Tag: Chick-Fil-A

Heya, Houston!

Hi everyone and Happy Fourth of July! This past week, my mom, sister, and I made a quick trip to Houston happen so that my mom could visit the Consulate General of Russia for a couple of things. While that was the main thing to be done on the trip, we had some time to experience a teeny bit of Houston.

We flew out of Denver early on Tuesday and it was definitely exciting and eye-opening to be back at the airport. We were required to wear masks the entire time we were in the airport as well as the entire time we flew. On both flights, I really appreciated the cleanliness of the airplanes and the concern for cleanliness and safety. Really really appreciated!! We landed in Houston around lunch time and then it was a 30 minute drive to our hotel in the area around The Galleria. We stayed at the Royal Sonesta Houston, which might I add was a very nice hotel! It was within walking distance of The Galleria (10ish minutes) and they also had a shuttle service.

After we settled into our room, we went to check out The Galleria. It was about a 10 minute walk and we were instantly welcomed to the area by the extreme humidity and a nice, light rain. While it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, I was not a fan of the environment we were in. Yes, I was with family, but I did not feel safe walking as we did. Not only were there people along our walk that said things that made me uncomfortable, but there were some very interesting and particularly shady groups of people within the mall, once we arrived. We were safe the entire time, but I was quite put off by how a mall with such high-end stores could be a place that attracts such a strange crowd.

While in the mall, we grabbed Chick-Fil-A for lunch which is definitely a favorite between my mom, sister, and I. We then walked around for about three hours and that was a good amount of time considering how absolutely MASSIVE the mall was. While we didn’t go into any of the super high-end, luxury stores, it was a lot of fun to walk around and see some of that stuff. There was a Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin, Tiffany & Co., Tesla (unfortunately no cars were in the store though), and Burberry to name a few stores. We stopped by the LUSH and Lululemon in addition the Free People stores, which are some of my personal favorite shops as of right now and we ended up getting some stuff from LUSH. My mom likes to joke that we flew to Houston just to go to the LUSH store, and honestly, she isn’t wrong! That was probably the most exciting part of the trip!

After our trip to The Galleria, we bunkered down in our hotel for the rest of the night, taking the advice of our hotel staff and taxi driver to not go out at night. We ordered food from the hotel’s restaurant and watched HGTV the rest of the night.

The following day, I had a fantastic omelet from the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast and then we were off the the Consulate General. After my mom finished everything that she needed there, we were off to the airport and that’s about it! While I would say that my small amount of time in Houston involved sketchy people in parking garages and strange people at a mall, there was still much more positive and fun time to focus on with my mom and sister. It was a short but sweet little trip and I hope I have a chance to visit a different part of Houston and the state of Texas again sometime soon!

And before I wrap this post up, I just wanted to say that I hope my fellow Americans out there enjoy a good and safe Fourth of July today! Today I am reminded of how grateful I am to live in the country that I do. Living in Colorado, I feel so lucky, especially, to be able to experience my country’s beauty on a daily basis. The Rocky Mountains are something special! 🙂 I am so thankful to all of the amazing men and women that have served our country to protect our freedoms. Freedom is not free and we are not the land of the free without the sacrifices of the brave. Have a wonderful day and an even better week. See you next Sunday!!

July 4, 2021
21!! Almost…

This weekend has been such a fun weekend, mostly because my family and I decided to celebrate my 21st birthday! I officially turn 21 on October 20th (this Tuesday) but we decided to celebrate a little bit early since I won’t be home on my actual birthday because of school.

Friday, my mom and sister treated me to Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks after I finished my macroeconomics recitation which is always a good time. I really like their spicy chicken sandwich with pepper jack cheese. Yummy! 🙂 Definitely not the most healthy meal but it tasted good and that’s what matters haha. The rest of Friday was spent doing a lot of homework just so I could spend more time doing other things over the weekend.

