RocksicleLover's Wildest Dreams.... Come True!

Just what I needed

2011-08-31T08:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I saw a woman who has met me many times in the past, yet she still didn't recognize me and didn't realize we had met before. This got me thinking... I am not a memorable person. I never have been. I bet half of my high school would say they had never seen me before. Of course I have friends who know me well, but those people who have brief interaction with me typically don't remember me.

This is a huge reason why Joe McIntyre remembering who I am is so meaningful to me. It took me a long time to even believe he knew who I was. My mind couldn't accept that a man who sees thousands of women each night could recognize me while people who were in my math class of 30 people did not. I will never forget the first time he proved he knew me. I was floored. If I hadn't been a Joe girl already, I sure would have been after that moment.

NKOTB is amazing. Its as if they have this wonderful ability to pinpoint our insecurities and boost us up. Feel unmemorable? Joe will remember you. You think you're ugly? Donnie will tell you you are beautiful. You think your handmade bracelet for them is cheesy and lame? Danny will put it on immediately and love it. Having trouble sleeping at night because of all of your problems? Log on to Twitter and chat with Jon. He'll lighten your mood. Think you aren't very smart? Talk to Jordan. (I'm kidding! I just couldn't think of anything really good for him.) I think that is one of the reasons we have embraced them so eagerly - they have given us so much of what we have needed. Not only an escape from our troubles, but also love, support and confidence.

So, to NKOTB - thank you. Thank you for making so many of us feel like the most special person in the room.

Heather's Favorite Things!

2011-08-11T09:09:00.034-04:00

It's the hottest ticket in town! My favorite things!

Well, not really. You aren't getting any of this stuff for free from me. Sorry. But my tastes are much more affordable than Oprah's so you can just go out and buy this stuff on your own! These are some of my most favorite things! I hope if you invest in any of these items that they give you as much joy as they have given me!

1) Power Up MP3-8370 4-Way iPod Charging Kit - $39.99 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Power-MP3-8370-4-Way-iPod-Charging/dp/B000QTTKSS

Sounds sexy, doesn't it? But trust me, this thing is a LIFESAVER! This kit has a plug that goes into a computer, a wall or a car. It can charge your Blackberry, your iPod, or even my GPS. I love this thing so much, I carry it around in my purse all of the time. And it has totally earned its way into my favorite list - when my two friends and I had to drive from Boston to Michigan because of a snow storm, we realized we weren't going to be able to charge our phones or the iPod because we only had wall chargers. THEN I found this baby in my purse! We charged all of our stuff and had a great unexpected road trip!

2) Picnik.com photo editing website - Free for some features, $24.95 for Premium membership
http://www.picnik.com/

If you follow me on Twitter, you've been seeing the products of me using this site. Picnik.com is a really easy-to-use photo editing site that allows you to do fun and goofy things to photos, but also to do more subtle touch-ups to photos that can make a good photo a great photo. You can erase wrinkles, add a tan, clean your teeth, give yourself different color eyes and highlight your hair. You can also add a hat, turn a photo black & white and add a watermark. Picnik.com also works with Flickr.com (a photo storage site) so if you have photos on Flickr, editing your photos is only a click away.

3) Narciso Rodriguez For Her Eau de Toilette - $69.00 for 1.6 oz at Sephora
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P110113&categoryId=B70

One day on Twitter @katewhinesalot was saying how several people had stopped her and told her she smelled wonderful. She said it was this new perfume she had just bought. I had been looking for a new perfume and had to know what kind would make random people stop and sniff! She told me it was Narciso Rodriguez. I searched and found out my "small" town didn't carry the fragrance. Macy's said they do in their big city stores, but not in Lansing, Michigan. So I went online and without ever smelling this stuff in person, I took a chance and ordered a bottle of it. I loved it! Its a musky and "sensual" scent. After wearing it for only a week, someone actually said they loved it and wanted to buy their own too! Now, although I don't wear perfume often, its the only one I ever wear!

4) Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams - $9.99 for a pint at my local store
http://jenisicecreams.com/

I discovered this gem during my recent visit to Columbus, Ohio for a concert. First of all, if you are ever in Columbus, visit this place! I think the woman behind the counter gave us at LEAST 15 samples. Maybe more. And we didn't even ask for half of them, she just encouraged us to try it all! If you aren't headed to Columbus any time soon, check their website to see if there is a store near you that sells it. I was lucky enough to find out a store in my hometown has it! If no one has it, you can ALWAYS order it to be shipped directly to you!Jeni's makes amazing flavored ice cream using cream and milk "from cows that eat grass". Flavors include Bourbon Buttered Pecan, Riesling Poached Pear Sorbet, Wildberry Lavender, Bangkok Peanut and Black Coffee. I currently have Salty Caramel in my freezer. Imagine an ice cream version of those wonderful caramels in speciality candy shops. It also makes me think of Garrett's Caramel Corn. And a little goes a LONG way. My pint has lasted two weeks! So even though it is more expensive than other ice creams, its worth it in the end!

5) Kindle - Starts at $139
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reader-Wifi-Graphite/dp/B002Y27P3M

I LOVE MY KINDLE. No other way to say it. I got my Kindle when they first came out so mine is slightly bigger than the ones that are out now and I STILL love it. You can increase the font. You can carry your library anywhere. You can instantaneously buy a new book if you're not enjoying the book you're currently reading. You never have to lose your place (with kids, this is a great benefit). You can read it outside and not have to worry about a glare. The "page like" technology is simply amazing to me. And I prefer it to an iPad or the like because I can also touch the screen and not have to worry about the page turning. When you travel, you only have to bring one item and you can read TONS of books! And it fits in your purse! You can bring it anywhere! Many people say they like "real books". But having an e-reader does not mean you have to give up regular books! You can still go to the library or buy your own books, but having a significant library of books to choose from at your fingertips is amazing.

6) Aveda Comforting Tea - $15 for 20 bags. Free while getting services at Aveda salons.
http://www.aveda.com/product/CATEGORY10701/PROD7943/Body/Tea/index.tmpl?ngextredir=1&cm_vc=XCATEGORY10701&SKU_ID=SKU19079&cm_sp=Cross_Sell-_-body-_-Aveda_Comforting_Tea_Bags

I don't normally drink tea. I'm a big time coffee lover. But, I NEVER turn down a cup of Aveda Comforting Tea when I visit my favorite salon. Even if I'm only in there for 15 minutes to get my eyebrows waxed, I still make sure to get a cup of this tea. The peppermint flavor and scent is extremely soothing. One sip and I'm calmer and more content. If I'm not feeling well, the tea helps to ease my stomach and inhaling the minty smell is wonderful for my sinuses. The tea is organic and is sugar-free but has a wonderful, natural sweet taste to it. Consider this tea for the next time you need to unwind after a long day. And if your salon/spa offers it, accept it and enjoy it!

7) Teva Mush Flip-Flops - $24 at Teva.com

http://www.teva.com/productdetails.aspx?g=w&productID=4198&model=Mush

While traveling on a cruise 4 years ago, my cheap Old Navy flip flops started giving me a blister and started breaking. I needed to buy something fast. I found some Teva Mush Flip Flops. From the minute I put them on, I felt like I was walking on a cloud! The mush foot bed is SO comfortable and forms to your foot perfectly! Everytime I put them on, I audibly breathe a sigh of relief from the soothing feel of them. The fabric strapping is also extremely comfortable and gentle in between your toes. And they last a long time! I still have that original pair! My preschooler couldn't stand her classic flip flops because they hurt her inbetween her toes, so I bought her a pair of these and she happily wears them every day! Sure, you can get a pair of plastic flip flops for $5, but for just a little bit more you can get a pair of incredibly comfy and sturdy pair of Tevas.

8) Bell's Oberon Ale
www.bellsbeer.com/brands/8-Oberon%20Ale

This treat may be a bit harder for everyone to find (I looked it up and see only 14 states have it), BUT if you ever travel to Michigan in the summer, look out for this stuff. Bell's Brewery is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They make a variety of beers but the Michigan favorite is their summer wheat ale, Oberon. Oberon is only available from March until October, and let me tell you, this beer is so loved there are PARTIES to celebrate the day that the first keg is tapped. I've heard someone say "Oberon is the color and scent of a summer afternoon" and its true! The beer is traditionally served with an orange slice to enhance the fruity/citrusy flavor. But be warned, it may only have 5.8% alcohol content, but when this beer hits, it can hit hard. ;) Drink responsibly.

9) Travelzoo.com Top 20 Travel & Entertainment Deals emails - Free to sign up
http://www.travelzoo.com/top20/

Each week, Travelzoo sends out the Top 20 travel & entertainment deals they have found on the internet. The deals include hotels, cruises, international trips, and musicals. I once had a wedding I needed to attend in Chicago. I received my weekly email with a GREAT deal on a gorgeous hotel right downtown for less than $125 per night. Once we got there, we found the room was HUGE! It was such a awesome deal. These emails also remind you to TAKE a vacation. Working day after day, you sometimes forget to take time off for yourself. These emails put that idea in your mind and also prove vacations don't have to cost an arm and a leg. Signing up is free, so really...what do you have to lose?

10) Photo Books - $24.99 at Snapfish.com
http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/photo-books

Scrapbooking is wonderful, but who has the time??? That's where these awesome photo books come in. I think most people have discovered these wonderful keepsakes, but I'm not sure people use them enough yet. In this day of electronic photos and files, many people don't print off their photos, which I think is a shame! BUT with the amount of pictures we take now with our digital cameras, I also understand. Printing, labeling and organzing those photos could take FOREVER. This is where photo books can come in. Make a photo book instead! The books look amazing and highlight your best pictures in a beautiful way. Plus, if your family is anything like mine, people tend to pull out pictures from regular photo albums and never return them, resulting in lost pictures. These photo books keep that from ever happening! A variety of websites make photo books and one of them (if not several of them) are always offering deals on the books. I take advantage of the sales and now have a photo book for every year of my child's life, plus a book for every big event. A couple of them even have my daughter's face as the cover and she LOVES that! And everyone else who sees the books loves them too! So, go ahead and scrapbook as a fun hobby, but if you just need your photos displayed in a beautiful way, BUY PHOTO BOOKS!

Bonus Favorite Thing: Dipping fries in a Wendy's Frosty

I have tweeted about this treat before and am just using this forum as a reminder to TRY IT if you haven't already. What I often will do is order a regular Value Meal that comes with fries, and then will also order a junior size chocolate Frosty. Then I have a mini-Frosty as my "dipping sauce". There is just something about the salty & sweet and hot & cold combinations that makes this DELICIOUS! I could probably eat this every day and be happy (although I'd also be very large). So next time you are at Wendy's, take a chance and try this yummy treat!

SERENITY NOW!!!

2011-08-08T21:10:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have seen my slightly cryptic tweets while I was in Canada saying things like "I'm afraid this is the end of a very long era." This blog will clear that up. This blog is also a heads-up to all of my followers regarding future tweets.

As most people know, I have been a die-hard Joe girl since that blue-eyed cutie looked up from his pool game in the I'll Be Loving You Forever video. And I still am a Joe girl, but this Joe girl is going to be taking a step back. Not because my adoration of that man has wavered, but for the sake of my own sanity.

For the past 2.5 years, I have had some AMAZING experiences with Joe. It started with a kiss on the cheek the first time I met him (in 2009), then being chosen for the Let's Get This book drive, then shockingly winning a spot in his Here We Go Again video, to being followed by him on Twitter, having him remember me, where I'm from, and (with prompting) my real name, then having countless moments with him in meet and greets and during concerts, and most recently one of the best days ever, my Ultimate M&G which included an incredbily awkward moment (nice one McIntyre), but was still like a wonderful dream come true!

All of these things are incredible, right? A LIFETIME of experiences! Yet I still find myself wishing and hoping for more and getting disappointed when I don't get it. THIS is why I need a break.

Please know that its not that I am ungrateful for anything I have recieved. I am SO incredibly grateful and I truly know how lucky I am. But this man has made me no promises for anything more and I need to get that into my head.

I find that when I go to concerts lately, I have a mission. Get Joe to see me. BUT, him looking at me is not enough. I want him to SEE me and light up in recognition and mutual adoration. I'm lucky that he has EVER done this, but at some point along the way, I've come to expect it. And I've had moments at recent concerts where Joe looked at me and some obnoxious sign I was holding and did NOT light up. Sure, maybe he smiled, but it wasn't the look of recognition I wanted to see. Therefore, I was heartbroken. Hell, he may not have even seen the sign OR me. But the point is, I don't want to feel that way at all. I've even sent DMs to him trying to see if I could get extra time outside of the concert with him. Not alone or anything, just a drink/coffee or something between "friends", but still! "Friends"? Who am I kidding? Dude is an entertainer! Can you say BSC???? This man has given me SO much! And here I am being selfish expecting more? And really, after all I've had, what else can I even get??? This is crazy. I'M acting crazy. And I need to stop.

I want to get back to the point where I could be happy sitting in the 200 section of a venue because at least I'm there and can hear the music and support my favorite band (and "Kid"). I want to be thrilled if I get ANY floor seat, even if its the one furthest from the stage. I want to soak up the energy of a concert and just enjoy it, no matter what happens. I want to get giddy just because Joe's on stage, even if he's looking in the opposite direction from me the entire show. And if I ever get anything more than this, well then I am just one lucky ass girl and need to recognize that. I also want to step back and let OTHER Joe girls get their chance with this wonderful man! He's kinda like a delectible cheesecake - so amazingly delicious you HAVE to share and let others take a bite.

Achieving this level of sanity and appreciation is going to be difficult while emersed in the crazy life of concerts and Twitter. I realize the current tour is over, but I know there is the possibility of upcoming solo tours and plans for the cruise. So, I have decided I'm going to take a few steps back. I'm not leaving Twitter. I may even send the same number of tweets as I always did. But I'm not going to talk about Joe as much. Sure, I'll pass on information I see, since I know so many of my followers are Joe girls and I still love the guy and am damn proud of him and want EVERYONE to go see him in ANY concert he's a part of. But my tweets are going to be focused on other things in my life. I realize this may make me kind of boring to some of you, which is totally understandable and if you're bored, I encourage you to unfollow me. Please don't let me bore you! Twitter is supposed to be entertaining and I wont be hurt if I lose a bunch of followers. Its totally my choice to move from a very exciting topic like Joe's underwear to the slightly mundane fact that I made up a new song for my baby that goes "Poopy poopy poopy!" And Joe girls, don't feel bad talking about Joe to me. Just realize, I may not be as "fangirl" as I have in the past.

I have a strong feeling I won't be going on the cruise...or if I do I won't secure a spot until way later. I also don't know what I'll do if Joe & Eman go back to Vegas. Like I said, I still love the guy and his music. I may have to see the show once, but I'm sure I will not be going several times.

Many of you know I have a new baby. I'm going to take more time to be with my family. More time to be happy at home surrounded by true love. My family has been very patient and understanding over the past couple years and I owe them... big time.

I will continue to support Joe and NKOTB. I still totally consider myself a Blockhead and Joe girl. And yes, I DO love the rest of NKOTB. I just don't have any expectations of the other members of the group. So, I just need some time to cool off, regroup, and learn to appreciate all I've already experienced.

Finally, whether he reads this or not, I need to thank Joe for ALL that he has done for me over the past 2.5 years. Thank you Joe from the bottom of my heart. He is an incredible person. Truly. My heart feels so full when I think of all I have received from him. He has made so many dreams come true. I've experienced things I couldn't even have dreamed of. He's not losing a fan at all. Hopefully, he's just gaining a perfectly sane and grateful fan. ;) I'll always be one of his biggest supporters. Thank you Joe.

Now Joe girls, go get YOURSELF a piece of that Joe McIntyre cheesecake! Its to die for!

