I don’t even know how many concerts I’ve attended in my lifetime.  There are a handful, though, that I’ll remember forever – Garth Brooks in Kansas City in 2008, Newsboys in Tulsa in 2000, New Kids on the Block in Atlanta in 2009, NSync in Little Rock in 2001, and DC Talk in Springdale when I was in 7th grade.

Last Wednesday night I added another one to the list (although, it still includes one of the afforementioned artists) – NKOTBSB (New Kids on the Block + Backstreet Boys).  I saw them in Atlanta with my friends Penni & Karah.

We had a great view of the stage.  We were 4 rows up from the floor down beside the tip of the stage.  Both groups spent quite a bit of time all over the stage so we had a great view.  (As Penni said, the guys were lifesize.)

Highlight of the concert was this…

This is NKOTB’s Joey McIntyre standing right in front of me.  The guys came down in the audience at one point and Joey ended up in our section.

Here are some more pictures from the concert (& then a link to a slideshow of all of my pictures).  Enjoy!

My friend Penni mentioned to me in early spring that the Backstreet Boys were going to be pretty close to her hometown in concert June 5 at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA.  Penni is a HUGE Backstreet Boys fan.  I had been wanting to visit her in Georgia at some point in the near future and decided I might as well come at that time and go to the concert with her.  Our friend Karah was gracious enough to get us front row (and center) seats.  (Thanks, Karah!!!)

I’ve never considered myself that much of a Backstreet Boys fan.  In high school and early college when they were at the peak of popularity, I listened to and liked their music.  I was more of an N Sync fan, though.  The concert didn’t make me like BSB better than NSync (sorry Penni & Karah) but I did come home and add quite a bit of their music to my iPod to listen to.

The highlight of the night wasn’t necessarily even music related.  Brian Littrell’s 7 year old son Baylee came out on stage after the opening act.  The crowd was already going nuts in anticipation.  Baylee came out and simply said…”Are you ready for the Backstreet Boys?  Here are Nick, AJ, Howie, and <insert pause> my Daddy.”  It was adorable and the crowd went crazy!

The worst part of the night was my camera situation.  I didn’t want to lug both a point & shoot and my DSLR camera through the airport while traveling so I opted to just bring my DSLR.  I wasn’t allowed to use it at the concert, though.  The photos in this entry are courtesy of my iPhone.  Penni & Karah are sharing their photos with me but it isn’t quite the same.  Lesson learned.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened Tuesday May 11.  It is located in downtown (sorry, uptown) Charlotte, NC.

While we were in the Charlotte area Memorial Day weekend, Penni & I decided to go to the NASCAR HoF.  We were there for well over 2 hours and didn’t even feel like we had seen it all.

The first 5 inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame were…

Bill France Sr

Bill France Jr

Junior Johnson

“The King” – Richard Petty

“The Intimidator” – Dale Earnhardt Sr

A blogger Penni & I met at the Coca-Cola tweet-up named Valli posted a great recap on her blog of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and all it has to offer.  Instead of trying to do the same, I thought I’d share a link to her post and then show some of my photos.  I will say that the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a must for a NASCAR fan and even sports fans when they are in the Charlotte area.

You Have to Visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame – Valli

Click here to view all of the pictures I took on my vacation.

I have been out of town, actually out of state, this week.  It’s been a week full of a lot of miles and a lot of fun so far.  I’ve been spending most of the week in Penni’s hometown of Waycross, GA.  On Wednesday, we went to the Okefenokee Swamp.

I can now say I’ve been to a swamp.

I’ve only been to the beach a handful of times in my life so I requested a trip to the beach while I’m this close.  Today, we went to Fernandina Beach, FL.

On Sunday, we went to the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC.  (I’ll have photos and a blog post talking about that in the near future.)  I’ll be heading back home on Sunday but, before I go, we are attending a Backstreet Boys concert at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA with Karah.

