Where you can run to make it alright....

**Big Blue Weekend**
April 13, 2013 - April 14, 2013
Lexington, KY

When I tell people how much I absolutely love the city of Lexington, it never fails that I get a strange look from the Northerners that I am surrounded by on a daily basis.  I may have been born and raised in Northwest Indiana, but my heart truly does belong in Lexington, Kentucky.  Before you follow suit of those around me and start asking "why don't you just live there?", know that my husband has had to relocate us twice for work (once from Muncie, IN to New Albany, IN and once from New Albany to back up north where we were raised).  Both relocations ended in a layoff.  Now, he refuses to relocate ever again.  It truly does sadden my heart.  Northwest Indiana was a great place to grow up, but everyday I live here I am not entirely happy.  People begin to question why I travel so much and I hope that this gives you some insight into that query.  Whenever I can get away from this place, I take advantage of it - especially if my destination is my favorite city.

It is no secret how much I love University of Kentucky baseball (well, unless you are a new reader and just joining in all of my crazy adventures).  After seeing the team during Regionals in Gary in 2012, I knew I had to actually make it down to Lexington to see them play, it was just a matter of choosing which weekend to make the six hour trip.

Hudson Valley Renegades jersey that Michael Williams
wore during his first and only MiLB season

After contemplating the schedule, I saw that the Wildcats would be playing Tennessee at home.  I knew that former Wildcat, Michael Williams, had a brother that pitched for UT and that Michael had been attending a good amount of his brother's games.  If you recall, Michael is one of the WIldcats that I had traveled to New York to see play with his minor league team after he had been drafted.  Additionally, when the team auctioned off the game worn jerseys, I became the proud owner of the #35 Hudson Valley Renegades Away Jersey (I had seen them play in an away series because a friend of mine worked for the opposing team) - AKA, the jersey Michael had worn during the three games I had attended in New York.  I knew that if Michael happened to be going to the UK v. UT series, I could bring it with me and get it signed by him.  And even though he is no longer playing (that's a different story for a different day), the jersey would always bring back the memories of my trip to New York and my conversations with this former Bat Cat.  To some, it may seem silly to choose a series to attend based on the attendance of a person who could possibly not even be there.  However, I knew that if I was ever going to get that jersey autographed, that would be one of the sparse moments that it could happen.

After determining this particular series as the best weekend for me to attend, I made a great realization.  The 2013 Spring Football Game would be happening that very same weekend and it was going to be BIG with a lot of excitement for the football program drawn from the fact that UK has gotten new football coach, Mark Stoops.  This was just the annual Blue v. White scrimmage but the interest to see what Stoops was going to do with this team was high.  Ticket sales were through the roof compared to the previous year (more on that later).  This scrimmage meant that I would not only get to see one UK team play this particular weekend, but two!  You see, I am a true fan that bleeds blue for ALL Kentucky athletics, not just their ever so popular basketball team.

I began to make my plans for the weekend by buying my tickets and getting my hotel.  I would be meeting a friend, Beth, from Huntington, WV who is not only a Kentucky fan, but a Backstreet Boys fan as well!  I had invited Tammy, my usual Kentucky travel mate, to join me for the weekend, but she had been unable to make the trip.

When a workshop was offered to me the Friday I was supposed to head down to Lexington, I decided to take advantage of attending.  The workshop would allow me to rearrange my schedule to get off work earlier than if I worked a regular day AND it was about 45 minutes closer to Lexington.  Why wouldn't I take advantage of those two things?  The workshop itself was also good so there were no regrets going.

As usual when I head anywhere south, I stayed with a friend in the Louisville area on Friday night so that I could continue my trip to Lexington the next morning.  And as always - Indiana was as boring as ever to drive through.

Beth and I had made plans to grab lunch at Tolly Ho for some amazing burgers before heading to the ballpark so that we could catch batting and fielding practice....well, after a small detour to the Wildcat Wearhouse to browse their University of Kentucky gear.  We got to the ballpark shortly after the gates opened and Kentucky was taking their batting practice.  Unfortunately, my streak of sitting right behind the dugout was ended, as there is no seating in that area at Cliff Hagan Stadium and we had general admission tickets which is seating further up in the stands.  I realized I was going to have to deal with another stupid net in my photography (I had this same problem the previous weekend when I had gone to a minor league game to see a former Wildcat).  The camera likes to focus on the net in the foreground, rather than the subject in the background.  When it does work properly, there is a stupid net in all the photos!  Oh well, I guess there is nothing I can do about that.

Beth and me at the UK v. UT baseball game

While waiting for the game to start, we started a nice conversation with an older couple sitting behind us.  After telling them that I had come from Indiana and Beth had come from West Virginia and discussing our love for all UK teams, we were asked if Mitch Barnhart (the athletic director at Kentucky) knew we existed.  I agree with the guy that Mitch should totally give us jobs...I don't know what we would do but he wouldn't even have to pay me as long as lodging, food, and access to all games were provided.  I'm just saying, that would be awesome.

I was on constant look out for Michael, as well as the mom of Kentucky player, Austin Cousino.  We had been talking since Regionals on Facebook when she contacted me to thank me for the photos I had taken.  I eventually spotted Michael talking to some of the players by the dugout so I wanted to wait until he was done catching up with everyone that he knew....and there were a lot of them as he made his way around the park talking to fans, family members of the players, and friends.  I eventually saw an opening to grab my jersey and go talk to him.  He signed my Renegades jersey and my photo with him from my New York trip.  We then had what I thought was a very nice discussion.  We talked about  Luke and the Hot Rods since I had just seen the team play the previous weekend (many of the Hot Rods were on the Renegades with Michael).  We also talked about some things that made me feel a little less bitter that he had been released from the Renegades.  However, knowing that I might not get to see Michael play baseball in the future still makes me a bit sad.  He was a great ball player.  After our nice conversation, we got another photo together.  It is always truly a pleasure seeing and talking to Michael and I am grateful that he is just a genuine good guy.