*PS* I had to add as a side note that I decided on Saturday night (in Hamilton) that I needed to take a step back and not be such a crazy fan. Then as we had front row on Sunday night in London, Joe walked right past me on stage in his underwear. HELLO CRAZY JOE GIRL! I figured the sane behavior could just wait until Monday instead and I screamed my head off. :)

ULTIMATE DAY!!!

2011-06-19T11:10:00.002-04:00

This blog is focused on how my Ultimate 5* with NKOTB worked. I've had many girls ask me about what they should expect for THEIR upcoming Ultimates, so here is my experience.

My itinerary was sent out from ILAA a few days before the concert at the same time as all of the other 5* packages. I was supposed to show up at the same time as everyone else. When I went to check in, for some reason I wasn't on the list (I think I was supposed to be). So I had to show my confirmation from the day I purchased the package. They had my envelope which included my seat ticket (Section A, Row 1, Seat 1), two drink tickets and my Ultimate VIP laminate which was a different color than everyone elses.

We headed upstairs to the party and stood around waiting as always. Once they were ready to line everyone up to go in, they started with the groups. Ultimates went last. We had groups A - R (or so), so it was a long sweaty wait (I sweat when nervous!). Once they called the Ultimates over, we all stood around and looked at each other (there were about 10 of us) and no one wanted to go first! LOL! Eventually, one person volunteered and we all nervously waited our turn. Thomas of ILAA came over and explained that he would be coming to get anyone who wanted to go behind the barrier to the "B stage" (the tip of the penis stage) during the concert. He said it would be right after "The Right Stuff". He said it was totally up to us if we wanted to go or not. He said only 3 people went in Detroit.

Photo #1

When it was finally my turn they let me in and I walked in all alone and all the guys were standing around EXCEPT Joe who was sitting in a chair playing with his phone (Lumpy, Donnie's dog, was even in the room). I said "HE'S SITTING DOWN!?!?!" and Joe looked up surprised and said "I'm sitting waiting for you. Come over here." And he patted the chair next to him and I sat down and we chatted for what seemed like FOREVER! At that time, the photographer seemed to be taking photos of us chatting (I just recently found out it was actually video he was taking). Eventually Joe and I got up and continued talking as we walked over to the other guys for the photo. I looked at Jon and said "So, can I hug you now or am I supposed to wait until after the pic?" And they all said "Its whatever YOU want!" So I hugged them all then went to pose. I posed completely normal for the first one, then Joe stepped back and looked at me and said "Is there anything special you want to do?"

I looked at him, got very shy, and pointed at my cheek and said "Can I get a peck?" and he said "Yes" and got in position to kiss my cheek and the second pic was taken.

After the photos, I talked to Joe a tiny bit more and hugged him again then slowly walked out of the room. I was NEVER rushed or told I was out of time or anything. There was just a natural flow to the M&G. The staff showed me which way to go and I left.

Photo #2

I went to get my 5* bag and because I wasn't on the list, they didn't know my size. They said they were out of Large, XL and I think XXL. They took my name and said they would bring me the correct size bag right to my seat at the concert (although they never did find me, but I know others got theirs at the show).

Nick Carter laying at the edge of the stage - no zoom

When I got to my seat, it was confirmed that I had the BEST seat in the house. Right on the corner of the main stage and the shaft of the penis stage. It was great. The guys did a great job of looking down at us. And of course Joe gave me lots of amazing smiles, winks and even had a convo with me at one point during the concert! It was amazing. Thomas did come by and I decided not to go with him to the B stage. It was a great choice FOR ME because we had some great moments with NKOTB (Joe) during that time that we would have missed otherwise.

I had no cell service in my seat, but the ILAA pictures were posted before the concert even began. SHOCKINGLY FAST. They were great pictures too. I think the Ultimate 5* was totally worth the $$ I paid. I felt like a TRUE VIP. ILAA and the guys were so sweet to us. All of you who have an Ultimate to look forward to will have a great time. Don't worry too much about your M&G or the pics. Even if you have nothing planned (like me) it will still be the best you've ever experienced.

Joe - I've put in my time... now you put out!

2010-06-07T16:49:00.004-04:00

Friday: It was my first time seeing the CasiNo Tour and I was SUPER excited! I'd seen pictures online but no video so I had no idea what anything sounded like. Our tickets were 2nd row in the far left section on the aisle. Close but so far over it was annoying sometimes. The concert started, as did the screaming. I LOVED the show. It went fast because they didn't talk much at all, but it was such a well done show! I LOVE the mash-ups they did! The concert went on and I kept trying to hold up my sign that said "RocksicleLover" but I couldn't tell if he saw it. I was getting NO eye sex and no pointing. Finally, during Hangin' Tough, Joe came over to my section and started grabbing hands. Being in the 2nd row, I couldn't really reach up there, so I just held up my sign. He FINALLY looked up and saw it. He pointed and opened his mouth wide and kinda stuck out his tongue. PHEW! After blocking people's view for a whole show it was finally time to put the sign away. After the bow Joe looked like he was coming over to our area for one last round of hand grabbing. I scooched my way up so when he came over I could add my hand to the mix so he could grab it. Instead, Joe made a b-line straight for me and wedged his foot at the edge of the stage and reached over to me. I wasn't sure if he wanted to give me a hug or what so I moved closer and he stuck out his hand. I grabbed his hand with my left hand thinking "YAY! He came over to hold my hand!" and he moved my hand up to his lips and kissed it! WHA????? Then he promptly let go, turned around and ran off the stage. My friend screamed so I did to. Then I turned around facing my friends in the rows behind me, held up both hands and jumped up and down screaming. I was so floored! That kiss was the sweetest thing Joe had ever done to/for me!!! The only way to describe the moment is MAGICAL. The rest of the night, I was on cloud 9. Maybe even cloud 10.... See my smile from after the show to the right.

Saturday: Another great concert. Again, I got no eye sex. I held up my "RocksicleLover" sign a little bit and also a sign that said "Let's kiss this...again!" It looked like he saw me and my sign during "Close To You" but I just stood there and smiled back, so it was hard to tell if he was looking at me or over me. *Blow a kiss next time. Blow a kiss next time.* After the concert, Donnie came out and did an impromptu after party that was pretty fun. That man definitely won me over a little bit more that night. No special attention to me, he's just a great guy.

Sunday: Sunday was the big 5* day with @SimplyShannon! We were planning on just going in and having a fun goofy time with our man. She looked beautiful in a black dress and I was spunky in my hot pink shirt that said on the front: "Joe, I've put in my time" and on the back: "....now you put out!" We had told the other girls in the group that we really wanted to just stick with our man. They could have a hug if they really wanted one, but we probably weren't going anywhere. They were very cool girls about it. Unfortunately we had 3 girls added to our group last minute and they didn't really play by the rules. Butted in where they really shouldn't have. The Donnie girls were totally gypped. :( Sorry girls.

The way we entered, I was 9th walking in and Shannon was 10th. I walked in and Joe and I saw each other. I held out my arms and he lit up and said "Hey". Then I said "Wait" and I showed him my shirt and he read it out loud. I turned around and he said "Now you put out.... OOOOOHHH!!!" then I hugged him and gave him a big squeeze (hopefully not TOO big of a squeeze. I was VERY excited!). Then he saw Shannon and kept his arm on me and pulled her in and said "My two girls!". Honestly, at that moment my meet and greet was complete. That made me so thrilled that he said that and I felt like anything that happened after that moment was all just extra! LOVE HIM! So, I knew Shannon had never gotten a true full-on hug from Joe so I backed up enough that he couldn't reach me anymore so he could hug her with both hands. Once she got it, I went back in and he grabbed me for the picture.

After they took the picture he said "You know, I can't kiss people, but here's the deal.... Donnie!" And he reached over and grabbed Donnie. I remember looking over and thinking "Oh hey! Donnie is here too???" Seriously, I didn't see ANY of the other guys until that moment. Donnie looked good but what was Joe up to.... Then he said "Donnie here can give kisses and..." and both Shannon and I said "NOOOOOOOOOO! NOT DONNIE! YOU!". I was up in Joe's face grabbing him saying "NOOO!" lol I did NOT want to kiss Donnie! I mean, he's a great guy, but what the heck Joe? Just cuz he's in NKOTB, you think I wanna make out with him? No no no no no. Besides, I did NOT need the 5 Donnie girls now in our group to be mad at me. As we were pleading with Joe to leave Donnie out of it, some girl snuck up behind Joe and started talking to him. She was one of the extra girls in our group so she apparently didn't know the rules (Joe is OURS). lol! While he was talking to this girl, he still had his hand on my left shoulder and around Shannon's right shoulder. Security was yelling for us to leave, but we just stared at Joe and ignored security. He was finally done talking to her and turned back to us and said "I just can't kiss people" and Shannon said "No, but we would like to kiss you on the cheek" and Joe said "A kiss on the cheek??" and kinda stuck his neck out a little. It looked like Shannon was going in for the smooch, so I followed suit. I kissed him on his right cheek. His cheek was a tiny bit scruffy. I think my kiss was just a tad to big and slobbery. I could also tell I left a tiny bit of lip-gloss on his cheek. But come on! How could I help the drooling??? I was KISSING JOEY MCINTYRE!!!!! I was getting ready to leave and quickly stuck my hand right in his face and said "You could kiss my hand before I go!" and he looked at it and then looked up at me and said "I already did!" Then he pointed and said "See? You had made that shirt before and then I kissed you! How's that!" I laughed and said "Yeah yeah". Shannon and I started walking out of the room with our backs to the guys. Then I heard Joe yell to us "I love you guys". My face lit up as I thought OMG! Why didn't I say that first??? and I yelled back "I love you too Joe!". I walked out of the M&G area and promptly licked my lips. :)

Made for Broadway

2010-02-25T22:50:00.006-05:00

February 22, 2010 - The BEST longest day of my life!

I got up at about 3:20am. My flight was at 7am out of Flint. There had been a Winter Storm warning for Michigan from 4am until 7pm. I had tried to change my flight to the 21st, but there was nothing available. When I woke up, it had already snowed and was STILL snowing. I loke dup the flights and they were on time, however, the winter advisory said that the storm was expected to be worse during the morning comute hours. Great. Right when my flight left for DETROIT which was ALSO under a storm warning. I was so scared I wasn't going to make it! I arrived at the airport at about 5:40am. It was STILL snowing, and I could see planes covered in snow, but my flight still said it was on time.

We all got on the plane at 6:45am. They shut the airplane doors at 7:14am and it seemed like we were going to actually make it. At 7:30 they announced the de-icer had run out of fluid and we were going to have to wait to get more. We were officially delayed. We didn't actually start leaving Flint until 7:45am. This was NOT good since I had a connecting flight in Detroit 8:40am. We landed at 8:20am and I was ready to run. But then we had to sit there and wait for the stupid ramp. And my flight was literally all the way across the airport. I tried to run but carrying my bags it was hard. It was already 8:40, but I kept heading to the gate (as did several other people). We finally made it to the gate at about 8:46am and were told the plane was gone. We were then told we had to go to the other end of the concourse to get a replacement flight. We took the shuttle thankfully, so I could rest. The running did NOT agree with me. I go thtere and was offered a 1pm flight but I knew there was an earlier flight since one of my friends was going to be on it. I searched for another and got on the 10am flight. I walked over and met up with Regina near the new gate and finally relaxed. The pilots were delayed so we didn't actually leave until 10:45am but we FINALLY were on our way. We finally arrived after noon.

Gina and I took a taxi to our hotel, the Loews Regency, which was the same location as the show (which was held at Feinsteins at the Regency). We dropped our stuff off and went to get last minute things done before the show. The other two girls, Emmie and Sherry, were already in NYC and were shopping. After our shopping, we all got ready and headed down to the threatre at 6:00pm. There was a long line that went all the way outside. We decided to just sit and wait in the warm lobby. We saw some people we knew an took some pictures then headed inside. We were seated against a back wall, but the theatre was so small we were actually pretty close! The pic to the left shows our view. The blue stuff on the left is where the stage was. Before dinner I sent a Twitpic of me hold a breadstick in my mouth and said "I'm waiting @joeymcintyre!" ha ha! For dinner I had the Pumpkin Ravioli and a nice pretty blue drink called a La Mystique. Yummy!

The show started at 8:00pm. The host came out and introduced Sutton Foster. She came out and I realized we had been on the elevator with her earlier in the day! She looked so young! I thought she was just at the hotel for a wedding or something. Sutton = AMAZING! What a gift! See her if you can! She seems to be able to do anything and everything with her voice! She sang some BEAUTIFUL songs. She sang one called "I couldn't love you any more (than I do now)." I hope to find that song somewhere on the web so I can download it. WONDERFUL!

Then Joe came out. When he came out he said "Where are the breadsticks?" We weren't sure if he saw my Twitpic or not. It was pretty funny either way CONSIDERING the picture! LOL! He was wearing the leather jacket and tie again. (Someone needs a new wardrobe. ;) ) I forgot exactly what he called it, but he basically did a 'Joe's life performing' show. It was just him and a piano. He started with 'LOVE' and during the second round when he sang "L is for the way you look tonight" he was using his arms to spell the word, like with YMCA! It was so funny! Then he sang "Gary, Indiana", apparently the song he sang to get into NKOTB? Hard to believe THAT! He sang the 'necking version' of 'I'd Do Anything' from Oliver, a song he sang when he was 6 with his 16 year old sister. He also sang an acoustic version of Please Don't Go Girl. He brought out two of his castmates from Tick Tick Boom, and they sang 'Louder Than Words'. That was HANDS DOWN my favorite song of the night. Gave me chills and made me want to weep from its beauty. Basically turned me into a sap. Then he sang 'As Long As You Love Me' fro Wicked with Natacia. He also sang an awesome verson of Wyclef Jean's 'Grateful' which he tweaked to be about him. It was so cool! Joe is just so creative and amazing! He ended with 'Give My Regards to Broadway'. GREAT show!!! I love Joe's pop career, but after seeing him at the Cabaret it made me realize that he was MADE for Broadway. He's so much better able to show off his voice! He is capable of belting out notes! I never knew that before! With the pop songs he sings, he never gets the opportunity to do that, but he sure does with Broadway tunes. Whether it be 'As Long As Your Mine' or 'Gary, Indiana', that man's voice gave me CHILLS!

After the first show ended, we darted upstairs to do last minute primping before our meet and greet before the second show. Meanwhile, Joe sends this tweet: "@joeymcintyre: For all those who came to first show, I will see you after the second show!!! That was a blast!!! Xoxo" What??? Really??? That man is amazing. We headed downstairs, chatted with some friends, Steph and Bobbi, and then sat at our table at about 10p. We weren't front row like we were told we would be, but we had a table right in the walkway where Joe came in from! We had a drink, this time mine was green, and tried to calm down, but THAT was NOT easy. At about 10:40p, they came to get us and took us thru the kitchen to a room set up for pics. Joe and Sutton were there.

