One Blockhead's Journey to the BH Family!

**BEFORE YOU READ THIS BLOG, PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS QUITE LENGTHY (it is a whole year of my life, afterall!)**

I did not begin 2009 as the hardcore Blockhead that I am today! Don’t get me wrong, I still loved the New Kids on the Block from back in the day, but hadn’t really thought about them since two of my co-workers had gone to one of their 2008 Mohegan Sun concerts. I was a little mad that I didn’t even know about their concert at Mohegan until the 2 girls told me they were going! I hadn’t seen their reunion performance on The Today Show because I was working, and certainly had never heard of the “Let’s Get This” Foundation. I had heard “Summertime” on the radio a few times and loved the song, but at the time was crazy into country music and so I never bought the whole album. I didn’t think there would be another go around with another tour, and so I had accepted the fact that I, unfortunately, was not lucky enough to see their reunion tour. L Little did I know what the 2^nd half of 2009 would have in store for me!

However, 2009 began as any year should….I was drunk!! My roommate Jillian (@ask_Jillian) and I threw a small get together at our apt on New Year’s Eve and my best friend from college came down. There were 7 of us at the party, and Jill and I were drunk before most of our guests even arrived! We had recently gotten the Wii, so we spent the night “drunken bowling” and she and I spent most of the night laying on the floor, or laughing hysterically. It was a great party, and Jill and I spent most of New Year’s Day sleeping on the couches, nursing our hangovers!!

One of my best friends from college had a performance with his band in Danbury in January, so I dragged Jillian down to Main Street, to some sketchy hole in the wall place to listen to REALLY LOUD alternative, punk rock music! Not my forte, but I was glad to see Matt again! And he was extremely excited that I FINALLY made it to one of his shows. I didn’t have an excuse that time though, because he was playing in the same town where I live!!

January also brought with it a pretty crazy ice storm! It took me an hour to clean off my car that morning. I had to chisel ice off the car in order to open the door and turn the car on. Once the roads had been cleared and the sun came out, it actually looked like Narnia near where I work. A co-worker and I were obsessed with taking pictures of it!

February and March were pretty boring. Jillian and I had a girl’s day on Valentine’s Day, since we are both single. L Jillian read to my kindergarten class in March for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. There was a dress fitting somewhere in there for my brother’s impending HUGE June wedding and the wedding plan drama began as two families prepared to join as one. However, life went on pretty much as normal.

At some point near the end of March, three of my co-workers and I found out that the New Kids on the Block were going to have another concert at Mohegan Sun. We decided to try and get tickets to see them, and so the 5 brothers from Beantown would officially re-enter my life, but very slowly…

Upon learning of the Mohegan concert, I FINALLY purchased a copy of “The Block” and began listening to it quite a bit. I now had to prepare myself to sing along at the concert! On Friday, April 3^rd, myself and my girls Kate and Danielle all made sure to be at the computer by the 10am ticket sale time. Danielle and I, making sure that we took our lunch breaks early to be at those computers! We thought it was a “Ticketmaster” presale, but apparently you had to have some special radio code to get the tickets on that Friday. We proceeded to freak that we weren’t going to get tickets. For some reason, I decided to check our local radio station’s website on the off chance there was some sort of code posted there. WOOOHOOO there was!! With 3 windows open on 2 computers, we decided that Section 20, Row G was going to be the best seats we were going to get. Kate and Danielle were pretty sure that this was the section that they were seated in during the 2008 concert. A day later, when Kate located her ticket from the last concert, we were excited to find out that we were actually going to be a whole section lower than where they were the year before. We quickly realized that we were going to be 5 rows up from the floor, and if the guys did the show like the year before, we would be 5 rows up from their B stage. Let the screaming in the hallway of the daycare center ensue!!

Once the tickets were purchased, life went back to normal. We had a 90 degree weather day in April, which, as fate would have it, was the day of the March of Dimes “March for Babies” walk! I and 10 other teachers struggled our way around Danbury. To think, the year before had been rainy and cold. April also brought two bridal showers. One was for my friend Jen and the other for my future sister-in-law, Cindy. Cindy’s maid of honor decided it would be a good idea if all the bridesmaids (10 of us!) spoke at the bridal shower about how we knew Cindy. I had met Cindy TWICE….yes, you read that correctly, TWICE. I found out my brother was engaged before I had even met this new girl in his life. I didn’t even know he was dating anyone seriously until they announced their engagement. The day I met her was the day I was asked to be in the wedding! So I wrote some cheesy little speech about how I “looked forward to getting to know my future SIL.”

