I Found Them By Accident

Hi Friends.

Been a little while, huh? It probably would have been longer, but my Twitter feed decided to explode today over that fact that it's been 9 years since Big Time Rush came into existence. I felt like sharing my story since I had never really heard of them until after the show was already off the air.

I've shared this before, but I first discovered Heffron Drive on Spotify. I like to check out the recommendations Spotify gives, and somehow I had found them. This was back in 2014.  I loved their music and was immediately a huge fan.

It took quite the little while before I noticed that Spotify kept repeatedly telling me I would also like Big Time Rush. I couldn't figure out why in the world that was recommended or how it was related.

Eventually, I clicked on the link to check them out. That's when I figured out why it kept being recommended. I looked at the picture and was like, "Holy shit, that's Kendall from Heffron Drive! No wonder it kept telling me to check this group out."

And I liked their music. I'm not ashamed to admit I enjoy a good boy band. Windows Down is a jam. Nothing Even Matters, No Idea, and Stuck are some of my favorites. But at that point I still had no clue that there had also been a television show.

I'm slow, Friends. I know.

Back in July of 2015, Heffron Drive was coming to Webster Hall in New York City. I was stoked and was absolutely going to go. I decided to ask my niece if she wanted to go with me since she was up visiting for the summer. (She lives in Texas.) I asked my brother first if it would be okay to take his kid to NYC for a concert. He's the one who told me she would be super excited because she loved Big Time Rush and watched it all of the time.

Even then, at the ripe old age of 12, Lili (my niece) was game for any kind of concert. She had never heard of Heffron Drive, but when I told her it was Kendall from Big Time Rush she was absolutely down for it. She listened to their music non-stop up until the concert and learned all the lyrics by heart. I thought she was going to swoon when I told her we had Meet & Greet tickets.

Some revelations came out in the middle of the night while riding the train back home after the concert. She was freaking giddy, and only then did she tell me that Kendall had always been her favorite. That he was perfect. I told her that I had never actually seen the show, just listened to them on Spotify. She was horrified and decided that she needed to rectify that situation as soon as possible.


And that would be how, about a week later, I first saw Big Time Rush. She had taken it upon herself to start recording all of the episodes at my parents' house.

Did she start us at the first episode so I could figure out what the hell was going on? No.

Did she even bother to start at the beginning of an episode? No.

She was already cued up and mid episode when I got to my parents' house, watching the episodes with her little brother. It's one of the few shows that they will both agree to watch to this very day.
(The kidlets stay with my parents when they come to visit. They wouldn't even be awake when I have to leave in the morning, so they only stay with me on the weekends if I don't have to work.)

The episode? Big Time Fever. For those familiar with the show, you can imagine the interesting conversation that this particular episode brought about. If you have never seen it, you really should. Go watch it right now, or the rest of this is not going to make any damn sense to you whatsoever.

She started me at the point where they were already in the recording studio. I immediately asked, "Why is that dude orange?"

Lili: That's James. He's not orange, he's mangerine. And it's from his tanning spray. And that's Gustavo, their manager.  He seems like a jerk but he really likes them.

I got more information as the episode went on and I kept asking questions.

Lili: That's Carlos. He's crazy and always wears a helmet. Normally he's not like this. That's Logan. He's Kendall best friend and super smart.

Me: I thought you said they were all best friends?

Lili: They are. But, Logan's like his best best friend.

Me: Sure.

*a bit further into the episode*

Me: Lil, what channel did you say this normally comes on?

Lili: Nickelodeon. Why?

Me: I'm pretty sure that dude is high.

Lili: Logan?! Oh, no! He just used the magic bongos that Guitar Dude gave him.

Sure. Magic bongos. We'll go with that.

Me: So what's wrong with Kendall then?

And I almost got my head bitten off for daring to ask such a question.

Lili: Nothing! He's perfect. *sigh*  He's the leader of the group, and he's going to fix everything. Normally Logan is his second in command and would help him.

And he did, and everyone was back to normal by the end of the episode.

So then we had a little discussion before I let her roll right into the next episode.

Me: So who are your favorite characters?

Lili: Kendall, duh. And no one else is allowed to like him.

Damn, girl!

Austin (my nephew): I like Carlos and James! They're funny and crazy! 

That devolved into an argument about the proper way to do jazz hands like James does in front of his face, as Lili declared Austin was doing it wrong when he attempted to do it.

Me: Then I guess Logan will be my favorite.

Austin: You could like James or Carlos too, Aunt Tammy. I would share them with you.

Lili: Yeah. I'm not sharing. Kendall is mine.

Me: Thank you, Austin. I'm cool with Logan. Dude is hilarious - reminded me of my friends in college who also enjoyed the bongos. 

Lili: Do you think he's cute though?

Austin: Ewww

Me: He's definitely cute, Lil. No worries about that.

And then, because I am incapable of leaving things in a peaceful state...

Me: Logan is the best!

Austin: Yeah! I like Logan, too. And James and Carlos.

Lili: What?! How can you say that? You love Heffron Drive! You just got to meet Kendall!

Me: All true, but you just assigned me Logan as my favorite, so I'm all in now. Besides, I think you might actually hurt me if I said I liked Kendall at all beyond his music.

Lili: Well...I wouldn't hurt you too bad. *smirk*

And then I got to listen to her read me fun facts about Kendall for the rest of the summer. And I mean, I would get to my parents' to visit after work and be greeted with things like, "Did you know sunflowers are Kendall's favorite flower?" Not hello, or how was work. She would tell me random facts she had found that day about Kendall as soon as I walked in the door.

And every summer when the kidlets come up to visit for a month, we spend quality time bonding and rewatching old episodes of Big Time Rush. The only real problem to come out of it so far was a brief period when Austin got a little too into the concept of a "pre-truth".

I got to see Heffron Drive in concert again since that summer. Sadly, Lili was back in Texas already by that time, but they signed autographs for her and they are proudly hanging on her bedroom wall. I have not gotten to see Logan Henderson in concert yet, but I hope I will get to do so one day. I feel like it's my duty as the sole member of Team Logan in this family. Plus, I'm pretty sure Lili would freak the hell out if I managed to meet him, which would be fun. It's good to have goals.

So, I was a little late to the party on the whole Big Time Rush thing, Friends. I hope I can be forgiven for having overlooked their awesomeness for so long. They inadvertently helped create this cool bond between me and my niece and nephew, and for that I will always be grateful.

A Birthday Surprise

My niece, Lili, is 15 years old. Her little brother, Austin, has a birthday coming up. The kids have been up here in New York now visiting their Grandparents and I for the summer. Austin has no idea that my brother is taking them all to a Yankees game in August as a surprise for his birthday before they all head back down to Texas.