Former Wildcat, Michael Williams, and his autographed jersey and photo

After months of waiting to see these Wildcats play in person, the game finally began.  They had a nice crowd since the Spring Football game was later that day.  Many fans actually left early from the baseball game to head to the football game and boy did they miss out on the end of a great game, even though Kentucky lost.  With one out left in the bottom of the ninth, Kentucky was trailing by five runs and bases loaded for the second time in the inning.  A grand slam by AJ Reed brought us within one but we fell short in our 9th inning rally.

Not only did I get to see the grand slam by AJ Reed, who is a fellow Hoosier from Terre Haute, but Max Kuhn who is also from the state of Indiana, had a home run of his own.  As much as I hate living in the state of Indiana, it feels good when those raised in the same state are successful wherever they go.

After the baseball game, we still had plenty of time to do the short walk from Cliff Hagan Stadium to Commonwealth Stadium for the Spring Football game.  When we got there, the gates weren't even open yet so we did some exploring and found the UK Alumni Association tent.  Beth is an alumni association member, but for a mere $10 I received enterance and access to the food, music, and prizes (I won a UK waterbottle which I was quite excited about).

Beth and me at the 2013 UK Spring Football Game

I hadn't been to a football game in a couple of years so I was so excited to be back at Commonwealth Stadium to see the Wildcats play, even if they were just playing against themselves since it was a scrimmage.  There was a lot of excitement surrounding this Spring Game because of the new football coach, Mark Stoops, and the promise of a much better season than those the team has had recenetly because of hiring him.  This was my first Spring Game and I could not believe how many people were there!  I actually think there were more people at this Spring Game than at the last regular game I attended.  In fact, they completely blew 2012's attendance out of the water!

If the above photo isn't enough to convince you about how excited the Big Blue Nation was for this Mark Stoops era, let me give you another perspective on this attendance.  The estimated crowd for this game was about 7,600 more than the largest crowd at a regular season game in 2012.  So, there were more fans at a SCRIMMAGE than an actual GAME from the previous year.  The attendance at this game also completely annihilated the previous attendance record of 20,325, set in 1987.  Of the 14 teams in the SEC, UK beat out nine of them in attendance.  The previous year, Kentucky came in dead last in attendance for the spring game.  What is even more impressive was that of the 14 teams, Kentucky had the greatest increase in attendance from the previous year - by almost 6,000 people ahead of Auburn (who had the greatest attendance of all SEC schools).  Hopefully, I have now gotten my point across at just how electrified this stadium was.

It was nice to see what the season was going to have in store for us as we watched the two sides scrimmage.  Hearing the air raid sirens go off each time a team scored brought an excitement back to Commonwealth Stadium that had not been heard and felt in years.  It was an excitement that had been growing since the following commercial had aired earlier in the year...

As can be expected, there were some mistakes out on the field.  Overall, fans got great insight into what the upcoming football season will hold.  After going into the half tied at 10, the Blue team came out the victors 24-23 when the White team's two-point conversion pass attempt failed.

2013 UK Spring Football Game

Four members of the 2012-2013 UK Men's Basketball Team

Not only did I get UK Baseball AND UK football in one day, but some of the UK basketball team was seen cheering along the sideline, as well.

Plus, there was plenty of spirit in the stands.  As a matter of fact, one of my favorite moments was when The Wave graced Commonwealth Stadium and just kept going and going and going.  After a disappointing football season the previous year and an even more disappointing 2012-2013 basketball season, it was great to see the Big Blue Nation excited about something again!

After an amazing day of Kentucky athletics, Beth and I weren't quite ready to leave the campus that we both love so much.  We made our way over to the Wildcat Coal Lodge, which houses the men's basketball team and thought for a moment that we might get to see some Wildcats in the middle of a pickup game as we passed by a basketball court and saw that it was in use.  We were kind of disappointed when those players turned out to be nobody special.  After some pictures with the legendary Coach Joe B. Hall, we made our way over to the student center.

Statue of Coach Joe B. Hall outside of the Coal Lodge

Beth, Coach Hall, and me

 On the way to the student center, I showed some love for my Bat Cats...

...and represented my love for all the Wildcats at Kentucky by giving the new Wildcat statue on campus some love...

It was finally time to end our day of fun and get some much needed rest for the next day of fun at the ballpark, where we would both get to see our favorite Wildcat, Corey Littrell, pitch.  Beth made her way back to her friends as I took the short trip to my hotel and it's incredibly hard bed.

Beth and I met the next morning at Ramsay's, where I just couldn't quite bring myself to order a Kentucky Hot Brown that early in the morning.  However, their breakfast was HUGE and I knew I wasn't going to have to eat again until dinner time.  We decided that there was one more place we needed to go together...we needed to go visit a legend.

Coach Adolph Rupp is buried in the Lexington Cemetary

It was such a perfect day for a baseball game.  I might have gone a bit overboard at the merchandise stand, where I bought three more Kentucky baseball shirts to add to my already large Wildcat wardrobe.  While walking my merchandise back out to the car, I realized I had parked in the wrong parking lot.  It just so happened that I was able to move and park right next to some of the Wildcat parents that were tailgating before the game started.  I had, of course, already met some of them between the day before and during regionals last year in Gary, but it was cool to get to meet more of them.  They made me feel right at home among them as a fellow Wildcat baseball fan.

Unfortunately, this game wasn't nearly as exciting as the previous day due to the fact that Tennessee was able to shut out the Wildcats and win 5-0.  While the game had been scoreless in the first five innings, four Tennessee batters in a row reached base in the sixth - scoring three runs.

I had been looking forward to seeing Corey Littrell pitch again since I had decided to go to Lexington for this series.  He pitched 7.1 innings, allowing eight hits and five runs.  He walked two and struck out three.  So, it wasn't his greatest outing but I was still happy to see him play.  Having a pitcher as your favorite player can be difficult since they play so rarely.  You have to stand behind them 100% during that one day a week where they do play.