May was a busy month. My mother turned 50, so my stepfather and I planned a party for her. It was rainy and cold the day of her party on May 16^th. To think that in April we had a 90 degree day and ½ way through May it was rainy and cold!! The party was a success & I surprised my mom with a joint mother’s day/birthday gift with a mother/daughter trip to NYC for July 3^rd to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, front row! May 17^th was my 26^th birthday and I spent it at the Bronx Zoo with Jillian, Kate, and Kate’s fiancé Tom. It was a fun day, and I was glad to spend it with such good friends. I took the week after my birthday through Memorial Day off for vacation and spent it at home relaxing. I knew that June was going to be a CRAZY month, so I needed to relax first! Memorial Day weekend brought my friend Jen’s wedding. It was a small, but beautiful, DRY wedding….not a drop of alcohol in sight!! And that’s all I’m going say about that day!! J

My year, up until June, had been fairly calm and normal. I was doing normal, everyday things, living my life as if the New Kids on the Block were just a band I would be going to see in a few weeks. I was excited to see them in concert, but NEVER could have even imagined what would happen after that concert.

On June 18^th, 2009, Kate, Danielle, Lucy and I left work around noon to head home and get ready for the New Kids on the Block concert that night! It was POURING that day, but I decided to try and curl my hair anyway. Kate picked me and Lucy up at my apt, and we headed to Waterbury to pick up Danielle, and hit the road to Mohegan Sun. We had an early dinner at Johnny Rockets before getting in line for the concert.

For my first New Kids on the Block experience, it was amazing!! We arrived in Mohegan Sun Arena and were excited to find our seats and see stage B right there in front of us!! Jabbawockeez and Jesse McCartney were awesome. I even went home and bought Jesse McCartney’s album after the concert. Before the concert began we talked about how we would do the VIP thing next time around and even said that we would go on the cruise if they had another one.

I cannot express the emotion I felt when the lights went out and “Close to you” began to play, showing pictures of the guys. I felt the 7 year old NKOTB fan come out in me again!! I was a “giddy school girl” standing there watching these images! And then the screen went up and that’s it!! The Blockhead in me immediately came out!! I squealed with excitement as I watched them perform some of my favorite old school songs and my LOVE for their new songs grew as I saw them live!! After the “If you go away” & “Stare at you” medley when the lights were out on stage, and there was a long pause, we knew the guys were headed to stage B!!

The excitement that I felt at this moment was incredible. The thought that Jonathan Knight was going to be so close to me made me shake with excitement. When he and the other four guys hit the Stage and sang “Single” it immediately became my new favorite song off “The Block.” Being that close to Jon Knight and the rest of the New Kids made me want to collapse in my seat. I don’t know how I held onto my camera and how I was able to take any pictures!! At that moment, the thought of being any closer to these guys was impossible! I couldn’t imagine anything better than standing 5 rows up from them! If I only knew then, what I know now!! The remainder of the concert was incredible. Seeing Donnie Wahlberg perform “Cover Girl,” Jordan Knight perform his solo song, “Give it to you,” and Joey McIntyre performing “Popsicle” dressed in 80’s gear and a topless hat was fantastic! I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with Joey’s song “5 Brothers and a Million Sisters” and the next day figured out how to get a copy for myself!

The group introductions made me fall more in love with Jon Knight as I watched his “embarrassed” smile while Donnie was talking about him. To this day, every time I listen to “One Song” I think about the NK’s rising above the stage with the smoke! Aside from “Single,” seeing the guys perform “Step By Step” live was definitely one of the highlights of the night! Of course, hearing the Dropkick Murphy’s song before the guys came out for the encore equally excited me.  As the only Red Sox fan in my group of 4 girls, I was beside myself when the guys came out in Red Sox jersey’s to perform the encore! I left the concert with no voice, a beach ball that fell during “One Song” and a renewed love for these 5 brothers from Beantown! I was officially a Blockhead and a proud member of the NK Army! Two days later I had joined the New Kids on the Block forum (ning), as well as Twitter, thus beginning a crazy 2^nd ½ to 2009!!!

A week later, with a tornado touching down a few towns away, flooding, sideways rain, and golf ball-sized hail, my brother got married! Aside from the weather, it was a beautiful day. The ceremony was moved from the gardens to overhanging near the entrance to St. Clement’s Castle, so guests had to stand, and the bridal party, all 22 of us, were wrapped in a horseshoe shape to be under the overhang. The bridal party danced our way into the reception and I apparently was a pretty popular partier, because when I stepped onto the silent party bus at the end of the night to head back to the hotel, the entire back of the bus erupted into cheers! I guess because I’m just that awesome!! J

July 3^rd came and mom and I enjoyed our girl’s day in the city. Mary Poppins was an amazing show, and being a theater person back in college, I absolutely loved being so close to the stage! The following Friday, NKOTB announced that they were going to be doing a webcast of their Dallas, TX show. I immediately purchased the webcast when it went on sale and was excited that Jillian was going to be able to see the guys perform, even though it was just online. As we watched the concert, I told Jill what song was coming next and what my favorite moments were during the show when I saw it in June.

