Filled with love, to last throughout the year...

**Top 11 of 2011**

It is New Year's Eve and 2011 is about to end.  Overall, it was a great year filled with concerts, new friends, my favorite University, and a cruise to top it all off.  It's going to be hard to count down my Top 11 Backstreet/University of Kentucky moments of 2011 but I'm going to try.

11.  My Very Kentucky Birthday - I am clearly a University of Kentucky fan.  For my birthday this year, I received an authentic UK basketball jersey and a pair of UK shoes.  I like to wear them proudly around Northwest Indiana where people give me questionable looks and often don't understand than UK stands for the University of Kentucky and NOT the United Kingdom.  I will ALWAYS be a Wildcat fan and wish more than anything that my husband and I would move to Lexington.

Me and Tammy - Wildcat Fans Forever

 10.  My First Kentucky Win - Going along with my University of Kentucky gifts was my chance to see my first UK win ever when I went to a UK football game with Tammy in November.  Up to this point, we had been 0-4 when we had gone to see either UK football or basketball games.  During this game against Ole Miss, the curse was broken!

All the Girls Minus Tammy and Susan - We missed you!

9.  New Backstreet Friends - This year would not have been the same without meeting some new Backstreet friends.  The daily e-mails were always enough to start my day out on the right foot and after one of us had just gotten done with a concert, the e-mails got even better with photos and videos.  The daily communication was a way to help one another deal with our Backstreet withdrawals...or to make it worse in some cases.  In some cases we were enablers to one another but we were always there for one another.  So, to Laura, Cory, Tammy, Susan, Ashley, and Anne Marie....thanks for filling up my e-mail.  To Cortney and Jen...may we have more time to become even better friends.

8.  The Great Ab Debate of 2011 - One of the many e-mail threads that were exchanged among me and some of my new BSB friends regarded a very important topic...who had better abs...Donnie Wahlburg or AJ McLean?  Yes, here was group of 20-30 something year olds arguing over which Boy Band Bad Boy had the best midsection.  Who needs to debate about politics or religion or education?  Not us, I guess.  This e-mail thread was composed of 51 e-mails between the group, with photos and videos attached to try to prove one's point.  There never was a clear winner but we all agreed that both men were just too sexy for their own good anyway.

Who has better abs? AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys or Donnie Whalburg from New Kids on the Block?

AJ McLean Donnie Whalburg

pollcode.com free polls

7.  The Summer of NKOTBSB - So this isn't really one event per-say.  2011 was the year where NKOTBSB dominated the thoughts of many, many, many girls across the United States.  I was a New Kids fan as a first grader, but I have now been a Backstreet fan for almost half of my life.  What started as hesitation for this tour at first, turned into never wanting it to end.  So, by the end of the summer of 2011, I had attended 6 NKOTBSB concerts (Grand Rapids, 2 Chicago, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis) and had wanted to go to so many more.   I went with a different "group" to each concert and realized that the Backstreet Boys do truly bring people together.  I traveled a total of approximately 2,331 miles to see those nine men perform and who knows how much money was spent on concert tickets, VIPs, merchandise, gas, and food.  But every mile, every dollar, every minute of my time was worth the happiness that filled me when I went to those concerts.  The withdrawals afterwards were not so much fun.  Maybe if I ever do go back to grad school for psychology I can do an experiment on how the Backstreet Boys affect their fans similarly to how drugs affect drug addicts.

Wildcat until the day I die....

6.  My Louisville Acknowledgements - During my Louisville NKOTBSB show, Brian ackowledged me, not once, but twice from the stage.  I had to wear my University of Kentucky gear to represent my Wildcats while we were in the nest of the enemy (University of Louisville Cardinals).  Being second row, I also knew it would catch Brian's eye.  He acknowledged me first at the very beginning of the show and then again when the Boys were choosing people for "I'll Never Break Your Heart."  The people next to me said he would have picked me for sure if it wouldn't have been Leighanne's birthday.  I was happy he had laughed at my sign and do believe deep down in my heart that I might have had the chance to be picked.  One day I hope to have that moment.

5.  Crazy for Wylee - I had been to two of Leighanne's Wylee parties during the NKOTBSB concerts, both of which Brian had made very brief appearances.  My third finally paid off when I was able to have a pretty long conversation with Brian and get a photo.  I also talked to his dad and bodyguard that day.  It made me feel like I was a part of something special and I must have been nuts to leave the party before Brian left but I had been on a mission to find him a UK jersey to wear for the final number of the concert.  I returned to the soundcheck with no luck but Brian happily remembered me and thanked me for trying.

