Some goods…

Today I received a Christmas card from none other than… NKOTB. Yes, Danny, Donnie, Jon, Jordan and Joe love me. 😉 It’s appropriate they sent me this since I am getting concert tickets from my man for their NKOTB + Backstreet Boys tour (NKOTBSB). I am takin’ a road trip (Holla Stacy and Nancy!) to Houston to see them since, once again, they are coming to Dallas on a Sunday. I don’t do concerts (or much of anything else) on Sunday. Every time I have seen them I have traveled to do so because they have come here on a Sunday (Oklahoma City and Kansas City– shout out Sara!!). So, yeah… I’m famous.

We are tight like that...

Isabel did a powerpoint presentation for a class about herself. One the part about “THE PEOPLE I ADMIRE” she wrote:

The people I admire the most are my parents! They do EVERYTHING for me. They are the best. My parents have 5 and sometimes 7 kids. The reason I said 5 to 7 is because my 2 step sisters live in Canada, and they visit sometimes. My parents treat us all equally they love us all equally! Even though we can be a handful sometimes, but they can handle us! They are the people I admire most.

Awwwwww!!! And she had pics of me and her and her and Sei. 🙂

The other part I loved was from MY FAMILY:

My family is AMAZING!!!!!! My family has 9 people in it and that is a lot. My family from youngest to oldest and age is……. Livie or Liv is 4 almost 5, Taj is 7, Isabel aka MEEE is 11, Karlea is 12, Kelsea is 12, Alec is 14, Tristan is 15, Tori aka MOM, and then Seiuli aka DAD! My family is the best in the whole entire world! I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

It made me feel awesome. I thought it was cute she put Karlea as younger than Kelsea. They are 18 minutes apart. haha

Seiuli is nominated for the 2nd quarter in a row for OFFICER OF THE QUARTER.  In the letter the chief wrote to him these are of few of the things that supervisors and/or peers made the following comments about him:

• “He has been an outstanding influence on our shift.”
• “He comes to work every day with a great attitude, and his reports and investigations are accurate and detailed.”
• “His ability to translate Spanish has proven invaluable.”
• “He also has made tremendous impact on our DWI enforcement. Again he will either take the lead on these investigations or assist in providing translation.”
• “He has a true passion for his job, and is a leader among our people.”

There was more, but you get the jist… He is awesome. I am proud of him. And I sleep with him. Just sayin’…

Crushes from the 90s (besides Donnie Wahlberg)

• So I arrive at this parent meeting the other nite at the high school for basketball and as I’m about to enter the lecture hall this coach walks up to me to shake my hand. OMG y’all- I seriously thought he was this guy I met in Vegas back when I was 14. They were both tall, dark, and basketball players. It was weird. He sat at the front of the lecture hall during the meeting and I just kept looking at him thinking, “This may be kinda awkward if that IS him…” It wasn’t. lol
• I used to think Christian Slater was so gorgeous– especially in “Gleaming the Cube.” Yeah, he’s really not, atleast he wasn’t after “Gleaming the Cube”… But I was all about Christian Slater when he was a cool thrasher. I always loved me some skater bad boys!!
• Another person I thought was so hot: The lead singer of EMF. Idk why. He leaned on the microphone all hot… lol You can see the video here. He “leans” around 1:37. haha
• Last nite I downloaded some music for my iPod. 2 words: JOHNNY GILL. My sister and I were all about this non-dancing hottie. lol You can see one of my fave songs by him here – he really CANNOT DANCE.

Who were you crushin’ on 20 years ago???

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Kansas Part III

So… the concert was wonderful. We got home late. When I went to bed I thought I’d be up so early since that’s what I was used to. Um, ok, NOT. I slept until 9:50am!! I haven’t done that in FOR.EV.ER. It was wonderful, refreshing, yay! I almost felt guilty because I knew Sei was up early with the kids. But that feeling passed quickly.

