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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Yankees v. Padres

After the Yankees v. Dodgers game, the weekend I had been anxiously awaiting for 11 months finally arrived. The New York Yankees were in San Diego playing the Padres. Not only was I excited to purchase tickets at face value instead of $75 a pop thanks to our season tickets, but Jeter was scheduled to come back after KO-ed for half the season, and it was the last opportunity I'd get to see Mariano Rivera save a game.

I love baseball weekends...or so I thought. This last one taught me that 3 days of partying is exhausting! I'm 17 days away from turning 25 but I felt like a grandma by game 3, and couldn't wait to get home and go to bed that night! 

Let's break down the weekend :]

Friday: 

I took the day off from work to get down to the stadium early and increase my chances of meeting Jeter and Mo. The gates were opened about 2 hours before game time, but people didn't have access to the field level seats until 1.5 hours before the game. 

The pitchers came out to left field to left field and throw and I'm pretty positive Mariano Rivera and David Robertson chose to warm up right in front of me after seeing my sign!

Yankees took the field to warm up, cue the Derek Jeter photos

<3

<33

<333

We got to sit in our regular seats for face value! These seats were selling for $120 on stubhub! Yankees ended up losing game 1, no Mariano. Whomp.

It was great to get Bettis for a couple of days!

hazyyyy nights!

:]

Saturday:

We woke up early-ish, had some bomb.com brunch, mimosas, and sangria at Barleymash. This was the start of our 5 hour barhop around downtown San Diego. We hit up Barleymash, Bub's at the Ballpark, South Paw, The Tilted Kilt, and The Corner. 

Fireball shots at Bub's!

Tequila shots at Southpaw...I might have done quacks here.

Riveting conversation at the Tilted Kilt

I see Kayyyyy! and a little bit of Joey G. at The Corner!

We eventually made it into the stadium, and watched the Yankees kick some butt, and  it was my last opportunity to see Mariano Rivera save a game.

We spent the night after the game barhopping, and on our way back to the place we were crashing at, we ran into Andrew Cashner...one of the Padres pitchers!

Another hazyyy nights pic with me not looking cute!

Sunday:

We RSVP'd for brunch on the field months ago because I would be that much closer to the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Yanks decided they would like to take batting practice that morning so we couldn't eat on the field. Instead, we were seated in the batter's eye...which wasn't as great as being on the field, but we got a pretty cool view!

Creeping on CC Sabathia throwing!

Scored an autograph!

The Yankees ended up dropping game 3 to the Padres and San Diego took the series. As great as is was to make it to all 3 games, I was ready for the game to be over and get home ASAP. Because of that, I wasn't as upset about the outcome as I should have been. It was definitely a fun little weekend, glad I got to see the Yanks in town, and hang out with so many people that I love. As exhausting as the weekend was...I look forward to the next one! Which probably won't be until 2014 since baseball is almost over. Wahhh.

Weekend Update: DALE!

What. A. Weekend. It was so much fun :]

Friday: I headed up to Anaheim to watch some Yankees baseball and hang out with Holley. The game was a stinker because the Yanks lost and Angels stadium no longer carries my favorite… a yard of margarita. I had to settle for the tiny ones from the bar. Watched a sweet post game fireworks show, I love fireworks!

Shout out to my super oily nose!

I'm sad we lost. She's happy they won. 

So pretty! 

After the game we headed to The OC, had some drinks, and played some ping pong. Also ran into a guy named Steve. He lived every baseball fan’s dream and went to all 162 game of the Yankees 2011 season. Scored a copy of his book. I can’t wait to read it!  

 

Saturday: Game 2. Got to the game early and “tailgated” except not really because there’s no booze allowed in the parking lot of the stadium. I poured my vodka sprite into my Rubio’s cup from lunch and got a lot of buzzed. Watch a horse cop (booze surveillance) get his panties in a bunch because the parking security told him he’s in the way of the cars and needs to move. “We’re doing official police business. I’m not just a guy with a badge and a gun who thinks he can do whatever he wants…” Yankees lost this second game, met up with friends that were in town for the game.   

More margaritas!

