My First Love...

was Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block, I was 11 years old.  I remember I was in 6th grade and writing I love Joey forever on my book covers, all of them!  I can remember how excited I was when I got my Walkman and their first two cassette tapes for my first trip to Florida to visit my Grandpa and see Disney World.  I can remember taping everything that I could find on TV to watch over and over, buying every magazine with their pictures in them and taping them to every square inch of wall space in my bedroom, even the ceiling.  I had the comforter and sheet set and made sure I slept with my face next to Joey's every night.

And then I grew up, New Kids faded but I always had a sweet spot for them, even though people would pick on me to hear of my love for them.  Then in 1999, Joey released a solo album and the song did well here in Buffalo, not great but everyone would know it.  That year both he and Jordan Knight came to Kiss the Summer Hello.  It's a concert that is held every year by a local radio station and they get 8-12 bands to come and perform.  I was so there.  I slowly scooched my way as close to the stage as I could when Joey was up there.  As he sang a slow song, Mark lovingly tried to put his arms around me.  I pushed him away from me, what if Joey thought I was with him!  Gah!

Then fast forward to 2008.  NKOTB made a new album, their first in almost 20 years.  They were touring!  Swoon!  My friend Steph and I were in like Flynn baby.  We went out and made a date to buy the CD together the day it came out, we went to our first of 5, yes that's 5, concerts together in a 9 month period.  After the first concert, in Toronto, we were hooked.  We had such a good time that we convinced our husbands and 3 others friends to go to Cleveland to see them 12 days later.  This time we made shirts and brought our cameras.

Krissy, Angela, me, Stephanie, and Joleene

Seriously, we are freaking awesome!  We got so many great comments on our shirts.  Strangers stopping us in the restaurant we ate dinner at before the show and asking to take our picture.  We were a hit and we loved it!

When the show started, we took hundreds of pictures between the five of us.  Here are a few.

Then in March 2009 we decided to go to another concert, this one was in Pennsylvaia somewhere.  We made new shirts, the old ones said 2008 and it's now 2009.  These shirts were racier and got an even bigger response from people who saw them.  I sorta can't believe we did it but oh, we had so much fun!

This time we had handprints on our lady parts that said Joey was here.  Risque, no. :)

Stephanie and I then tried to win tickets on a radio contest and holy moly!  We actaully did!  Oh the screaming that ensued, the shaky hands!  We were headed to L.A.  We opted to stay one extra day since they had only planned on flying us there one day and home the next.  We saw the Hollywood sign, walked the Hollywood walk of fame, watched them shoot the movie Zombieland, plus the concert.  We did so much in those 3 days.  That was concert number four, all in different states or in the case of Toronto, a whole nother country.  But finally they decided to come to Darien Lake, one of our local amusement parks.  We tailgated ate many, many, many Jell-o shots and complimented our cool shirts with some headgear (I wasn't thrilled with it, but I went along with it so that I wouldn't hurt my friend's feelings).

Our signage we made for tailgating.

A shadow photo of our headgear.

All of this is leading up to the fact that I'm going to another New Kids concert in about 2 and a half weeks in Pittsburgh.  They are touring with Backstreet Boys.  I was supposed to help make new shirts yesterday but my migraine side-lined me all day.  I'm not quite as excited as I was during our first crazy run.  Some of the magic has left me but I'm sure once I'm in the middle of it, I'll feel as giddy as my 11 year old self again.  Screaming my head off for the Five Beantown Boys that I will always love, no matter how long I live.  You never forget your first love. :)

New Orleans In Pictures

Mark and I, when we got married, said we would do something special for our anniversary every five years.  Meaning a trip, not anything huge, but something to reconnect us because marriage can be hard sometimes.  Well five years came and we thought, hey lets go to New Orleans!  It's one of the places we really wanted to go, but then I (or more specifically, my friend Stephanie) found a great deal for Disney World and we ended up doing that instead.  We were a little nervous about leaving Annabelle for so many days.  Disney was a nice compromise even though we went 5 months after our actual anniversary.  Then we ended up at Disney again a year and a half later and this time we ended up with Southwest credits, $210.  Those credits had to be used before May 13 of this year or we'd lose them.  Now Annabelle's school had thrown a big stink when we took her out for the 6 days back in October, so we weren't going to take her out again and face the wrath, so it was just a mommy and daddy trip. 