2009 was quite a year.  The most important and exciting thing that happened to me this year is that I bought my first home.  I’ve looked and talked and planned for several years.  The pieces all fell into place very quickly at the end of July for me to officially begin my search for a home.  The house I bought was the first one me & the realtor that assisted me looked at together.  Greg (my realtor & Lindsey’s father-in-law) found me the perfect house.

My other major purchase of 2009 was a Nikon D90 camera.  I’ve had fun playing with it this year.  Although, I haven’t ventured far from the automatic settings yet.  One of my goals for 2010 is to learn more about what all my camera can do.

Lindsey, Kelly, Hayley, & I saw the Paisley Party Tour stop in Tulsa in January.  It included Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, & Darius Rucker.

My mom’s birthday in January marked the beginning of a very bad ice storm.  I don’t remember ever having weather like that.  The ice was crazy.

In March, Kelly & I went to San Antonio for a few days.  We saw a bit of a history at the Alamo, had dinner on the top of the world, and even visited the beach.

In April, we took our annual trip to Dallas/Fort Worth for some NASCAR.  While down there, we visited the Sixth Floor Museum & Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated.  Jeff Gordon finally won a race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Memorial Day weekend I traveled to Charlotte, NC to visit Penni and go to the NASCAR races that weekend.  It was a weekend full of rain but it was a great weekend of visiting old friends and meeting new ones.

In June, I went to a couple of concerts.  The first one was Casting Crowns at the Church at Pinnacle Hills.  The second one was Chuck Wicks at the Poultry Festival.  I got to meet Chuck in person twice (once by accident) that evening.  It was great!  He’s hilarious and very down-to-earth.

Lindsey, Shelby, & I made last minute plans to go to Junction, TX in July to our cousin Lacey’s wedding.  We made Mom come too.  We took our time going down to visit Mom’s brother (our uncle) Mark and also to visit Dublin for some wonderful Dr Pepper.

In the beginning of October, Shelby & I traveled to Dallas.  The University of Arkansas Razorbacks played the Texas A&M Aggies in the new Cowboys Stadium.  Shelby, our uncles Mark & Rod, and I went to the game.  It was an awesome game in an aswesome stadium.  I’m hoping we get to go again next year!

In mid-October, I traveled to Phoenix with a couple others in my department for an SAP conference.  Besides the conference, we took some time to do some sight-seeing.

The last trip I took in 2009 was with Shelby the first weekend of November.  We went back to Dallas/Fort Worth for the NASCAR race.

Here are the blog entries I wrote this year related to my year in review.

January 3, 2009 10:57 pm - The Nikon D90
January 4, 2009 5:54 pm - New Camera – Day 2
January 10, 2009 10:32 pm - New Baby
January 11, 2009 2:38 pm - The Red Coat
January 24, 2009 8:56 am - Tulsa Bound
January 26, 2009 6:40 pm - Family Tradition
January 28, 2009 1:34 pm - Be Still!
January 29, 2009 6:32 pm - Tulsa Time
January 29, 2009 8:27 pm - Ice Storm
February 1, 2009 12:02 pm - Ice Storm Aftermath
March 5, 2009 9:00 am - San Antonio Bound
March 6, 2009 9:25 pm - Where’s Dad When You Need Him?
March 7, 2009 8:31 am - 173 Years Later
March 14, 2009 3:03 pm - Life is like a box of chocolates
March 14, 2009 3:59 pm - A bit of history
March 15, 2009 6:38 pm - The San Antonio Zoo
March 15, 2009 6:57 pm - The Texas Beach
March 15, 2009 8:03 pm - Sea World
March 21, 2009 2:40 pm - Tower of the Americas
March 21, 2009 4:15 pm - San Antonio Re-Cap
April 18, 2009 4:05 pm - Who Dun It?
April 18, 2009 4:45 pm - He finally won
June 20, 2009 3:58 pm - Chuck Wicks Times 3
June 27, 2009 4:47 pm - Casting Crowns
August 9, 2009 4:58 pm - My New House
August 23, 2009 5:42 pm - My New House – Before
October 7, 2009 9:52 pm - Long Wait
November 6, 2009 3:32 pm - Shop a Little, Race a Little

As far as 2010, I don’t really have any plans for any major traveling.  I know we’ll go to both NASCAR races in Texas in April & November.  Other than that, this may be a year that I take it a bit easy as far as traveling goes.  I do need to catch up on here with some blog entries.  I really want to share what my house looks like now that I’ve gotten it painted and decorated.

