Dancing with the Stars

So sorry for the delay... I was too exhausted to write about the conclusion of my LA trip before I was back on a plane on my way to New York for Thanksgiving. I'm sure you are all sitting on the edge of your chairs eagerly awaiting the follow-up to Day 1, so here goes: ;)

My mom and I woke up bright and early, ready to see some more sights. Beverly Hills really is just so beautiful, I could definitely get used to living life in the 90210! ;)

First stop of the day, Beverly Hills Hotel:

We peeked inside this hotel as well. I loved it! It would definitely be my hotel of choice if I were a celebrity looking to shack up for an evening! :)

Next, we got back in the car and drove all the way to the ocean! We traveled down Santa Monica Blvd (humming our favorite Sheryl Crow tune along the way) all the way to Santa Monica beach!

We even took off our shoes and walked in the sand all the way down to the water. I collect sand from every beach I go to (and plan to put them in cute little glass bottles one day, but right now they are stored in lovely water bottles ;) so I of course had to get some from the SM beach!

After, Santa Monica we did a bit more wandering around Beverly Hills and I finally came across this:

Beverly Hills High School!

Ok, so we didn't just come across it...I am a 90210 fanatic, so of course I was stalking it (that is if you can even stalk a building... ;), even if it is not the actual school seen on the show!

After another full day of sight-seeing we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Dancing with the Stars! No pictures of us all dolled up for the show because we were not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones with us. Though the ABC girl did take pictures for us and is supposed to be emailing them soon...

Apparently the Dancing with the Stars contest was held nationwide and they selected one winner (along with one guest) from every major city. So there were probably about 30 people in our group. After some pictures in the foyer of our hotel, we boarded the bus and headed to the studio! It was soo exciting to see the actual studio where Dancing with the Stars is filmed. When we walked in everyone had designated seats with their names posted on their chairs, so we had a chance to scope out where the famous people would be sitting! Little by little the celebs started trickling in as it got close to show time! Here are the famous peeps we got to see: Donnie & Marie Osmond, Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly & Jack Osbourne, Mya, Denise Richards, Steve O, Steve Job, Dionne Warwick, Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Mary Hart (of Entertainment Tonight) and all of the DWTS Dancers!!

AND we got to see WHITNEY HOUSTON perform LIVE!!!! Although she was said to be performing on Tuesday nights show, she actually taped her performance on Monday evening and we got to watch her from the second row! She did have a few DIVA moments, however... First it took her a good 30-45 minutes to get ready for her first song that she performed ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody"-my fav song to belt out during karaoke ;) and truthfully she didn't sound all that great, she totally butchered the song and avoided all the high notes. After that it took her another 30 some odd minutes to get ready for her second song performance....the name of the song escapes me at the moment, but it is her new one. Well she performed it and at the end DWTS blew out a truckload of confetti (fake dollar bills) all over the stage. Well right after she took her bow, she said she wasn't feeling it and wanted to do it over again. Sooo we had to wait about another 30 minutes for the crew to sweep up the confetti and put it back in the bags so that they could re-do the whole thing. At this point all the celebs left, because they had had enough diva for one evening. We stayed through the entirety of it all though...and even though the crack has severly affected Whitney's vocals, it was still awesome to see such a legend perform only inches away from us!

Afterwards, we piled back on the bus and headed out of the studio...however, not before we saw Ozzy and Sharon Ozbourne in the parking lot by the trailers waving goodbye at us! They are too cute, I just love them! Anyway, so that is the gist of our trip! Definitely a good time! :) Hope you enjoyed my little re-cap! :) I promise to be a better blogger....last week was just crazy! Missed you guys!

Welcome to LA LA Land!

We're here!!! I'm blogging to you live from the comforts of my fluffy bed in the luxurious Beverly Wilshire Hotel! It is 5:30AM, but I'm up and at 'em because my body is still on Texas time! Yesterday after our two flights (Dallas to Austin, Austin to LA) and after we picked up our rental car, we hit the road armed with maps and travel books hoping to see the sights! The rolling hills of LA are so beautiful, the city though...not so much. Lots of trashy neighborhoods surrounding the Hollywood and downtown areas. However, there was lots to see and we didn't waste anytime. First stop:Haha, that wasn't really our first stop, at least not on purpose. But there it was shining in all it's glory. When I got out of the car to get a few shots, two Scientologists chatted me up and told me I should def check out the Scientology church in Dallas. Um, yeah, I'll get right on that... So we waved to John Travolta and Tom Cruise and got back in our car headed for Hollywood!