My BIL took us to lunch at a barbecue place and it was sooooo good. In line “red beans and rice” was on the menu. So of course I busted out with Baby Got Back “Gimme a sister, can’t resist her. Red beans and rice dihn’t miss her….” My BIL looked at me like I was crazy, but the girl in front of us turned around laughing. Later I saw her at the drink station and she pointed to my new concert tee and asked, “How was the concert???”

After lunch we went back to my sister’s home to wait for Gretch! to come by to visit. I’ve never met her, but I’ve read her blog and we email occasionally, so it was exciting! She is very pretty, thin, and very warm and friendly. We only got to hang out for a few minutes, but next time I come up we will hang out more. (You can see my new concert tee in this pic. “Property of Donnie Wahlberg.”) I don’t know what I’m doing with my leg in this picture. It’s the new, cool pose…
Independence, Missouri is not far from my sister so I asked S if she’d like to meet us there. There’s a lot of history in Independence so I wanted to go even if just for an hour. We met at an angel store- everything was an angel. I bought a few things including a policeman angel. It didn’t hit me until I gave it to Sei that it was like a dead cop. I told him it really meant, “Cops are angels…” We drove around Independence. I learned that Harry S. Truman lived there and helped run out black people. So, black people were run out and Mormons had an extermination order against them. Niiiiice. We drove by the RLDS temple that looked like a screw: We also saw a van with a sign on the side that said “Please take a picture of this sign.” So, I did.

These guys wouldn’t get out of the way when we were trying to go to the candy store:And I took this pic to humor my husband & Omar:
After the quick tour I bid S farewell and headed back to my sister’s to get ready for my flight home. All in all it was a great, fun, re-energizing trip. And I again want to thank NCS, Suzanne, S, Nobody, and Klin for the plane ticket to make this trip possible. Y’all are awesome. Thanks also to Sei for being so supportive and gladly watching the kids for the 36 hours I was gone. (Even though you didn’t really have a choice since you left me for 5 days while you went to Hawaii.) I ? you.

Kansas Part II

First things first- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KELSEA and KARLEA!! They are 10 years old today. It’s crazy to think that when I married Sei they were not even 3 and now… wow. Happy birthday girls- your wicked step-mother loves you!!

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Sorry for the delay in posting about my trip to Kansas. For those new to my blog, a few of my friends purchased a plane ticket for me to fly to Kansas City so I could see my 8th grade obsession in concert (aka New Kids on the Block.) I missed their Dallas concert because it was on Sunday and was totally bummed. But I have awesome friends, so it’s all good…

Now, in Day I I left off with my sister and I going to the concert. The concert was GREAT. Even if you aren’t a NKOTB fan- it was fun. They sang a ton of their old stuff and a few of their new songs. I really liked some of their new stuff. I have it on my iPod, so I was familiar with it. They made jokes that only diehards would get like, “I need to ask you a serious question. Not to be confused with a serious message…” I started to cry when they came out on stage which didn’t surprise me because I cried when they came out at my first concert. 🙂 I didn’t realize, however, that I was standing “in awe” as my sister put it, for most of the concert. Thinking back, yep- I was. Our seats were AWE.SOME. We were in the lower level and only 6 rows back and 2 sections over from the stage. I could see their faces clearly. (YAY for Lasik!) I couldn’t believe how close we were.
They also did new dance moves, but threw in some of their old. I was dying when they did this one move on “Favorite Girl” because it’s the move I’ve been practicing for my promised NKOTB Dance video I am going to post.

