However, 2009 began as any year should….I was drunk!! My roommate Jillian (@ask_Jillian) and I threw a small get together at our apt on New Year’s Eve and my best friend from college came down. There were 7 of us at the party, and Jill and I were drunk before most of our guests even arrived! We had recently gotten the Wii, so we spent the night “drunken bowling” and she and I spent most of the night laying on the floor, or laughing hysterically. It was a great party, and Jill and I spent most of New Year’s Day sleeping on the couches, nursing our hangovers!!
One of my best friends from college had a performance with his band in Danbury in January, so I dragged Jillian down to Main Street, to some sketchy hole in the wall place to listen to REALLY LOUD alternative, punk rock music! Not my forte, but I was glad to see Matt again! And he was extremely excited that I FINALLY made it to one of his shows. I didn’t have an excuse that time though, because he was playing in the same town where I live!!
January also brought with it a pretty crazy ice storm! It took me an hour to clean off my car that morning. I had to chisel ice off the car in order to open the door and turn the car on. Once the roads had been cleared and the sun came out, it actually looked like Narnia near where I work. A co-worker and I were obsessed with taking pictures of it!
February and March were pretty boring. Jillian and I had a girl’s day on Valentine’s Day, since we are both single. L Jillian read to my kindergarten class in March for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. There was a dress fitting somewhere in there for my brother’s impending HUGE June wedding and the wedding plan drama began as two families prepared to join as one. However, life went on pretty much as normal.
At some point near the end of March, three of my co-workers and I found out that the New Kids on the Block were going to have another concert at Mohegan Sun. We decided to try and get tickets to see them, and so the 5 brothers from Beantown would officially re-enter my life, but very slowly…
Upon learning of the Mohegan concert, I FINALLY purchased a copy of “The Block” and began listening to it quite a bit. I now had to prepare myself to sing along at the concert! On Friday, April 3rd, myself and my girls Kate and Danielle all made sure to be at the computer by the 10am ticket sale time. Danielle and I, making sure that we took our lunch breaks early to be at those computers! We thought it was a “Ticketmaster” presale, but apparently you had to have some special radio code to get the tickets on that Friday. We proceeded to freak that we weren’t going to get tickets. For some reason, I decided to check our local radio station’s website on the off chance there was some sort of code posted there. WOOOHOOO there was!! With 3 windows open on 2 computers, we decided that Section 20, Row G was going to be the best seats we were going to get. Kate and Danielle were pretty sure that this was the section that they were seated in during the 2008 concert. A day later, when Kate located her ticket from the last concert, we were excited to find out that we were actually going to be a whole section lower than where they were the year before. We quickly realized that we were going to be 5 rows up from the floor, and if the guys did the show like the year before, we would be 5 rows up from their B stage. Let the screaming in the hallway of the daycare center ensue!!
My year, up until June, had been fairly calm and normal. I was doing normal, everyday things, living my life as if the New Kids on the Block were just a band I would be going to see in a few weeks. I was excited to see them in concert, but NEVER could have even imagined what would happen after that concert.
On June 18th, 2009, Kate, Danielle, Lucy and I left work around noon to head home and get ready for the New Kids on the Block concert that night! It was POURING that day, but I decided to try and curl my hair anyway. Kate picked me and Lucy up at my apt, and we headed to Waterbury to pick up Danielle, and hit the road to Mohegan Sun. We had an early dinner at Johnny Rockets before getting in line for the concert.
For my first New Kids on the Block experience, it was amazing!! We arrived in Mohegan Sun Arena and were excited to find our seats and see stage B right there in front of us!! Jabbawockeez and Jesse McCartney were awesome. I even went home and bought Jesse McCartney’s album after the concert. Before the concert began we talked about how we would do the VIP thing next time around and even said that we would go on the cruise if they had another one.
I cannot express the emotion I felt when the lights went out and “Close to you” began to play, showing pictures of the guys. I felt the 7 year old NKOTB fan come out in me again!! I was a “giddy school girl” standing there watching these images! And then the screen went up and that’s it!! The Blockhead in me immediately came out!! I squealed with excitement as I watched them perform some of my favorite old school songs and my LOVE for their new songs grew as I saw them live!! After the “If you go away” & “Stare at you” medley when the lights were out on stage, and there was a long pause, we knew the guys were headed to stage B!!