Our sweet seats we "upgraded" to :]

Headed to The OC again and our ping pong plans were postponed due to the UFC fight. Man that is a brutal sport. Didn't end up playing ping pong since the table was stashed away for the fight. Played some pool, but I had to cut the night short because I wasn't feeling well…migraine and tiredness are not a good mix.

Sunday: Woke up early and headed back to San Diego to catch my dad before he left to wish him a happy Father’s day but I missed him. Spent the morning shopping for a gift for him and somehow went from buying a card with Padres tickets for the following Sunday, to a digital camera, to a new grill. How did that happen?!! Lol.

Took off at night to meet up with Caroline and Chelsea for the Ke$ha/Pitbull show…which was interesting to say the least. Got there about an hour before show time and the tailgate lot was essentially empty. It was fun people watching Ke$ha’s crazy fans. Lots of glitter, eye shadow, lack of clothes, fur coats, and guyliner…among other nonsense...but to each their own. The opening band/crew was a bunch of Australian kids that were pretty much in training for Thunder From Down Under. Chelsea was the first to spot some baseball players…Casey Kelly who we've met before and Yonder Alonso from the Padres.

#tresamigos <3

Casey Kelly! Padres pitcher.

YONDER ALONSO! Padres 1st baseman.

The best way to describe Ke$ha’s show was a combination between a shit show and a tranny orgy. I didn’t realize how totally vulgar and inappropriate some of her music is. It was kind of sucky because there were kids in the audience. Didn't get very good pictures because I just had my phone, but they wouldn't do either show justice.

L-R: Bunny Rabbit, Ke$ha, Rooster.

CONFETTI CANNONS!

 Our reason for being there was Pitbull. LOVE his music. It is so fun to dance to. This was definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. I didn’t sit once throughout his entire set. DALE! Ugh So much fun. I wish last night never ended.

LOVE HIM!

This Monday morning decided to bring me down from this weekend's could 9…woke up to a screw in my tire, which I just got only about a week ago. Blegh. Got it patched on my way to work...but still lame. 

Bring on the week!

Never Doing That Again...

This might get me banished by the blog world…but whatevs. I won't mention any names so this post will only be partially passive aggressive.

A few months ago I signed up for a thing that pairs you up with other bloggers and throughout the month you’re supposed to keep in contact throughout the month, follow each other’s blogs, comment on posts, and eventually do a gift swap valued at like $10.00.

March.

1^st month. I was paired up with a chick and didn't really hear from her all month. Didn't get a follow or comments on my posts and only heard from her when I commented on her posts. I can’t hate too much because she did send me a gift that was pretty sweet and reignited my love for ferrero rocher chocolates.

April.

2^nd month, hopefully I’d get paired up with someone cooler because for me it wasn’t so much for the gifts as it was to get to know other bloggers...or so I thought. This month’s partner was much better, we constantly talked, commented on each other’s posts, etc. I had high hopes for this blog friendship. I mailed out my gift and was told that mine might be a little late because the chick didn’t have money. NBD, I understand not having money. But then I not only never heard back about her receiving my gift and if she liked it or her trying to get a hold of me to send me my gift. Whomp. That kind of sucked really hard.

May.

3^rd time is a charm, right? Nope. But this was kind of my fault. I kind of fell off the face of blog world because school was kicking my butt and I needed to make sure I graduated. I didn’t post much so there wasn’t much opportunity for my partner to comment and I did my best to comment on their stuff but kind of sucked at it. Once graduation was said and done, I tried to get a hold of her to at least get our gift swap done and never heard back. Whomp.

Didn't sign up for June, and probably won’t do it ever again but it is what it is…oh well.

Let’s post some favorite random pins to lighten this post up a bit!   

How cute is this?!!

Every. Single. Damn. Time.

Fundraiser: $1.00 per piece of tape. Brilliant.

Country concerts=summer. 1st one of the season is tomorrow!

#swoon. i love zac. amanda bynes has lost it. nikki, well...meh.

Like that one time I was "shush"-ed at a bar for cheering on the USWNT during the world cup. Funny stuff.