It was about 1:30 when Lisa, Adrienne, Bren and I were sitting on the bench outside the front entrance of the hotel, soaking up the sun. Just then, we noticed Carlos (Kevin's bodyguard) come outside and throw a large duffle bag into the back of a van. Hmm. Was something going to happen? Would we see Kevin? Lisa tried not to get excited. The man has eluded her for a very long time. Minutes passed and the van pulled around the lot and parked on the opposite side from where we were. Minutes later, Carlos walked over to the van and pointed to the side of the building. Ding! An idea. They were going to pick Kevin up at the side entrance. Be all sneaky. You should have seen us. We must have looked like fools, running for the side of the hotel. The van was backing up to the delivery entrance. We ran around the sports bar and Lisa said she was afraid that Carlos would see us. (He was in the passenger seat of the van.) So here we are, hiding behind a pillar! LOL Just then, I pointed and said, "There he is!"Kevin was outside on the sidewalk, signing an autograph for a teenage male fan, and so we started to run for the van. My throat was sore so I couldn't yell for him. Lisa ran past me but it was too late. Kevin was already in the van. I was so upset. I wanted Lisa to meet Kevin. ARGH! Talk about frustration. After consoling Lisa, we decided to get something to eat.

We had lunch at the sports bar. May I add that the food is incredible there! Yum. Some friends from BSB Mailing lists met up with us. Vicki and Jim stopped by for a drink. She wrote out some thank-you notes for some staff members. Then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. That was nice. It was almost 4:00 when Lisa announced that it was time to go get ready for tour. We went up to the room to get ready, even though we were all thinking it was a bit early to be getting set for the show. Oh well. We went up anyway and got dressed. 5:15 came and we just sat around. We couldn't believe we had gotten ready so fast. I had thought maybe we should go downstairs so we didn't miss anything, but we figured they were already at sound check. Bren said she needed to go get some film. I wanted a bottle of water. I suggested we could run down to the pharmacy, so Bren and I decided to go get what we needed and we headed downstairs.

When we walked outside, I noticed a white van out front of the hotel. There was a large crowd of fans, cameras and pens in hand, along with a few security guards. Hmm. Was there something going on that we didn't know about? I went back inside the hotel to dial up the room on a house phone. I called and Lisa answered. I told her about the situation. Lisa and Adrienne immediately came downstairs. We stayed off to the side and wondered if we had missed anything. Diane came downstairs to join us and she pumped our friendly valet for some information. It turns out we missed three of the Boys and apparently they were waiting for two more. I was bummed. What if I missed Howie? Here it was my birthday and I missed my favorite BSB because we were sitting in the room like dorks. LOL Diane approached a fan and asked her who we missed, since she had something autographed in her hands. Diane came back and told us we missed Howie, AJ and Nick. ARGH!! This was extremely frustrating because all of us were ready to go, but yet we were sitting in the room wondering when we should leave!! We could have been downstairs. I was so sad. I just wanted to see Howie and try to get a hug for my birthday. That's all I wanted and I may have blown my chance. However, the valet consoled us by saying the Boys were in a hurry and didn't really stop for many autographs.

         

Our friendly valet (the one who befriended us) walked over to us and told us only one BSB was remaining and that the 4th was off shopping in La Jolla. It was 6:00 so we figured we would hang out and see if we could catch the last Boy. Meanwhile, Lisa got a call on her cell phone. It was Vicki, the woman who runs Kevin's foundation, JWR. When Lisa got off the phone, she said Vicki asked us if we could work the booth for her since she had to meet with Nick and do an interview with Kevin. Lisa agreed – anything to help out Kevin, who just happens to be her favorite.

