Monday, October 11, 2010

Ridiculous Review of the Past Two Months

I've done a lot of awesome "stuff" over the past two months, so I thought I'd take the time to provide a brief recap of all my adventures. I suppose I'll just start the beginning.

8/3/10 - I attended the Lilith show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, Maryland. I finally got to see Missy Higgins, and I saw the Indigo Girls for the second time in less than a year, after waiting more than a decade to see them for the first time. Sarah McLachlan, Sara Bareilles, and Court Yard Hounds were great, and I completely fell in love with Butterfly Boucher's music. Higgins was absolutely adorable, and she sang "Going North," which pretty much made my entire year.

8/7/10 - I saw Paramore/Tegan and Sara/New Found Glory at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The show was amazing, even though it was ridiculously hot outside. Hayley Williams just oozes charisma, and I was really excited about seeing Tegan and Sara.

9/10/10 - I went to the York Fair in York, Pennsylvania and saw Lady Antebellum in concert. They were great, and the pictures I took came out really well.

9/14/10 - I attended my third Little Big Town concert. The audience was really boring, but the band was, as always, fantastic. I don't think half the audience members owned the new CD, so they had no idea what was going on. I, on the other hand, sang along with every single song.

9/16/10 - My beloved Seattle Storm won the 2010 WNBA Championship, sweeping the Atlanta Dream in three games. It didn't hit me until several days later, when I randomly burst into some of the happiest tears I've ever cried.

10/7/10 - After waiting for 3 1/2 years, I finally saw Brandi Carlile in concert. I sat in the second row, dead center, right across from Brandi's mic stand. She made eye contact with me a few times, and I just about died. She had the entire audience wrapped around her little finger. She sang "A Promise to Keep," which was completely unexpected, and her cover of "Crazy" was stunningly beautiful. Katie Herzig opened for her, and I instantly became a fan.

10/9/10 - My annual fall trip to New York City came earlier than usual this year, but the entire day was perfect. The weather was great, and I got to be in the city on John Lennon's 70th birthday. I celebrated by visiting the new Lennon photo display at the Paley Center.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New York City/Storm Game Review

It's been almost a year since my last post. As you've probably already guessed, I joined Twitter, and now my life is devoted to 140 character updates.

I would like to take the opportunity to write a recap of my recent weekend in New York City. It's quite verbose, but I attempted to inject some humor into it, for those of you who care enough to read it. Enjoy.

We arrived in New York City on Friday, June 18th. When I say "we," I mean my mother and me. We headed to Toys 'R Us to see what Eclipse merchandise was available. As it turns out, they didn't have shit. I did manage to find a random Jasper action figure from New Moon, so I of couyrse bought it. I also bought some Eclipse bandages because I so obviously need those in my life. The rest of the early afternoon was spent shopping. I bought about $130 worth of WNBA stuff at the NBA Store. Jon Lithgow was there. People were taking his picture, which I thought was rude, so I just let him walk past me and didn't bother him.

At about 5:30, I headed to Madison Square Garden to see the Seattle Storm take on the New York Liberty. I was dressed in Storm gear: Swin Cash jersey, bracelet, necklace, buttons/keychain on my purse. The crazy Liberty season ticket holder who always bothers me wasn't too bad this time, but he did tell me that he remembers me. Great.

My seat was kick ass, two rows behind the Storm bench. At one point, Swin Cash was sitting just a few feet in front of me. I got lucky this year; I was seated near a bunch of other Storm fans. The woman behind me lives in Tacoma and is a Storm season ticket holder. It was her first time seeing the Storm on the road. The guy in front of me was a jackass. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

The game was pretty close, and the Liberty got the lead a few times. It was Dads and Daughters night, and Al Roker was there with his daughter. President Donna Orender was apparently there as well, but I didn't see her roaming around like I usually do. I took some awesome pictures of the Storm. My Sue Bird pictures are ok; she always sat in front of the Gatorade cart, so my view was usually blocked. I took one awesome picture of Lauren Jackson looking fierce. You'll find it at the end of this post, after the GLEE section that most people won't read.

After a few very exciting lead changes, the Storm eventually pulled away and ended up winning 92-84. I could barely talk because I was screaming so much. I'm usually pretty reserved at games, but my intense devotion to the Storm brings out some pretty strong emotions.