Yesterday morning, I worked out and then my dad and I went to pick up my cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. My aunt and uncle are always so sweet to get me a cake for my birthday. I love the tradition and I especially love the cream cheese frosting on Nothing Bundt Cakes. It’s so sweet but so good. I went with a pumpkin spice cake, because who wouldn’t in the fall? It was a super pretty cake and I’m very thankful that my aunt and uncle think about me. I just wish they could be here to enjoy it with us. 🙂 We played tennis yesterday and then later in the day, my sister and I got Clubhouse Games on our Switch and practically played that for the rest of the day. Clubhouse Games basically just has a bunch of games like mancala, checkers, chess, and Yatzhee. Very classical but super fun!

Saturday night, we went to Ted’s Montana Grill, one of my favorite restaurants and my mom let me try some of her margarita. Yes, I’m technically still 20 but I’m so close to 21, we figured it was ok. Anyway, 10/10 do not recommend tequila. I like the lemony-lime taste of margaritas but the alcohol part I’m less happy about. Dinner was great and back at home, we had cake and I tried another tiny amount of alcohol, this time Baileys. Again, 10/10 do not recommend. I hated the burning feeling it gave me in the throat. The taste itself wasn’t horrible but I just think I’m never really going to be that much of a drinker and that’s ok! I know that alcohol typically tends to be a theme when people turn 21 and I’ve just never been that interested or curious. I was yesterday for a little bit but I think I confirmed my theories and know that I just won’t be doing what a lot of other kids my age are doing and I’m perfectly happy with that.

Sunday morning, my mom and I did some grocery shopping before heading back to school and I got my gifts from my family. Beside the cute new pair of boots I got, I’m really excited to play around with my new Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. It’s such a cute little thing and I’m most excited to use it to track my workouts and see how active I am, especially doing online school for the most part.

More than anything, I was just happy to spend some good time with my family and friends this past weekend to celebrate something special. Birthdays are always fun but they mostly remind me of how loved and supported I am and it really means a lot to me. I don’t say that to brag or make an attempt at showing how amazing my life is, but I say that because sometimes we struggle to feel loved and appreciated, and it’s during special celebrations like this that I’m reminded of how wonderful my family is and how much they mean to me.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Cheers to (almost) being 21!

October 18, 2020
Back to School! Getting Ready for Year 2 at CSU

This past Monday, I moved back in at Colorado State University. Classes don’t start for another week but I was granted early move-in by the honors program (thank youuuu) so I could be all settled in in time for me to take part of the peer mentor trainings for freshman seminars that CSU requires through the honors program. Oooooh. Basically, I’m an instructor for a freshman seminar recitation course. Fun! I get to provide a bunch of resources to freshmen in the honors program and help make their transition to college as smooth as possible. I’m supposed to have a partner, but I’m not going to lie, he’s been a lousy one so far so we’ll see how that goes!

Monday was a fun day. Let me tell ya. Monday = move in. I said all my goodbyes to my dad, Marty, Boo, and Bobo and then was in Fort Collins a little after noon. That’s when the unpacking began. My mom and sister made a second trip back to my house to get the rest of my stuff and then all of the magic in my new room truly happened. I’ll have to post a picture of it some time! The unpacking and sorting and decorating really wasn’t complete until around 6 o’clock and my mom, sister, and I had all skipped out on lunch so we were all pretty drained. When finished with my room, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner where I ate WAY too much (but also needed it so we’re fine). After dinner, I said goodbye to my mom and sister and was back in my hall. Bed time followed shortly after. I was pooped!

Tuesday was a big training day for the peer mentor program. There were so many ice breakers and a lot of good information to help us all be the most successful and helpful instructors to our freshmen. Wednesday was the day I actually got to meet my freshmen and I’m so pleased with the group I got. They seem to be a wonderful group of very smart young individuals and I look forward to seeing them become more confident and comfortable with college. 🙂 I don’t know if many other honors programs run things the way that CSU’s honors program does, but I’m blown away by the attention and support that each student receives.

Thursday was my first day to really just do nothing which was kind of nice but also really weird. This was the day that my sister, Allyson, was moving in at Regis University and also the day that most people were moving in on campus here at CSU. It was also Marty’s tenth birthday. I’m still celebrating and I’m still so thankful that my sweet bubba has been such a wonderful part of my life. Anyway…

Thursday morning, not much happened. In the evening though, the big carnival on campus happened! Despite some threatening clouds and the occasional bit of rain, the carnival continued on. My friends and I didn’t do many of the rides (I’m personally just not a fan) but we did try every single ice cream thing (including snow cones) that was available to us. There was also popcorn and I found out I’m not horrible at skee ball. CSU seriously knows how to throw a welcome party, wow. This was a super fun night because I just got to be around so many good people that I love so so so much. I’m excited and thankful to be with the friends I made last year.

