whether it takes you back to 1989 or 1999, tonight is gonna be magic....

So the Other Half and I took a little trip to L.A. on Friday so I could see NKOTBSB in concert. The day started off hectic. I forgot the tickets when we left so we had to turn around and get them, my mom didn't want Reagan to come over until later than planned because she was running errands, Gavin's daycare was full to state allowed capacity, then the other half's mom had forgotten she was supposed to watch Gav....and the other half was already in a bad mood. But everything worked out finally and we got on our way. Everything was going alright until we got closer to L.A. Due to Google navigation's ineptitude, we ended up taking a very scenic route through Beverly Hills. Not at all close to where we needed to be. And let me just say that driving through there made me feel super duper poor. Did I drive by some celebrity houses? I'd bet on it. But I don't have a Star Map and all you could see while driving by were gates, bushes and long driveways. We also got to drive on such iconic streets as Mulholland Dr and Rodeo Drive. Even though I've been to L.A. quite a few times, I've never been through B.H. So that was an experience. Our hotel ended up being right by LAX, in a little neighborhood called Inglewood. Yes. All the stereotypes you imagine when you hear Inglewood are true. There were L.A. County sheriffs all over the place, hookers with their pimps standing on the corner, graffiti and boarded up everything. Number streets are bad, so is Martin Luther King Blvd (have you ever know an affluent neighborhood to have an MLK street? I didn't think so.)

This is a house in Inglewood. I was trying to get the Christmas wreath that still hung on the door, but the app I was using to take the picture didn't have a zoom option. There was all kinds of trash in the yard. It looked abandoned, but you never know.

So on to the concert. It was fantastic. The only thing I hated was that I didn't have a real camera, and my cell phone camera clearly sucks. Eventually I gave up on taking pictures. No matter how I had the settings, it just wouldn't take a good shot. They had this girl named Ashlyne Huff be the opening opener. She was alright, I wasn't really impressed with her vocals or anything. The other half and I did get a picture with her after the show though. Nobody was in line to meet her, and I felt bad. After Ashlyne was Jordin Sparks, and I love her. She dedicated her song Battlefield to her boyfriend that's currently serving overseas in Afghanistan. She sang like maybe five songs, pretty much all her radio hits plus one or two more. It was her last night on the NKOTBSB tour, so I'm glad I got to see her. Then came the main event: NKOTBSB! I was so excited. And it was everything you would hope their concert would be: pyrotechnics, confetti, dancing, hot guys, and more crotch grabbing then you can shake a stick at. The picture above was taken as soon as they revealed themselves (which took forever, btw). The way they did the concert was great. They'd sing together, then alternate between groups. I didn't go in there as a Backstreet Boy fan (admittedly, they sang some songs that I didn't even know the words to), but I came out one. And Kevin Richardson came by and sang a few songs with them (hes the fifth Backstreet Boy that didn't rejoin the comeback). I guess he doesn't normally do that, so it was a big treat to all the diehard BSB fans. It was just more then my heart could handle though when it came to the New Kids. I was so happy to finally get to see them in concert. And they're still just as talented and just as dreamy as they were when I was five. The title of this post is actually a quote from Joey McIntyre. They are all very proud of the diverse ages in their audience. They said that NKOTB has been around for 25yrs (since I was two!) and the BSB have been around for 18. It doesn't seem like its been that long.

(the top one is a shot of all nine NKOTBSB members, and I just thought the last one looked cool)

I'd never been to the Staples Center either, that place is huge! Its the biggest venue I've ever been to for a concert. Instead of the usual arena food, they had a McDonalds and California Pizza Kitchen in there. And just in case you needed a new phone or something, there was a Verizon! It was crazy. And there was an anime expo going on in the convention center next to the Staples Center. It was so weird to see all the people dressed up as anime characters next to the slutty girls done up to the nines for the concert. It was an interesting mix of people, that's for sure.

The next day we went to Roscoe's Chicken n Waffles in Long Beach. I've always wanted to go, and I finally got my chance. The food was really good. They put cinnamon in their waffles I think, it gave it a little something extra. The wait was long, but it was worth it. 

The rest of Saturday was spent trying to go to the beach. We couldn't find parking at any of the beaches though (seriously, we went to like ten beaches easy, and there was no parking). The weather was nice, 70-80 degrees depending on where you were. I hated to leave it to come home to our 108 degree nastiness. From all the driving though we got to see a lot of the little cities around L.A. and that was really fun. For me, at least. I wasn't driving and I love to go to new places. The other half wouldn't really stop or anything though, so I didn't get to explore and it kinda made me angry.

(These were all taken as we drove through the Port of L.A.)

There was definitely a lot of good in the trip, but there was a lot of bad too. The other half was in a deplorable mood, and it seems that we don't travel well together anymore. We never talk, its just hours of silence/the radio while driving. And we argue. He hates spending money, and hates exploring. He doesn't understand why I like to take pictures and go to obscure places. His pissy mood has spanned days now (today included, he was being such a dick before he left for work. and now hes not answering my text messages). Hes been hanging out with a friend of his that I don't like, hes friending shady girls on Facebook again and honestly....I think hes cheating (but I can't prove it). Hes so unhappy with me for whatever reason, its given me a huge complex. Anyway though, I'm getting off topic.

The concert was the best thing to happen to me in a long time, its been forever since I've been that happy. I want more of those experiences. I really do.