Blast from the Past

Wanna time travel with me? Pull out your freshest neon, put on your LA Gears and let's go!

It's about 1989. Look, there I am! So awkward... (some things never change...) ...sad... huh, anyway {shakes it off} 

What is that funky beat...? Is that...

New Kids on the Block?

Heck yes it is!

I can't even tell you how much I loved New Kids. My friend, Summer got me into them. It was the first boy band I loved. The only boy band I've ever loved. Were they the first boy band...? Like, that wasn't a family (Osmonds, Jacksons, you know... they don't count). I don't even know. But I loved them. (I never geeked out over N'sync or Backstreet Boys- just these guys)

I am ashamed (proud?) to say I still have all the posters that once wallpapered my bedroom (and by "have" I mean they are all rolled up and shoved in corner in the basement of my parent's house). I also have a door poster size puzzle.. maybe two... that were only ever assembled once. And a board game. I even had the dolls once upon a time but I think the nieces have played with those until they are unrecognizable. (although none of the Ken dolls had rat tail hair styles, so maybe they'd be easy to pick out). I got most of those things toward the end of the obsession so they're all still in fairly good shape because they were rarely used. 

look at this one! They're just babies here!!!

It was because of these boys from Bean Town that I fell in love with a city I've still never even been to. I love Boston! I dreamed of going to Boston University (and wore BU apparel. Oh man... I forgot about that sweatshirt... I LOVED that sweatshirt...)

Joey was my favorite. He was the youngest- and by far (as far as 12 year old me was concerned) the cutest. My friend and I used to write stories involving them- Joey was always my boyfriend. I wrote him a fan letter once- but I never mailed it. Sorry Joey, I'm sure it would have made a difference in your life. You'll just have to move on without me. 

Then there was Jordon. Summer loved Jordan. She even had similar hair (although it was curlier... like Joey's). I always thought he was handsome too- but Summer called him first- which was fine. I still prefer Joey.

Jordon's brother Jon was super cute too. He was always a little more in the background. I wonder if he ever resented that. Hmmm...?

Donnie was everybody's favorite bad boy. Even though the other Whalberg has become the more famous of the two, whenever I hear about Mark (whom I still call Marky Mark), I still think of him as Donnie's little brother. Donnie wins!

And then there was Danny. Did he actually sing or was he just there as the beefcake? I'm sure he's very nice.

I was sitting here today having a bout of the blues- this grey sky is going to kill me. I need SUN! So I tried to think of a way to cheer myself up. I don't even know how it came about- but I ended up on YouTube watching the old music videos of these teenage heartthrobs. And giggling to no end. Really? This is what I thought was SO COOL? This is the music I couldn't live without? (I have the piano music too, btw) 

My sister's went to a concert once and I turned every shade of green with envy. They were fans too- but I was too young to take to Provo to a concert. sigh... and just a few years ago when they were doing their reunion tour my friend Lisa escorted them through the Denver airport. I may have retroactively fan girl-ed a little and asked to touch her hand- the same hand that shook theirs. AAAAAHHHH!!!!! 

ahem... sorry... we're cool. I think I've grown up enough that I can look back on all this with good humor. 

I've admitted a lot of embarrassing things in this post. I will NOT, however, publicly admit that I have a NKOTB pillow case anywhere in this apartment. No one needs to know that but me.

She Date, Me Date

In March my momma had a birthday. My Aunt wanted to take her little sister to a play for her birthday instead of getting her another appliance, so she commissioned me to find a suitable play that would be on stage some time relatively close to my mom's birthday. 

There was the Pirate Queen... nahhhh...

There was Peter and the Star Catcher... maybe... but sold out.

So I looked a little further from home and found that the Hale Center Theater in Orem was putting on a version of Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre just so happens to be in my top three favorite books! And when you are the one coordinating the activity, you can afford to be a little selfish and choose the one you want the most!

Jane Eyre it was! My auntie invited her sister, daughter and me (because I'm so awesome) but there were people we didn't want to leave out and eventually it turned into a huge Baker production and all the girls went (except for JaNeil who couldn't get away... boo!)

Valeri and her kids came and stayed with me the night before the play- we celebrated Earth Day by eating dirt pudding and watching Wall-E.

I might have a new Earth Day tradition!

The next day my mom, sister Kim and SIL Lisa drove down. We all met up at my aunt's house (along with my cousin, Sharon and her BF) and had a lovely lunch of chicken salad sammies and fruit.

We then headed off into the void that some call Happy Valley... or Orem. We stopped only once, for a minute or two (to shop at a store that I can't afford) and then to Orem. Actually, I guess we did stop to shop twice. We went way early because we didn't know what traffic would be like so we had some time to kill. And how *convenient* that right next to the theater was an old closed down K-mart that had been turned into a scrap booking warehouse (most Baker girl's dreams... not mine). It was really hard to get Kim out of there... like, we were almost late for the play...

The play was so good! That theater is teeny! but it's amazing what they can do in such a small place. We had great seats. We were on the top row- but in a theater (that is basically just someones basement) that small, there are no bad seats.

A lot of the girls in my family didn't know the story of Jane Eyre. Where did I go wrong? Even my mom had never heard the story. Sigh... I love this story. So even though it was a musical- which, don't get me wrong- i LOVE musicals... I just wasn't expecting it to be a musical- it was fun to sit and watch the reactions of everyone. Lisa kept asking me spoiler questions- which I would not answer!

The one thing I love best about local theater is that after the show the actors are out to meet the audience. Jane and Rochester are two of my all time favorite characters so I felt a little like I was at Disneyland meeting them and getting pictures with them.

This guy (I'm sorry- I threw my program away!) played St John.. I think he's actually married to the girl who played Jane...) anyway, Mr Rivers has never been my favorite character, and they don't often show why in the tv shows and movies- nor in this play... he's not just a foil to Rochester... he is a rather heartless guy.

But my Aunt felt sorry for him- that he was so outright rejected by Jane (oh come on- the story is like, 200 years old... if you're angry about spoilers, it's your own fault!) so she wanted a picture with him.

It was such a fun day. I thought it was going to be a nice, spring day so I wore shorts and flip flops... it was a cold, dismal day and I'm pretty sure that was the day I caught my cold (achoo!)

Sometime later I got an email announcing the Star Trek 50th Anniversary tour. I'm going to go ahead and let my geek show and tell you that I almost screamed when I got that email! It is a traveling symphony that plays the music of Star Trek- all of them!

I tried to find someone to go with me- but no one could- so I decided to go it alone. I'd rather go out and do things alone- than sit at home and do nothing. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had a real Me Date.

Usually I dress up and go out to a nice dinner- by myself with a good book- but this time I decided to save the money on dinner and spend it on a better ticket instead. I'm so glad I did! I'm pretty sure I had the best seat in the house! I was on the front row of the balcony so I had no obstructed view. I was on an aisle, and the seat next to me was empty so I could spread out (whenever I go to an event with an empty seat next to me, I always assume that is Melanie's seat- she would have LOVED this).

Along with the music they had a big screen that would show scenes from the movies/shows and they would play the soundtrack along with them. Sometimes it was easy to forget the music was live! It was so amazing!

These pictures were all taken during the encore. I am NOT that person who has her phone out during a performance... but people were already leaving during the encore, so I figured it was Ok.

I would totally do it again. It's not like I don't spend enough quality time with myself (hello, typical day) but it's still fun to go out and do things that are both cultural... and nerdy. That's me in a nutshell. :)