I walked up to Joe and he said "Hi" and smiled as if he recognized me. I said "Do you know who I am?" He said, "Yeah, you're the RocksicleLover." I said, "Yeah! I'm Heather." He repeated y name then gave me a hug. He then looked me up and down and said "Your dress..." Then he looked at all of us. "You all look very nice." I think I said "thank you". I was just so stunned that Joey McIntyre had given me a compliment (AND had looked me up and down) that I kinda blanked out for a second. I then handed him the MSU book I had for Griffin and Rhys and said "I meant to give you this in Michigan." He looked at it and said "Hey! Michigan?!?! Sutton knows about that!" I turned and looked at Sutton and asked if she was from MI and she said yes. I asked where from and she said "Troy". Then Joe said "Troy? That's why he's a Trojan" and he pointed to Sparty on the MSU book. "It all fits together." Ummmm... ok. I said, "Uhh, Trojan? He's a SPARTAN! And MSU is not in Troy, its in East Lansing." Ah, Joe. At least you're pretty. ;) I went over and chatted with Sutton. I told her how amazing she was the first show and she said "You're going to the second show too? WOW!" I had to ask her how old she was and she said "34". "What? Really? I would have NEVER guessed that! You look so much younger! Like 20!" She laughed and looked at Joe and said "I really like her!" LOL! We all got together and took a couple of group photos. On our way out, we saw Sherry standing in line still and realized she had somehow missed being in our group! We decided to stay with her and take pictures of just her and Joe since she missed out with us. She got some great pics with him! :)

We headed back to our seats and the show started very shortly after we sat down. It was once again amazing. When Joe came out, I stuck my hand out and his cold hand grabbed mine. I was surprised to was so cold... and unfortunately that probably meant mine felt hot and sweaty. Great. Sorry Joe! Joe was funny and stunning again on stage. I taped 'Louder Than Words' since it had moved me SO much the first show. I just wanted to be able to listen to it again. At one point, Joe took a drink of his martini and made a face. Sherry yelled "Too strong?" and Joe looked right at me and said "What?" I tried pointing at her but he just looked at me. I was so embarrassed that I ducked my head and wouldn't look at him. Nice. I'm such an idiot. After the lack of response, he said something like "'Too strong?' Uh no." On his way out, I again held out my hand and he grabbed it then he touched me on the shoulder.

After the show ended, we worked on taking care of our bill (they kinda screwed it up). I went into the lobby to go to the restroom. When I got back Joe was back in the dining room taking pictures with people. He finished up there and headed to the lobby where he took pics with every person who waited in line. SO SWEET!!! It took a long time. We decided to get in the back of the line since we had already talked to him once. But we definitely wanted some one-on-one pics with him before we left. By the time we got up there, it was 12:30am and I think everyone was getting a little bit more tired. I went over, stood next to him and realized I could see the top of his head. As we posed I said "Oh my God, I'm taller than you right now." He said "No, that's GOOD" and I said "Ugh. I'm mammoth tall." I took Emmie's camera then and TRIED REALLY HARD to take their picture but the flash wouldn't go off. I'm sorry Emmie! Joe finished up with his pics with everyone then said goodbye at about 1:15am. We headed upstairs and went to bed... in the same hotel that Joey Mac MIGHT have been sleeping naked in.... ;)

In the Joe Shows...

2010-02-24T22:04:00.018-05:00

TORONTO
First things first - GIRL TIME!!! We always knew Toronto would be awesome because Renee and Amy were flying in for the show to hang out! I drove to Toronto on Saturday morning, January 16. When I got there, Renee and I went and got manis and pedis at an awesome spa! It was wonderful! On the way to the spa, we believe we saw Joshua Jackson! Yep! PACEY from Dawson's Creek! Unfortunately, all of our nerves are saved up for NKOTB and we didn't say hi or anything. After the wonderful spa, we went back to the hotel and ordered Pizza Pizza, an Ontario original. It was so yummy! We then sat around the hotel room and chilled out while we watched stuff on the computer and on TV. It was so fun to just hang out!

The next morning, Sunday, January 17, Amy arrived! Unfortunately, Renee and I both had working phones but neither of us answered them when Amy called. SORRY AMY! We had to save up on sleep for the nights ahead! ;) Thank you for being a friend. So, we got some coffee then hung out in our hotel lobby for a bit... hoping some recognizable people would walk in. ;) They never did. In fact, right after we went upstairs after our lobby time, we found out they had been tweeting that they were still in NYC. Darn!

We took our time getting ready, then headed out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Dumbass... I mean Dundas Square for a dinner with Blockheads! It was so much fun! We had an awesome waiter, named Denis, who just happened to be cute too! We played NKOTB Jeopardy with cool prizes and had some yummy cake! Crystal also made us all adorable treat bags!

Amy, Renee and I went back to our hotel room and played our own personal NKOTB Jeaopardy with some special questions (e.g. "The owner of this nipple.") We also did some tweeting, laughed at some I Got It party pics (OBVIOUSLY not mine since I DON'T HAVE MINE YET JOHNNY!) ;) then headed to bed to rest up for our big day on Monday.

Monday, January 18, we woke up bright and early to head to CHUM FM where Joe was doing an interview. While we were getting ready, Renee looked out the window and saw a bus! A BUS! I literally ran to the elevators and got downstairs and confirmed it was Joe's bus!!! I stood around for just a bit waiting for Renee and Amy. While I was down there, Ethan walked in. I said hi but he was busy talking to another fan. Renee and Amy headed downstairs and Johnny walked in. He was taken away by other fans too, so we left and went to CHUM FM.

We got there and there was a very small group of girls waiting. Two of the girls were girls that were kissed at HOB! Starbucksapron who MADE OUT with Jon and Mac_Steph who got kisses from Joe! Lucky girls! We all stood outside and could see Joe wrapping things up upstairs. He looked out and waved at us once. We expected him to walk out the door closest to where we were since that is where his car was waiting, but after about a half hour or more, the car started creeping forward. I turned and looked and saw Joe had come around the side of the building. I ran over and showed him my MacPac bag and gave him a hug. I didn't say much at all because he looked so tired. I MIGHT have said "Thanks"and that was it. So we just turned towards Renee who eventually caught up (I said I ran) and took our picture. People were rather shy going in for pictures but eventually everyone did. Renee and Amy got some great ones with him! Then Joe got in his car and headed off to his next gig at MTV Canada. We headed back to the hotel to get ready to see Joe on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulus (I had to carefully copy that last name from Google), a Canadian late-night talk show.

When we got back to the hotel, I was yelling for JOHNNY to GIVE ME MY FACETIME PIC!!! We saw Sherry (@JoesGutterGirl) and @Claby and said hi and chatted for a bit. Johnny came out of the bus. I'm pretty sure we said hi and I immediately went up and asked where my Chicago FT pic was. He barely believed me that it was still missing, but he explained it had been a mess. I SETTLED for a pic with Johnny instead. ;) Too bad he had to point his damn finger. He explained he started that finger pointing after seeing the Uncle Sam poster that says "I Want You". Renee and Amy talked to him about how they had hung out with him a bit at the HOB after party. They admitted they took a pic of his butt. He looked cutely flattered. Amy tried to remind Johnny he needed to follow her after she found him and Donnie in Cali. Then we got some great pics of Amy & Renee with Johnny! We headed inside and decided to eat some breakfast at the hotel. We went and had a nice breakfast... well, they did. I woke up earlier than the West Coast girls and ate breakfast on my own earlier. Johnny was also there with another one of Joe's crew. We let them eat in peace. They finished before us and walked by and Johnny said "Enjoy your breakfast, ladies" It was so cute! (Johnny started growing on me at this point)

We got ready and went to The Hour. It was kind of 'first come, first served' and we ended up sitting in the 2nd row of a back section behind Michele, who was the girl who told us about the talk show. She was also one of the girls from the video! She's awesome! The Hour was very cool! I have been to the David Letterman Show before and this was totally different. At 'The Hour', you can kinda do whatever you want in terms of cheering and such "as long as you don't end up on stage, then you're all good." They even said holding up signs was ok! So, OF COURSE I pulled out my signs! George taped some segments without any guests and we squealed whenever he mentioned Joe's name. Then George went to change and came back ready to bring out Joe. Joe came out in an awesome suit looking HOT (as always). The interview was awesome. George asked some very cool questions and Joe, while seeming a little nervous, did a great job and was very honest and funny. At one point when Joe was talking about the old days, I started to get a little choked up. It suddenly hit me that this man, who I had adored when I was 14 and who was and incredibly untouchable super star back in the day, was now sitting several feet in front of me. Not only that... this man KNEW ME! It made me so appreicative of everything. I ALMOST cried, but I'm sure Joe cracked a joke and got me out of THAT mood! ;)

During a commercial break, Joe was relaxed and was looking around. I had my @RocksicleLover sign and held it up quickly. He saw it, smiled big and winked. I smiled back and Eeeeek'd a little. Amy and Renee were hilarious. I think one of them said "Oh my." And the other one said "He wasn't even looking at me and I'm still all excited!" I did feel very special after that look. Those looks are amazing gifts! :) Joe and George finished up the interview and Joe left. Then we had to sit through 2 more interviews! Not only that, right after Joe we had to sit through the new associate bishop for the Tornto diocese!!!! WHAT??? That was one of the biggest mental shifts I've ever had to make! He also interviewed Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter. She was very interesting and talked about her new album "The List" that is songs from a list her father made of the best songs.

After 'The Hour' was done, we headed straight to The Mod Club, where the Joe Show was going to be. We met up with Tinkerbell (aka, Suzanne) in line and stood with her. Yota came over to say hi. She was running an awesome donation for a local shelter. She handed us some yummy Starbucks coffee for our donations and we chatted as we waited. Diane and Stacy also joined us and Crystal also stopped by to say hi. Eventually our toes were freezing and they finally let us in. We got a spot about halfway into the venue. We were also smack in the middle. We knew we wouldn't be up front because we were late to get in line after The Hour, but I think it was worth it! Plus, I realized our spot was awesome later. We stood around listening to the DJ play. As we stood there, it got warmer, and warmer, and warmer. By the time the concert started, we were all sweating. But as soon as I saw Joe, WHO CARES how sweaty I was?!?!? Joe came out and started with Here We Go Again. It was AWESOME! Of course that song holds a special place in my heart and I cannot help but get extremely excited when I hear it! It started the show off JUST RIGHT! Joe ROCKED it!!! Seriously! I was floored at how amazing he sounded. He did several of his songs from the new EP right at the start. I held up my @RocksicleLover sign and he saw me during the second song. But I have to admit.... I can't remember what he did. :( Smile? Wink? Point? I can't remember. But I KNOW he saw me! :) I also said earlier we were in an awesome spot? WE WERE! He sang to the middle of the venue all night. It LOOKED like he was looking at me ALL NIGHT LONG! I know he wasn't, but WOW. It STILL was very cool! The show went on and we got to "I'm Waiting". I had heard one rumor about the song, but had no idea what I was in for. IT WAS A STRIP TEASE! My jaw was on the floor. THE. WHOLE. SONG. I think it HELPED that he was sweating so much. Made it even more sexy than any other show that I saw after. My response to that song is in the picture to the left. ;) The show continued and I continued to be impressed. I laughed a lot too.

The show ended and it was time to go to the after party at the C-Lounge. We got there, I changed into my clubier clothes and we headed to our table. We had originally turned down sitting at a table with bottle service, but one of the cool girls we met in Boston had a table and had extra room there. She told us we could sit with them and pay less if we didn't want to drink (which was what we decided to do). We sat and recapped the evening. The club started getting more crowded and we could clearly see there was a roped-off VIP area off to the left. Official looking people started heading into the VIP area and it seemed like Joe might be coming soon. Then Johnny came in, a sure sign Joe wasn't far behind.... Then, JOE! He was wearing a black v-neck t-shirt with a scarf. He kinda just stood around in VIP not doing anything for a while. But then it looked like Johnny was letting in people who had MacPac cards. I HAD ONE!!! I ran over to the area where Johnny was. I apologize to any girl who I pushed aside or elbowed, but I HAD A MACPAC CARD! ;) I eventually made my way up and they let me in. I waited my turn and asked Johnny again "Where's my FT pic?" (he heard this a lot from me over the week) I also asked him if he was hot in his vest and why didn't he take it off? He said all of his junk was in the pockets so he couldn't! lol! Then it was my turn. I had my sign with me so I walked up holding the sign up. Joe looked at me and said "I know who you are, sweetie." and reached out and gave me a big hug. I said "Sorry. I just never know." I told him thank you for everything he did and that the show was great. (The pic to the right was taken by Samantha while I was w/ Joe. I love it cuz of the way he's looking at me. The way I look... not so great. But oh well.) I also told him I was going to be pooped because I was going to Detroit and Chicago over the next two days. He said "Oh really? Aww, I'm sorry" and I said "Oh no, its a good tired." The whole time I stood there talking to him, he was rubbing my back. This seems sweet, doesn't it? It would have been, if I hadn't been wearing Spanx that ended right where he was rubbing! All I could think about at that moment was "HE'S FEELING MY BACK FAT!" I tried to inch away from his hand but he just kept rubbing. I considered grabbing his hand and holding it, but I figured he'd expect me to say something poigniant if I did that, and I had nothing. So I let him continue. I might have given him another hug (I was too distracted by the back rubbing to remember) and then I left.

I headed back to the table and everyone came over and wanted to hear what happened. No one else had their MacPac cards yet because the intertnational orders were taking longer and we were outside of the US. For some reason Amy didn't have hers either but she had the bag???? Amy? WTF? So I lended out my card. First to Amy & Renee who got some great hugs. Then to a few others. I saw Renee talking to Joe when she was up there and had to quiz her on what they said! It looked so cute! She had told him she came all the way from Calgary which I think my have gotten her an "Aww" and maybe another hug. I quizzed her on what else she said. Then she told me she said she was "friends with RocksicleLover and I want to thank you for making her so happy. When she is happy, it make me happy." Joe said "She makes me happy too." WHAT?????????? *thud* Seriously. I'm dead. WHAT?????? Even now writing this, I can't believe it. Renee? Are you telling the truth? That is the exact thing I asked her that night and I STILL don't believe it. Ugh. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Alex, Donald and Ethan started walking around the club. We stood up and said hi to them all. We asked Alex if his amp was tired (ha ha). We introduced ourselves to Donald. And we told Ethan how happy we were to see him again. At one point, Renee was talking to Ethan and somehow spilled his drink on him. It wasn't a big deal, but she felt SO BAD! She offered to buy him more drinks, tried to apologize, just did everything she could to make up for it. He just kept smilng huge and laughing and telling her it was ok. I chatted with Donald for a little bit and found out he was an incredibly nice guy! Really!

After we all got our hugs and the band walked away, we figured we should probably head back to the hotel since Amy & Renee had early flights. We went back, giggled some, and went to sleep. When I woke up, my lovely girls were gone. :(

FERNDALE
I got to Ferndale, Michigan at about 2:00pm on Tuesday, January 19th. I met up with Karie and Vicki who were bundled up but seemed to be having fun. We sat in line and were fairly close to the front. Just next to us was BadHolly too! So glad to meet her in person finally! We sat around and chatted and tried to stay warm. I also started working on some new signs for the evening. Julie and Stephanie eventually joined us too along with several other awesome Michigan Blockheads!

Eventually a big white bus drove by. THEIR bus! I recognized it from Toronto and RAN to follow it. The crew got off and started carring stuff into the venue. They told us Joe was not on the bus. We pretty much knew that since we knew he was at a local radio station, but we were hopeful anyway. We went back to the line and Alex eventually came out and walked by a few times. I said hi, asked hi if his amp was tired and gave him a hug.

Like I said, Joe was on a local radio station for a while, but since we were in line, we unfortunately could not hear it. Grr. I got a couple of calls/texts from Dawn who was at the radio station! She got some great pics of Joe that day! After he was done, Dawn called and said he left the station in a black limo. We were on watch! The limo showed up and we again ran to the parking lot. We saw Joe pop out and run into the bus while on the phone. That was it. We hung around the bus just in case he felt like coming out to say hi. Apparently he didn't. Boo. But we did get some fun pics in front of the bus and I got to get ready in my warm car!

The band eventually came out of teh bus and I got to talk to Donald, Alex and Rob. I reminded Donald I had talked to hi in Toronto at the bar and I think he KINDA remembered. He is super sweet. I also talked to Rob and told him I was friends with Renee who was teh one with breakfast for kids charity idea. He lit up and said "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!" I told him that Renee had wanted to go to his brunch in Toronto but she was being a loyal friend to me and was doing something else that I had wanted to do. He said "That's cool." I told him that Renee had really wanted to see him and get a pic with him. He said "Give her my love!" Then he also said "Tell her to email me. I want to start talking to her about the breakfast plan and get it started!" I told him I would tell her and that Renee would definitely be excited to start working on it. He the again told me "send her my love". And gave me a hug.