Lili is in on the surprise, and she wanted to try to make it extra special. Austin's favorite player is Aaron Judge. We watch all of the Yankees games on tv, and as soon as Lili saw that Judge had been injured she knew that probably meant that Austin wouldn't get to see his favorite player in action when they go to the game. Going to the game will still be a great birthday surprise, and Austin will still be thrilled, but it will be a little less magical without getting to see his favorite player in action.

So Lili took it upon herself to email the Yankees to see if there was any way that Austin could get to meet Aaron Judge, even if he is injured and cannot play. She got an email back (probably a generic response) to call customer service. She called, and the very nice woman at customer service explained that meeting players had to be arranged through their management, but they did not have that information to give out.

Lili wasn't ready to give up just yet. I suggested that she post a picture of Austin in his Little League uniform on Instagram, and put her email in the caption. She didn't want to do that because:

1) Austin would see it and it would ruin the surprise of going to the Yankees game
2) She doesn't want him to find out that she tried to get him to meet Aaron Judge if it doesn't work out.

Not knowing what else to do, I told her I would try posting her letter here and posting a link to it on Twitter. Maybe Aaron Judge or someone at the Yankees would see it that way. Worth a shot, right? Maybe the internet can work some birthday magic of it's own for Austin.

Below is the email that Lili sent to the Yankees. I'm just copying and pasting it here.


Hi my name is Lili, I’m 15 I’m from Corpus Christi, Texas. My little brother Austin is a big Yankees fan, but an even bigger Aaron Judge fan. Two years ago my little brother went to his first Yankees game, which also happened to be  Aaron Judge's first game, and he’s been his biggest fan ever since. He was so excited that after the game he passed out before he even got his food.

His little leauge baseball team back in corpus is called “Laguna Little League Yankees” and he begged to get 99. Like I said he REALLY likes Aaron Judge.

We are here visiting family in New York this summer and as a surprise birthday present my dad is  going to take us to the Yankees game on August 9th. Austin will be 11 on August 11th. He got seats in the Judges chamber and tickets to watch batting practice before the game. This a total surprise and Austin has no idea it”s happening.

As you can probably guess Austin was very concerned when Judge got injured and put on the DL. Austin is concerned that his favorite player won’t be playing for a few weeks, I’m upset because he won’t get to see his favorite player get to play at his surprise birthday game. Would it be possible for Austin to meet Aaron Judge at the game on Thursday August 9th? I didn’t tell anyone, I was just hoping to make his birthday surprise a little bit more amazing. 

Thank you for your consideration, I know Yankees are great with they’re fans.

Sincerely, Liliana Myers

That's What He Said

Hey, Friends.

My niece and nephew were up visiting from Texas for the last month or so. They just went home on Friday and I miss them already.  I'm going to write about them a bit now to help me to keep the memories close.  If you aren't feeling that, think it sounds deadly boring, please feel free to take yourself elsewhere.

We're going to talk about my nephew here, Friends -- more specifically the things that he says.  He's 9, and I find some of the things he says to be hilarious. Sometimes it's because he really wasn't paying attention and repeats what he thought he heard, sometimes he can't remember the word he really wants to use so he comes up with a close approximation.  He's also just a really funny little dude.  I started making notes of some of them. I think they're priceless, but I'm totally biased on this.

Without further ado, I present the sayings of my nephew, Austin. I call them:

Austin-isms

Let's start with a couple of classics that my brother relayed to me.  

1) "Ham on tuna" -- Hannah Montana.  They had been discussing the show, and clearly Austin wasn't really listening very carefully.  When he was really little he had to watch it a lot because my niece was obsessed with the show, and he used to call it "Best Show" because of the theme song.

2) "Can of fish" -- again, his listening ears weren't working so well.  Apparently my sister-in-law was trying to talk and he kept interrupting, and she said, "Can I finish?" 

3) Another older example I was present for:  he couldn't remember the word 'elves'.  He called them "Santa's midget clowns", and claimed that they hated children.  

On to the gems from this summer.  Some are pretty clear, and others might necessitate a bit of explanation.

4) "Like a rhino in a Chinese store" -- he meant bull in a china shop, but didn't quite get it right.

5) On dealing with  his sister:  "I'm not allowed to touch her.  At all."

6) On briefly seeing a display for something called Spikeball in a sporting goods store: "It's just what drunk people play."

7) To his grandmother, "You're wasting my words."  This could go a couple different ways.  Originally he meant that she was twisting his words.  He also used to complain that, "Grandma is always asking me a million questions about everything," and she was making him waste his words answering her.

8) When I asked him what he had been doing since his fingernails were caked with dirt:  "That's not dirt.  That's memories."

9) "Hands are nature's silverware.  Teeth are nature's knives."

10) To his sister, "You have all the length, I have all the muscle."  (She is older and much taller than he is.)

11) On debating with me whether 'bogosity' was a word: "Bogosity -- search it up, Aunt Tammy!  It's totally in Urban Dictionary!"

12) He came to visit me at the library where I work, and took it upon himself to put all of the puzzles in the children's area back together correctly.  He also morphed into a 90 year old man.  "These darn kids are irresponsible, losing all the pieces. They shouldn't be allowed to have puzzles!"

13) "Little tickets to heaven" -- that's what he called the goose poop that was all over sidewalk when we were out for a walk.

14) Showing me his profile picture on his Instagram account: "That's a cupcake.  I made it.  His name was Diabetes."

15) "Is this going to be an Austinism?  Don't write that down.  I can do much better than that!"

16) We were in the car.  He was really tired, watching YouTube videos on his tablet and trying to listen to the conversation Lili (my niece) and I were having about Pretty Little Liars. "Who what did?" and then whispered under his breath, "Oh, God."  

17) Commenting on his sister: "She's now turning into a real giraffe!  Long neck, long legs..."

18) He went to baseball camp at Marist College, and he would come home starving and totally exhausted.  He would never cop to being tired and would fight it every night.  It led to him saying things at dinner like, "I can't talk because there's a mouth in my food."

19) And when tired he kind of scrambles his words a bit: "Is the dar clocked?"  Is the car locked.  Totally wouldn't admit he said it, either.  Cause he wasn't tired, damn it!

20) My brother was up to visit for the week before taking his kidlets back home to Texas.  My mother had made a pasta salad with garbanzo beans in it.  Austin was sitting closest to the salad, and was dishing some out to my brother when he asked. "Do you want the garzombie beans?"  I like his word better, honestly.

