Get 'cha a 'Slice of Dawn'

hey all!
Did you miss me?
I wish I could post pictures of me sunbathing on some secluded beach somewhere.

Instead, I was stuck in Arkansas at a literacy conference. (I know. A teacher's job is never done.)

Don't feel bad for me though...
If you don't know by now...You should know I have a good time wherever I go.
My friends have decided to start calling this "Gettin' a Slice of Dawn"
That's great, right?

I had a wonderful time getting to know LOTS of new friends... and giving away a few slices ;)

In my mind, I'm on the Rivera ;)

I can now die a happy woman - Day 3 Show Me Music and Arts Fest

Let me just start out by saying that I am normally NOT a lucky person.
Sure... I've got a great family and great friends... a roof over my head... food to eat... yada yada
But when it comes to "Luck" as in winning things, yeah... I lose every time.

So when I hear my local music station say they were going to give away backstage passes to see OneRepublic (my FAVORITE band)... I was like, "What do I have to do???"


Design a t-shirt.

For those of you that don't know it... I'm creative.
Rarely do I get to access that creativity though.

I completely felt up for the challenge!!
So Friday at summer school is "Fun Day" and we spend about an hour in the computer lab.
While the kids were playing games, I made my shirt design.

Here was my final product:

I didn't know what my chances were...
I mean there were thousands of people there... any of them could have already won my chance and I wouldn't even know it.

I didn't even get all the way up to the radio station's booth when I hear, "Cool Shirt!" and Robo (the radio station DJ), pulls out the backstage passes!!
I'm pretty sure I started hyperventilating.
"Is this your guest?" he asks pointing towards Rachel.
"YES!" she screams before the question even fully registers with my brain.

I'm pretty sure I summoned up some psycho cheerleading spirit because I know I had crazy spirit fingers going and I was kangaroo hopping all over the place. Yeah... I'm still without a full voice, so even though I was screaming no one heard it. (except for maybe a stray dog wandering by. lol)

Robo(radio DJ), Me, Rach, & Simon(another DJ)

He then said, "Be back here at 5:45."
"No Problem!!!"


We walked floated away from the radio booth.
I occasionally let out a shriek and clapped my hands.
It seemed like a crazy dream.
I really couldn't believe I was going to get to go backstage!!!!

Trust me... there was nothing that could have removed the smile plastered on my face!

We wandered around aimlessly for a bit... mainly because I was in such a daze.
Then we decided, to take FULL advantage of our awesome seats that we lucked into again!!

We watched:
Kelly Pickler

Joe Nichols

Little Big Town

About that time, we decided that if we were gonna eat before going backstage, we probably should.
Where did we eat you might ask??
DUH!!! 

Seriously... If you didn't know, you haven't been following the last couple of posts!!

Finally, it was time to head backstage.
Honestly, we did a whole lot of waiting.
When we were finally let in, we were told that we couldn't take pictures with our own cameras.
(Insert BIG frowning face here)
They did, however, have their photographer there and told us they would send us the pics in about a week. ( I will post them when I get them)

Since they wouldn't let us get pics, I did the only other thing I know a groupie should do... I asked the manager if I could get their autographs.
She asked if I had a pen.
I did not.
(Insert ANOTHER big frowning face)

Then the guy behind me said, "I have one, BUT I want it back before I get to them."
"Sure!!!  Thanks SOOOOOOOO much!!!!" I said beaming.


I told the band how I was their BIGGEST fan!
How THIS was a dream come true for me!!!
We took the pic and EACH member signed my shirt.

Rach got a signature from Ryan Tedder.
The guy behind us got one Ryan's signature as well.
Then the manager said, "No more signatures! Were running short on time!"


OMG!! I seriously couldn't believe that, not only did I get to go backstage and meet them, BUT I got one of ONLY 3 signatures!!!
Yeah... THIS is what dreams are made of.

They made us sneak out as quietly as we had gone in.
It was now showtime!!!
I introduce to you .....OneRepublic (Cheers! Screams! The Crowd goes wild!!)

It really took all of me to focus.
I was still in my fairy tale dreamland world.
But Ryan Tedder drew me back to reality...

He really has wonderful stage presence about him.

 I mean... seriously!!  The man is playing the keyboard without looking!!

Needless to say, I didn't want their portion of the show to end.

Next up was Tim McGraw... and even though he wasn't OneRepublic...

He wasn't bad to look at either...

I mean... check out that smile...

So there you have it... How to spend $99 and have the best weekend of your life!!

Should I recap it??
Yeah... I think I should!!
-Spend $99
-Get "recognized"
-Get free drinks
-Get 2 free t-shirts (yeah 2, One from Train and I caught one that was thrown from the stage.)
-Get pulled onstage.
-Get backstage passes to FAV band

Yep... I think I spent my money well on that one!!

My 30 seconds of Fame - Day 2 - Show Me Music and Arts Fest

Day 2 started out with another AMAZING Fried Taco!! 