We went and got in line again and were let in. We were in the 4th row right behind Holly. It was again and amazing show. Joe saw my sign during Forget About It. He kinda just looked at the sign, read it and nodded. The eye sex I got then was pathetic. LOL! But then he redeemed himself with some great eye sex during Outta Nothing At All, which got captured on video by two people! He saw me, smiled nice and big, and sang a line to me (as I sang back). I found the picture to the left which appears to be the moment he was singing to me! Later in the show, we held up our Michigan signs that Karie and Julie made and did an excellent job on. "MI BH?" he asked. "Michigan Blockheads!" was the reply. He said they were great but he couldnt' tell what shape the signs were. I thought he said it looked like a pork chop or something. But then we explained it was the state of Michigan. He also said we won for the best/most signs at the show. JBlock (Jason), the guy who sang with NKOTB on the cruise was at the show and Joe started talking to him. When Joe realized who he was, he invited him up on stage. Jason did the Games rap for us!

After the show, we went straight to the buses, but Joe was already on board. The band came out and said hi to everyone and mingled around. We stood around and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. We were freezing! But it gave us all time to talk to a lot of friends! I talked to and met @Brandi1123, @brebaby143, @joesguttergirl and many many more! I made my way over to the bus at one point and was right near the door when Johnny came out. He started yelling "Listen up!" EEEEEEEEEPPP! He explained he was going to let people with MacPac cards on the bus first. WHA???? We were going to go in groups of twos. We were told to line up against the bus to get our turns. I rushed up and was 3rd in line. I knew teh girl in front of me too so I wished her luck. She went in. About a mintue or two later, she cae back out and was thrilled. My turn ALREADY!! I had NO time to figure out what I wanted to say or what I was going to do. I just had to do it. I walked up the stairs of the bus and saw Joe. I said "HEY!" He looked at me and said "Hey!" Then he got a better look at me, recognized e and said "Oh, HEY!!!!" I gave him a big hug with my coat on and I said "I'm so sorry I'm so cold!" and he said something along the lines of "Wow, you ARE!". I asked him if we could do pictures with him and he said yes. I gave my camera to the girl who came in behind me and told Joe that I wanted to do something different for this picture because I have so many other pictures of us just posing normally. He kinda looked confused, but then held out both arms to engulf me in a great hug! I went in to hug him close and put my face up to his and looked at the camera and saw that my stupid blue coat hood was in my face! I said "NOOOOO! My hood!" and backed up and started to take off my bag and my coat. I said "I'm sorry. I'm stripping on your bus!" I set my bag and coat on the couch and went back in for the cozy hug and pressed my face up against his warm soft cheek. He was so warm, I couldn't help but say AGAIN, "I'm so sorry I'm so cold!" After the pic, I said thank you and Joe pointed to Rob and said "Have you met Rob Lewis yet?" Rob was sitting on the opposite couch without a hat or sunglasses on and was eating Doritos (hence the reason the ENTIRE bus smelled like Doritios!). I barely recognized him even AFTER Joe pointed him out! I shook Rob's hand and said hi (he didn't remember me from earlier). I told him I didn't have a picture with him yet and he said "You don't? Let's get one." and he called over Dave (one of the guys who sets up the stage) and asked him to take the pic. I went to sit down on the couch and hat to move the empty Doritos bag. LOL! I think Rob felt bad so he said "No, we can stand up to do this!" and he put his arm around me and we got a cute pic together!

I turned around and Joe asked e if I'd take a pic of him with the other girl. I took the camera (which was the exact same one I had... so WHY was the pic SHE took so blurry???) and I took a GREAT photo of them. VERY CLEAR! After I did, Joe turned around and picked up my blue marshmallow coat. I ran over and took it from him and said "Thanks" and grabbed my MacPac. I started to get ready to walk out and he said "PUT your coat on BEFORE you go outside." Yes Dad. I apologized and said I was just trying to hurry up. So I put my bag back down and put on my coat and gathered my bag again. I told him and Rob I'd see the tomorrow and Joe's eyes got big and he said "Oh really? Ok!" and he put his hand on my big poofy back and said "See ya. Travel safe honey!" (HONEY! As if I'm his wife! LOL!)

I then went back t the line to talk to Stephanie and the other Michigan girls while they waited for their turn. Johnny yelled to us and said "Let's chant something!" I said "Let's Get This!" He said "OK, when they open the door, let's chant "Let's Get This!" So the door opens and everyone chants. He started to do this for every time someone new went in or came out "Let's chant....." It was so funny! I appeared to be his partner in crime. If he couldn't think of something, Id suggest something. When he came up with something new, I'd pass it on to the back of the line. Very fun! He was also asked about the stupid finger in the photos and he started explaining the poster badly so I yelled "I WANT YOU!" He looked at me stunned and said "YEAH!!!" as if someone finally understood. Yeah... I still don't get it Johnny. ;) Then he started complaining about how cold it was. He yelled "FAHK, IT'S COLD!" and he looked at the line and said "Seriously! Go staht your cahs! Get the heat goin!" He said it over and over too! "Get in your cahs!" I was just cracking up at his accent!

Stephanie got on the bus and while in there her camera died!!! She had to have someone else take her picture but it turned out great!!! Karie and Julie also got on the bus. They took FOREVER! To the point that Johnny was like "What the hell? What are they doing in there?" They finally came out and were freaking out. They had a great chat with Joe including some recognition on his part and some great pics. Karie is a very funny and.... umm.... honest(?) girl! ;) It sounds like they had some fun on that bus! Karie also said that at some point she thanked Joe for making Julie and "RocksicleLover" so happy. ;) So thoughtful. Tricki got on the bus and FINALLY got her MacPac picture signed. Joe couldn't believe that it wasn't, but she showed him and he made up for it by signing it TO HER. Emily got on the bus and had such a moving time that when she came off the bus she was crying! So sweet! When Megan got on the bus, she called Cheyenne, a Michigan Blockhead who now lives in Texas, and Cheyenne even got in on the fun! So thoughtful! After the excitement and hearing about everyone's experience on the bus we headed home. Wednesday was going to be another long day and we needed our rest.

CHICAGO
A bunch of us Michigan Blockheads took the train from East Lansing, Michigan to Chicago. It was a pretty fun train, but we were all pretty tired from the night before. We all tried to sleep at some point. Jessie (4everBraveheart) also got on the bus in Kalamazoo and joined us. We got to Chicago around noonish and took it easy. We stayed at the Days Inn on Diversey which is literally about 2-3 blocks from where I used to live on Diversey! It was my old 'hood! Stephanie, Jessie and I went for some crepes at La Creperie. YUM! Then we headed back, relaxed and then started getting ready. While we were getting ready, Jen, who I knew from the video, stopped by with her husband, Bob! We were going to have a mini-video mates reunion! Shannon, Jen, Gina and I were all going to be at the show and we had matching shirts! Shannon made the shirts and they looked GREAT! She even made one for Joe! We finished getting ready and headed to Lincoln Ave. Shannon had arranged for us to have dinner at the venue, Lincoln Hall, prior to the show. With this pre-dinner, we were able to also not have to wait in line and were the first ones in the venue. It was awesome! The dinner was very yummy! Mac & Cheese! I also got to enjoy my favorite drink from living in Chicago - Black Cherry Effen & 7! YUM! The area we were in was a bar-liek area, separate form the actual room with the stage. We could hear Joe on stage doing sound check.

We got in line and of course Shannon was first. Once the doors open and we all ran in, we ended up right behind Shannon who was front row, DEAD CENTER. We had to stand there for a while before the show began. That gave me just enough time to freak out about how close we were. It was different than a regular NKOTB show! It was JUST HIM. He didn't really move from the center, unlike at a group show where they switch positions. And there was no space between the crowd and the stage. It was just him, right there. When he came out, it was even more insane. It was like he was standing on top of us!!! I COULD HAVE DIED! I have never been closer. NEVER. And those of us who know Joe, know how he likes to spit. I like it when he spits too. ;)

I decided not to hold up my sign. I decided to trust the man who says he knows me. Yeah. I never got the same eye sex that I have gotten in the past. Sure, he looked at me. He even smiled at me. But it was never that sudden wonderful recognition I have gotten in the past. I missed it. But the show was STILL amazing. "I'm Waiting" was almost unbareable that close. And what was really funny was that if we yelled or something, Joe could actually hear us! We almost had to watch what we said! Being where I was and being as tall as I am caused me to be the bearer of gifts. Right before Joe started the sweet song 'The Difference', people started passing up Traveling Jon (TJ) for us to hand to Joe. I passed him up to Shannon. She tried to get his attention but he was already starting his song. After the song, he turned to her and said "What is it that couldn't wait?" She handed over TJ and he checked him out. Jessie had Flat Joe Mac with her and was trying to pass him up but her arms weren't long enough for Joe to see him. I took him and held him up and Joe took FJM from me. He said "What is this called when you do this?" And everyone yelled "Flat Joe Mac"! We were VERY excited he finally met FJM! It was all thanks to Jessie! He handed everything back to me. Then Shannon gave him the t-shirt she made for him. He read it and talked about the video. He said "Didn't I teach you guys timing at the video?" since Shannon had tried to give him TJ right before he stared the slow song. He read the shirt (which had our names on it) and thanked us. Then a can of popcorn got passed to me. I handed it over. Joe is lucky I did considering how much I LOVE Garrett's popcorn!!! Later, the whole crowd started holding up their signs. Before we had gone in, someone had given me a towel that said "Let's Joe Show This". I held it up and he took it right out of my hands.... and NEVER gave it back! lol! Shannon showed Joe her "I heart EG" sign. He asked her about it and she told him it meant Evil Genius. They had an adorable convo about it! It was so cool! Gina also had some great moments with Joe! She tends to cry during slow songs. Joe saw her crying during two different songs and looked RIGHT AT HER, smiled and sang to her! Sweet (but evil). Joe finished up the amazing show and we were left giddy as school girls!

Afterwards, Jessie, Stephanie and I darted over to The Underground where there was an after party. It ws raining and it sucked, but because we had a table, we got escorted in right away. The doorman took us to a table that was just up the stairs to the right. There was only one table between us and the VIP roped off area and NO ONE EVER SAT THERE! It was basically ours! WE WERE RIGHT NEXT TO VIP! I LOVE the staff there for hooking us up with that table! We went and got changed into our club clothes, Gina joined us, and then we had some drinks and waitd. When Joe came, I stood on the seat against the post that was kind of the line that separated our area from VIP. He stood on the ledge and sang some songs and danced. He was RIGHT in front of us. :) At one point, Joe asl came over while he was in VIP and gave hugs. I got a nice soft hug with his lovely cashmere sweater. GOD it was soft! But I don't think he actually recognized me when he hugged me. Eventually, they took down the extra stage/table Joe had stood on in the beginning and expanded the ever-growing VIP area. There was no longer anything blocking me from just stepping down off of the seat into VIP. So I did it! I stood near the seat for a bit before just running in, but the Underground guy really didn't seem to mind me being there, so I just walked right in! Shortly after I got in VIP, Joe actually did a round around the bar and hugged people. I missed that part! Who knew VIP could be bad?? During that time, Jessie was able to get her pic with Joe which was AWESOME! When they came back, I talked to Johnny a little bit (of course asking for my FT pic) and got my pic w/ him and a pic of him w/ Ethan. I chatted with Donald some more and met his friend and talked with him a while too. There was a girl sitting up next to Joe (w/ one guy in between her and Joe). She recognized me from Twitter and tried to get me up there with her, but the security guy said no. I was still very thankful to her for trying! She really didn't have to do it at all! I love Blockheads!!! Later, Stephanie gave me her phone to take a picture of Joe with. Johnny saw me trying to take Joe's picture and grabbed Joe and pointed at the camera. But hte camera would work!!! UGH. I got my camera out instead and stood right in front of Joe and got a pretty pic of him smiling. Again, I really dont think he recognized me. He was wearing sunglasses. I bet it was hard to recognize anyone in the dark club. I talked to Joe's other crew guys including Dave and Nate too. Joe got up on the ledge for one more song and to say thank you, then said good night and disappeared seconds later. The bar started getting ready to shut down but the band and the crew stuck around. Julie and I kept talking to Dave and Nate a little bit more. Ethan gave me two INSANELY tight hugs! To the point that I thought he was going to break me! LOVE HIS HUGS! Nate was still around so I shared some champagne with im since we weren't drinking it fast enough. We eventually all headed outside and I saw Alex and said hi. He said he saw me in the front earlier having fun. Of course! :) We all chatted a little bit more then headed back to the hotel. I was pooped and fell asleep very quickly. We took the train back the next day, all VERY tired but with WONDERFUL memories.

One last thing... a few days later, Joe was on Twitter. I tweeted: So, I didn't hold up my sign in Chicago. Did you recognize me? I still doubt your memory and recognition skills. He responded: JM: I'm insulted.

Ok ok. So MAYBE he MIGHT recognize me a little bit. Or maybe he's just a cutie who likes to flirt and tease! ;) Either way is fine with me!

All the things I SHOULD have said to Joe on that damn bus

2010-01-22T22:48:00.004-05:00

I can tweet Joe McIntyre til my fingers go numb, but I get face-to-face with the man and all I can get out is a meek "I'm RocksicleLover". Ugh. So to get some closure on Tuesday night in Detroit when I said next to nothing on the bus, I want to say everything now.

Joe -

I have loved every hug, every touch, every smile, every word and every moment that you have ever shared with me. I'm incredibly thankful to have this second chance at meeting you and actually interacting with you. This past year, I have been blessed to have so many opportunities to see you and it has made me so happy! One smile or one tweet from you changes my outlook on an entire week! Just the fact that you've taken even a second's notice of this dull girl from Michigan fills my heart with delight! And its not just me! I see you share your love with so many people and see the joy you put on their faces as well. Thank you for all you do.

And I can't thank you enough for following me! It is such a simple thing for you to do, and yet it has meant the world to me. I never in a million years would have thought that Joe McIntyre would CHOOSE to get updates on my mundane life! Wow! I'm truly shocked. I hope to keep you entertained and following for as long as possible. I would hate to ever lose my favorite follower.

I love you. You are one of my favorite people in this world.

- Heather (aka @RocksicleLover)

PS - I had such a cool book for Griffin & Rhys and I FORGOT to give it to you while I was on the bus! It was a cool book about Sparty (the Michigan State University mascot) traveling around Michigan seeing all that this state has to offer. I'm so bummed I didn't give it to you! Hopefully I can give it to you next time I see you. :)

PPS - One day, I have to hear you say the words "Let's get this, Heather." Ok?

PPPS - Are the video peeps ever going to get the cast and crew photo? And is there any way for us to get a DVD copy of the video? It was such an amazing day. We want as many mementos as possible. Hope you enjoy your t-shirt from us! It was @simplyshannon's idea!

Here We Go Again... THE VIDEO!

