And then he kissed me!

SHAMELESS! That’s what I am for such a teaser title with absolutely no basis in reality.

SHAMELESS!

Okay, let me back up a bit. Friday night was quite possibly one of the best nights of my life so far. That’s saying a lot, I’ve had some great nights in my life. But on Friday night I attended a New Kids on the Block concert with three of my girl friends, and we had the most amazing time. I’ll spare you the details of a concert review, but I have done a full review for your reading pleasure at Cafe Karina, so feel free to pop on over if you want to know more. Also…there are pictures and video (that's here).

However, besides the fact that the concert was fantastic, my girls and I had a great “girls night out”.
We started partying early on, getting ready together at my house, and kept it going until the WEE hours of the morning. Spirits were high, the energy was through the roof, and we were on cloud nine.

I had gotten all dolled up for the occasion, even wearing my contacts, which I only do about once or twice a year now, and was feeling good. Wearing my “hoochie” gold boots and skinny jeans, I figured I had the “groupie” look down pat. It was the first time in a VERY long time that I actually felt pretty good about how I looked.

The underlying plan, of course, was to somehow sneak backstage and make newly divorced Donnie Wahlberg fall madly deeply in love with me. The back-up plan was to have a kick-arse time and just enjoy the fact that I didn’t feel fat and old for a change.

Thank goodness for the back-up plan, because the Donnie plan? Yeah, that didn’t exactly go as expected. Sigh…

But you want to know about the kiss, don’t you? OH, you’re so going to hate me. It’s so not that exciting.

When we arrived at the concert arena we pretty much made a beeline for the bar, we needed to get our drinks before we took our seats, because we knew once the boys were onstage we would NOT be getting up again. Standing in line for our beer I look up at the bartender and HOLY CRAP if it isn’t a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. A guy who was once a bouncer at a club I frequented regularly in my 20’s with BFF. A guy who I flirted with shamelessly all that time, even though at the time I was very much in love (and very faithful to) The Soulmate (who also happened to be a bouncer at the same bar). This guy, we’ll call him “Missed Opportunity (MO)”, used to always tell me I needed to lose “Soul” and get with him. We joked, because he was friends with Soul, and we never would have acted on it, but there was incredible chemistry between us always. Once Soul and I went our separate ways, I stopped frequenting that bar, so as not to run into Soul, and never saw MO again. Until Friday night. When I reached the front of the line, MO reached across the counter and gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. Genuinely happy to see each other we chatted for a few seconds, before he invited us to another club after the show, where he also bartends. He gave us the “super secret password” to get on the VIP list, and said “I’ll see you later”.

Now, as I was well aware that Plan A of meeting Donnie wasn’t exactly full proof, I was excited at the prospect of a Plan B.

I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s just say that after walking for about an hour, the girls and I were unable to find said club, and gave up and went to another bar instead. Yours truly is still pretty damn disappointed that I missed a chance to reconnect with MO. I’m a firm believer in the “Everything happens for a reason” phenomenon, so I believe that if I was meant to have re-connected with him further, we would have found the damn place. Yet, I’m still kicking myself. DAMN!

Still, it was nice to see him, and much much needed boost to my ego that he seemed as happy to see me, and even invited us out to come see him later. And it might have just been on the cheek, but he did kiss me. I didn’t completely lie to you, did I?

Photo Hunt #31 - View

The Photo Hunter theme this week is View. I could have gone in all different directions with this one, but since my girls and I just went to the New Kids On The Block Reunion Tour concert in Boston last night, and I haven't yet come down off my high from the amazing show they put on, I figured I'd give you all a few shots of our view of the show last night.

The main stage:

At one point in th show the boys moved to a smaller stage in the middle of the audience, so close we could almost reach out and touch them:

If you're interested in hearing more about this show, or seeing more photos, let me know in comments and I'll keep you posted because there is a concert review coming up, and I will share the 200+ photos I'm in the process of uploading right now with anyone who asks.

Also, if you're doing Photo Hunt, that means you love taking photos...I ask you to visit Creative Karina and check out the new meme I'm launching, I'd love for yout to be a part of it with us.

Happy Hunting Y'all!

Quick Update

Just checking in to give you all a quick update. I know I told you my first post would be up at Inspired Bliss today, but there's been a slight delay...I'm not exactly sure when it'll go up, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, you should totally still pop on over there, because my fellow contributors? ARE AMAZING and you MUST read what they have to say.