We surprisingly found great (and free) parking next to this place:

We took a peek inside and I wasn't too impressed. I'm sure the pool on the roof is fab though! ;)

Next stop was the Hollywood Walk of Fame and guess who we ran into!?

MJ in all his glory!

Next, I got to pose with Miss Marilyn!

We took in a few more sights... Grauman's Chinese Theater:Kodak Theatre:Capitol Records Building:

Then headed up into the hills *waving to Speidi on the way* in order to get a good shot of this:

After we were confident that we had seen all that there was to see of Hollywood we headed to our hotel in Beverly Hills.

Here is our hotel all prettied up for Christmas! It is just as amazing on the inside as well.

After our photo session inside the hotel, we headed to dinner just down the street at a little mexican restaurant called Frida. It was so delish, very reasonably priced (esp. for being right off Rodeo Dr.) and soo cute inside!

Anyway, so that was Day 1 of our Los Angeles adventure in a nut shell! Time to go shower up and get ready for day 2!! On the agenda for today: Santa Monica, In-N-Out Burger, Rodeo Dr. and Dancing with the Stars! Soo much to see and do and so little time! Tata for now! :)

Ask and You Shall Receive...

So last night, Mason and I were getting ready to go out to dinner with friends when suddenly there was a knock on our door. When we opened the door, no one was there but there was a big box sitting on our doorstep! Neither one of us were expecting anything so we had no clue what it might be. The return address on the box said that the package was from Louisiana, where Mason oversees a lot of drilling sites for work, so he figured it was some type of holiday gift from one of the companies he does business with. Well you have never seen two people tear into a box with as much excitement as we did, because what were we hoping would be inside??? Is it?? Could it be?? A turkey!?!?! YES!!!! Inside the box was a TURDUCKEN!!! A turducken is a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey with a layer of cornbread dressing and pork stuffing in between each bird! It was sent to us from Herbert's Specialty Meats located in Maurice, LA. According to their website, they are the inventors of the turducken. David, who hosted us when we were in Lafayette and took us to the LSU game a few weeks ago, sent the turkey to us... so sweet! I have never tried one before but have always wanted to. I mean how freaking weird is it that yesterday I was blog pouting about not getting a turkey and then low and behold a bird in a box shows up on our doorstep that very night! It's a Thanksgiving Miracle! :) Mase and I are going to wait to cook it when we get back from our vacation, so I'll have to let you know how it is! I have never cooked a turkey before...should be interesting! ;)

Turkey Day Blues

I am absolutely not complaining at all....not one teensy bit! I know I am super lucky to be going to NYC over Thanksgiving break this year and I truly can not wait! I can't help being a tiny bit sad though that for the first time EVER my Thanksgiving Day will be lacking turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, buttermilk pie, and every other food on the buffet that is oozing with butter. Going without turkey, however, will be the worst part this year because it's not just any 'ol turkey I'll be missing out on, it's a Greenburg turkey!!! Mmmm....my family has ordered a delicious smoked turkey from this East Texas turkey farm every year of my life for Thanksgiving! It is the best thing in the world, seriously! Oprah even featured it as one of her favorite things one year and you KNOW if Oprah likes it is HAS to be good! Instead of feasting on our normal T-day staples, Mase and I will be dining in Times Square at ESPN Zone watching the TEXAS vs. A&M game! Ha, very traditional I know! ;) So please everyone, save me some leftovers!

B-day Boys!

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY Mason!!!!!

The past 2 years and 5 months have been perfect with you in my life!

I love you and can't wait to celebrate your birthday tonight!!

Also, happy birthday to Cameron (Mase's twin bro) too!!I hope you both have Fab B-days today! :)

First Day on the Job!

