Taylor Swift made a surprise stop in Connecticut, and it's a day one family won't soon forget.
The Grammy-winning artist connected with fan Stephanie Barnett years ago on social media. Barnett said Swift's music helped her through the emotional time when she was having trouble getting pregnant.
Now, Barnett has a 2-year-old son, Leyton, and today they both got to meet Swift in person when the pop star showed up unannounced at their North Haven home.
"I open the door and she's like, 'Hey, Steph!' and it's just her right there, and I lost it," Barnett said. "I lost it for a while."
The pop star came bearing gifts, including a toddler-sized toy Mercedes for Leyton, who wouldn't leave her side. Barnett said it's not the first time Swift has bought gifts for her fans – but she doesn't usually show up on their doorstep.
"She went to FAO Schwartz and got a bunch of stuff for Leyton," Barnett explained. "The car was so big, she's like, 'I don't know how to ship it, so I thought I'd bring it over.' And I was like, who does that? It's incredible."
Taylor Swift Stops in Connecticut
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Barnett said she was blown away by the gesture.
"She's unbelievable. The things she does for her fans, and she's a really amazing person. She's gotten a lot of people through so much more than anyone can imagine," Barnett said. "I was literally bawling on my couch, like, inconsolably, that she would do this for me and my son."
The star spent about two hours with the family, then headed to the Starbucks on Washington Avenue in North Haven to grab a coffee before heading home.
She showed up at the coffee shop around 3:15 p.m. An employee who answered the phone said Swift "was very pleasant," and fans raved about her. The singer's bodyguard ordered her a skinny caramel latte, according to Starbucks supervisor Michael Dionne.
"She got her drink and after that she took pictures with people and said hi to everybody," Dionne explained. "It was pretty wild."
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Swift stayed at Starbucks for about 10 minutes to chat with excited fans, including Quinnipiac University students Kathleen Barry and Nicole Giuliani, who asked the pop star to stop by her sorority's semi-formal tomorrow.
"I was definitely starstruck," said Giuliani. "I was shaking."
Pictures with Swift quickly spread through social media and hundreds of people flocked to Starbucks hoping to catch a glimpse of the singer.
But Swift had to get down to business. She's in the middle of a major promotional tour for her new album, "1989," the only album to sell more than a million copies this year.
Two of our students found an unexpected boost near our North Haven Campus this afternoon: @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/3SqhRRaOBK — QuinnipiacUniversity (@QuinnipiacU) November 13, 2014
