Vegas Weekend

So last weekend (er, the weekend before the one that just passed) you may or may not know that I went to see Shania Twain in concert. This is gonna be my attempt to tell you all about it. Everything except the concert that is; I'm not gonna get to that today and I'm just gonna be honest with you about it cause I hate it when TV shows constantly tease what's coming up after the commercial break, and then when it actually comes, it gets no further (farther?) than what they were teasing in the first place and they're like, to be continued! This is in fact, gonna be continued cause the Suns are playing and the game is kind of close-ish and it needs to have my full attention shortly. 

 Phew, that was like, two back-to-back really long run-on sentences.

Anyway, I took a half day at work last Friday (er, the Friday before the one that just passed) and my mom and I hit the road to Vegas! I texted both my dad and my aunt (whose home was our destination) to let them know we were on the road and neither one of them texted me back. I gave them the time it took me to finish my Sonic burger and my Route 44 Diet Coke with regular cherry syrup and easy ice, to text me back until it was time to follow that up with my "don't ignore me" text. I can see when you've "read" my iMessage ok Dad?? But I digress, how did I get to telling you about my text messaging conversation??...

We arrived in Vegas Friday night, and Saturday was for hanging out on the strip! First stop: the Wicked Spoon

My biggest regret in life is wearing skinny jeans to a brunch buffet. Was I high?? 

There was food as far as the eye can see - breakfast food, lunch food, food I'd never heard of, desserts all over the place, and there I was in skinny jeans. 

Don't do it guys. Leave your skinny jeans at home. Cause not only are you going to eat your little heart out but you're also going to drink enough mimosas to fill a small pool, cause they're bottomless. Like, they can't tell you "no, that's enough mimosas for you," they have to keep bringing them to you.

And then after some eggs benedict, french toast, 3 servings of mac and cheese, a breakfast sandwich, some salami, a fruit and yogurt parfait, a couple pieces of bacon, and  some other food I'm sure I'm forgetting... I had dessert.

One in each hand. 

Is there really any other way?

No, there's not. And I don't care that the manager has circled our table three times now, I'm gonna keep eating my dessert and have another mimosa cause this is a buffet and that's what you do. 

And then after the buffet you waddle around and groan and continuously repeat to yourself, "I can't believe how full I am" all afternoon. And that's what we did. Cause gravity needed to do it's job after a buffet like that, so we walked up and down the strip for the rest of the day. And it hurt. My stomach, not my feet. 

And then Saturday night I had to sleep on my back all night cause if I dared lay on my stomach I might've given birth to a food baby. 

By the time Sunday morning rolled around I was still full, so it was probably a good thing that we all went out on a hike, my aunt and uncle, their adorable pups, and my mom and I. The more walking the better.

See, and you thought Vegas was only the strip.

The noun, 'strip', not to be confused with the verb 'strip'. There was none of that happening this weekend.

After our hike, we cleaned up and there was finally enough room in my belly to stuff my face for round 2...so that's what we did. We went to lunch at a place we saw on the Food Network the night before, which was conveniently located not far from my aunt and uncle's house!

It was as delicious as it looks. Also, there's a fried egg on this hamburger which officially takes my fried-egg-on-a-hamburger V card. For so long people raved about fried eggs on their hamburgers and quite frankly, now I get it.

And if hamburgers with an asian flair and french fries with parmesan cheese and sauce drizzled all over them aren't enough...on our way home we stopped at the candy store next door and look who I found:

Oh, and also:

 I mean, I bought some Milk Duds but my highlight of the candy shop was definitely Leonard and Sheldon. And also the Harry Potter chocolate I bought that came with a trading card of Gilderoy Lockhart....that's now up in my cubicle at work...so people can know just how cool I am.

Sunday afternoon we watched the Olympics, discussed what it is about Meryl Davis that looks so weird, and took a couple naps.

That's Meryl Davis, not us taking naps. 

Sunday night was the night of the show, so we headed to the strip a couple hours early to see the Stratosphere. We made our way up to the lounge on the 107th floor, conveniently named "Level 107 Lounge" and had some drinks and appetizers for happy hour.

This one I get. When we went to the George W. Bush Library in Dallas last fall, we ate at the cafe conveniently named, "Cafe 43" and I didn't put it together that he was the 43rd President until after we left.

Cafe 43...the 43rd President...You win some you lose some I suppose. Just ask Al Gore.

Our view as the sun went down:

I didn't ride any of the rides on top of the Stratosphere because quite frankly, I choose life. And there's really not much more to say about that.

And that's where it ends folks. Cause the Suns are in overtime in Denver, and naturally, that requires my full attention.

Next up: Shania!!!

Weekend Wrap-Up - Cause I Can't Think of a More Creative Title

It's been a while eh? For some reason I just didn't have the blogging bug last week. It's not like I was super busy or anything like that...I just didn't have anything to write about.