Soon it was 6:30. We didn't want to wait any longer. It was time to head over to the show, especially since Lisa told Vicki we would work the JWR booth for her. Vicki asked us to staff the booth up until Krystal's performance. No problem. So we booked it to the arena and parked in the same area as we had the previous night. Adrienne and Bren were going to try to upgrade their seats, so they dropped me and Lisa off at the front door so we could get inside and get to the JWR table to relieve Jim and Vicki. Lisa and I ran inside and turned left. We saw Jim hanging out at the table. We put our stuff down and after Jim explained everything to us, he left to take care of business and we went to work. Several fans stopped by to get some information while some just strolled by, reading the signs to try and figure out what we were all about. So Lisa and I would call them over and try to hand them a brochure and tell them about JUST WITHIN REACH. Later, Adrienne and Bren arrived. Bren had upgraded her ticket to 5th row and Adrienne decided to stay where she was. Diane also showed up and it was soon too crowded behind the table. I decided to work my DivaChickie schmoozing, so I grabbed a handful of JWR brochures and stepped out in front of the table. I turned into "sales" mode, handing a brochure to anyone and everyone who happened to walk by. I told them to have a look at this information on Kevin's foundation. I had a few people say "no thanks" and so I yelled, "What?? You don't want to help save the earth??" or "I'm disgusted! Kevin would be too!" Lisa took a picture of me handing out the brochures. All in all, we did a great job in spreading the word. (NOTE: If you would like some information on JUST WITHIN REACH, let email me and I will get you signed up.) Jim showed up at the table after Krystal had finished, so we headed down to our excellent floor seats. Adrienne had bought me a tour book for my birthday and presented it to me. Awww! (Thanks again, Adrienne!)

On our way down to our seats, we saw Krystal coming up the steps to go sign autographs at her table. I yelled, "WOOO! KRYSTAL!" She got all excited and waved. Then we headed down to the floor to our wonderful seats. WEEE! I had a seat in the 2nd row on the floor. It was a single seat that I had purchased off TicketMaster online. Happy Birthday to me! Lisa (my friend from Michigan) and her mom were in the front row, right in front of me. Once again, we didn't even buy our tickets together. How weird is that?! We were on the end on Howie & Nick's side. This was extra special since for the first three shows, we were on Kevin's side. So I was happy to be on Howie's side on my birthday. Well, Adrienne was in row 9 and ended up sneaking up to the 3rd row with Bren since the seats never got sold, and in the end she stood with me in the 2nd row. Diane was talking to the cool security guard in front of us, guarding the stage. She asked if we could stand up against the barricade during the show. He said it wouldn't be a problem. Diane told me I could go stand up with Lisa in the front row. I ended up joining Lisa in the front, against the barricade, for the last half of the concert. It was SOOOOO COOL!!!!! Lisa and I were dancing our booties off and pointing at the Boys as they came down in front of us. Man. I've never been that close at a BSB show before and it rocked my world! Talk about major eye contact. I can't believe how cool that was.

       

I wore my HUGE button that was like the size of my head. It said "Look Who's 30" and so Brian and Howie both saw it and waved and smiled. Then Carlos, who is Kevin's bodyguard, was standing in front of me and Lisa for a while (well, between us so we could see) and then he was sucking on some candy. I asked him for a piece of candy and he's all teasing me like "Aaaaahhhhaha, you wish!" And I pointed to my button and so Carlos starts digging through his pockets and pulls out a sucker for me! I rule. The best news -- I had my digital camera and security didn't even know it, even in the front row! You know what I did? I ended up covering the display on the back with electrical tape from the maintenance man at the hotel. That rocks. Diane had the idea and it worked! I only took pictures at last night's show, being my birthday and all. Had to have those memories on the digicam. I took about 60 pictures. Didn't take them during every song because I had to savor Howie's thrusting in my face. Nice. Very nice.

During the concert, this young girl, maybe 13 or 14 years old, had a stuffed monkey. When Nick was out on the wing on our side, she ran up to the wing and tried three times to get the monkey up to where Nick would see it and/or pick it up. Carlos got mad at her when it fell on the ground in the pit after her third try. He picked it up and threw it at her. Hard. She tried a fourth time and it landed on the wing. Nick picked it up and put it on his shoulder, so I snapped a photo. Nick then tossed the monkey back out at the girl and she was thrilled beyond belief. I was happy for her! She was actually sitting a few rows behind us and was crying and hugging her friends. Would you believe this: Carlos ran over to her and grabbed the monkey from her! She screamed "It's MINE!!" and tried to get it back, but he yelled something at her and walked away with the monkey. I watched as Carlos walked over to the side of the stage and handed it to a young girl who was near the pit -- obviously with someone on the tour. WTF? The girl who had the monkey went over to him and cried hysterically. My heart went out to her. About two songs later, Carlos found a different stuffed animal for her (I think it was another monkey!) and took the other monkey from the little girl and gave it back to the girl who originally caught it from Nick. Before "TATOL," a fan threw a big package onstage. Nick picked it up and unwrapped it. He found this outfit inside and immediately put it on over his clothes. It was a black and white Japanese outfit with a headband, so we dubbed him Samurai Nick. LOL!! He had too much fun with his new wardrobe.

