getting to meet her and her family! All I can say is that she is the kindest, most incredible person. She was genuinely happy to have fans who would travel to see her, and her mother Karen made sure we had had an opportunity to go backstage and speak with Nikki in her dressing room. We were traveling with three other Nikki fans, and we were all given the opportunity to take photos and get autographs even though Nikki was being called away to another venue with her publicity people. Later in the evening we were fortunate to meet up with them again and have a more casual conversation, before finally dragging ourselves away to allow Nikki to go back to her room to rest. Never once did she complain that it was too late or she was too tired even though it was nearly 2 o'clock in the morning. She is a truly beautiful individual inside and out, and her singing talent is not to be believed. Some artists do very well in a recording studio but no so well live, but Nikki's live performance was truly a treat!

I'm so grateful for the short time I got to spend with Nikki and her family and friends. They are a fabulous group of people and I'll never forget my time with them. The trip was worth the sixteen hour drive (each way) from Indiana, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now if I could just get her to do a concert in Chicago...

Check out the picture of me and Nikki B.! (Yep, she's the adorable one!)

Today People magazine comes out featuring an interview from Nikki talking about her experience in Turks and Caicos. To show my support for Nikki, I made this video. You can show your support by leaving her a message at www.supportnikkiblonsky.com.