4 Obvious Reminders For MLB Opening Day

MLB Opening Day. My favorite day of the year <3

There’s a few different “Opening Day” celebrations happening this year. The first is the officially official Opening Day of 2014 which actually happened a week ago when the DBacks played against the Dodgers in Australia. The second is Opening Night which is this Sunday, March 30th, Padres v. Dodgers at Petco Park…the game I’ll be attending :] The third is Opening Day which is Monday, March 31st. The last "Opening Day" is your respective team’s Home Opener which might happen Opening Night/Day orrrr you might have to wait at least 3 games for their away series to finish up before they head home and have their Home Opener. Regardless of what Opening Day you’ll be attending, baseball season is starting and that’s a wonderful thing. So there’s some things you should know for that first home game of the year…

BUT FIRST! Let’s start with a small font disclaimer. I might not be totally qualified on advising of things to know for Opening Day. Even though my friends and I have been to first home game of the season at Petco Park for the last (at least) 4 years…I wasn’t totally “there” ifyouknowwhatimean. #toodrunktofunction. Also...these suggestions are based on opening day and busy games at Petco Park. Some suggestions might totally apply to your local stadium, others won’t. Sorry ‘bout it.

Tickets. 
Do you have any? If you’re planning on going to the game, I’d suggest getting some. At this point, it might be a little too late for some of you because Opening Day might be sold out. That’s the case with the Padres…Opening Night sold out about a month ago, so anyone looking for face value tickets is kind of SOL. The remaining options are overpriced Stubhub, unknown third party ticket sites, sketchy Craigslist, or scalpers. If you find a sweet deal, awesome! You can totally keep reading. If not, and you don’t have tickets, bookmark this for next year when you plan ahead! If you don't have tickets but still want in on the action, head to a bar near the stadium and watch it on tv! You'll most likely be among others who failed in getting a ticket having just as much fun! 

Parking. 
I haven’t had much trouble with this, but I know how much of a pain in the ass it can be. For starters, consider traffic. Leave with enough time to either totally avoid traffic altogether, or budget enough time to be okay with be moving at a crawl…or slower and maybe miss some of the game. Everyone and their mom goes to Opening Day, and since everyone is headed to the same area, the roads are gonna get backed up. Also, because everyone is going to the same area, everyone is probably going to be parking in the same area too. Don't get stuck without a parking spot! If you can, buy parking passes in advance. That way you know you've got a guaranteed spot no matter how late you leave and how much traffic you sit in. You don't want to spend 40 minutes looking for parking half a mile away and pay $40.  

Transportation. 
How are you getting to the game? And home from the game? Alive? I hope so! The most important point with this is to make sure you've got a sober driver. To and from the game. If everyone wants to party, look into public transportation or hiring a driver! 3 years ago my friends and I took the train and trolley to Opening Day. From what I can remember, it was kind of a blast. We were able to bring booze on the train, party on the way down, and had reliable transportation! If you gave your limo driver the night off, download an app (Uber/Lyft...whatever) and have someone pick you up! Or book a night at a hotel in the area and walk/cab it. The other thing to keep in mind with transportation is to make sure you think about traffic. If you're anything like me, you'd rather be an hour early than 5 minutes late! You don't want to leave home/work too late, get stuck in backed up rush hour and game day traffic, and miss the first pitch!

Pregame. 
Load up a truck with some tailgate necessities: booze, food, bbq, tables, corn hole, etc. Head to the stadium early and party before game time. Why? A) Getting to the area early enough to tailgate means you've most likely avoided backed up traffic and have a better chance at being on time to the game! B) If you're there early, that means parking lots aren't crowded yet and you've got a better shot at getting a spot! C) $15 bottle of Fireball for everyoneeee beats 2 $8 shots of Fireball at the stadium/bars. D) PARTY! Just make sure to drink responsibly. And if you don't, hopefully someone is keeping an eye out for you making sure you're safe! Thanks friends for helping me with that last year!)