During the ballads when the Boys were in the back of the arena, we gals in the front shared a tender moment. We slow danced to "INBYH" and "HDIF." It was a lot of fun. I was having a grand birthday so far.It was a happy 30th for me. Who says turning 30 has to be a bad thing?The Boys were having way too much fun tonight with the silly string. It seemed out of control at times. Nick grabbed a can and was prepared to attack anyone who came within 5 feet of him. He was armed and dangerous. It's a bad idea to give him a can of silly string. You're just asking for trouble. During "Time," AJ caught a bird puppet that someone tossed up onto the catwalk. AJ was a little too excited about it. He would make the bird sing along to the song. I have pictures of him with it at the end of my review. At one point, Carlos picked up a plastic green hat from the pit area right in front of us. He threw the hat up at Howie and he put it on. Howie posed for a bit right in front of us and when I wasn't laughing extremely hard, I snapped a photo of him being silly. A few moments later, Howie proceeded to do an Irish jig and then AJ did some of the RiverDance. I about peed my pants it was so cute.In the middle of "SOMH," we gathered our stuff and headed outside to the car so we could beat the traffic (and hopefully the Boys). We scooted back to the hotel as fast as we could. Luckily, our car was parked outside of our gate so we are all running to the car because we knew that at least a couple of the Boys were still staying at the hotel and I really, REALLY wanted to see Howie. (Brian and Kevin checked out earlier in the day.) We got back to the hotel and about ten minutes later, here comes the police escort. Two policemen on motorcycles come around the corner followed by two white vans. It was only us five (me, Lisa, her mom, Adrienne, and Bren) and three stupid obnoxious teenagers -- more like 12 -- and we stood outside the van. Nick stepped out wearing a dorky hat, and what happens?? The stupid 12-year-olds start SCREAMING THEIR HEADS OFF!!!! One of them cries hysterically and I have flashbacks to Rio de Janeiro. Holy crap!! So immediately, Billy yells at the girls -- "Back OFF!" and one of the girls has the nerve to ask Nick to stop for an autograph and Nick said, "Sorry, have to go inside" and he turned and smiled at US and only us as he walked by.

     

Then Howie steps out and nobody recognizes him cuz he's got a towel draped over his head. I said to Lisa, "Look! It's E.T.!" I noticed it was Howie and I wanted to tell him it's my birthday. He peeked out from under the towel and glanced in our direction. I quietly say, "Hi Howie, it's my --" and then I freakin' stop and forget to say "birthday." DUH!!!! What an idiot. Lisa is laughing at me and Howie winks and smiles at me and walks into the hotel. I am laughing hysterically at myself. WTF did I say?

Our friendly doorman who befriended us for both days informed us that AJ had also left. Apparently he checked out earlier in the morning and went to do some shopping or something like that. We missed him totally. The only one we saw leaving for the show was Kevin and that was out the back door, and we were the only peeps that saw Kevin leave. We went to the sports bar in the hotel and had some dinner. Vicki and Jim met up with us and then this chick walks past the table and says to Lisa, "Howie is coming." Remember Lisa's "whore" I mentioned who was in L.A., the one that Billy escorted upstairs? It was her that told us about Howie. We walked outside after I grabbed the camera and told myself I am going to get a birthday hug. I kept saying all week that my mission was to get a hug from Howie on my birthday and nothing would stop me. I've also been calling Howie "my muffin" and I told everyone I would call him muffin. They didn't believe me. We went to the front lobby door and it was just our group.

