The Things I Did While Traveling to and from Arizona

As I promised earlier today yesterday, here is a view of what I did while taking a vacation to and from Arizona with pictures:

I drove 17 hours my first day to spend the night in Deming, NM. I got stopped by Border Patrol once in New Mexico (read about it here). Before that, I almost got a CD permanently stuck in my mom's CD player.

After the first day, I got hit by a snowstorm that almost scared the pee outta me when I spun across the interstate into the median. Later, I made a pit stop in Tombstone, AZ, where I ate a late lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, visited the Birdcage Theatre, O.K. Corrall, and Boothill Cemetery:

behind the bar at Big Nose Kate's

Birdcage Theatre

A sample of  a headstone at Boothill

Once I began the rest of my trip to Phoenix, I got to enjoy some beautiful scenery, which inspired the header and a button for my blog:

I got to visit Erika's office and take a couple pictures of Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks:

I celebrated New Year's Eve by going bowling in the afternoon to meet new friends, then later that night celebrated the holiday with my best friend and new friends:

me, best friend, new friend :)

On New Year's Day, I went to a nice brunch with best friend and parents, where a really cool replica of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory was on display. It was made of candy and chocolate. I had my first ever (and second!) IN-N-OUT Burger experience before and after the Fiesta Bowl! (AMAZING) Then I got to cheer my Sooners to a BCS bowl victory, and take my FIRST EVER! picture with OU President David Boren. I also got to see some sorority sisters that I missed!

Chelsea, Erika, Nicole, me, Aubrey

D.Bo! 

OU = Fiesta Bowl Champs!

Throughout the entire week, Erika came home for lunch, I played Lego HP, read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and relaxed and slept. On Wednesday of that week, we went to the Phoenix Suns/L.A. Lakers game for free!

just before tip-off!

Erika also introduced me to Baja Fresh. delish.

Saturday, Erika woke up with a migraine and I ended up having to drive her to her first urgent care visit since she's been in PHX. Then later that night, she stayed at home :( while I went out to Old Town Scottsdale with a bunch of her coworkers (I didn't want to document this night for good reasons)

Sunday I got to stay in PHX for one last night because of snow all over the Southwest!

Monday I got to start heading back home, and got to enjoy MORE beautiful scenery almost the entire drive!:

I spent the evening in Tucumcari, NM, watching the National Championship game in my hotel room with pizza and beer (love that dinner combo!)

Then on my way back on Tuesday, I got pulled over by Texas Highway Patrol for going 72 in a 70 (you can read my rant about that here). I then made it safely home to my good ol' smalltown, OK, USA around 7:00 p.m. to multiple family members that missed me and The Killers waiting to be watched with an aunt and uncle.

Pretty successful trip I think :)

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

p.s. It's also Fab Friends Friday on FTLOB. Check out their site to find great new blogs, including a majority of the ones I follow! http://forblogs.blogspot.com

ahh to New Beginnings . . .

How do I even begin to update everyone on the amazing things that have been going on in my life?!

On Thursday, I got up to complete the second part of my trip to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl. I didn't have much of a drive left, and my friend that I was staying with wasn't arriving in Phoenix until almost 9 p.m. I decided to make a pit stop in Tombstone, AZ. If you know nothing about Tombstone, you should look it up and watch the movie "Tombstone." It's a really neat little town that is a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I got there just after they started their last carriage tour, so I didn't get to do that. I basically just walked around for a couple hours after I ate lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. I then went and visited Boothill Cemetery. It's famous for burying a lot of outlaws from Tombstone in it. Again, a really neat little thing.

However, on  my way to Tombstone, I hit a little bout of bad weather. I am completely safe, but at the time it was so freaking scary. I was going about 30 mph under the speed limit because the snow was falling pretty heavily, so naturally I was in the right lane. An 18-wheeler sped past me going probably the speed limit and shot a whole bunch of snow onto my windshield. Because my vision was blocked so badly, I hit a slick spot and started to slide all over the interstate. I ended up doing a couple circles over the left lane and onto the median. Naturally, I was completely freaked out and crying, but I am safe, the car is safe, and I am alive :)

With that aside, once I started making my way to Phoenix from Tombstone again, it was all sunshine the whole way in. I typed Erika's address into my GPS, and it took me to an apartment complex that definitely was not her apartment. SO WEIRD. But once I finally found my way to the correct apartment, I got to hang out with one of Erika's friends because her flight was delayed about an hour. This friend graduated from The University of Connecticut, and we watched the end of the UConn/Stanford game. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about the end of that game. Congrats to the Huskies for having such a great run though. Phenomenal.

