Girl's weekend part 1 (don't judge me ok?)

Soooo...

I'm finally getting it back together after an awesome girl's weekend...

Using Hubby's miles, I hoped a plane to St Louis where I was met by my lifelong bestest bud Kelly. We went straight to meet up with none other than the adorable, beautiful, famous Amy (Caffinated Cropper) for some lunch and shopping at Archiver's. It was so cool to meet Amy~we've been bloggy buddies for a while now. It's funny how you can meet someone from blogland and feel as if you already know them just from the bits and parts of their lives you read. It was almost effortless talking and laughing. I swear, Kel and I were doubled over with laughter most of the time...she is funny as h*ll and with her voice and sassy personality...holy cow*!* Let me tell you, walking through Archivers with that girl was amazing...she knows everything about everything. She either has it, wants it, knows all about it, or has used it. She is quite the authority on all things crafty.

Amy girl, it was TONS of fun*!* Please don't tell me when you and Kel get together ok, I'll be crazy jealous...

After leaving Amy :( we drove back to my beautiful hometown of Quincy, IL. We met up with Kel's family for dinner which is always a fun time ~they are like another family to me. We woke up the next morning, got the car packed with 4 girls and their luggage and headed for Chicago where we picked up girl #5 and headed to the hotel. Kel is a Priceline genius so we stayed in the Hilton Chicago with queen sized beds and 2 bathrooms (THANK GOODNESS).

We changed clothes, gussied up, and got on the train. Now guys, I'm a wimp, a BIG wimp. We had to walk UNDER Chicago....into scary places...places that smelled of...really bad things. The whole train thing...I'm not a fan. It scared the cr*p of me. But, we needed to do it and hey, it's part of the whole big city experience right?

That's Kel taking pics... I was busy taking pics of the other people around me so when the camera was found next to my body, at least they could narrow down the suspects.

Ok, where were we going? To a concert.

(Julie (thank God for a local!), me, Kel, Erica and Jen)

A concert that would bring us back to more carefree days, remind us of the fun, the frenzy, and our 5 favorite guys from the past. I saw them first 20 years ago. Wow I'm old....20 years ago. I was 13...they were cute...they sang and danced and I fell in love...big time.

I knew that we were going to have a blast remembering and singing along.

If you loved them too, then I need not explain...

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But wow~this time I could drink beer*!* (never thought THAT would happen!)

Would you look at those prices?!? (and those were the cheap shirts!) I never paid more that $20 for a concert t-shirt ever. And people were buying stacks of them (where the h*ll are you going to wear a New Kids t-shirt...really?)....my ticket and photos are enough for me thank you*!*

Check out the girls guzzling to the left of Erica and the 80's dressed gals right behind her...there were LOTS of both going on. NO joke, one girl made a skirt out of her NKOTB bed sheets...I couldn't stop laughing long enough to take a pic. There was entertainment everywhere. Yes, Erica is excited...there is a similar (but worse) photo of me floating around too...I'm not ashamed (anymore;).

We had a blast and this concert was much more of a show than the ones we had seen years ago. The guys interjected a bit of nostalgia for us...like this signature move (they only did it twice):

All of the dances were completely changed other than that. It was a nice blend of the old stuff and their new album. They have grown up (they made that QUITE apparent) and so has the music...I must say that the new stuff makes me squirm a bit (just a bit suggestive for my taste).

More nostalgia~gotta love an old video.

Only a fan could pick out the nostalgia in this photo.

They popped up on this rotating platform about 20 yards from us (yippee!). My boy was Joe, there in the middle.

Ahhh, another blast from the past: Donnie in his underwear....again.

Awwww.......

The end....right*!* The infamous 2 encores were coming...

sad fact: I knew exactly which 2 songs they hadn't sung yet...

End of 1st encore (I was right about the song btw...wow, I'm acting proud hu?)

End of 2nd encore (I was right again...I am sick and sad).

Bye bye Boston boys...don't know if we'll see you again :(

If we're crazy, then we weren't alone....

That was just plain fun*!* We acted like teeny boppers again and had such absolute fun fun fun. We were just instantly brought back to simpler times, before responsibilities, jobs, mortgages, etc...It was a wonderful start to our (way too short) girl's weekend.

Thanks Kel for putting it all together~Love ya*!*

This is us waiting in the freezing rain for the shuttle to take us back to the...you guessed it, the train. Turns out it's much easier to handle after beer ;)

Part 2 next time.

Gotta catch up on blogs...