Wandering Aimlessly

This weekend was Nick Weekend. What fun it was!

On Friday, I got to leave work almost two hours early. Got on the road about 4:10, and traffic was awful, so I made it into the city around 6. Everyone was already in line, so I joined them, and met Jenn, Karen, Nadine, Glace, Erica, and two girls I forget the names of (oops), as well as seeing Alicia and Karey again.

The concert was great. Nick gets SO into his music, it's adorable. He covered a few songs I had never heard (but sounded good on them just the same), sang a few Backstreet songs acoustic (sounded really good on those, too), a couple songs that hadn't made his album, and then most of the album. He does very well live. I was impressed. He did introduce "Heart Without a Home," saying it was time to slow it down, when he meant to introduce "My Confession." He got flustered for a moment, laughed, and carried on.

The best moment by far, though, happened when he was singing and bouncing around and being all into his music... He had tipped over the microphone stand (but held on to the mic) a moment before. The stage was a foot or so lower than the heads of the people in front of us (we were in the back), so we couldn't see him from about mid-shin down. All of a sudden, Nick dove at the stage, and all I saw was his rump, shortly followed by his feet arching up over the heads of the crowd. He bolted upright in a "nobody saw that" manner, grinning like a goof, and kept singing. He giggled through the rest of the song. When it was finished, he said "I just busted my ass!" Yes, folks, Nick Carter took a diving fall onto the stage, tripping over his microphone stand, and I will never forget it. SO FUNNY.

He needed better pants. His pants were ugly and unflattering. His tummy, however, is ever-poke-able and ever-tickle-able. I love me some Nick Tummy.

After the show, we headed over to the White Star for Nick's afterparty. Vi3 (a boyband-rap group who opened for Nick) was there. The Guest of Honor showed up a bit later, and we snapped some pictures and basically gazed at him for a bit. He is awfully pretty. And I am twelve.

We went back to the hotel and crashed, then regrouped for lunch at Lou Mitchell's, which is very yummy. Very, very yummy. Everyone but Karey had to leave after lunch, so Karey and I headed out to Woodfield for some Build-A-Bear-ing and some random shopping. We ended up back in the city for dinner at Lalo's with Aarti, Megan, and Megan's friend Craig. Very yummy margaritas, very yummy fried ice cream, passable dinner. But it was okay, because we had a blast at dinner.

Back to the hotel, in the snow, out to Walgreens for Fabreeze and Advil, still in the snow, back to the hotel once again. We rented Princess Bride from the front desk and I fell asleep from my headache.

On Sunday, I said goodbye to Karey and met my mom, Grandma, and sister at the Oriental Theatre for sing-along Wizard of Oz. Don't knock it before you try it. It was one of the most entertaining events I have attended. Half the people were dressed up. We were not. They give you a magic wand to wave whenever magic happens, a bottle of bubbles for when Glinda comes on the screen, a ratchet noisemaker for the Tin Man, and a kazoo for "singing along" to songs without words. We were also encouraged to cheer for the Good Guys, boo the Bad Guys, and bark for Toto. And, of course, to sing along to every song.

It was an experience to be sure. All the kids were adorable, and it was great fun watching them get so into everything. It was just as fun watching my grandma get so into everything. We were celebrating her birthday, and I think she had the time of her life. I'm so glad she did.

So all in all, the weekend was good. Probably the busiest I've had since being home, but it was well-spent and well worth it.