Every Sunday when the Bat Cats are playing an SEC team, they have an autograph session after the game.  I think this was the part that I was looking forward to the most.  Beth had gotten me a team poster during one of her many trips to see the basketball team play that season but it had gotten a little beat up in the transition from her to me.  Luckily, they had fresh new team posters there awaiting to be autographed.  When I had seen former Wildcat, Luke Maile play just a few short days before in South Bend, he had asked me to tell everyone that he said "hello."  So, as I went down the line, I informed all of those he had played with the previous year of his message.

My signed and framed 2013 UK Baseball Poster

Corey was all the way towards the end of the line and I had the photo we had taken together at Regionals for him to sign.  He didn't appear to be in the greatest mood because when I asked him how he was doing, he had replied with, "I'm hanging in there."  I'm sure he was probably disappointed with his pitching outing that day so I wasn't going to push anything any further.  When I was finished getting all of my autographs I decided that I was going to try to wait for Corey to possibly get another photo.  Many of the families of the players were waiting outside the ball park so I waited, as well.

We waited and waited and waited.  When all of the players appeared to be out of the ball park and the gates were being closed, we headed back to the car.  Corey had never appeared.  There had been another exit that he might have taken...oh well.  As we exited the parking lot, we got a nice little surprise.  Corey was walking down the side walk, crossing right in front of us, with his dad.  I waved out the window and got a wave back.  Beth rolled down her window and I shouted out a request for a photo.  When he agreed, I quickly put the car into park right there in the entry way of the parking lot (luckily there was no one around because everyone was already gone), hopped out, and had his dad take the photo (thanks again Jack).  I absolutely love the photo and think it might be one of my favorites with the two of us.  I thanked him again for everything and went on my way.

Corey Littrell and me

After dropping Beth at her car, I started the six hour drive back to Northwest Indiana.  It had been an amazing weekend in my favorite city, filled with some of my favorite things.  I made a very important decision on my drive back north....next year I wanted to earn myself a Cliff Dweller shirt.  I was certain that I did not go another season without travelling down to Lexington to see the Bat Cats play.

You can see my entire album of photos from this weekend HERE.

**Title Credit - "The One" - Backstreet Boys - Millennium **

Aaron C.'s in the house...

** Aaron Carter - The After Party Tour**

Mojoe's - Joliet, IL

March 24, 2013

During my New Year's Eve adventures this year, while I was on the East Coast, my Backstreet Girls and I saw Aaron Carter in "The Fantasticks."  Afterwards, I met him for the first time and he was as sweet as could be.  While I had listened to some of his music when I was younger because he was the brother of Backstreet Boy, Nick Carter, that was the extent of my fandom.  When Aaron told me he would be in the Chicago area for his After Party tour when I met him, I knew I had to go.  Sure enough, he released a date in Joliet, just outside of Chicago.  Not long after posting about the show to see who wanted to go with me, I was contacted by a Facebook friend, Michelle (not the same Michelle from my New York Baseball Bonanza), who was a HUGE Aaron fan growing up.  We both decided to splurge for his VIP since the actual show ticket was only $15 and the VIPs were MUCH cheaper than I'm used to paying for BSB.  I was disappointed when I found out that the VIP would be after the general admission show.  For my last GA show that I did with VIP (Nick Carter's I'm Taking Off Tour), the VIP was before the show and then those who had VIP were the first to re-enter after the M&G for the show.  With this VIP being after the show, we were going to have to get there early to stand in line to get a good spot.  We knew the venue was tiny but when you are short, you don't want to be stuck behind someone taller than you so you can't see.  I actually try to avoid general admission shows if possible but I did want to make sure I saw one of Aaron's shows during this tour.

Joliet is about an hour from where I live but Michelle and her friend, Sam, had to drive an hour to get to my house.  Since we wanted to be sure to get a good spot, we planned on leaving my house around 11am, get to the venue, and scope out the line situation.  Our plan was to then determine whether we would get in line or go grab lunch.  When the day of the show finally came about, the weather forecast was calling for temperatures in the 30s and snow!  I was not too happy about this because I had spent the day before freezing my butt of at a wrestling event that I had gone to with my husband that was held at an ice rink.  We still left my house early, but it was more like 11:30/noon, and we had a few stops to make before we actually headed out.  We got into Joliet around one and found free parking easily thanks to the parking garage for the Harrah's Casino that was right down the street.  When we had driven by the venue we saw that there were only about seven girls in line.  We determined that sitting out in the cold wasn't worth it at that point...those girls looked really cold.  We made our way over to the casino and spent some time on the slot machines.  I probably have the worst luck ever when it comes to gambling in casinos so I only put in five dollars in one of the penny slots and when that was gone, I was done.

Michelle and her Joliet Easter Parade bread

We spent about an hour in the casino before we headed back towards the venue to check out the line situation again.  The same girls were there but right on that street, there was a parade (we later discovered it was an Easter parade)!  I had noticed some streets blocked off when we had come into town but I had thought that maybe it was for the venue because of the show.  We had originally gone across the street to a restaurant/bar called The Department but when we found out that they didn't open for another hour, we sat in their little entry way to watch the parade, which blocked us perfectly from the cold wind.  When we saw that one of the floats was throwing out bread instead of candy, Michelle bolted out of the vestibule and tried her hardest to get the attention of one of the parade walkers.  She was successful and now we will always have the story about how Michelle caught bread at the Joliet Easter Parade while we were waiting to see Aaron Carter.