On Monday, July 20^th, NKOTB announced cruise dates for 2010. I told my girls at work, who had attended the concert with me about it, but they didn’t seem as excited about the cruise as they had when we talked about it. Kate, I believe, would have been the only one to do it, but she’s going to be on her honeymoon that week. Jillian wasn’t able to do it either. L Unfortunately, she’s in a wedding that weekend. So I was going solo. I hit the forum and started talking to a few people who were planning to go on the cruise solo and in need of roommates. By the end of the week, I had connected with Laurie (@luv2teach05) and Heather (@DDubSoxGirl). Heather and I had met through a group of girls who wanted to lose weight for the cruise, and Laurie and I met through the forum. Immediately, I seemed comfortable with these two girls and thought this was a great match! Laurie brought in a fourth roommate in Carin (@nkotb427) and it was OFFICIAL! We started making plans as to the type of room we wanted to try for, and started to get to know each other! We exchanged email after email after email trying to work out all of our plans and figure out what was going to happen the day of the booking!

After the past cruisers sale date on August 4^th, we began to get nervous about our August 6^th sale date! Tickets were to go on sale at noon on August 6^th, and lucky for us, Heather would be able to be at a computer. Laurie would be teaching, I would be on a field trip with summer camp, and I can’t remember where Carin was (probably working). Our cruise fate was resting on Heather’s shoulders (no pressure there)!! Then the cruise sale date arrived, and as fate would have it….IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!! I remember sitting at the picnic tables with the kids eating lunch and my cell phone was ready to blow-up with texts from the girls! “Nothing is available” “the page isn’t loading” “it keeps kicking me out” “it’s showing no rooms available.” I was freaking out! What if we didn’t get on this boat? I HAD to be on that boat next year!! I HAD to celebrate my birthday with my new BH sisters and the guys, especially Jordan, since we share a birthday! Now there was this chance that we were not even going to get on the boat! 4pm hit, and we still didn’t have a room on the boat yet! I was on the phone with Heather, told her I was headed home and would jump on the site as soon as I got home to try and get us a room, as she needed to leave work to get her daughter from daycare. She could stay at work a little longer and would keep trying. When I got home, I couldn’t get the site to open to save my life. I don’t know what possessed me to check my email, but thank goodness I did, because sitting in my inbox was a forward of the Rose Tours confirmation. WE WERE ON THE BOAT!!! Heather had FINALLY gotten through!!

I can’t express the emotions I went through for the next few days! I was so excited to be on that boat. NEVER in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined that I would be going on a cruise with the New Kids on the Block! How could life get any better? How could anything top that? I kept thinking that I was FINALLY going to get to meet the guys! I started counting the days until the cruise! I spent the next few weeks really starting to get to know my new cruise roomies and the girls from the weight loss group, falling in love with all of them more and more each day!! I couldn’t wait to meet them!! I continue to love them each to this day and am still counting the days!!

August also brought another wedding for me. This time it was my fathers. He FINALLY married his girlfriend of 13 years! It was a small ceremony, with just family. Just like my brother’s wedding earlier in the summer, it rained! This time no hail or tornados though! Our family’s phrase for the weekend was “it’s about time!”

The wedding gave me a chance to break in my new silver shoes that I would wear for what would be the FIRST of many INCREDIBLE experiences for the remainder of the year….Donnie Wahlberg’s 40^th birthday party!! Heather won VIP passes and Meet & Greet for his Mohegan Sun birthday party and asked me to come along with her. Even though it was a Tuesday night, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to MEET Donnie Wahlberg. I was excited to meet one of the 3 girls I would be rooming with in May. Heather and I immediately got along, and it felt as if I had known her for years!

Meeting Donnie for the 1^st time was one of the most incredible events in my life. I was so nervous that my entire body was shaking. I couldn’t imagine what I was going to say to him, if anything. I kept thinking I was going to be lucky if I could say hello to him! When he arrives at the Cabaret Theater (where the meet and greet was located) my nerves sky rocket! As he approaches us, I start to forget what it is that I am supposed to do (take a picture of heather with him ~ didn’t happen because I forgot)! When Donnie pulled me in for that first hug, I practically melted as he whispered “Thank you for coming to my birthday party” in my ear. After saying “happy birthday” and getting a kiss on the cheek, I somehow managed to have a 5 minute conversation with Donnie.  I gave him a birthday present (a red sox dog tag) which he immediately put on, and then gives me another hug and kiss. Heather and I pose for our picture with Donnie, after which I tell him that it’s my first time meeting him. He smiles, says “awww, that deserves another hug” and pulls me in for hug # 3 and a kiss on the lips! We also talk about the cruise. I tell him that it’s my birthday on the cruise and ask him if he will sing to me on the cruise. He squeezes my hand, leans in toward me, and whispers “don’t worry hun; I’ll make sure that we do something special for you.” We hug and kiss again. He says “Thank you Melissa and I will see you on the cruise” with one more hug and kiss before heading off to the next group. As if the meet and greet could get any better, Donnie and I have two more “conversations” across the room as he is meeting other fans. We sing happy birthday to him, and as he is cutting his cake, he calls me out, asking me to come hold one of the chocolate pieces with his picture on it. As he is thanking everyone for coming and is getting ready to leave, he turns toward me and yells “Melissa! You and me, let’s make some babies together on the cruise!”

