Basically, we met her working out *all alone* in the workout gym.
She was wearing some kind of black spandex-feeling top with no sleeves
(obviously a top
designed for working out), grey track pants (looked to be made of
cotton), and white runners.
She had her hair up, no make-up, and had her gold tooth in.  Her skin
looked very nice though.
I have one more comment about her looks, but since people will take it
wrongly, I will
only send it to a private list.  She also had on black fingerless
work-out gloves.
She was working out on a machine that exercises the calf muscles.  (you
have to bend
down to use it, and you lift your legs up behind you).

I opened the door and said very lightly, "Melanie?"  She turned around 
a
bit unsure
and said "yes?", as she didn't
know who I was and didn't know at that time that I was a fan (I'm 24,
and look
very studious and not like a "typical" fan).  I then explained to her
that I was a fan and was with 2 other fans and that I had a gift for
her.
She walked over to me (I guess now understanding who I was) and seemed
more sure of
what she was doing, and took my gift and said something (must be some
kind of "thank you").
I then told my 2 friends outside (Matt and Jenn) that it was okay, and
that they could
come in (hee hee, they were saying 'ohmygod ohmygod' and other things, 
I
think).
I then asked Melanie if we could have her picture taken with us, and 
she
said, to my surprise,
"Sure....  why don't we step outside so that we don't bother the people
in here?"  (There were
2 other people exercising in there, and they looked up at me and 
smiled,
probably wondering
who Melanie C even was...).  We were in a very small workout room (like
the size of a dining room,
probably a bit larger).  As far as I know, Melanie motioned for me to 
go
ahead of her,
and I honestly don't remember how she led me out, but she *may* have 
put
her arm around me,
but not tightly or anything like this.

Anyway, so we step outside into the (indoor) pool room and Melanie
smiled and laughed at my 2 friends
who are still shaking and says "I'm a normal girl, I'm just like ya".
She then said that she
is working out, and Matt goes "as if you need to", and then Melanie
flexes her biceps for us and
says something like "really" (obviously in a joking/asking manner).  We
ask for pics and we get
them (2 of me and Melanie as we had 2 different cameras, and 2 of Matt
and Jenn with Melanie).
Then another lady got up and asked us if we wanted a big group picture,
and so we got one with all
4 of us well.  The pictures had better turn out.  :-)

I don't remember much of the picture-taking, but Melanie did put her 
arm
around all of us, despite
sweating a lot (I could feel all the water sweat when I touched her
back).  That's so cool of her
to be willing to take pictures here like this.  She also apologized to
us for being sweaty.
I think she was very flattered that Matt and Jenn were so ecstatic (I
was happy, but not ecstatic).
I do remember Melanie smiling/laughing the whole time and she was
extremely polite.  I also remember
Matt and Jenn saying "I can't believe it's YOU", and Melanie finding
this funny.

I remember talking to Melanie during all of this, but I don't remember
at all what I might have said,
but I do remember saying "You are the most nicest celebrity in the 
whole
world" to which Melanie giggled.

Jenn then later showed Melanie pictures of her room which has Spice
pictures *all* over it, and
Melanie looked through them and made some sort of funny comment, of
which I don't remember at all.  at the end,
she motioned to give them back to Jenn, but Jenn told her that they are
hers to keep, to which
she thanked Jenn.

Okay, so here is the funniest part:
Jenn later apologized to Melanie for "scaring Claire".  (This is too
long of a story, and I might not post
about it because I don't want to give people ideas).  Anyway, Melanie
responds, "Claire's a *tough* girl" and
was smiling all along, so Melanie didn't seem to mind.  Jenn went on to
say that I might have *really* scared
Claire, to which Melanie turned to me and asked with a smile: "What did
you do?"  To be honest, I didn't
scare Claire at all, she gave me her cell phone number in the end
and phoned me back later on that evening, but enough about this.  :-)

and then Jenn goes: "well, we accidentally phoned through to Claire.."
and then Melanie instantly
jumps on this comment, and goes "oh YEAH, sure, ACCIDENTALLY" and then
she imitates a phone with her
left hand and pretends to speak into her phone and says "oops!!  
Claire,
ACCIDENT, didn't mean to
get through to you!!!",  This was soooooooooo funny, and it made all of
us (including Melanie) crack up
with a lot of laughter.  That was quick on her to pounce on Jenn's
"accident" comment.  It's impossible
to explain here what this looked like, but it was a brilliant comment 
by
Melanie, and we were all laughing
so hard because of it.  You should have seen Melanie's facial
expressions when she was doing this.

I do also remember that when I first took a picture of Matt and Jenn,
the flash didn't go off,
and so Melanie made a nice comment about it not going off, so I had to
take another picture
(and so Melanie had her arms around Matt and Jenn longer, hee hee).

