new blog

Had this bloggy blog for 4 1/2 years. Filled up all the space with pictures and posts. Had to make a new one! Maybe I'll be better about updating this one...click HERE to be redirected.

www.happyholdaways5.blogspot.com

days 4 and 5 in paradise

Misery! Complete and total misery. I was stuck at home in bed with fever, chills with heat exhaustion. Accompanied, of course, with the very loud roar of crashing waves in the background. Oh poor me. It was after I realized that I couldn't BE in a better place, albeit sick, but it was truly wonderful. I stayed in bed, then ran to the bathroom, then that wearing me out, ran back to bed again. Had that intestinal bug (from that awful and questionable buffet we were taken to by our guide on Tuesday during the Mayan ruins tour) for over 24 hours and I was drinking water like nothing else to get rid of it.

Yesterday we ran over to Xcaret. Absolutely amazing. Click HERE to see what they offer in that huge park! I can't wait to upload pictures. We saw live flamingoes, birds, other wildlife attractions, got tanned along the snorkel inlet, got life vests and then floated their underground rivers (a true cenote wouldn't have all the carved out waterways, but it gave us a good idea of what the mayans did to get water), walked a LOT, my father in law swam with the dolphins, then attended their HUGE show about Mayan history, spanish culture and music. It was a TON of fun. We got to light a candle before the show and keep it lit as long as you could. I felt overwhelmed by the live orchestra and emotional moving music of the orchestra and music. I loved the fire hockey (the ball of flame they tried to get into the oppent's goals), and the mayan basketball game. It's not really basketball, they didn't use their hands or legs. They have a 4 lb rubber ball and it would bounce off their bodies and then they'd "shoot" it through the hoop in the middle of the side of the arena (only a few feet off the ground) and hope it makes it through. At the end of the game, the captain of the victorious team's head is cut off as a sacrifice for Chaak. The rain god. I have lots of pictures of him, there were all sorts of statues in his honor at Chichen Itza. But for the show last light, there was no blood. Dang it. ha
Well, today we're off to Playa de Carmen. The boys are snorkeling and the girls are catching up on their tans! I LOVE life! Feeling much better now, so life is truly wonderful.

day 3 in paradise...

Highlights from today:
-ate breakfast on the beach. Even Cheerios can be gourmet.
-waded around "our section of beach" and found cute little seashells to bring to the kids
-got sunburned, just a little
-walked down the street to a little cafe and had a smoothie
-went shopping in a little market and got some souvineers for the kids
-went to the local mart and bought groceries. (I didn't realize how heavily I rely on labels, I couldn't read any of the labels so I had to look at the pictures)
-dipped my feet in our pool, which is still very chilly but since I was hot most of the day, it was a nice refreshing thing to do
-laid out on our beach, catching more sun
-shopped in downtown Tulum
-nearly got ran down by motorcyclists and other crazy drivers. The road rules are definitely only guidelines, after all
-rolled my ankle by walking on a very uneven street, it still hurts
-slept on a very hard mattress, reminds me of when we visited China...
-keep having to lather on sunscreen, the sun is HOT!
-turned on the AIR CONDITIONER in our room, it got up to 95 degrees and I was dying!
-wore shorts all day long
-realized that we're only 45 km from BELIZE! And supposedly you can see Cuba from here, we're only 90 miles away from there!
-played card games in the dining room, mostly yelling at each other because the waves in the background are so loud! We're about 50 feet away from the ocean.
-tomorrow's agenda: Mayan RUINS!! It's going to be sweet.
-learned that the internet here is so slow, I can't upload any pictures yet!

It's so hard being in paradise...

finally happened

Okie Doke...it finally happened after 4 1/2 years of blogging...I've finally exceeded my limit for pictures! I have more to upload, hopefully I can figure it out tomorrow.

Just wanted to let my fans know I haven't forgotten about you! Just busy crazy and I'm exhausted. I'll blog pictures in the next couple days, hopefully with sunshine in the background!

more autographs? sure.

After the fabulous concert was over, we trekked outside to go home. Ash and I decided to go stalk their buses, since they were headed down to SLC the next morning.  I couldn't help but laugh at myself as we stood outside, just HOPING that we'd catch glimpses of the guys.  Oh, we did.

Ash and I stood just in front of the bush you see in the picture.  We were FIRST to see the door open and the FIRST to see anyone come out. 