Heather and I head off to the Ultra 88 Nightclub where we meet some more fans, including Kevin O’Brien (@Shayminn). We proceed to dance the night away waiting for Donnie to make his appearance at the party. He arrives around 11:30pm, cuts his cake, Jimmy Marsh & Rob Lewis perform, and then the man of the hour hops on the “stage” and sings along to NK songs! He pours water on us (thank god he missed my camera) and by 12:30 we were being told to leave the club. Donnie told us he wanted a picture with everyone there, so we hopped in line to get our picture taken, this time solo with Donnie! When it was my turn, Donnie looked at me and got a really big smile on his face. He opened both arms, pulling me into a tight embrace! I looked at him after our picture and told him not to forget me. He looked me in the eyes with a grin on his face and said “Don’t worry Melissa, I won’t forget you babe!”

The only way this event could have been any more incredible would have been if some of the other guys were there. I walked into Mohegan Sun that night a hardcore Jon girl and walked out of there as a Donnie girl! NAME CHANGE on twitter….@FutureMrsJonKnight became @JRKandDDubLuva **For the full events of this night, please see a previously posted blog**

Four days later, I found myself in the car on my way to Boston in the pouring rains of Hurricane Danny. Mom and I were headed to our second girls day event. We were going to see the Boston Red Sox game from BEHIND HOME PLATE (Mom’s birthday present to me!)!! Mom was frustrated and freaking out because of the rain. She kept saying “this is a waste of a 3 hour drive.  We’re going to get all the way up there and the game is going to be called.” I kept sending “Donnie Wahlberg” like vibes out, telling mom to relax and that everything would be fine! We get to Boston, park the car in a garage, and walk the ½ a mile to Fenway Park in the pouring sideways rain!

Being a member of “Red Sox Nation,” I have the opportunity to gain early access to Fenway Park and the ability to watch batting practice from on top of the Green Monster. Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Danny, there is no batting practice, but we still head up onto the Green Monster and take some wet pictures! It was so amazing to sit on top of one of the most recognizable parts of Fenway Park. When we finally went to our seats, I was LOVING IT!!! To sit that close to the field and be able to see ALL the action from behind the plate….OH MY GOD!!! The game was INCREDIBLE and I FINALLY was able to see my love, Jonathan Papelbon, close out the game!!  The energy in that stadium when they put Jonathan Papelbon in, is unbelievable!! You never see that on television! It was such a great day with mom, and to think, I WAS RIGHT! Mom just needed to relax about the rain!! “Danny” held out during the game!!

For those who have been tweeted by a “new kid” before, do you remember the feeling of that first one? Well my first one wasn’t even an @reply to me, it was a “retweet” of a question, with an answer during Jordan Knight’s “I’m thinking of someone…” game. On September 3^rd, Jordan decided to play his game again. I was refreshing his page, trying to see what the most recent clue was, and there was my name on the top of the page! I screamed to Jillian “Jordan answered my question!!” She flew out of her bedroom and screamed when she saw my name as well. It was an exciting moment to see my name listed on one of the New Kid’s on the Block’s twitter pages! I had finally been seen among all the tweets that get sent to them!

On September 12^th, Jillian and I decided on a “whim” when she got home from work, to drive to Boston to the Franklin Park Zoo to try and see Donnie Wahlberg on the set of his movie “The Zookeeper.” It was raining, of course, because why would a trip to Boston for me have NO precipitation! Around 1:15pm, we locate the trailers, and 7 other fans. At around 2:30, we see Donnie headed towards us. He stops in the middle of the road, looks around, and pretends like he doesn’t see us all standing there. Then he comes over and starts giving hugs, taking pictures, and chatting with us! He hung out with all of us for probably a good ½ hour before heading back to his trailer. Jillian even got my conversation with Donnie on video, so I have that moment FOREVER!  I was excited to see and hug Donnie again, and Jillian got her FIRST New Kid facetime!! Donnie told us all that day that he was going to follow us all on twitter. (*as of January 3^rd, I still haven’t gotten that follow L*) We left the zoo that day with some awesome pictures and some great new friends! It was great to meet some fellow Blockheads: Melissa (@macpac2613), Melissa(@WatsonKrew), Stacy (@sweetpea1036), Nikki (@elle_N_C), Jenna (@Jennac21), Laurie (@lauriepanico), and Jamie (@jmebabineau). **See previously posted blog for full events**

The following week, I recorded my kindergarten class “woo-ing” and made a video for Donnie. I wanted to send it to him on twitter to show him how much fun we had with the “Woo!” On Saturday, September 19^th, I happened to be home during one of Donnie’s “tweetfests”. I began to send him the link to my video, telling him that my Kindergarten class wanted to “woo” with him! I also sent him a tweet telling him that exactly a week prior; I had driven to see him in Boston at the zoo. I didn’t think he was going to see either tweet at all, but at 1:36, an @reply came through on my tweetdeck and I had to look at it a few times to truly realize that it was from Donnie!! I was shaking with excitement! Donnie Wahlberg had seen my tweet about my kindergarten class’s video!

