No Doubt's Seven Night Stand at the Gibson Amphitheatre/My Dream Finally Came True

For the past two weeks, I have been rather busy. I am very proud to say that I've been busy going to quite a few No Doubt shows at the Gibson Amphitheatre! We've been to five out of the seven of them!!

Night One was really exciting. Especially since it was the very beginning of their "Seven Night Stand"! For this night, we sat more towards the back of the venue. Although it seemed a little distant from the stage, I liked it because you could see what was going on on the whole stage.

When they came out, my eyes got all watery. I haven't seen them since their last tour and I was so happy to see them again. I danced and sung along until they got to their sentimental songs which I started to cry to. Their lyrics are just so powerful and from growing up listening to these songs, it brought back so many memories and so I got a bit emotional.

And I think Gwen got a little emotional, too... Right after they played the last note of Sparkle, I could've sworn I saw two tears stream down her cheeks. She's so amazing... I love how she puts so much feeling and emotion into music.

That night, when we went home, I made a video expressing my feelings for the band. I've been a fan my whole life and through their albums playing all the time, I learned what music was through them. They mean so much to me...

http://youtu.be/I4I62YhJKlU

The Second Night was even better. Originally, we only planned to go to the first and last concerts of the Seven Night Stand, but we ended up winning tickets! The seats we won were much closer and that meant we could see the band a bit better!

When they performed certain songs, it almost seemed as if Gwen kept looking at us! When she pointed at us, me and my mom were shrieking in excitement!

One of my favorite parts about the show was when they performed Looking Hot. Gwen had changed into an amazing sparkly red outfit that she was definitely "Looking Hot" in!

The Third Night was pretty rad as well. We had seats that were pretty close to the stage again! They performed perfectly, I cried again, and also... I got interviewed for their website!

When the show came to an end, she pulled some fans onstage! I was very happy for them, but as each night went by, I started to lose a little hope. It seemed like whenever I got closer, she got farther away. That night I even had this wonderful dream that she pulled me onstage and took a photo with my drawing I did of her. I woke up the next morning sadly disappointed. It was my biggest dream to meet her. I've wanted that so much...

But the night I want to focus on is Night 6: the most amazing No Doubt show I've ever been to, and also it was the best night of my life. Since LiveNation saw my video, they gave me and my mom free pit tickets! We rushed to the pit and waited and waited until our favorite band arrived.

The concert is even better if you're in pit!! When Gwen was singing, dancing and walking around, I now could tell that she WAS making eye contact with me!! They performed a few more amazing songs and after they ended New, the blonde, beautiful woman came back to our side saying "Now, there's this little girl..."

This wasn't happening.

My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped. "Oh, my god... Oh, my god..." Was the only thing I could say. Was she talking about me?!
"She needs to get up here!"



This wasn't happening.

I started to feel a bit... Sparkly. (The sensation i have throughout my body that is a sign that i might faint.) I handed my mom what I thought was my sign and I attempted to get onto the stage myself.

"Can't you just pick her up? She's like 40 pounds!" Gwen jokingly suggested to the security guard in front of me. The man, much taller than I am, picked me up and took me to the stage. There she was.

This can't be happening.

The first thing I did was cover my mouth with my hand. She was so beautiful and I couldn't believe this was happening. I wanted to cry, but I was in so much shock, I didn't. I walked up to her and gave her a hug. "I wanted to see what you look like, you are so CUTE! Oh my god!" She pointed to my purse and said, "That is some old school Harajuku Lovers, girl!!! I felt the crowd cheering as I said "I have something for you."
















I took my sketchbook out of my purse and showed her the drawing I had been working on of her. "Aw, look at that! It's so GOOD!" I pulled out a sharpie and she baptized my drawing with her signature and a kiss. We hugged again and she smelled so good! As we parted, I bowed and blew her a kiss and she put her hand to her chest and made a motion with her hand like blowing a kiss.























I don't know how I got off stage, but when I was reunited with my mom... It was such a powerful moment. We were sobbing and sobbing... "I-I'm so happy f-for you" my mom kept saying. My mom was a huge No Doubt fan who gave birth to a huge No Doubt fan. My whole life I've admired them and it meant everything to me to have met her. Those words now sound so strange to me...