Our Plan.
Season Ticket Crew+1 are headed to Opening Night. The game is at 5:00-ish, but we're headed down at 10:00 for some brunch. Followed by some bar hopping for sangria!. Followed by some tailgating. Followed by the game. Followed by...work Monday morning. Hopefully we make it out alive!

Is anyone going to Opening Night/Day or your Home Opener? What are your plans for the day? Let me know!

Also, can I just mention how excited I am to be co-hosting Fan Friday this week? Other than my love for baseball,  I'm kind of obsessed with Sarah over at Venus Trapped In Mars. I kind of love sports a lot. So when I started blogging, and reading blogs, my main search was for other bloggers like me who love sports too...with no luck. Until my friend Kayyyyyy did a guest post for Sarah and the rest is history! Because of her Fan Friday link up, I've been able to find so many other sports loving bloggers like myself! And I love it! 

TL;DR: I love sports. I'm obsessed with Sarah, her blog, and Fan Friday. Thanks for letting me co-host!

If you're sharing anything baseball related today, make sure you link-up!

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This City I Live In: San Diego, Part 1

"Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means 'a whale's vagina.'" -Ron Burgundy

San Diego is a place I consider to be heaven on Earth. I am a born and raised San Diegan (San Diegoan?) and could never imagine leaving this wonderful city permanently. Erin at Two Thirds Hazel mentions in THIS POST that even though she's lived in NYC for a few years, she has yet to visit a lot of the great tourist attractions that surround her and she plans on changing that. I will too, in regards to San Diego. I've seen a good part of the beautiful city that is San Diego, but when it comes to the actual tourist attractions...I fail. 

Why? San Diego is big. And the town I grew up in is kind of far from anything worth seeing in San Diego...according to those all these different "must see" lists. Other than that, life and other priorities like school, going to baseball games, concerts, and bars got in the way. So I've been inspired to create a (multi-part...because it's kind of late and I want to go to sleep) San Diego To Do List for myself of places or things I have heard so much about an never visited or done, or I visited/did these things wayyyy back when.

Petco Park Tour

Yep. I've been to Petco Park at least 60 times since it opened back in 2004. What I've never done is an official tour of the park. Other than my own drunken wandering, I have sort of gotten to do mini unofficial tours when we've been invited to the park for season ticket stuff and seen the club house, dug out, press box, underground restaurant, batting cages, super secret Sony (I think?) Club. It seems like a lot, but I feel like they're hiding a lot more stuff that I need to see! My friends and I have talked about doing a tour, but we've just never been able to make it happen. Hopefully it happens this season!

Balboa Park

This place is incredibly beautiful. And so big. It's a park, has museums, theaters, gardens...the list goes on and on. I've made quick stops to the outside parts of Balboa Park and driven by plenty of times, but never made it my sole destination. I really need to make some trips to see all the great things this place has to offer. 

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San Diego Zoo

It's world famous. I visited as a kid and haven't been back since. The pandas are kind of a big deal and I know nothing about them. The San Diego Zoo is actually part of Balboa Park but I felt like it deserved its own bullet on my to do list. The great thing about adding this to my list is that now that I'm working at the Safari Park...I'm pretty sure I can get into the San Diego Zoo for free :] This visit is most def. happening this summer.

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Old Town 

This is a place I've definitely been recently. Did some Day Of The Dead volunteering and have had dinner and drinks at a few of the restaurants here, but they've also got a park, museums, a haunted house, and a bunch of other points of interest worth seeing but never really spent time at. According to the internet, Old Town is supposedly the birthplace of California and what it was like back in 1850. A visit needs to happen ASAP since I'm kind of obsessed with California. 

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USS Midway

A super dope aircraft carrier. Or at least I think it's super dope. I've seen it from afar while driving around downtown San Diego but I've never visited it. The USS Midway is a museum where you can see military sleeping quarters, the engine room, jail, and so much more. Having not visited the USS Midway is kind of unAmerican. Oops.

