Sorry guys, just got a chance to sit down and read all your posts.
JoAnn Glad to hear that Ken is doing well. You guys have been in our thoughts all week. And if he runs the NYC Marathon, you can tell him that we will DEFINITELY be there TO CHEER HIM ON!!!!!! I believe it is usually the first Sunday in November. Also, congrats to Jess.
Jenny Sounds like Mallory had a great time, and I am sure she is a beautiful model, can't wait to see the photos, you will have to email some to us. She is sooooo cute!
Lucy Never even hear of Ollie's, is it like a Target????
I have been real busy at work, did 2 birthday parties last week, one on Friday, one on Sunday (with 24 kids - just shoot me). I have an All Day Crop this Saturday that I am vending at, and I am doing an Expo in the middle of April that is 2 days in NJ. Hopefully I will make some $$$ at that.
Briana had competition up at Fordham in the Bronx on Saturday, her team didn't do too well, they did better at CYO 2 weeks ago.
OK, and now for my concert news. Let me tell you what an awesome concert it was, he played from 8:00 until about 11:45, no intermission. Only played 1 song from his new album, opened up with "Sixty Years On" (how appropriate) and played a lot of old tunes, and stuff I have never heard him play in concert. Bill Clinton introduced him, the audience went wild. I wonder if it was our current president, would the reaction have been the same. Robin Williams came out and did a little thing, and Whoopi Goldberg joined him. I was a little disappointed that there were no other musical guests to join him a few songs, but other than that the show was great....
Now to the good (and bad, but not so bad) parts. I had made this giant sized poster card for him, said HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY ELTON IN 5" red letters on the front and was totally decorated inside and out. I had all these big plans to give it to him, since we were sitting on the floor, I figured it would be a piece of cake. We were in the 2nd section on the floor, which was barricaded, so we tried to get into the front section, but they wouldn't let us. Security was extremely tight, and no one was allowed to get to the front of the stage to give him ANYTHING. He wasn't even signing autographs (which he always does). I think the tight security may have had something to do with Clinton being there and Secret Service, but whatever. So I resolved myself, and we (my cousin Annmarie and I) asked one of the guards if he could give it to him, and he said he couldn't, they were not allowed. At this point, I kind of lost it and started to cry (real tears, not fake)
while Annmarie went into the bathroom. So I am standing by the entranceway to the front section, where all the VIPs are sitting, all the people with BSP (backstage passes), and people are walking by me, back and forth. Finally, this really nice, very good looking, young British guy stops and asks me "Are you alright". I told him I wasn't and he asked me what was the matter. I say, it's stupid, but then proceed to tell him how I am a huge fan of Elton's for 35 years, and I made this card (showed him the card) and now I couldn't give it to him, and all I wanted was for Elton to have it, and how I felt like a blubbering idiot at the age of 47. So he says to me "Oh, I'm a good friend of Elton's, I can give it to him for you". I say, "No way, you're s*****g me", he said, no he really is friends with Elton. So he tells me to wait there and he'll be right back. Then Annmarie comes out of the bathroom, I tell her the whole story, she says "Do you think it's for real". I said yes. So Ed (we find his name out) comes back and takes the poster, and then the guard comes over and tells him he absolutely cannot take it. He apologizes, we say thank you, I go to throw the card in garbage, but Annmarie takes it out and tells me no....glad I didn't throw it away, here's why.....
I am a little disappointed, but feel ok, because I think Ed may tell Elton about the card. Anyway, after the show we are with some other friends that we have to meet to go back home. So I call Sam, and she tells me that they are waiting on 31st between 7th and 8th, which is the back entrance to the Garden, and all the celebs come out that way. Supposedly EJ is coming out there, lots of people waiting, cops, paparrazi, so it's possible. So Annmarie and I head over there, and start talking with the cops, show him my card, and he tells us to wait by the other door because Elton was going to come over there. We didn't believe him at first, but went anyway. Then all the VIPs start coming out. We met Ed again, and he was with some other friends, and said to them "Oh, these are the girls I told you about", so he had already told people about us....good sign. Then I met another VIP guy (didn't get his name) who saw my card and took a picture with his cell phone of the front and inside and told me Elton was going to get it (as he got into his lim). We also saw Elizabeth Hurley (she is beautiful) get into her car right next to us, as well as Liv Tyler. Then all of a sudden, somebody says "HERE HE COMES" And out walks Elton John, and now there he is about 5 feet in front of me, face to face. Now the cops had put up one of those blue barricades (which you know I was already on the other side of) so I held up my card and tried to give it to him. He looked straight at Annmarie and I, smiled and said "I'm sorry I can't take it." But he saw it and he spoke to me....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....
Closest I ever got to him, it will have to do for now. All I had to do was take 5 steps and I would have been able to shake his hand, but with my luck I would have been arrested, and I really didn't want to end the night like that. It was just enough for me. Of course, we got some pictures during the concert, but not of that. Annmarie has a dark picture because her flash didn't go off and my camera had died.
I know, I am rambling, but there is more. After EJ got into his black SUV (no limo), a British woman started talking to me, asked me if I was a fan, I showed her the card, and she started writing. She was a reporter from the British newspaper, The Standard, which I believe is a big paper in London,
Lynn help me out here. She interviewed me and Annmarie and took our names, where we lived and ages. So
Lynn I am not sure if you get that paper or have access to it, but if you do can you check for me, and send me a copy of the article. I would believe it would be in the paper this week, if not already yesterday.
So that is my exciting story, I am still kind of on Cloud 9. Although I didn't actually touch him or get an autograph, I think I can say that I met him, does it count.
Well you guys asked for it, I don't talk for weeks, then I go on and on and on.
Debi
OH! I will be gone Sat-Mon. It's baseball season!!! I will only be on Fri, Tues-Friday.......
BIG son has off, unfortunately, Friday, Sat., Sun, and Mon.!!!! Thank goodness he is working next Tuesday thru the following Monday, but those days he is HOME, I'm worried. AND, this morning, the hot water heater was acting funky - we can't win, can we?
My kids have never really expressed interest in playing, so I haven't really studied the game. What's most interestingis that the university right here in town has won MANY NCAA championships. (Lynn that is the what the colleges in our country participate in, making them one of the top colleges in the nation for soccer). I went to see a game once, but that's my limit. 