A week later, with a tornado touching down a few towns away, flooding, sideways rain, and golf ball-sized hail, my brother got married! Aside from the weather, it was a beautiful day. The ceremony was moved from the gardens to overhanging near the entrance to St. Clement’s Castle, so guests had to stand, and the bridal party, all 22 of us, were wrapped in a horseshoe shape to be under the overhang. The bridal party danced our way into the reception and I apparently was a pretty popular partier, because when I stepped onto the silent party bus at the end of the night to head back to the hotel, the entire back of the bus erupted into cheers! I guess because I’m just that awesome!! J
July 3rd came and mom and I enjoyed our girl’s day in the city. Mary Poppins was an amazing show, and being a theater person back in college, I absolutely loved being so close to the stage! The following Friday, NKOTB announced that they were going to be doing a webcast of their Dallas, TX show. I immediately purchased the webcast when it went on sale and was excited that Jillian was going to be able to see the guys perform, even though it was just online. As we watched the concert, I told Jill what song was coming next and what my favorite moments were during the show when I saw it in June.
On Monday, July 20th, NKOTB announced cruise dates for 2010. I told my girls at work, who had attended the concert with me about it, but they didn’t seem as excited about the cruise as they had when we talked about it. Kate, I believe, would have been the only one to do it, but she’s going to be on her honeymoon that week. Jillian wasn’t able to do it either. L Unfortunately, she’s in a wedding that weekend. So I was going solo. I hit the forum and started talking to a few people who were planning to go on the cruise solo and in need of roommates. By the end of the week, I had connected with Laurie (@luv2teach05) and Heather (@DDubSoxGirl). Heather and I had met through a group of girls who wanted to lose weight for the cruise, and Laurie and I met through the forum. Immediately, I seemed comfortable with these two girls and thought this was a great match! Laurie brought in a fourth roommate in Carin (@nkotb427) and it was OFFICIAL! We started making plans as to the type of room we wanted to try for, and started to get to know each other! We exchanged email after email after email trying to work out all of our plans and figure out what was going to happen the day of the booking!
After the past cruisers sale date on August 4th, we began to get nervous about our August 6th sale date! Tickets were to go on sale at noon on August 6th, and lucky for us, Heather would be able to be at a computer. Laurie would be teaching, I would be on a field trip with summer camp, and I can’t remember where Carin was (probably working). Our cruise fate was resting on Heather’s shoulders (no pressure there)!! Then the cruise sale date arrived, and as fate would have it….IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!! I remember sitting at the picnic tables with the kids eating lunch and my cell phone was ready to blow-up with texts from the girls! “Nothing is available” “the page isn’t loading” “it keeps kicking me out” “it’s showing no rooms available.” I was freaking out! What if we didn’t get on this boat? I HAD to be on that boat next year!! I HAD to celebrate my birthday with my new BH sisters and the guys, especially Jordan, since we share a birthday! Now there was this chance that we were not even going to get on the boat! 4pm hit, and we still didn’t have a room on the boat yet! I was on the phone with Heather, told her I was headed home and would jump on the site as soon as I got home to try and get us a room, as she needed to leave work to get her daughter from daycare. She could stay at work a little longer and would keep trying. When I got home, I couldn’t get the site to open to save my life. I don’t know what possessed me to check my email, but thank goodness I did, because sitting in my inbox was a forward of the Rose Tours confirmation. WE WERE ON THE BOAT!!! Heather had FINALLY gotten through!!
I can’t express the emotions I went through for the next few days! I was so excited to be on that boat. NEVER in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined that I would be going on a cruise with the New Kids on the Block! How could life get any better? How could anything top that? I kept thinking that I was FINALLY going to get to meet the guys! I started counting the days until the cruise! I spent the next few weeks really starting to get to know my new cruise roomies and the girls from the weight loss group, falling in love with all of them more and more each day!! I couldn’t wait to meet them!! I continue to love them each to this day and am still counting the days!!