Here they are doing the “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh” move from “The Right Stuff.”
And, yes, they are older now but they could dance. And Donnie and Danny were lookin’ hot. Danny was buff as usual- I always loved his body. He breakdanced some too. I caught a little bit, but I am slow to find the video thingy on my camera.

http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DpgAAAJRKzAPfu3a7ks9WIkYJqTHNCys_O9x1MdKjFxIaIXeBo7f6VfXRcGTP7qV8VvQlQ317AZntl-dDFMnRMwkT-I_xVmyn0Gpn6nl3JDNVpV3WEMKDR2vrY_ah1JUEkholi1F7WkrepH4ykuowLqhi6fKRoK0TDfm3vATXZyYzjregjXLq_gVVZ8KUr2KUdYFE-5JJL_iEGPbtb29UM5guRJWJL4E_TopD6vHihR2PQsbo%26sigh%3DLEniJnsF4KePcVsoX8xrkTrE2IU%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26docid%3D0&nogvlm=1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1aed57d9f1d7824%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3D8K-UJg1sx-3SMiSTDDWGYncXbao&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den
And this is Donnie’s butt on the big screen:

“I’ll Be Lovin’ You Forever“

Me- looking all happy. 😀

Danny is in white. The stage in the center of the floor rotated.
“Step 4… I can give you more.”

Encore to “Hangin’ Tough” which is what the encore was 18 years ago! They all came out dressed in Boston Celtics jerseys since they are from Boston.

All and all it was WONDERFUL. The stadium was full of 30-something year old women and like 12 men. Donnie even gave a shout out to the men telling them they were the smartest men alive because “15 years of pinted up love was gonna be released tonite!” It was awesome. My sister and I had a great time!! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

I still need to post about the next day when I got to meet another blogger and hang out with S again. Stay tuned.
I leave you with this short video from the concert….

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Kansas Day I

Tuesday my sweet husband put me on a plane and I headed to Kansas. My awesome sister picked me up and we headed to lunch to meet…. S!!! Her blog is private right now, but this is her in the middle:
S is totally cool. She was funny and warm and sneaky!! She paid for my lunch and my sister’s lunch without us knowing. NOT cool S! I told you I was paying for you!! She also got to watch me eat my weight in cream puffs. (They were deluctible!!) I had so much fun hanging with her, so we planned to meet again the next day. I had never been to Independence and it wasn’t far from my sister’s home, so we decided to meet at this cool angel store the next day.That nite was the concert. I was so excited. My sister and I got ready. (Ok, I just changed shirts & my sister pulled her hair up but whatever…) Then we g00gled directions to head to the concert. Then we got totally lost. Stupid g00gle. Thanks to my BIL we made it and wow- it was so funny to see the crowd. It was all 30-something year old women and like 12 guys. There were a few women dressed in totally 80’s clothes- like leg warmers and Flashdance shirts. That would have been more appropriate for Madonna’s Like a Virgin tour considering NKOTB were hot in the late 80s early 90s- NOT 1984. Before the concert you could text to a certain number and your text might show up on a screen above the crowd. I can’t tell ya how many posers spelt “Donnie” wrong. Hello- it’s IE not Y. We weren’t there to see Donny Osmond. Anyway… Natasha Bedingfield opened for NKOTB and I really liked her. I’m gonna download some of her songs later for my iPod. Then… it was time. The moment I had been waiting 18 years for…
Here’s me seconds before NKOTB hit the stage. Yes, my eyes are teary. I was ready to bawl.
And… that’s all you get today. I shall post more tomorrow. 🙂

New DORKS On The Block

It’s not even 2100hrs and i’m already tired. It’s a different kind of tired though. I think i’m more mentally exhausted. I still have a ton of “mom” stuff to do. At least Liv and Taj are asleep. All I want to do now is chill. I think I will. It was a busy day and all I have at the end of it is a ton of admiration for my wife. I don’t know how she does it. What I’ve known about her from the beginning is that she is simply amazing and I love her with all my heart.

I can’t believe I left Tori home alone for 5 days with Rosemary’s baby while I surfed in Hawaii. That wasn’t the first time I did that to my wife though. When we moved to Texas I left her in Utah for 3 weeks to sell, pack, and clean the house while watching 5 kids. In my defense, I had to start a new job. Tori told me on the phone one night that I might find her hanging in a closet. I felt horrible… then took a 4 hour nap. Then there was the time I went to SWAT school for a week. I kinda sprung that on her too. I wasn’t too far away from home but was putting in 20 hr days and could only call her for a couple of minutes at a time. We didn’t have Liv yet but Taj was every bit as bad. Oh and i’ve taken numerous weekend trips to Cali.