I’m heading to a birthday party for a good friend this afternoon who turned 30 on Friday.  Happy Birthday, Megan!

For Christmas, I signed Shelby up to take a sewing class.  Because I haven’t sewn since junior high, I decided to sign up & go too.  Our first class was supposed to be last Thursday but snow put a wrinkle in those plans.  The class should start this Thursday and then be every Thursday evening for the next 6 weeks.  I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m not sure that I’m interested in learning how to sew clothing.  I’d love to know how to make curtains and quilts, though.

Next weekend, I’m heading to Tulsa for a little girls’ weekend.  My sister Lindsey, Hayley, Kelly, & I are heading to Tulsa to see Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, & Darius Rucker in concert.  I’ve seen Dierks twice before but have the opinion that one can never see Dierks too much.    I haven’t ever seen Brad or Darius and am really excited about both of them.  Although, I do need to listen to Darius’ country CD a few times this week because I’m afraid he won’t really be playing anything Hootie.  (Although, he might surprise me.)

Kelly & I are thinking of taking a road trip somewhere south in late February (assuming the weather cooperates with us).  Right now, we’re actually considering heading down to San Antonio for a few days.  We’re still in the early stages of figuring out where and when but it has me excited nonetheless.

April will find me in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, specifically Texas Motor Speedway, for NASCAR.  We’ll be taking our annual trip to the Sprint Cup series race on April 5th.  After the trip to TMS Penni & I had in November, it definitely won’t be as interesting.  I keep telling Shelby that I’m counting down to her 18th birthday when she will be old enough for pit passes.  I will get to see Brad Keselowski in the Cup race, though, which I’m excited about.

As of right now, I’m heading to Charlotte, NC for the Coca-Cola 600 in late May.  I don’t have plane tickets or race tickets but I’m pretty sure everything is headed in this direction.  Penni loves going to this race, and I decided this would be a good non-Texas NASCAR race to attend in 2009.  It looks like we are going to have several friends attending with us so that will be cool.  If anyone else wants to go, let us know.  The more, the merrier!  It’ll be cool to meet some new people and enjoy a lot of NASCAR at the same time.

2008 was a year of traveling, or so it seemed at times.  (You can read all about my travels this year, if you’d like, by visiting my My Travels page.)  I added 5 new states – Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, & Georgia – to my list of states I’ve visited in my lifetime.  My mom, sisters, and I took a great unforgettable trip to North Carolina in June.  It was full of sight seeing, family history, and even a bit of NASCAR.

I went to 3 NASCAR races.  Shelby & I went to the race in Texas in April.  Penni & I went to the race in Michigan with Sarah & Andi in August.  Then, Penni joined me in November for the Texas race.  As far as 2009 and NASCAR goes, Shelby & I will be attending both NASCAR races in Texas (April & November).  (Penni may even join us in November.)  I’m also currently considering going to the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC in May.

I also went to Las Vegas for a week in September for a work conference (plus some sight seeing, of course).

Besides attending the NASCAR races, I watched some baseball & football in person this year.  2008 was the inaugural season of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Double-A affiliate for the Kansas City Royals).  Because of that, I decided to get season tickets.  Shelby & I went to several games.  I think Shelby & I both learned a lot about baseball this year.  Plus, we’re already looking forward to 2009.  As far as football goes, I got my season tickets for the University of Arkansas football season.  I didn’t make it to all of the games but I went to several.  This was head coach Bobby Petrino’s first year with the Hogs.  While the Razorbacks didn’t finish with a good enough record for a bowl game, they definitely showed us what is to come for the football team (i.e. Miracle on Markham Part Two).  I can’t wait for Arkansas Razorback football 2009.