2010-01-01T10:31:00.023-05:00

On Saturday, October 17, 2009, at around 7:30pm, I got on Twitter to check what was going on (something I do far too often). Shortly after I logged in, Joey McIntyre started tweeting about a contest to be in his new video! He had eluded to the contest earlier in the week and had said it would be a good contest for those living near LA. But I didn't care where I lived! I wanted in this video! I watched Twitter intently to find out how we could enter to win. Joe said he would be picking the first 30 people who emailed him to be in his video! He drew out the announcement of the email address. So in that time, I drafted up an email telling him I'd LOVE to win! I also managed to work up quiet a sweat during the wait! I was so nervous! My daughter also tried getting my attention during that time, but I needed to focus! I asked my husband to take care of her since I was "busy". He wasn't too happy about that, but then again, I think he's getting used to this stuff. lol! Everything was all set in my email. All I needed now was the address. Finally, Joe announced to email the Let's Get This Foundation address! I knew it was in my contacts so I hurried up and typed "le" into the "TO" of my email and it popped up. I hit "Send" and began shaking terribly! I went back to Twitter and told everyone my email was sent. I seemed to be one of the first people to report that, so I was hopeful! We HOPED Joe would announce all of the winners right away but were unsure. He did announce that the video was going to be filmed in Burbank, California on Wednesday (in 4 days). I remember responding that that was NO PROBLEM for me! I'd go anywhere, anytime!!! Finally Joe asked if we wanted to hear the first 10 people! OF COURSE! He started posting the full names of the people who had won. I was so nervous, jealous, excited and a little concerned my husband would kill me for sitting at my computer for so long. I refreshed over and over and saw "#9 Elizabeth White". He had said he would only announce 10, so there was only one more. I refreshed and saw "#10 Heather Slawinski". WHAT??? I stood up suddenly and said "OH MY GOD! ITS ME!" My outburst scared my daughter and husband so I had to calm down a little bit. I couldn't believe it! I had to go back and check the screen several times. Did he just say I won? OMG! Really? What? OMG! Seriously? OMG OMG OMG! I was dying! Then, I started to really think about it... I have to fly to California in 4 days? Can I afford that? I realized I had to take time off of work, book a flight, book a hotel and make sure my daughter was going to be taken care of while I was gone. My husband was going to be starting a new job in a town 45 minutes away from our home so he was VERY concerned about me not being around to help drop off and pick up our kid from day care.

I was still so excited. I finally posted something on Twitter about how stunned I was and I called my NKOTBFF Renee. We freaked out together! She knew how amazing this was for me! So glad I could share that with her! She also told me that someone else she followed won and that I should hook up with the other girl.

I went back to Twitter and Joe told us that his producer would be contacting us shortly with details about the video. I decided to wait until I got the email to book anything. I finally got the email from John Davis of Base Productions which asked for our phone number and said someone would be calling us with more details about the shoot on Monday. It also said we should plan on being at the video shoot from 8-6:30pm! A full day with Joe Mac!?!?! WOW! They also told us we could bring cameras for when we weren't on set.

I booked a flight for Tuesday that wasn't cheap, but wasn't too outrageous either. I also talked to Renee's friend @swear_face (aka Lia) and we decided to room together at a hotel in Burbank. Now all we needed was details about what clothes to bring and how we should look.

Monday morning on my way to work, I was blasting "Popsicle" in the car. I ended up screaming three times at the top of my lungs and just about hyperventilated in the car! I was so excited! Later in the day, I got a call from a very nice girl named Teryn who gave me all the details about how to dress and look and what to expect. She told me to plan on being there from 8am-8pm. 12 HOURS!?!?! OMG! 12 HOURS with Joe Mac was gonna be heaven!!! She told me the video would be an underground fight club. She said I should dress "more tough than sexy". She suggested tank tops, combat boots, dog tags, skinny jeans, tight tees, leather. Simple hair and makeup. I asked if I should wear all black, she said no. She also said NO WHITE. Ok... so I have NONE of this stuff! Not only did I have to pay for the trip, but I realized I was going to have to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe! I went shopping on Monday. I was with my daughter so I couldn't try anything on, but I kept calling Renee and asking her opinion on stuff. That was the hardest shopping trip ever! I thought about telling the salesgirls what I was shopping for so they could help, but I was too embarrassed! I was a 34 year old mom shopping at Forever 21 for clothes for a music video? Seriously? I bought a ton of stuff and kept the receipts. My fave purchase was a pair of shoes that were basically high top sneakers similar to All-Stars.

Tuesday I drove to Detroit and got on my flight freaking out. Was I really doing this? I was flying to Burbank, California to be in Joey McIntyre's music video? Seriously? It seemed like a dream! And it had all happened so fast so there was no time for anything to sink in! I was wearing a NKOTB shirt at the airport and the security lady asked me about it. She asked if I went to the concert. I told her I had attended several concerts over the summer and I was now on my way to be in a video with one of them, and I pointed to Joe. She told me that was really cool and asked me how the concerts were. I told her they were great (didn't she realize I would say that since I was flying to California to be in one of their videos???? lol!) On the flight, I realized I couldn't listen to any Joe songs on my iPod! It made me WAY too nervous!

I got to Burbank finally with my huge carry on of luggage. I got my rental car and checked into the hotel which was a little shady but it was so close to the studio! I decided to get all of my last minute stuff at a nearby Target and I talked to Renee on the phone the entire time I was there! So excited! I knew I wanted to get Joe a gift and she suggested I get hair products for his ROCKSICLE (my name on Twitter is RocksicleLover). I found some stuff called "Big Sexy Hair" and Renee told me it was perfect. I bought some MORE clothes just in case and headed back to the hotel. That night, @MSUAmy1 picked me up (she lives in LA) and we went out to dinner. I was in such a daze from being so excited that I know I was kinda weird there, but I'm sure she understands. She also drove me around LA a bit so I could see some sights, but it was dark so I definitely didn't get the whole gist of everything.

I headed back to the hotel and found out a bunch of video girls were in the lobby. We all introduced ourselves and I finally met my roomie! I was so tired out that I made a quick exit and went back to the room to go to bed. We were so excited but I HAD to sleep. I had to look good for Joe! I was gonna spend ALL DAY with him tomorrow!

I woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, Lia surprised me by starting to talk to me. Apparently she couldn't sleep either! LOL! We decided to start getting ready so we could meet our video mates in the lobby at 7am. I laid out all of my clothes and still didn't know what to wear. I decided on a hoodie and black jeans with high tops. I packed the rest of my things in a bag. We were supposed to have a total of 3 outfits and I had plenty to choose from. Lia selected her clothes as well and packed extras. Then we headed downstairs.

We rode to the studio with @cdnfan75 (Michele) and @marliimarl (Marlene) and we were all so excited! The girls were impressed to see the mountains in the background of Burbank! Everyone had arrived so late they hadn't even seen them the night before! We arrived at the studio, pulling in right behind @wizbiff (Elizabeth), @guingirly (Jenn), @nkotbwxgrl (Tania)............. We took some pics near the cars then headed to the building. When we finally found the entrance at the side of the building, the guys were still setting up the check-in tables. They told us we would be able to come in at 8am. We stood around and tweeted/chatted. Soon, 4 of the 5 members of Varsity Fan Club arrived too. They let us in after signing release forms and getting our pics taken with the forms and #s (I was 007! lol!). We got in and were told to head to the wardrobe room. Lia, Marlene and I were the first. We had to go in and pull out all of the clothes we brought and lay them out. The wardrobe girl (who was only 20 years old!) would review our clothes and suggest what we should try. Then we'd try on the clothes and see if they liked the look. I pulled out my clothes and she pointed at the plaid shirt and asked me to try wearing that. It worked. She didn't want me to wear my leggings that I brought because they didn't want anything too tight. Lia was told to change her shirt too. Marlene had super sexy shirt on. they told her she needed to change but had trouble with her clothes because they were 'too chic'! The girl even said "those are cool, did you get them at Urban Outfitters?" Little did she know Marlene was from the UK! Marlene ended up in all black and was also given Lia's vest to wear. There was a LOT of sharing in the wardrobe department!

We went out to the main waiting area and were offered kraft services which included Starbucks coffee. YUM! There were also bagels, cereal bars, trail mix, crackers, water, pop.... lots of snacks. I was so nervous I couldn't sit down or eat. I just stood around trying to scope out Joe! We didn't know if he was there or not. Drew Ryan Scott of Varsity Fan club was there though. I asked him if he was upset that he was there and Joe was not. He laughed and said "Yeah! Yeah I am!" I introduced myself to him and the rest of the guys. Bobby was missing (he came later). We continued to stand around a while. More extras arrived including winners, actresses and actors. The actors were great looking guys! And you could tell they were dressed like boxers/fighters. NICE arms too! :) There were a few extra girls too who were actresses. We also met the lead actress, named October. She asked us where we were from and was very excited about how we had all gotten there. She said she had managed a few bands and traveled with them and though our passion was so cool. She was very nice, especially considering she looked so tough! As people continued to arrive, they were taken back to wardrobe. While we waited we chatted and took pictures. Lia and I got a picture with Varsity Fan Club. While we were sitting around, Marlene said she could hear Joe's song. I didn't know how she knew, but then she said that the release forms we signed had the song title "Here We Go Again". She could hear that line being played and I agreed it sounded kinda like Joe's voice. But it was so different! Such an upbeat dance type of song! I was so impressed! I loved what we could hear!

More waiting. Eventually, while we were standing there, Joe made a mini-appearance in the distance by the bathrooms. I as so excited I reached down to grab Lia and ended up grabbing her chest. She said "Why are you grabbing my boob?" Then she saw him. I think he was in a tank top at that point. But he might have had a leather jacket over it too. I was so excited I barely remember!

Soon after that, a guy named Ferris started yelling at us to listen up. The producer, John Davis, started giving a quick run down of logistics and safety. Joe came out during the speech and stood off to the side in the leather jacket. We all started taking pictures, of course. After Ferris and John were done talking, Joe spoke up and thanked everyone for being there. He specifically thanked the "Twitter Girls". He explained there had been a contest and there were 30 or so girls who were there who had won. He made a joke that was something like "I can't believe they are here" from so many places and how he could just hear our hubby's responses to the win in our homes "Sure honey, we need the miles on our card!" But he was still thankful we came. He also said that we may leave the set and say "Oh my God, I am never doing that again. I'm going back to my real job." LOL!

On to the nitty gritty. John explained that we were doing a video set in a fight club. He explained there would be three fights, one with Joe. We were going to be the people in the crowd and would be cheering on the fights. He explained EVERYONE would be in the video at some point. He also said there was gonna be a big fun melee where everyone would fight each other. Joe interrupted and said "Well, not EVERYONE is gonna be int he melee." We figured he meant us.

After the meeting, Joe disappeared and they asked all of the guys to go over to the set. The girls anxiously waited. Ferris started coming over and grabbing girls and taking them to the set (which we couldn't' see at all from where we were). Lia and I were included in the last group that went over to the set. We were told that we would be people walking around the fight club who were done with their betting for the day and weren't watching the fight. We were just doing our own thing. There were couches and chairs that we could sit in or we could walk.

The first scene we filmed was a fight between two big guys. One shirtless with tattoos, the other had a shirt on. Both very intimidating. There was also a referee who was in the ring with them (later found out his name was John Heckleman), and October was up there too. The extras who had been called in earlier were in a circle around the area where the guys were fighting. The VFC boys were in the circle too. The crowd needed to cheer on the fight as if they were invested in the fight and had money on it. Super excited. Since I was in the background, I started by just sitting in a chair chatting with Michele and looking over at the fight once in a while. We did several takes. Ferris would yell "Action" and everyone would start cheering and the fighters would fight. There was no music on or anything. It was just the fight at this point. Not sure what brought my attention to him, bit I looked over and saw that Joe was over to my right side. He was reviewing the file to make sure they had the takes they needed. He was wearing jeans, a tank top and the leather jacket/shirt thing. He also had faded blue boots on.

We did a few takes of the cheering and me just sitting in the back. I also got up and walked back and forth a couple of times. At one point, filming stopped and we were just standing around. I looked to my right and up walks Joe McIntyre! I looked at him and smiled and said hi. He smiled back, said hi and then stopped just past me on my left. Then I noticed he had a guy with a camera and a girl with a note pad with him. They were interviewing him! I heard later it was E! News. There was also another hand held camera behind me filming more stuff (maybe behind the scenes footage?). Almost as soon as they stopped walking, the interview started. I couldn't really hear the woman, but I could hear Joe. He went through the typical chatter explaining the video and that it was a fight club scene. They talked about how he had gotten in the 'best shape of his life' to do this video and he joked that he was no where near looking as buff as the other guys in the video. I think the girl asked Joe about the state of the union of the New Kids. He said "The state of the union of New Kids on the Block is strong!" He said more was to come and it would be exciting. He made it sound like NKOTB might have something coming out in a year or so. The girl asked about his CD. He said "I don't think this will be my last CD, but it feels like this is THE ONE." He said he "just rocked out" for this CD. I took some pics during the interview on my cell phone. When he finished with the video, he walked over to Elizabeth (wizbiff) and talked to her for a little bit. The handheld camera went with him and videoed him talking to her. When he was done, he went over to Marlene (marliimarl) and chatted with her about her comfy shoes. Also talking about how she came from the UK, I'm sure!

Once he was done with the interview, I think that was when he came over and had some still shots taken by the professional photographer against the wall nearest me on the right. The shots looked great from what I could tell! The photographer showed Joe one of the photos on his camera and told him it was very "James Dean". The pictures are now out and are of him standing in front of the window w/o the 'cut' on his cheek. I'm standing right next to them in that pic!!!! Standing in the back of the first scene was obviously extremely beneficial at times! LOL!!! That photographer was also there ALL DAY LONG so I would think he's gonna have many more amazing shots later.

Once Joe was done with all of that, we did a scene in which Joe walked through the crowd watching the fight and singing his song. This was going to be our first time officially hearing the song!!!! I was still wandering around in the back, so I wasn't really near the action. From what I hear, that might have been better! The people in the crowd had to IGNORE him! ACK! At least I got to get a glimpse while walking by! The music started playing and it sounded great! Here We Go Again is gonna be a great song and hopefully will be well received by EVERYONE! Its upbeat and catchy! The male extras were whistling the song all night long! We ALL loved it! This song is so much different than anything else Joe has ever done! And its a very successful change! REALLY! While Joe walked through the crowd, he was signing one of the lines. From what I could hear, he wasn't really singing, he was just lipsynching. He would look intensely at the fight and would react to 'big hits' while the people around him just continued to cheer.

With all of my walking around, I ended up on the opposite side a few times where Drew Ryan Scott and David from VFC were. At one point the director yelled CUT, the scene stopped, and David was still yelling "He looks pregnant!" It was VERY funny! Drew explained to me that they were trying to come up with the most off-the-wall comments to yell during the scene. Another time I was sitting down resting between takes and Drew turned around, made a face at me, and asked "Are you comfy?" I said "Yeah" then asked him if he actually did any singing on this track. He turned to the guy next to him and said "Hmm, I don't know... did I?". The guy said "I don't think so" and Drew said he hadn't, but he had helped to write it. He also said the guy next to him had written and produced it. The guy next to him then introduced himself as Brent (@prentpaschke). I complimented them on what a great song it seemed to be and told them I couldn't wait to hear the rest. Brent said the whole album was great and Drew agreed. I told Brent I thought this songcould be really mainstream, especially if they could play the song THEN tell people who it was. Brent said he had given teh song to a guy at a radio station. The guy heard the song, turned to him and said "WHO is this?" Brent answered "Joey" and the guy was surprised but said how great the song was. Again, see how cool everyone on set was???? :)

I went to the other side later and someone announced they were going to be doing a different scene. There was this funny, talkative guy next to Elizabeth who turned around and told me to squeeze into the circle so I didn't have to keep walking around. I did and they then explained the scene they were going to do was when Joe stopped walking when the first fight ended. The referee then asks who is next to fight and Joe nods his head and enters the ring. I was standing next to this talkative guy who was right behind the ref. In the video, you see Elizabeth and him but not me. It was a great spot though! We had to continue cheering the previous fighter, but when the ref sees Joe and says he's next, we get to look RIGHT AT JOE and cheer! How easy is that? YAY! Joe looked so tough. He gets in the ring then takes off his leather jacket and hands it to October. HOT! Then the scene ended. We did a few takes of the scene. Then they called for lunch. Before I went to lunch, I saw Dave Harris (@retrorewind) and Larry (@retrolarry). I said hi and introduced myself and asked if they were going to be coming back from lunch and sticking around for a while. Dave said yes, they were going to be here the rest of the day, so I said I'd talke to them later.