So I dropped my cute little wife off at the airport this morning. After dropping her off I had to circle around to make sure she didn’t run across the street to check out the brand new pink port-a-potty that was out. I even got out and looked inside to make sure she wasn’t in there. Luckily she wasn’t. I was glad to see that she is making progress. A couple of weeks ago, Tori would have missed her flight over a pink port-a-potty. Maybe the New Dorks on the Block are helping her with the addiction.

It’s only been 11hrs and 32 minutes since Tori left and the house is still standing and I didn’t forget anyone at school or practice. I’m pretty sure everyone ate something for dinner. I really hope Tori has a good time and gets to sleep in tomorrow. I was a little bummed that she didn’t want me to go with her… NOT. I don’t want to see my wife throw her underwear on stage and start to hyperventilate and cry uncontrollably when the DORKS emerge.

I’ve got to shower and study for court tomorrow. Tori, you’re a Dork and I love you!!!

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It's the final COUNTDOWN!

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Widgets & Flash Toys

The final countdown to the New Kids on the Block concert is here!! I leave Texas on Tuesday morning, have lunch with S and my sister around noon and then that evening I will party at the concert. I was thinking of making a sign to hold up that said

“DONNIE- REMEMBER THE WATERFORD INN OKLAHOMA CITY 1990???”

but was afraid he might feel awkward. What would be funnier is if I put a pic of some random 18 year old on the poster. That would make Donnie a little nervous. But alas, a hug & a kiss on the cheek outside a hotel does not make a child unless you are a child reading this- then YES, yes it does. Anyway, I again want to give a huge THUMBS UP to my great friends for buying my plane ticket- Nobody, S, Suzanne, NCS and Klin. Y’all are awesome!!

Christmas Morning 1989- see I got cool stuff for Christmas. No english saddles or Barbie houses for me. Straight up NKOTB stuff and I was set.

Random ugly picture of myself. I bought that Larry Bird shirt with my own money. Holy ugly. I look like one of those fish with eyeballs on the side of its head…

Um Hi, My name is Tori :) & I have the BEST friends EVAH!!!

So… apparently my undying love for New Kids on the Block was portrayed sufficiently enough in my blog for my friends to know and understand how bummed I was that I missed the concert on Sunday.
I had offers of a home to stay in if I flew to Salt Lake for the Saturday concert. I had trip itineraries planned out for me with the flights, tickets costs, ride to and from airports, etc…, and I had a rad call from Nobody.
I didn’t answer my phone because I didn’t recognize the number. I listened to my voicemail and it said, “You’re just not answering because you didn’t recognize the number. But it’s Nobody. Call me back. Bye.”
Wow. She knows me so well. I had her cell phone number in my phone, but she was calling from her home. I called her back, talked to Avee for a while (I was star struck and totally was like “I carried a watermelon…” when Avee answered) then I spoke with Nobo.

“So, what would you say if I told you I had some airmiles just lying around I’d like you to use towards a ticket to Kansas City so you can see NKOTB?” (My sis and her sis live in KC area.)

Wait a minute, only my husband has friends that call and offer him plane tickets, right?

WRONG.

So, since I was wanting to help Nobo use her airmiles I totally accepted.

“I don’t have anyway to repay you…”

“Just let me stay with you when I come to Texas.”

“Deal! You can even have the CLEAN kid’s bedroom.:)”

Fast-forward to today….

Nobo is full of it. I mean, she really had the airmiles, but in reality that was the cover story to see if I’d be down with going to KC. Since I was TOTALLY down Nobo called me again today. This time I had her number programed in my phone. The screen lit up “NOBO” and started ringing “Summer Girls” by LFO.

Now she told the real story. She and her sister, S of S Sister to Nobody, had concocted a plan. They emailed my friends to see if they wanted to help send me to KC to see NKOTB. My online twin, No Cool Story, Suzanne, and Klin, along with Nobo and S, all chipped in for my plane ticket to see NKOTB. How cool is that? I was stoked before, but when Nobo told me this… I cried. I did. I cried because I really, really, really felt loved. Wow.

