So today just so happens to be my mom’s birthday and I find that pretty exciting. Happy Birthday, Mom!!
She doesn’t usually read my blogs but from time to time she does, so I really hope she gets a chance to look through my more recent posts and see this one. 😊
More than anything, I think it’s always really important to show my mom how much I love and appreciate her on her birthday. I try to show all that every day, but on my mom’s birthday, there’s even more to go around. Like today my sister, dad, and I surprised my mom with some roses when we got back from playing tennis first thing in the morning. After breakfast, my sister, mom and I went to Starbucks so she could get a free drink and stopped by Nothing Bundt Cakes so she could get a free bundtlet (I have no idea if I spelled that right but she got a free little cake… that’s gonna have to be the best way to describe that)! We went to a restaurant of her choosing for dinner and then enjoyed cake after. Overall, I would say we had a nice and chill day. Nothing too fancy or over-the-top. It felt just right. Birthdays are always so fun and I think it’s always great to get to celebrate someone you love!
Mom, I hope you had a wonderful day and here’s to another wonderful year. Thank you for all you do. You’re the absolute best mom I could ever ask for and I wish you nothing but the best. Love you, love you!!
Have a great week everyone. See you next Sunday. ❤️
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!
This isn’t even stuff that happened this past weekend, but it did happen the weekend before and I felt the need to share now. My mom and I had a mission, and that mission was to find a new tennis skirt at Lululemon. And of course the closest Lululemon was in Boulder. Since I was home for the weekend, I took a trip to Boulder, the home of the enemy (Go Rams!), and went to the 29th Street Mall.
I honestly forgot how scary Boulder was. I used to visit all the time considering that my dad worked at CU Boulder, but it has gotten weird, let me tell ya. There were just a lot of weird stores and the overall vibe was just a little weird. Regardless, I found my skirt at Lululemon and will happily be wearing it on the court whenever I get the chance. We also found a couple of really cute racerback tank tops and another cute shirt for working out in. I would definitely consider Lululemon to be on the more expensive side of clothing, but the quality is amazing, and their clothes last for quite a long time, so the price is worth it.
After our time at Lululemon, we walked around Macy’s and then Brandy Melville, which I didn’t realize was an actual, physical store. I’ve known that you can shop at Brandy Melville online, but like I said, I didn’t realize it was an actual store you could shop at in person. I also knew a bunch of girls that LOVED Brandy Melville clothes in high school and made the biggest deal of it, but I’ve never really understood that. If Brandy Melville is your style and you love it, I’m not judging, but still, wow.
There’s honestly a lot of clothes that are that way in my opinion. As long as you’re comfortable and confident in what you wear, then that’s awesome! There really isn’t a need to go around making a big deal of other people’s outfits, judging them for the brands they wear. Clothes are clothes, let’s keep that in mind. Kind of like with the brand Supreme, I never understood the appeal. Super limited edition, super “cool”, and super expensive. And the only thing that separated Supreme hoodies from a perfectly good and comfortable hoodie from Kohl’s or Target was the logo.
Anyway, back to the story of my weekend. After our walk-through of Brandy Melville, my family and I stopped at Starbucks (woohoo) and finished our Boulder afternoon adventure with caramel cloud macchiatos. And if you get the cloud macchiato iced, it’s even better. Honestly, the cloud macchiato is my favorite all-time drink at Starbucks. It’s beautiful and so tasty and so different from any other Starbucks drink I’ve ever had. It’s unfortunate that it’s a limited edition drink, but it’s really not too big of a deal. Hopefully they’ll bring it back around!
I hope you all have a great week. I’m glad that the weather is finally getting warmer, especially after having a horrible bomb cyclone x2 this past week. See you next Sunday!
This weekend, I went home again. After my first lab practical and 300 level class exam, it was well-deserved, let me tell ya. In addition to that, my mom’s birthday is this upcoming Wednesday, and since I won’t be there for her actual birthday, I wanted to celebrate this weekend!
It’s always good to go home and escape the food of college dining halls as well as the clutter and small spaces associated with residence halls. I have a very nice room at school but still, a change of scenery and a chance to get away is nice. 🙂 My dad and sister came to pick me up Friday night and our drive home was accompanied by a lovely snow storm and slow, slow, SLOW traffic on I-25.
We eventually got home and I was greeted by my mom, grandma, Marty, Boo, and Bobo. There was a lot of good food. Woohoo! On Saturday, I spent a good majority of the day with my sister and we even had the chance to play tennis together again. Haha, it was funny to play with her again mostly because she’s been playing all winter, and the last time I really played was a month ago. She kicked my butt that’s for sure. I really am thankful to be able to play in a warm, indoor facility in the winter with some wonderful people, especially my dad and sister. Allyson and I played Mario Kart too which is always fun (especially Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch!) and I really enjoyed being with my best friend for a while again.