21) "Everybody likes ice cream.  Except for people who are lactose intolerant."  Then he whispered, "They have explosive poo later."

22) He came home from baseball camp and announced to his sister and I, " I have swamp butt."  I don't know what it is, and I don't think I want to know.  I told him to make sure he told his Dad, since he was here.  Aunt Tammy doesn't handle Swamp Butt.  New rule.

23) This happened on Thursday night.  I worked late and went over to my parents' house after to visit everyone.  My brother had already taken Austin up to bed to start the process of trying to get him to sleep.  I went up to the bedroom to see him before he went to sleep.

Austin:  Hi Tomato-mobiler!  *cracks up laughing*

Me: Hi there, Giggles.

Austin:  Get it?  Cause Dad calls you Tomato and he sent your birthday present to Tomato and they delivered it!  And your car is red-- like a tomato!  The Tomato mobile.  You're a tomato-mobiler!"  He was giddy he was so tired, just cracking himself up.

Me:  Whatever you say, Swamp Butt.

His birthday is next week.  I hope he finds it just as hilarious when I address his present to Swamp Butt.  He doesn't think they will deliver it.  They totally will. I send flowers to my niece every year for her birthday.  Back in the day I used to address them to her self-proclaimed moniker of Princess Flapjack Electroboom.  They always got delivered.  Swamp Butt is in for a surprise!

Just to be fair and round this out, I'll share a bit of ridiculousness that my brother, my niece and I got up to.  It's entirely my fault.  I take full blame.

My brother, Lili, and I were all watching television at my parents' house.  (The kidlets stay there when they come to visit, as neither would be up and motivated to go when I have to leave for work in the morning.  My brother crashes at my house when he is in town.) There must not have been a Yankees game on at the time as I had the remote.  I was flipping through the channel guide, trying to find something appropriate for all viewers, and I noticed a show was on Animal Planet called "Finding Bigfoot".  

So I chose it.

I thought it was going to be something educational....like discussing the history of the Bigfoot legend. Nope.  They were in Iowa, I think, and were going to go out and look for Bigfoot where all of these sightings had purportedly taken place.  I assumed they were going to debunk them -- examine the area and talk about what native animals (like bears) people might have been mistaking for Bigfoot.

I was so wrong.

They were legitimately out there trying to find Bigfoot.  They had night vision cameras, thermal readers -- you name it.  Still cool.  It was interesting to see what they could find.

The thing that did us in was the terms they were using.  Did the area look "Squatchy?"  They were going out "squatching".  I really thought I heard them wrong the first time, but they kept saying similar things.

So, fast forward to the last day of their visit.  Lili had told my brother that she wanted the two of them to "go on an adventure" while Austin was at camp and I was at work.  We came up with a bunch of things they could do as an adventure, depending on what time Lili managed to drag herself from bed after being up chatting with her friends on her phone half the night.

They ended up going to Minnewaska State Park to go hiking.  It's really beautiful.  I go there quite often to get away from it all.

My brother takes some pictures while they are there, but he tags them with things like "squatchwatch2017". When they were taking a rest, it was a "squatchsquat".

I might have replied and asked if the area looked "squatchy".

But the best of them was definitely when he said, "Going to find them where they live.  Catch them in their sas-hole."  I found that highly amusing.  I don't really care if that makes me seem incredibly immature.

My point, Friends, is that Austin comes by his crazy sayings naturally.  We all do it.  I just happen to find my little dude to be super funny. Like I said -- I'm very biased.  

I hope you found some of this to be at least mildly amusing.

I Did It...But There's No Proof

Hey, Friends.

My Mom and I decided to take my niece and nephew to the Ulster County Fair the other evening.  I think we all had fun, and we did a couple of pretty cool things.  Lili (my niece) was a little bit bummed because she had been watching the Carnival Eats show on television, and none of those crazy things were at the fair.  No scorpion pizza for her, sadly.

We started small, with the kidlets and I riding the smaller of the two Ferris wheels. My Mom would not go on it.  The fact that the kids and I were even on it is just this side of a miracle, really.

Let me break it down for you, Friends.

Back in the day, my Mom read a newspaper article about a Ferris wheel that fell apart at at fair somewhere, fully loaded with passengers.  I'm assuming it was a bad scene with lots of injuries -- I never got the entire story from her.  From that point on, my brother and I were never allowed to go on the Ferris wheel -- and other quasi-dangerous looking rides (as deemed by my Mom, and consisting mainly of roller coasters and things which went high up in the air) were up for debate.  Now, if it was a permanent set-up, like at Disney World or Hershey Park?  That was allowable...except for the Ferris wheel.  Traveling amusements, like at the county fair or local carnivals?  Hell no.  The most air-born we were ever allowed to get was on those spinning swings.

That's my Mom in the red shorts, dead center.  My niece is in the blue to the left.

So, as you can imagine, it was kind of a big deal that she let the kids and I go on even the smaller Ferris wheel.  She probably wishes she hadn't let us, because while we were up there we had a pretty good view of the entire fair and spotted a couple of things we absolutely wanted to try.

Austin (my nephew) spotted a mechanical bull.  He was so excited and determined that he was going to ride the thing.  I didn't want to crush his little dream, but I had to give him a slight reality check:

1. There might be rules that mean you can't do it.  It might require that you be a certain age/height/weight.  You're 8, dude.  They might not let you on.
2. It probably costs extra, and if it is a lot then it probably won't happen.
3. We are going to have to convince Grandma that you aren't going to kill yourself on the thing. That will be the biggest obstacle.

We got off the Ferris wheel, and he was all jazzed about the mechanical bull.  We went over to check it out, and it only cost $5.  He was so excited, and there were no restrictions on age or anything.  

And then came the stumbling block: a parent or legal guardian was going to have sign off and give him permission, promise we wouldn't sue if he injured himself. Friends, you have no idea the debate and amount of coaxing it took me to convince my Mom that he could handle this without killing himself.  She was extra twitchy because we hadn't seen anyone else go on it.  In the end, Austin got his Moment of Glory, and of course I had to shoot video.  You can hear me rooting him on, my Mom wondering if he's smiling and having fun or scared, and me calling it when he is about to fall off.

You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy.

I congratulated him on a successful ride, and his rather graceful dismount.  His reply?  "I didn't want to fly off and get stuck by the horns."  He totally had it covered.  My Mom had absolutely nothing to worry about.

But she did have other things to worry about, because directly after that Lili and I decided to freak her out even more by announcing that we wanted to do the Stunt Jump. (  <---- Click that handy link there if you don't know what it is.)  To say my Mom was unhappy with that would be an understatement.