How cool is that? Are you so jealous?? Sei said he would blog about how jealous he was while I was lusting at Donnie doing pelvic thrusts. 🙂 I will be opening my blog to him while I’m gone.

Anyway… that’s all. I just had to brag about the awesome friends I have. I was so surprised and I… wow. Y’all rock. Thank you SOOOOO much. You have no idea how loved you have made me feel. Thanks to you I will be sitting in section 117 on Row 11 on Nov. 11 wearing my old concert tee. And I’ll probably be crying.

I dedicate this video to you, my friends. It’s one of my fave performances- I still have the video from when I taped it on tv. And just a little bit of trivia- this was at the 1990 AMA awards- the nite after the concert I went to in Oklahoma City (and met Donnie). Notice Donnie is hoarse from singing to me the nite before. 🙂 And not only do I dedicate THIS video to you- I will make a new video of me doing random NKOTB dances from different videos. This is HUGE because I CANNOT dance. So… you certainly can look forward to that. 🙂

Thanks y’all. So much. Tori 🙂 ? her friends.

Kids screw up everything ;)

Tonite is the New Kids on the Block concert in Dallas that I will not be going to. I am sad, but I think the example I am setting for my kids is more important. How can I tell them “no concerts on Sunday” and then not follow the rule?? They know this is a big sacrifice for me considering I still own my concert tee, my Donnie doll, my NKOTB sleeping bag, all the tapes, videos, a Best of CD, etc… I am sad. I am jealous of my friend who is going. Here’s a little glimpse back in ’90. This is just one corner of my room and before the whole back of my door was covered. ALL my walls looked like this. Ahhh- the memories…. I’m sorry Donnie. I know you will miss me. I am a fan, but I am a parent 1st. (grrrrrr….)

To read about how I met Donnie clickety here! (I don’t know what’s goin’ on with my hair in this pic…)

Things I've learned

* The keychain remote I have to my house alarm is not the way to turn on the alarm when people will be home.
Sei and I made a late nite run to Walmart last nite. We left Tristan and my little sister (She’s 14) in charge. I told them I was setting the alarm. I clicked my handy little keychain remote and felt that all my precious babies were protected. Fast forward 10 minutes…. My phone rings. When I see it is Tristan I jokingly say to Sei, “Um, Mom, the alarm is going off.” I answered and can totally hear the alarm going off in the background. DOH! I forgot about the motion detector!! Poor Tristan sounded pretty shaken up. I felt bad. 😦 I gave him the code to turn it off and brought him & Ali a Twix to bride them forgivness. If I had been thinking I would have known not to click it on with my remote. Duh. I was impressed how quickly ADT called our home. They called within seconds of Tristan’s call to my phone.

*I still heart New Kids on the Block. Big Time.
NKOTB performed on The Today Show this morning. OMGosh… I love them. I cried. Shut up- I really did. They sang a medley of their old songs, sang a new song and then sang “Tonight”- which I totally sang along too. I saw some posers in the crowd trying to pretend like they knew the words. They so. did. not. They have now added DALLAS to their tour- for October 19. It’s a Sunday. I don’t usually do concerts on Sunday, which is why my mom drove us to Oklahoma City to see them before. But they are going to San Antonio on the Friday before that. Hmmm… Road trip, s–max?? Oh- and Jon still can’t dance. I always loved Danny (for his hawt body) and Donnie for his cuteness and rebelliousness. I still love them. I need to get my concert tee back from Izzy….

*Green bags work.
I haven’t used the Debbie Meyer’s Green Bags personally, but they reviewed them on the news yesterday. The bananas, strawberries and lettuce were fresh and yummy 18 days later!! I buy fruit but we never seem to get thru it fast enough before it all spoils- especially bananas and strawberries. I’m gonna get me some of these bags. They sell them at CVS now and probably other places too.