"I met Gwen Stefani"

I've been trying for so long and it finally happened. It finally happened... The next song they played was Hey You and it was almost coincidental that they performed it after I met her. I used to relate to the lyrics because I always thought that meeting her would just forever remain as a fantasy in my mind.


"Hey you with the dreams in your head, You've been so mislead by your heart's pull... I know you're waiting for your ship to come in, You anxiously wait for such a long time... Hey you with the eyes full of hope, You think you can rope your desire... I know you're waiting for your tide to roll in... How did you ever set such high hopes? ...You're just like my Ken and Barbie Doll... In a plastic world of make believe."


I no longer have to relate to that song anymore. I no longer have to feel sad anymore. Back when I went to my first concert, Gwen's Sweet Escape Tour at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ back in 2007, I thought that that day was the greatest time in my life. Who knew that when I was crying out in the field watching the show that five years later I would be ON STAGE with this marvelous woman... Who knew that when my mom carried me in her arms singing Don't Speak as a lullaby to me that someday I would be in the arms of the wonderful woman who sang that song. Who knew...

Ugh... I am just so happy. That night was the greatest time of my life. I met my idol and I now have an even better relationship with my mother. She is the best mother I could ever have...

The last show was amazing. They played Excuse Me Mr. and Gwen pulled some more lucky fans on stage! I felt incredibly happy for them, knowing how good meeting Gwen feels. I love how much they appreciate their fans and it makes me love them even more.

I am so blessed with the honor of Night 6. So blessed!! I will treasure the signed and kissed drawing and treasure that moment for the rest of my life.

I would like to give a special thanks to LiveNation for the tickets and my mom for being the best mother ever. I love you, mommy. You are best friend and mother I could ever have...



Photo credit: Jason DeBord of Rock Subculture, Missy (I like to call this woman, "Mommy") of Miss Missy Photography, Leslie and Keith.

This is a video I made after I finally met Gwen. Please watch:

http://youtu.be/l7SlFZ9RHe8

Halloween 2012

Well... As you might know, I was Honey Boo Boo Child for Halloween! But for this Halloween, we did something fun! Earlier that day, of course I had school, but it was a bit different than the regular, old, boring day of reading and writing. A lot more people wore their costumes than I expected and at lunch we had a dance that had a costume contest! But my go-go juice didn't make me win... :(

I went home and relaxed for a while, wearing a wig along with heels is tiring! My mom got ready and then we headed off to WeHo for the annual Halloween carnival! We went last year and it was loads of fun, so why not do it again?! It was a long walk so we ended up taking a bus, but when we got there, the streets were all blocked off, people were everywhere and the Halloween party spirit was in the air!

Walking into the madness, I participated in signing a Christmas card to Obama! When I found out what the card was, I got super excited!! We got some Ice Cream before we danced along to the DJs music.



And plus, there were so many great costumes this year! I couldn't take photos with them all, but there were Troll Dolls, Obama & Clinton, UP, Andy Warhol, and also a rad Lady Gaga!











And also I bumped into a few of my friends, Jordan and Edmon!!



We hung out a while longer and got to see the Hedwig & the Angry Inch performance! I've heard of them before, but I've never actually watched the movie or heard any of the music... But from watching the performance, I could tell it was cool! The singer's makeup was all glittery and the music had a 70s glam rock feel to it.

We got some food and then the carnival ended... We walked home and called it a day since the carnival was crazy and fun yet exhausting! I had a rad Halloween!

Hm... I wonder who I'll be next year...

Lacey Lately

Ugh... I've been so exhausted! My sophomore year of high school has been so crazy with all the homework I've been getting. And I think my hard work is finally paying off. Today in History Class, I found out I have a B! In Painting, I have an A... I'm actually good at Geometry (so far) and I'm not too sure about my other classes but I think I'm doing pretty well! I've been working on turning in assignments on time since I had a bit a problem with that last year....

I've also been playing a lot of Dragon Quest recently... It gets addicting after a while! I love adventure games. But then I hate when I get stuck on one part and I have to do loads of reading through walkthroughs...

I've been doing very well. My school work has put a pause on my drawing, but I'm almost done with my latest piece! ALL. MOST. I've been taking my time on my work and I want to put as much detail as I possibly can...