Serious... I don't normally get excited about food... but, man, these suckers are delish!!

As I'm sitting there, I get recognized.

Now, let me tell you... I'm a teacher... I get recognized ALL the time!

But this was different... I got recognized by a follower of this little ol' blog of mine.

Yep.  A follower from here recognized little ol' me out in public!

So, I want to give a shout out and tell you, "Thanks!!" cause it truly made my day!!

(I'm sorry that I didn't catch your name... You completely caught me off guard... but in a good way!! Please leave me a comment with your name so I can thank you properly.)

What this follower of mine didn't know is that she ignited the fire to an awesome day.

After she walked away( & I headed to the porta-potty), people swarmed my friend, Rachel, asking her, "Who is she?("because I did look familiar")... and What is her blog about??... Had I written a book??  Had something tragic happened to me??

Rachel just laughed. "No. no. She's not a celeb. She just writes about her life. You can ask her when she gets back."

I find this humorous because that is how drunk we all are with people who are famous in our eyes... we want to reach out and touch them, but don't feel like we can talk to them on a personal level. (Don't get me wrong... I am the same exact way.)

Anywho... back before these peeps found out I was nobody, one of the gals had "accidentally" spilled some of her drink on my foot "so she could talk to me." (Yes, we chuckled about it later when she knew I was nobody.)
I found out from her that she was drinking a Raspberry Vodka Lemonade.
I decided I had to try one!

If you have been following for a while, you might know that my bestie, Laura, had to teach me skillz (yes, with a Z) when I headed back out into the dating world.  

I used to pay for everything. 

Laura pays for nothing.  

She never has... and she is appalled by the fact that I did. 

So when I headed out to try one of those Lemonades, I really had intended to pay for my own (I have the ticket to prove it) but when I got into the beer tent, I went into "Laura" mode.

Let me back up...

First, you had to get a wristband to prove that you were of drinking age and buy a ticket for your drink.

Here is where I actually bought my ticket.

In that line, I met members of the Liz Moriondo band.

They were great guys and I chatted with them for a while.

Then I headed into the beer tent with them.

Now, remember, I have a ticket for a drink... 

I walk up to the bar... a guy there looks me up and down.

I ask him, "So you're gonna buy me a drink, right?" (Laura mode)

"Sure. But first you have to do a shot with me."

Duh.  Easy choice there... two for the price of one.

I walk away with Rachel's jaw on the ground.

"How?" was all she could say.

I laughed.

"I used to wonder the same thing" I told her smiling.

Then we headed down to put our chairs down.

Somehow I used the same method for our spot that I did for the drinks, but at the time, I didn't even realize it.

Rach and I put our chairs down and then decided to walk closer to see if we could find any other spots. 

We ended up right at the end of the catwalk.

Two guys were standing there... not sitting... standing. 

So Rach and I decided the area in front of them would be perfect.

We went and got our chairs and moved them.

Then I asked the guys if they would be so kind as to watch our stuff while we were gone.
Our new friend:

Later, I learned from one of the guys that they were dumbfounded...

they couldn't figure out how we just swooped in, took their spot, AND got them to watch OUR stuff.

Again, I just laughed.

I'm sure I broke some form of secret girl society code here... but I let him in on that is just what girls do sometimes... we flash our smiles, expect nothing than exactly what we want... and we get it.

He kinda pouted up after that conversation... yet, somehow, I got him to go and buy me another special lemonade later.

Skillz. 

Skillz, I tell ya. 

ha!

We saw a LOT of great concerts!!
Rach and I really weren't interested in seeing Jesse James...

until Chris Daughtry walked out on stage!!!

Now THAT'S a guy I could go after!!

Hubba. Hubba!!

Next came Sawyer Brown

Then we saw Big & Rich/Gretchen Wilson/ Cowboy Troy/2 Ft Fred all together on stage

Big

Rich

Big & Rich

Gretchen Wilson & Big

Cowboy Troy

2 Foot Fred

By nightfall, I had the full attention of one guy, M. (one of the guys that we took their spot)

We danced and talked.

Well... as much talking as you can do at a concert.

I guess you can say I just enjoyed a guy being close.

Don't worry... I had my wits about me the whole time.

We kept it strictly PG.

But he did aide in my next big excitement of the evening.

You see... I don't normally dance.

I have rhythm.

But I feel silly dancing in front of others.

Give me a little alcohol and you are more likely to see that rhythm actually leave my soul and enter into my body.

So here I am dancing with M.

Train comes on stage.

Pat Monahan asks for girls who want to come and dance on stage.

Normally, I would stand there and sway back and forth.

But tonight, with a little liquid courage ...and prodding and pointing from M., I got chosen to go on stage!!

We had to sing... and dance... and smile..

yeah... I got the smiling bit down

Yeah... I'm an OFFICIAL "Train"ette... Don't you think it suits me well??

Whew! Day 2!

I know. Crazy, right?

Just wait!!  Day 3 has even more craziness!!