I also remember Melanie asking us near the beginning if we had tickets
to her show (which when you think
about it, is such a stupid question, hee hee, because of course we
did!!!), and Jenn showed Melanie
her ticket to the show.  We told Melanie, 'of COURSE, WE're going to
your show).

OH YEAH!!!  And Jennifer, before meeting Melanie (as we saw her arm
tattoos through the gym window
before we entered the gym) tripped over and fell down over a couple of
the pool chairs.  Matt told
this to Melanie, and Jenn was really embarrassed, and Melanie laughed
and said "I thought I saw something
go flying by!!!"

Later on, as we were yelling and screaming in the street in total joy,
we literally bumped into
Paul, Beth, and Arden who were doing some shopping, and then at the 
very
same time, Claire
popped up behind us (she must have been right behind us the whole time
and may have heard
some things we were saying),  so we all got our pictures taken with
them.  When I tried
to take a picture of Matt and Jenn with the band, I didn't realize the
camera wasn't even turned on,
and so when I pushed the button, nothing happened.  The entire band 
made
a big joke about this,
and groaned and put me down (in a good funny way).  Jenn rushed over 
and
showed me how
to turn the camera on.  :-)

Matt said he wanted to sit in front of Claire, and Paul chimed in
"you're not the first one"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL!!!!

I then got my picture taken with the band (ie, Fergus was the only one
not there).
We then went our separate ways, Claire to TD mall to do some shopping,
Paul/Beth/Arden back to the hotel,
and us to cheer some more down the street.  What's funny is that when
Claire reached the walking light,
she made this mad dash across the street, and jokingly turned around 
and
looked at us (but she was
smiling).  She was essentially pretending to run away from us...  :-)
This may because Jenn
decided to demonstrate her karate kicks in front of Claire...

We later saw Claire back at the hotel going in and out of the bus.  I
took a picture of Claire
with my friend Ophelia, and Claire was *very* patient and nice.

Um, but I do believe Melanie recognized me, Matt, and Jenn, since we
were
were initially some of the only ones standing.  I'm positive Claire
recognized us (she winked at me, but I don't recall when).

After the show in Calgary, the various members of the entourage come
out. I hand to Beth some pictures that Jenn wanted me to give over,
because I knew Melanie would be swarmed when she came out (which she
was, protected mostly by the tour manager, ahem, Richard Jones).
At first Beth tells me that "oh, Melanie will be coming out shortly" 
but
then she sees my entire body sigh (because I know it will be very hard
to hand Melanie something when everybody else will be swarming her). So
then Beth goes (nicely): "okay, I will take them for you".
Through the front of the bus I can see beige-colored leather seats and 
a
black stereo at the front of the tour bus. I later see Claire take out 
a
Safeway bag filled with groceries, and I see her take out some bananas
to begin with (before the curtain was closed). Ying later comes out
carrying many things, one of them a huge bucket filled with water
bottles. I saw Ying's profile, and she looks skinny. And I notice she
gives a sly smile to herself as she steps outside, perhaps because the
attention and staring by some Melanie fans makes her feel important. 
:-)

I bought another tour shirt in Vancouver, seeing as mine was stolen 
from
right behind me in Calgary.  :-(  I want it because it's got the tour
dates at the back and Calgary is listed as #1!!!!

In Vancouver, I didn't even bother to try to find her, as I was out 
with
my sister and my family during the day, and no way would they even
accompany me on such "excursions" so I didn't even bother asking them.
However, interestingly enough, my sister and I were walking downtown 
and
all of a sudden, she had to go to the bathroom, so we decided to enter
the nearest hotel and pretend we knew where we were going so we could
use the bathroom.  And lo and behold, as we went up the stairs into the
main lobby, I see Richard Jones, Arden Hart (pianist), and Paul 
Gendler.
Arden is leaving, but I do get Paul's autograph on my Mel C ticket.  I
later see the tour bus that I saw in Calgary parked outside the street.
   Through the back window, I see Beth and Arden sitting.  One of them 
is
smoking, I think it is Arden.  Anyways, I ask for their autograph, and
they sign my newspaper with Melanie C on it.  Beth just signs her name,
and Arden signs "With love, Arden".  Both are very nice, and I'm the
only fan who recognizes who they are.  I ask if they know where Claire
is, but they say they haven't seen her in a long while.  I'm with my
sister, and so I can't really stay and stick around, so we leave after
getting the autographs.  They were staying at the Westin Grand on the
26th floor.  This is not the most prestigious hotel in Vancouver
(although it is certainly not bad), because most of the major
celebrities stay at the Four Seasons or the Sutton in Vancouver.
There are so many hotels in Vancouver, and the possibility of finding
the exact hotel Melanie is staying at by pure chance is a bit odd, but
lucky.