We (or really I) was nervous again about leaving our bug.  Plus we left on Mother's Day and believe me, I was a mess because of it!  Especially after Mark gave me my Mother's Day card and I talked to Annabelle on the phone on our lay over.  We called her every night before bed to say good night and hear about her day.  Her first night without us was hard for her.  My wonderful mother-in-law was up most of the night with her while she sobbed for her mama, but after that she was fine.  I will always be hugely thankful that I have such wonderful and loving in-laws.  The 5 days we were gone were hard on them, I know.  But they always say they realize how important it is for Mark and I to have alone time together.  Many of my girlfriends have poor relationships with their in-laws and while mine can annoy me at times, I know they truly love me and I them.

OK off the tangent.  Here are the pictures.  :)

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square
Artists and bands and palm readers, would set up all around the pedestrian mall around here.

Anne Rice pictured this building as the Louis and Lestat's home in Interview with a Vampire.

We took a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1.  This Marie Laveau's tomb.

Just some of the tombs.  The history of the cemeteries is really very interesting.

Anne Rice lived in this house, in the Garden District, and used this house as the model for the home in The Witching Hour trilogy.

The oak trees in New Orleans look nothing like the ones back home in Buffalo!  They have some weird looking roots!

We took a plantation tour of two different plantations.  This is Laura Plantation, a typical Creole style building.  It still runs as a sugar plantation, but I was expecting something grander.

Then we toured Oak Alley.  This was more along the lines of what I wanted to see.  Pure opulance, plus the 28 oaks running up to the house were just gorgeous!

These are the trees in the back yard.

This is the only photo of Mark and I together from the whole trip!  I kept reading about how people will rip you off so easily in New Orleans that I didn't want to let anyone else use our camera for some together pictures.

Then after touring the two plantations we went on a swamp tour.  It was a very long day but so much fun!

Honey Island Swamp, the Pearl River.

A real live alligator!!!! The captain of the boat was feeding her hot dogs and marshmellows off of a stick.  She was full of eggs because it is breeding season and about 7-8 feet long!

Here she is jumping out of the water while a different boat was feeding her.

This is everyone's favorite little alligator, Froggy.  He has no tail!

You can not go to New Orleans without going to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.  They are like a donut and fried dough all wrapped up in a heaping mound of powdered sugar:)

Right after I took this picture, Mark ate the sample and his eyes bugged out of his head because it was so hot.  He looked like a cartoon, I wish I had gotten a picture of his face!

We went to the Mardi Gras museum inside the Cabildo.  We were having  a great time fooling around in there.

The costumes were awesome!  Huge and glittery.

The bathrooms in the museum were porta potty doors.  We thought it was funny, so Mark did a quick pose for me before heading inside:)

Do you come here often?

So I found me a meat man. :)

Bourbon Street at night

We obviously had to go to see a jazz band.  We went to Preservation Hall and the band was amazing!  I'm not a huge jazz fan but I was in love with them!  You are there to listen to jazz, not socialize.  They don't sell drinks or food.  There are some bunches set up to sit on or you stand.  We were lucky enough to get a front row seat, on the ground sitting on pillows.

Mark played the trombone in high school and was in the jazz band.  I took many pictures on him for Mark.

The band leader and trumpetist.

On our last day in NOLA I had my palm and tarot cards read.  I had never done that before.  She told me that I'm be making some big money in the next 7-12 months and be getting something physical that I've wanted in the next 4 months.  She also said that I'm passionate and stubborn.  She had to have said I was stubborn at least 10 times.  Stubborn about everything basically.  Then she said that I  will be having at least 1 maybe 2 more kids!  I don't think so!!!


Over all our trip was great.  We missed Annabelle like crazy but it was nice to have 5 whole days just the two of us, even though we did end up at Ugrent Care one day.  It turns out Mark had bronchitis which was oh so pleasant.  Overall the city is much more kid friendly than I thought it would be (except for Bourbon St, Mark got hit on by a prostitute).  The city though has a smell that I will always associate with New Orleans from now on.  One part rotten garbage, one part vomitous alcohol, with a touch of weed.  Yeah, it wasn't pleasant to say the least, but it is memorable!

I think that if you have the chance to go, do it.

Real Quick...