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Have you been to San Diego as a tourist? Any must see places I should add to part 2 of my list? Let me know! 

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In other super exciting news...This Friday, I'm co-hosting a special MLB Opening Day edition of Fan Friday with pretty much my favorite blogger ever and baseball soulmate, Sarah over at Venus Trapped In Mars. Soooooo, if you're just as excited as we are for baseball to (un)officially start MAKE SURE YOU GRAB THE BUTTON AND LINK UP FRIDAY! [Ignore the fact that the button says April. This is happening March 28th!]

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Weekend Update: Merp

Happy Veterans Day! 

Hope everyone is enjoying their extra day off! Let's remember the men, women, moms, dads, spouses, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, teammates, best friends, acquaintances,  spouses, colleagues, classmates, professors, enemies, frenemies...EVERYONE who made the decision to join the military and be part of a group that fights for our country. Thank you, to all of you!

If you follow me on twitter, you see that I complain a lot about the amount of homework I have to get done. The goal is to get ahead of schedule, so come Wednesday-Sunday of this week I can take time off from school and study for the CBEST, which I am taking Monday. This weekend was full of complaining, and some soccer.

Friday: I stayed in and watched a video about The Lemon Grove Incident and wrote a reflection on it for my diversity class.

Saturday: Chilled during the day, and read one of the longest chapters of my life...and then wrote my reading log for it. That was then followed by going out with Chels and Lime to see our local professional indoor soccer team, the San Diego Sockers! Unfortunately, the team ended up losing the game. I learned that professional indoor soccer is kind of a bigger deal than I thought it would be.

We got to the game early, so the girls and I
had some booze and dinner at Chili's. I got the
Berry Patron Margaritaaaa. Ayyyiyiiyiyi!

2. Our indoor soccer team has cheerleaders.

3. I don't think I'm going back to watch another game. 

This was my first time there, and it was the first 

time in 4 years that they lost a game at home.

4. A) They play quarters, not halves. B) At the end of 

the 3rd quarter, they do an audience frisbee toss.

5. The halftime entertainment of an indoor soccer 

game...was watching kids play indoor soccer. 

It was girls v. mostly boys, with 2 girls. 

Sunday: I spent the day at Barnes & Noble drinking chocolate milk and writing my personal teaching philosophy paper, which was pretty thought provoking. I also saw a guy skype out loud. If I didn't have ear phones...I probably would have been a little more annoyed at it. I finished a couple of other small assignments, and then got the heck out of dodge because it was freezing cold in there!

What I stared at for a good 9 hours.

How was your weekend? Anything exciting? Did your teams win? Mine lost...way to go Chargers.

Dear Me

Last fan Friday, I promised I wouldn't write about attending a baseball game...so I'm switching things up.

I came across an article a couple of weeks ago where 12 stars (Andy Murray, Aaron Rodgers, Abby Wambach, Jeff Gordon, and more) write letters to themselves as young athletes and thought it was an interesting read. As a Yankees fan, I feel the need to be against anything and everything that relates to the Red Sox, but out of all the letters...David Ortiz's was my favorite! I love his focus on education. I decided I would do this for myself!

Below is my letter to 17 year old Marty, in my last months of senior year and personally had a rocking soccer season. I thought I'd be a shoe-in for the softball team and didn't want to bother myself with trying out.

16 year old softball Marty

Dear Marty,

You’re not hot shit. Don’t think you’re too good to try out for the varsity softball team senior year by milking and exaggerating the small cold you have. If you do…you don’t make the team. Work hard from the get go so you don’t have to deal with sports politics to get on the team after not making it…that doesn’t work out either. Make sure to work hard off the field too! Don’t be too disappointed you’re going to Palomar, you meet some of your best friends as a result of playing ball there! Don’t get lazy with school. You spend 4 years at Pmar before transferring to CSUSM, and it takes you 7 years total to get your bachelors. Time is money and you wasted a lot of both by farting around in school. Last but not least…don’t fall into the credit card trap! It takes you a couple of years to dig yourself out of that hole, and it’s not fun!