About 15 minutes before The Department opened, one of the employees (I'm pretty sure it was probably the manager or maybe an owner, but I will call him the manager for all future purposes) decided to let us in so we could get out of the cold, although we were not going to be able to order food yet.  We asked if we could sit right by the windows that looked out at Mojoes so that we could keep an eye on the line.  He gladly led us there and we were happy because we got to keep an eye on the line situation in a warm place while all of those other girls froze.  We all decided that we would get a martini as we waited but we weren't sure if we wanted to eat because we had grabbed something to eat on the way.  However, we didn't know when we would have to actually line up for the show and, therefore, didn't know if we would actually get the chance to eat dinner.  We finally decided on splitting some spinach artichoke dip and each getting a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup.  Both were delicious.  We all started with one martini (the pineapple upside down martini was just like eating the cake version), which turned into two, then three.  I appeared to be a little quicker than the other girls and was able to fit a fourth in there.  The line appeared to be growing slightly and we became very interested when we saw a few vans pull up, which we later discovered were for the opening acts.  Then, out of nowhere, an SUV drove by with none other than Aaron Carter hanging out the passenger side window to say hello to everyone who was waiting in line.  Before Sam and I knew what was going on, Michelle was gone from the table and out the door!  The manager came over and told us that she could have gotten there much faster if she had used the side door.  Sam then mentioned how she would have done the same if it were Justin Timberlake (I know, I know, you can't believe I actually let a JT fan in my car).  The manager then told Sam that he probably would have pushed her out of the way if it was JT!  We all had a good laugh at that one.  We noticed all of the other girls that had run after Aaron had made their way back to the line, but there was still no sign of Michelle.  Sam joked that she had probably been put in a squad car and taken away.  A very happy and excited Michelle finally made her way back to the restaurant with a story of talking to Trey, one of the back up dancers.  She later told us that she doesn't think that she even looked as she had run across the street so she's lucky she didn't get splattered by a car.

They need to get a new sign
that tells the correct temp

When we saw the line getting longer (about 25 or so people), we decided it was finally time to make our way out into the cold to stand in line.  Although with a few drinks in us, we decided it probably would not affect us much even though we had two hours before the doors opened.  Michelle got into the line while Sam and I made a trip back to the car to grab the signs they had made and drop off a few things.  On our way back, Aaron was standing by the side door and yelled out at us.  We yelled back and waved, happy to have that moment just to ourselves.  We made some friends in line as we all huddled with one another to stay warm.  The sign above us said that it was 42 degrees.  However, I just looked at the weather details and it was actually 34 degrees, with winds at 20-23 miles per hour, making it feel like 22 degrees.  42 degrees my butt!

Michelle, Sam, and Me

At some point during our two hours of waiting, Michelle made her way back into The Department to charge her phone.  When she came back, Sam and I made our way back into the restaurant for a bathroom break.  We may or may not have also had another martini.  Luckily, the venue opened right after it was supposed to at 6:30, with the show starting at 7:00.  We found a spot in the front on the far right side of the stage.

We had talked to some people in the restaurant earlier that were with Petrel, one of the opening acts, and they had informed us that there would be five opening acts...yes, you read that right, FIVE!  Who needs FIVE opening acts?  I liked most of the acts and did not hate any of them so that did not make it as bad as it could have been.  However, we were right by the speakers where we were standing so I started to get a slight headache.  After the third act, I texted some of my Backstreet Girls who had already seen Aaron on the East Coast to ask them why Aaron felt it necessary to have five opening acts.  That is when I learned that Aaron had tweeted that he would be on at 10 (I don't have Twitter access on my phone so it took one of the girls I had texted to tell me).  The other two acts go on and 10 o'clock comes and goes, then 10:15 and 10:30.  Finally, at 10:45 Aaron finally started.  So, I am going to let you do the math:  the first act went on at 7:00 and then Aaron went on at 10:45.  That's right, that was almost 4 HOURS of waiting for the person we had come to see.  You could tell that people were getting angry each time a new song was played between the last opening act and Aaron because a round of "Boo" would resonate throughout the venue.

By this point Sam and I had been moved from pretty much the front of the crowd to about the fifth row.  We had been standing by the stairs that led upstairs and each time the security guards kicked girls off the stairs and told everyone to move over to let them in, we got shuffled further and further back.  Michelle, though, stayed at the front (we had been standing behind her which is why we tended to get moved around and she didn't).  To make matters worse, I had a giant in front of me!  Seriously, she had to have been at least 6 feet tall and I could see NOTHING over or around her.  Every time that I was able to work my way to not be right behind her, the security guards shifted us and she would end up right in front of me again.  I was so frustrated at that AND the fact that we had to wait almost four hours for Aaron to finally come on.  It also did not help that I had done a pretty hard leg workout just two days before this and I was still extremely sore even before the six hours of standing (two in line and four once we got in the venue).  There was also a girl behind us who kept arguing with the girls next to us for cutting in front of her.  Each time an opening act would stop playing, the girl behind us would go at it again with the girls, who didn't seem to care what she had to say.  I thought several times there were going to be punches thrown.

Once Aaron finally did get onstage, the show was great!  Although, it was a little shorter than what I am used to since he was only on stage for an hour.  Yep, that's 4 hours of waiting in the venue for a one hour show.  The show was very fast paced, which was great and he sang all of his hits.  Luckily, I was able to work my way out from behind the giant for the most part and was able to see most of the show, unless he came over to our side of the stage where she would then be right in my line of vision.  Also, she had a boy with her that had to have been about eight or nine that she would keep picking up throughout the show so that he could see over the girls in front of him.  I still don't understand why you would bring someone that young to a general admission show like this one.  Since I was able to see most of the concert, I was able to get a few of my favorites on video...

"Another Earthquake"

"America AO"

Medley - "Bounce/I Would/IKO IKO/To All The Girls"

Aaron Carter is all grown up....