It was very chilly.  We didn't have coats.  We nearly went to our cars TWICE.  We waited and waited.  Then we saw:

See who is walking toward ME?!!! It's Keith! He walks up to me first and threw me off, it all happened so fast I felt like a first-class moron.  This is the highly intellectual conversation in a three second period:

Keith: "Hi, do you want me to sign something for ya?"
Me: "Uh, sure! Yeah...." (I dig furiously in my purse and pull out the CD insert)
Me: "Uh, you got a PEN?"  Like an IDIOT I spit on him.  
Keith: "Ya."

He signs on his pretty picture, I stand there watching him without BLINKING. He is actually physically standing in front of me.  I tell him that the show was a good one and he did a great job.  He nods in appreciation and Ashley blurts out, "I LIKE YOUR COAT!"

This is my favorite picture.  We ran down to the OTHER end of the line and asked him to stand in this awesome picture.  I LOVE this one.

He's got his arms around us! I can't believe we're actually there standing next to him.  Disappointing that he wasn't nicer, he was all business.  But we still got to meet him.  Three times!

For the next 90 minutes, they ALL came out one by one!!!

Neil came out.  He is an amazing musician.  He is also a truly beautiful person.  He looked us in the eye, talked to us one on one, made us each feel special and important.  I told him that we loved his music and can't wait for his solo album to come out and he was very gracious and humble.  After he went down the line, he came BACK and chatted with us again.  Ashley worked up her courage and asked him for a pick.  AND HE GAVE HER ONE!!!!

Then Daniel walked up to us.  He's brand new and just joined CT earlier this year after winning 'Britian's Got Talent.' He's such a sweet little lad and he was very fun to see! 

And right underneath Daniel's autograph is Emmett's! He didn't have a marker, so he signed with a regular pen; making it difficult to see in the picture. 

What a beautiful voice Emmett has! He just joined CT last year, so he's relatively new also.  He fits right in and makes my toes curl with his vibrato voice. 

Ryan dazzled us! His pretty eyes and beautiful smile enchanted me.  His accent is so fun to listen to.  (well, they ALL are fun to listen to...)

Then George was next!  He is so fun, outgoing and doesn't take himself too seriously.  He stopped to take pictures with all the kids and was such a good sport.  He's squeezing Ashley so hard! He said he wanted to make her husband jealous, since he's Donny's favorite! What a character! We smelled like him until the next day, that's how close we were to them! 
He said to us when he saw us, "It's my front-row-FRIENDS!" I asked him if we were distracting and he said yes.  GOOD!

so happy. so exhausted.

How in the world am I going to top THIS awesome experience?

I'm so grateful for this fabulous night, and spending it with my sister!

the.concert.

READ THE PREVIOUS POST BEFORE THIS ONE!

The first note strikes and we go nuts.  We're yelling and cheering as all of the members of Celtic Thunder saunter onto the stage.  They open their mouths and the most beautiful sounds come out.

George, Ryan, Daniel, Neil, Emmett, and Keith! Sigh.

They sing together, such favorites from their Heritage album that came out last March.  Keith serenades us with his lovely 'The Dutchman' that he helped write.  Ryan comes out and sings 'Desperado' and Billy Joel's 'She's Got a Way' and my mom's favorite, 'Black is the Color'.  Neil melts our hearts with his stunning original 'Noreen', and I have to put Ashley back together, she just melted. George wows the audience with his 'Red Rose Cafe' and other songs that I've not heard before. 

Since the lights on stage are so bright, the light filters out a bit and you can see the first couple rows in the orchestra pit.  Did I mention that we're seated THERE? Second row middle.  We caught the eyes of the guys singing on stage.  George smiles and winks a couple times, Ryan smirks at us, we catch Keith's eye several times.  We would make them smile as we are being the most obnoxious guests imaginable, we sang along with all the songs we knew and screamed so loudly the woman in front of us had to keep turning down her hearing aid!

Keith and Neil come out with their red guitars and do the most awesome rendition of 'Whiskey in the Jar' I have ever heard.  They run back and forth on stage and the crowd goes CRAZY.  Mind you, I am usually the FIRST one to cheer and scream. 

 At the very end of the song, Keith looks AT ME and throws his pick to ME.  I caught it and jumped up and down as the rest of the audience cheered for me!

