Sleepless In Seattle- A Recap!

My trip to Seattle was AMAZING! Exactly what I needed.....some time away in a new city with two of my favorite people! Honestly, we felt so unprepared heading on this trip. We didn't have one single thing planned. I'm used to having a full itinerary on vacations. It was actually really fun to be spontaneous and decide to do things on a whim.

Day 1-
-We headed to the Space Needle for brunch, ate some yummy food, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and had a blast.

-After brunch, we decided it'd be fun to rent bikes and explore the city. The weather was perfect, minus a short downpour. Luckily, we stopped for some drinks and chips & queso at Paquitos Mexican restaurant while it rained so it worked out just fine. We ended up riding our bikes for 5 hours. It was so much fun. We got to see all the pretty houses and fun shops in Capitol Hill. Not going to lie, I got a pretty good workout riding up all those crazy hills. Not used to that here in Oklahoma!
-On this day, we decided that a skip trip was in store for us the following day. Super spontaneous seeing as though we didn't bring ski gear. Who cares right? That's what thrift shops are for. We made a stop at Value Village on our bike ride to pick up some ski gear. I found some sweet purple ski bibs for $7.99, a Colombia coat for $25, gloves for $2.99, and a beanie for $1.99. Alli found some nice ski pants for super cheap and Marcus also found a pair of ski pants. We were ready to go. Notice the gorgeous green shirt Marcus tried on for Saint Patty's Day. Too bad he decided against it.
-We were pooped after a long day of activities so we went home and went to bed early. We knew if we stayed out late we wouldn't make it up in time to go skiing.

Day 2-
-Woke up early and headed to the slopes at Steven's Pass. I was a little worried we weren't going to see any snow on the mountain....boy was I wrong. I've never skied in such thick snow in my life. It definitely made it hard to get back up when we fell. The view was incredible. I'm so glad we followed through with our plan and actually went.

-When we got home from skiing we got cleaned up, ate dinner at Pesos, and decided on a whim to go sing karaoke. Pretty happy about that decision because it was quite hilarious. Alli and I sang "No Scrubs" by TLC and Marcus and Alli sang N'SYNC's "Dirty Pop." It was classic. Alli and I killed "No Scrubs" by the way. You can tell from the pics we were getting into it.

Day 3 (Saint Patty's Day)-

-One of Marcus' friends organized a pub crawl for St. Patty's Day. We went to about three different Irish pub's during the afternoon. It was fun to meet and hangout with his friends. One of the pubs was located in Pier 70 (the place where Real World Seattle was filmed).

-On our flight to Seattle, there was a guy sitting next to us who coached soccer for the Houston Dynamo. He was going to Seattle for a coaching course and had a ticket to the Seattle Sounders (the professional soccer team) game. Alli had mentioned to him that she really wanted to go to a game while we were there. He ended up getting her number because he was going to try and get us tickets to the game. Thanks to our new friend, we got 3 tickets to the game. It was AWESOME. It was their season opener on St. Patty's Day and it was nuts. Didn't know soccer was that big in Seattle! It was pretty cool and I hate soccer. Big thanks to Johnathan...that was really sweet of him.Day 4-

-Woke up early and headed to the market. It was pretty cold and rainy that day. Oh how I wish we had a market. I would go there every morning for fresh fruit. I've never had such juicy, amazing fruit in my life. I could have done without the whole seafood thing. YUCK, I hate the smell of fish. We got to see them throw the fish around. The fish almost slapped a lady in the face...GROSS. I'm amazed at how cheap the flowers are at the market. A huge, beautiful bouquet was only $10-$20. In Oklahoma, you could buy a tiny bouquet from Wal-Mart for that price and they wouldn't even be that pretty. Wish they could ship me flowers once a week from the market. We seriously thought about that.

-We also hit up H&M and some other shops. Proud to say I walked out of H&M empty handed and it was my first time there....surprising!
-I think Alli went into Beecher's Cheese Shop every time she walked by it. There was some seriously good cheese and crackers in there. We brought some home as souvenirs.....mine is already gone.

-Sunday evening we relaxed, ate Zeek's pizza for dinner, and went to bed early.

-If you read my previous posts, you already know what catastrophe awaited us on Monday!

Thanks again Marcus for being such a wonderful host and letting us come stay. We loved everything about the city and had a blast hanging out with you and your friends. Can't wait to visit again! LOVE YOU!

Treasure Hunt=Successful

Today I went to three garage sales and a new antique store in Norman and I didn't come home empty handed :) I actually found quite a few goodies. I got these light up Christmas sculptures at the first garage sale for $0.50 a piece....never can have too many Christmas decorations.

The second garage sale I went to benefited Second Chance....might as well buy stuff that makes a difference for a great cause. I found a bunch of good stuff at this one.