August also brought another wedding for me. This time it was my fathers. He FINALLY married his girlfriend of 13 years! It was a small ceremony, with just family. Just like my brother’s wedding earlier in the summer, it rained! This time no hail or tornados though! Our family’s phrase for the weekend was “it’s about time!”
The wedding gave me a chance to break in my new silver shoes that I would wear for what would be the FIRST of many INCREDIBLE experiences for the remainder of the year….Donnie Wahlberg’s 40th birthday party!! Heather won VIP passes and Meet & Greet for his Mohegan Sun birthday party and asked me to come along with her. Even though it was a Tuesday night, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to MEET Donnie Wahlberg. I was excited to meet one of the 3 girls I would be rooming with in May. Heather and I immediately got along, and it felt as if I had known her for years!
Heather and I head off to the Ultra 88 Nightclub where we meet some more fans, including Kevin O’Brien (@Shayminn). We proceed to dance the night away waiting for Donnie to make his appearance at the party. He arrives around 11:30pm, cuts his cake, Jimmy Marsh & Rob Lewis perform, and then the man of the hour hops on the “stage” and sings along to NK songs! He pours water on us (thank god he missed my camera) and by 12:30 we were being told to leave the club. Donnie told us he wanted a picture with everyone there, so we hopped in line to get our picture taken, this time solo with Donnie! When it was my turn, Donnie looked at me and got a really big smile on his face. He opened both arms, pulling me into a tight embrace! I looked at him after our picture and told him not to forget me. He looked me in the eyes with a grin on his face and said “Don’t worry Melissa, I won’t forget you babe!”
The only way this event could have been any more incredible would have been if some of the other guys were there. I walked into Mohegan Sun that night a hardcore Jon girl and walked out of there as a Donnie girl! NAME CHANGE on twitter….@FutureMrsJonKnight became @JRKandDDubLuva **For the full events of this night, please see a previously posted blog**
Being a member of “Red Sox Nation,” I have the opportunity to gain early access to Fenway Park and the ability to watch batting practice from on top of the Green Monster. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Danny, there is no batting practice, but we still head up onto the Green Monster and take some wet pictures! It was so amazing to sit on top of one of the most recognizable parts of Fenway Park. When we finally went to our seats, I was LOVING IT!!! To sit that close to the field and be able to see ALL the action from behind the plate….OH MY GOD!!! The game was INCREDIBLE and I FINALLY was able to see my love, Jonathan Papelbon, close out the game!! The energy in that stadium when they put Jonathan Papelbon in, is unbelievable!! You never see that on television! It was such a great day with mom, and to think, I WAS RIGHT! Mom just needed to relax about the rain!! “Danny” held out during the game!!
For those who have been tweeted by a “new kid” before, do you remember the feeling of that first one? Well my first one wasn’t even an @reply to me, it was a “retweet” of a question, with an answer during Jordan Knight’s “I’m thinking of someone…” game. On September 3rd, Jordan decided to play his game again. I was refreshing his page, trying to see what the most recent clue was, and there was my name on the top of the page! I screamed to Jillian “Jordan answered my question!!” She flew out of her bedroom and screamed when she saw my name as well. It was an exciting moment to see my name listed on one of the New Kid’s on the Block’s twitter pages! I had finally been seen among all the tweets that get sent to them!