At this point @replies were flying into my tweetdeck from the various people that I follow and who follow me. I was shaking so much and too excited to reply to each of them and that became even harder when at 1:38pm a SECOND @reply from Donnie came through. This tweet was BETTER than the 1^st one, and caused me to start crying!! If I thought I was bad with the shaking on the 1^st tweet, now I was shaking AND crying! I couldn’t believe it! TWO TWEETS in a matter of minutes!

Of course, Jillian wasn’t home when these two tweets happened, so she missed my initial, hysterically emotional reactions to them. When she got home, I tried to be really cool, and tried to not show my excitement. I tried to make it seem like it was nothing. When she realized what she was looking at on my screen, she grabbed my arm and was speechless! The girl who does the news for a living was speechless! I smiled for days over my tweets from Donnie, looking at my screen shots of them over and over and over again!

On October 4^th, Jillian and I headed to Blue Jay Orchards in Bethel, CT to go apple picking. We had fun locating the “jonagold” apples and taking pictures next to the signs. Jill and I always have so much fun apple picking, and this year was the added “new kid” reference in the Jonagold apples! We were picking some tasty and delicious “Jon” apples!

On October 8^th, I added another New Kid “tweet” to my “list.” This time it was in the form of a DM from Jon! I had sent him a tweet around 11:30am before heading back to work from my lunch break. When I got home from work, I was checking my tweetdeck and saw a DM in my list. I did a double take and was excited when I realized who it was from. I couldn’t believe it! My first NK love had sent me a DM! Jillian and I joked that Jon was trying to “regain his top spot back from Donnie.”

For Donnie girls everywhere, we all know what Friday, October 9^th was…The FIRST of “D*Dub’s R&B Backrub.” I tuned in to Cherrytree Radio, unsure of what to expect from the backrub. I must admit, I giggled a bit during this first backrub. It seemed so ridiculous to me that I would be sitting here listening to Donnie talk in what sounded like a “porn star voice.” As the weeks went on, the backrubs would get hotter, and I would get sucked into the Friday night routine of laying in my bed, with the lights turned off, and the headphones in, listening to Donnie talk dirty to his ladies!

On October 19^th, Donnie informed us that he was prepping for his return to the set of “The Zookeeper.” I asked him if this meant he would be returning to Boston or if filming was to be in L.A. this time. He sent me the following tweet in reply:

Thank you Mr. Wahlberg for confirming you would be returning to Boston! Although, I would not be lucky enough to see you on set this time because I had to work!

On October 21^st, I received my first “hump” from Donnie in the form of a “Group Hump.” Thank you to my fellow BH sisters for including me in that group!

This was also the night when Donnie implied to us that we could trend anything including something as ridiculous as “cavity.” Well, we Blockheads around the world took this as a challenge and an 1 and 15 minutes later, “Cavity” was a trending topic, making it as high as #3 in the trending list!

October 22^nd, would bring another answer to another question in Jordan’s “I’m thinking of someone…” game.

Since June, Jillian had been living the Twitter world vicariously through my twitter account. However, on October 27^th, @ask_jillian was born! I had finally sucked her into the BH twitterverse! Her joining twitter would become “key” to some very important events in the near future!

On November 3^rd, Danny Wood released his solo album, “Stronger: Remember Betty.” Listening to Danny sing songs dedicated to his mother actually made me cry. These songs are so personal and so beautiful that I began to tear up listening to these songs on the drive to work that morning.  Why I decided to listen to it on my drive into work, I will never understand!

November 5^th – 7^th brought about some of my greatest BH sister memories of the year up to this point. Jordan Knight had announced that he was bringing “Jordan Idol” to NYC on Saturday, November 7^th. Jillian was trying to figure out whether she, the Jordan girl, wanted to go to Jordan Idol or to New Jersey to meet Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees. On Thursday, November 5^th, while home on my lunch break, I made her decision for her by purchasing 2 tickets to Jordan Idol NYC after seeing a tweet by @jasonjmikemgmt. I wasn’t sure how quickly tickets would go, so I purchased two without even confirming with Jillian. She was excited, but was still trying to figure out if there was a way she could do both events.

I had been home sick that day with no voice, a sore throat, and difficulty breathing. Would I go to the doctor? No, of course not, but I would go out and pick up my new Blackberry that day….yes I had finally been sucked into the Blackberry world! That Blackberry would come in handy the next day though, so thank goodness for that! Jillian’s excitement over JI increased even more on Friday night, when there was a tweet about VIP upgrades, Jillian quickly pulled up the site and we added to our Jordan Idol experience by getting 2 VIP upgrade “tickets.” Now Jillian was beside herself and so excited because she was going to MEET Jordan Knight, she didn’t even care about Jorge Posada’s book signing anymore!

