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

manic monday?

Okay, before I update you on my life, let me say that EVERYONE needs to go to this week's photo swap RIGHT NOW. Everyone's pictures this week were SO GOOD! And then, go look at all the previous weeks too. I really like Sam's from last week (the one with the ferris wheel). So neat! Okay, enough about photo swap (sorry, it's just a really fun thing, and I enjoy participating in it because it keeps me on my toes about what to take pictures of! Now I'm always looking for something to take a picture of to share with everyone! Sorry, blogging A.D.D. again)

Without further ado, let me inform you of what all has happened with my life the last couple of days (by the way, I apologize for being absent yesterday). On Saturday, I ended up having to take Erika to urgent care. Her migraine would not go away, so I took her to get a couple of shots to help with the pain. The shots helped her feel better, but unfortunately she couldn't go out with us on Saturday night. She did demand that I still go out with all of her friends though, and I'm SO GLAD that I did. To start off, me, Matt (Erika's roommate), Brandin (from California), and Greg (roommate Matt's friend) loaded up in Brandin's little BMW to head to Old Town Scottsdale. On our way, we picked up Alexis (Erika's coworker from NYE) and Chris (roommate Matt's friend). Yes, you read that correctly, six people in a BMW car. It was definitely interesting. We were fine with the 5 of us, but when we picked up Chris, Matt had issues with cramming 4 people in the back seat. He lost feeling in his foot and said some things that were hilarious but totally inappropriate for a post. We went to Adam's house, where we met up with him, OK State Matt, Carsten, and another guy that I can't remember his name (I'm terrible with names). We had a couple drinks, did some introductions (mostly me), and then got rides to the Pussy Cat Lounge in Old Town Scottsdale.

If you are anything like me, you read "Pussy Cat Lounge" and automatically think it's a strip joint. Oh you're not like me? Well, now you know how I think. It actually WAS NOT a strip joint, it was a very small club with a couple tables and a dance floor. Because it was supposed to be part Erika's, part Cara's birthday (another coworker) we had a table with bottle service. SO MANY PEOPLE WERE THERE FOR THE BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA! I got to see Chris (CK) again, and then met about a dozen other people who work with Erika. We danced and drank the night away, and I had a lot of fun! Minus the part where my toe got stepped on. I was upset about that. And that Erika didn't get to join us. That was sad.

So, Alexis, Jen, OK State Matt, and I all got a cab to take us back to our various places of interest. We almost get back to Erika's apartment when I realize that Matt (Erika's roommate) has the only key to the apartment. Matt, Chris, Brandin, and Greg all went to the casino. Ah &!$#. So Alexis and I had to tag-team calling Erika to wake her up FROM HER MEDICINE INDUCED SLEEP FROM HER MIGRAINE to try to let me in. I felt bad. But I was intoxicated so even though I felt bad I still talked her ear off for an hour while I tried to fall asleep. Oops. I'm really sorry BIG :(

Fast forward to Sunday, and as you can imagine I couldn't wake up very well. I checked the weather again, and it wasn't in the cards for me to leave Phoenix yesterday. I was kinda sad, but also very glad so that I could take a much-needed nap. I slept basically ALL DAY. It was bad. Then when I finally woke up, Erika cooked us dinner, and then we played Lego Harry Potter again. When we finally went to bed, I had the HARDEST time going to sleep. I think I fell asleep around 3? I don't know. 7 a.m. came WAY too early today, but I packed up everything, hugged Erika and Matt goodbye, filled up the gas tank, got some breakfast, and then hit the road to begin my trip back to Oklahoma. The entire way back, I got to enjoy some AMAZING scenery. I am only giving you ONE preview because the others I may use for the photo swap next week (it's still up in the air):

CACTUS!

Please forgive the semi-poor quality, as this was taken while I was driving. (p.s. I love/am obsessed with the Saguaro Cactus)

The more and more beautiful the scenery got, the more I realized that it is all truly God's creation, and I began to feel a deeper appreciation for the scenery I was admiring.

Now I am safely in my hotel room in New Mexico, watching the BCS National Championship (never thought I'd say this, but Go Ducks!). I just enjoyed some pizza and will continue watching until the game is over then head to bed. Tomorrow I've got about an 8 hour drive to return to my hometown near Tulsa. One thing I do love about all these long drives is that I get to flip through a lot of radio stations. Two current song loves from this trip: "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland and "Somewhere with You" by Kenny Chesney. I also got to hear a lot of old songs that I forgot how much I loved them. (ugh seriously?! Why do I have such BAD blog A.D.D. tonight?!)

WHEW! If you made it this far, congratulations! You deserve an award for reading through my entire rambling post. That, or you're just too nice to me :)
I promise I'll update more often so that my posts are not this long again, and that I will tame my A.D.D. before attempting to post again.

Thanks for checking in!

p.s. Don't forget that 30 Days of Truth is coming soon! I'm very excited and very nervous about these posts, and I hope you are excited to learn more about the inner being that I don't always discuss.