City Winery, NYC
With all of this immigration nonsense going on I was annoyed
that I missed out on getting tickets to see Kaitlyn Bristowe’s spring break
live podcast tour (because who would have thought I would still be in New York come March!?)
Any of my friends can tell you how obsessed I am with KB. She was once the
bachelorette on ABC and is now running a ridiculous amount of businesses
including a podcast, scrunchie line, and apparently upcoming vocal artist? So
on the day of the show last week, I saw that Kaitlyn had posted on her Dew Edit page (name
of her scrunchie company) about that nights live show in the city. I figured I’d
post a comment about my disappointment of not being able to go to the show,
hoping for a miracle that she would magically just want to invite me or someone
would have a ticket they were selling. What happened next was something I couldn't ever imagine occurring.
As I send out this post I see that Kaitlyn (or whoever runs
the Dew Edit page) likes my comment. I start scrolling through the other
comments seeing if anyone is selling, when all of a sudden I see a post from another fan who
had no idea this event was even going on and was desperate to go. She was also searching for a single ticket, and got a reply from a girl who said that she had 2 tickets to sell because she
was unable to go to the show herself. Tickled
with delight for myself and this possible opportunity I quickly typed in that I
would take a spare ticket because I was flying solo if I went (because my
friends are not as obsessed as I am, and rightfully so). The girl agrees to
sell me one of her tickets and Corinne (the other fan searching for a ticket) the other
spare. All of a sudden I start thinking the worst, like what if this is a scam? This is just way too good to be true, and she only wanted the amount she paid for the ticket! I’m not as trusting of the internet as most so I start messaging Corinne and
the girl (Jeneva) who was selling the ticket. I express my concerns to Corinne
about buying the ticket from a stranger while also expressing to Jeneva my
interest in buying, without sounding too eager (which I was SOO EAGER!). Corinne had said that Jeneva had already sent
her the ticket without even paying her yet so she was all on board. Once I
exchanged emails with Jeneva and saw she had also already sent me the ticket my
worries faded and I knew that this was just meant to happen. I should also
mention that this was a mere 4 hours before the show was starting which meant I
had to be ready to leave to get into the city in 2 hours (also meant that I
would have to wash my hair that night, and that’s a major process).
By the time I knew it I was all jazzed up and on my way into
the city. Excited was an understatement to how I felt, I had nervous sweats and
everything from the anticipation of seeing the show and wondering where my seats
would be. When I got to City Winery (the venue for the show) I was pleasantly surprised
that it was an intimate crowd (probably around 100 or less people, and mostly
females). I didn’t have to wait online very long before getting inside, since I
was spot on with my timing getting there as soon as the doors opened. What I
thought was strange was that they didn’t even ask to look at my ticket! The guy
merely just asked for the last name that the ticket was under and a girl
ushered me over to my seat. That’s really when the magic happened. I was just
feeling lucky enough to get a ticket last minute so it really would not have
mattered to me where I was sitting but as I was following this girl to my seat
she passed through the back all the way up to the middle section of the stage
and 3rd table in!! WHATTTT I couldn’t believe my luck just then, not
only did this happen only a few hours before but the seats were literally up
next to the stage.
https://citywinery.com/newyork/
https://citywinery.com/newyork/
Of course I ended up buying some exclusive to the tour merchandise
before getting settled into my seat at the show. Corinne still hadn’t showed up
and I was beginning to think she was going to be late, until only a few minutes
before the show she was escorted over to the seat next to me. She had explained
that she had been there from the beginning, and the girl seating people had put
her at the wrong table all the way in the back of the room. We quickly hit it
off and chatted about everything KB and bachelor. We already knew that KB was
bringing her new boyfriend Jason Tartick, who I have been asked by a lot of
people who know my love for KB how I feel about them together. I was open to
giving them a fair shot since I would be seeing them in person together and
really see how they interact. For me it was very weird to just see her with
anyone but Shawn, who I had also met back in December of 2017 when I had
dragged Sam to her Broadway show that was a Christmas concert.
So Brandi Cryrus (Miley’s sister) comes out and starts
pumping the crowd up djing and the show is ready to start. It gets quickly
underway and right into some of the topics KB usually hits on her podcast. They
do their confessional (admit something embarrassing they have done), bring out Jason’s brother and brother in law, sing karaoke,
and got into an intense game of rock paper scissor with a fan. It was a great
show in that they were super interactive with the crowd. People were yelling things
up at them and they would just talk right back and incorporate it into the
conversation. There was also A LOT of sexual conversation which at this point I’m
sure was mostly triggered by the large consumption of alcohol on stage and the
crowd of mostly single girls swooning over Jason. There were even a few digs
about KB’s ex fiancé, Shawn Booth, that I was not a fan of. I don’t think bad talking your ex is cool to do in any situation, especially to a crowd of people
that are easily influenced by what you do, but again was probably because of
the alcohol consumption that they really laid into him. But the show was
playful and they even did a FaceTime session with Kaitlyn’s mom who is also hilarious!
