The Main Event

Friday after work the girls met at & off we went to New Orleans. I picked up Starbucks on the way because for whatever reason I was wide awake at 3:00 am. There was rain, there was traffic but we made it. Apparently, there was a ton of stuff going on in New Orleans so it was difficult to get a hotel room. Thankfully, Allison had a connection that not only got us a room at the Maison Dupuy but he got us a fabulous deal! So we got all checked in & started getting ready when we had a knock on the door. I opened the door to see a little guy holding this. 

Wine, cheese, preserves, strawberries, grapes. baguettes, chocolate & water. It was delicious! We snacked while we got ready for our dinner reservation. 

Since traffic was so bad we were running a little late. I called the restaurant to see if it would be a problem to push our reservation back a bit & the guy that answered the phone said "Are y'all going to the show?" when I answered yes (not knowing which show he was talking about) he said "Oh yeh it'll be fine". We finished getting ready, called Uber & headed out. Much to our surprise 95% of the restaurant was female & it was very obvious they were all going to the same show we were! It was sooooo loud & everyone was taking pictures. It was a fun atmosphere.

We had dinner at Johnny Sanchez. It's a Mexican Restaurant owned by John Besh & Aaron Sanchez. I'd looked at the menu before we went & was not impressed. It looked really weird but we'd heard good things about it. So glad we tried it. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Allison & Jill

Me & Allison & her Walmart Weave 

Vicki & Me

It was really humid so the hair was not looking its best & I have no idea who I was looking at. 

Happy Hour Margarita's with Don Julio!

Vicki had a Coke. How cute is the bottle!

I had the Arroz Con Pollo  

slow roasted chicken enchiladas, crispy rice, roasted tomatoes avocado, cotija cheese, serrano

Delicious!

The restaurant was really close to the Smoothie King Center so we walked to the concert after dinner. That was probably a mistake seeing as how we chose cute over comfort in the shoe dept.

When we got to the arena & the chick scanned our ticket & said "go over there & she'll give your bracelet" we were all a little surprised. We knew we had good seats but we were not aware of needing a bracelet. 

At that point I was thinking that maybe our seats are better than we think. 

As the usher ushered us to our seats I KNEW our seats were better than what we thought. FRONT ROW! Vicki made the comment that she thought the Usher made a mistake. We knew we had the front row of our section but we thought the section was further back than it was. It was FABULOUS!!! 

We timed our arrival perfectly. About 10 minutes after getting there Nelly started. 

Nelly had a busy night. He opened this show & played from 7:15-8:00, then he was at a club in Baton Rouge to perform & Scott Disick (I had to explain to Dean that "Lord Disick" is Kim Kardashian's older sister Kourtney's baby daddy) was the emcee for that show. Then Nelly was going back to New Orleans to perform at a club there that stays open until 4:00 am. We found that little tidbit out when we were walking in the arena & girls were handing out flyers. I jokingly asked if he had a helicopter to get back & forth from Baton Rouge because traffic's so bad. Those poor girls just completely missed the humor & told me he has a tour bus. 

Next up was TLC. They were super popular in the '90's & early '00's. It was only T (T-Boz) & C (Chilli) because L (Left Eye) died in a car wreck awhile ago. You may remember her from back when she was dating former NFL star Andre Rison. She also burned his house down. She said it was an accident but when you set a pair of shoes on fire & then leave I'm not really sure what you expect to happen but whatever. (Yes, I have a brain full of useless information which probably explains why I can't seem to remember anything that I actually need to remember). 

Here's Chilli

and T-Boz

The outfits were interesting. I think they were going for a Mardi Gras look.

Once they finished, Jill & I went & got drinks & when we came back it was time for New Kids On The Block - The Main Event - That's what the concert was called & also the reason we were there. 

This is Joe McIntyre 

He was on Dancing With The Stars one season & on the show The McCarthy's. 

This is Donnie Wahlberg -as some people like to say - the 2nd most famous Wahlberg. He's Mark's brother but he's also on Blue Bloods & he's married to Jenny McCarthy.

. 

Allison absolutely loves Donnie. Always has. When Jill & I went to get a drink the security lady (who thought Allison was hilarious - Allison told her she was wearing weave from Walmart & it was making her hot) told Allison & Vicki that around the 4th or 5th song Donnie was going to come off the stage & walk in front of where we were standing. I'm honestly surprised Allison didn't pass out right there. So the whole time I'm counting songs in my head so I can be prepared with my camera & then here he comes. Down the stairs, towards us & then this happened. 

He grabbed Jill & sang & then kissed her on the forehead. I really thought Allison was going to die. He walked in front of us & shook me & Vicki's hand. 

Vicki & I also got to shake hands with Joe!

Once the concert was over Vicki discovered that she was in the selfie that Joe took!

The boys dance a lot.

So then this happened.

I hate the way I look in these pictures which is typical but it's a monumental even so I have to get over it. Jordan Knight was pretty much the love of my life when I was a teenager. He came down off the stage right in front of us!

Vicki was the photographer & she captured what was my teenage dream come true! Back in the day my room was wallpapered with their posters, we camped out for tickets, we went VERY early in the morning to a record store in a bad area of town because we knew nobody knew about the place that would want tickets. We followed their tour bus, we hung out in parking lots hoping to meet them & we were extremely jealous of the girls we knew that traveled around to see them & did get to meet them. It only took 26 1/2 years but I got my picture!!!! 

At some point Jordan's brother Jon came by & we got a hand shake. Jon is on Amazing Race. 

We were sad for the show to end but it was an amazing night! I laughed probably more than I've ever laughed. Generally when Allison's around there's a lot of laughing. Combine that with the fact that her shoes were NOT made for walking & when we left the concert she walked barefoot to where we were catching our Uber. I had the good sense (it doesn't happen often) to put a pair of flip flops in my bag. I didn't make it through Nelly before I changed. Needless to say we went back to the hotel, sipped some wine, ate some cheese & as Allison would say "basked in the afterglow!" 

This was the chocolate the hotel sent up.

It was 2:30 a.m. before I fell asleep. For some reason at 5:30 I was wide awake. I managed to sleep a little bit longer & then we all got up to get ready for breakfast. We went to Elizabeth's in the Bywater area of New Orleans. It's described as being very "hipster" which translates to "weird". 

We started off with mimosa's

in a plastic cup. 

We shared some praline bacon. Y'all!!! SOOOOO GOOD!

I had the Eggs Florentine - Creamed spinach, fried oysters over potatoes, topped with poached eggs & hollandaise.

It was delicious too. We shared a waffle.Mainly because it had strawberries & homemade whipped cream.

We were stuffed & tired & decided the only cure for that was big Dr Peppers in styrofoam cups. 

FYI - McDonald's serves their ice tea in a styrofoam cup & you ask for your Dr Pepper to be put in one too. 

The entire trip was just too fun!

Toodles!