In the meantime, if you're looking for something to read, I will shamelessly self-promote and direct you to my 500th post here at Candid Karina, if you haven't read it yet...there are giveaways and I'd really like to reach 50 comments on that post...can you help?

Also, do you like photography? Do you like poetry? EITHER? Join me in launching a brand new meme over at Creative Karina, won't you?

Finally, tonight is the NIGHT for me and my girlfriends. It's HUGE! An event of monumental porportions! We've been waiting ALL SUMMER for tonight. What do I mean? Visit Cafe Karina and find out for yourself. ;-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Half-Way to One Thousand!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Candid Karina’s 5ooth Post Celebration.

This is an event of monumental proportions, so we couldn’t let it go by without throwing a grand Gala in its honor. There will be something for everyone here tonight, so please, check your coats, grab a drink and take your seats, the evening’s festivities are about to begin.

I’d like to welcome you all, and take a moment to thank you for coming by. I didn’t want to forget anyone or anything, so I wrote a little something, and hope you’ll bear with me while I go through my thank you’s. I’ve got it here somewhere…ah, yes, here we go.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank God, because how blessed am I to be able to share a piece of me with all of you and have you come back for more? Trully amazing, I think. Next, I want to thank Wil Wheaton, because it was through his blog that I was introduced to the world of blogging. He most definitely does not even have a clue who I am, but it’s all his fault I do what I do here, so a big fat thank you to him.

Next, I want to thank my loyal readers. I’ll start with the ones who have been with me for quite a while now, who’s names I know as well as the ones of my IRL friends, and who have become true friends, regardless of whether we’ve ever met in person. To my “She Who Blogs” buddies, especially our amazing leader Frances, HOLLA! You girls ROCK and gave me my first sense of “community” within the blogging world. I’m so proud to be a part of the gang. I’d also like to give a very special shout out to all the lurkers, you know you’re out there. I know you’re out there because even though I don’t average very many comments per posts, my stats tell me you’re out there, reading. So, thanks, I’m glad you’re here. And finally, a warm welcome to my new readers. I do hope you’ll be back.

I’d like to kick off the festivities with a bit of a look back, a retrospective if you will. It might be fun for those of you who’ve been around to relive some of our best times, and for the newbies, maybe it’ll help you get to know me a bit better.

A quick note to the first timers, anything you ever wanted to know about me can be found in any of these posts (which are also on my sidebar under Candid Close-Up).

Let’s take a look at the highlight reel, shall we?

• My first EVER post, which was actually brought over from my life on a previous blog.


• The 30 posts in 30 Days challenge that brought me to blogging more full-time.


• A bit of self-indulgence.


• Some of my ventures into photography.


• Love Stories


• And I grew into other blogs.

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? While I compose myself and wipe the tears from my eyes, let’s move on to the next part of the evening.

This is the part you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time for the games and prizes. I hope you will all play, it’s so much more fun when everyone participates. For you lurkers, this is your chance to come out of the woodwork, even if just for one night. And anyway, there will be prizes. Two of them to be exact. Here are the rules of the game:

For the first prize, a trio of Body Shop Lip Butters, in Mango, Grapeseed and Coconut, you simply have to leave a comment, letting me know you were here celebrating my 500th with me and answer me this question: How long have you been blogging? That’s it. I will pick a commenter using a randomizer, and they will be the prize winner.

The second prize, a nice gift set from Yankee Candle (with a Gingerbrad and a Christmas Cookie candle...yes, it's a Christmas set, you can start your shopping early), will be yours with a little more work on your part. Now, don’t get nervous, it’s easy enough. Leave a comment, letting me know you were here, celebrating with me, and then let me know what it is you like about my blog. This is important, because I’m fine tuning the way things work around here, so your input will help me tremendously. So, in your comment, I need some positive feedback about your favorite types of posts I do, or even a particularly favorite post, or I will take constructive criticism about posts I may do that just don’t strike your fancy. Tell me what you would like me to write more about, something you would like to know about me, or what makes you come back, or would make you come back more often. Give me ideas, suggestions, and friendly criticism, it’ll all be taken into account. For each “individual” piece of feedback you give me you get ONE entry into the drawing(meaning that if in your comment you give me three suggestions, etc. then you would get three entries. Get it?).

So there you have it…fun and games.

What a fun time we’re having tonight, I sure hope you’re enjoying yourself as much as I am.

