Allison's Wonderland

Leg Warmers. What era do most Americans associate with leg warmers? If you guessed the 80's then you are like most Americans. This weekend I had the opportunity to head to Richmond and experience a band like none other. Let me give you a little background information . . . Jessica, a girl I a work with, was turning 25 this weekend. We have become pretty close at work, since we are in an office full of nerdy guys. The situation only lends itself for us to get to know each other well. She invited me to her birthday party where it would be 8 other girls including Jessica of which I didn't know any of them except for her and one other girl. I graciously accepted and asked if my best friend Jessica C. could also come along. I needed a wingman. We'll call Jessica C. J Carn because it might get confusing if I don't. I hadn't decided what concert I was going to go to in January, so this seemed to work out perfectly. We left work at 4:00pm on Friday and hopped in a car headed to Richmond with Kellie, Jessica, J. Carn, and Mandi. We got dressed up in some pretty awesome 80's gear that we found at Rugged Warehouse a couple days before which did include leg warmers. I spent over 40 bucks on stuff I will never wear again including bright pink Apple Bottom High top sneakers. Yipes! We got two rooms at the Double Tree which was pretty sweet. There were a total of ten girls. Kim, the planner and leader of this whole escapade, called The National (The venue where the concert was) two days before and tried to get tickets purchased in advance. The guy laughed at her and said, "This show will not sell out." So we thought we were in the clear. We take a shuttle from the hotel to the venue and come to find out Mr. Rude Phone Guy was wrong. It was sold out. Kellie and Kim had been on the street corner in 14 degree temperatures without a jacket scalping tickets to this band no one has ever heard of. We were fortunate to get 8 tickets before the second group got there. But we were short 2. J Carn and I hit the streets asking people for tickets like little beggars. It's funny how crappy people will treat you when you're asking them for something. It's like we were asking them to cut off one of their limbs and give it to us for 20 bucks. I asked a skeevy guy for tickets and he tells me to follow him to a parking garage so I did like an idiot. Then I see these nice women walking across the street before I get to the garage and accost them for tickets. She said she had one extra so I follow her and pay her 20 bucks for a complimentary ticket that she got for free. My job was done...and I scored my ticket. We just needed one more. We walk from corner to corner asking people with no luck. Finally we cross this little old lady whose as sweet as sweet can be and she sells us her ticket for twenty bucks. EUREKA! We've got them! We went from zero to 10 tickets in an hour and 1/2. We were on top of the world. Now for the band. Boy do I have stories to tell! The band was freakin awesome. They did every 80's song you could ask for in a span of 3 1/2 hours of which we danced our hearts out the entire time. We made new friends, danced in the aisles, head banged, made idiots of ourselves and had an amazing night. After the ridiculously awesome concert we went back to the hotel. I ordered two pizzas because I was starving and pizza is always amazing at 2 in the morning. We talked till three about life, love and happiness and poured out our souls. The next morning we went to Trader Joe's of which I've never been and Dave and Buster's for lunch where I won 696 tickets with the help of some guy who handed me about 400 just cause. It was a great weekend. I think I need to do this more often.