On September 12th, Jillian and I decided on a “whim” when she got home from work, to drive to Boston to the Franklin Park Zoo to try and see Donnie Wahlberg on the set of his movie “The Zookeeper.” It was raining, of course, because why would a trip to Boston for me have NO precipitation! Around 1:15pm, we locate the trailers, and 7 other fans. At around 2:30, we see Donnie headed towards us. He stops in the middle of the road, looks around, and pretends like he doesn’t see us all standing there. Then he comes over and starts giving hugs, taking pictures, and chatting with us! He hung out with all of us for probably a good ½ hour before heading back to his trailer. Jillian even got my conversation with Donnie on video, so I have that moment FOREVER! I was excited to see and hug Donnie again, and Jillian got her FIRST New Kid facetime!! Donnie told us all that day that he was going to follow us all on twitter. (*as of January 3rd, I still haven’t gotten that follow L*) We left the zoo that day with some awesome pictures and some great new friends! It was great to meet some fellow Blockheads: Melissa (@macpac2613), Melissa(@WatsonKrew), Stacy (@sweetpea1036), Nikki (@elle_N_C), Jenna (@Jennac21), Laurie (@lauriepanico), and Jamie (@jmebabineau). **See previously posted blog for full events**
The following week, I recorded my kindergarten class “woo-ing” and made a video for Donnie. I wanted to send it to him on twitter to show him how much fun we had with the “Woo!” On Saturday, September 19th, I happened to be home during one of Donnie’s “tweetfests”. I began to send him the link to my video, telling him that my Kindergarten class wanted to “woo” with him! I also sent him a tweet telling him that exactly a week prior; I had driven to see him in Boston at the zoo. I didn’t think he was going to see either tweet at all, but at 1:36, an @reply came through on my tweetdeck and I had to look at it a few times to truly realize that it was from Donnie!! I was shaking with excitement! Donnie Wahlberg had seen my tweet about my kindergarten class’s video!
At this point @replies were flying into my tweetdeck from the various people that I follow and who follow me. I was shaking so much and too excited to reply to each of them and that became even harder when at 1:38pm a SECOND @reply from Donnie came through. This tweet was BETTER than the 1st one, and caused me to start crying!! If I thought I was bad with the shaking on the 1st tweet, now I was shaking AND crying! I couldn’t believe it! TWO TWEETS in a matter of minutes!
Of course, Jillian wasn’t home when these two tweets happened, so she missed my initial, hysterically emotional reactions to them. When she got home, I tried to be really cool, and tried to not show my excitement. I tried to make it seem like it was nothing. When she realized what she was looking at on my screen, she grabbed my arm and was speechless! The girl who does the news for a living was speechless! I smiled for days over my tweets from Donnie, looking at my screen shots of them over and over and over again!
On October 4th, Jillian and I headed to Blue Jay Orchards in Bethel, CT to go apple picking. We had fun locating the “jonagold” apples and taking pictures next to the signs. Jill and I always have so much fun apple picking, and this year was the added “new kid” reference in the Jonagold apples! We were picking some tasty and delicious “Jon” apples!
On October 8th, I added another New Kid “tweet” to my “list.” This time it was in the form of a DM from Jon! I had sent him a tweet around 11:30am before heading back to work from my lunch break. When I got home from work, I was checking my tweetdeck and saw a DM in my list. I did a double take and was excited when I realized who it was from. I couldn’t believe it! My first NK love had sent me a DM! Jillian and I joked that Jon was trying to “regain his top spot back from Donnie.”
For Donnie girls everywhere, we all know what Friday, October 9th was…The FIRST of “D*Dub’s R&B Backrub.” I tuned in to Cherrytree Radio, unsure of what to expect from the backrub. I must admit, I giggled a bit during this first backrub. It seemed so ridiculous to me that I would be sitting here listening to Donnie talk in what sounded like a “porn star voice.” As the weeks went on, the backrubs would get hotter, and I would get sucked into the Friday night routine of laying in my bed, with the lights turned off, and the headphones in, listening to Donnie talk dirty to his ladies!
On November 3rd, Danny Wood released his solo album, “Stronger: Remember Betty.” Listening to Danny sing songs dedicated to his mother actually made me cry. These songs are so personal and so beautiful that I began to tear up listening to these songs on the drive to work that morning. Why I decided to listen to it on my drive into work, I will never understand!
November 5th – 7th brought about some of my greatest BH sister memories of the year up to this point. Jordan Knight had announced that he was bringing “Jordan Idol” to NYC on Saturday, November 7th. Jillian was trying to figure out whether she, the Jordan girl, wanted to go to Jordan Idol or to New Jersey to meet Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees. On Thursday, November 5th, while home on my lunch break, I made her decision for her by purchasing 2 tickets to Jordan Idol NYC after seeing a tweet by @jasonjmikemgmt. I wasn’t sure how quickly tickets would go, so I purchased two without even confirming with Jillian. She was excited, but was still trying to figure out if there was a way she could do both events.