"That's How I Beat Shaq"

"I Want Candy"

"Aaron's Party (Come Get It)"

There were a few other moments that stuck out in my mind.  During "I'm All About You," Aaron's dancers picked two girls to come up on stage.  Quick fact I found interesting:  My maiden name is the same as the last name of Aaron's dancers, who are brothers.  During this song, Aaron got very close to both girls and even kissed them both right on the lips.  Okay, so one of the girls actually kissed him first.

One of the girls actually got picked because she had a "Happy Birthday Nikko" sign.  Nikko is one of Aaron's dancers and at one point Aaron, Nikki Flores (opening act), and Petrel (another opening act) brought out some cupcakes for Nikko.  Aaron then proceeded to shove the cupcakes into Nikko's face.  It was quite funny.

While I feel this show was much different than the Nick Carter show I had seen last February, there were times where Aaron reminded me so much of his big brother when he sang.  Aaron's show was much more upbeat than Nick's with the songs and the choreographed dancing.

Signed Aaron Carter poster

Once the show had finally finished, it was close to midnight but Michelle and I still had a VIP to do (Sam had not gotten one).  The VIP included a signed poster, a photo with Aaron, and the ability for him to sign one additional item.  Aaron had announced during the show that they would be doing a special after party after the meet and greet and sent the concert goers to the merchandise stand for more information.  Guess where we had to go to check in for our VIPs?  We stood in line waiting for a woman who appeared to have no idea what was going on and was waiting for the check in list, even though we all had our online receipts that said we had purchased a VIP.  People just seemed too frustrated with the whole situation because we had already had to wait so long for the show to start and then had to wait longer people to get their act together to get us checked in.  One woman was arguing with the woman checking us in because she had originally been told to go somewhere else for check in so she had been redirected several times and was not happy about it.  Short tempers just happened to be coming out all around us.  I overheard that the after party was $100 but did include an open bar.  We did not even consider going.  It was late, Michelle had class the next morning, and Sam had to work (I had been lucky enough to have off the next day).  After finally getting our VIP arm band (I always prefer the VIP laminates instead because they are a great keepsake), we made our way over to the stairs to await further instruction.  Normally, I like to be in the back for a M&G because I find you might have a little more time for conversation since you are the last person.  However, we honestly just wanted to get the meet and greet done with so that we could get out of there.  I would say that we were about the fourth and fifth person in line and it wasn't until we were leaving that we saw how long the line was.  From the photos that were posted later (that is a whole different story), I would say there were approximately 85 or so people with VIPs.  Our legs were so tired by then that we decided to sit right there on the floor to wait until we were led upstairs, even though I saw all of the garbage and drinks that had been spilled on it.  At that point, I just didn't care and found what looked to be a somewhat clean area.

Signed NY photo

Michelle was extremely nervous because of how much she truly loves Aaron (I know exactly how she feels because I still get tongue tied when I talk to Brian) so she asked that I go first.  I was wearing my "Fantasticks" shirt I had gotten when I had seen the play in New York in hopes that it would be a good conversation piece since I really did not know what to say to Aaron.  I was right!  When I walked around the background to see Aaron sitting there, our conversation went somewhere along the lines of this (not word for word)s:

Aaron:  The Fantasticks?!  Did you see it?
Me:  I did, while I was in New York in December (as I handed him the photo we had taken after that show).
Aaron:  You sure did (after seeing the photo).  This was a lot different wasn't it?
Me:  It was but I loved seeing you be able to accomplish two completely different things.  It's great to see your versatility.

The entire time he was looking straight into my eyes and was completely focused on me and what I had to say.  There was no rushing like there has been in any other VIP I have done.  I set down my stuff so that I wouldn't be holding it in my photo and then we posed for our picture.  I thanked him for his time and as I went to go hug him he kissed me on the cheek.  I had not been expecting that!  Never in a million years did I ever think that my first celebrity kiss would be from Aaron Carter (Brian has some making up to do).

I waited on Michelle, who was on cloud nine when she got done talking to Aaron, and we finally got out of the venue about 1am.  As I said before, the line was still very long and with the amount of time he seemed to be spending with his fans, I cannot even imagine what time those last people got out of there and the after party started.

When we left the venue we had to walk through a nice half inch or so of snow to get to the parking garage.  I was glad that it waited to really snow while we were in the venue, instead of the two hours we had been waiting in line.

I was glad that I didn't have to work the next day because I was just sore from standing and tired.  I have to say that it is also the first time after a show that I wasn't thinking to myself that I had to go to another show soon.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but there were so many things that made the entire experience frustrating enough for me to just be satisfied with seeing him the one time.  Part of it could be that I did not grow up as a fan if his so it is just not quite the same as going to see someone like the Backstreet Boys (I may be able to test this hypothesis a bit more in July when I go to see Big Time Rush).  Yes, I like Aaron's music and he is a great performer but you all know how I feel about BSB and their music.

My VIP Photo

The next thing we had to do was wait on our VIP photos to be posted on Aaron's Facebook page.  The next day came and went without the photos being uploaded that had been promised.  It was the same for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  During the week, the Tuesday show had their photos posted on Wednesday.  Michelle and I thought it very strange that a show after us had their photos posted before not only our show, but the Louisville show, which had been the day before ours.  To make matters worse, Friday brought about the uploading of the Wednesday and Thursday shows...still no Sunday night VIP photos.  Then, we really started to get scared when Aaron made an announcement on his Facebook page that the camera that had taken the Louisville VIPs was "missing."  We began to wonder whether or not the Joliet photos had also been on that camera.  I also started to think that between the wait at the venue and this news, Aaron's management needed to get it together for the rest of this tour.  They were offering either a full refund of the VIP or a VIP at another show for those in Louisville who were not going to have their photos now.  I thought that was the correct thing for them to do in this situation.  Luckily, later that day, the Joliet photos appeared on the page!  We finally had our VIP photos four days after we had been promised them.  While others have told me that my photo is cute, I am not completely happy with it.  I think I might like it slightly better if he wasn't just sitting there and had his arm around me or something.  I definitely like my New York photo with him much more.