I can't even begin to describe the epic-ness of New Year's Eve. I spent the entire evening with my big and best friend. We drank, we danced, we rang in the new year, we lost each other, we had a DAMN good time.  I wish I could tell you EVERYTHING, but some things are better left as a memory :) I will let you know that while we were dancing, a beautiful man kissed me. But it was only a kiss, gotta keep it classy!

Then last night, I got to cheer on my Sooners for their first BCS Bowl victory to snap a 5 bowl losing streak. I had probably some of THE MOST amazing seats you could imagine. I sat in the Connecticut end zone ON THE THIRD ROW. I had SO MUCH FUN. I can't even begin to describe how amazing the game was! I also realized today that every Sooner game I went to for the 2010 season was a Sooner victory. So thank you to my Sooners, and a shout-out to Demarco Murray for winning the Fiesta Bowl like he told me he would :D

I just love new beginnings, and what better way to start 2011 off than with old/best (Erika) and new friends AND a Sooner victory? Sounds like 2011 is going to be even more epic than 2010 was, and I thought 2010 was pretty intense!

Leg 1 of trip to Phoenix: complete.

I'm posting to inform you all that I am a little over half way to Phoenix and my best friend! (And NYE, and the Fiesta Bowl, etc.) I drove a very long time today. I left Tulsa (ish) at 6:15 a.m. CST and got to my hotel at 9:56 p.m. MST. (10:56 back home). It was a pretty long day.

Unfortunately, there is a HUGE MONGUS snowstorm hitting the Northern part of New Mexico, so once I hit Amarillo I had to take a detour to the Southern route. What does this mean? Instead of driving through a smidgeon of Texas and ALL of New Mexico, I instead drove through ALL of West Texas and a smidgeon of New Mexico. I really dislike that route. OH! Except for when the speed limit got up to 80 mph. That was heaven.

Another great part of the evening? I had to go through Border Patrol/Customs once I got into New Mexico. They had a drug dog sniffing out the cars, and then I rolled down the window to talk to the BP Officer and this is how the conversation went down:

BPO: Good evening, ma'am. How are you tonight?

Me: I'm just fine, thank you. How are you doing?

BPO: I'm doing great! Are you a citizen of the United States?

Me: Yes ma'am! I mean sir! Sorry! I've been driving a long time!

BPO: It's okay. You are good to go. Have a safe trip!

I then giggled as I drove off. Does anyone else see a problem with this conversation? Was that really all it took to get through border patrol? What if I wasn't a US citizen and I lied? I'm sure with my tags being from Oklahoma and my somewhat hick accent (it comes out the later at night it gets), the BPO had no doubt I was from here. But that's not the principle. (I also had other little fiascoes during my 1,026 mile drive that might make you giggle. [That's right, I knocked that out in a day. I'm a beast! But alas, I digress] I will have a post about all my adventures [and misadventures] once I have more time and am not sleepy.)

Anyone else ever had a similar experience with customs/border patrol?

'Tis the Season?

WOW! I seriously CANNOT believe that it is already Christmas! WHERE HAS 2010 GONE?! I can hardly believe that a year has already passed since I thought I might not get to spend Christmas with my family (that was completely scary!). So, with that being said,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope you get to spend lots of time with those you love, and that this holiday brings you more happiness than your heart knew it desired!

Unfortunately, I've been sick for the past 4 days, so it's kind of hard for me to completely feel like it is that time of year again. I had the misfortune of spending almost my entire Christmas Eve in bed while the rest of my family got to cook and get to spend all kinds of time bonding over the cooking! I seriously enjoy the cooking part of Christmas Eve. All I have to say is, I better feel well soon so I don't have a rough time while I'm in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl...

Speaking of, my relatives gave way more than they probably should have, and I'm pretty sure I got plenty of money to fund my trip to the Grand Canyon State :) I'm very excited to be spending time with my big, yet again. We will be spending New Year's Eve together, and then cheering on our Sooners to what I hope to be a bowl victory (and that one of my wants from this post will come true!)!