Well worth every penny of the upgrade...

4.  My First Platinum VIP - Obviously the Louisville NKOTBSB show was by far my favorite.  Not only had I interacted with Brian during the Wylee party and been acknowledged by him onstage, but this was my first concert with a Platinum VIP.  I had originally won a silver but had upgraded when I thought that Brian might switch with AJ for the backstage tour because he was in his home state.  That was a bust but I had some interaction with Nick and AJ, they sang "Siberia" (one of my faves), I got my first ever solo photo with the group (in front of the barriers), and I got a backstage tour and photo with AJ.  This particular VIP had been well worth it (not everyone has great VIP reviews).

This is what dreams are made of...

3.  BSB Cruise 2011 - I have absolutely no regrets about this year's BSB Cruise.  I set out to do everything that I wanted to do...stay up late, be brave, spend time with friends, relax on a beach in the Bahamas, and have a good time.  I did all of those and had a great time doing it.  After having last year's cruise to compare to, I wasn't sure how this one was going to stack up so I decided that I needed to go in there with low expectations again.  Once again, this cruise blew the little expectations I had out of the water.  I had fun, my friends had fun, the Backstreet Boys had fun...what more could you ask for?  For the girl who told me that she didn't think the cruise was worth the money....I'd say she needs to get over the "I deserve more" complex that some fans (NOT ALL!), I am sorry to say, have.

2.  Say Cheese! - I have been lucky enough this year to get 9 photos with the Backstreet Boys, either as a group or individually.  These include:  NKOTBSB Grand Rapids Silver VIP with group, Louisville Wylee Party with Brian, NKOTBSB Louisville Platinum VIP with group and AJ, Miami Wylee Party with Brian, Pre-Cruise Party at Cameo with group,  80s Night Deck Party with Howie, Prom Night Deck Party with Kevin, and BSB Cruise Group Photo.  Every single one of these moments was special and I am so glad that I have these photos to remember these times when I was in the presence of the men that have meant so much to me in the past 13 years. 

Laura wonders if I love UK or BSB more...

1.  Brian's "Kentucky Girl" - So what can be better than getting 9 photos with the Backstreet Boys in one year?  How about getting a nickname from your idol?  Brian first called me "Kentucky Girl" after a brief talk about UK basketball during the Miami Wylee party.  Yes, I know I do not live in Kentucky, nor have I ever (although I was really close).  However, two of my top ten moments revolve around the University of Kentucky, three of my nine BSB photos (this year) include me in a UK shirt, and my dream city of residence is Lexington, KY....so tell me that I am not a Kentucky Girl at heart and don't deserve that nickname.  I figured that I would just take the name and enjoy it for the night because there was no way I was ever going to be called that again....until he did it again at the Pre-Cruise Party at Cameo later that night.  So he remembered me just hours after seeing me?  It didn't matter....he still remembered me...I had made some kind of impression in the minute or so we had talked at that table at the Wylee Party!  I spent the next two days watching him and the rest of the group entertain us with a Sail Away Party, a game show, a Beach Party, a concert, and two deck parties.  There was no way when I went to go take that group photo on the third day that he was going to remember me after two days of busy work and seeing hundreds of fans.  When the words "Kentucky Girl" came out of his mouth again during that photo and I wasn't wearing anything UK to have triggered that memory, I could have fainted.  He actually remembered me...the girl who people seem to forget about in their lives, the girl who actually only had her first picture taken with him just last October, the girl who doesn't have the money to buy multiple VIPs (one Silver was won this year and the other was an upgrade from a won Silver).  To this day, I am not sure if the Louisville show had anything to do with his memory of me since we had talked UK there as well and I was faithfully wearing my blue and white.  Nor am I sure if my attendance at his 2010 HHC VIP Weekend influenced his memory since we had also talked UK there and I was wearing a UK shirt.  All of those events could have triggered his memory this time, but this Cruise vacation was the first time he had called me "Kentucky Girl."  Will he ever call me that again?  Only he knows.  I would think that if I wearing Kentucky or we started talking UK, then he would.  Would I do that just so he would remember me?  You bet I would.  Until it happens again, I am going to keep it locked tight in my heart that for a brief few days I was Brian's "Kentucky Girl."

I hope that 2012 brings all of this same happiness for me and other Backstreet friends!