Chicago recap...

So Friday morning, not so bright but awfully early I met Tiff at the Mega Bus stop in Downtown Minneapolis. She was decked out in her pink NKOTB hoodie and ready for her 5* show in Chicago. Jerome and her hubby Chris met and then Chris was off to work. Mine on the other hand stuck around until our bus pulled off...

We hopped on the bus and managed to snag one of the two tables on the entire bus. It was great and ideal. We were lucky to have no one in the seats next to us and were about to pull off... yep... Tiff got a person sitting next to her. Booooooooooo :( Then we went to the 2nd stop in the Cities at the campus and I got a seat buddy. Ughhh...

We were still okay... we talked and played a couple of games of Kings in the Corner. Yes, Kings in the Corner... sad... I know... but I can never think of a game to play that I remember half of the rules to besides that except for "two pairs of three and one pair of four" (hahaha Trish - wtf is that game called?). Tiff busted out her mp3 player and took a nap eventually... but I just couldn't fall asleep. Ugh.

We stopped at a really great truck stop just off the road near Madison. By great I mean the worst of the worst. Really... who thinks that Taco Bell is a good idea for people who are in a small confined space? Really? Yeah, we had the choice of that or Subway. Too many people opted for Subway though and by the time I decided that I would get Subway they were out of Turkey... yeah... TURKEY. WTF? Seriously... we are in the Midwest... if it's not Turkey it's ham... and my guess is that they were really close to running out of that too. So, I opted to get a pack of turkey from the gas station that has been sitting there for who knows how long and a single strip of Ritz crackers that had dust on the box. Yum-o. Ugh. We boarded back onto the bus after Tiff played a video game in the trucker shower area and the reek of Taco Bell, Tuna Fish (yep... that was Tiff... lol) and my slab of Turkey took me over. Ish. Never again.

We continued on our journey with our driver Bill, an older guy who was calm and too himself... except when we got closer to Chicago. Ends up once we left the two Milwaukee stops that he took us way out of the way. Now, I wouldn't have noticed this... except the time was ticking and I had a train to catch to Melba's house for the night. Well, that and the fact that there was this lady who jumped on the bus from Milwaukee who knew the area and knew that we were heading way out of the way. Not good.

Round and round we went. Finally we reached our destination. I had about 15 minuets to get to the train station, buy my ticket and board the train. Mind you I have no idea where the train station is and I have to get my bag out of the bottom of the bus yet. Whew. I got my bag and booked it down the street hoping that the person who told me it was two or three blocks down the street in some direction wasn't fibbing. Off I went.

I made it to the train station and stood in line for all of two minuets when I overheard a conversation between a local and and a non local. They were saying if your train is any time between now and 10 minuets you should go board your train and purchase your ticket on there. Off I went again... searching for a train. I found it... claimed my seat and calmed the heck down. I made it. I was on the Metra... by myself. Whew.

Melba made this train thing to sound like the only thing worse than death. She was so wrong. It was clean, people were friendly, I didn't get the itchy scratchies when I sat down and pulled my sweatshirt off exposing my precious arms to the elements on the train. It was fine... really.

I called Melba and told her I was on my way shortly. She said she would be leaving to the station soon. And since I made the express train I should be arriving about the same time I would have if I had made my original train... I guess I should be happy about that.

When I made it to the correct stop, I grabbed my stuff and rolled on out the door. I searched for Melba but couldn't see her. I gathered my things and started walking and started my phone call to her... there she is... on the other side of the train, couldn't see here when I first got off because the train was still moving past me! I walked over, gave her a big hug and tossed my stuff in the back of her car. I met Nicole, the cutest little allergic peanut you will ever meet and we were on our way.

I specifically told Melba that I was game for going out that night but that "Homegirl needs a shower and some food" and then proceeded to tell her about my lunch at the truck stop. She agreed! We arrived and I was shown my cute room in her house that was equipt with my own "guest box" that held my towels, shampoo, conditioner, and soap. So cute... why didn't I take a picture of that?

We ordered from a fantastic place, Melba... what's the name... of course I want to give it some props for the best damn Pepperoni pizza, Fetichinne Alfredo and nummy nummy nummy mini calzones. Either I was extremely hunger, which I was, or this food was damn good, which it was.

After dinner we got ready and headed to the local bar where John, not Jon, was are trusty bartender serving us $5 tall glasses drinks. Now these drinks were LOADED. Only need two and I was in the bathroom every two minuets because I broke the seal. Jesssssssus. Anyways... they were fantastic... Melba... you best ask for a Melba Toast the next time you are there... lol :)


We were there for a bit, I finished off three of those bad ass drinks and then we headed for home. I told Melba goodnight and promptly passed out once my head hit the pillow.