1. It's an amazingly, wonderful day today.  The weather is perfect, mid-70's and sunny.  I'm surprising Annabelle with a trip to the zoo after school.
2. So because of this it will be another day until I post about our trip to New Orleans.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I'll have lots of time to sit inside.
3. Annabelle graduating from Pre-k in a little more than 3 weeks.  I can't believe that her first year of school will soon be over.  She hitting all of these little milestones so fast that I'm afraid that I'm missing them!
4. Plus next week she turns five!   FIVE!  She's turning into such a funny, little grown -up right in front of my eyes.  She tries to use all kinds of big words that she's not sure what they mean but they must be good.  Fabulous and shall and disgusting, there are others but I can't think right now.
5. I'm going to try to get Annabelle in a gymnastics class this summer.  Hopefully I haven't waited too long and the classes are already full.
6. Mark has been working on the deck and is making progress but I can not wait until it's finished.  Three years is a long time to have to wait don't you think?
7. I've started a workout regimen and yesterday was arms.  And holy cow are my arms and shoulders sore!  Today was cardio, 40 mins on the treadmill and a little more than 2 1/2 miles.  I'm a sweaty mess. 
8. I'm going to hop in the shower now and get ready for our fun day.

A Day of Celebration!

***I have been completely MIA the last two weeks.  I haven't written or read any blogs at all in this time.  I thought after getting the week off while on vacation would make me eager to blog, but it didn't.  It has felt good to disconnect for awhile.  I haven't been Fb'ing or blogging, my cell phone has been off.  But I think I'm ready to reconnect.  We shall see.***

The reason for today's post is that it is Mark's 34th birthday!!  He doesn't really care about his birthday, never has, at least for the almost 16 years that I've known him.  He's always very blase about it.  Doesn't want gifts, no big celebrations.  This year he asked for me to make him cheeses fondue and a big fancy salad for dinner.  I bought him a new golf glove and a hobo pie maker.  We don't usually go nuts on birthdays but this seems a little on the light side.  I also know that he'll be happy with that, so that's what counts.

I have known him for almost half of my life and I still love him like crazy.  He makes me laugh and has given me a life that is wonderful and fulfilling.  I hope that I have given him at least this much too.  So even though I know he won't read this, I love you Mark and hope your birthday is special and wonderful and memorable for you!



A Very Happy Mother's Day

Annabelle learned a few Mother's Day songs while at school and was excited to sing them to me over and over and over.  She decided the perfect outfit for singing Mother's Day songs was obviously her new bikini which I will have to return because it is waaaaaay to big on her.  My little girl makes me smile every day and I know that I am blessed to be able to share my Mother's Day with her every single day.  I hope everyone has a very Happy Mother's Day full of love and hugs.

***Sorry for the poor quality, but the digital recorder's batteries are dead so the camera's video had to do.  Oh and I swear the house isn't usually so messy but with packing and getting ready for vacation, cleaning is that last thing on my mind. :)***

Packing:)

I'm getting ready for vacation in a few days.  And baby, I am ready for it.  The weather has been just awful lately.  We'll have a nice sunny 60-70 degree day and then it rains and it's windy.  Case in point, Saturday it was 75 degrees out.  We started working on the deck, got out the swings and playhouse in the back yard, went for a bike ride and a hike to feed the chipmunks.  Today it is 40 degrees, rainy and cold.  What the heck Mother Nature!

OK that was a little bit of a diversion.  I'm packing, for vacation, to New Orleans.  Weather.com says near 90 and no rain for the entire time we will be there.  I cannot wait for the warmth, though I am worried about the sunburn that I will get.  There is no avoiding it for me. So the list is made and the suitcases are out of the closet.  I'm looking through all of my cute skirts and dresses for our five day trip.  I know I'll miss my little girl but I wish Sunday would hurry up and get here:)

Stats

I've been at this whole blogging thing for close to a year now.  I'm not really all that computer literate.  I don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer so I usually do what I need to do and get out.  Check my e-mail, FB, read the handful or so of blogs that I check almost daily, then I'm done.  More than a half an hour or so and I go buggy. 

But recently I was playing around here and found the stats button.  Now I know that I had seen it every single time that I had written out a post before, I just never paid any attention to it before.  But holy moly, I'm hooked!  I love seeing how many views I've gotten and seeing what seems to interest people the most.  I check them almost every single day, though actually not the weekends.  I don't blog or read blogs or even check e-mail and FB during the weekends.  But come Monday morning, and I'm looking it up.  I looked at them right before I started writing this.

I get so many hits for Mismatch Day.  I didn't know it was so difficult for people to put together a horribly mismatched, ugly outfit.  But people seem to need help with this.  And it is weird to me that people in Russia or Indonesia or China are reading something that I've written.  Or that the silly little things that I write, for myself mostly, has been viewed over 1000 times!  It boggles my mind.  I'm really not that interesting, or am I?