Stateside: New Kids On the Block

While I was home, my mother and I drove over to Dallas with my aunt and cousin Brittni and her boyfriend, where we met up with my sister, to spend the weekend with my aunt and Uncle. We had a great time and ate delicious food (because my aunt is an AMAZING cook!!!!) and went shopping and bought lots of cute things and, well, good times were had.

The entire reason for this trip, though, was for my mother, my sister, and I, on July to all get to see the New Kids on the Block TOGETHER!

As opposed to seeing them apart and then gushing on the phone all about it (which my sister and I did, without my mother, who had never actually seen them - or maybe she did back in the day?).


It was so so so so SO amazing!!!! It was the third time for me to get to see them since they started this reunion thing of theirs (the second for Kristen), and of course it was the most amazing time since I was with Kristen and my mom! Kristen and I dressed up in our old sweatsuits from back in the day despite the 100 degree heat, and I have to say, we were definitely the best dressed fans there.


Aren't We Just the Cutest?

Kristen managed to keep hers on for pretty much the whole time, but I have to admit that I took mine off, so as not to die of heat.

This really awesome dance group from Colorado, the JabaWockeeZ (you might remember them from the opening scene of Step Up 2: The Streets). Sadly, I think that my mom enjoyed them more than she actually enjoyed the New Kids. So, they were awesome, and then the New Kids on the Block played for OVER 2 HOURS!!!!

They played all of our favorite songs, including "Popsicle," which they hadn't played either of the two previous times when I saw them. I was thrilled beyond belief. Kristen and I danced like maniacs pretty much the entire time. There was a little girl beside us who seemed to know all of the old NKOTB dance moves and also danced like a maniac the whole time. It was so cute. Especially because the New Kids on the Block were also doing all of the old dance moves. It was completely radical, even if Mom was slightly mortified by all of the crotch grabs. Kristen and I, however, were thrilled.

At one point during the concert, the New Kids all came out into the audience, and Kristen and I ran to get close, stupidly forgetting the camera. If we had remembered it, we would have gotten a RIDICULOUS close up of Jonathan Knight. We were literally, like, a foot from him. And being so close to him, I remembered that HE (and not Mike Dirnt, as I have previously stated in this blog) was the real first love of my lifeK. Seriously, I was completely obsessed with him (even if I always thought that Danny Wood was just a little bit sexier). I had the stuffed doll and the barbie style doll and there was a huge poster of him right behind my bed combined with lots of little pictures of him (and Danny and all the New Kids) plastering the rest of the walls under the creamy blue and pink unicorn bordering that I adored (and that I hope to one day have again, PLEASE Guillaume?!?). Honestly, I don't know how in my head I had forever replaced him with Mike Dirnt. Don't get me wrong, I totally did love Mike Dirnt back in the day, but there was ALWAYS Jonathan before him.


Then and Now

Man, I wish we had had the camera with us. There were so many people getting such amazing pictures.
I have since then discovered that, according to the National Enquirer and his supposed ex-boyfriend, he might be gay. This might explain a lot of things in my life, but because I loved him and therefore always will love him, I hope that he is not.

Anyhow, so the concert was FANTASTIC!!!! Good times were had, and I was thrilled that it was being recorded for the webcast. Because this means that some day it may be released on DVD. I can only keep my fingers crossed.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Okay, so it's a day late, but Happy Valentine's Day, anyway!

Before I write about mine, I'm going to try to update really quickly about everything else that has been happening. I feel like it's sort of all old news now, so it will be "tres vite fait."

Also, before anything, my photo program seems to be bugging. I've managed to add some pictures, but no albums for time being. Eventually, I will be adding a link to an album of New Kids on the Block pictures, at the very least. :-)

Our Stockings!

Guillaume and I had a GREAT (if very late) Christmas together - I got lots of fun presents, including a Nintendo DS with New Super Mario Brothers and a special thing for me to download games on. Guillaume is now wondering if it was a bad decision to offer me said DS, given that I haven't stopped playing since. I have finished Mystery Detective and recently become obsessed with Zelda, and I have decided that I absolutely MUST obtain Zelda for the Wii.
>
I gave Guillaume, amoung other things, a deep fryer that uses only one tablespoon of oil, because he had been talking about it for ages. It's a weird gift, I know, but I hope he liked it nonetheless.


Neil and I at Sacre Coeur
Somehow, this is the only picture I have of the two of us together

Then, a couple weekends ago, Neil came for a visit - he had been working with some guy in Rome, so he decided to come hang out here for the weekend. YAY! It was so good to get to hang out with him. We did lots of touristy things. We actually walked up the Eiffel Tower - it was the first time I had done that, and I enjoyed my experience at the top MUCH more than I did the other time I went up, when it was FREEZING! We also walked around EVERYWHERE - to City Hall, Notre Dame, St-Michel, l'Arc de Triomphe, les Champs Elysees. With Guillaume, we went to Sacre Coeur and then walked around Montmartre, where we had lunch in an adorable little vegetarian restaurant. Everything is so cutesy there. We also went over to Place de la Concorde and walked around Les Tuileries.

On Sunday, Margaret re arrived in France (she will be here on and off pretty much until July - I am super psyched!), while Neil was still here, so we made some delicious African peanut soup and a chocolate chip cake (to celebrate Neil's birthday, which had been just a couple of days before) and had a delicious dinner! YUM!