I awoke at 6:30. Remind me to kick my husband and yell at my pup for that, they wake me up Monday - Friday at that time... ugh. I got a text from Peggy who was wondering if I had my mind right... if only she knew what I drank the night before... it was so not right. LOL.

I turned the TV on in the room and loaded my photos onto my laptop. I pulled out my clothes for the show and for the day. I packed up the rest my belongings since I was staying at the hotel Saturday night after the show. I heard Melba waking up her daughter and opened the door.

We chatted a bit and then decided that we were meeting her mom for breakfast. Fun... I wasn't planning on seeing her while I was down but it was a nice surprise. We packed up and headed out to breakfast and then to Kohl's.

While I was in Kohl's with them I started getting text after text asking me when we were going to be making our way down to Chicago. Ughhh... Colleen just met Joe. My heart sank a little. Then I started getting phone calls. Oh boy. Melba and her mom started asking me what was going on. Mrs. Popularity I told them... and then told them the truth.

We left out of Kohl's and were on our way home. Melba called her hubby to try and entice him to come home earlier so that we could leave. No go. So... we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory for a quick pit stop.

Once we arrived back at Melba's house I got a phone call from Tiff that was very very hard to hear. All I really got out of it was that she and a few others had just met Donnie. That Jon was around the corner and Joe was driving a golf cart. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... again... missed. I told Melba and I could see that she was sad too... dang hubby!

I told Melba that we should get ready so that as soon as her man walked in the door we could leave for the arena. I was of course ready in about 10 minuets flat since I picked everything out that morning. Melba on the other hand... well... let's just say was starting at square one. I helped her pick an outfit and then she wondered what to do with her hair. I've always loved afro puffs... and she could pull it off. Besides... it was a NKOTB concert we were going to after all!

Her hubby came home and started unpacking his truck. Whew. I brought my bag down and set it in the entry way... ready to go. I asked what vehicle we were taking just to be sure... tossed my stuff in the back of the truck and was sitting there ready to go... one thing... I forgot Melba. LOL.

She finally came out and we were on our way. I was DJ and navigator, she was the driver. We put in the Greatest Hits and were jammin all the way there. Unfortunately the video that I took of us was deleted by accident... honestly... it was cute. We were completely excited and ready to go.

We arrived in the area and I told Melba to circle around the arena so we could see if they were still around... which I doubted...but thought perhaps my Blockhead friends would be spotable. Not so much. We headed to Target and parked the car. I talked to a few of the girls who were in the area and we decided to go see the people who were heading to 5* in our group...

When we were done there Melba and I headed to my hotel so I could drop off my stuff so we wouldn't have to deal with that after the show. We went to Chipotle for dinner with Colleen and her Hubby. My phone was blowing up still... and there were NKOTB fans everywhere. We took over the city. In Target, in Chipotle, in Krispy Kremes, in the hotels... everywhere... why didn't I take a picture of this???? Ughhh.

When we were done eating we took Melba's hubby's truck back to my hotel to park for free. We then took our time and walked to Target. We ran into Kim and Alexis on the way which was pretty crazy. God love them. Into Target we went, and around the line of the women's bathroom - yup... all NKOTB fans. I figured we may want a sweatshirt for standing outside... awww heck... who was I kidding... I am a hot body I didn't need one.

When we left we walked out to see a sea of people in all kinds of lines. I noticed that one had just a few people in it and we headed for that one. Oh my... Melba... why did you ask if it goes all the way around the arena? You nearly gave me a heart attack. Thank goodness it didn't... and amazingly enough brought us right to a merchandise station.

I picked up a tshirt and a program. Apparently I bought the last size in the shirt that Melba was also going to get. I didn't realize it. Until she said we could go. What... you aren't getting anything? Yeah... I felt bad. I told her we could go to a different one since they had three others in the arena. She decided she didn't need it and we were off to find our nosebleed seats.

There we were... waaaaaaay up on top of the arena... behind the stage. But we could see the stage. And we could see the screen. Just not the screen behind the stage since we were parallel to that. Yup... seats officially sucked. But what could we expect for $35? And only a metal bar separating us from $55 seats?!?!?! Yes... we were on the isle. Lucky us!

We sat thru Colby O'donis, who I didn't know who he was until he started singing and I knew almost every song he performed. And we stuck it out thru pocket full of sunshine Natasha Benningfield. Then... it started.

We could see the guys before anyone else since they were getting ready to get onto the platform that raises them to the main stage. We screamed and darn near cried. That... right there... was worth it.

