Ah, To Be 12 Years Old Again

When I was 12 I had....

1. Tight-rolled jeans

2. Bad poofy mall-hair bangs

3. Baggy t-shirts & stirrup pants

4. Neon clothes

5. A HUGE crush on Jordan Knight

I witnessed 1-4 and re-lived 5 (although I am a happily married woman - did I mention that?) all on Friday night. Tina and I basically went back to 6th grade together.

Before the show, looking sooo much better than we did in 6th grade (well at least I do!)

The NKOTB concert was in full force Friday night in Chicago, and I MUST say that I have never seen a gathering of so many 30 year old females in one place. As referenced above, some went for the crimped, jean skirt look (I respectfully declined going back to that yearbook photo), and others managed to dig up their old NKOTB paraphanalia for the show. People watching could have been a sport here... Tina actually saw a few people that she went to school with (I joked that the entire female contingent of her 1996 graduating class were there). We even met up with Butler friends Kathleen and Bohl before the show (they were there too!). Anyway, speaking of people watching, we saw some great shirts. Some said "Mrs. McIntyre" and "Mrs. Knight". There was a hilarious one that read "Jon, I'm legal now". But THE BEST shirt I saw all night said "Sorry, Jordan. Too late, I'm married now.". I told Tina that if we go to one of these shows again, we are getting shirts made like that.

Enjoying some adult beverages at the show... definitely NOT 12 years old!

As I had mentioned in previous posts, Jordan Knight was my official first love. I had posters of him strewn all over my bedroom. I was in love ;). I was not allowed to go to the concert when they were in town back in the day, but nothing was stopping me now! The show was sooo much fun. I felt like a kid again. And, (again, as a happily married woman) I have to say the guys.. ALL OF THE GUYS (even ugly one Danny.. come on everyone agreed on this have) have gotten much cuter. I told Tina I was "going to he**" when Jordan came out with an unbuttoned shirt and you could see his 6 pack abs.

I wish I had a closeup of this... this was the aforementioned Jordan moment!

Donnie was kinda the "emcee" for the group and had a couple of funny things to say. First of all, he said that the crowd "didn't look as good as they did 15 years ago... they looked MUCH better". I thought this was hilarious because seriously, they were previously playing for a bunch of screaming pre-pubescent girls. This time in the crowd the cameras honed in on a few "hoochified" girls that had signs that said "take me backstage". I highly doubt that would have happened when they were 12. He also mentioned that the husbands who brought their wives were "very smart". Again, funny stuff. And, they put on a REALLY GOOD show. I mean the singing and dancing were top notch. Even though they are knocking on 40, you couldn't tell. It was that good.

Tina, thankfully, took some awesome pics that I was able to steal and post here. My camera died right before the show started :(.

Near the beginning of the show, they came out to a stage near the back (yes, we were in the balcony... we didn't want to spend $75 for these tickets!). This is probably the closest I'll ever be to Jordan (in the khaki jacket).

Singing their new single



The moment I waited for... Jordan singing he'll be "Loving Me" Forever :)

So, Steve and Brett came up with me... because I am still nursing Brett I can't be too far away from him for an extended period at this point. Steve was sweet enough to tag along and since he's from Chi-town it gave him a chance to catch up with his brother and grandparents while I rocked out to NKOTB.

We stayed with Tina Friday night, and Saturday morning her son Evan and Brett had a chance to size each other up again. This time they decided to talk, and Tina took an awesome video that she posted on YouTube. This may be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Listen to us all giggling in the background. It was freaking adorable!

Well you see, Evan....