Now, I had seen this thing before while working at the Arlington Street Fair.  I couldn't do it then because I was working at the library's booth, and it would be inappropriate to duck out to jump off a platform. I was bummed about that. I had noticed the Stunt Jump as soon as we entered this section of the fair, but I hadn't said anything about it.  I was going to do it come hell or high water...I just wasn't going to say anything to her about it.

Faced with the fact that both her daughter and her granddaughter wanted to jump off a platform?  Not a happy moment for my Mom.  But it was only $5 a person, and she got to see other people do it and walk away, fully intact with all body parts functional.  I had to sign off on the waivers for both myself and Lili, as she "wasn't going to sign our death certificates" or some equally dramatic hyperbole.  Oh, and it was going to be all my problem if Lili hurt herself and I was going to have to explain to my brother how I broke his child.  To be fair, Lili does tend to be a wee bit accident prone and uncoordinated at times, so there was a much greater chance of her getting injured than my nephew riding the bull.

Whatever -- it will be awesome!  

So I signed our papers, and we got our instructions on how to fall properly.  Lil and I both wanted to get our jumps on video, so we devised a plan.  Lili got the camera on her phone all set up the way she wanted it, and gave it to my Mom.  Lili will jump first, and my Mom will record it.  After she exits the jump area, Lili will take my phone from my Mom and get video of me making my jump. Clear and easy, right Friends?  

I think, right up until the last minute, my Mom was kind of hoping we would either wimp out and change our minds, or that Lili at least would be too scared and opt to jump from the lower, little kid, platform.  Didn't happen.  Here is Lili's jump, with expert camera work by her Grandma:

She set it for slo-mo, cause she has a flair for the dramatic

She did great! My Mom managed to keep her in frame the whole time and everything.  You can even see the silhouettes of the jump coach, myself, and the guy behind me in line waiting at the top before she jumps.

Then I jumped, and it was awesome.  It was just as fun as I had imagined it would be.  You might be wondering, "But where is the video of you jumping?"  Fair question, Friends.  I don't have one. There is a story -- or several, depending on who you ask -- about why I don't have one.

Remember the plan?  Lili was supposed to jump, and then take my phone from my Mom and shoot the video of me jumping.  Why? Because she is the most tech-savvy of the group.  My mother never shoots video of anything.  Asking her to do so twice in a row, on two different phones was just a recipe for disaster.  Lil is the Snapchat/Instagram queen and should be able to do this in her sleep.  

So I get done, exit the jump area because there is a guy behind me waiting to go, and ask if they got it on video.  I'm met with a reaction of, "Well...." from my Mom, Lili just watching the video of herself, and Austin just being excited that he got to see us jump and he wishes he had done it too. Then my Mom hands me my phone and confesses that they saw it, but they kind of missed shooting the video.  And then come the various explanations as to how they missed it:

• The first answer (and the truth) was from my Mom:  Lili jumped, got my camera, but immediately had to watch the video of her own jump so she wasn't paying attention in time to record my jump.
• Lili excuse #1: "It said there wasn't enough space left on the camera."  Total and complete bullshit.  I took pictures and video the rest of the night without running out of storage space.
• Lili excuse #2:  "You went too fast!!  If you had just waited like 5 more seconds I would have been ready!"  Also nonsense, as it took longer than that to watch her video.
• Lili excuse #3, ready about an hour later: "Grandma took too long to give me your phone." Such lies, and immediately shot down by Austin who chimed in that "Grandma gave her the phone right away."

So, no.  I don't have a video of my jump.  I can be seen as part of the shadowy group at the top in Lili's video, and I have a picture of the lovely marker on my hand stating that I was approved to jump.

SJ for Stunt Jump

Next time I need video, I'm totally giving my phone to Austin.  Sure, it might be out of focus, or at a crazy angle.  I might just be a brief blur moving through the view. The result might not be optimal, but it would exist.  If I give Austin a mission, my little dude will get the job done one way or another.

And just to prove that my phone was totally capable of the job, here is a video I shot of the kidlets on the slide later that evening -- you know, when Lili was busy claiming there was not enough space on the camera.

Through the Eyes of My Nephew

**Note:  Hi, Friends.  I started writing this a few days ago, but never had a chance to finish it.  I wasn't sure about posting it now, but I think perhaps my extended family members could use a little levity.**


Hey, Friends.

Remember how I told you that my Mom and I were surprising my niece and nephew with a trip to Washington D.C.?    We saw all of the monuments, went to several of the Smithsonian museums, and to the National Zoo.  We got back last night, and rather than give you the normal tourist recap (although I did take a ton of pictures to share at some point!), I thought I'd give you the highlights of the trip as recalled by my 8 year old nephew, Austin.

I have visions of him being asked to write about his summer vacation when he starts school again down in Texas, and my brother and sister-in-law being horrified when they see what he has written. This could be considered preparation for what they may hear coming out of his mouth at some point.

A little bit of backstory first...

Austin loves to ask "Would You Rather" questions when he is bored -- like driving in a car, riding on a train, or waiting for anything.  Normally these are more along the lines of, "Would you rather have to smell everything with your hands, or have your ears on the bottom of your feet?"  Shortly after they arrived for the summer, he asked my brother and I, "If you were homeless, would you rather live in your car or live outside?"

He was amazed when my brother and I both said we would live in our cars, and wanted to know why. I tried to explain that it would be a little safer, I would be dry and kind of comfortable, and I would have someplace to keep my stuff while I tried to find a job and get another place to live.  This is the conversation that followed:

Austin:  I would live outside. I could just walk to Grandma's house.

Me: I have a car. I could could drive to Grandma's house.

Austin: Okay...but what if you had a car but no keys? Ha!  What would you do then?

Me: I would still live in my car. I could walk to Grandma's house too.

Austin: I would live outside, but I'd have a skateboard.

Me: Why do you need a skateboard?

Austin: Because then I could be like Marty McFly in Back to the Future and get rides on my skateboard by holding on to the back of people's cars!  Zoom, zoom!


Just keep that in the back of your mind while we move on to the main story.

And now, Friends, I present to you:

AUSTIN WENT TO WASHINGTON -- THE HIGHLIGHTS

My Mom decided to ask Austin what he remembered and liked best from his trip to Washington D.C. when we were on the train back yesterday afternoon.  It had been a long trip and he was getting a little punchy by the end of it. **Note to My American Friends -- you might think you are going to be overwhelmed with patriotism here.  You would be wrong.**

1) "There were a lot of homeless people.  Remember this morning there was that man sleeping on the sidewalk outside the hotel?  And there was the guy singing with the boom box, and the other day there were the people outside the grocery store?  And then there was that guy in the restaurant with the cup? And then there was that monk-guy who kept trying to give Aunt Tammy things so she would give him money and he didn't speak English?"