I fell asleep that night, after D*Dub’s Backrub, praying that I would wake up better in the morning. As fate would have it, I regained my voice back, but my throat was still sore and I still couldn’t breathe through my nose. I took Dayquil, tissues, and cough drops with us to the city! I was NOT going to miss Jordan Idol because of a stupid cold….even if that cold was making it hard for me to breathe normally.

Jordan Idol was incredible! I give “mad props” to the people who auditioned that day! So many incredible singers performing! One of my favorite moments of the night was when Jordan came down from the “judges area” to hug @theamandaknight after her performance. He actually had some tears in his eyes. Jillian was beside herself all day, and especially after meeting Jordan during the VIP time! Our VIP time was awesome. Jordan grabbed me as he walked past our group…apparently my hug/picture would be first. I got a BIG squeeze from Jordan, and an “uhhhh” from him as he squeezed me with a little “hip action.” I told Jordan that we have the same birthday and that we should celebrate together on the cruise. He said “definitely!” All three of my girls got some GREAT facetime with Jordan as well, and before he left us, he grabbed all four of us in a big group embrace and walked back toward the “green room” with us!

Thank you Jordan for an amazing day! Because of you and your Jordan Idol event in NYC, Jillian and I met two of the most incredible BH sisters ever, Rodelyn (@nkangel74) and Glenna (@glennabean)! We left NYC that day with some amazing pictures, memories, and two new friends, who I will TREASURE FORVER!! **For full day’s events, please see a previously posted blog**

I would spend Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday home in bed after my cold was made worse from standing in the cold waiting for Jordan Idol. On Monday (11/9), I finally went to the doctor. He gave me a prescription, so while I was waiting at CVS to pick it up, I was scrolling through my UberTwitter. I come across a tweet from Jordan to Rodelyn telling her that he was now following her! Then I come across one for me! This has totally just made my day, and makes me feel a little better!!

Jillian calls me from work and is so excited! We know that her name has to be coming next because we all gave Jordan our names at the same time. He had said he was going to follow all the VIP people from Jordan Idol. Sure enough, she was the next name on his page!! For some reason, he had skipped over Glenna’s name, so we would spend the next few days tweeting him and DMing him letting him know he had forgotten Glenna! Finally, he followed her, during a time when she was doing laundry and not there to see the tweet!

November 10^th brought the NKOTB announcement about their House of Blues, Toys For Tots charity event in Boston. Jillian and I immediately decided that we would be going to this. November 11^th, I got another “group hump” from Donnie before one of his “I Got It” parties. Apparently the man likes to hump me in groups!!

Friday, November 13^th, Jillian and I do not get HOB tickets during the House of Blues Pre-sale. L Our girls Rodelyn and Glenna do, however. All we can hope for is being able to get tickets on Saturday when the rest of the tickets go on sale. Saturday comes, and at 10am, when tickets go on sale, my Ticketmaster.com page shows NOTHING!!! There is no button for me to even find tickets! The screen is blank! Thank god for Jillian and her ability to refresh her window. We finally get two tickets on the mezzanine level of House of Blues. Our girls are on the floor, but it’s ok…WE GOT TICKETS!!

On November 16^th, I sent a DM to Jordan with a link to my blog about Jordan Idol. About 20 minutes after sending it to him, I get a DM back from him! He actually read my blog! I was so excited that I screamed, as did Jill, and the people downstairs didn’t like that…probably because it was midnight and we were screaming! Hahaha that would begin our war over noise with the people downstairs! On November 17^th, I work my magic, and get Jordan to follow my girl Jenn (@jksfavegrl) while she is sleeping!! She would wake up to a FABULOUS surprise in the morning!!

I would spend Thanksgiving weekend with my father and his family in Vermont. I spent the weekend, TRYING to find any corner of the house where there was ONE bar of cell service, so that I could send tweet updates from my phone! I needed some sort of communication with the outside world! This was the FIRST weekend where I wasn’t able to listen to Donnie’s backrub, and I was so sad Friday night as I was reading people’s tweets over the “donniegasms” he was causing! I was never so excited to see Danbury, CT as I was that Sunday when we finally got home!

The week after Thanksgiving, Donnie decided that our avatar theme on Twitter was going to be “baby” pictures. Well this put a damper on giving out HUMPS on Wednesday like he always did. Instead he decided to give out “xESKIMOKISSESx” which are much more “baby” appropriate! I was so excited to see that he was tweeting when I woke up, a rarity on the east coast when he’s out in L.A. I was excited when an xESKIMOKISSESx tweet came across my UberTwitter that morning before I picked up my kindergarten class! It was the perfect way to start my day and put me in a great mood for teaching all day!