I got to attend some great concerts this year as well.  I attended the Poultry Festival in June where I got to meet & see Blake Shelton in concert.  I saw The Black Crowes in concert while I was in Las Vegas.  Don Tyson sponsored a special concert for Tyson Foods employees in October with Willie Nelson headlining.  Joe Nichols (Rogers, AR native) returned to northwest Arkansas for a concert in October.  I flew all the way to Atlanta, GA to see New Kids on the Block with Penni.  (That was my crazy trip of the year, I must say.  I was in Atlanta for less than 24 hours but it was well worth it.)  Finally, Shelby & I saw OAR in concert at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville in November.  I already have at least one concert lined up for January 2009 – Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, & Darius Rucker in Tulsa.  I’m also hoping to find a Benjamin Del Shreve show that Shelby & I can go to at some point in 2009.

I slept through the first 2 earthquakes I’ve ever been “in” this year.  They were both in the Dallas/Fort Worth area the weekend Penni & I were there for the NASCAR race.  One was centered in Irving where our hotel was.  They both happened in the middle of the night and neither of us had a clue.  We can at least say we’ve been in 2 now, though.

I opened this blog on April 13th this year.  (I owe a big thank you to Karah for the wonderful layout she made for me.)  I’ve really enjoyed posting my stories and photos for you all to see.  I participated in my first Day of Blogs this year and am already planning on participating again in 2009.

I turned 28 this year.  It seems like I was just graduating high school or still in college but the planning began months ago for my 10 year high school reunion next summer.  It’s just crazy how time has flown by since May 1999.

Here’s to 2008 and to what’s to come in 2009!

My last blog entry was all about Sunday’s race.  I had to do a special blog entry for the above picture.  It was taken Sunday night after Penni & I finished eating supper in Grapevine, TX.  Your eyes are not deceiving you.  There are Red Bull Racing cars & haulers in the parking lot of the Grapevine Mills Mall.  When Penni & I got to Steak ‘N Shake there was 1 unmarked hauler and 2 83′s & 84′s sitting out and crew members moving parts around the lot.  We had a hunch of what was going on but weren’t 100% sure until we saw the 83 & 84 haulers.  The unmarked hauler brought the Phoenix (this weekend’s race) cars to meet the 83 & 84 haulers who would give the unmarked hauler the Texas cars to take back to Charlotte and take the Phoenix cars on westward.  It was neat getting to witness this.  We always hear about haulers trading cars but never have witnessed it ourselves.

One final bonus…Here is a slideshow of all of the pictures I took in Texas for the NASCAR race last weekend.  Enjoy!

Thursday was our first visit to Texas Motor Speedway of the weekend.  We went in time for the Craftsman Truck series qualifying and to see the Sprint Cup series haulers come into the track.

This was the first time Penni had ever been to Texas Motor Speedway.  I’ll let you read what she has to say about it on her blog but I hope she enjoyed herself as much as I did.

This was the first time I had pit passes at this track.  As you’ll see in these photos and in the photos from the other days, the pit passes were great and got us really close to the action.

The first event of the weekend that we saw was the Craftsman Truck series qualifying.  The above picture is a view into the truck “garage” at TMS.

During qualifying, the Sprint Cup series haulers entered the track.  We saw them all sitting outside the track in a parking lot before we went into the track at the beginning of the evening.  The above is a shot of the haulers waiting their turn to park in the garage area.

Click here to see all of my photos from our first day at TMS.

The New Kids on the Block concert was AMAZING!  I’m sitting here listening to their music as I’m working and writing this entry.  I’ve got several pictures and a full review coming later.

Penni & I had a great time at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.  Ron Hornaday won the Craftsman Truck series race Friday night.  Kyle Busch won the Nationwide series race Saturday afternoon.  Carl Edwards won the Sprint Cup series race last night.  I have lots of pictures and stories from TMS to share in the upcoming week.

Stay tuned!