I don't even know how to start this blog... because honestly, on the happiness scale (ten being the happiest ever... like Captain Jack Sparrow/You/Deserted Island type deal) I'd say this story puts me at about a 15. Seriously. Yesterday was the best day I've ever had. Best ever. After ten years of Hanson love... it finally happened. (No, I didn't bag a hanson... that would have been an 1187 on the happiness scale). Okay, the usuals: The Infamous Infallible Insane Steph's: 
And these wonderful boys right here: 
Okay, to start this story off, let me remind you that after ten years of loving these boys, Hanson had FINALLY decided to make a trip to our home state... and not only did they FINALLY come to the home state, they came to the hometown. Hanson in the 'Ham, good times. So, of course, being the INSANE girls that we are, we get the word OUT. "If you know ANYONE that knows ANYONE that works at workplay, we NEED THE HOOK-UP!" We must have said this to about ten thousand people.
Well, as the concert continued to approach and we STILL had NOTHING we decided to type an email to the radio station begging for backstage passes or a way we could win backstage passes or something. Well, the fates aligned. I woke up Friday at 5PM because I had worked the night before and had to work that night and checked my email and had one that said "Today from 2:45 until 5:45 you can enter to win some online as many times as you want" Of course we had little time so I got on the phone with Steph who was at work and told her to get the lead out. So we go, and register and enter... and it will only let us enter once. So we call EVERYONE we can think of and beg them to enter. Okay, so they are going to announce the winners at 5:50. Steph is at work so she can't listen so I sit at the computer with it tuned to the radio station.... "Congratulations to our Hanson Meet and Greet Winner "Caitlin" *awwww man" Inman *What!? YAAAAAAY*." You see, Caitlin is our friend at work who entered for us! Can you believe it!? So we both (Caitlin and I) email the radio station to ask if she can give the tickets and passes to us and we find out Sunday night that she can! I don't know if we could have been any happier. I'm telling you... it was CRAZINESS.
Okay, so day of, surprisingly I find myself not nervous. It's weird. I honestly can't believe how calm and semi-collected I feel. Stephanie agrees that she also feels this way. Weird. Hopefully it will stay this way. So, I get a call from the Q in the am and they tell me to be at WORKPLAY by 615 because the Meet and Greet starts at 630. No prob.
So here is where I will mention that in every city Hanson does a one mile walk in support of povery/AIDS in africa. They walk barefoot and then sell shoes at the end and for every pair of shoes sold one pair goes to a child in africa. It's a really good cause. Well, Steph and I decided to take the walk with Hanson in Bham. What could be cooler than strolling with Hanson in our own stomping ground? Turns out, nothing.
Well, as many of you know, ALL SUMMER LONG we have been on drought alert here in Bham. "Don't wash your car. Don't water your lawn. Use your bathwater a couple of times before you throw it out". That type of thing. I mean, NO RAIN. Well, would you believe that for the day of the walk the forecast says 80percent chance of all day thunderstorms and downpour? Mother Nature must have a beef with me because she ALWAYS does this to me.
Well, the walk is scheduled for 3 and Steph and I decided to chance it. We go over to the Fish Market and have some lunch then head over to workplay about 230 and wait. It's raining pretty good when we leave the fish market, but the heavens decide to smile on us, the second we walk up to workplay the rain mysteriously disappears (sure it leaves behind a multitude of humidity but I am not complaining). So a little after three hanson comes out there front door where about 150 ppl are waiting I guess. Not too many but a good showing for a mile walk in the rain. They do a spill where they explain why we are walking and then we set off. Now, believe it or not, it's actually REALLY easy to get up next to them. I found it very surprising how much so. So Stephanie quickly gets up with Isaac who is her favorite and he ask her name and shakes her hand and all of that and she ask him to take a pic with her. He agrees so she quickly snaps a photo. And what a GOOD shot it was. 
They are so cute together.