They sang more songs like 'A Place in the Choir' and 'I Got Friends in Low Places' and 'You've Got a Friend in Me'.  George came out and played '500 Miles' and got the whole house involved with singing the chorus.  Emmett is more classically trained and can sing like an angel, complete with the vibrato of an angel! Little Daniel just joined the group earlier this year and is only 13 years old.  He has a high voice, so beautiful and pure.  He brought tears with his version of 'Over the Rainbow'. Gorgeous.

They are fantastic entertainers! Wholesome, uplifting music and we had a total ball.  I think we were very obnoxious though.  But it's good to be obnoxious when you are having fun! We'd giggle for their very cheesy choreography, laugh when they'd spit, cheer when they would belt out high notes and even cheer when Keith LOSES it and can't sing his song because he's LAUGHING too hard. 

The ended with 'Ireland's Call' and came out in their kilts. I forgot to breathe during a few parts, I was holding my breath.  I was waiting for the cheesy choreography and for the parts of the song they 'twirl' round in their kilts.  It was better than I ever dreamed.  Their voices blended and gave me goosebumps from my toes to my eyebrows.  Absolutely perfect.

The roar of the crowd obviously pleased them, they laughed and smiled as we jumped and screamed.  They bowed and Keith did his heel clicking bit, he does at the end of every show now.  It was simply fantastic.

But that was absolutely NOTHING compared to what we encountered after the show! Stay tuned...

shamrocks in my eyes

I Bought the tickets 238 days ago.  Lost sleep over the excitement and filed through loads of outfits at discount stores to find the perfect outfit.  My heart skips a beat with every thought of meeting my idols.
Yes, I worship false idols...and you would too if you knew how deeply this music touches my very soul.  The fact that Keith Harkin makes my toes curl is just a perk.
I drive up to Boise on Halloween, my Dad's birthday.  We go out to celebrate and I made cookies for him, etc. etc. etc.  But that is another post for another day. 

It's November FIRST.  I've been looking forward to this day for most of 2011.  Got my hair done.  I wanted something different.  Put purple and blond highlights.  It looks so awesome!

Ash and I got ready.  Hair is perfect.  Makeup is gorgeous.  We grab the tickets and double check the time when our Meet & Greet starts.  I misread the time. 

It started at 5:45 and the time on the clock was 5:51.  My heart SANK.  I felt nauseated and we RAN out of the house.  Needless to say, we got from my parent's house to the Morrison Center in 12 minutes.  New record.  Normally it's a 20 minute commute. 

We took our shoes off once we parked the car.  We looked a little silly running and shouting to each other, but Ash reminded me, "KEITH IS HERE. IN THIS BUILDING.  RUN! RUN!" My feet froze on the grass, we didn't even bother with sidewalks. 

We got to the Morrison Center, have our wrist bracelets on, and went into a special room where our boys await.  I felt dizzy with excitement, as they don't disclose WHO is doing the Meet & Greets.  Our knees are knocking together.  My breath stops in my throat. 

It's KEITH and NEIL!  My favorite.  Ash's favorite.  They have NEVER done a Meet & Greet together before.  Believe us, we tried to figure out a pattern with all the shows.  I swallowed hard and got in line to have my CD signed. 

(The smaller picture was taken by a photographer they bring on tour.  I uploaded it from celticthunder.ie and don't know why it's so SMALL! I'll fix it. )

Keith signed the CD.  I asked him to sign it to Ryanna and me.  It all happened so fast and he was all business.  Neil, on the other hand, was very personable.  He looked me in the eye, shook my hand, and we chatted for 5 seconds before the picture.  I wanted to have them on each arm, just to be different, but it all happened so fast that I threw Keith off and Neil put his arm around me.  Now it looks way awkward.  But it was MY moment, not theirs!

Then it was Ash's turn. 

She got her autographs and there were a few people behind her, and then they LEFT!

WE NEARLY MISSED THEM.  Another red light and we would have. 

We erupt with giggles of delight and have to go sit down because we are lightheaded! Talk about seeing stars!

The show didn't even start for another hour.  We had time to kill, so we figured we better buy some merchandise. 

We bought a couple of these:

One of these for my collection:

A poster for Ryanna:

And a poster for ME!

We are finally able to go to our seats nearly 45 minutes later.  The anticipation is absolutely killing us.  We go to our seats.  There is ONE CHAIR between us and the stage.  We're in the middle of the second row. 

There are 3,900 seats in the house...and we are ONE CHAIR away from the stage!!!!

I can't believe we're actually here.  The lights dim and we soon hear the first note of the show, not realizing this night will be totally and completely unforgettable...