Will I go see Aaron again?  Not on this tour.  I will probably go to future tours, especially if he were to come out with new music.  I'm not sure that I would do a VIP again since I've done one now.  This is one of those situations that now that I have had the experience I don't feel like I need to have it again unless the perks you get with it changed.  For example, if the VIP was before the show and included a soundcheck and first reentry into the GA show, I might consider it.  For now, I am happy I had this experience and got to meet some new friends in the process.

Title Credit:  "Aaron's Party (Come Get It) - Aaron Carter - Aaron's Party (Come Get It)

Just like a perfect dream, I don't ever wanna leave...

**Brow Down, Goggles Up - We Brought Eight Back to Rupp**

2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four

New Orleans, LA

March 31, 2012 - April 2, 2012

The 2011-2012 University of Kentucky basketball season could be summed up in one word....AMAZING!  In mid-March I had been lucky enough to see the Wildcats play in Round 3 of March Madness in Louisville (check out my Looking at the crowd entry).  If that was the only game I attended for the season, I was going to be happy...although it was constantly at the back of my mind that the Final Four just happened to be during the Spring Break at the school I worked for.  UK went on from Round 3 to face Indiana University in the Sweet 16...the same Indiana University that gave UK one of their two losses.  I had decided that if Kentucky won in the Sweet 16, I was going to purchase tickets for the Final Four and Championship games down in New Orleans....and hope that they made it through the Elite Eight so I wouldn't have to sell the tickets I had just bought.

Kentucky ended up winning in the Sweet 16 against IU and I hopped on StubHub and found a ticket for the Final Four and Championship games.  Unlike my Round 3 games in Louisville, I decided not to take the chance of buying two tickets since I didn't have anyone in mind to make the trip down with me.  I was going to be making the trip by myself...as long as they won in the Elite 8 against Baylor.  I was going to make sure that everyone I knew was cheering for Kentucky in this game to ensure that they moved onto the Final Four.  I was going to be so mad if I had bought the tickets and they ended up not making it.  I made sure that I even tweeted Brian to ensure that he was cheering for his Wildcats.  To my surprise, he even tweeted me back...my first chirp from Brian Littrell!  This might have made me even more excited than the fact that I would be going to the Final Four if Kentucky won.  I mean, not only was it a tweet from Brian, but it was a tweet about the University of Kentucky Wildcats...it was my two favorite things in one.

Kentucky ended up going on to beat Baylor...they were making the trip to the Final Four for the second year in a row AND they would be facing one of their biggest rivals...the University of Louisville.  It was going to be the Battle of the Bluegrass in New Orleans.  I was just so happy to be able to be going to the Final Four, but the fact that they were going to be playing U of L made me even more excited because of the rivalry that these two schools have.  The next week of work was going to go by so slow and I desperately needed Spring Break (most people who work in a school setting know this feeling well).  The Final Four game was going to be held on the first Saturday of my Spring Break and the Championship game on the Monday.

Flying was going to be out of the question because flights were about $200 each way.  I was going to have to make a 16 hour minimum drive down to NOLA by myself.  There was no way I was going to be able to spend that much money on this trip.  There was also no way I was going to pay $200 a night to stay at a hotel in New Orleans, at least for those hotels that happened to still have room (which was not very many).  A hotel an hour outside of the city was booked instead.  It was going to be a long drive but I couldn't really take the Friday off before Spring Break because of my work responsibilities so I was going to have to leave striaght from work at 6pm, which would get me to New Orleans at 10am on Saturday at the earliest if I made no stops along the way.  We all know that was never going to happen. 

Michigan City, IN -> New Orleans, LA

Luckily, I was able to leave work an hour early on Friday but I still didn't get out of the city until 6pm because of a short stop I had to make in order to show that I was a proud member of the Big Blue Nation.  My car was ready to go and so was I!  My next stop...New Orleans, LA.

Proud Member of the Big Blue Nation - Kentucky Wildcats - Final 4

Go Big Blue!

Nothing really exciting happened on the drive down, which can be a good thing compared to some of my past road trip surprises.  I had a whole discography of Backstreet Boys to listen to and I made sure to stop often at every rest stop, since I was getting tired.  About half way to New Orleans, I decided that I needed to sleep for a bit before I continued on.  While the game was not until the evening, doors opened at 2pm and I wanted to make sure I got there as close to that as possible since I was in a new city and did not know what traffic was going to be like.  This meant that I could only sleep for about 3 hours and I wasn't about to get a hotel for that little amount of time.  So, once I crossed over into Missouri, I found a rest stop, crawled into the back seat, set my alarm, and slept.  With so little sleep, I was going to have to rely on adrenaline and excitement to get me to NOLA.  At 5am, I continued my trip and it was at this point that I started running into Final Four traffic, displayed by the flags, magnets, and car decorations.  Fellow Wildcat fans honked as we passed one another and I only got flipped off once...by a Kansas fan, go figure (there will be more about that later).

I got to the hotel at about 1pm and got cleaned up quickly (19 hours after having left home the day before).  I still had an hour drive to get to the arena and had no idea what traffic was going to be like since I had been told that New Orleans traffic is not much fun.  However, I had absolutely no problems getting to the arena.  Maybe it was because I was there earlier than most since the first games didn't start for several hours.  As I parked I couldn't believe I was actually there...I mean there was a very strong possibility that I was going to get to see my favorite team win the NCAA championship, something that was definetly on my bucket list. 