Anyways... That's pretty much it. :)

My Transplant Birthday

Last Tuesday was the 15th anniversary of the bone marrow transplant I had when I was only 9 months old. I was a very sick baby, always in the hospital. Because of the fact that this event nearly ended my life, every October 16th we celebrate the anniversary almost as if it were a birthday. Actually, we call it a "Transplant Birthday".

So for my Transplant Birthday this year, we went to Disneyland's California Adventure! Since I grew up with mostly Pixar films rather than the ones with fairy tales and princesses, I had a great time re-living my childhood. I went on so many rides, ate awesome food, and especially had so much fun with my mommy! Ugh... What shall I start with first?! I did so much....

Hm... I guess I'll start with the beginning. After the long trip to Anaheim, we got into the park and just started to walk around looking for the stuff we didn't get to do last time since everything was under construction. Now there was so many things to do! Now there was Cars Land, the Muppet 4D Theater, and we got there early enough to see the parade! I've been hearing about it for a long time so I was really excited!





When we were walking around, we went in this museum-ish place which had the puppets for Tim Burton's new movie Frankenweenie and they also had this really awesome thing where it had all the Toy Story characters in this little room with windows and strobe lights. When you push the button, it spins fast enough to make all the characters come to life!





Right as we left, the parade started. We rushed to sit down and of course my mom took lots of photos! Sure I may look rather dorky in some, but hey! I was having fun. The parade was amazing. All my childhood favorites were smiling and waving and I was oohing and ahhing at everything!







(And of course I LOVVVVED their outfits!!!)













I also went on the Monster's Inc ride and it has become one of my favorite ones there. I was obsessed with it when I was little and if I went on it then, I'd probably think that everything was real! On the “taxi", we went through the city of Monsteropolis to watch the story unfold. Every scene was perfectly detailed with the decorations, special effects and life sized figures of the characters. At the end, the CDA 'decontaminated' us and then the taxi stopped. To my surprise, Roz SPOKE to me! "Hey you, in the second row. Nice hair..." I shrieked with joy as she said, "Just kidding."!



Next, we got to see a sneak peek of Frankenweenie in the Muppet 4D Theater! Complete with thunder, lightening and even a little rain! Although it was only about 15 minutes long, it was so good it almost made me cry. If something were to happen to Pu-Pu (my cat. Don't judge his name! >__<) I would be very upset...



We got some rides then finally went to Cars Land which looked soooooo amaaaaaazing!!! It all looked EXACTLY like Radiator Springs! It was so insane!! But the fact that people were all over the road and not cars... kinda messed with my mind, hahaha! I got a chance to wait a long, tiring hour standing in line for the racer ride there. And it was definitely worth the wait! It felt like I was really in a speeding car! The whole ride looked stunning inside and out... It was just so perfect!















My mommy got me two wonderful presents afterwards which were a Sulley plushie and a Lots O' Huggin' bear! She was a bit concerned on to if I was "too old" for them, but truth to be told, I don't think I'm ever gonna grow up! And plus, they're so cuddly! My cat loves them too.



Before we left, we saw the World Of Color show. It was so beautiful that me and my mom had tears in our eyes! Then we went to Downtown Disney which was a tad overwhelming with all the lights. (In a good way. It was so rad.) We were trying to look for a place to eat, but everything was so hard NOT to look at! Eventually we chose a restaurant, Rainforest Café, which was decorated like a rainforest, of course! It even had "thunderstorms" every thirty minutes! I got an amazing burger that was big, but since I was STARVING, I nearly demolished the whole thing!







Overall, I had the best Transplant Birthday ever. I had an amazing day, but I would like to dedicate this post to our friend, Sharon, who has Leukemia. When I had my bone marrow transplant, there was another little girl who was going through the same thing but very sadly, didn't make it... Her mother (Sharon) now has to go through the same thing. Please pray for her. We care about her and love her very much and we don't want anything to happen to her. For more information on Sharon, please visit her website and/or Blog: www.monarch401.com or www.monarch401.blogspot.com . If you have any friends who live in Philadelphia who can possibly benefit her in any way please spread the word.

Thank you so much for your time.