Keep your head up, everything works out.

-Marisela

P.S. Lighten up on the  Zac Efron stalking. You’ll eventually meet him.  

Nothing is more sincere than a handwritten letter to yourself!

Did you play sports as a kid? What would you say to the young athlete you?

Becoming A Gym Rat

Okay, so the title might be a little misleading because becoming a gym rat is not the plan...just visiting the gym on the regular.

I signed up for the gym last week but yesterday was the first chance I had to make it there. I did some cardio on the treadmill, walked 1.5 miles on 3.5 speed with an incline, and jogged 1.5 miles at 4.0 speed without an incline. Not gonna lie, it sucked but felt good to actually get my body moving. The pace was fairly slow so I wasn’t crazy exhausted after 3 miles, but my legs were burning a little since I kind of started cold turkey. The plan is to go after work every day, so hopefully this turns into a routine I like!

One of the other reasons they could have been shaky could be because I started the butt challenge on Monday. Let me tell you…it is not easy! I’m on day 3 and struggled through 60 squats, so I can’t imagine making it to 250 squats by the end of this! Ahh!

After taking an 8-ish month break from softball and soccer, I started back up on both this last week.

Softball: A friend texted me last saying they were going to be short on girls and asked if I could play. I agreed, and then found out it was a double header! It was kind of rough going back after such a long break! To be honest, my team isn’t very good…but it’s fun. Unfortunately, I’m super competitive. Our first game was a blow out, lost by like 12 but I played hard. We barely won our second game, but a win is a win :] I played again last night, and even though I played hard, it was another loss. There aren’t many teams in the league so to make sure teams aren’t playing the same team over and over again, they schedule teams in different divisions to play against each other. We’re a C division team and played against an A division team last night. There wasn’t much hope for us, but at least the other team kept it interesting and swung at the ball instead of everyone walking! I’m cool losing when the other team actually shows up to play!

Soccer: A couple of weeks ago a different friend asked if I could play on their indoor woman’s team and was hesitant on playing since soccer actually totally kicks my butt. I played this last Sunday and quickly learned how out of shape I totally am. At one point, I had a small break away near the goal but completely lost it after my stupid legs gave out because they were tired. There were a few really good players on our team and I’m kind of just a sub on this team, so if I do play with them again, hopefully I’ll be able to hang! We ended up winning the game…with no help from me, haha.

 

It's kind of weird to think that I kind of sat around doing nothing and getting no exercise for the better part of 8 months (with the exception of stairs at school!) so I'm looking forward to keeping up all this movement! A healthy diet is where most of my weight loss focus should be, but it should also be paired up with some fitness! Here's to the long  and active road ahead!

  

Beastmode

One of the good things that came from the lame-o blogswap thing I did a couple of months ago was hearing about this weigh in wednesday link-up…

Like the rest of the world, one of my 2013 resolutions is to lose weight.

Even though I’ve played sports and exercised my entire life, I’ve pretty much always been overweight…I love fatty food way too much.

A few years ago I did really well with watching what I ate and drank for about 6 months and lost 45 lbs, looked awesome for a wedding I was in…and then gained it all back within 5 months. Blah.

  

I started to refocus on April 15, 2013 and 12 weeks later I’ve hit the -20 lbs mark! Also, I fit into my size 11 shorts again :] but it’s probably wise to wait a little longer to wear them out in public.

Unfortunately, “refocus” isn’t too accurate because I still give into temptation a lot (ball park food, fair food, fast food while moving, etc.) but when I do cheat…my portion sizes are smaller, and wash everything down with water instead of soda or booze. One of the other motivators is a group I’m part of on FB, Team Forklift Sexy Time. It’s a group of like 10 people working on their weight loss goals. 2 people crushed their goals and are maintaining and the rest of us are still working towards our goals. It was super active at the start, but these days a lot of people don’t check in much. I still post my weekly updates in there to keep me accountable.  