I was going to get to see two games that evening.  First was the University of Kentucky against the University of Louisville.  The second game was going to be Kansas University against The Ohio State University.  One reason I enjoy getting to games early is because I enjoy watching the warm ups of the teams, it is just that little bit extra that you pay for in your ticket but not a lot of people take advantage of.  As the arena started filling up, I started to meet the people around me.  One thing I learned about the Final Four is that there are people who come from all over who had bought tickets very early on hoping their teams had made it this far in the tournament.  When their teams do not make it, many of them still come anyway.  To my left was a couple who were fellow Kentucky fans.  At least I wasn't going to be completely by myself in rooting for the Wildcats.  To my right was the gentleman who had sold my ticket on Stub Hub to me because one of his party could not come.  They were from New York and were Syracuse fans.  The people in front of me were Texas fans and then there were some VERY rude Kansas fans in front of them.  Behind me were some Ohio State fans. 

It was finally time for the game to start.  Monica sang the National Anthem and the starting lineups were announced and whoever had made Baylor's bright yellow uniforms for the tournament must have also made University of Louisville's neon  red/orange unifroms.

Starting Lineup - Terrance Jones #3, Doron Lamb #20, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist #14
Anthony Davis #23, Marquis Teague #25

Time to get the show on the road!

Even though UK had only lost 2 games the entire season, U of L was not going to make the game easy for Kentucky.  Louisville outrebounded Kentucky 40-33 with a 16-9 advantage on offensive rebounds, the main reason Louisville was able to keep up with Kentucky.  However, Kentucky was not going to let Louisville win this game and they played hard...so hard that Anthony Davis went flying off of the court twice, making it all the way into the media row once.  Whenever one team made a run, the other team answered with their own.  Kentucky went into halftime leading by 13 points. 

Marquis Teague for 2

Anthony Davis going over the defender

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist driving the lane

Darius Mille driving the lane

However, Louisville came out in the second half with a 15-3 run and a 3-pointer to tie the game at 49 with 9:11 to play.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who had only played 23 minutes due to foul problems was not going to let this happen and made back to back baskets.  The Wildcats then regained control when Jones scored on a jumper and Miller made only the second Wildcat 3-pointer of the game.  Just so Louisville wouldn't get any wild notions of a late comeback, Kidd-Gilchrist threw down a monstorous dunk with 1:05 left to play.  The Kentucky crowd was on their feet and we were one step closer to a championship after shooting 57% and beating Louisville 69-61.

Kentucky fights for the rebound

Darius Miller takes it up the court

Anthony Davis fights two Louisville players under the basket

Terrance Jones drives to the basket

Kentucky celebrates - headed into the championship game!

As I mentioned earlier, the Kansas fans in front of me were very rude.  As the clock ticked down to zero of the Kentucky game, they turned around and started flipping off all of the Kentucky fans behind them and stating how the team is all a bunch of "one and dones" anyway.  Their team hadn't even played yet and I honestly think they knew that if they were going to have to play Kentucky, they were going to get beat.  It wasn't just that but just a lot of the things they were saying during the game as well.  So, I did the rational thing during the next game of the evening and cheered as best as I could for Ohio State.  The Ohio State fans that were behind me were great.  They were good sports about everything, to the point where they were teasing their own team when they made mistakes.  Unfortunately, Kansas came out on top and I hoped that those Kansas fans would not be there for the championship game.

I took the hour drive back to my hotel but I was too pumped to sleep even though I was way sleep deprived.  Luckily, the next day was just a day of relaxation since the championship game was on Monday.  I had originally planned on possibly going to explore the city but I decided that since I was by myself, it wouldn't be a great idea...nor would it be much fun.  So I slept a good part of the day, which felt amazing because of the little sleep I had gotten with the drive down and the stress I had been under at work.  I did find a little local restaurant for dinner and had my fill of some Cajun cuisine with a nice sampler platter.  I was also extremely lucky that the city I was staying in happened to have the theater chain for which I happened to have free movie passes.  So for the first time in my life, I went to a movie by myself.  I saw The Lorax because I am absolutely in love with Zac Efron and even a movie with just his voice makes me happy.

Then Monday came....Championship game day!!!  I was so absolutely pumped.  I left the hotel in plenty of time to get to the dome for the Final-Four Tip Off Tailgate at Champions Square where there would be a pep rally and a performance by Better Than Ezra.  I knew of the group but can't tell you any of their songs.  However, it was free so I wasn't going to pass it up.  A DJ got the crowd going...a crowd of mostly Wildcat fans.  The sky grew darker and darker and darker....and then it started to rain.  Okay it wasn't just rain...it was a flat out storm with thunder and lightening.  Therefore, the pep rally and Better Than Ezra performances were cancelled (that's what you get with outdoor events though).  The small crowd that was there headed up to the Superdome but all we could do was wait since the doors were not open yet.  Luckily, the crowd wasn't super huge yet so the staff allowed us to get under the over hang to stay out of the downpour.  Bolts of lightening struck not far from the dome and the thunder was deafening.  They decided to let us into the arena early to get us out of the weather hazards.  Since I was able to stay under the over hang and was there early, I stayed dry for the most part....I could not say the same for the people from Syracuse that set next to me that were soaked to the bone right before the game.

Since I was in the arena early, I got to see the student practicing their flash mobs that they were going to perform later.  I only recorded the Kentucky student section (which, by the way was way fuller than the Kansas student section) when they performed it during the game.

UK Student Section Flashmob - Party Rock Anthem

This was it, the moment I had been waiting for all season...the moment that the University of Kentucky was going to return to their rightful place as champions and be able to raise their 8th National Championship banner...we just had to get through the game with the Kansas Jayhawks.  The storm was so bad outside that you could actually here the thunder inside the arena, even over the roar of the crowd and speakers.

This game wasn't going to be easy, much like the Louisville game had not been easy, but I knew this group of guys had the fight in them.  It didn't help that Kansas had been fighting all season long in come from behind victories and that Anthony Davis did not have a good shooting night (just 1 for 10 with his only shot falling with 5 minutes left to go in the second half).  However, he showed that he could still contribute to the team with 16 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 assissts, and three steals.  It truly demonstrated how well this team worked together to make something happen.  Luckily Doron Lamb led the team with 22 points, including back-to-back threes to put the Cats up by sixteen with ten minutes left.  I forgot to mention that the very rude Kansas fans from the night before were back this game and they were awfully quiet each time Kentucky got a nice lead.  That felt really good and proved that one really shouldn't run their mouth or else it'll come back to bite you in the butt.