$5.00 light up Christmas tree
$10 antique mirror (more than likely will spray paint this and antique glaze it)

Never can have to many glass votive candles. They always come in handy for parties, weddings, dinners, etc. I got all the glassware from this sale for $10.You might look at this and think, "why did she buy a spice rack?" Well, when I saw this, I thought the glass was cute and I loved the shape.See what I mean? Minus the lids, carousel, and spice tags, you have a pretty cute flower vase. I even thought of painting the carousel a fun color and hanging the vases on it with flowers inside. I can't help but buy glass vases when I see them because they will always come in handy when I start planning my wedding.I also bought eight of these glasses to use as vases. Love the shape.

Next, I discovered a new store in Norman called Main Street Memorables. It's located on East Main across from the Sarkey's Foundation. If you live in the area, you need to go there. Tons of cute stuff!

I don't like it when people take pictures of themselves in the mirror, but I think if you saw these clothes hanging on the hanger you would laugh, but once I tried them on, I liked them. The pink blazer was $4.50.I'm sure most of you will think this top looks like a grandma, but I thought it was cute. It reminded me of Spring and it was only $2.00. Speaking of Spring, I painted my nails a fun mint color with silver glitter. It's my favorite polish color to wear in the Spring & Summer. It's made by China Glaze.I also got this black, tray table at Main St. Memorables. It was $28. I thought that was a really good price....it's pretty big in person.This table is also from the same place. I loved the exposed wood top. It was $65. I also purchased a darling green bench for $65 which was a huge steal. By the time I went to get my dad's truck to pick the stuff up, the lady called me and said she made a mistake on the bench price. The lady who owned it actually wanted $135. I was super sad, but didn't want to spend that much on it so I got my money back and went home without it :( However, I told her to call me if she has trouble selling it for $135. Hoping she calls back!!!

See what happens when you get bored on your days off because they're in the middle of the week when everyone else is at work? It can be very dangerous!

Worst Luck EVER!

I know when it's time to update my blog because my mom will say, "I've been checking your blog everyday and it's still the same post I've seen a hundred times." There is good reason for my lack of posting. Two weeks ago, I was busy playing "stand-in mom" to these two precious boys while their parents were enjoying the ocean and sunshine in Hawaii. Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about being responsible for them for an entire week, but they did SO GOOD and we didn't have any issues. The week after that I left for a much needed vacation to Seattle with my two best friends! The trip was amazing....seriously, one of the top 5 vacations I've been on. Before I post about how wonderful the trip was, I'd like to transform into Negative Nancy and talk about the negative part: FLYING! Don't worry....the next post will be happy and cheery and filled with lots of fun pictures and adventures.

I learned three things the day we "thought" we were flying home.

#1. NEVER FLY IN BAD WEATHER

#2. NEVER FLY UNITED/CONTINENTAL...EVER

#3. PAY THE EXTRA MONEY FOR A FLIGHT THAT GOES STRAIGHT THROUGH

We were SUPPOSED to fly out of Seattle at 11:30 Monday morning, arrive in Houston at 5:45pm, leave Houston at 7:30pm, and arrive in OKC at 9:45pm. Boy were we in for a rude awakening. We got to Houston just fine, went to our gate and realized a few hours in that our gate had changed and our flight to OKC was delayed an hour. We proceed to walk to our new gate (which just so happened to be conveniently located ALL THE WAY across the airport)....once we get to our new gate, we look at the screen and realize our gate has changed yet again. They moved our new gate directly next to the gate we had just came from. Here we go again, walking all the way across the airport. Once we get there, we see that our flight has now been delayed until 9:30. At this point, we were a little annoyed because we had to walk so far and we were getting delayed, but we were just praying it wasn't cancelled. Finally, they tell us to board. First, they say that they might not be able to fit all the luggage because they have to load extra fuel in case we have to fly around the storm. GREAT..that makes us feel nice and safe. Once we get on the plane, it takes about 20-30 mins before they get everything ready and start to move. We proceed to the line of planes waiting to take off. Then, they come over the intercom and tell us it will be another 20 mins before we are in the air because they have to wait 8 mins in between each plane's takeoff for visibility purposes...we were 4th in line. After we wait about 20 mins, they turn the engine off and tell us it will be another 40 mins before we take off because the planes already in the air had to detour to Mexico and were sitting at the Mexico airport waiting for the storm to pass and Mexico wasn't allowing anymore planes to come in. This was the point when I started to freak out. I was pretty much ready to get off the plane and start over tomorrow. I was not about to get stuck at an airport in Mexico. Finally, after waiting 40 mins, they decide to cancel the flight. At this point it is about 11:00pm. Thirty minutes later we are off the plane, re booking our flight for the morning, and waiting at baggage claim. As if things couldn't get worse, the baggage claim belt breaks...not once, but twice. That took an hour to fix. Meanwhile, my best friend Alli starts calling hotels. Pretty much all of them were booked, but we found one hotel that was 20 miles away that had 7 rooms left. She booked the room through an International Hotel Hotline (United gave us their number) because they would give us a discounted rate. We pay $30 to take a taxi to the hotel. What do you know???? We get to the hotel and they are booked. INSERT TWO EXTREMELY FURIOUS GIRLS HERE WHO ARE ABOUT TO THROW A HISSY FIT....AND WE DID! We call the hot line and try to get them to work with us, but of course, they make excuses and there's nothing they can do. We sit at the hotel until about 2:00am and decide to call another cab (and pay another cab fee) and spend the night at the airport.