The show was great. We could see Tiff and Katie in the front row with their great seats. I'm glad I confirmed with Tiff that she was taking pictures since my camera died about 3/4 way thru the show... and I was nosebleeds. We were thankfully on the side where the guys would run into their dressing room too!

The show... was great. I'm not going to go into details, since some still want to be surprised. Let's just say I was texting, calling and getting calls from people while snapping all the pictures that I could while dancing and telling Melba which songs were new or old.

And then it was done. The show ended and I met up with Janna and Nicole along with Melba. We walked out together. I headed to the liquor store for a 2 liter of sprite and some Mike's Hard Lemonade.

We got to the room, I jumped in the shower since I didn't know what we were going to get into... going downtown, stalking the bus, hanging out in our hotel. Not a clue... I just knew that I had to take a shower since I was a hot mess. Got out of the shower put some new clothes on and was cool to do whatever. After looking thru pictures of the night Melba took her butt home to her hubby and baby.

We got a text saying that the guys were staying at a hotel that wasn't too far away but far enough away that we weren't walking. Thankfully Lisa drove her car! Off we went, Lisa, Tiff, Janna and myself. I was the navigator with map in hand that I drew out. Thank god for free internet service!

We arrived at the hotel but no one was around. No bus. No guys. No fans. We headed back to our hotel. On our way back we got a text from Melissa who always has the best information. The guys were at a different hotel. Crud.

We checked on Lisa's phone where the hotel was, downtown... boooo :( We weren't going there. It was too far, too late, and we were done. Back to the hotel we went. Lisa went to her room, Janna, Tiff and myself to ours.

I hoped online while the other two were getting ready for bed. Wait a second... that hotel is RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE WE WERE! Go ask Lisa if we can go back... nope... she's already crawled into bed, Tiff's already put pjs on and took off her makeup and Janna... well I think I could have twisted her arm if we only had a car!

It didn't happen. No facetime for me. I crawled into bed, phone in hand, under the covers because the screen is so bright. Texting Melissa. She saw the guys but didn't get to get near them.

We awoke early in the morning. We were trying to go to brunch with Kim and Alexis but never got a response as to where we were going until it was too late for Janna to go there and come back for her flight. We opted for Ihop. Let me tell you... NKOTB fans were in full effect. The three of us went plus Lisa. Nicole and her friend met us at Ihop a bit later.

We ordered and were chatting about the show. The waitress said something about one of the guys being there earlier this morning. Instantly we wanted to know who... here it was Joe and we were awake in our hotel room just a block away :( Still no facetime :(

It was nice to chat over breakfast about our night. About peoples seats and about Tiff's 5* experience. I can't wait for mine in Milwaukee, in only a week.

Janna went to the hotel to pack up her items and head to the airport... we were slowly disbanding. Tiff and I packed up our things and were heading out. We knocked on Lisa's hotel door but she had already left. Tiff and I waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport so that we could catch the blue line downtown.

Tiff, being the chit chatter that she is that we love, made friends with a few of the girls on the shuttle. They were at the show last night and were talking to her about 5*. I on the other hand was falling asleep. Yeah... great company. LOL.

They too were taking the blue line to downtown to go shopping. So we were with them the whole time. Tiff talked, they listened, I slept. At one point the train was out of service and we had to carry our luggage down stairs to a bus stop. Get on a bus. Get off a bus. Carry luggage down more stairs to get to the train. And I thought that was the bad part. Boy was I wrong.

Once we got to our stop we jumped off the train. No elevator, no escalator... only stairs heading UP :( Yeah... we had to carry luggage up 85,000 stairs to get to street level. Then we were looking for the MegaBus stop and it started raining. (I know it's like a bad movie.) Here we are... walking around downtown Chicago with luggage in the rain hoping my laptop stays dry and Tiff's autographed program. Yeah... fun. And I'm sleepy. And I have to pee.

NOTE TO SELF: always pee before you get on the blue line... you won't see a bathroom for hours.

We finally find the MegaBus stop and Kim and Alexis along with their friends Birdie and Becky are there. We see a bus approach and out from under the bus stop cover we go running 1/2 a block so we are first on the bus. Not our bus. This happened a few times and then Alexis and I decided that we weren't going back. We would stand in the rain... it wouldn't be that long, right? WRONG. Our bus was an hour late. But we were first in line.

We got the two tables. We were good to go. We warned the group about the truck stop from the way to Chicago... and you bet we stopped at the same one. And yes, they were still out of turkey. We had super star Barbie singing and driving us the whole way home. Let's just say she had her own little sound booth in the front of the bus and she won't be getting a record deal any time soon.

Thanks for the adventure girls... can't wait for the next one!