And then my niece, Lili (she's 13) jumped in with: "And the hotel had instructions in a book for tourists on what to do so they didn't get robbed!"

Austin: "It did?  But the key to use the elevator was really cool."

Me: "So Austin, remember the other day when you said you would live on the street if you were homeless?  Would you change your answer now?"

Austin:  **thinks about it** "No.  I would be homeless and sleep in the yard at Grandma's house. She would let me in and give me food, and money, and a shower when I asked."

Me: "But did you see Grandma give any money to the homeless people?"

Austin:  "No, but that's just because she didn't know them.  She knows me.  She would give me food and money when I asked."

The homeless people really made an impression on him.  Any time he is asked about his trip the first thing he says is that there were a lot of homeless people.

2) "It was hot!  Like really, really hot."

He's not wrong about that.  This is the day we went to the National Zoo.

"We had to walk everywhere, and it was all outside with the monuments.  And Grandma kept making us drink water all of the time so no one would faint."

Touching the Washington Monument.  Getting a little meta as I take a picture of my niece taking a picture of herself touching the monument.

 My niece had her own thoughts on it.  "And there were the people with the cross in front of the Lincoln Memorial singing about Jesus.  That was okay, but then they tried to start making everyone believe what they did and that wasn't cool.  They shouldn't have been doing that, especially there."

3) "And remember when we got back to New York, at Penn Station?  Grandma and I saw a guy get arrested!"  There was a brief argument after that, in which my niece basically called bullshit on it.

"No, he did!  Grandma, remember?  Lili and Aunt Tammy went to the bathroom, and we saw that guy walk up to the police desk holding the other guy's arms behind his back!  And then a different police man took him away!  It was so cool."

"And there were all of these Army guys walking around, like from Homeland Security."

"And remember they had the dogs walking around with the police, and they were sniffing everybody and their bags!  And they made the announcement that you shouldn't try to pet the dogs or play with them because they were working."

Lili had a few questions about traveling by train.  "I don't get it.  How come they can't be more like the airport?  The airport can tell you which gate you are leaving from hours in advance.  Why do they have to wait until the last 10 minutes before your train is supposed to leave?  Do they really not know which track you will be on?  It just makes everybody hurry and push trying to get there and get a seat.  And then people fight over where to put their luggage.  Aunt Tammy had words with that one guy who wanted to move my suitcase far away to make room for his own."   She's not wrong.  The crazy rush at the last second seems like it could be avoided...and I may have had a few words with a guy who tried to move her suitcase.  Sorry, buddy.  We were here first and we are using the overhead that is actually over our seats.  You're sitting nowhere near us.  Move along.

Friends, you might be wondering like I was, didn't Austin like anything about the trip other than police activity?

Yes.  Yes, he did.

"I wanted to ride on the giraffe (carousel at the zoo).  He was so cool, but then I had to switch to the ostrich because the giraffe was too tall so it didn't go up and down."

Giraffe joy

"I also liked the lemurs.  They were really cool."

Those are the highlights of our trip to our nation's capital, according to Austin.  I'd like to apologize in advance to my brother and sister-in-law for any mental trauma we may have given him.

Sshhh! It's a Surprise!

Hey, Friends.

So, my niece and nephew are here visiting for the summer.  My brother was here for a week as well, but he has already made the return journey back to Texas.  Now it's time for fun and adventures with his kiddos.

Every summer my mother and I try to take the kids on a trip of some sort.  Last year we went to The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, Great Wolf Lodge, and America's Stonehenge.

You may recall past trips have not always gone so smoothly.  Take our trip to Hershey Park, for example: started out awesome, but then there was a tornado and it turned into a hot mess.  Don't remember that bit of fun?  You can read about it right here!

I also like to try and surprise the kids with something.  Last summer I took my niece to see and meet Heffron Drive, and to go see Taylor Swift.  My nephew got to go crazy and bounce his heart out at an indoor trampoline center.

This year's trip begins in a couple hours, and the kidlets have no idea where they are going.  It's a total surprise.  Oh, they know we are taking them someplace today -- they just don't know where, or how.  No details whatsoever.

I feel like I can spill the beans to you at this point, Friends.  Yes, my niece could potentially see this and the surprise could be ruined but......

Honestly?  She is not going to drag her ass out of bed any earlier than she needs to, and I highly doubt her first coherent thought is going to be to check here to see if I shared the news.  I'm willing to roll the dice at this point.  She is too much like me: night person.  I hate getting up early in the morning.  I know there are people who can just wake up at the same time each morning without a problem, but that is not me.  If I don't set an alarm for work every day then that is just not going to happen -- I will sleep right on through.

Back to my point.

The surprise this year?  My mother and I are taking the kids to Washington D.C. for the weekend. On the train!  Extra bonus fun?  My nephew has never been on a train before.  This is going to be awesome!

We started laying the groundwork already.  Dropping subtle hints in a way.  They'll figure it out after the fact, I'm sure.

Sunday night my mother showed them National Treasure.  Monday night I showed them Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.  I really thought they would question why we were watching the second movie of that series and not any of the others, but they didn't.

My original plan was to show them the movie Monday evening while we were hanging out, and then I would tell them about the trip.  They could freak out and get excited, started Googling things about D.C., etc.  When I told my brother about the plan, he suggested something a little different.  It's only a tiny bit evil, and that's the plan I went with.

We didn't tell them anything.  They just know they are going somewhere.  Some place out of New York State.  And it required packing a suitcase.

It's driving them insane!  Like my niece has been harassing my brother via text message to try to get him to tell her since my mother and I won't.  My father has been making up stories and trying to convince them that we are taking them to Niagara Falls -- I don't know why he chose that location, but he has been rolling with it.

So this morning we will be getting on the train, and even then we aren't telling them where they are going.  And it will still be a surprise for a bit longer.

How, you might be wondering?  Won't they make an announcement on the train about the destination?

Yes, Friends, I'm sure they will. I thought about that.

You see, the first train we take just goes to Penn Station.  If the kidlets are awake enough and paying attention they will think they are going to New York City.  They will probably assume that it is their final destination.  With any kind of luck they will not figure it out until we get on the train at Penn Station and head to Washington.