Getting ready for the New Kids on the Block!

Then the Wednesday after, Marybeth, Guillaume, and I went to see the New Kids on the Block!!!! YAY!!!! It was sooooo much fun! The show was a little bit different than the one I saw in NYC. They played mostly the same songs, but some of them were different, and it was set up a bit differently. I just don't know what I will do if I never get to see them again. Die of sadness, perhaps. I brought a New Kids on the Block shirt for Marybeth, and I wore my super old (and way too small for me) New Kids on the Block sweatshirt. I was interviewd by Les 20 Minutes, and they took lots of pictures of me. From what I gather, though, I didn't actually make it into the magazine. :-( I guess I didn't have the right stuff (credit to Guillaume).

Since the New Kids on the Block, things have been good. I actually got interviewed by another video show thing, Cap 24, the other day about the book I was reading on the metro ("Plum Wine" by Angela Davis-Gardner - my grandmother gave it to me as part of my Christmas gift, and I am loving it!) - once again, I didn't make the cut, and I'm sure it had something to do with how completely inarticulate I was because I was so nervous.

My mother, sister, and grandmother are also going to be visiting me at the end of March/beginning of April, and I am SUPER psyched about that!!!! We are probably going to go to Annecy to spend some time in the north of Provence for the first few days of their visit. YAY!!!!


An Cafe
Oh, and also, AN CAFE, my absolute favorite visual kei band from Japan is going to be playing here in Paris the week before they come. I am more than beyond psyched about this, because I love love LOVE them.

Okay, that's all for now, folks. Be tuned next time for pictures and Valentine's Day with Guillaume!

While I Was Home: New Kids on the Block

So, I am now back in France after my trip home, which I have decided to start with the end. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!

Best decision of my life: making sure to be in the right place at the right time to see the New Kids on the Block!!!!

Worst decision of my life: forgetting to bring my camera with me and forgetting all of my 80's clothes in France.

Luckily: I found pictures someone posted on flickr of the same concert, and THEY JUST POSTED A NEW DATE IN FRANCE!!!! Which means that I am going to get to see them AGAIN and that it is going to be with my camera and in full 80's garb. Ohhhhh yeah!




So, it was really the greatest night of my life! They played lots and lots of old songs - and I will admit that there were a couple (popsicle, for example) that I would have liked to hear that they didn't play - and they threw in a few new songs as well. And I don't think the new songs are songs that I would have liked if they weren't the New Kids on the Block. . .but seeing them performed live by Donnie, Danny, Jonathan, Jordan, and Joey; I fell in love. And now I can't stop listening to the new album. There are two songs in particular that I ADORE: 2 in the Morning and Dirty Dancing. Sooooo good!

And Joey and Jordan both sang songs from their solo albums, and Donnie did a charming rendition of Cover Girl. And speaking of Donnie - why was he not my favorite back in the day? He is GORGEOUS now!!!! And Danny is of course still gorgeous, and I wonder why people always thought that he looked like a monkey. I just found out that he used to date Halle Berry back in the day. And Joey - it was REALLY very obvious that he has been doing the theatre thing. I remember when I saw him back in the day in "Tick, Tick. . .Boom" - like 8 years ago now or something.

In any case, they are grown men now (with the song to prove it - "Gonna give you some grown man, gonna give you some grown man), and I still love them, and I will forever love them.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone is going to be in Paris on February 4 and happens to want to dress up all 80's style and go with me, this would fill me with joy! Let me know!

Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Ike

This is my brother's house in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Gustav:



Or rather, what used to be his house. Looks like they won't be living there anymore. So sad. . . he and Miranda had just moved in and finished painting and everything. Apparently, they lost almost all of their stuff. :-(


And now, the ridiculousness of hurricanes, Hurricane Ike is headed straight towards Houston and quite possible threatening to ruin my trip home next week. I'm supposed to arrive in Pineville on Tuesday, and I have to fly straight through Houston to get there. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I shouldn't complain, though - these hurricanes have caused about a bagazillion times more worse damage than just my poor brother's house and potentially delaying my trip home.


Something else sad. For the very FIRST time since moving to Paris, a fantastic pop-punk band that I actually really super want to see is going to be playing. And not just in Paris, the Methadones are actually going to be playing right here in the 11th. At Le Mecanique Ondulatoire. But no, I will not get to see them. They will of course be playing when I will be back in the United States.

And then, of course, today is the 7 year anniversary of 9/11. It's weird, I feel totally okay with it now. I was living in NYC at the time, and I don't think I actually cried about it until a little over a year after the fact. I remember watching Happy Accidents with Laura the day after it happened (or maybe it was the day of) - she could no longer stay in the apartment because of the incident, so she was staying with me, and the movie theatre at Union Square was showing free movies all day. We went. Then I left the city with my roommates for the Poconos, and I just felt so stressed out. And I think I continued to feel stressed out about it until about a year later when, at French camp, I talked to someone I didn't really know about it in my at the time very limited French. And I cried. And I moved on. And now it's been 7 years. Wow!

Speaking of, time to buy my ticket to see the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!!! I can't believe I haven't bought it yet.