At lunch, I was standing line and this big black guy walks up and smiles and asks me if I'm a boxer. I laughed and said "Heck no, I'm just an extra." Then I asked him if he was a boxer. He said yes. I asked him waht he was going to be doing and he said he didn't know but was just told to be there for shooting. While in line for food, I ended up calling Renee. I told her how crazy this all was and while we were talking, Joe came up and cut in front of Elizabeth (who was on the phone with ktsummer), took some salad, and walked away again. SO CUTE! The big guy next to me just slaughed at me as I got all giddy.

Lunch was ceasar salad, homemade mac & cheese, BBQ chicken, rolls and brownies for dessert. Unfortunately I'm an idiot and when I was by the chicken, I coughed. How embarrassing. I announced I wasn't sick, bu tthat's still gross. UGH. Thank god Joe wasn't there! I liked eating the ceasar asald and at some mac & cheese and the roll, but I just couldn't eat the chicken (and not cuz I coughed on it). I think it was all of the nerves.

Sometime after lunch, I had to run to the bathroom to wash my hands. The black pants that I was wearing were new and had never been washed. The black dye was getting all over my hands and turning them black! When I came back out of the bathroom, Joe was standing just outside the hallway in his tank top finishing up a convo with someone else. The other person walked away and Joe looked over as I stared at him. I sheepishly said "Hi" and he said "Hi" and walked over. He said "What's your name?" and I said "Heather". We might have shook hands at that pointlll then I said "I'm RocksicleLover on Twitter." He looked at me and said "AWWWWWWW!" and held out his arms and gave me a big hug! My mind then went haywire and I said stupid things like "I have a pic that you tweeted me that I want you to sign later." He said "Oh yeah, I'll do that later." There seemed to be some other mumbling and I said thanks and went on my way.

When we returned after lunch, we were told to go to the same spots we were in previously. I was bummed because they HAD said they were going to move us around, but I was hopeful. While I was standing in the back, Dave Harris and Retro Larry were behind us getting ready to take pics and film some of the video shoot. I went over and we had a chat with them for a little bit. Dave ran away and said he'd be back. While he was gone, John/Ferris come over and moved me to the other side of the circle in the second row of the circle. I'm sure I was stuck in the back because of my height, but at least I was officially in the circle now! Excited!

When the scene started, I realized I was right behind Joe so the camera was pointed right in my direction. Also, I WAS CLOSE TO JOE! :) The next scen was HIS fight scene. They didn't start filming right away. They decided to rn through the scene as a practice. Another guy, named Salar, camer through the crowd to fight Joe. Joe again takes off his jacket and his wearing a wife beater, jeans and boots. They start fighting. In the beginning, the fight seems to be fairly even, but then Salar starts winning. He throws Joe to the floor and is holding the tank top as he falls so that it comes off! SHIRTLESS JOE!!! Can anyone say 6-PACK??? But I must admit, he is still pretty skinny! When the shirt came off, the tone of our cheering changed! I think it went from a tough "YEAH, GET HIM!" to a "OH YEAH! LET'S GET THIS!" lol! At least the cheering was encouraged so we could kinda blend in! So, Joe gets up and as he gets up he rubs his hands over his body and smirks. WHAT? EVIL!!! Sexiest thing ever! He continues fighting with Salar, still seeming to be losing. Then I think the director came in and stopped the fight and they decided to go through the fight more closely and focus on details. It took a while. Many of us ended up sitting down and watching. I actually took out my camera and started taking some pictures w/o my flash. They eventually told me to stop, but I got some good photos.

As they continued practicing the scene, Joe would get his shirt pulled off and then would have to put it back on. He started noticing that there was a bubble-type area on his shirt where Salar had pulled on his shirt. And he only had 3 tank tops! He tried all three on at one point trying to determine which one looked best. He turned around and said something like, "This doesn't look sexy, does it?" Umm... Joe? EVERYTHING looks sexy on you! LOL! They basically just pushed the shirt around and it looked ok.

Another fun thing about the fight scenes? Let's just say, when a guy is skinny and has his shirt off and moves around a lot, you tend to see his underwear. :D (and yes, he was wearing underwear. Guess he thought commando wasn't a good idea for the video.) AND, it was AWESOME when we'd be standing around waiting for our next instructions and we'd hear the director say "Joe! Take off your shirt!" I'd then grip on to the guy standing next to me so that I didn't faint. ;)

I was kind of the idiot on the set. There really weren't many Joe girls there, and the ones that were Joe girls weren't standing anywhere near me. So all day, I was making 'inappropriate' comments all over the place about licking him, massaging him, rubbing him, etc and everyone around me thought I was crazy! LOL! The male extras around me were getting a kick out of my reactions. They'd give me a sideways glance whenever I would moan or say "Good Lord" after a particularly nice moment. It didn't help that the guy I stood next to the majority of the time was Joe's personal trainer! He laughed a LOT! I probably should have thanked him more than I did for Joe's GREAT BODY!

So, the day went on. We cheered and Joe and Salar would fight. It was harder work than you'd ever imagine. Yes, Joe was in the room. YES, he was shirtless a LOT. But we had a job. We had to cheer and cheer and cheer. We had to react to hits/kicks as they occurred. If we didn't, we had to do the scene again. It was exhausting. On top of all of the physcial work, it was about 80 degrees outside. INSIDE, it was about 300 degrees. The movement plus the lights plus the fact that they had no ventilation due to the smoke machine equalled an incredibly hot room. I was sweating a lot. I was lucky in comparison to others though. I only had jeans and a tank top with a button up shirt over it. Other people had sweatshirts and hats on! Every now and then, if I could tell there was going to be a break between takes, I would RUN to go get a bottle of water and would bring it in the room and hide it behind one of the couches. Amazingly, there were fleeting moments that I actually wished we'd just finish up the day already. Then I'd see Joe and quickly change my mind. I was fine right where I was! :)

There were times we'd take a break, or Joe would have to review some footage in a different area, and he would walk past me. Whenever he walked by, he would look right at you and smile a HUGE sexy grin and say "hi" in his awesome raspy voice. And sometimes he would wink! AHHH!

At one point, there was a scene that was supposed to be a huge melee. After Joe's fight, he was going to jump up on Ferris in excitement. Ferris would throw him off into someone else and a group brawl would ensue with everyone in the room involved. The trainer went around the room and coached us on how we should fight with each other. I joined up with Regina and Elizabeth for a three-way fight. The first take was crazy and was very funny. After they said cut, the director said "That was pretty good, but there was a LOT of laughing. No laughing!" This was harder than he thought! LOL! We eventually got it down to minimal laughing. Then they told October to stand on a table and yell STOP. At that point, we were supposed to all stop fighting. On the first take, she got up, yelled "STOP" and we all froze and were silent. Joe said "She said STOP not FREEZE!" and the entire room broke into laughter.

Another time all of the extras were put into a semi-circle. Joe explained we were going to sing his lyrics. In the song he said "La La La Love Hey Hey Hey Hate" We were to sing along. He told us to just look at him. Uh..... no problem. As we did it, we all started pumping our fists. He commented that that seemed to work so to just go with it. There was another part where the song says "Hey Hey Hey Yeah Yeah Yeah" and we were to do the same thing. It was fun singing to Joe! :)

As the hours went on, we were all tired. Including Joe. Sometimes to wake himself back up, Joe would make noises, or better yet, moan. During more difficult scenes, he would say "Let's Get This!" in this deep and kinda silly voice. It was HOT! At the very end, Joe was so tired he was yawning on set. But he was a trooper and kept up the energy during filming.

Finally, they called it a day. They thanked the extras and we took a huge cast and crew photo with Joe. Joe told us that he needed to finish up some last scenes and would be over to talk to us soon.

We headed out to the waiting area and started getting ready to see Joe. I ran to the bathroom and changed my stinky shirt and tried to freshen up. Yeah... kinda hard. But I did my best. I went out and put on some makeup and was ready to go. I had my Twitpic for him to sign and my camera was ready. While I was waiting, I also got my pic with Dave Harris who seemed to be waiting around to see Joe like we were! We were talking to some of the extras and all of a sudden heard Joe say "HEY" from behind us! We all turned around and saw him standing there with a piece of pizza in his hand. He hand changed into a black t-shirt and he had a cut on his cheek. I couldn't help but yell "What happened to your cheek?" He responded that it was just make-up and asked the make-up lady to take it off. He then said that we should all stay where we were and he would come around and say hi and take pics with all of us. I had two thank you cards that I had bought - one for Joe and one for Barrett/Griffin. In the one for Griffin, I included some Halloween stickers for him since seriously, what is a 2 year old going to do with a card? I wanted to make sure to give those to him while everyone could see his reaction, so I ran up and gave it to him just after he said he was coming around to each of us. He made a smart ass comment "Except for you" and I handed over the cards and breifly told him what they were. He smelled like pizza! He smiled big at the one for Barrett and Griffin and I ran off.

He made his rounds and FINALLY made it over to me. Honestly, I have forgotten some of this interaction because I was so tired and so excited. I gave him a hug and for some reason FORGOT that I was gonna get a pic with him. He said "Who's gonna take this?" I said "Oh, yeah" and he said "You're killing me here" as I grabbed my camera and handed it off to the first hand offering which was Jen. Joe put his arm around me and we posed and Jen said "Its all zoomed in." Oh crap. I apologized again and told him to sign my pic in the meantime. He signed my pic AND Jen's while I fixed the camera and handed it back to Jen. Luckily, he still smiled when the real pic was taken. He continued on his way saying hi to everyone.

Then someone asked about us hearing the entire song. Throughout all of the shooting, we never heard the song the entire way through and Joe had promised. He said "Hold on" and he ran off. At that moment, I realized I had totally forgotten to give him the BIG SEXY HAIR gift! I grabbed it and went towards where he was. He came back and told us to come with him. I was right there ready! I walked back to the screening room with him and girls were telling me to ask about a group picture. I said "Joe, they want me to ask you for a group picture." He said "But we just took a huge cast and crew photo! You'll get that one." I said "Yeah, but we want one with just us and you." He said "Nah, cuz then people will be upset if they aren't in it" I just said "Ok, ok". We got into the screening room and I went to him and said "I forgot to give this to you earlier. Its a silly gift. 'For the Rocksicle, From RocksicleLover" He kinda laughed and said "Aww, thank you!" and I ran off and found a seat up high.

Joe and John explained they were going to show us the partial video for Here We Go Again, but the whole song would be played. We waited and watched. INCREDIBLY AWESOME shots started showing up on the screen! I was jumping up and down in my seat! HE WAS SO HOT! The crazy thing was, the MAN WAS IN THE ROOM and I was STILL screaming at the screen! The song was amazing! We were cheering so loudly! Hootin'! Hollerin'! We loved it! And Joe loved our reaction. He stood back and watched and smiled as he tapped the BIG SEXY HAIR nervously against his leg and hand. After it was done, we cheered and asked to see it again. They played it again! It was great! Then someone asked Joe for a group photo again. He eventually caved and we all jumped all over the chairs to get in the photo as John and Joe cringed as we almost ruined the chairs! After the photo was taken, we all started leaving and Joe stood around and gave another round of hugs. He told us the video would be out within 30 days. We told him how much we loved the entire day and the song and we were on our way. As we were leaving, Joe was taping a bit with Dave Harris for RetroRewind.

My only bad experience of this trip happened next. We were starving. It was 10:30 PST (1:30am EST). We headed to Panda Express to get some chinese food. We ate and went back to the hotel. I wanted to charge my phone but I couldn't find my charger anywhere. I went to bed. In the morning as I was laying in bed, I suddenly shot up. SHIT! I left my purse at Panda Express! FUCK! Lia helped me figure out their phone number so I could call when they opened. We both had early flights so we really just had time to pack and head to the airport. I drove us to the airport and when we pulled in, I had another HORRIBLE realization. My engagement/wedding rings were in my purse. I had taken my rings off for a million reasons. We were asked to not wear shiny items; my pants were bleeding black onto everything they touched; I was scared I'd hurt someone with the rings during our fights; our purses were being guraded at the video shoot. All I could do was cry. Lia swore to help me get a hold of Marlene who was staying in LA for a little while so she could go back to Panda Express and get the purse if they had it. I called my hubby and he was not happy. I didn't blame him. In the end, Panda Express never found the purse. I never got my rings back. We will be filing an insurance claim for the $ and have discussed maybe getting me a cheap ring and sending my hubby to Vegas. For all he's put up with, he deserves it!

The video has now come out and I am definitely not a star. But with the help of my Video Mates, I can see myself in a few scenes! Retro Larry is about to release a behind the scenes video of the day and I've already seen clips that I am in! YAY!

Since the video, Joe has started following me and a few other video girls on Twitter. The goal is that he follows all of us! :) He also thanked us a week after the shoot, for the cards and he specifically mentioned the Halloween stickers. Made me happy. Just this past week, Joe had some solo shows in the Midwest. For the Chicago show, there were 4 video mates there together - Shannon, Regina, Jen and me. We had matching shirts and Shannon made Joe one too. She was able to give it to him during the show. It was awesome!

The video was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. I cannot thank Joe enough for allowing fans to be a part of that day! And meeting those other girls was amazing! We shared an amazing experience and I'm so glad THOSE were the girls I got to share it with! They were so awesome! The experience is one that can never be matched! I don't even have the words to describe how amazing it all was. Thank you Joe. Thank you.

My FIRST Joe Tweet!

2009-12-06T23:20:00.000-05:00

August 15, 2009 at 7:28pm EST was my very first Joe McIntyre tweet. He had just finished his work on the summer tour and some of his work on his solo stuff. He was starting a vacation and let us know he was relaxing by tweeting a pic of his legs at the pool. I sent a tweet asking for a pic of his upper body in relax mode. Here is the next tweet he sent:

joeymcintyre: RT @RocksicleLover: @joeymcintyre How about a pic of the upper body in relax mode? ;) JM: ok http://twitpic.com/e1u6o

See pic below! :)

Midwest Facetime Hunting Trip - June 23 - June 28, 2009

2009-12-06T19:41:00.000-05:00

My friends Stephanie, Angie, Nicole and I planned out a Midwest Facetime Hunting Trip for the Full Service tour. We called it that because when we were planning it and talking about asking hubbys if we could go, Nicole said "My husband goes hunting all of the time, why cant I?" The plan was:
Wednesday, June 23 - Stay the night in Detroit.

Thurdsay, June 24 - Concert in Clarkston, MI - I had 5* tickets.

Friday, June 25 - Concert in Tinley Park, IL.

Saturday, June 26 - Concert in Cincinnati, OH - I was a Let's Get This book drive volunteer

Sunday, June 27 - Concert in Indianapolis, IN - I upgraded to 5*

WEDNESDAY - HOTEL IN DEARBORN, MI - We had reservations at two different hotels in hopes of staying at the same one as the guys. We found out they were staying at the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn thanks to a girl on Twitter who decided to be nice to me and tell me. Luckily, we already had reservations there! Our friend Dawn went there to confirm and saw buses. She asked a security guy if it was NKOTB and he said yes. Then she saw Joe walking Duncan! We left my house and drove to the hotel.