And then their brains will probably explode, and they will start asking about what we are going to see, will we see the stuff from the movies, etc.  That's how they roll.  My nephew will be excited and asking a million questions, and my niece will be Snapchatting  and Instagraming (are they words? They are now!) the whole experience for all of her friends back in Texas.  She's the social media queen.

TTFN, Friends.  I've got to finish getting my act together for our imminent departure.  If you're just dying to know how this all plays out, you can follow along on our adventure via Twitter.  I'm @tammyshampoo and I will be updating there.

In Which We Go To See Heffron Drive

(aka I May Be the Most Awesome Aunt Ever!)

**This is going to be kind of long, and there are pictures.  You've been warned.**

Hey Friends.

So I took my niece to see Heffron Drive at the Studio at Webster Hall last night.  If you need a recap on things leading up to the grand event, see the previous post.  I'm not linking you to it -- you can get your scroll on and find it yourselves, I have faith in you.

The plan for the day -- and I did have one -- was simple:  I go to work for half the day, pick up my niece and hop on the train, walk to the concert, do the Meet & Greet and enjoy the concert, walk back to Grand Central, catch the train home and we are done.  Easy peasy, right?  I thought so, until reality kicked in and all of my planning was for naught.

The morning was the usual.  Had my coffee, work was hectic, but everyone showed up and I got to leave on time.  I was a little worried someone would call in or be late and screw things up, but fortunately that didn't happen.

However, my awesome plan did not really account for all that much time between leaving work and catching the train, and that would be the moment when the flaws in my plan started to arise.

Stupid traffic!  It took me longer than anticipated to get home.  Literally had enough time to feed the cats (because they are the most important -- just ask them), freshen up, grab the tickets and head out.  In my haste, I grabbed my portable charger but neglected to grab the connector to actually hook it up to my phone, which I did not realize at the time.  This will become relevant later on.

We made the train with literally 5 minutes to spare.  I was starving, since I hadn't eaten and my super planning skills had neglected time for that, but whatever.  We should get to Grand Central around 3:45-ish and I can grab something there before we head out.  I'd like to give a big thank you to Metro-North and the Hudson Line for running on time with no delays.  I hate being late, and was still freaking over my poor planning thus far, so that would not have been good.

Lili (my niece) was all kinds of excited about going to New York City and seeing the concert, but was doing her best to reign it in.  Even though we were on an "Express" train, she didn't seem to realize that it was going to take quite so long to get there.  You're going from one end of the commuter line to the other, kid.  That's going to take a while.  She did enjoy the decor of our car.

Apparently it is very important -- to someone -- that no one put their feet on the seats.  Many people ignored that.  Lili also wanted to know why they needed a sign to tell people that they should not assault the train staff.  Good question, Lil.

We got to Grand Central, grabbed some food and headed out, as I figured we could eat while we walked.  I had Google-mapped it (Is that a word?  It is now.) before and it should be about 1.5 miles.  Totally doable.  Me being me, however, I decided that I should pull up Google Maps on my phone and have it going as we walked, just in case.  No way was I going to get us lost and/or axe-murdered as my mother thought.  That would a) suck, and b) lead to the biggest "I Told You So" of all time.

Now, I don't want to blame Google Maps, as the walking directions are in beta, but they failed.  They failed hard.  Maybe it was my phone, I don't know.  I was pretty convinced prior to yesterday that Apple and Sprint are in cahoots to get me to upgrade my phone, but I wasn't expecting this nonsense.  The map on my phone kind of went berserk.  It could not keep up with where we were walking, and kept telling me to turn onto streets we had already passed.  The Meet & Greet started at 5pm, so at 4:20 I declared the walking portion of our adventure over and we took a cab. 

We got to the venue and got in line.  It wasn't that hot out even though we were standing in the sun, but you would think we were on the surface of the sun from the amount of bitching about it being too hot and people's hair getting ruined that was going on around us.  Unfortunately, it must also have been garbage day in the near future, as there were many bags lining the sidewalk.  Let's just say Lili got to experience the smell of New York on a summer's day.  It also killed any thought I had of eating my sandwich, so that just went into the garbage.  I'll eat after the concert, eventually.

We were between two groups of young ladies.  The girls in front of us had apparently been to many, many Meet & Greets, and to listen to them talk they were the experts on such things.  The longer we waited in line past 5pm, the more they hypothesized how it was all going to play out.  They compared it to having met Big Time Rush, One Direction, and a couple of other groups -- one of which had something to do with people arriving on a fire truck?  I don't know.  They were friendly though, and one of them complimented Lili on the James Maslow "Save The Music" t-shirt she was wearing.

Some ladies somewhere behind us in line had apparently met Kendall and Dustin (Heffron Drive, for those who were too lazy to click the link at the beginning of this post) several times before, as we overheard their conversation, and they were analyzing every previous meeting.  I mean, it was an in-depth discussion about where Kendall had put his arm around the one girl each time they had previously met.  The first couple times it was apparently around her waist, but the last time it was around her shoulders.  Did that mean he thought they were friends?  Oh!  Maybe it meant he remembered her and liked her as more than a friend! Same discussion for Dustin's arm placement. We didn't turn around to look and see who was talking, but I raised an eyebrow at that discussion, and Lili just gave me a look.  I'm going to hazard a guess that the gentlemen in question have no freaking clue they are in such an involved relationship with these ladies.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Finally, blessedly, we got our tickets checked and were given wristbands.  By the time we made it inside it was a little after 6pm.  People were getting antsy since they had been waiting.  Lili was super about the whole thing and never complained once.  My coffee had long since worn off, and I was starting to get a bit tired having been on my feet for the majority of the last 10 hours.  However, inside was fantastic!  Even if we ended up in the back, there was literally not a bad place to be.  No matter where you ended up standing you were going to have an awesome view of the stage.  Lili and I are both relatively tall, and there were a lot of shorter ladies there, so as long as we stood behind some short people we should be golden.

This was taken from the line for the Meet & Greet.  The stage is right there.  Impossible not to have a great view.

Neither of us had ever been to a Meet & Greet before, so we had no clue what to expect. We had already bought autographed copies of the cd at the merchandise table while in line.  I had a copy of Happy Mistakes Unplugged already, and had brought it with me just in case.  Lili realized people were getting autographs as well as pictures, so I gave her the poster from my cd to  get signed.  I opted not to get anything signed.  Yeah.  I get super-awkward and shy at the least opportune moments, a point which will come up again!  This would also be the time when I realized my phone was at about 20% of its battery, went to use my handy charger and realized that I forgot the connector.  Shit.

Lili went first when it was our turn to meet them.  The kid is made of awesome, and she just bounded on up there -- even kicking her foot up in the air when she hugged them..  She got the poster autographed, and her picture?  Totally precious!

