It's HANNAHTIME

The Greatest Show on Earth

(no, it's not Barnum & Bailey's)

First act...Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana & the Jonas Brothers...

Now she's Miley Cyrus & has had approximately twenty-five wardrobe changes...

This was started last Friday night, but it's taken me almost a week to finish it....


Tonight I am a changed woman. I have witnessed first hand (actually, from the nose bleed section) a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert, and I will never be the same again. If you too are a child of the 80's you'll appreciate the title of this post...a play on the M.C. Hammer craze phrase. This HM/MC phenomenon is like that (but a million times better) minus the Hammer pants and gold chains. It's insane!!! I was sitting by my 12-year-old step-daughter and my 8-year-old sister with my 2 1/2-year-old daughter in my lap and I was NO LESS excited than any of these children were to see this Miley Cyrus chick. Thank God I didn't pay thousands of dollars for my tickets like most people did, but I would be willing to admit without shame that I'd pay it to see that girl again. All the rave about her is 155% legit. She's the real deal. And the fact that she is seemingly so humble and appreciative of it all makes her even that more likeable. Did I mention that the whole experience was insane??? Can I please say it again...INSANE!!!


Months ago Bethany asked us if we'd take her to this concert and let that be her birthday present. Her birthday is November 20th and ever so conveniently, Miley Cyrus was coming to Nashville 3 days after. It seemed like a good idea in theory...getting concert tickets couldn't be THAT hard, right? Wrong. I came within two seconds of having to have a prescribed nerve pill trying to get those tickets, and I'm quite sure that could be considered an understatement. What we didn't realize when we agreed to this birthday/concert deal was that every other mother with a female child between the ages of 2 and 16 were also vying for tickets. After an immeasurable amount stress on a 8 month pregnant lady, irrate phone calls to Ticketmaster, tears, and anxiety attacks I nabbed our tickets. I bought an extra one as a birthday present for my sister because she's an avid Hannah Montana fan. Anyway, we had those blasted tickets for two solid months while other tickets came and went on eBay for thousands of dollars. Please submit our application for parents of the year for not selling those puppies and giving consolation birthday prizes instead.

After months of anticipation, November 23rd finally arrived and we couldn't have been any more pleased with what we'd waited on for so long. We'd do it all over again in a heartbeat! The Jonas Brothers, being the cuties that they are, put on a fantastic opening act. It wasn't like any other opening act I've seen. Albeit, I've only been to two other concerts in my life....Kelly Clarkson (for Bethany) and Hilary Duff (also for Bethany, who roped us into taking her to NYC to see her) and nothing I've seen before could compare to the JB and HM/MC. I sang every last word right along with them all, and to make myself feel a little bit better I'll add that every other mother I saw was doing the same thing. I screamed like a schoolgirl when Miley Cyrus descended from that funky box from the ceiling and all you could see was her shadow (I'll post a picture to do it justice). And when the JB came back on stage to sing with her, I nearly lost it. It was like I was 12 all over again! That night was Miley's 15th birthday so it was way more of a show than the one she usually puts on. To top it all off, when the concert was over and we thought it was time to go, she came back on stage (a pleasant surprise) with her dad (hello, Mr. Achy Breaky Heart) and they sang the sweetest song together that he wrote for her. It was FANTASTIC. Should I be embarrassed that I halfway think Billy Ray Cyrus is cool? Anyhoo, the girls had a BLAST. I can't even begin to imagine their excitement. I'm 27 years old and had a ball, but to be their age and see THE biggest pop star on the planet right now in person? WOW. I'm so glad they got to experience it. They all have t-shirts to commemorate the event (it took all I could do not to purchase myself one). All the madness it took to make it all happen was well worth it. One fun fact is that the same guy who directed High School musical 1 & 2 (Kenny Ortega) also directs Miley Cyrus' concerts. I suppose that would explain why it's more like a big show than a concert. Thank you Kenny and Miley, we very much enjoyed ourselves.

Hannah Montana in the pink box being lowered onto the stage...

The grand finale...

Billy Ray playing the guitar, Miley about to hug her sister who was playing guitar for her, also...

Billy Ray rocking out while Miley picked up every flower that was thrown on stage...

Just when we thought we'd had all the excitement we could stand for one night, it got even better. On the way home we stopped for a late dinner at the last exit headed out of town. The heavens opened up and angels started singing when I spot a Taco Bell and a Pizza Hut all in one building. I was so happy (a nice change from being ill as a hornet from being exhausted and famished) I could have cried. We got back on the road with our food and once I got the kids settled with theirs I opened my breadsticks and pizza sauce and thought I was about to have the best meal of my life (it's funny what you consider the best meal of your life when it's midnight and you haven't eaten or slept in a day or two). Towns needed her milk and her lovey so she could go to sleep and I totally disregarded the open marinara sauce sitting on my knee. As I turn around in my seat to hand Towns the goods, the sauce goes all over creation and most of it soaked through my jeans. What little bit that didn't end up on my leg went straight into my open purse...my pretty gold purse I am (should say WAS) obsessed with thanks to Erika's list a few weeks ago. This wouldn't have been so bad had it not been 250 degrees. My leg was scalding, I was screaming, and during this whole process my Coke that was sitting between legs went straight to the floorboard and into my purse atop the marinara sauce that was already there. All this is happening while Jonathan is steadily driving and eating his personal pan pizza. No need to worry about me and my burning legs, ruined purse, and sea of Coke on my feet. Thanks sweetie. That's nice. You enjoy your dinner and keep on driving. In between the screams that I couldn't force myself to hold back, I asked him if he could kindly pull over so I could see if my legs had 3rd degree burns and if they needed a skin graft. Honestly. It all ended with me riding home with no pants (J threw them out I believe since they were beyond repair...I wouldn't know what happened to them because I was too busy scooping pizza sauce out of my beautiful, new gold handbag) and wrapped up in a fleece blanket. What makes it even better is that I find out at church Sunday that Towns has told her teachers her version of the episode. I went to pick her up after church and the nursery workers asked me about my husband throwing my pants out the window and me riding home naked (which I was NOT, just pants-less, but thank goodness for the blanket I picked up as an afterthought on the way out the door to Nashville). Try explaining that one to Sunday School teachers...