I waited with a group of fans at the Storm bus, but I didn't get any autographs. Alison Lacey and Abby Bishop came out first but didn't sign. Lauren Jackson came out and waved to everyone, but then she got on the bus. I was disappointed but not surprised. Someday, though, I will meet her. Sue Bird and Swin Cash never came out. Sue's family was there, so she probably left with them. I'm sad that I didn't get to meet Swin. Maybe next year, when I go to Seattle, I'll see some players in town. I want to spend at least five days there. I can't freaking wait.

Saturday brought with it "Promises, Promises" and the promise of possibly meeting Kristin Chenoweth and/or Sean Hayes. The Broadway Theatre is right around the corner from the hotel where we stayed, which was really nice. I have to say that I did a great job getting seats, especially since I got them just a few weeks before the show. We had two end seats in orchestra right, but they really weren't that far to the side. There were a few times when Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth were standing right across from me.

"Promises, Promises" is hilarious, and I highly recommend it. Katie Finneran's two scenes are amazing, and it's easy to see why she won a Tony for her performance. Sean Hayes was charming and the perfect leading man (Take that, Newsweek!). And Kristin Chenoweth, well, she was amazing. My dream was to see her on Broadway, and I'm so glad that dream came true. I had a smile on my face from start to finish.

After the show, we headed to the stage door, which was complete chaos. Hundreds of people were gathered around, and security had to keep yelling, "Stay on the sidewalk! Get off the street!" Sean Hayes walked out, waved, and then went right back in. The people in front of me had a flight to catch, so they gave up and left about five minutes before Kristin Chenoweth walked out. That meant that I was able to move up and get closer to where she came around, and I handed her my Playbill. I was so star struck that I didn't say anything to her. I was even wearing my GLEE shirt like a total dork. She wasn't posing for pictures with people, but she did say it was ok for people take pictures of her. She is the smallest, most adorable person I've ever met. I really admire her, and I'm so glad I got to see her perform.

On Saturday night, we went to Madame Tussaud's. The big party room was closed for the evening, so we got a big discount but didn't get to see some of the awesome wax figures, like Leo DiCaprio. I did get to see the Robert Pattinson figure, and I totally geeked out. The Spongebob Squarepants 4-D experience was awesome!

Sunday was ridiculously hot and humid, but we decided to go to the Today show. We stood there until 8:30, when hunger got the best of us. My mom loves Lester Holt, so I made sure to take a picture of him. And I think Jenna Wolfe is hilarious, so I made sure to also take a picture of her. I think I'll keep going back to the Today show. It was fun, and we were on TV twice!

We also saw the King Tut exhibit at the Discovery museum. It was nice, but I liked the Titanic exhibit a lot more. I guess I'm just not that into Egyptian history.

We got on the bus at 2:30 and headed home. This was probably my best NYC trip, other than the 2005 trip when I met Sue Bird. I can't wait to go back!

FANGIRLING OVER GLEE: NYC EDITION
*If you don't watch GLEE, you can ignore this.

Let me preface this by saying that I am 100% Gleek. I have buttons on my purse, I buy everything that has to do with it, and I talk about it all the time.

At the game on Friday, the woman who took my drink order saw my buttons and started talking about the show. Now, my mind was on the Storm and ordering a bottle of Vitamin Water, so I just smiled politely and said, "It's a great show."

On Saturday, I was more focused on GLEE. After all, I was seeing "April Rhodes" on Broadway, and I was wearing my GLEE shirt. While I was waiting at the stage door, someone complimented my shirt. And then, for the rest of the evening, I got no less than five more random compliments about it. While walking through Times Square, a guy stopped me and said, "I promise that this has nothing to do with stand up comedy tonight!" (Author Note: If you've ever walked through Times Square on a Saturday night, you know what he's talking about). "I wanted to stop you because I saw your shirt and thought you might appreciate this." At that moment, he pulled out his phone and show me a pic of himself standing beside Matthew Morrison. I immediately flipped out, and we started gushing about GLEE. He actually saw the tour when it came to Radio City, so I told him how jealous I was. Matthew was in NYC on Friday, so I probably missed him by a few hours, at most. The guy said he was really nice, so that made me happy.

After the conversation in Times Square, I went to Colony and spotted the GLEE Rolling Stone cover poster. I bought the poster and then later bought a copy of Women's Health magazine because Lea Michele was on the cover and GLEE totally owns me.