Sunday was where the true festivities were. On top of grocery shopping for me, my mom, grandma, sister, and I went prom dress shopping for Allyson and also found my dress for the Miss Colorado USA pageant in October (yes, I’m competing again!). We meant to buy some popcorn while we were at the mall but that didn’t happen. Oh well, the Starbucks drinks were still yummy. The day honestly flew and before I knew it, I was eating ribs and salad with my family and a delicious salted-caramel, chocolate cream pie in honor of my mom’s birthday. And now, here I am back in my room at school preparing for another week at school.
Only three more weeks until spring break and then before we know it, my first year of college will be over! Time sure flies when you’re having fun. Mom, if you read this post, I love you so much and wish you the best on your birthday. You truly are the best mom in the world and I’m so grateful to have you in my life.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and are getting a break from the cold, snowy weather. Also, if you have an idea for a blog post, have any questions, or just wanna say hi, feel free to leave a comment or contact me on my new page up above in the menu. See you all next week!
I’ve been really lucky to do more travelling than usual this summer and this past Friday, I got home from New York after spending a week there, competing at a modeling and acting convention. I will definitely agree with most that New York is a really cool and different city, but I think I’d prefer my Rocky Mountains and 300 days of sunshine in Colorado.
The view from our hotel room
My mom and I arrived in New York on the 9th, early in the morning. Our trip began with a thirty-minute taxi ride from JFK to the Hilton Midtown in Midtown. Wow, was that an adventure. Taxi drivers in New York City are RUTHLESS. The man we had driving us was super sweet but once he got behind the wheel, he became an aggressive, hardcore racecar driver. It was kinda cool to see how he dodged cars and semis and sped down the highway. We got some pretty good air hitting a jump one time too. What a thrill ride!
Once we arrived at the hotel, the week was a whirlwind. There were a lot of outfit changes, late nights, hairspray and makeup, and quick runs to grab food. I wish that my schedule at the convention allowed for me to do a little more sightseeing and wandering around the Big Apple, but it is what it is. The convention itself, was fun, but not nearly what I expected it would be. I think that for some people, it opened doors, but for the most part, it seemed fake. There were a lot of promises made by agencies and the convention themselves that were not followed through on and that’s ok. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from the experiences I had and I’ll never forget that adventure. Something I learned from my experience this past week and the whole experience I had with my former agency was that you have to be really careful in the modeling and acting industries because there are a lot of real, good people and there’s also a bunch of sneaky people who might seem like they are legit but actually aren’t. They could care less about who you are and are only concerned with how much you’re willing to pay to sign their “contract”. I respect who I’ve worked with in the past and I wish them all the best and I’d just like to say that it’s tough to discern who the real people are but after this interesting journey, my eyes are more open than ever, and I know what I have to do.
When I had time to be outside of the hotel, my mom and I had a lot of fun. We visited the Rockefeller Center and took a tour of the NBC Studios which included seeing the sets of the Tonight Show, SNL, and the Late Night Show with Seth Meyers. That was super cool. It was exciting to get to be in the same room and even step in the same places as some famous and talented people. My mom and I even got to make our own late night TV show at the end of our tour and we enjoyed that. That was probably the highlight of my NYC trip.
We also visited Central Park and Times Square while in the Big Apple and those were both cool places to visit. I honestly imagined Times Square, specifically where the ball is dropped on New Year’s’, much bigger and wider than it was. There were a lot of sketchy people and pushers making attempts to sell my mom and I stuff or get us to take pictures with them. That was definitely uncomfortable. Also, it was incredibly hot and humid while we visited Times Square and that made it a struggle to do a lot of walking. We spent about thirty minutes wandering Times Square and then frantically searched for the nearest Starbucks or air-conditioned place to cool off and head to Central Park. After a quick trip to get some iced tea, we walked to Central Park and I enjoyed seeing nature and trees and endless (not really) green. It was a nice escape from the dirty, crowded, and crazy place that New York City is. I enjoyed getting to see the many different people in Central Park and see a variety of plants and trees, because trust me, there were soooo many different types of trees. It was pretty cool.
At some point during our stay in NYC, we also managed to find a few good places to eat at, like Fresh & Co, an artisan bakery with really yummy sandwiches and coffee, and a great pizza place called PizzArte. Food, well actually everything, was EXTREMELY pricey in New York and it was crazy how much we spent on food. At PizzArte, one of the pizzas we got was $24!! Holy cow, was it expensive, but it was also probably one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. We also found an ice cream truck chilling right by our hotel one day, and that half-and-half ice cream cone was one of the best ice cream cones I’ve ever had. I never wanted it to end.
I did enjoy my time in New York City, but I will honestly and confidently say that it’s not my favorite city. I wish I did a little more sightseeing, as mentioned earlier, and I hope to go back in the future and see more of the city. I could do without the gross smells and the unhappy people and the sketchy people and the trash constantly fluttering the streets and the awful traffic and sound of sirens every hour or so, but not every city is perfect. Actually no city is perfect! The time I had in New York was worth it and I’m ready to go back (whenever I do) and have another adventure.
I took this picture near Carnegie Hall on the way to Central Park. What’s with the giant pile of trash?!
