Wow, what a week it's been! I got to go to TWO concerts in FOUR days! I know that's nothing to some of you, but for me it's amazing!

It all started a few months ago when we heard that there was going to be a JNT2... I had met a girl at school who is a HUGE Claymate. So when we heard about JNT2, we wanted to go to the same concert. It turned out that I got tickets to NYC, but she never bought them. A few weeks before the concert, I asked her if I went to the concert in Reading, would she come with me? Well, the answer was a resounding "YES!" So we got tickets from a super-cool gal on one of the message boards in about the 27th row. Some of the best seats I've ever had!

So the time leading up to the concert seemed to go by so slow! It felt like November 30th would NEVER get here. And the more I started to hear about the birthday plans, the more excited I got! I couldn't get over the fact that I was going to be in the same room as Clay on his birthday. Anyways, the night of the concert FINALLY got here and my friend and I were on our way to Reading.

Kristen (my friend) has friends that go to Albright, so we stopped there to use the bathroom. Kristen's friend ended up driving us to the Sovereign Center so we didn't have to pay for parking, which was really nice of her. We got into the arena (yes, arena- not theater =[...) and found our seats. They were AWESOME! A little squished, but hey, I'm not complaining. After we got settled, we decided to go buy some merchandise. We both ended up with a keychain and the "Black Candle T-Shirt." I love my shirt!

By the time we got back to our seats, William Joseph was just starting to play. I usually am not too thrilled about "opening acts" but this guy was AMAZING! So much better than I ever expected. I got some awesome pictures of him too. Somehow, my pictures of him turned out a million times better than any of my pictures of Clay. Now, before you jump down my throats... I DID NOT USE MY FLASH!!! Just clarifying =] Anyways, here's the best picture of WJ that I got:

After WJ's awesome performance, it was time to... wait. Those 20 minutes between performers seemed like an eternity. Finally it was time for Clay! He looked and sounded so amazing. I actually thought there was a little bit of sadness in his voice during the first few songs... But he still sounded AMAZING! The play was so cute. I really hadn't watched many videos, so that I would be surprised when it was my turn.

All too quickly it seemed, intermission came. But, the good news is that it was almost time for the second half. I had heard that the second half was the more religious songs, and that's what I love to hear Clay sing the most. He sings the heck out of those songs, and I couldn't wait to hear him live. The second half finally came, and let's just say, I wasn't disappointed! Except for the fact that it went by so quickly!

Quiana finished her solo, and it was time for the big party! Everyone put on their hats and got out their lights during the message about Christmas. And then Clay came out from behind the curtain to an arena full of people in party hats. We tried to sing Happy Birthday in unison, but it didn't work so well. Oh well, at least we tried. So many different groups tried at some many times, Clay eventually said, "How many times are ya'll gonna sing that song? It's only one day!" That got quite a chuckle out of everybody. And then, of course, he put on his big birthday hat that he looked absolutely adorable in. Here's a picture of Kristen and me (I'm the one with blonde hair in the pink hat) in our hats:

DSIAFCD- So amazing!!! Everyone stayed standing up with their lights on. We swayed back and forth during the whole song, which was really neat. It just seemed like everyone was so happy and nothing could ever go bad.

Wrong... I know everyone already knows that story, and I really don't feel like going through the pain of retelling it. Let's just say, Good News turned into some pretty bad news, and it was extremely hard to watch. From the 27th row, I could see Clay wince and grimace with every flash. The look on his face was almost too much to deal with, and I never want to see him be put through that again. It was just so sad that after such a wonderful, fun-filled night, everyone left feeling so discouraged and down-hearted.

The next day, the boards were buzzing with the "flash incident" and for the first time ever, I got into some pretty big discussions. I usually stay out of the huge discussions here or on the Clayboard (I'm an RCA gal =]), but this time, I really felt like I needed to say some things. I was extremely anxious to see how things would turn out for the NYC concert goers, myself included. I was fully expecting for Clay to ban cameras, and I would not have blamed him if he did.

Okay, I'm getting a little off topic here, and I'd like to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I think I'll continue with my story. (By the way- none of the few pictures I took at Reading came out very good, so I'm not even going to bother putting any up).

Saturday, December 3rd. NYC DAY!!! This was the concert that I was super excited for, because I was going with my mom. My mom is my concert buddy, and it was so weird not having her in Reading with me. My boyfriend, Jordan, and one of my best friends, Krystin, also went. We left for the Hamilton train station around 1:30. We caught the 3:17 train to Penn Station, where we walked outside into beautiful, but CROWDED NYC. We had decided earlier that we were going to walk from Penn Station (which is on 32nd St.) to the theater (which is on 74th St.). Maybe that wasn't the best decision, but oh well, we had fun. My mom really wanted to see the tree in Rockefeller Center, so we ended up walking all over, looking for it. It was kind of funny because we had such a hard time finding it. Here's a pretty picture:

I discovered that in one way, I'm a lot like Clay- I HATE CROWDS! Let's just say that I didn't do too well with the insane number of people in NYC on Saturday. My mom told me that I was literally looking a little green at one point. And I probably did, because I definitely felt like I was going to pass out. Luckily, the crowd thinned out as we got closer and closer to the theater. We passed a pizza place, and debated on whether or not to stop for dinner, but we decided that we could make it to the next one we saw. Well, it was about 15 more blocks before we came across another pizza place. Very hard to believe, I know, but it's true. Luckily, the place we ate was only about 3 blocks from the theater. We got to eat and warm up, and then we continued our journey. When we reached it, there was a security guard outside with a bull horn, forbidding the use of flash photography, which made me smile. We got to the theater and had just enough time to go to the bathroom before they opened the doors. Our seats were SO amazing. We were in row L, off to the right. It was the closest I have EVER been and it was so cool!

The theater was absolutely beautiful inside. It was so ornate and just, wow. I was very much impressed. While we were waiting for William Joseph to come on stage, a bunch of people came around and asked us if we wanted any electrical tape, another encouraging sign.

One again, the concert was absolutely incredible. The sound system was so much better than the one in Reading, which made the concert even more enjoyable. I couldn't believe how close I was to Clay. There were a few flashes here and there, but security took care of them. Everything went so smoothly, and the concert was amazing (how many times have I said that now?) There was ONE flash at the beginning of Good News, and half of the audience yelled "Stop the flashes!" and that was it. I love how loyal and protective we are. =]

I got some much better pictures in NYC, so I figured I'd post some of them here. They definitely are not the best pictures that you've ever seen, but it's kind of neat to have pictures that I took, instead of "stealing" pictures from other people. Anyways, here they are:

And my absolute favorite...

After the concert was over =[ we somehow got a taxi (that was so much harder than I ever thought it would be). Wow, that ride was crazy. I think we almost got into about 5 accidents, but somehow we made it to Penn Station in one piece, and we even made the earlier train. It was a very sleepy, but very happy group, on the ride home.

All in all, I had an amazing couple of days. All I can say is I can't wait until the tour to promote the new CD! I'm already going through Clay withdrawal. Is that bad?

Wow, I really don't blog much, but when I do, I write an awful lot. Again, if you read all of this, congratulations! I think you deserve an award of some sort. =]

I'll leave you all with one final thing. I saw this sign in NYC, and I just thought that it was absolutely hilarious. Enjoy...

P.S. The version of Jingle Bells that Clay sings was just on the radio (no, unfortunately not CLAY'S version, but the version with the words that Clay sings). I had never heard that version before this year...