This’ll be a quickie, since the actual trip was such a quickie . . . but a goodie to be sure! I arrived at Vicki’s house Saturday morning in short order! (Its amazing how quickly you can get from point “A” to point “B” in Los Angeles when you’re not CRAWLING.) Vicki and her husband, Gary, were all set and ready to go when I arrived at about 7:30, so we hit the road straight away. The drive was actually a very pleasant one; it was less than 4 hours and I was able to have some really nice conversations with Gary – something I’d not ever been able to do prior to then.

            We arrived at The Luxor around noonish I believe, but not before doing the ritual ‘drive by’ the Mandalay in search of BUSES! Gary was so sweet. . . he drove us around a few times, and then even took us up into the parking structure to afford us a better view while waiting patiently in the car. Vicki and I hadn’t even reached the edge of the parking garage when security was on us. DAYUM that was fast! They guy was really nice though, and even rode his bicycle down and checked out the venue to see how our seats were. Swear to my mama, HE DID!

            Okay, so we checked in, got to our rooms, blah blah blah, went down to the casino to meet up with Tina and see what the haps was. . . which were pretty much nada. We happened about a tattoo shop where we found the cutest little daisy tats for Vicki and me!! I had just added a black hat (no ones in particular of course!) tat to an existing tat, so I wasn’t really in the market for another, but I told Vicki that if she got one, I would. I figured I could add the daisies + hearts around my ring finger that I’d been thinking about. . . Gary even encouraged her to do it, but she wanted to wait. We met up with Tina and her husband, Chop, and hung out at the House of Blues for a bit . . . where we developed a profound interest in my martini. . .

Gary's view . .

            Whatever floats our boat, eh? Here is Vicki and Gary. . . 

             And Miss Tina and Chop. Oh! And Chop??? Did you notice that I never DID end up in concert jail??? Okay, yes I was [once again] approached by security before I even set foot in the venue, but at NO TIME was I detained. Well . . . not OFFICIALLY . . .

      Okies, time to hike back up to the room to prep for the show. OH! OHHHHHHHH!!  Lemmie just tell you here. . . VICKI IS LOOKING GREAT! She came into my room to get an opinion on a new skirt she was thinking about wearing, and she looked GREAT in it! GIRRRRL, that gym is doing a bang up job on you! I told her it looked FABULOUS, but . . . a skirt to a concert . . . skirt to a concert. . .  I’m just thinking… what if you need to quick hop over a seat? I know, I know, that’s just me, but peeps who have been with me at a concert KNOW that situation OFTEN presents, and I’m just thinking about how high she’s gonna have to hike that puppy up to get over them seats.. I’m just sayin’!!!  She ended wearing a pair of my jeans that looked WAY better on her than they EVER did on me! I was actually hate’n on her for about a ½ a second. Truly. But I knew I was gonna need a ride home, so I got over it quickly.

            Where was I . . . oh yeah. Concert time. It was actually still pretty early, but I have been trying to meet up with my good friend, Ronni, for the longest time, with no success. I knew she had won pre party from McGraw’s camp, so I knew just where to find her. On the way to the venue I spied a head full of curls on the run down the walkway, and noticed a tall, dark teddy-bearish looking gentleman with him. It could ONLY be one pair, so I reached out and tickled David’s side. He stopped and smiled, gave me one of his big ole David hugs and said they were late for pre party and had to fly. I told him to quick look behind me, as I got muh huggin’ from Chaddy. David spied Vicki and Tina and gave them plenny of lovin’, as did Chaddy, annnnnnnd they were off. I met up with Ronni, Briana, Lisa, Don and Maryann down in the pre-party line and was able to spend a little bit of time with them before they had to run. I was so excited for them  . . . especially for Ronni. She really needed this little boost. As I was going back up the escalator I spied a MASSIVER (is that a word . . . like… more than just massive… ) head of curls going down the elevator and gave a quick shout out to our Travis baby. He’s such a doll. . .

            We did the regular greeting session before the show, saying hello to old friends and meeting lots of new ones, then we jumped over to catch Lance Miller’s set, then Catherine Raney’s. There was just ONE thing about her set that I thought was . . . how would I say this . . . maybe not so beneficial to her? They introduced her as “Catherine Raney, Tim McGraw’s little cousin who will be big in her own right someday.”  Well, I completely agree with that. But as soon as they mentioned she is Tim McGraw’s little cousin, I felt like it gave her kind of an “Oh, she’s just Tim’s cousin… of course they’re gonna say that.” disadvantage. JMO, so don’t crucify me.

 Annnd

      Onnnnnnnnnnnn to the show! We got to our seats and I spied Maryann and Briana ahead of us so I went up to chat before the show started. I schmoozed security (as is expected!) and we had our own litta party goin’ on up there. The boys came out and just rocked our WORLD! Security let us stay up there, so WE DID!  David and Chad get better and better every single time I see them! I always feel so proud of them when I see the reception they receive from the audience that I get teary eyed and chills . . . It really is just a matter of time for them now, and we’ll be able to say we knew them back when!  Here's a few...

This one of Andrea would have been FABULOUS if it was sharper!

            After the show we made tracks up to their Meet & Greet area where we met their tour manager, Mark, and Chaddy’s sister, Tia. We had really nice conversation with both of them for quite awhile, but I had to be makin’ tracks back to my seat before Tim even thought about coming out. I was already shaking, so I KNEW the time was nearin’!

            OH! Before I forget! There were several people in line who did not have cameras who Vicki and I photographed with the boys. We gave them H2H Cards, but if any of you are reading this (Michelle?), please PM me so I can get the photos to you! Here are a few:

Last but NEVER least. . .

            Oh Lordie. So much for the quickie, but I’ve got peeps coming into the office in a few so I have to kick it. Vicki. .. Tina. . . someone. . finish this up, eh?