We arrived in my car that had window marker all over it stating we were NKOTB fans. It was a little emabarassing to drive up to a fancy hotel like that. THEN, as we were getting our stuff out of the car onto vallet, Joe, Barrett, Griffin and Duncan were coming back from a walk to the mall. Joe looked over and we waved. He smiled back and waved or indicated he was saying hi. We got our stuff together then headed inside to check in. They came in after us as we were checking in and walked right behind us. I was literally shaking as I handed over my credit card! They stayed in the lobby area for a little bit. The hotel staff person asked me the purpose of our visit. I said a concert. They asked "Who?" I pointed at Joe (still shaking) and said "His". Joe had taken Griffin over to the elevator area and was standing there talking to Fish. We walked past again, got in and went up to our room. Once inside we freaked the eff out!!!!! Lots of jumping, squeeling and running around crazy.

We then heard from Dawn that Jon was downstairs outside so we went down and acted like we had to go to the car to get something. We walked by and he was sitting on a loveseat smoking and texting. Looked like he wanted to be left alone. We went to the mall to get lunch. On the way to the car, we saw the McIntyre family walking around again with Duncan. I swear, that dog has the SMALLEST bladder! Griffin was toddling around all by himself! So cute! After lunch we went to the indoor pool and listened to The Block while we swam and tried to tweet the band to get them to come to the pool. While at the pool, we saw Fish and also saw Jon walking back from somewhere outside. He stopped to talk to Jason (we didn't know who he was at this point) then disappeared.

After swimming, we decided to get dressed up and get some drinks in the lobby. I went outside to call my husband and my daughter and say goodnight. When I do that, I tend to talk like a baby and may even sing. I sat down where Jon had been earlier. Jason then came over and sat down right near me. I was embarassed about how I was about to say things like "Hi honey! How are you? Did you go potty today? Let's sing Twinkle Twinkle!" So, I actually got up and moved so that I could yell odd things in the phone in private.

I went back to the lobby and Joe, Barrett and Griffin came downstairs looking to go out to eat. Rob Lewis and Chris were also downstairs milling around. I went back outside to "call soemone" (total lie just so I could get my thoughts together). I received a text and started to answer it while standing in the doorway. That was until Joe and his family were walking up, then I darted into the bar. The McIntyre's left to go get dinner.

We started to get hungry so we all got in the car and drove around the mall area looking for somewhere to eat. We finally decided on Bravo and as we were heading in, just across the sidewalk was Joe and Griffin walking around outside of PF Changs. I was terrified he was going to recognize us and think we were REAL stalkers so I literally turned around and started walking back to the car. The girls talked me down and I eventually turned around again and avoided him like the plague as we walked into Bravo (although I totally peeped at them from the inside).

We finished dinner and were headed back to the hotel to have a few more drinks and I got a call that Jordan was in the lobby having a drink. We walked in and immediately saw him to the left talking with some people. I took my computer out into the lobby and while we were trying to get it to work (stupid internet connection), Ethan walked by. I yelled hi and he came over and gave me a hug and asked me if I was a Twitter friend. I said yes. We chatted about how he was going to a club and he told us to go but I explained I was lame and wanted to stay here on my computer. I told him he smelled great and he said thank you. Then Jason walked up (by now, someone told me who he was) and I said, "I know you too! I recognize you from Twitter!" Jason made a face like "OH NO!" and ran away. Ethan started CRACKING up! So much so that he ended up just laughing his way out of the hotel with Chris. Jason went over to Jordan, whispered something then walked away. We never got an explanation for it!

While in the lobby, we also saw Taylor Hicks walk in. He hung around downstairs for a while then let but his friend stayed down there. We went into the same lobby room as Jordan and drank for about a half hour to an hour with him right there. Jason was also with him. We never said hi but we did share space. ;) Honestly, we had heard he had told someone else that it was his "day off" so we didn't want to bother him, but we couldn't leave!!!! When he headed upstairs at 1am, some other girl asked him if his back was feeling better. He just said "Well... eh..." and left. We stuck around for a little bit after he left, missed Joe's famous RANDY tweet (YES, I was in the same frickin' hotel as him that night and didn't even know he sent a tweet like that) and then headed to bed.

THURSDAY - CLARKSTON, MI - The next morning, Nicole and I went to go get bagels. When we got downstairs, take a wild guess who we saw. Joe, Barrett, Griffin and Ducnan were outside.... AGAIN. Joe had a backpack on and they were all headed to their bus. Griffin was so cute and was chatting up a staff person they saw outside.

After we ate and everything, our Canadian friends, Renee, Jackie and Tegan showed up downstairs. We had called them the night before to tell them the guys were in our hotel. We told them to get their butts here and stay with us and join the fun! They left late at night and got to Dearborn very late. They said they had come at 3:30am to see us and saw Jon outside. They started following him and said "Don't run away!" and he just said "Its my day off." End of convo. They were truly bummed. Especially the girl who was supposed to stand next to him during pictures!

In front of the hotel, one bus had pulled up outside and was sitting idling. The Canadians said Joe was on the bus. We chatted for a bit (we met these girls on Ning and they were going to be in our 5* group at DTE), then Joe came outside. A group of about 4 other girls started walking towards him and he said "Wait, I'll be right back." I wasn't going anywhere!!! He's coming back???? So I stood there longer even though my friends had gone to get the car and were gonna be PISSED when they found out what had happened. He came back and said "Ok, come here" to the girls. We went too. He took pics with them. They were gonna hold the camera themselves, but he said "No no no, lets do this the right way" and had someone else take the pics. He chatted up with a little guy who was under 5 and then it was my turn. I had my "I still love Joe" shirt on and he looked at it and said "Awww!" I said I was going to be at the meet and greet later so he'd see it again. We posed and took the pic. He finished with the Canadians and then got back on the bus and left. I got in my car, with some angry Joe girls, and headed to the venue.

It was crappy weather in line for the 5*. It rained and trees were dropping stuff on us too. But we did have umbrellas. We got assigned Group K and headed to the picnic area and the rain finally let up. We had hot dogs and hamburgers with chips. It was cool because I knew a lot of girls from the community boards.

While we were there, we found out (via Twitter) that Donnie was stuck on a plane. They wouldn't let him off until the lightning stopped. We didn't think it was possible for him to make it. The Donnie girls were heartbroken.

A few mintues later, the band came up to the picnic area to say hi. I grabbed Renee and walked right up to Rob Lewis and I introduced Renee as the girl with the "breakfast idea". He was happy to meet her and so I went to say hi to Chris (the drummer). I gave him a hug and I said I saw him earlier at our hotel an dhe said "Oh, YOUR hotel?" and smiled. I went to talk to Ethan, hugged him, and said I was the girl he laughed at the night before. He said, "Oh, you're the one who knew Jason" and started laughing AGAIN. I said yes. He said that was hilarious and he's never seen Jason act like that. "It was so funny!" I tried to tell him to apologize to Jason or tell me why it was funny, but he just kept laughing. I went over to Fish and told him I had seen him all over the hotel. He looked surprised and said "Oh really?" Then the rest of the VIP area came over to chat with the band, so I walked away.

Then, we started getting tweets that Michael Jackson had died. At first we didn't believe it, but later got confirmation. That was crazy. Very weird. Especially considering where we were and what we were doing. I left the VIP area and talked to Nicole for a bit. On my way back, Rob was leaving the VIP area while on the phone and was saying "I want a downlaod of Man in the Mirror".

Finally, I heard screaming. I was still outside the 5* party and saw the guys walking up to the meet and greet area. I got a glimpse of Danny, Jordan and Joe. No Donnie. :( So the meet and greets started with Donnie still missing. Suddenly right around Group H, there was a very loud roar of applause. DONNIE HAD MADE IT!

We got called into line and waited for our turn. The girls in front of us came out squeeling. I knew one of them, Vanessa, who said one of the girls in her group had just made out with Donnie! Oh my! We headed inside. I was last in line. I went right for Joe, said "I'm Heather". He said "Hi Heather," opened up his arms, read my shirt, smiled and nodded in recognition and hugged me. He immediately slid me into position to get our pictures taken. I felt someone behind me so I started to duck down a little. Joe pulled me up and said "No, don't do that". "Sorry", I said. He said "It makes the picture look funny." After the first pic had been taken, I started to move and he held tight. Somehow I had forgotten I got ANOTHER pic! lol! Stephanie was on the other side of Joe and was squeezing his side. She asked him if he was ticklish. He said "Actually, I'm not." Then I said, "All guys say that."

When the pics were done, I said thank you again and told him I would see him later because I was doing the Cincy book drive. "Oh really? Cool!" he said. Then I went and hugged Jon and gave him the gift Nicole had given me to give to him. He said "Aww, thank you! Thanks!" very appreciatively. I went over and hugged Danny then and waited for Donnie. While waiting, I said to Danny "I just have to do this," and I felt his bicep. It was firm, but not as LARGE as I expected (probably due to his small stature). I finally hugged Donnie and said "I'm so glad you made it." He said "Thanks". As we were walking out, Jordan was reading Renee's shirt. It was an awesome shirt that was a play on the "I'm thinking of someone..." games. He was smiling a huge smile as he read each line. As I walked by, I said "Its long!" and kept walking. He continued to focus on reading the shirt and I figured I'd get a hug from him in Noblesville (where I was posing as a Jordan girl).

I went back to the party and went over to Ethan again and got my pic taken. In the first one he was laughing at me because I said "At least I know I can make you laugh!" Then we got a good smiling one.

As we were standing there, I noticed a guy in a van starring at me. I wasn't the only one who noticed it too. All the girls saw this guy just STARRING. We were joking we should go over and flirt and get in the back of the van, cause you know he had something to do with the guys. We really should have, because just then, the guys left meet and greet and got in the van! Donnie stayed behind to meet up with the groups A-G who had missed meeting him.

When we were all done, we went to our seats. I had 2nd row!!!! They were amazing seats! Almost dead center but slightly over to the left which was great becuase that was where Joe stood a lot! Approx 4 or 5 times, Joe looked at me and smiled BIG! He could see my shirt, so I'm pretty sure he recognized me from earlier. Also, during Step By Step, there was a part where he rubbed up along his microphone stand sensually and I SWEAR he looked right at me while doing it TWICE! *THUD* I also got some looks from Danny and Jordan, but nothing really from Jon or Donnie. The guys also did an amazing tribute to Michael Jackson. Rob played Man In The Mirror and the crowd sang along. Then the guys came out and sang "I'll Be There". It was very touching. Lots of tears. After the concert was over we drove to Lansing to spend the night.

FRIDAY - CHICAGO, IL - In the early afternoon, we started our trip to Chicago. We got there and I entered early so I could take some things to the Ta-Ta Tailgate. I dropped my items off and turned to see Barret, Griffin and Duncan walking toward the buses. Ethan also came around. I said hi again and he laughed again and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and hugged me. He was so sweaty I think my ear actually suctioned to his face, so when he pulled away I felt a pull and my ear actually hurt! LOL! Gross and embarassing.

I saw a lot of girls I knew from Michigan that evening and was able to chat and say hi to so many people form the online community. The Canadians also had gone to Chicago so we were able to talk to them a little bit too! It was great! We had seats in Row N on the aisle. They were very good! The show was awesome (of course) and at the end I held up a sign that had the "Let's Get This" logo. At one point Joe pointed right in my direction and smiled. I thought he was pointing at me, but when I turned around, the girl behind me was giddy and said he pointed to her. I was disappointed. But then during Hangin Tough I was DETERMINED to be seen. I stood on my chair and held up the sign again. Joe pointed at me and smiled and I pointed back. To be sure he was pointing at me, I blew a kiss to him. He then blew one back! AHHHH! An air kiss from Joe Mac during a concert!!!

After the concert, we said goodbye to the Canadians and were on our way to Cincy. The idea was to stay at the same hotel as the guys again if possible. We stopped at a rest stop and met some girls who were trying to follow them too. We traded cell #s and went on our way.

SATURDAY - CINCINNATI, OH - Still driving, we later (WAY early in the AM) got a call from the same girls and they said they were following a bus. We were geeked. We also saw a bus and passed it but kept track of it in the rear view mirror. The girls called and said they followed the bus to a Holiday Inn. That seemed incredibly hard to believe. We still followed their directions and went there (and lost the other bus in the process). We didn't get there until 6:00am. We saw a few tour buses, and we saw one of the guys from the crew, but the guys busses weren't there. We were disappointed but figured we'd just go to our hotel that we had already paid for downtown. We went and there was only one bed for 4 of us. It sucked but we were so tired. I slept on the bed (passed out) and the other girls argued and decided they wanted to go to a different hotel. We stayed until noon when we then checked out to stay some place else in Cincy for the next night, but we couldn't check in until 3:00.

We went to check out the venue and saw a nice but busy waterpark next door. It was INCREDIBLY hot! We also ate. I had to get ready and be at the venue by 4:30 for the book drive but we still weren't checked in. I started freaking out and was so upset. I got my make up on in the lobby bathroom. I started crying then. I was a mess. I needed sleep so badly and couldn't imagine meeting Joe in this shape, which just made me cry harder! I continued getting ready and we FINALLY got in the room. I had enough time to drop my stuff off and change then go downstairs to wait for valet. While waiting there was another girl who was going to the book drive. She offered to drive so I went with her. Her name was Allie and she was from Kentucky and was super sweet (and pregnant!).

We got there and waited around. It was so frickin' hot that day!!!!! Iowa came to get us and walked us over to Joe who was standing waiting for us in the shade, wearing his yellow shoes, while scraping the nail polish off of his finger nails. He smiled and said hi and gave us all hugs. I held up my "Let's Get This" logo sign from the night before and said "Remember me?" He said "Hey - that was you?" and gave me a hug (and no, I didn't believe he actually remembered me, but nice that he said that!). I stood next to him while he explained where we would be setting up and what we would be doing. He also made sure to tell us to stay in the shade since it was so hot. They said they would have only 2 bucket stops and I spoke up and suggested they add one more to the VIP area. I explained when we were in VIP in Detroit, none of us wanted to leave to donate books. Iowa said she thought there was a bucket over there already. Then he said "So they should be taken care of." He also said he and his family had been at the water park earlier in the day and had fun. (Should have gone there when we had the chance! Shirtless Joe! Ugh!) He told us that the Chicago book drive got 1300 books. He also said that for Detroit they didn't get as many as they had hoped and many had gotten wet from the rain. He said more that I don't remember because he kept making eye contact with me and those blue eyes were STUNNING!!!!!! Then we got together for a group pic that was taken with his phone. After he kept starring at it trying to make sure it was ok, trying to decide if he should take a 2nd. Finally he said it was good. Before he left, a bunch of people started giving him stuff as gifts. I had a bracelet that I had bought with the intention to give it to him that said "Let's Get This"on it, but decided not to give it to him because of the rush of girls. The last girl (Carolyn) gave him some nail polish remover and said it was because of something that had been said by him previously (although he didn't remember what she was referring to). He looked at his nails and said, "Yeah, I've been thinking about it and am trying to decide if I should take a break from the polish or not." I blurted out "Take a break!" and then kind of tried to cower and hide (not very well) while he and everyone else turned and looked at me. Then another girl said "Well, maybe just use a different color..." I felt like an idiot.

The book drive went well. We collected almost 900 books in the heat. The concert was amazing once again. When the guys ran back from Single in the crowd, I got a high five from Jon and Joe. That night, we stayed in Cincinnati... THANK GOD!

Donnie headed to a club in downtown Cincinnati that night, so was right down the street from us. After the concert, I tweeted what had happened at the book drive with the nail polish and the comment I made. Some people thought I was insane and said they couldn't believe I had said what I did. I FELT HORRIBLE. Remember, at this point, I've still only had 2.5 hours of sleep in a 38 hour time frame. I started crying again while the other girls argued about who got to take a shower first. I decided to take a walk outside to calm down. I ended up walking down to the club and peeked into the window and saw Donnie up on stage doing his thang! I also saw a Michigan girl, Julie, outside. I headed back just in time. Apparently Donnie left just minutes after I did. I got back and FINALLY got some sleep.

