29 Things I'm Thinking Right Now

i'm alive. and this is a real blog post. not a mirage. i know you haven't seen one of these from me in a while, so i understand the confusion. you get 29 thoughts that have crossed my mind recently in honor of the 29 days i didn't post this month...you're welcome.

-one of my favorite friends, keri, got married over the weekend. it was an incredible wedding.

-getting pampered at a salon as part of a bridal party rocks. free champagne. and you hear things like how your eyelids are perfect pallets for makeup. and how beautiful your hair is. and that your eyebrows are shaped perfectly.

-bachelorette party was in vegas. it was my first time there to really party since i've turned 21. it was a lot of fun. and it was not a lot of fun. both. at the same time.

-vegas recap: long drive. edc weekend. don't like techno music. coyote ugly. big ass pizza. sleep. pool party. lots of booze. lost sunglasses. thunder from down under. lax @ the luxor. tired feet. hotel pizza. coyote ugly. sleep. sunglass shopping. win big money. pool party. expensive dinner at hakkasan. long ass line for afrojack at hakkasan. long ass walk to hyde at the bellagio. long as wait at the bellagio. sleep. pack. drive home. sleep.     

-you're not supposed to fall in love with a stripper. but i did. one that's in thunder from down under <3

-69. the amount of times we heard "that's a big ass pizza" while carrying a pizza down the vegas strip.

-your phone screen can still shatter while being totally enclosed in a lifeproof case.

-blood orange vodka rocks.

-ninja mimosas rock. thanks juliette :]

-my job at the safari park still rocks.

-baby cheetahs are the cutest. we have one at work right now.

via

-i'm still overwhelmed at my office job. a month and a half left and i'm done.

-anyone else think that ice challenge is stupid?

-i need to pick up on this fitness and healthy eating thing again. it's totally been abandoned this month.

-i need to actually WEAR my fitbit. it sits in my purse and only counts those steps.

-i like soccer. i like team usa. i like competitions that take place on a worldwide stage. i can't get into the world cup this year. not sure why.

-i miss playing soccer.

-i've committed to using a lilly pulitzer jumbo agenda for the rest of my life. i'm obsessed. with lilly. and with consistency. *i've used the small for 2 years and loved it. just needed to go up in size. and this is totally not an ad.

-i'm really good at holding grudges. that's not nice of me.

-television: so over pretty little liars. super behind on sytycd. wish cara maria didn't get ko-ed from the challenge. picked up on mad men. ellen still has reruns on. i might re-watch the hills.

-my next teacher test is in 2 weeks, and i haven't studied. i start today. my notes will be titled "pink lemonade" because i'm using a yellow legal pad and a pink highlighter. 

-i complained about that whole angels stadium thing to management. they apologized. and someone offered me free tickets. i didn't take them up on it. i'll elaborate more on this soon.

-3 weeks ago i did a wine and paint thing for another friends bachelorette party. i've always wanted to do something like that. and i loved everything about it other than the part where i suck at painting. 

-i'm getting california fever. i want out. never thought i'd ever say that...but i feel like i need a big change in my life after i finish my credential program. looking at dallas and nashville right now. this might just be a phase.

-i need to read mocking jay. 1st part comes out in a few months and i still haven't cracked open the book!

-i need to stop spending money! but a savings account totally burns a hole in my pocket!

-my biggest struggle right now is deciding between carrying a cross body messenger bag for school and a purse with handles for personal crap OR a cross body purse for personal crap and a shoulder tote for school.

-tony gwynn is gone. i'm sad, but not distraught like i feel i should be.

-tony gwynn memorial was the coolest/weirdest thing to attend.

American Country Awards

Turns out that when baseball is over...I have nothing to blog about for Fan Friday. Other than country music here and there. Today, we talk about the American Country Awards. I got to go see the awards show out in Vegas in person last Tuesday! You might have missed them though A) because it's still a small awards show B) because the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was on C) you were watching Sons of Anarchy finding out the latest death.

Liiiiiike a month ago, I got an e-mail from a ticket website that I had still been registered to from my DWTS/SYTYCD obsession days. I still get updates, but usually ignore them. This one came across my e-mail for pit passes to the show and didn't have to think twice about it. I would be there. I put the word out there and everyone was busy, but coming in with the last minute save...my friend Holley decided to go. And to be honest...I don't think I would have been able to go had it not been for her spotting me some extra dineroooo. Thanks!

We took off to Vegas Monday night after work, get there around 1 am and crash at the hotel. Wake up Tuesday morning, go out to lunch...freeze our butts off, then get to the show. So many people there! We got there about 2.5 hours before it started and did a lot of standing around. We weren't supposed to take our phones in, but of course I was a sneaky snake and got mine in. Oops. I hope I don't get sued because of this post. Since there was a lot of waiting, Holley and I snuck some picture before the show...and then I got in trouble for it. But they didn't take my phone so that was good.