Actually, I take that back - I had a lot to write about, I was just too lazy to actually put pen to paper (er, fingers to keyboard?) and write. But thanks to this lovely Sunday night and this glass (or two-ish) of Gerwurztraminer (it's a real word...and a real wine) I suddenly have things to say.

Things like: what I did this weekend. AND the good news is that my weekend isn't even really over yet. Thank you President's Day! It's holidays like this where I luuuuuurve working for the government.

Last week I was feeling like a terrible dog mom cause the dogs hadn't had anything fun to do, so I suggested we go up north and take the dogs, and walk around and hang out. Cause that's what you do when the weather is perfect and you're a terrible dog mom. It's an interesting combination isn't it?

So we drove a couple hours northward (northbound?) and stopped first at Canyon Creek. 

 As soon as we made it past the two families at the very tip of the creek, the leashes were off and so were the labs!

Maycee was in the zone all day...

My favorite part of wanting to go up north for the day, is that it's kind of like ordering off a menu. I tell my husband, "Nate, I wanna take the dogs up north for the day; do you know where we could go?" And he replies with, "Yeah, it just depends on what roads are open." Once we find out what roads are open, then there's a plethora of options, 

"Well do you want a lake, or a stream? 

A hike or just an easy walk? 

Do you want to see the Fish Hatchery?"

I could show you where the rope swing is, do you want to see the rope swing?"

That Nathan, he's full of options.

After Canyon Creek we cruised on over to the next spot where we ate lunch (i.e. a couple of Lunchables; I don't care how old you are, those things are delicous) and yes, he showed me the rope swing. Also, I picked up this wine on our way out of town...I mean, I couldn't not buy it right?

Lower Canyon Creek was up after lunch, and since there were fisherman around we couldn't let the dogs off the leash...cause we're responsible dog owners like that.

On our way home we (and when I say we, I really mean just Nate) spotted a doe not far from the road...see if you can find her:

That natural camouflage is something else isn't it?? 

Maycee was so freakin' pooped on the way home she didn't even care that Gunther straight up laid right on top of her. She didn't even try to move.

Sunday was nothing worth taking pictures of; no one wants to see pictures of laundry, errands, or me sitting at a computer blogging my little heart out. Although we did try out a new brunch place this morning and I had some delicious eggs benedict. People would definitely want to see pictures of eggs benedict. I don't have any though, so you'll have to go elsewhere for that. I don't mess around when there's a plate of eggs benedict in front of me. 

And on that note, I'm gonna go finish this long weekend with who knows what. Definitely not any more Gerwurztraminer, that stuff is long gone. All the more reason to end this blog post.

Happy Monday, and happy (happy?) President's Day!

Things That Make Me Cringe

Because all the creativity I could muster today is to make a list.

Things that make me cringe:

Justin Bieber

Black jelly beans

A unibrow

When the basketball commentators say the word "penetrate"

When the narrator on Gold Rush uses the term "glory hole"

Too many raisins in my trail mix and not enough M&Ms

My alarm in the morning

When someone says "epic"

When someone quotes Charlie Sheen. 

No, you're not "winning." If you're still quoting Charlie Sheen you're in fact, losing.

These kinds of dogs:

No offense if you have one, of course.

His hair:

No man should have a top-knot that looks better than mine.

His head:

...It's just so long

The LA Dodgers (don't hate me Jeff, if you're reading this)

Tampon commercials. 

75% of Facebook users

The Shamwow guy

Car dealership commercials where they talk with their hands for no good reason and it looks awkward and forced

Congress

The UofA 

Political correctness 

Hashtags on Facebook 

Trying to end a blog post. I'm really bad at it.

----------------------

What makes you cringe??

My Blogging Niche...or Lack Thereof

Before I begin this post, I would just like to say when I did a Google Image search for "niche" I got a bunch of these things. This is a niche?? Or a urinal?? Cause to me, it looks a little bit like a urinal. But whatever. Moving on.

I don't talk a lot about blogging here; mostly because I just assume there's nothing I could offer you bloggers that you don't already know. And plus I don't think I take it that seriously I guess. I don't sit down and write my posts for the week in advance, I don't know how to do a give-away, I'm not big enough to offer sponsorships; heck, I don't even feel an obligation to post five days a week. If I have nothing to write about, I don't write. 

I blog because it's fun for me. Writing is fun for me. 

So I never really thought much about the idea of having a "blogging niche." I was always of the opinion that the best blogs were the ones with all sorts of content. However, the more posts I read lately about having a blogging niche, the more I feel obligated to find one.

The problem is: I don't have one.

I'm certainly not a fashion blog, cause I'm pretty sure it would end up looking something like this:

...And that's just not a good look for anybody. Myself included.

You all know how much I hate cooking, so a food blog is out of the question.

A fitness blog is a definite no-no since I'm realllly ugly when I work out and I'm not brave enough to take selfies at the gym (and let's face it, if you don't take a picture of yourself working out, it's like the workout didn't happen, am I right?). What am I saying? I don't even work out at a gym.

