Monday, November 17, 2008

New Technology

Nick and I purchased new phones this past weekend -- our contract was up so we needed to re-sign up for one and Nick was in desperate need of a new cell phone and I've been wanting a more text-friendly cell phone. Nick got an LG Rythm which has an mp3 player and lets face it anything is better than was he used to have! I decided on a Blackberry since they had gone down in price that same day, I thought "what the heck!". It took me a little while to get used to it and get it set up the way I want with ringers, contacts, and my icons where I want them, but I think I have it figure out. And as of now.......I'm addicted to my Blackberry!!!!

Flashback to my youth......

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 will forever be marked in my calendar as the day I finally saw the New Kids On The Block live in concert (cheesy I know). But to be honest, it was one of the best concerts I've been too. I've been to many concerts and I think that the best ones, are the ones that you are singing right along with the artist to every song! I've been to 3 concerts like that and now a fourth.

I left Wayne with my friend Nikki and her sister around 4:45 (concert starts at 8). First objective once we got to the Qwest Center (after the bathroom of course) buy myself a T-shirt! I was really surprised to see how many fans (wide variety of ages), wore old New Kids t-shirts. I even saw a couple girls with banana clips and their jeans tucked and rolled (oh god, did we really used to do that?!?!?). I waited in line for about 10 minutes to get my t-shirt and walked quickly to the gates (thank god they were allowing cameras!), ran into the bathroom to put on my new digs and found my seat -- Row 29 on the floor (I wouldn't have settled for anything further away!!). I had purchased tickets for my friends in Des Moines, so they were already there -- in their old school t-shirts!! AWESOME!!! Here we are before the show -- Karla, Kara & I.

Concert started right on time at 8 p.m. with the first opening act -- Lady Gaga. Wasn't too impressed with her, she was kinda weird, but whatever. The second act was Natasha Bedingfield who I was very familiar with and liked her music. She was even better live! She played until 8:45 and said that there would be a 20 minute intermission until the boys came on stage. At 9:05 the lights go down and the screaming begins....LOUD screaming....you could definitely tell the majority of the crowd were women!! They came on stage and they looked just like they used to, but a bit older of course. All still very good looking and they still can dance and sing the way I remember them.

They started off their show with a newer song from their new CD "The Block" (which I listen to a lot!) but the majority of the music was their old stuff, which I was surprised I still new the words. About half way through their show in between songs the lights went down and the next thing we knew they were on a round platform right behind us!! It just couldn't get any better!!

It's hard to pick just a couple pictures, I took about a hundred!! If you're interested in seeing all of them you can see them on my shutterfly. I also took 2 videos, one of them singing "The Right Stuff" and another singing "Tonight" when they were in the middle behind us -- that one is a little more fun because I got them talking before hand.

I was sad when they finally had to end their show...they came out with a 2 song encore with "Hangin' Tough" being their last and final song. When the lights came on all 3 of us said that was one of the best concerts EVER!!! And we were talking about it all the way home and I STILL have their songs in my head!! I think I will always be a New Kids On The Block fan!!! Along with about a million other 30-something women!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Keeping Warm.....

Wow, 3 post in one day -- I'm on a role!!

I left work and walked outside in the dark to find it raining/sleeting. It's definetely winter outside. I'm waiting for Nick to come home from a meeting and then my plan for the evening is to lounge out on my couch and watch my Monday night TV. I've got a crock-pot full of Chili that's been bubbling away all day, I've slipped on my Taz Slippers to help me keep warm, now all I need is my blankie!

Weekend Getaway.....

We ventured on a little Road trip to Iowa Friday afternoon. Our first stop was in West Des Moines to the Jordan Creek area. We stayed a really nice, I think fairly new Holiday Inn, our room was Ginormous!! There was a Johnny's Steakhouse in the hotel and with our stay we received 2 complimentary drink tickets (um, hello of course we're eating there) It was so good!! After dinner we drove around a bit (tried not to get lost) and ended up at a movie theater where we saw "Eagle Eye" -- great movie!!

Saturday we drove up and over to Waterloo/Cedar Falls and met up with a classmate of mine and Nick's really good friend Stephanie. Her and her husband, Jom, just had a baby girl the end of August -- Olive. She is super cute!! It was also the weekend of Steph's 30th birthday and Jom had a plan to surprise her at this local bar that they hang out at. First was dinner with another couple Bambi & Jeremy. Jeremy was in Wayne while Steph and I were in High School, but he left before our Junior Year. We ate at this really awesome Japanese Steakhouse where they prepare the food on a flat grill in front of you...it was really fun and the food was excellent!

The rest of the night was spent at the bar, catching up, drinking and meeting new people. We had a blast! It was a nice getaway from work, Wayne, and adult duties!! :)
Thanks guys for a great weekend and we'll be out there again sometime soon!!

Bambi, Jeremy, Jom, Stephanie, Nick and I

Getting My Rock On....

Thursday night Nick and I attended a Metallica concert. We saw them 4 years ago for the first time and so when Nick found out they were coming back, he was there! Now...I'm all up for concert going but for some reason I just wasn't as excited to see this concert as I am to see New Kids On The Block this coming Wednesday (a blog post to come!!) I like Metallica and all, maybe I just wasn't in the "rocker" mood...But I went.

The first two band were a little hard core -- I don't even remember their band names, I do remember that the second band consisted of two former Pantera band members (from what Nick told me). The first band was all yelling, and I couldn't make out the lyrics...the second band was okay, still a lot of yelling and dropping of the f-bomb by the lead singer -- every 3rd word mind you.

Metallica finally got on state about 8:30 or so with a good stage presence of lasers and pyro. They sang 2 or 3 of their new songs but mostly their old stuff, which most of them I knew, so I was pretty pleased. They sang my two favorite songs "Nothing Else Matters" and "One". I have to admit that I did enjoy them and I threw up my Devil Horns during one of the songs. Maybe it was just the second-hand pot smoking that was going on infront of us that got me in the Metallica mode. I was not too please with getting pelted on the head with soda from the upper deck (at least that's what I hope it was) and all the drunk people that had to stand behind us in the handicap section instead of attempting to find their seat -- which they paid money for, but whatever. And everytime we attend a concert there is ALWAYS a line of people at the elevator and 3/4 of them are able body people and can walk down the stairs -- instead they are too drunk and stupid to try, so we are usually waiting at the elevator for at least 30 minutes before we actually step foot on one (at this point Nick is complaining). We were finally out of the parking lot at Midnight and to our cousins house by 12:30 and by the morning, we still didn't have our hearing back!!