My Fight with Cancer: "Tonight" with SugarLand

So, remember how I won that contest "Win a Date with SugarLand"? Well, here is my update.....

We left Friday night and flew out to Atlanta. They paid for that. As we boarded the plane, we played switch-a-roo with another couple because Chris and I were sitting together, but with an aisle between us and another couple was split up, so we all traded seats so we could sit next to our spouse. There was a third guy in our row, and we started talking. He introduced himself as T-Bone from the show The Bone Collector. No Shit! We talked a lot the whole plane ride (about 2 hours) about everything. He had lost his mom to cancer last year, shortly after I was diagnosed. I told him about my concert win and how much SugarLand helped me through my journey. We talked about his new clothing line. The funniest line he said all night... "Every rednecks dream come true.....my clothes are available in over 30,000 Walmart stores". That was funny to me. His show is all about bow hunting and stuff that I know nothing about, but it was interesting. He said he could tell how excited I was and he didn't even know me. He is a super sweet guy. We talked about kids, he showed me pictures of him with different celebs, like Jeff Foxworthy, and he said he got to attend Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's wedding. It was pretty fun. You can see his website here and check out his show on the Outdoor Channel if you have it. Their Texas special that they were shooting is airing this week, I think. Check out the website here to see a preview. I told him I had to get a picture with him before we left, and he said, he wanted one of us too. So, after we de-planed, we all took a pic together.

The Houston Airport and my seat neighbor, Travis T-Bone Turner

Then, we took a town car limo to the Four Seasons Hotel. We paid for the car, they paid for the hotel. It was a super nice hotel. We got in really late, so we didn't do anything. We walked around a little bit because my energy level was through the roof. I was so excited to see what was in store for us the next day. The hotel is in the middle of Georgia Tech's nightlife, so there were TONS of bars, but we didn't really feel like doing a bar/club scene. So, we went back to the hotel. I finally fell asleep about 2am or so. We had chocolate covered things waiting for us in our room.

Saturday morning, Chris woke me up about 11am to go eat. We ate some quick brunch and headed back to the hotel for a nap. While we were eating, I noticed a lot of pink stuff everywhere....turns out, the Susan G Komen 3-day walk for a Cure was in Atlanta that weekend. So, we got to see a lot of pink people walking around. I thought it was kinda cool that the breast cancer walk was there, right by our hotel, considering that the meaning behind my video that won was all about my breast cancer journey. So, we headed back to the hotel, took a nap, and I started to get ready for my night.

Lots of pictures of the beautiful hotel!

We arrived at the arena at about 5pm and picked up our tickets, meet and greet and VIP stickers. We went in and met Whitney, our host for the night. She works closely with Sugarland and is a REALLY cool chic. We got to eat dinner with all the band and producers, videographer, etc.. the whole crew eats in the "catering room" and we were lucky enough to eat with them. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush weren't there though. But, Kristian came in while we were eating with Whitney and he looked at me and stopped, smiled and came over to give me a hug. Whitney said "this is our tonight contest winners" and he said "I KNOW WHO THEY ARE, I RECOGNIZED THEM FROM THE VIDEO". Oh.My.Gosh!!! He recognized me??? It was so awesome. It was very obvious when he saw me that he recognized me and didn't need the introduction. He gave me a hug and then shook Chris' hand and said something to the effect of "I loved your video and what you two have together". That was probably the hi-light of my evening. Dinner was delicious! I ate Dr Pepper ribs, grits, fried okra, boiled shrimp, and bread pudding. Kristian said the caterers were giving them one last "excellent" meal before the tour was over so they would be invited back next year. It was really REALLY good! Whitney joined us at our table, and we chatted the time away. She said she read my blog! Hi Whitney! We talked about cancer, our relationship, how we met, our kids, and I told her about Kaylee's solo she is doing and she said I could email her a link to the video once she competes and we get it on video and she would pass it along. We talked about football a little bit. She's a Houston Texans fan, but we still like her anyways. :-) I really loved Whitney...she was an excellent host, and fun to talk to. We had a blast with her!

Yes, I made the shirt. A custom creation, one-of-a-kind SugarLand rhinestone shirt.