Here's Alli sleeping
This is me sleeping

People probably thought we were lady lovers because we spooned the entire night trying to keep warm. We slept from 3:00am until 7:00am. I'm pretty sure I slept with one eye open the entire time. We kept our arms wrapped around our bags in case someone tried to snatch them. At 7:00am we woke up and went to the check-in desk to start the process for our 9:00am flight. Guess what?? SURPRISE, SURPRISE....our 9:00am flight was cancelled and the 12:50pm and 2:00pm flights to OKC were booked. DUN DUN DUN....they say, "sorry girls, but the next flight to OKC isn't until Thursday." Insert tears here. Total freak out mode sets in. Alli goes downstairs to see if we're old enough to rent a car. We are, but they are sold out of cars....SWEET! Needless to say, they put us on a flight at 10:30am to Chicago and then we would fly out of Chicago at 5:11pm and get to OKC at 7:30pm. The 10:30 flight to Chicago got postponed to 1:45pm so we had to go standby on another flight to Chicago at 12:50pm and we ended up making that flight and got to OKC safely.

I realize that you can't predict the weather....and I'm glad we didn't fly through the bad weather. Hallelujah for making it home safely. However, I've never been so frustrated in my life. It is miserable to feel like you have no control over the situation. It is also miserable to be stuck in an airport from 10:00am on a Monday until 7:30pm on a Tuesday. It also doesn't help that almost everyone you come in contact with that works for United was rude and unsympathetic. We asked for money back, hotel room vouchers, food voucher, etc.....and guess what we got in return......A WHOPPING $10 BREAKFAST VOUCHER. Guess what that bought me at the airport? A breakfast Stromboli and orange juice.........WOOHOO!!!

I know, I know, it was all due to weather, but you can't tell me if you were in the same situation that you wouldn't be LIVID. I had to call in to work on Tuesday and cancel all of my appointments and I'm sure they weren't happy about it either. Sorry about being Debbie Downer in this post, but I just had to get it out there. I WILL NOT BE FLYING UNITED EVER AGAIN!

Glad to be home. I'm sure next time we talk about this experience, we'll die laughing.....oh the memories!

Happy Seattle post coming next....stay tuned!

Way Back Wednesday- Caitlin's 21st!

So this one time.......

....at pom tryouts.....

.....I met this little girl named Caitlin. When I say little, I mean little. I think she had just turned 17 years old and she was a freshman in college (she graduated high school a year early). I remember sitting at the top of the gym stretching...I didn't know anyone and I was so nervous because I had never danced in my life, but I was trying out for the pom squad. Anyway, Caitlin was sitting next to me and she introduced herself and started asking me all these questions and we became fast friends. I was so thankful for her during those tryouts. She stood next to me and explained every single move. I think in the first eight count of the dance I was ready to quit and walk out, but thankfully Caitlin was there to explain what an axle, fuete, and switch leap were. She was the sole reason I made the team and she probably didn't know she signed up to be my private lesson teacher on every routine. Not long after we both made the pom squad, Caitlin became a gypsy (or homeless if you want to call it). Her roommate moved back home and she had no where to live. I couldn't let this little girl be homeless so I invited her to come live with me and my two roommates. See, we only had three bedrooms so Caitlin and I had to share a room. We gave her the extra closet in the hallway and pretty much everything else we shared. Essentially, she became the little sister I never had.....and Caitlin was sure to let me know when I was treating her like a little sister. I can't remember how many times I've heard her say, "okay mom" to me. Although there were times that I'm sure we both wanted to ring each other's necks, we got along great. We were together A LOT....from 5:30am practices, until we went to bed at night. She is an extremely wonderful friend and person. I'm so proud of her for achieving all her goals. She will be graduating from college this semester and she's already gotten accepted into law school....WOOHOO!! Today the little girl turns 21!! Can't believe it. Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Caitlin. Sad I won't be there to celebrate, but don't you worry. I will be making an appearance in Fort Smith, STAT and we will finally get to go out together! Love you, friend. This is the first picture we took together. Can you say BABIES? I even had braces....oh my!
pom girlsbefore a basketball game
trying to hold up 18 for her 18th birthday
blowing out her 18 birthday candles!

Posh Spice & Ginger Spice for Halloween
PUCKER!!!
the infamous Caitlin face
ummm, excuse me??
love them!when you have a friend like me who can't put the camera down.....you have a crazy number of ridiculous pictures like these. The photographer would give us a scenario and then take the picture. This must have been rock on.my first trip back to the Fort after moving back home.

dancing....and Caitlin's infamous face again. One of my favorite pictures of us.
The most recent picture from when Caitlin came to visit me and got her hair done.
LOVE YOU!!
Wish we all still lived in our duplex so we could decorate it and throw a big birthday party for your 21st :(