I know I'm biased, but she's freaking adorable!  Kendall and Dustin are pretty darn adorable as well.

And then it was my turn.  I had hoped to be charming, witty, humorous, or at least calm and normal about it all.  Remember how I said I get awkward at inopportune moments?  Yeah, that happened.  I introduced myself to each of them when I got a hug, cause it seemed kind of weird (at least in my head) not to do so.  And then, because it is me, the woman taking the pictures said my picture came out orange. Say what?  It totally did.  I think she was willing to try again, and the guys seemed like they were willing to pose for another photo....and instead I said something about it being okay and I could fix it with a filter on Instagram. Yeah.  That happened.  Kendall was really sweet and said it looked like it had a Soap Opera filter, and I mumbled something about having to find my niece.  Told you the awkwardness would be back.  I really didn't want to impose and take up too much of their time.  I knew there was still a long line of people waiting, some of them being really excited about it, and I didn't want to lose my niece in the crowd.

Here's my picture,  Not quite as adorable as my niece, and this is after trying to remove the orangeness.  Soap Opera filter it is.

Lili, and several other people,  sat on the floor while we waited for the concert to begin, after we picked out our spots.  I didn't.  I just wanted to make sure no one stepped on her.

The concert was fantastic!  I only wanted a few pictures, and luckily managed to get them in before my phone died completely.

Janet Devlin, the opening act.  She was really good.

Heffron Drive

Lili took more pictures and a few videos during her favorite songs. Nothing crazy.

Some of the other people?  Never put their freaking phones down.  At all.  I don't get this particular phenomenon.  I kept glancing at one of the girls in front of me a bit, as she seemed to be watching the majority of the concert through the view of her phone.  I understand you want to record your memory of the concert, document it for all posterity, but I really don't get it.  The view is much better if you actually look away from your phone and look at the stage.  Maybe she was just really into filming it and making sure things stayed focused properly -- I don't know. You are at the concert.  They are mere feet away from you.  Why watch it on a tiny screen rather than raise your eyes?  

After the concert we took a cab back to Grand Central.  My phone was dead.  As we had failed to navigate our way there in the daylight I did not even want to attempt it in the dark. I had also lost part of the ability to hear in my right ear, as the chick next me was screaming the entire concert at some inhuman frequency. We arrived to discover that we had missed one train by about 2 minutes.  Now we had about an hour to kill.

I decided that it was time to finally get something to eat.  Not a lot of options left at 10pm, at least that weren't super busy with long lines.  We could not risk missing our train, as it was literally going to be the last one going back to Poughkeepsie that night.  Camping out in Grand Central was not going to happen.  We had pretzels.  That was my awesome, and only, meal of the day.  I got a coffee around 10:30, and Lili wanted a cannoli.  Sure thing, kid!  We've got about an hour and a half train ride ahead of us, so getting wired on sugar isn't going to be a problem. 

Sitting on the floor, waiting for our train.  I was so done with the day by this point.

We finally got on the train and headed for home.  I feel the need to specify that we were not in a quiet car.  Everyone was just relaxing and chatting amongst themselves.  There was a family with a bunch of kids/teenagers sitting in the front of our car.  They weren't being loud, just talking and being excited.  This woman on the other side of the car yells at them to shut the f@*k up.  One of the teens yells back to watch her language, and that they weren't being loud.  The woman yelled back, other passengers yelled at her to shut up.  I really thought Lili was going to get a first-hand demo of why there were signs up about not assaulting the staff.  Luckily the woman shut up.

We chatted the whole way back, while Lili posted to Instagram and texted her friends.  She had a fantastic time!  It came up that I had never seen Big Time Rush on television, and had only heard of them because of her.  She informed me that it was, "really funny, and we can probably find it On Demand, or Netflix, or Hulu.  You'll like it!"  So I have a feeling that a viewing is in my near future.

But the best part?  She told me, complete with a little smile, that Kendall had always been her favorite, and she can't believe she got to meet him and hear him sing.

And that moment?  That made the whole thing -- complete with all of my awkwardness -- worth it.  I'm relatively sure Heffron Drive is now her favorite band in the universe, and Kendall has stolen her heart.  

My mother informed me (my niece and nephew are staying at my parents' house, not at my place since I have to work) that any time they were in the car today Lili played her new Heffron Drive cd for them.   I was just happy to wake up with my hearing back in my right ear before dragging myself off to work.  

I still haven't told Lili that she gets to go see Taylor Swift in concert.  No offense to T-Swift, but I don't think it is going to be nearly as memorable as Heffron Drive.  

**Edited to add:  Video Lili shot of the concert, which she allowed me to post on Twitter since she doesn't have an account.**

@HeffronDrive From Webster Hall 7/1/15 pic.twitter.com/0BwsWkbbE9

— Tammy Myers (@tammyshampoo) July 6, 2015

Different Perspectives, One Concert

Hey, Friends.  So remember that surprise I was planning for my niece?  (Probably not, but I'm going to pretend that you do if you are reading this. It works much better than realizing I am, for the most part, talking to myself here.)  Well, I still haven't told her about it, but in the meantime a second surprise has come along for her -- and I am so excited about it!

I don't know about you, but I have a pretty wide range of music that I like.  If I'm being completely honest, Country is about the only type I really just can't get too excited about.  It's okay, but I have never once felt the overwhelming urge to just turn on a Country station and listen.  I like a few songs, but I really can't get into it -- that's just me.  I'm willing to give pretty much anything a shot, though. When suggestions of bands I might like pop up on Spotify or Twitter, for example, I'm game to check them out.  I've found a few bands I really like that way, although I would be hard-pressed now to tell you exactly when, where, or how I first stumbled across them.

One such band that I found in this manner is Heffron Drive.  I fell in love with their music immediately.  You should check them out if you haven't yet had the pleasure of listening to their albums.  I also started following them on Twitter, to keep up with concert announcements, new music -- you know how it works.

What does this have to do with my niece and a surprise?  I'm getting to it, but it's a round-about story.

Back to how I like to explore the "suggested" bands that pop up.  A few months ago I noticed on Spotify that it kept suggesting that I might also like Big Time Rush.  I liked their music when I gave it a listen.   I had no idea who they were, although the name sounded vaguely familiar and I couldn't place why.  I had to Google it, of course.

And then I felt silly.  Of course they sounded vaguely familiar -- my niece had mentioned them before. I had no clue that it had been a huge television show/band hybrid thing on Nickelodeon.  One of these days I will have to catch an episode of the show to check it out.  I'm kind of intrigued to see how the music and the show fit together.