Friday, once again, the morning was pretty slow and relaxed. My friend and I went to get our nails done and also had lunch at Torchy’s Tacos which has become one of my favorite places to eat in the whole entire world. The trashy trailer park tacos are the way to go in my opinion. 🙂 10/10 would recommend.

In the evening on Friday, there were activities at the Lory Student Center and that was my favorite part of this past week. My friends and I got there an hour before anything actually opened so that we could wait in line to stuff little Rams, kinda like what you do at Build-A-Bear Workshop. We successfully stuffed our Rams and then went on to collect so much free food from Spoons (which is a local Fort Collins favorite), Panda Express (a personal favorite haha), as well as That Bagel Place (which I believe is another Fort Collins thing). We made glitter jars and made sand art and really just enjoyed each others company. My friends and I even made it on the Lory Student Center’s Instagram story!

Yesterday, I had my first day of work with a local tennis facility and I really enjoyed getting to play and TEACH the sport I love. The little lobbers (which were the 4-6 year olds) were my favorite. They were just all so adorable and so so so bad at tennis and I loved it! Teaching is a really different side of things that I think I’ll learn to really appreciate.

This past week was exhausting but so much fun at the same time. I’m so excited to be heading into this school year and see where things take me from here. If you’re a fellow Rammie and you’re reading this, good luck here at CSU! 🙂 If you’ve headed back to school already, I hope things got off to a good start for you and if you’re just getting into classes and you’re not from CSU, I still wish you the best of luck. 🙂 We’re all gonna need it. Especially if your name is Ana Horvath and you’re taking a physics and organic chemistry at the same time… Have a good week!

August 25, 2019
A Quick California Trip

I’m sitting on a plane writing this and it most definitely won’t be uploaded until late tonight. Oopsies! I just had a wonderful weekend in California. I went to visit one of my really good friends from school. Her and her family live in Sacramento and were wonderful in letting me stay at their house for the time I was there. Just a heads up, this is going to be a long post, so get comfortable!

I arrived late Thursday night and was welcomed by cooler temperatures (in comparison to the oven that Colorado has been lately). On Friday, my friend showed me around Sacramento and we went to Old Town as well as Downtown Sacramento. Old Town was super cute and there was this fun candy store we went into. They had the most taffy I’ve EVER seen in my life. As a recommendation, I ask you all to never never never try chicken and waffles taffy. It’s gross. That’s all I have to say about that.

When we went to Downtown Sacramento, my friend and I stopped at this really pretty place for lunch called The Bank after walking around for a bit. We went to Pressed Juicery prior to lunch and both got rose lemonade and a watermelon pomegranate juice. Healthy and yummy juice options there for sure! I just wish we had one in Colorado. 🙁 I’m pretty sure they’re expanding out of California, but not quite yet…

The best way I can describe The Bank: its an old bank turned into an upscale cafeteria with really good food options. They had burgers, Mexican food, pizza, poke bowls, a bakery, and a bar. The burgers at Station 8 (that was the name of the little restaurant) were what my friend and I got. So yummy too by the way! I got the Bank burger and it came with mushroom gravy and sour cream on it in addition to many of the tradition things you find on a burger. The fries were good too, but too much for one person. If you stop by The Bank, I would recommend splitting the fries with another person.

After lunch, we walked around Downtown a bit more and then my friend took me to the Starbucks Reserve, which is basically a fancy Starbucks. There are only a couple of them in the country, I think. That was pretty cool and then I got a very yummy drink from them and a couple cup to keep (I’m a dork). I got the nitro dirty chai. 10/10 would recommend!

We finished out Friday watching movies: Primal Fear and A Few Good Men and then went to bed because the next day was going to be a long day. We were going to San Francisco!