Arm Candy! Right pit bracelet. Yeah yeah!

What's up super great lighting?!!

We had to leave the pit area because "we were part of the opening act" but I don't think that worked out. It was supposed to be a flash mob thing...not so much. A minute or two into the show's opening Brad Paisley and Luke Bryan came out to take their seats. OMG, I lost it.  My heart was racing and I was about to cry. Luke Bryan was about 15 feet away from me and I couldn't focus on anything but him the entire time. #creeperstatus. It was still the beginning of the show so I didn't pull out my phone to snap a picture of him because I had already gotten a warning and didn't want to get kicked out. Halfway through the show Luke and Brad wend backstage and Lady A came out to take their seats. I love Lady A, so to be so close to them was great. That night I learned that all country male artists have hot wives. Good for them! 

Danica Patrick and Trace Adkins were the hosts, there were a bunch of cool acts like Lady A, Darius Rucker, Sheryl Crow, Justin Moore, Randy Houser, Jake Owen, Leann Rimes, Florida Georgia Line, Brad Paisley, plus some more I can't think of right now. I felt super cool having previously seen 90% of those acts in concert. I felt like a real fan! 

I got bold and started snapping some pics towards the end of the show...although not very good ones. I got one of Luke, and another of FGL's performance. I also snapped a quick one of Trace and Danica. 

Luke Bryan. Such a beautiful man.

FGL Performance

Trace Adkins & Danica Patrick

The show kind of had an awkward ending, at least it was in studio. Everyone started flooding the exits trying to get out. Still sooo crowded! We took off to the hotel room and crashed. Even though we only stood, it was pretty exhausting. But a lot of fun! Would I do it again? Sure, if it was on a weekend. It was a mission and a half doing a crazy trip like that in the middle of the week while dealing with work and having to be awake for so long. Had I not been so close to Luke or Lady A, I might have called this show a bust...at least for me. But in the end, it all worked out!

Have a great weekend all!

River Float

So one super cool event that I left out of the “life lately” posts a couple weeks ago was our river float. It’s something I had never done before and felt like it deserved its own post.

Right after Rascal Flatts we headed home and packed up Marcus’ truck with everything we’d need for the float/weekend and hit the road to Vegas.

 

I think we made it in about 4.5 longggggg hours.

We hit up the grocery store at 5:30 am and stocked up on our lunches and drinks we’d be taking on the hike/float.

It was probably 6:00 am by the time we finished and made it to Marcus’ friends place. We took about an hour or so to pack everything in backpacks, cake on the sunscreen, and head over to another house to meet everyone that was going on this float. There were probably about 15 of us and we headed out to the Colorado river near the Hoover Dam.

Once we got there, we unloaded the backpacks full of floats, booze, food, water, and climbing gear our of the cars and headed off on our [3-ish hour] hike to the river. It was super intense and but kind of a lot of fun repelling down rocks, jumping over little streams. It wasn’t too difficult until we hit like the last 1/3 where the drops off the rocks were bigger and we has lost traction in our shoes from the streams we didn’t make it over. I think at one point I hit my head on a rock because it hurt for most of the float. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of this hike because I left my phone behind. I didn’t want to risk losing it or dropping it in the water. Just trust me when I tell you it was fun. I actually think I liked that part more than I did the float.

Once we got to the bottom of the canyon we had hiked, we took a little break and began to inflate our floats. After like an hour of that we were ready to hit the river…or so we thought. Apparently it’s common knowledge that the water is FREEZING. Sitting in that for 4 hours was not pleasant. We all tied our floats to each other and began floating down the river…except we had some assistance and were pulled by a boat who was occupied by a couple in our group who chose to fish instead of float. Smart. We kind of just chilled in the floats…tried to fall asleep because I was exhausted but couldn’t. There were a couple of exciting moments when Caroline had to jump in the water after we lost our beach ball and camera, but it was mostly floating. There was one wake that caused Marcus’ float to pop and he couldn’t party anymore so he had to jump on the boat. About an hour and a half later, I kind of got over the cold water and floating so I gave up my spot to Marcus and chose to be in the boat for the rest of the ride back.

The boat pulling us!

Lime getting back into her float after getting the beach ball!

My swap with Marcus was perfect timing because the boat was due by 4:00 and at 3:00 the float still had about 5 mile markers left to travel at a rate of 2 MPH, lol. We pulled them for another 30 minutes and let go at 3:30 which was when they were SOL. The floaters had to paddle in using oars, arms, and feet…all while being a little boozed up. Haha. As much as I would have loved to see that, I’m glad I wasn’t there. Once they got in earshot of those of us on land, we could hear them and Marcus' singing even though they were still like a quarter mile away.

We finished up the float at like 6:00, headed home, ate some grub, and passed out.

It was a super cool thing to do, and I’m excited for next year! BUT I might choose to bring a jetski [anyone have one?!!] and pull the float instead of being stuck on it.