Again, MERRY CHRISTMAS! May you be blessed to be surrounded by those you love....and per my beliefs, Jesus is the reason for the season, so remember to give thanks to Him for blessing each of you!

excited doesn't even begin to describe.

Readers, I can't even use the word "excited" to begin to tell you how I feel right now. I woke up 17 minutes ago and Hopped straight out of bed to finish packing. What is all this excitement from? I GET TO BE IN MY HOMETOWN TODAY!! I know I just saw my family at Thanksgiving, but I didn't see my house that weekend. And yes, I was there the weekend before that, but honestly, there's just no place like home. I've just got to finish packing and then I have a lunch date with Soul Twin before we both head out of town. AHHH! I'm so excited!

So last night while I was waiting for laundry to dry, I decided that it was about time that I actually write down my bucket list. I've always had an ongoing list in my head, but never anything concrete. So last night I started it. I think I'll work on it some more and maybe post it here New Year's Day, if I can find time (don't forget that's the day of the Fiesta Bowl). Even though I'm not that big on New Year's Resolutions, I figure there probably isn't a better day to write life goals than on New Year's Day. So get excited for that coming up! Until then, I'll give you a little teaser:

• Two words: Las. Vegas.

There are some others that are semi-serious too, but today I'm in such a great mood that I wanted a semi-silly one :)

Thank you all for reading!

Hello there brain?? Ah yes, nice to have you back.

My dear friends,

As I said last night, thank you so much for bearing with me throughout the past week with both the lack of posting and the very crazy and very random few posts I did. finals week always makes me lose my mind just a little bit. Like I said before, I hate that professors give comprehensive finals and such. I feel like it's a sick joke to have students be sleep deprived.

Today I have just been letting my brain recuperate from the madness of finals. Recuperating brain entails laundry, attempting to pack, and movies. As I'm sure none of you are surprised, I watched Love Actually today. I have also watched Spiderman 1 & 2, and now I feel like I need to go buy the 3rd. I've never seen the 3rd one, and I love the first two.

I got to go out last night with one of my very dear friends Kaitlyn. She is graduating tonight and her parents came in town to help her celebrate. We went to a restaurant called Louie's, and spent the entire night eating and having a couple drinks. I'm not all that sad about her graduating because she will still be around next semester, living and working here in Norman. It's so crazy to think that in 5 months I will also be walking across a stage and get my diploma holder!

I will get to head back home tomorrow afternoon, and I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED to be around my family again! It's going to be a whole month(ish) together, and I couldn't be happier!I say month(ish) because I will get to go to the Fiesta Bowl this year, where my Sooners are taking on the University of Connecticut. I get to go spend time with my big Erika in Phoenix, since the game is in Glendale, AZ.

I know this first one "back" is soooooo random. Hopefully tomorrow I will begin to make complete sense instead of a small tiny bit of sense...

*Starstruck*

So, if you follow college football at all (and again, YOU SHOULD) you might have heard this guy's name dropped once or twice in his years of being a Sooner. (Please note the sarcasm in the once or twice.) Well, if you can believe it, I met him last night while out on Campus Corner! Sadly, I don't have a picture to prove it. He explained that he can get in BIIIIIIG trouble with the NCAA for taking pictures inside a bar since we have the Fiesta Bowl coming up on January 1. *sigh* that would have been a pretty legit picture. I told him I understood, and that I will be at the Fiesta Bowl to cheer him on. What was his response to that? "We're gonna win it for you." Freaking amazing!

Shortly after meeting him, I met a couple more famous Sooners! I was oober excited because these guys came came to my sorority house last semester, and I didn't get to meet them because I got called into a shift at work. They were super nice, and this is the SECOND time I've met Beau Gerber. His exact words to me were "You don't want a picture with me, I'm old news! You probably don't even know who I am." I said, "I know exactly who you are, you're Beau freakin' Gerber!" That convinced him to actually take a picture with me. Now if you know me in real life, you know I'm not short AT ALL, but dang they make me look SHORT! It's okay though. Congrats on your win last night guys! Wish I could have been there. That would have been even more legit to meet them after cheering them on!

By the way, if you're not a Sooner fan, pardon this post. But when you are a Sooner fan and you meet the athletes you cheer on, it's pretty freaking exciting! I'm still starstruck!