Everything I should've known I just learned from the New Kids on the Block

BEFORE I GET STARTED: Remember NKOTB as a Cartoon? Awesome.

In 1988 balladeer Joey McIntyre first belted "Please Don't Go Girl".
20 Years Later... I'm still saying "I'm here, Joey, Do you see me?!" This month its expected the most incredible poster boy band (yeah I said it!) in music history will announce plans to reunite. Word that The New Kids on the Block may be making a comeback immediately fired off a string of uncontrollable memories.
*flash*rolled short-sleeve tees and sweater vests - so hot!

*flash*I hate Tiffany- what does Jonathan see in her?

*flash*Does Jordan hear my prayers at night while he's taped to the ceiling?

*flash*Dad!! This 5.5" button of Donnie Wahlberg is NOT big enough!!!

*flash* (looking in the mirror) Why am I Korean?? I want red hair like Tiffany!

*SPLASH* Snap out of it Goff! .... I try... I can't.

Miley Cyrus fanatics for the FIRST TIME I can feel your passion for performance. I've realized NKOTB was the last group I ever felt this way about. However, I can't tell you why now as a grown woman I still care. Was it their style... their bad-boston-boy-good-looks... or was it perhaps the music that pushed me over the moon? As I think harder about it... I realize it might be something we all can relate to: I want what I can't have.

You see, I had a frugal upbringing- not by choice but by circumstance. As a young child, I still remember my father working by day as an enlisted officer in the ARMY... and then pulling the nightshift flippin' burgers with a scary clown who owned a restaurant.

As I got older, memories of dad's second jobs were more prominent because I was part of them. Living in Texas I remember long nights at the movie theater on base- my dad managed it on the side as he climbed the ranks in the military. It was kinda cool... I got to see movies for free. I think I was the only one at age 9 who could review Hellraiser and Rattle and Hum. Oh after the fun.. my job got dirty: I was left pickin' up the remnants of a good or bad show row by row. It's perhaps the reason I've never left behind uneaten popcorn or a coke at the theater.
Back then I never knew my father worked two jobs so he could give my mom and sisters the basics... and then some. I never knew because I remember it was never enough.

These thoughts run strong with the NKOTB craze in the 80's and early 90's. I remember the only shirt I had in their honor.. my parents got from a local flea market. It was the color of Crest cool mint gel toothpaste. It had a really bad screen print of the band that only got worse with each wash. By cycle #6 I had given the teens their very first face lift. I still wore it...wishing one day I'd own one of those white "real" New Kids Tees- the kind all the preps who also wore authentic Keds had.
As an ARMY brat I divided my younger years between the US and Korea. I left Texas for the far east right after 5th grade. I was saying goodbye to my country and more sadly my band of boyfriends without ever having a chance to see them- Concerts were way too expensive. Two years would pass before I would get my chance again.
It was 1992... Bush and Yeltsin proclaimed a formal end to the Cold War... Clinton was later elected President and my fam actually went to lunch with Hillary (sorry 'bout pic Jen), that year the Redskins beat the Bills for the Superbowl title... and the one event that triumphed everything... NKOTB would rock the R-O-K.
I remember listening for hours to the one American radio station we had to try to win tickets to the show. I remember swallowing my jealousy and almost choking on spit when my friend Sharon Green told me on the school bus her older sister Susan was the lucky caller. But say I had won... I knew deep down I wouldn't be able to go. While my parents continued to pinch pennies... I knew they were more then generous with overprotection. Going to a show off military grounds...where mass hysteria was expected was not safe in their eyes, even under supervision. Like many things I've come to learn over time- my folks were right.
The Kid's show was cut short just after three songs after an overcrowded stadium proved deadly. Fans stormed the stage and trampled a South Korean high school student. The 18 year old girl fell into a coma and later died. Reports said at least 50 others were hurt in the chaos.
It was shortly after this tragedy that the New Kid craze really started to fade out. I joined the trend that turned on them too. Afterall, I was in middle school... years of new found independence. On the "Grow up" checklist... I finally marked putting the boys behind once and for all.
Lipstick glossed posters curling at the end were scraped off the wall, stacks of 2-page spreads torn from BOP magazine- tossed out...those jumbo buttons were salvaged somewhere along with tapes I thought could be worth something again someday... you know kinda like my dad's one record by the Beatles.
After letting go... I never really looked back. Until now.
Reunion talk brought back memories in an instance but finding my stash of New Kids stuff was a timely task. The first item to turn up: found in my piano bench- sheet music for "This One's for the Children".
"There are some people living in this world They have no food to eat They have no place to go."
In '89 it was just another Christmas hit. Almost two decades later I can still hear the chorus with a message that now at an older age has an entirely different effect on me.
It dawns on me so what if I had such a pop infatuation?... I know it was definitely more than bubblegum dreams. If it wasn't I wouldn't be so moved today by word of a possible comeback.
It's news that for the first time in a long time forced me to take a good look at my past. Only to find that beyond poster boys were idol parents- relentlessly providing and protecting a daughter who just couldn't see how rich in "love" she really was.

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What Say you? Before "I Do!"

If you wake up with the 9 News Morning team you probably know that I'll be officially off the market come April. Yes I'll be joining the wives club and while I can't wait- like most brides-to-be I'm feeling a little exWhelmed ...that would be Excited + Overwhelmed together. No matter where you live I'm sure there's others that share the feeling. Because of that, I shall declare the 24 hours in the middle of the week "Wedding Wednesdays".

Topic Numero Uno: Shoes Blues

I flew down south (SC wedding) for an engagement party this past weekend. My vintage dress by L.A.M.B. and the hair paid homage to Jane Russell. The hot chic in the hot pink is Jackie Reis- one of my beautiful b-maids. And yes, that is "Wine Out" in my pocket! The day before the big blow-out which I would have to say was Goff-da-chain (thanks hosts!) I had my first wedding dress fitting, an incredible experience. I'm having my gown made to resemble a $14,000 Oscar de la Renta. As you would expect the father of the bride wasn't a fan of the original. At the fitting, to my darling wedding planner's dismay I tried the oversized but elegant doile on with 4.5 inch heels. Marcell is pushing a shorter wedge for two reasons: Comfort & Location. Part of my reception will be tented over SC soil... ground said to be so loose you can't find a house in the state that would put a basement in it.

Call me vain- but I feel a higher heel grows me...makes me look skinnier. I hiss at the lucky girls who get away with elegant flats and kitten heels. I hate the fakers- you know the brides in JCrew magazine who look comfortable and perfectly balanced on those 2.5" half d'orsays. HEIGHT: I wasn't born with it- I gotta buy it.

So I've spent days and weeks searching for the perfect 4 inchers- a pair with maybe a little platform that doesn't look like they belong on a... you know. It's an accessory my fiancee' constantly reminds... no one will ever see. But my quest for the perfect kicks continues and now I'm finding myself WITH a rock and a hard place.

I must do BLUE.

I'm obsessed with the idea as my "Something Blue" on the big day. I think they'll be sassy PLUS I can wear them again- with this summer callin' on color for a comeback. My dress is off-white and 100% pure chantilly lace. I was considering gold shoes (like my b-maids) but now this task has taken a dramatic turn. I'm thinking soft blue ..pale or baby- but tiffany could be cute. Weather Kim wants me to be bold- she likes the ones to the left. If you have any pics or suggestions puh-leese send them. If you think I'm tacky- inform me. I need to know because despite my hubby-to-be's remarks... I don't plan to subdue the hue. When portrait day arrives... I plan on playing a little peek-a-boo!

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