Which brings us back to the recent past.  I had seen on Twitter that Heffron Drive was going to be playing a concert in New York City.  Hell yeah!  I am so there.  I don't give a rat's ass if I have to go by myself, I will be going to that concert.  Music is music.  If you like it, then go support the artists so they can keep making it.

And then I had a stroke of brilliance.

My brother, my niece, and my nephew just arrived here on Friday for vacation.  Maybe my niece would like to go with me.  I brought the idea up with my brother.

Me: Does Lili still like Big Time Rush?
Brother: You mean BTR?
Me: I take it that's a yes.

He was cool with the plan for her to go to the concert with me.  My niece was all kinds of excited for going, especially once I told her that I had gotten tickets that included the Meet & Greet.  She knows BTR, but she is only now becoming familiar with Heffron Drive since I told her she was going to the concert.

My mother?  Not happy with these plans.  She is convinced I am going to get us completely lost or get her granddaughter axe-murdered by taking her to New York City.  Some highlights from the conversation:

"Your brother is okay with this?"
"What if you get lost?"
"Do you know what kind of a nervous wreck I am going to be?"
"I'm not worried about you getting there -- I'm worried about you wandering around in the dark afterward."

Seriously?  I'm slightly offended.  I'm a responsible adult.  I have a job, I own a home.  Most importantly, I would f$%king die before I let anything happen to my niece.  Of course, this is also the woman who would not let my brother and I ride a Ferris Wheel -- ever -- when we were little because she had read a news article about one that fell apart at a fair somewhere.  She was slightly more perturbed when my father also had no problem with this plan.

I had to swear that I would have my best friend, who has worked in the city for years, on speed dial in case we have a problem.  My friend found the situation amusing, and even said that I should tell my mother that she said we would be completely fine.  Don't think it made much of a difference.

Long story short: this is happening. Surprise #2 for my niece this summer will be happening on Wednesday. I'm stoked to see Heffron Drive perform, and my niece is excited about getting to see Kendall from Big Time Rush.  Two different perspectives on the same concert.  I'm sure it will be awesome!

Because I Want to Be the Coolest Aunt EVER!

Friends, I know I have been a horrible slacker about updating this lately.  I apologize.  I have lots that I have meant to post, but things have been a bit hectic lately, and this little blog took the hit in terms of time management.  Now, after almost a month of nothing I'm back, and I'm going to be asking for your help with brainstorming ideas for a surprise for my niece.

Don't worry -- it won't impact the surprise, as she doesn't know this little blog exists.  Any ideas you can give me will only make the surprise that much better.

So, little bit of back story...

See the little green circle down there in Texas?  That's where my niece lives. I'm at the black circle up in New York.

So, my niece and her family live way down in Texas,  and I live way up in New York, in the Hudson Valley.  Every summer my niece and nephew come up to visit for about a month, and stay with my parents.  I love it when they are here, and I spend as much time as possible with them when I am not working (which is why they can't stay at my house, except maybe for a night here or there).  

Last summer a series of events left my niece out of a couple cool events.  My best friend and I had gone to an all-day concert here, and my niece was pretty bummed that she hadn't been here to go as well since she really liked all of the groups that had been performing.  While she was up here, my sister-in-law won tickets to a cool concert back in Texas, so my niece missed out on both ends.  She didn't ever really complain, but I could tell she was really bummed out about the way things had played out.

I decided right then that I was going to find a concert to take her to this summer that would be awesome and make her forget what she missed out on last summer. 

I had been searching around for months, looking for concerts that were coming to the area when she should be up here visiting.  Sadly, concert announcements don't come out nearly as far in advance as I was looking.

Then, one day, it happened.  It was kismet, fate, destiny -- whatever name you want to give it.  The perfect concert that would blow her mind, and it was happening when she should be up here visiting, and I already had vacation time from work that day so I didn't need to worry about getting the day off. The stars aligned and it all was too perfect to ignore.

TAYLOR SWIFT

METLIFE STADIUM

JULY 10

Yes!!  Hell yeah, this was perfect!  Who wouldn't want to see T-Swift live?  I was practically bouncing in my seat with delight at what a perfect surprise this was going to be.

Which brings us to the present, and why I need your help.

Obviously I checked with my brother to make sure she would be here to go.  I got tickets for my niece, myself, and my best friend -- you do not go to see Taylor Swift without taking your best friend.  At least not in my opinion.

We have tickets.  Since I work in a public library and I am not independently wealthy, they are not remotely close to the stage.  Like we are probably up in the nosebleed section somewhere.  I've had that experience before -- going to a huge concert and sitting far up and away from the action.  It was still a good show, but having to look down at the stage kind of through the light rigging made it a little less than awesome.  I really don't want my niece to be bummed out when she realizes we are not going to be right down front-and-center of the action.

So, to counteract any possible disappointment at our seats (at least as much as possible), I want to make it all into a huge surprise so she has no idea where we are going.  This, friends, is where I need your help coming up with ideas.

My niece is very cool.  If I just told her to pack a bag and get in the car because the two of us were going on an adventure?  She'd be down for that, no questions asked.  Well...probably some questions out of excitement, but she would totally go.

I want to make this epic in its awesomeness!  It's killing me not to just tell her about this because I know how happy and excited she is going to be.  

I NEED A PLAN TO MAKE THIS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!

A friend suggested making a scrapbook for her, filled with different pictures of Taylor Swift, and giving it to her with the tickets stuck in the back.  It's a good idea.  I could also see my niece thinking, "That's great, Aunt Tammy.  You made me like a creepy-stalker book about Taylor Swift.  Thanks!" before she ever made it to the last page.

Another friend really liked the scrapbook idea, but she suggested tweaking it slightly and leaving a few blank spaces (Ha!  Blank Space, get it?) in the back for pictures we take at the concert, the concert ticket, etc.  Another person added that it shouldn't just be pictures of Taylor Swift, but random ones of my niece and I mixed in as well, to try and get her wondering what was going on.

Help me out here, folks.  What would be the most epic, awesome, special way to surprise a 12 year old with the fact that she was going to a Taylor Swift concert?  

The only part of the plan I have right now is to get video of the moment I spring the surprise on her, and post it to Instagram.  She and her friends are all on there, and I love Instagram...some might say a little too much.  (Feel free to add me!)

Hit me up with your ideas, please!  I don't care how crazy, insane, boring, weird you might think that they are.  I've got a few months to put this plan into action.  I'm hoping that the collective brain power here will help me make this a truly magical experience for her.

Thanks in advance for your help.  You all rock!