Driving to the hoop

Lamb for 3

Teague driving to the basket

Miller for 3

Moving the ball around the court

Rebounding

Kidd-Gilchrist to the hoop

Wiltjer for 3

Davis over the defense

However, with 1:37 left to go in the game, Kansas had cut the deficit and the Wildcats were only up by 5 points.  It was a two possession ball game with a lot of time for something to go horribly wrong.  Instead I was able to take this footage at the end of the game...

They had done it!  The Wildcats had gone the season only losing 2 games and winning their 8th National Championship.  After 14 years of waiting for the trophy to come back to Lexington (their last championship was in 1998), Kentucky was going to be able to raise another banner at Rupp Arena.  I could not even begin to tell you how excited I was as that confetti came streaming down on the court.  I had actually witnessed one of the greatest teams in college basketball win a national championship.  

I was smiling from ear to ear as the team and the fans partook in the ritual of playing and singing "My Old Kentucky Home," a ritual that occurs after every basketball game, win or lose.  I'm not from Kentucky but it is the place I truly feel the most at home when I'm there so I proudly stand and join the Big Blue Nation in the ritual anytime it happens.  And I'm not going to lie, I totally had tears streaming down my face as this played because I was just so happy to be a part of all of it.

"My Old Kentucky Home"

The celebration continued as the team was presented with the Championship trophy (where I had to crack up when the team decided to tousle Coach Cal's hair) and cut down the nets...

Trophy Presentation

Cutting down the nets

The Celebration Continues

As the celebration would down, I was sad that I was going to have to leave.  I knew celebrating would continue into the evening at the Wildcat's hotel and on Bourbon Street but I also knew the weather was bad, I was by myself, and I had a long journey ahead of me the next day.  I knew I was going to have to go back to the hotel and celebrate on my own.  First, I wanted to make sure all of the celebrating was done at the arena.  I am glad I stayed because as the Wildcats made their way back to their locker room, several of the team members decided that they needed to go show some love to their families.  It was great to see these guys trying to get through the crowd and climbing over seats so that they could get to those that mean the most to them and celebrate with them.

Celebrating with Family

Alas, it was time for me to leave the arena and head out into the stormy night.  As I made the hour trip back to my hotel, my hands would not stop shaking...I'm pretty sure it was from the excitement and not the fact that bolts of lightening were hitting pretty regularly right off the highway I was on.  I was on a high and I knew that sleep would elude me that night.  It did as I searched the internet for celebrations going on throughout New Orleans and Lexington...wishing I could be there with the masses to help celebrate.  I don't mind going to event alone but I can't help but think about how the trip would have been different had I been there with someone to help me celebrate and share in the happiness that I was feeling.

The next morning, with little sleep, I packed up the car and headed back north.  I was hoping to be able to get home without having to stop to sleep but I was also on very little sleep.  I was excited about two things though...I would be driving through two cities that are the homes of two of my favorite places to eat.

My first stop on the way back home was going to be in Memphis to get a burger and sweet tea from Dyer's on Beale Street because they have, simply, the best hamburger out there.  It's not exactly the kind of burger that a health nut would eat, since what makes it so good is the "ageless cooking grease" that the burgers are cooked in.  I scarfed down my burger but knew I had to save room because the real meal would be coming in a few hours...and it was a meal that there had to be room for.  As I drove, I wished that I had gotten a few burgers to go.  Usually, I make sure that I make it down to Memphis once a year (my sorority works very closely with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) but I'm not sure when I will be down that way again.  It would have been nice to have some extra burgers for the week.  

My next stop was a few hours north in Sikeston, Missouri to a place called Lambert's Cafe.  This restaurant has been featured on numerous shows on the Food Network and is a must visit.  They have three or four locations but this is the only one I have ever been too.  Let me tell you why you have to eat at this restaurant....because it is just plain awesome for a number of reasons.  First, you get SO much food.  The dinners usually come with two sides.  Then they have what are called "pass arounds."  Basically servers come around with pots of fried okra, fried potatoes, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, and sorghum for your rolls.  Oh and the dinners are all you can eat.  I've never been able to finish a plate there because the original servings are already huge.  The second thing that makes this place so cool is the food.  Not only do you get a lot of it, but it is your down south, comfort type food.  It is delicious.  And the final thing that makes this place my favorite is the fact that they don't just pass out the rolls with your dinner...they throw them to you across the room.  I mean where else can you get something like that?  It was extremely odd going to a place like this by myself since I'm usually with a whole table full of girls when I go.  However, I did run into some fellow Wildcats and had a nice chat with them after I had finished eating.  I left Lambert's feeling like I normally do...miserable because I just ate way too much.

Because of my lack of sleep the night before, I had to stop in Illinois that evening to sleep.  I had to be at the house early the next morning to be there for the electric company so it was not worth my money once again to get a hotel.  So I found a rest stop, crawled into the back seat, and slept for a few hours...doesn't that sound familiar?  People always ask me how I felt safe enough to do that.  First, there were usually about 10-15 cars at the stops I went to...all with people doing the exact same thing.  Second, these particular rest stops had security in place.  I park in a place that is well lit and I lock my doors.  By doing this I saved about $100 on hotels that I would have only used 3-4 hours at a time.

23 hours after leaving New Orleans, I finally made it home.  My total traveling mileage was 2,034 miles and every single mile and minute I was in that car was worth it.  I wished I had been able to go to Lexington afterwards instead to see the raising of the banner but that just wasn't a possibility.  I was going to just have to be happy with what I witnessed...and trust me that was enough for me!

Title Credit - "Masquerade" - This Is Us - Backstreet Boys