On December 7^th, I sent a TWUG to Donnie, telling him I hoped he had a great Monday! I was shocked/excited once again to find that he sent me a response!

On December 9^th, the pre-sale for the “Coming Home DVD” went on-sale! Of course, as Blockheads roll, we had CRASHED nkotb.com BEFORE the time of the official announcement! We all knew we were looking for a DVD, because Donnie, the horrible secret keeper that he is, told us in a “secret message” tweet the night before! Enter a new site, nkotbdvd.com and the crashing of that site!! When will these guys ever learn that it’s in a Blockhead job description to “assist in the crashing of websites”!? This pre-sale was a stressful day, much like the cruise booking date back in August. Blockheads would get into the site finally, add the DVD to the cart, and then their cart would show nothing in it! If you finally were lucky enough to get the DVD into your cart, when you clicked purchase, it would take the item out of your cart. I was at work that day, spent my hour lunch break trying to help Jillian out, but it wasn’t working. FINALLY, Jillian was able to get two DVD’s purchased and emailed me the copy of their new song “Coming Home,” which I would listen to as soon as I got home!

Congratulations to Joey McIntyre! On December 13, he and Barrett welcome their 2^nd son, Rhys Edward McIntyre! This brought hope to those of us going the House of Blues, because perhaps this actually meant that Joe would be at the show now. We were all getting a little nervous that Barrett wasn’t going to have the baby in time! Of course, we all know that FAMILY comes first, so if Joe wasn’t there we understood why.

On November 16^th, we witnessed the release of the “Coming Home” music video/DVD preview on people.com. I must have watched the video 4 times before going to work that morning! Tears were brought to my eyes as I listened to the beautiful lyrics and watched clips from the past year with the guys! I even went to a computer on my lunch break that day and watched it again!!

BAD WEATHER was threatening our weekend to Boston the weekend of the House of Blues concert, and people were getting nervous about traveling. Flights were getting cancelled before the storm even arrived in New England causing MANY people to be unable to make it to the concert. Jillian, Glenna, Eileen (@EileenMCastroMA), Rodelyn, Vanessa (@V_nkotbgirl), Delia (@ddubnaughtygirl) and I were not going to let this weather threaten our weekend with the New Kids on the Block. Unfortunately our girl Katie would get stuck in New Jersey, leaving our group of 8 down to 7.

We drove up to Boston on Saturday afternoon, stopped by the guy’s rehearsal spot and heard them rehearsing some of their songs! We saw Donnie for a couple of minutes through the gate and after having some dinner, headed off to our hotel in Boston, which had a PHENOMENAL view of Fenway park and the House of Blues! I was probably the most excited one in our room to have this view, being the Red Sox fan in the room. I had the most incredible time that weekend getting to know some new BH sisters and sharing our love of the New Kids on the Block. There is no one in the world that understands the love of the New Kids, like the fellow Blockheads. We went shopping on Sunday, in the snow storm before freezing our butts off outside the House of Blues, waiting to get let in.

Aside from not being able to see Jimmy Marsh, Rob Lewis, or Ernie & the Automatics perform (due to our original place on the mezz), the show was INCREDIBLE. Jillian was finally able to see an NKOTB concert and what a concert to see! We witnessed an incredible rendition of “Oh Holy Night” by Joey McIntyre, “Full Service” with surprise guests New Edition, “Mistletoe Magic” fun, the FIRST performance of “Coming Home,” and JON KNIGHT SINGING STEP FIVE!!!! I also met a few of my “weight loss” girls finally! Audra, Jenn, Jodi, & Heather….it was GREAT seeing you girls after the show!!

The “New Kids on the Block after party” wound up being more like an “I Got It” party since Donnie was the only one to come, but we had a blast anyway!! Next time though, we wear our coats for the line outside!! LOL! It was a successful event resulting in $60,000 and 5+ truckloads of toys going to the Greater Boston Toys for Tots! Here’s to hoping it will become a yearly event!! Oh yeah….the JON GIRL in me reignited that weekend!! My “fling” with Donnie settled a bit and Jon regained his place at the top! **For full HOB weekend story, please read a previously posted blog**

The week leading up to and following Christmas was crazy in terms of tweets for me. On December 23^rd, I received a “humpwich” with Donnie AND Jon! My two favorite guys!! That tweet from Donnie came right at the perfect time that morning because I was so angry with my father and my boss. I had hit a breaking point that morning emotionally and as the tears started to fall from my eyes, I saw the tweet from Donnie. Thank you Donnie for putting a smile back on my face that day!

