Thanksgiving recap (W's side anyway)

... I'd really really rather be doing something else, anything else, than study right now (stupid Boards!) So all of you lovely readers get a quickie post!

I took 2 days off from studying to enjoy Thanksgiving in Seattle. The drive was pretty awful (it took 1 hr to drive the 12 miles from the apt to the Washington border). I sped on the rest of the way because it was dark, gloomy, chilly...and I was hungry too. Luckily, my lead foot wasn't spotted by any coppers.

The weekend was a blur of relaxation and good food (a fabulous turkey based on my Grandma's recipe and with enough leftovers for the traditional day-after jook, good brew at
Barkingdog Alehouse, a killer app of poached pear drizzled with blue cheese at Palace Kitchen, and some Ana Maria late harvest sauvignon blanc by the fire...) I was happy. It was really nice to be with my husband again. We had a great time putting up the Christmas tree with M & S and watching "A Christmas Story" afterwards. It was fun to catch up with E & E, who we see 1-2 times a year now that they've living in Hawaii. I didn't take pics of our dinner, but since this post need some visual pop, here's one when E was in SF a few months ago for her sister's wedding.

Oh. I also didn't get ANYTHING on Black Friday (aside from sundries at Target, that is). We were lured to midnight sales at the Tulalip outlets, which was an absolute zoo. We spent 3+ hrs there, and I still left empty handed. My hopes for getting a new purse were crushed. It was very very sad.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving like I did! Now, back to studying before the best holiday of them all comes around-- Christmas!!

NKOTB!!!!

I'm a little behind on my postings...Oops! Don't worry, there'll be plenty to put up as a procrastinate these next few days...



Last Saturday marked one of the most girlie nights I've had in a long time. J and I drove to Tacoma and paid to watch five grown men sing and dance. We were definitely woo-girls that night. And it was soooo much fun!!

The evening kicked off with dinner with M, JC, and S at the chic Asian fusion restaurant Indochine. This place is uber trendy with dim lighting, lots of wood accents, crystal chandeliers and tons of fruity alcoholic drinks. It was, in short, an awesome pick for a girls night out. It was also very close to the Tacoma Dome, so it was packed with tons of other girl groups with our same evening agenda. A good majority of the patrons that evening were headed to the NKOTB concert too. Some were even decked out in fangear (saw quite a few homemade "I love Jordan" and "I love Joe" shirts). We weren't nearly as geeky to profess our love in such a manner.


Dinner ran late so we missed the opening act of Lady Gaga (whoever the heck that is). Then came Natasha Bedingfield, who sings one of the best tv show theme songs ever. Here's a snippet:


She was really good. Her voice sounded a little more throaty than usual, but I liked all of her songs, and she tried hard to get the crowd pumped up for the main act. Fortunately, that was easy to do because the ladies in the audience were here mainly for facetime with The Block....

When Joe, Jordan, Donnie, Jon and Danny came on stage -- OMG. The pandemonium! All those female hormones! You can NOT imagine all the shrieking that went on!! Grown women, all screaming at the top of their lungs! I was woo-ing with the best of them, and also laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.

The fun lasted all evening. I gotta say, for $30, it was a really great concert. There wasn't a fancy stage, or a lot of dance moves (JC and I joked that the back-up girls kept doing the backstroke), but the crowd was so energetic, so IN LOVE with NKOTB that the enthusiasm was infectious. Despite the cheesiness, it was awesome. I just about peed in my pants, I was laughing so hard at the Jordan solo with the wind machine and unbuttoned shirt. (Ask J about it, it was her favorite part of the evening.)

Check out everyone waving their arms to "The Right Stuff":


Here we are, happy as clams, after the concert. S even bought a fan book!

Since we didn't want to end the night just yet, we headed over to Hotel Murano for drinks. We rehashed the night and fawned over the pics in the fan book.

J declared her love for Jordan (he showed off his nice pecs after all). Also, I'm honored to have accompanied J to such a significant event: her first concert ever!


S has always, and will always, love Jon (S + JON 4 EVA!)


In the past, my fav was Donnie. He had the bad-boy thing going and all. But my heart kinda melted with Joe that night! He has the best set of pipes, even if he does wear skinny jeans (which he can pull off, but that's neither here nor there.)

Donnie's bad boy appeal got M & JC's juices pumping. They both wanted his picture!


Sadly, poor Danny was left all alone.


Turns out, the hotel was rumored to be one of the spots that NKOTB boys would be headed to after the concert. Alas, they didn't show up. Too bad, it would've been fun to see them up close. It would've been the perfect ending to an already awesome night. The funny thing is that I wasn't even a major NKOTB fan as a kid, but I still enjoyed the concert tremendously.

Now if only NSync would go on a reunion tour... I'd be ALL OVER THAT!!!