SUNDAY - INDIANAPOLIS, IN - We drove from Cincy to Indy in the early afternoon after sleeping in! Whew! Angie and I both had 5* for this show. I was posing as a Jordan-girl in my group. But I had a mission to apologize to Joe for the nail polish comment. Again, it was hot so this time I wore a dress to stay cool AND look cute! The Indy 5* was awesome! Seemed like it lasted forever! We walked in and Joe was walking towards us yelling something at a girl who was leaving. We had no idea what he was talking about - something like "Well, you didn't say anything so how would I know?" But that just gave us extra seconds to look at him! I went right over to Jordan who was lifting up his shirt a little bit. I said "Woo! Are you taking off your shirt???" He hugged me and said, "No, my pants!" I said, "Woo hoo! Even better!" Then other girls came up for a hug.

I headed over to Joe. I looked him straight in the eye and said "I was the blabber mouth from the book drive yesterday and I just wanted to apologize for telling you to take off your nail polish." He said, "What? Don't worry about it! Other girls have said the same thing to me." And I said, "I know, but I just felt bad about it. There are some girls who do like it." At this point, they were yelling for pictures so I started walking towards Jordan. Joe had his hand on me and was following me - I think he thought I was going to stand next to him for pics. I could see out of the corner of my eye that the 'real' Joe girls were just waiting for him to come back for pictures. He said again, "Don't worry about it." And I said, "Thanks." and ran to Jordan quickly. Jordan said something like "Oooooo" during the 1st pic (to the point that I thought he was probably going to have a goofy face in the pic) and then said something else during the 2nd pic but I was too busy listening to Joe yell "Sweaty balls" to hear Jordan.

So after the pics, I said thanks to Jordan and went back over to Joe, shaking terribly and took off my "Let's Get This" bracelet to give it to him. The security was trying to get us out, but I went to Joe and I handed the bracelet over and he gently took it while I said, "I know this may be silly, but I just want to give this to you." He looked at it and said "This is cool. Thank you. Now, were you the girl who gave me the nail polish remover yesterday?" I said, "No, that was another girl. I was the one who told you I thought you should take a break from it." He said, "Well, don't worry about it at all. Its all ok." And I said thanks and was shooed out by security.

Again, we had Row N for the concert. I was finally starting to get a little tired of going to the concerts every night. I sat down through two songs... I'm not gonna say whose, but lets just say Joe wasn't on stage. I ran over to Donnie's mini-stage during Single and got a high five. At the end of the show, I held up a sign that said "The Rocksicle makes me Hotsicle". Joe looked over at one point, pointed in my direction and pumped his arm as if to say "YES". I felt like it was me he was looking at, but I'm still not 100% certain. As Renee says, if you aren't sure, then the answer is YES, he WAS looking at ME! :)

That night we went to a Waffle House, but no one came. We just had fun on our own with our new found friends who worked there!

The next day we ended our amazing journey and returned to real life. But we had an amazing time posing as true groupies for a bit. We MAY just have to do that again!

Doesn't that deserve a kiss from Joe? - April 4, 2009

2009-12-06T16:46:00.000-05:00

After my October concert, I needed more. Just after the concert I learned that if you got special tickets, you could do a meet and greet with the guys!!! SERIOUSLY????? If I shell out enough cash, I can meet these guys? No sneaking in hotel rooms? Or bus stalking? Just money? Oh I wanted in on this!!! Luckily, the guys announced they were going to do more concerts in the Spring. I talked to my friend about the VIP tickets. Unfortunately they were pricey - $375! But to meet the guys? I could handle that! Isn't that why I had a job? To do things I wanted?

We bought the tickets three days after they went on sale. This was before they sold out in minutes! Around that time, I also discovered newkidsnetwork.ning.com. I studied up on other people's 5* experiences. I learned not to expect anything. ANYTHING I was able to get would be wonderful! I also found several other girls to be in my group so that there weren't too many of one 'type' of girl. We had trouble finding Danny girls, so there were 3 Joe girls, but we were ready to share.

I also decided I needed a catchy shirt! I decided on one, bought it and was all ready. THEN the Michigan State Basketball team made it into the Final Four! The game was going to played DURING my meet and greet! I was gonna miss this huge game! :( I was ok with that. I knew this meet and greet was a great opportunity. So I decided to make it work for me. I made a green shirt that said "I'm missing MSU in the Final Four to be here" on the front. And on the back it said "Doesn't that deserve a kiss from Joe?" I also got my hair done the day of the concert so that I looked as good as can be (although once it was done, I decided not to do that again. My hair was too poofy!)

My friend Stephanie and I drove to Grand Rapids to the Van Andel Arena. We met up with our preformed group, but two of our girls decided to back out since they were way ahead in line and wanted to stay there. We were left with only 7 of us: Nicole, Dawn, Stefnie, Virginia, Jamie, Stephanie and me, but those 7 were so AWESOME! I was so happy to meet them all and thrilled our group was so nice! Nicole saw a friend of hers from online. She went over to talk to them and there were 3 of them without a group! 2 Danny girls and 1 Donnie girl! Perfect! We had 2 Donnie girls already, but everyone was willing to share the love. :)

We were assigned to Group "I" and went upstairs. There was lots of food left. Basically it was chips/bread and dips and it was perfect to settle the stomach a little (you know me and my nervous eating). They also had free wine and beer, bu the wine went FAST! No problem, I'm happier with my beer anyway! I only had one, just to calm the nerves. We also got our tickets and found out we were in row H, which isn't bad since I bought my tickets on the third day of sales!

Girls started screaming and we saw the guys came up the stairs and slip into the VIP area and we got a brief sneak peek of them! I was fairly nervous as soon as I saw them since they all looked so short (and I'm 5'11" in heels)! We stood around waiting, trying to stay calm, while getting tiny sneak peeks through the cracks in the curtain, until they called our group.

I was first in line to walk in. We walked in and all of the guys were busy messing with their phones or looking at stuff. Jordan was the only one paying attention (and he was standing next to Joe) so I went straight to him and gave him a hug, said "Thank you" and quickly showed him the front of my shirt and he smiled.

Then I turned and grabbed Joe (whose back was still to the group) and said "Look, this is all for you!" and I showed him the front of the shirt, then turned around so he could read the back. He smiled and then he gave me a kiss on the right cheek and hugged me! He was all scruffy when he kissed me! I was kinda surprised, but I did not mind ONE BIT!!! LOL!

More girls came up for their Joe hugs, so I left and went to hug Jon, who was engaged in conversation with Nicole. I hated to interrupt but did anyway to get a hug. He was SOOOO skinny! They all were! I said "Thank you" and he said "Sure. Its nice to meet you." That was when I realized I hadn't said my name ONCE since we walked in (on my "to do" list for next time).

They yelled for pictures, so I went running back to Joe and we put our arms around each other and he said "So, wait a minute. Did you go to MSU?" I said "Yeah" and he said "That's like sacrilegious" and I said "Yeah" (I have amazing conversation skills as you can tell). Right before we were getting our pics taken, Joe saw my friend Steph's shirt and said "Full Service Station?" and she yelled "Yah, Joe! It's all for you!" and he said "Can you make a deposit?". Well then! Then we got our picture taken (which turned out fabulous!).

I gave Joe another hug and I said, "Hey, if you get a chance, you should announce if MSU wins". He said "Yeah, but don't you have TiVo?". I said (as I stared into his blue eyes), "Yeah, but I need to know the moment of the win!". They were shooing us out and Stephanie grabbed a hug from Joe. I couldn't resist and stole ONE MORE HUG after her! Then he said "Isn't the game starting, like, right now?" and ask I walked out, I looked at him, pouted and said "Yeah".

Our group got together afterwards and freaked out. We LOVED our 5* experience with them! I missed out on hugging Donnie, but I was ok with that. My fave is Joe and there were 3 girls trying to get to Donnie. It was fine with me - I'll just hug him next time! We all realized that none of us saw Danny. The girls we had added to our group last minute had gotten all of his time! That was fine with me. They had given him an airbrushed shirt of his mom and him. He LOVED it! He took a solo picture with them and he ended up wearing that shirt not only later that night but throughout the rest of the tour and he still wears it at breast cancer fundraising events! Way to go Sabrina!

Before the concert began, I was going to the concession stand to get a soda. I was walking out and a girl said "I love your shirt. I'm missing the game too." I looked at her and said "Did you go to East Lansing High School?" She said, "Uh, yes." I said "You're AMY! I played basketball with you when we were in elementary school!" YES FOLKS... IT WAS @MSUAMY1!!!!!!! I asked Amy if she lived in Michigan and she said she was in town visiting and came to the concert with someone. She acted all disinterested! NOW THAT I KNOW HER BETTER.... AMY? WERE YOU LYING?? LOL!!! We parted ways and didn't talk to each other again until I spotted her in a Tony's Assistant video!

Stephanie and I eventually got to our seats. Just after the lights went down to start the concert, I got a text. "MSU WINS!" I was soooo happy! That was one of the coolest moments ever! The concert was awesome (of course)! I actually felt more calm than I did at the last one - I was able to actually enjoy the music rather than freak out that the New Kids were back! Donnie mentioned the MSU win right away and again later. Joe mentioned it later too. They wore MSU jerseys at the end and were adorable.

Our group met up afterwards and went out to the buses after the show. Donnie made the rounds and I got to see him up close, but I wasn't close enough for a hand shake. Maybe in the summer.... ;)

My return to NKOTB! - October 25, 2008

2009-12-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

The day after my last New Kids on the Block in 1991, I got my first boyfriend. That was also the day I also got over NKOTB. Over the years after that, I had seen Joe, Jordan and Donnie in entertainment here and there. I was happy to see them and giggled a little bit remembering my love for them, but overall I really hadn't followed their careers or been incredibly interested in them.

I did go to one of Joe's solo concerts in Chicago in 2004. He had always been my favorite and it was just a mile or two from where I lived. They were promoting it so much on my radio station and it was cheap so I decided to go all by myself to check it out. I admit, I walked into that show without a camera or a phone thinking this would just be something to pass the time on a Thursday night. But when he got on stage, I found myself squeeling and smiling from ear to ear! It was an amazing, intimate show. I cursed myself for a while afterwards for not having a camera with me! My friend yelled at me for not calling her while I was there so she could hear him! I ran out and bought his solo CD after that (One Too Many) and listened to it every day. But, he kind of disappeared from music after that, so I stopped paying attention to him.

Fast forward to Spring 2008 when I start to hear mumblings about an NKOTB reunion. Inside, I think "REALLY? That would be cool, IF they were any good!" I had not seen serveral of them for years and wasn't sure if they looked fat and bald or what. I also didn't know if they could still sing. My questions are answered the day my brother emails me the link to the YouTube video of Summertime. He makes fun of the "Its On" text Donnie sends so I know he is definitely still anti-NKOTB. I watch the video and am STUNNED to see how amazing all of the guys look. I mean, have they aged at all???? Not only do they look good, but they can sing! And its a good song! I'm fully impressed! But I still avoid jumping on the band wagon. It had been 12 years since I truly cared about NKOTB. Liking NKOTB was hard enough the first time. Everyone made fun of me! I didn't feel the need to go through that again, but I definitely respected the guys for the work they were doing now.

I hear from a friend that NKOTB is planning a tour. They will be making a stop in Detroit and she has decided to go. She asks if I want her to buy me a ticket. No. I don't. There is a piece of me that wants to jump up and scream "YES! Let's try to get the front row!!", but again, I have so many other friends (including this girl's husband) who are anti-NKOTB and I just don't want to be the uncool kid again. I say no and avoid any NKOTB mumblings I hear.

Doing dishes one day, I have the radio on and this song comes on. I think the idea of the song is kind of weird.... a girl goes to a club alone and this guy wants to be her boyfriend for just one song? What a PLAYER! But I do really like the sound of the song. I wonder if its Backstreet Boys. Did they do a reunion too? Then, the song ends and they announce it was NKOTB's song "Single". WHAT? Really? Again, I am floored by how much I like the song and try to shake it off. But I can't shake it now. My curiosity has been peaked.

I contact my girlfriend and ask for details on the concert. I call my other friend, who I know from high school and the end of our mutual NKOTB & Joe love. I tell her that I think I want tickets for the concert for my October birthday. She is shocked but is open to the idea. She never turns down a good concert opportunity. So, we buy the tickets. Ok, I think. I'll go to the concert and check it out. That'll be it. Nothing more. I bought the CD from iTunes (therefore getting all of the songs available) so I would know the songs at the concert. I am even more impressed now. I love every single song on the CD. ALL of them! I'm still keeping my cool about the concert, but I'm definitely looking forward to hearing these songs live in concert.

The day finally comes. Early in the day on October 25, 2008 I am at a football party with my old high school friends (a big college rivalry game - MSU vs UofM - was on that day). This party includes the boyfriend I started dating the day after my last NKOTB concert. I kept it a secret from all of them why I have to leave early from the party. No way was I telling them I was headed to a New Kids concert! They'd laugh me out of the house! So I sneak out and go get my friend.

We get to the Palace of Auburn Hills and as soon as we walk in, I realize we made the right choice by coming! There are girls every where in vintage NKOTB shirts, neon, with crimped hair and high bangs. It was like a costume party! It was AWESOME! It was like they were celebrating our lives from back in the day! It was amazing to be surrounded by so many people who shared the same history as me! I was starting to get excited!

We take our seats and are impressed with how good they are! We are looking straight on to the stage and are just a few rows up from the floor! Then the girl in front of us points to a black covered block on the left. She tells us it is a piano and that the guys come out to that stage for a few songs. WHA??? We are pretty close to this stage (about 20 rows away)! For not being sure if we even wanted to go, we are thrilled with our seats! The opening act begins. Its Natasha Bedingfield. She is pretty good, but I can't wait until the New Kids come on.

The Palace goes dark and the screen starts with "15 years ago.... they walked away... They're back". I have chills EVERYWHERE! And then the New Kids on the Block take the stage. All of a sudden, I am 14 years old again! I start screaming at the top of my lungs and jump up and down. What happened to me? I was supposed to stay calm! I was supposed to not care! I WAS SUPPOSED TO REMAIN SANE! Yet here I am! I have lost my mind! Again! The concert continues, and so does my screaming. By the end of the concert I am sweaty, hoarse, and on the top of the world. The New Kids on the Block are back! And so am I! And so my crazy journey begins....

Welcome to my show!

2009-12-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

This past year of crazy NKOTB antics and experiences has been amazing! Honestly, things that I only dreamt of as a 14 & 15 year old have come true! And now it actually feels as though my experiences are surpassing any dreams I may have had as a young teen, so I figured it is time that I save all of these stories in one place and share them with others who know about this wonderful journey!

Several of the blogs I will post are already written and have just been sitting in my "draft email" box so that I had it documented SOMEWHERE! So the dates will all have December dates, but it covers some of 2008 and all of 2009.

Another warning: I am a full-fledged JOE GIRL. No doubt about it. And I have been since 1989. So while I will mention my run-ins with the other guys, my focus will absolutely be on Joe! So if you read my blog from start to finish, my may be Joe-d out... or you MAY become a Joe-vert! :) Either way, I hope you EN-JOEY it! ha ha ha

I hope you all enjoy all of what you read here and can smile as you think about your own amazing NKOTB moments. While we all have our own experiences, the thrills of living out childhood dreams is a shared feeling. These 5 men have given us so much over the years, and it just keeps getting better. I will never be able to thank them enough. If any of you guys EVER read this, please know you have made our lives fuller and happier. If I thanked you every day of my life, it still would not encompass my appreciation for you and what you have done.

Much Love Always,
Heather (aka, RocksicleLover)