eleven

Martina McBride released her newest album, "Eleven", today. 
She has eleven songs on the album.
This is her eleventh year to be the #1 female country artist.
This is her eleventh album.
Today is the 11th day of the month.
Do you see a theme here?

Martina is doing this very cool cross country tour on Amtrak this week. 
She started in Los Angeles yesterday and will end up in New York City at the end of the week where they will light the Empire State Building pink.
All of this to highlight her new album and raise breast cancer awareness.
If there is anything that gets me excited, it's breast cancer awareness.
I became a huge supporter of breast cancer research seven years ago when I had a lump removed and a major breast cancer scare.

News got out early today that Martina would be stopping in Newton this evening.
That's pretty big news for a little town like ours.
She's only making 11 stops on this tour, you know.
My girls and I walked down to meet Martina as she passed through Newton.
We were wearing our matching pink "Fight Like a Girl" t-shirts.
I don't think Hannah is very impressed with matching t-shirts.
Especially with mom.  :)

We got to the train depot early and began the long process of waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
Lucky for me, my fun friend, Beki, was there to wait too.  (I might have been frustrated if I hadn't had someone with whom to make fun of all the crazy people.  Only crazy people go out for something like this.  Just sayin.)

Beki and I aren't tall people.  Hannah volunteered to stand on a park bench with my camera.  We got great pictures of the backs of lots of heads.

Martina came out and spoke for just a couple of minutes.
That's it.
That's all.
No singing.
(Abi's words - "that was SO not worth it!")

Well, we didn't walk from our house all the way to the train depot and stand in a crowd of sweaty, cranky people for nothin.
We got some great shots of Martina's fun pink train.
I do have to say, I LOVE this train.

Well, we hung out at the train for quite a while hoping to catch a glimpse of Martina.
She was gracious enough to work her way through the crowd and sign a few autographs.
We may or may not have shoved worked our way through the crowd, trying to get close enough for a good photo or autograph.

At one point, I told Abi to stay close to Beki and follow her through the crowd since I wasn't getting anywhere.  It's a good thing I have friends I can trust.

We didn't get any autographs.
We really didn't get any great photos.

My two favorite shots from the evening were of Martina signing Michelle Janzen's survivor t-shirt.
Michelle is one of my breast cancer survivor heroes.
If I recall correctly, she was diagnosed before she was 40 years old.
She had a full masectomy and reconstructive surgery.
She's one of the most beautiful and funny ladies I know.
If I couldn't get pics of my girls with Martina, Michelle would definitely be my next choice.

Well, I learned a few things tonight:
1.  I'm not very good at meeting famous people.  I need to be pushier or more creative to catch someone's attention. 
2.  I'm older than Amtrak.  It's celebrating it's 40th year this year.  Ugh.
3.  Apparently, 11 is NOT a lucky number for me.