I was super thankful for the intermission after 2 hours of
the show going on (I was not expecting it to be so long so I was really feeling
like I got my money’s worth!) because after 2 glasses of wine I was in dire
need of a ladies room break. On the line I got chatting to a girl named Brooke
who was the sweetest human. We chatted about the show and back story to how we
got tickets. She was in a similar situation getting tickets last minute to the
show and was surprising her sister who recently went through a bad break up (I told
you she was sweet). We exchanged Instagram handles as we parted ways and got
ready for the second half of the show. Since there was still a bit of time left
I figured I would go grab one last glass of wine at the bar to hold me over
till the end of the show. That’s when I met another very nice human who offered
to order my drink for me since the bartenders were way understaffed and she had
been waiting for a while. We ended up chatting and when our drinks were finally
served we put our money in together and she ended up having to Venmo (transfer
money app) to me to make it even. I was thinking to myself where else in the
world could you be this trusting of other humans? And why was everyone so
nice?!? It was on another level of girl power (that sounds lame but I can’t
think of any other way to describe it!) There was no cattiness with each girl, we were all just there for a good time. Going to this show was like being with
100 people who have the same kind of personality as you because how can you not
if you’re a fan of Kaitlyn who is laid-back, funny, and kind to everyone.
The end of the show comes around I shout out to Jason for a
quick selfie and then I opened the flood gates because all of a sudden I was
trapped in between chairs and couldn’t move. When the Off the Vine (name of the
podcast) cast finally went off the stage people were flying out of there to
catch cabs and get trains home. But Corinne and I are standing there slowly
putting on out coats while she was telling me she was going to try to get into
the meet and greet. Although our tickets said premium you were supposed to pay
another $50 ticket to get into the meet and greet. Corinne had said she talked
to Brandi Cyrus at intermission and she told her to stick around for the meet
and greet. I quickly jumped onto this band wagon because you know why not? What
was the worst that could happen?
Like a bat out of hell Corinne was forming her own line for
the meet and greet and I was just in awe of how in charge she was. I push through the crowd telling people “yeah I’m with her” as she barricaded through people telling
them to get out of the way. As we’re waiting on the line a woman who was running
the event came over asking to see everyone’s wrist bands. As the few girls in
front of us on line all lift their wrist to show their neon green wrist bands, I
was thinking game over we’re out. But as quick as the woman asked us for ours
Corinne spit out her story of Brandi Cyrus telling her to stay. To which the
woman replied if you don’t have a ticket you can’t get in and she’d be back to
check on us. I told Corinne how impressed I was that she was just so cool and
confident talking to everyone that even I believed she was supposed to be in
there. I told her to do all the talking since the honest human part of me was
like "go home Nicole you’re not supposed to be on this line". But I stayed put
with my new friend who had more lady balls than I did. She even chatted up the bouncer
holding the line up in front of the door. When a guy came over from the meet
and greet area asking us where our wrist bands were Corinne did her thing and
he simply said how many of you and when we said it was just the 2 of us they
ushered us in to go meet Kaitlyn, Jason, and Brandi. Que the biggest smile on
my face with a hint of how the actual F did that just work.
Now if this wasn’t magic enough, I was able to chat with KB
for a hot minute telling her how much I loved the show and that I had met her
on her final night on Broadway. She then replied F yeah and high fived me and I
think I might have blacked out with happiness because of all the fan girling
going on in my body. We said a quick hello and took a picture with Brandi Cyrus
who admired my new mustard yellow scarf that my very talented mother in law had
made for me. As we made our way through the cast we were directed to a table
just before the exit where we pick up our party bag complete with MVMT
sunglasses and scrunchie!!!!! Oh happy day, like a big in pooh I couldn’t stop squealing
with excitement.
With some of my new friends in toe we jumped in a cab on the
way to Penn Station so I could catch the drunk train home. I said goodbye to
Corinne and went on my way to the LIRR while she went opposite to the NJ
transit. My happiness was so overwhelming I didn’t even mind being squished in between
to very large KISS fans who had just come from the concert at MSG. And if there
is anything to be learned from all of this it’s don’t be afraid to go places on
your own because you just don’t know who you could meet and what could come of
the night. I went from just sitting in the basement of my parents’ house
picking out which show I would binge watch that night on Netflix to seeing a
show of a podcast I love with my biggest style/life icon. I did it in Hollywood
at Universal Studios and I did it in NYC. I’m now a firm believer in taking the
opportunities given to you no matter by yourself or with a group. But by doing
things on my own I get to meet new people, and I felt more approachable and comfortable
talking to people when I wouldn’t usually do if I was with a group. It was
seriously and insane night that was completely unexpected.
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| My new bad ass new friend Corinne |
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| The first time I met Kaitlyn December 2017 |
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| Kaitlyn's ex fiance Shawn Booth |