It was about 12:15 or so. I saw Howie through the front door, standing there with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, dressed up with a very nice brown dress shirt over a black t-shirt, the brown shirt unbuttoned. He looked fantastic. He had stopped and was chatting with a few people. Nelson was making him come outside. Howie finally came outside and looked over at me. He smiled sweetly and said "Hey, how ya doin'?"  I walked right up to him with my arms wide open and said, "Hi Howie!" and he hugged me so sweetly. I said "It's my birthday, I'm 30 today" and he said "Aww, happy birthday!" Howie put his arm around me and he started rubbing my back with his hand on the small of my back. Very nice! I told him how wonderful the show was, etc. and he was thankful. I asked if we could take a picture "Sure! No problem." Then, as Bren was about to snap our picture, I remembered that I wanted a cuddle photo. I put my purse down on the ground and got brave. I wrapped my arms around his waist! I snuggled in and felt Howie rest his face against my head. I melted. As I was snuggling in, I said, "I want a cuddle photo!" and GET THIS -- Howie was giggling! And it was a warm giggle, real quiet and sweet -- I don't even know how to describe it! I felt his hand slide up my back and onto my shoulder and I was just in HEAVEN. I just wanted to hug him even tighter.

After the picture, I thanked him and AGAIN he rubbed my back and then I decided I'm going to tell him that he's a muffin. I said "Howie you're a muffin" and he was listening to someone else talk at the same time so he didn't hear me. He was standing right there. I put my hand up and started to say it again but I noticed he was listening to some fan ask for an autograph. Nelson was making him move and get into the van but before he left my side, he turned to go away and Howie leaned in with his ear and asked me, "What was that?" So I gently grabbed his arm and said, "You're such a muffin!" and immediately, he got this adorable look on his face, and he giggled/laughed and said, "Muffin!!" and OMG his face!!!!! I wanted to scream. How CUTE IS HE!!!! He got a huge kick out of that. We said bye and when he drove off (in a normal car), we all went back into the sports bar. Our friendly valet came inside to wish me a happy birthday once again. How sweet was that?! What a doll. Around 1:30, everyone else went to bed but Bren wanted to try to get her picture with Howie. I went to sit in the lobby with her to wait for him to return. In the meantime, these two crazy guys about our age stopped and sat down to talk to us. We bonded and they had us laughing our asses off. I told them who was in town. They were like, "Oooooh!" and pretended to be crazy fans. Hotel security came by and asked if we were registered guests, so we had to show him our room keys. The security then went outside and guarded the front door. It was the first time I saw the hotel deny anyone admission who was not staying at the hotel. There was quite a large group of fans outside the front door. One girl wanted to use the restroom but security wouldn't let her inside. One of the guys with us hopped out of his chair and walked to the front door. His friend was like, "oh no, what is he doing now?" The guy opened the lobby door and waved his room key in the air, "I have a room key going to the highest bidder! Do I hear $200?" ROTFL!! I couldn't believe it. The same guy also went outside and announced to the group of girls that they would be downstairs to sign autographs in 20 minutes. That was a horrible thing to do, but also quite funny. One of the moms came inside later and was laughing about it. She also thought it was funny. Mean but a good joke to play on the brats.

At about 2:20 in the morning, we saw some commotion outside. Howie walked in with Nelson. It was just the four of us sitting there. Howie recognized me and smiled and waved. I said good night and the guy next to me says, "Who's that?" I told him it's Howie. The other guy yelled, "Good night Howie!!" and Howie yelled back "Good night!" Nelson looked over and laughed at us. It was so classic. Then the guy yelled, "Howie! Party in room 629!" He went chasing after Howie to make sure he heard him, but Howie had already gone upstairs by then. His friend decided to write a Haiku about meeting Howie. He went digging through the concierge's desk for pen and a paper, then started to write the Haiku. We were hysterical with laughter. These guys were too much. I was so tired but Bren and I stayed up to talk to these dudes for almost an hour. Bren didn't get her picture with Howie which was rather unfortunate. Nelson was scooting him inside and upstairs quickly. So around 3:30am, Bren and I headed upstairs to go to bed, as did our new friends. What a wonderful end to a wonderful birthday and an exciting BSB adventure!