The next day started around 6:15 in the morning and we went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast on the way. At this moment, I remember thinking, “Thank goodness Colorado time isn’t too different from California time!” Waking up that early wasn’t too bad. I think the drive was around two hours. After finding parking, we went to Union Square and went to this one mall that had a Nordstrom with like eight different floors. There was practically an entire floor dedicated to shoes! It was crazy. At that mall, we walked around Nordstrom for a while and then stopped by American Eagle and Lululemon. I was very excited to go to the Lululemon. 🙂

After some shopping, our next stop was the Museum of Ice Cream. Wow was that a fun place to go. If you’re ever in San Francisco, PLEASE go. The amount of ice cream you receive and the fun you have is worth the price. You do need to get tickets in advance though, just a heads up.

You enter the museum by going through the “pink portal” which is just a pink tube slide. After that, my friend and I were greeted by a person in a jumpsuit with otter pops. We created ice cream names for ourselves (I was Ana Banana haha) and then moved onto the next room. The next room was a cute little diner where we got s’mores ice cream. The cone was dipped in chocolate and the ice cream was dusted with graham crackers. It fully tasted like a s’more! Room after room, we got more ice cream and got to take so many cute pictures. There was a lot of fun stuff to do in each room too!

Like in one, we got to make bracelets, there was one where we got to play with fun mirrors, there was one with those giant frosted animal cookies you could sit on, there was another with cute unicorns you could take pictures with, and there was another room where you could write words on a wall with magnetic letters. There was also a room with a pool filled with sprinkles that had a slide and diving board. That room was pretty cute too. We got ice cream sandwiches made of chocolate chip cookies and pink vanilla ice cream at the sprinkles pool.

Overall, the Museum of Ice Cream was a super fun, super interactive, and super cute place to visit. If you ever plan to make a trip to California, take your family to San Francisco and this place in particular and be prepared for A LOT of ice cream.

After our ice cream adventure, my friend and I walked around Union Square a bit more and spent an hour inside Tiffany’s. No, we didn’t buy anything, but the gentleman assisting us allowed us both to try on a few pieces which was really fun. 🙂 Maybe someday I’ll be able to afford some of that jewelry.

Our day in San Francisco was still not over! We went to Pier 39, where I got to see Alcatraz from a distance, ate a bunch of mini doughnuts covered in cinnamon and sugar, went on a carousel, and navigated my way through a mirror maze. After our fun at Pier 39, we headed to a small beach where my friend and I took some more pictures and I truly got to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

By now, dinner was rolling around and so we hopped back in the car and took a short drive over to Ghirardelli Square. There, we had dinner at the San Francisco Brewing Company (great pizza and virgin drinks there by the way!), and then went to get some chocolate. I would have ordered a milkshake or some ice cream but I was all ice-creamed-out from my adventures earlier in the day.

After dinner and some more shopping, we began the journey back to Sacramento which began with a stop at a viewpoint of the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh my goodness was it cold and windy, but the view of the bridge and San Francisco as the sun set was spectacular. Lots of good pictures from there! Then it was another two hour drive back to my friend’s house. I crashed that night, that’s for sure. The next day was going to be much more relaxed, THANK GOODNESS.

On Sunday, my friend and I went to see the new Lion King movie which I am proud to say that I really enjoyed. Disney did a fabulous job sticking to the plot of the original movie (which they’ve struggled with in their remakes, in my opinion). That made the movie a lot more enjoyable to me. After the movie, my friend and I stopped for lunch at In-N-Out because what trip to California would be complete without it?

This was my first time ever going to In-N-Out and I was pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of the menu and of course, the tastiness of the food. That was a good burger. Does it beat BurgerFi? In my opinion, no. But it was still a very yummy meal. After lunch, we went back to her house and just relaxed until it was time for me to head to the airport for my trip back to Denver and here we are in the present time. 🙂

To my friend, if you ever read this, thank you so much for showing me Sacramento, San Francisco, and just California in general! I had a blast with you and your family. And thank you to your family for allowing me to stay at your home and have fun with you all for a weekend! California is a fun state to visit and explore and I look forward to visiting it many more times to come. Have a good week everyone!

July 21, 2019