I got out of work early that day, and went to Jillian’s radio studio to hang with her for a little while.  Two of her co-workers (DJ’s on the local FM station) teased us about the New Kids on the Block stuff, but we just laughed. One of the guys even called me “Mrs. Wahlberg” as he left. LOL, I’ll take it!! Before leaving her studio I took a picture of the 98 Degrees poster still hanging in the studio and tweeted it to Jeff Timmons (@JeffTimmons98). He would later respond:

On Christmas Eve, after FINALLY picking up my HOB pictures from Walgreens and putting them into an album, I was sitting on the couch reading People Magazine’s Best (and worst) of 2009. I came across the “FADS of 09” page and laughed when I saw the Snuggie in the center of the page. Knowing Jon Knight’s feelings on the Snuggie, I sent a picture of the page to him on Twitter, and to my AMAZEMENT he commented directly on my tweetphoto.com page! Of course I hadn’t seen the tweet until 15 minutes after he had posted it, because my UberTwitter was set to update every 20 minutes so as to not waste my battery! I did a double take when I saw the post and again, Jillian wasn’t home to see this right away!! She was at her parents for the night, so I had to call her and tell her that he saw my picture!

Christmas Day was spent at my mother’s. My stepfather’s family came down for the day. It was a very nice day, with lots of food and fun with family! My brother and sister-in-law had sent my Christmas present home with my parents the night before, and I was shocked when I opened up a COACH purse! On Sunday, December 27^th I had “Christmas” with my dad….always a joy *note the sarcasm in my voice.* I was away from Twitter all day, except for the random tweet I snuck in from the UberTwitter while I was in the bathroom (LOL). I finally left my father’s that evening and realizing that I was about to make my 11,000^th tweet, I sent a message to Donnie and Jon that read: “@jonathanrknight @donniewahlberg My 11000^th tweet is to my 2 favorite guys to say I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU 4 an amazing year!!! :)” Apparently Donnie was lurking, and replied:

I didn’t see the tweet right away because I was driving home when his tweet was sent. As we were driving SUPER slowly on the highway, I decided to scroll through the UberTwitter. I guess you could say I was “tweeting and driving” like Donnie….LOL. I came across a tweet highlighted in yellow (for those who don’t have UberTwitter, this is an @reply to you). When I looked closely at the tweet, I saw that the tweet was from Donnie. Immediately I started to cry! What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I was the ONLY one he had tweeted at that time! I didn’t quite understand why so many of my followers had sent me comments saying “did you see?” or “Woo, congrats girl!” When I got home and turned the computer on to find that I was the only one he had tweeted, I started to cry again! Of all the tweets that had probably come through his phone at that time, he chose to respond to mine! Then of course, everyone had to ask, as I had to myself….why, then, is Donnie, NOT following me yet on Twitter!?

On December 28^th, Donnie hit 100K followers on twitter and as we would remind him for the remainder of the year, he needed to hold up his end of the promise made back in July. #dropyourpantswahlberg would become a #2 trending topic and Donnie would tease us by saying he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do.

As we welcome in 2010, I want to say to all members of my new BH family, I am SOOOOO happy to have met you all this year!! I feel so blessed to have 3 of the most amazing women as roommates for the cruise!! Laurie, Carin, and Heather, I can’t wait for May! I feel like the day we decided to room together on the cruise was one of the BEST decisions I could have made, and can’t wait to create LOTS of amazing memories together on the cruise ship and in the future. To Heather, thank you for taking me with you to Donnie’s birthday party! It was an incredible night to share with you and I feel so blessed that you asked me to go with you! Thank you to my “weight loss group,” Heather, Jenn, Jenn, Shauna, Teresa, Audra, Jodi, Andi, Marina Susie, & Diane! Why do I feel like I’ve missed someone? You girls are an incredible inspiration and support for me. I am so happy that I decided to join that group and look forward to meeting ALL of you in May as well!

To my girls Jillian, Glenna, Rodelyn, Vanessa, Delia, & Eileen…the events I have shared with you girls these past couple of months will forever be imbedded in my memory! Glenna and Rodelyn, I am so glad that Jillian and I were standing together in line for Jordan Idol! I can’t even begin to imagine what that night would have been like without you! You girls are amazing!! To all of my HOB girls, what a weekend!! SO MANY MEMORIES, SO MUCH FUN!!! I only wish you ALL could be on the cruise ship with me in May, but I know we will create MANY more memories together both at NKOTB events and otherwise!

Most importantly, I want to thank the 5 brothers from Boston, Jonathan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight, and Danny Wood for all that you have given to me the past 6 months. Because of you, I have met, and look forward to meeting more of, the most incredible group of BH sisters and brothers ever! You have opened my life up to events that I NEVER thought possible. Thank you for the music, the concerts, the parties, and the constant LOVE since your reunion. How many fans can say that they receive the same kind of love from their favorite artists/celebrities that we receive from you guys on a daily basis? I’m guessing, NONE! The strength of the NK Army is so strong and I feel so blessed to be a part of this incredible family! I am so thankful all of the NK memories over these past 6 months and look forward to what 2010 has to bring. I look forward to the JOE SHOW, the cruise, & anything else you guys have in store for us!! I can’t imagine it being any crazier, but that’s what we keep getting told!! Thank you NKOTB for EVERYTHING!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

xoxoxo

~Melissa