So, after we walk with Ike (and offer our extra tickets to a girl who said she didn't have any and the show was sold out. We let her have them for free. We are good samaratins.) a little while we skip ahead and find ourselves with Zac. Now after all of this time of us thinking Zac was a meanie (I think I actually called him Dr. Douche Baggington - because he was so Douchey he has his PhD in Douche-ology) and I gladly eat those words. He was the NICEST person. He was SO nice to us. Seriously. What a cutie. (Actually what a hottie, and I do not feel like a perv saying this, he turned 22 yesterday. Yep it was his bday) He talked to us a good bit. He asked Stephanie where we were and she replied "The Ghetto". He laughed and was like, 'The Ghetto?" Might I add that we were actually in one of the nicest parts of Bham. If we had walked the OTHER way then yes, we would have been in the Ghetto, but we on Campus practically at this point. He asked if our names and did the usual "Oh, so you are both Stephanie." Yes, we are. Awesome. And he talked to us a bit and recorded us for some thing they are doing and then for a little while we lost him but we kept walking and video and goofing off.
Well after a bit we walk in front of where Steph and I work. Steph casually says, "We should call up to work and tell everyone to look down and wave." and suddenly we hear zac say, "Where do you guys work?" And we tell him UAB and then I say, "Actually let's not call work seeing as how I called in sick today." And he laughed and said, "Hey, your sick." and something to they effect of we'll vouch for you and then he says about how I can tell then I was walking for a good cause and he tells the whole spill again and says, "You can remember all of that can't you?" and Steph says, "When we get the pink slip we'll call you." and I say, "Yeah, when I get fired that'll be a great story to tell." Also somewhere in there Steph tells him about how we are glad they are in Bham because we've seen then ten times and had to drive across country every time and all. 
We walk with Zac more and then get up by Taylor some and by the Kirkclin clinic they stop and talk for a while as we wait for the rest of the group to come because Ike's posse is lagging behind. 
I turn and see Ike 'power walking/running' up the sidewalk to catch up and I get a great laugh out of the fact that he is running like a girl to match the girl shirt he has on. 
I shouldn't be so mean... but it WAS freaking hilarious.
Okay, we walk more, talk more... blah blah... there is still SO much to tell so I'll cut it short... the walk was AWESOME. We got some GREAT video. It was so cool to walk the streets you walk EVERYDAY with people that you've loved for ten years AND it's for a great cause. It was the best.
Okay, so it's about 4pm when the walk is over and we have to be back at the venue preferably by 6 so we head back to my APT to fix ourselves... because you should have SEEN what we wore to the walk... you'd have thought we just left a UAB pep rally ... I can't believe we chill with Hanson looking like we did. I had a UAB tee with a UAB jacket and Steph was TOTALLY decked in her stained tiny green shorts that say UAB across the butt, her UAB teeshirt. UAB jacket and UAB backpack. It was sooo weird. (And they STILL asked if we were from bham.) So of course we have to do COMPLETE damage control before the meet and greet backstage fun. Oh, and by the way, we did NOT walk barefoot. I don't trust the streets of Birmingham.
Okay, we change... blah blah... make it back to the venue walk past everyone to the door and tell them our names (which were on a guest list) and they tell us to go in to the back and sit on the black leather couch. I have to admit I felt really cool passing everyone standing in the rain waiting to get in to go to the back and have a seat on a comfy couch. I'm not going to lie, it felt pretty awesome. So we sat there for a while waiting on time and then finally the other few winners arrive and then we all get in line and head backstage. I've never been backstage at a concert before so it felt really cool. We are geeks...we felt Primo.... I can't deny it. So when we reach the area where they are we get broken into two groups. One group of six and one of five. We were in the seconds group of five. So we watch the other group go over and get their shirts that they are wearing signed and then the winners all take a photo together of them with Hanson and then after a bit they walk off and then it's our turn. Well it just so happened to turn out that in our group Stephanie and I were the only 'winners'. The other people in our group were radio people who were kinda just there to be there. So we have them to ourselves! It was great! Okay, so we walk over. Ike shakes my hand and says, "I'm Isaac" and I think well duh christmas and then we kind of move down the line and Steph and I settle ourselves by Taylor and Zac and Taylor says something to the effect of do you want something signed... I don't remember and I say, "Well, I kind of like this shirt so I'm gonna go with this." and hand Zac my CD cover. And Zac gets in on my 'joke' and starts in with people wanting like really nice shirts and things signed and how he really doesn't get it and I say, "Yeah, here's a twenty" and he's like Right! And then Taylor interrupts to ask me what my name is and how to spell it but Zac continues with the convo to Steph about how if they sign money at least even if it's never worth something because of them at least it will still be worth something because it's still money. So, I tell Taylor how to spell Stephanie and he tried to pass the thing to Ike to sign and after he hits Ike with it a couple of times and he doesn't take it he just ask me to hold it and then ask Stephanie what her name is. He then ALSO says, "Oh, you are both Stephanie." I swear, one of us is going to have to change her name. Also, Ike accidently dropped Steph's cd cover when he was giving it back to her and she says, "Well don't throw it at me!" All jokey and he just looked blank... I'm glad at least Zac gets our jokes.