Our meet and Greet passes and VIP all access sticker

This radio station was the one giving out the posters, and I had to take a picture with them since they were all wearing Pink Ribbon shirts.

After dinner, we went back out to the arena lobby and enjoyed a beer before the meet and greet. When we got into the meet and greet, they announced that SugarLand doesn't want to spend time autographing items, and instead they want to actually meet us, so they gave everyone an autographed photo when they left. We also weren't allowed to take our own pictures, and instead Whitney took the pictures and uploaded them to their site for downloading or printing. It was a good picture. I was a bit surprised by the news, but if you think about it, most people want pictures on 3 different cameras, and then sign like a dozen things, so it makes sense. We got to be at the end of the line, but the line was so long, we really didn't get any extra time with them. :-( Kristian was again, super sweet, gave me a hug but Jennifer acted like she had no clue who I was. I was a tiny bit disappointed that she didn't recognize me like Kristian did, but she is a busy lady, and probably meets a lot of people, so oh well.

Anyways, the concert was great, but my camera died shortly after it started, so sorry I don't have too many pics. (lots of them are cell phone pictures, so pardon the crappiness of them) The radio stations there had posters printed for the song "Little Miss" and asked us to all hold them up during the song. The one I chose was "I'll be alright again, I'm OK". It's lyrics from the song, and the Little Miss Project was started about a year ago. You can read about it and watch the video here. Basically, we are all a different type of "Little Miss" and the song touches on a few and you choose which one you are. So, we held those up during the song, which was pretty cool. I got to sit the row behind Jennifer Nettle's mom. Atlanta is Jennifer's hometown, so her mom came to watch her perform. After the concert, the lady I was sitting next to, who works with her mom, introduced us and told her I was the Tonight Contest winner. She is a super sweet lady and Jennifer looks a lot like her momma. My favorite songs from the concert were Little Miss, Incredible Machine, Baby Girl, Stay, All We Are and of course, Tonight.....

After the concert, I met up with a new SugarFriend named Mandy. She had emailed me when the contest started via the SugarLand site. You have to sign up as a member (free) in order to submit your video, so the email is safe, and it's all contained, and not through your regular email inbox. So, Mandy was telling me how much she loved my video and how much it touched her. She also has some medical issues, (not cancer) and her husband has stood by her and helped her through it all these years. We started emailing back and forth, and finally became Facebook friends. She told me that she would be at the concert that night, since she lives in Atlanta, and that she had some gifts for me and the kids. So, she gave me the gifts, and offered to take us back to the hotel (saved cab fare) so we accepted her sweet invitation. The gifts were SPOT ON! She gave each of my kids a stuffed animal, which it turned out...Brayden got a cow and Grayson got a puppy. Grayson is always acting like a puppy, and Brayden sleeps with a stuffed cow, so the boys LOVED their gifts. Kaylee got a journal/diary book and a cute pen, along with a stuffed animal, and that girl loves to write in journals, so it was prefect for her too. My gift was a zebra memory book/photo album and a beautiful painting that her and her daughter Katie had painted of me. I knew it was me right away and I knew exactly which picture it was. She said that picture was the one that she loved the most from my Facebook page, and I have to admit, it was one of my favorites too. So, Mandy and I have so much in common, we hit it off right away. We talked the whole way back to the hotel, but I totally forgot to get a picture with her. :-( I guess that means we will have to meet up again.

So, after finally falling asleep Saturday night we got up Sunday morning and went and had Einsteins Bagels and coffee for breakfast before heading to the airport. I was so ready to see my babies. I missed them so much while I was gone! We got home Sunday, and I hugged them all night long while we watched the Dallas Cowboys kick ass!

So, concert was great, dinner was great, Whitney was great, and we had a good time! Thank you Sugarland for having this contest, and for picking me as a finalists! Thank you to everyone who voted and helped make one of my dreams come true. It was an unforgettable evening!

Enjoy the pictures below.....

Pictures from the concert, and all the Pink walkers that walked by our hotel Saturday and Sunday. Also, the bikers that cheered them on at one of the pitstops. I love the pink bra's on their bikes.