I can't even be a beauty blog cause I'm too cheap to buy the newest and greatest $50 serum of some sort and I've been using the same eye shadow palette for the last two years. 

Does make-up go bad?...See, if I were a beauty blog and you asked me that question I wouldn't even be able to give you an answer. I'd have to refer you to YouTube or Wikipedia or something. 

So where does that leave me in the blogging world and all its niches?? 

Homeless, that's where.

When people in real life find out that I have a blog the first thing they usually ask me is, "Really?! What do you blog about?!" I usually answer with, "I dunno, nothing important" and quickly try and change the subject, because for some reason when I'm forced to talk about my blog in real life I get really embarrassed. But when I think about it, I'm like, really though, what do I blog about??

My dogs.

My love for Harry Potter, and wine, and macaroni and cheese, and wine.

Fun things I do on the weekend.

My...

My...

I...

I guess I write about myself on my blog. 

Does this make me a narcissist?? 

All this to say, if I want to grow my blog and give it real direction, do I need to find a niche? Or maybe I create my own niche-less niche in blog-land? 

The niche for the niche-less. I'm gonna make that a thing.

Cause anything else isn't looking too promising for me so far.   

True Life: I'm Too Sensitive

It's true. I've been thinking about it lately and I've come to the conclusion that I'm too sensitive. Here's a few reasons why:

If there's no exclamation point in your text message my first thought is "Omg what's wrong?"

If there's no exclamation point in my text message I feel like I'm being rude.

If there's a "Please [insert task here]" in a work email, without a smiley face, I'm gonna think I'm in trouble. When you really think about it, the word "please," while intended to convey politeness, is actually one of the more bossy, kind of demanding words, no? 

If someone writes a vague, passive aggressive Facebook status, and coincidentally it happens to be an offense I've committed at some point in my life I'm gonna think you're writing it about me and get all concerned about it like, "Oh my gosh is she writing that about me?? Did I upset her?? I hope she's not mad at me!"

I know. I'm ridiculous.

The second I honk my horn at someone on the road I instantly feel bad about it.

One of my fears in life is mean comments on my blog. 

#firstworldprobs

My feelings get hurt when Nate and I come home from work, at the same time mind you, and the dogs run past me to greet Nate. Like, really hurt.

In light of today's revelations, I feel so bad for Ron Weasley (ahem, a fictional character) after JK Rowling revealed she thinks Hermione should've married Harry instead (ahem, also fictional characters). There's concern that Ron wouldn't have been able to "really make her happy" in the long run. Sure, pile on the ginger. 

Some call it a slow news day, I call it a paradigm shift in the Potter-verse. 

Are you too sensitive?? Tell me I'm not the only one with exclamation point thing...

Weekend Wrap-up: This is Not a Super Bowl Post

Is it safe to come out? As in, come back out onto social media and the interwebs in general? Cause I was avoiding it for basically all of Sunday cause I just couldn't take all the Super Bowl trash talking in all of my news feeds. Originally I was rooting for Denver because my first impression of Seahawks fans (and Richard Sherman) wasn't a good one, but it turns out Denver fans aren't much better because they're still trying to talk shiz even though they just got whooped. Whooped bad.

But either way I don't really care cause I did some other fun things this weekend.

Things like, my very first blate with Jessa from Life of a Sports Wife, and Leanne from Being Jane!

  Ignore all the red-eye that's in this photo, by the way.

We coordinated a meet-up for this round of Cara Box swaps, which were paired by state and I was so happy to finally meet these ladies in person!

After the meet-up Jessa and her husband actually had tickets to the Suns game they weren't able to use, so she was kind enough to offer them to Nate and I, so off we went to the Suns game!

Thanks Jessa for the awesome tickets!

The Suns are my jam right now and I just can't get enough of them. All of them. I can't even really pick a favorite player. They're the biggest surprise in the NBA this season and fortunately we were able to watch them win their 5th game in a row. It was also fan appreciation night. I felt pretty appreciated, for the record. They were doing some cool promotions and give-aways for the occasion, including the lady sitting in the row directly in front of us who randomly was handed a back pack full of Suns goodies including a Jeff Hornaceck (Suns Head Coach) bobble-head. 

I didn't feel so appreciated then.

Where's my bobble-head?? I want a back pack full of Suns SWAG - which, for all you Office fans out there, is Stuff We All Get. But alas, I didn't. Maybe it should be called SOSOUG instead - Stuff Only Some Of Us Get, cause I'm pretty sure I walked away from the game sans bobble-head.

But as a consolation prize I did get this grainy, blurry, iPhone pic:

It's OK though because I love how orange my shirt is.

Go Suns!!

So, who's ready for Monday?! ...Normally I would answer, "not me," to this question, but since Monday means it's just another day closer to me being in Vegas next weekend, watching Shania Twain live in concert, I think I'm OK with this Monday rolling around.

T-6 days!