I had been home sick that day with no voice, a sore throat, and difficulty breathing. Would I go to the doctor? No, of course not, but I would go out and pick up my new Blackberry that day….yes I had finally been sucked into the Blackberry world! That Blackberry would come in handy the next day though, so thank goodness for that! Jillian’s excitement over JI increased even more on Friday night, when there was a tweet about VIP upgrades, Jillian quickly pulled up the site and we added to our Jordan Idol experience by getting 2 VIP upgrade “tickets.” Now Jillian was beside herself and so excited because she was going to MEET Jordan Knight, she didn’t even care about Jorge Posada’s book signing anymore!
I fell asleep that night, after D*Dub’s Backrub, praying that I would wake up better in the morning. As fate would have it, I regained my voice back, but my throat was still sore and I still couldn’t breathe through my nose. I took Dayquil, tissues, and cough drops with us to the city! I was NOT going to miss Jordan Idol because of a stupid cold….even if that cold was making it hard for me to breathe normally.
Thank you Jordan for an amazing day! Because of you and your Jordan Idol event in NYC, Jillian and I met two of the most incredible BH sisters ever, Rodelyn (@nkangel74) and Glenna (@glennabean)! We left NYC that day with some amazing pictures, memories, and two new friends, who I will TREASURE FORVER!! **For full day’s events, please see a previously posted blog**
November 10th brought the NKOTB announcement about their House of Blues, Toys For Tots charity event in Boston. Jillian and I immediately decided that we would be going to this. November 11th, I got another “group hump” from Donnie before one of his “I Got It” parties. Apparently the man likes to hump me in groups!!
Friday, November 13th, Jillian and I do not get HOB tickets during the House of Blues Pre-sale. L Our girls Rodelyn and Glenna do, however. All we can hope for is being able to get tickets on Saturday when the rest of the tickets go on sale. Saturday comes, and at 10am, when tickets go on sale, my Ticketmaster.com page shows NOTHING!!! There is no button for me to even find tickets! The screen is blank! Thank god for Jillian and her ability to refresh her window. We finally get two tickets on the mezzanine level of House of Blues. Our girls are on the floor, but it’s ok…WE GOT TICKETS!!
On November 16th, I sent a DM to Jordan with a link to my blog about Jordan Idol. About 20 minutes after sending it to him, I get a DM back from him! He actually read my blog! I was so excited that I screamed, as did Jill, and the people downstairs didn’t like that…probably because it was midnight and we were screaming! Hahaha that would begin our war over noise with the people downstairs! On November 17th, I work my magic, and get Jordan to follow my girl Jenn (@jksfavegrl) while she is sleeping!! She would wake up to a FABULOUS surprise in the morning!!
I would spend Thanksgiving weekend with my father and his family in Vermont. Can we talk about BORING!!?? I love my father’s family, don’t get me wrong, but I can only handle them in small doses. Like 1 or 2 days at a time, NOT 4 straight days with them!! I spent the weekend, TRYING to find any corner of the house where there was ONE bar of cell service, so that I could send tweet updates from my phone! I needed some sort of communication with the outside world! This was the FIRST weekend where I wasn’t able to listen to Donnie’s backrub, and I was so sad Friday night as I was reading people’s tweets over the “donniegasms” he was causing! I was never so excited to see Danbury, CT as I was that Sunday when we finally got home!
The week after Thanksgiving, Donnie decided that our avatar theme on Twitter was going to be “baby” pictures. Well this put a damper on giving out HUMPS on Wednesday like he always did. Instead he decided to give out “xESKIMOKISSESx” which are much more “baby” appropriate! I was so excited to see that he was tweeting when I woke up, a rarity on the east coast when he’s out in L.A. I was excited when an xESKIMOKISSESx tweet came across my UberTwitter that morning before I picked up my kindergarten class! It was the perfect way to start my day and put me in a great mood for teaching all day!