The -20 lb mark and fitting into my shorts motivated me to join the gym around the corner from my house and plan on attending regularly so I can kick this weight loss thing into high gear.

Besides working out in the gym, I’m really hoping to get out to a field and do some of the Nike Training Club workouts with their free app

 

 

 and some pinned to my beastmode board on Pinterest.

 

 

Now that things have slowed down for me, I have time to get my body moving. Hopefully pairing that with me watching what I eat will kick up my results!

Baseball Dry Spell

I don’t really know how link-ups/ blog hops work, but I’m doing my first one today...hopefully I did it right! It’s with Sarah over at Venus trapped in Mars. I seriously love that blog. That chick knows so much about sports, is pretty hilarious, and her designs are awesome. My blog hopes to grow up and be like her :]

So we’re pretty much supposed to blog about anything sports related (favorite sport, team, player, a game you went to, something happening in the sports world, etc.) every Friday. This was introduced earlier this week and the timing couldn't have been more perfect because I had a Padres game today. For those that don’t know…4 of my friends and I have season tickets to the Padres games and it’s probably the best investment I've ever made!

Season ticket crew: Ashley, Marcus, Lime, Chels, and I.

Home is section 134

What a great view!

One of the perks of our seats...stretching!

Last night I made the tough decision to switch out tonight’s ticket (and tickets to 3 other games) to tickets on 6/16 for Father’s day. I graduated college (2 weeks ago!) and jumped head first into work. I usually take a Monday or Friday off every week over the summer but I've been so busy these last 2 weeks that I've had to work M-F! Hopefully I get caught up by next week and I’ll have some time to chill…except that my family is in the middle of moving and we've spent the last week sprucing up (paint, flooring, windows, etc.) the “crack house” as I like to call it. I just couldn't justify taking off from work early when I has so much to do AND losing a night of working on the crack house.

My last ball game was May 19^th, and my next game will be June 14^th…there’s a 25 day gap where I will not have been to a baseball game! Thankfully, that weekend will be full of baseball! Yankees vs. Angels on 6/14 & 6/15 and Padres vs. DBacks 6/16!   

PBR & ROC Race

1^st blog as a college graduate. Whaaaat?!! Actually, that’s kind of a lie considering I’m not completely done for the semester. I did walk at commencement this last Saturday, but because  I am split between 2 schools, I’m done with everything at Cal State San Marcos, but still have 2 papers to write and 1 final to take this week for Palomar College. Hopefully I have everything done by Wednesday! Because I've been so focused on school & graduation I’ve kind of been a sucky blogger…so let’s play catch-up!

2 weekends ago I went to the PBR (professional bull riding) with my dad. I probably should have stayed home and done homework…but whatevs. I love me some country music and cowboys, but these bull riders were a different sort of hotness. I was in love. And decided if I don’t marry a ball player, I want a bull rider.

Last weekend I did the ROC (ridiculous obstacle course) Race. Some friends and I signed up in like March and the 2 months it took to get here seemed life for.evvvvv.errrrrr. It was a 5k with 16 obstacles throughout the 3.1 miles. Once of my favorite t.v. shows ever is wipeout and the ROC Race was as close as I would ever get to being on the show. Check out the pics!

Our team!

Caroline and I, before and after.

 Funny story about the shoe donation...I wasn't planning on donating my shoes, because they're the only ones I had but when I walked over with Caroline to drop hers off, I caved into peer pressure and left mine as well. This last Friday [2 weeks after the race] I got dressed to run graduation errands, and looked high and low for my running shoes for 15 minutes...until I remembered that I had donated them. Oops! 

This race was SO much fun. Definitely worth the $60 we paid. Here’s a list of the obstacles. Not sure what my favorites were though. I did learn that I’m completely out of shape and pretty much could only run a mile of the course. Walked most of it. Blah. There’s another race happening up in Orange County, I think we might sign up! Definitely check it out if it comes to a city near you!!!