Unfortunately, the evening is getting late, and soon it’ll be time to say good night and go our separate ways. But before we do that, it’s time to look to the future. I mean, 500 posts is incredible, no doubt, and throw in two other blogs, with Creative Karina, and Café Karina, and guests appearances at SheWhoBlogs here and there, and wow, I really do have a reason to celebrate. My career as a blogger has been blossoming rather well. I’m very happy with my limited success thus far, and just glad I’ve been able to share myself with you.

BUT, things are getting bigger by the moment. There are grand things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them all with you. So, I thought tonight’s celebration was the perfect moment to do so.

First up, a new meme is launching at Creative Karina next week. I’ve been neglecting that blog, so I thought I needed a little something to get the creative juices flowing. More info. will follow, but I hope you’ll join me, because I think it could be a whole lot of fun. It will be a photo and poetry meme all rolled into one. Click here for all the details.

Next, because Café Karina is also being neglected lately, starting next week I will be featuring more book reviews, movie reviews and now that the new television season has kicked off, you can bet there will be some tv show reviews as well for your reading pleasure.

And finally, the most exciting of all new ventures, is my involvement with Inspired Bliss. You can read all about that in this post, and click on the pretty little "Inspired Bliss" button on my sidebar to be taken to that site. My first post wil be up on Friday!

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of our program. The hour is late, and it is time to shut the lights. I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourself, and please, don’t be a stranger, the door is always open, and we are always happy to see you here. No invitation required. Bt wait, before you got...we have fireworks...

Okay, have a good night, drive safely...Until the next 500th, stay Candid!

Extra, Extra Read All About It!!!

I've got news. I've teased the news a bit here and there, but now I'm ready to tell you all about it. Are you ready?

I'm branching out. I'm taking what I started here at Candid Karina on the road. More specifically, I've become a contributing writer at Blissfully Domestic's brand spankin' new faith channel Inspired Bliss.

When I started blogging a few years ago, I did it because I love to write, and I'd discovered this wonderful new method of getting my written word "out there" for the masses to see. (Okay, in reality its not so much "masses" as it is a handful of you, but whatever...let it slide, won't ya?). The idea that I could do my favorite thing in the world, string words together, and try to make a point, and have complete strangers read it, was irresistible to me.

Over the years I've had great fun blogging, getting to know you all, and expanding my circle in the blogosphere.

Here at Candid Karina, I speak, what else, candidly, about the daily grind, the ups, the downs, the fun, the mundane, my history, and my future.

With Creative Karina I grew a little, creating a space where I could share with you my poetry, fiction and other artistic endeavors.

And then, more recently, with Cafe Karina, I gave myself permission to indulge in my love of all things pop culture.

Although recently life has made regular posting a bit more difficult, I still consider all three of these blogs my home, and my babies, and have great plans to nurture them and help them to grow to their full potential.

But I was recently presented with an opportunity to take what I do here, and combine it with my recent renewal of faith, and join a fantastic group of ladies in launching a new venture. How could I pass this up? I couldn't. While here at Candid Karina I'll continue to post about a variety of topics, at Inspired Bliss I'll be digging my heels a little bit deeper into the faith realm. My new "column" "God and the Single Girl" will be a bit of a departure for me from my usual sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. It'll be a little more raw...naked if you will. I'll be a little more free to say things there that I might hold back on over here, because well...I just don't get that serious over here, you know?

So, our official "Launch" is this Monday, September 22nd. Robin (of the wonderful Pensieve) is our editor, and along with a wonderful group of ladies, who I'm just getting to know, we are all super excited to share with you what we've got going on over there. I invite you to please click on the badge in this post, or any of the links throughout, and check out our new digs. Add us to your reader (pretty please) so that you can keep up with us, because there will be lots and lots going on. My first post goes up next Friday. I'll remind you when it does, but I really hope you'll support the rest of the fantastic contributors as well. We are all very nervous (on top of the excitement) as this is a brand new thing for all of us, and can use all the support you can offer.

Blissfully Domestic is a wonderful site with ALL sorts of information and fun stuff for the ladies. Inspired Bliss is just one of the channels over there. You honestly could get lost for hours exploring the whole site (I know I have) and I invite you to do so, because it's well worth it. But, before you get too lost, please be sure to stop by Inspired Bliss first, won't you?

I can't wait to start sharing with you. I do hope you'll visit me (US).