Okay then Taylor says, "Okay, let's take a picture with the winners." and since we are the only two that won passes left we get to have a pic of just us and Hanson! Which is great!!! Stephanie got next to Taylor but I got between Zac and Ike so I was happy with that. It was FREEZING back there and they both felt so warm. It was nice. They took two pics with our camera and we all started to disperse but the radio people said, "Wait! Let's get one with the radio camera" so we walk back and I was like, "Just kidding everyone. False alarm." and the took another and it turned out to be my favorite of the pics. It worked out perfectly because Stephanie looks great standing next to Taylor and Zac and I looked good next to each other as far as heights and all go. Here is the awesome pic. This is the radio one: Which I know you've seen but see it again.
We finish and then wait while the radio people do their thing and Zac walks over to where we are and thanks us again and tells us it was really nice to meet us. He was SO NICE. And then as they get ready to leave Stephanie says so them, "I know this is short notice but you guys have to play Sweet Home Alabama. It's what everyone does." And Taylor says, "Yeah." Like laughing and then asks, "Does everyone really do that?" and I say, "Yeah, it's kind of a staple." And steph says, "Just play the opening riff. That'll do it." and Zac laughs. And then they thank us again and we follow some guys around backstage and off to the floor because we got to get into the concert before everyone else and pick where we wanted to be. We chose up top because their we some violent people already in the front that shoved Steph around and because in the balcony you can see great and you get to SIT. And we are old. We confirmed we were the oldest people at the walk.
Okay, so the concert was amazing! Something about seeing them in your hometown for the first time. It was sooooo good. We only had one hitch in the whole thing. And we shall call this Hitch "Video Natzi." Let's just say, Steph got 'in trouble' three times and two of those times were the stupidest things ever. One time Stephanie got up to go to the bathroom, something we had already done once and it was fine the first time. Well, she comes back to the table and suddenly some giant of a woman is over her yelling at her. And I mean yelling. Very meanly. She was like, "We have to see your armband! There were a ton of us yelling at you and you just ran by!" And Steph said, "I didn't hear you." And she was like, "Yeah right." Steph actually didn't hear her. Steph wears ear plugs at concerts to protect her hearing AND it was really loud. She had an armband so why try and get away? The second time she told Steph not to use video and we get that. So we can't. Well the third time Steph is holding her regular camera taking regular shots and the woman comes up AGAIN and says, "Still shots only, hon." and Steph said, "That's what I'm doing. Look!" And showed her and the woman looked down at her like, "Yeah right." It was crazy. She was going around bothering everyone. Get a life. You may remember tales of "grannie bitch" well G.B. was tame compared to this woman.
During the show at some point we suddenly hear the opening riff to Sweet Home Alabama. Then after the very beginning Ike says, "Just kidding." It was great!!! They did it! I can't believe it. I was sitting on the edge directly where Zac could see. (He'd seen us before) He looked up and make eye contact and smiled like "ha". It was great. (Maybe I imagined that last part, but I don't think so.) Either way, they did the Sweet Home riff. Legendary.
As I mentioned it was Zac's bday so of course he got a cake showed in his face... which they all ate off of the floor... someone give them some food if they are that desperate.... Okay, so for the last song they have their opening band come back out since it was their last show on this tour (the opening bands last show, not hansons) and do an awesome song... and during the song the stage crew comes out and starts taking apart Zac's drums! They must have a time limit for when the place closes and Hanson was running over. It was like a lengthy oscar speech and the music was playing. Hanson kept going while they took it apart.
At any rate... I doubt anyone made it this far... I had a lot to say, but all in all, it was the BEST EXPERIENCE EVER. Totally worth the ten year wait. We acted normal. We didn't freeze up or get too stupid... and they were SO SWEET. It was the greatest. It really was. We couldn't have asked for a better time. I'll be living off of this high for a long time.
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