On December 7th, I sent a TWUG to Donnie, telling him I hoped he had a great Monday! I was shocked/excited once again to find that he sent me a response!
On December 9th, the pre-sale for the “Coming Home DVD” went on-sale! Of course, as Blockheads roll, we had CRASHED nkotb.com BEFORE the time of the official announcement! We all knew we were looking for a DVD, because Donnie, the horrible secret keeper that he is, told us in a “secret message” tweet the night before! Enter a new site, nkotbdvd.com and the crashing of that site!! When will these guys ever learn that it’s in a Blockhead job description to “assist in the crashing of websites”!? This pre-sale was a stressful day, much like the cruise booking date back in August. Blockheads would get into the site finally, add the DVD to the cart, and then their cart would show nothing in it! If you finally were lucky enough to get the DVD into your cart, when you clicked purchase, it would take the item out of your cart. I was at work that day, spent my hour lunch break trying to help Jillian out, but it wasn’t working. FINALLY, Jillian was able to get two DVD’s purchased and emailed me the copy of their new song “Coming Home,” which I would listen to as soon as I got home!
Congratulations to Joey McIntyre! On December 13, he and Barrett welcome their 2nd son, Rhys Edward McIntyre! This brought hope to those of us going the House of Blues, because perhaps this actually meant that Joe would be at the show now. We were all getting a little nervous that Barrett wasn’t going to have the baby in time! Of course, we all know that FAMILY comes first, so if Joe wasn’t there we understood why.
On November 16th, we witnessed the release of the “Coming Home” music video/DVD preview on people.com. I must have watched the video 4 times before going to work that morning! Tears were brought to my eyes as I listened to the beautiful lyrics and watched clips from the past year with the guys! I even went to a computer on my lunch break that day and watched it again!!
BAD WEATHER was threatening our weekend to Boston the weekend of the House of Blues concert, and people were getting nervous about traveling. Flights were getting cancelled before the storm even arrived in New England causing MANY people to be unable to make it to the concert. Jillian, Glenna, Eileen (@EileenMCastroMA), Rodelyn, Vanessa (@V_nkotbgirl), Delia (@ddubnaughtygirl) and I were not going to let this weather threaten our weekend with the New Kids on the Block. Unfortunately our girl Katie would get stuck in New Jersey, leaving our group of 8 down to 7.
On December 28th, Donnie hit 100K followers on twitter and as we would remind him for the remainder of the year, he needed to hold up his end of the promise made back in July. #dropyourpantswahlberg would become a #2 trending topic and Donnie would tease us by saying he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do.
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To my girls Jillian, Glenna, Rodelyn, Vanessa, Delia, & Eileen…the events I have shared with you girls these past couple of months will forever be imbedded in my memory! Glenna and Rodelyn, I am so glad that Jillian and I were standing together in line for Jordan Idol! I can’t even begin to imagine what that night would have been like without you! You girls are amazing!! To all of my HOB girls, what a weekend!! SO MANY MEMORIES, SO MUCH FUN!!! I only wish you ALL could be on the cruise ship with me in May, but I know we will create MANY more memories together both at NKOTB events and otherwise!
Most importantly, I want to thank the 5 brothers from Boston, Jonathan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight, and Danny Wood for all that you have given to me the past 6 months. Because of you, I have met, and look forward to meeting more of, the most incredible group of BH sisters and brothers ever! You have opened my life up to events that I NEVER thought possible. Thank you for the music, the concerts, the parties, and the constant LOVE since your reunion. How many fans can say that they receive the same kind of love from their favorite artists/celebrities that we receive from you guys on a daily basis? I’m guessing, NONE! The strength of the NK Army is so strong and I feel so blessed to be a part of this incredible family! I am so thankful all of the NK memories over these past 6 months and look forward to what 2010 has to bring. I look forward to the JOE SHOW, the cruise, & anything else you guys have in store for us!! I can’t imagine it being any crazier, but that’s what we keep getting told!! Thank you NKOTB for EVERYTHING!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
xoxoxo
~Melissa
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