I know that I have been slacking a little on the blogging (especially last week). My absence was for a very good reason though! Last week I started subbing!!! :) Not permanently, yet. I am still working at my current financial job until the end of the year. However, I was able to substitute teach on Thursday and Friday of last week! I was so nervous on my first day, not knowing what to expect and having had no real experience in the classroom! On Thursday, I subbed for a middle school 8th grade science teacher. He was very prepared and left me an easy to follow lesson plan for the day. My first class of the day was soo well-behaved, but each class after that kept getting worse and Worse and WORSE! I was having to remind them to be quiet and stay in their seats over and over again in my best teacher voice! I really surprised myself though with how good I was at having control and keeping them on task! All of these teaching phrases just kept flying out of my mouth and by the end of the day I had perfected the mad teacher stare (which works soo well I might add ;)! Haha, I guess it just came naturally to me! I have a younger brother and sister and have always been the bossy older sister, so I guess that has really prepared me for my role as a teacher! :) The whole time I just kept wishing I could video myself so that my friends and fam could see me at work! It was too funny! I even confiscated a note going around about the "hot sub" and how they wanted to get a picture of me on their camera phone. Geez!

On Friday, I subbed for another middle school science teacher at a different school and this time it was for 7th grade. I liked 7th grade a lot better than 8th, not as sassy! These kids were a lot better than my kids the previous day too and I really didn't have to get on to them very much at all. I will say this though, teaching is the most exhausting job I have ever had. I left the building each day limping to my car (I need better teaching shoes) and really feeling that I had earned every penny that I had made. Even so, it really was so much fun and both days went by so fast! I am so excited about my new career and will really be so happy once I have a classroom of my very own! Until then I am content being the hot sub for now, haha, and Mason is really enjoying all of my stories that I have to share with him about my day! Way more entertaining than the ones of me working in the corporate world! :)

On the road again...

Burrr, it is chilly in the DFW this morning! With such a nip in the air I decided that this morning would be the perfect day to start listening to Christmas music as I get ready for work. Really helps put a pep in your step! :)

This weekend, Mason and I headed back to Houston because we had a wedding shower to attend. On Friday though, Mason dropped me off in the Woodlands so that I could go to dinner and catch up with one of my very close friends, Lauren. Lauren and I have had our friendship tested this past year, but after much conversation and forgiveness we were able to move on. And I'm glad we did! Friday we had a great time catching up, re-telling old stories and laughing until our cheeks hurt! Lauren moved to NYC to start a new life with her new man on Sunday so I wish her the best of luck and also look forward to visiting her and Brad when Mason and I head north next week!

Saturday, Mason and I watched the UT vs. Baylor football game with his parents, then went to Jordan's 3rd birthday party (Jordan is the daughter of one of M's friend's from high school), and then headed to Pappasitto's for a wedding shower for Trevor and Jenn! It was a long day but so fun to see friend's and celebrate the big moments in their lives!

Speaking of big moments, Mason is celebrating his 26th birthday tomorrow! I can't wait! :) I am going to attempt to bake him a carrot cake (one of his favs)! Hopefully it'll turn out well! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! :)

Service With Without a Smile!

The following happened to me not once, not twice but THREE, yes THREE times yesterday!

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you are at the grocery store or the mall or even the library and you go to the counter to check out and the cashier doesn't even acknowledge you! Just grabs your things and starts scanning them without even looking up. I mean would it kill you to look at me and say "hello"!?! I went to Macy's yesterday morning right when it opened to get someone a b-day present and I knew exactly what I wanted so within 10 minutes I was ready to check out. Well Patty, the sales clerk, (and yes that is her real name, go nominate her for sales associate of the month) is sloooooowly unwrapping the quarters out of the packaging one by one sloooowly, then she moves on to the dimes, then the nickels, then the pennies. Then starts sloowwllly counting the dollars! Um, Hello Patty!?!?! Why don't you look up and say something...anything! I don't mind waiting while you open up the cash register, but can you atleast acknowledge that you know I am standing here with my item ready to check-out. But no, she just keeps on ignoring me, so finally I go "Ummm, are you able to ring me up or should I go to another cashier?" and she is all "Yeah you can if you want." So what does that mean? You can't check me out? The nerve. Where has customer service gone? I'm not suggesting that anyone roll out the red carpet for me, but a little eye contact and a polite attitude is not asking a lot. It seems that I am encountering more and more Patty-esque behavior everywhere I go. It happened to me again at the library that afternoon and then again at the grocery store! I mean isn't customer service covered in day one on the job?

I suppose it's not THAT big a deal, but it really does tick me off! What are your pet peeves?

Seeing Stars!

You all will not believe what happened to my mom yesterday!!! She received a phone call from WFAA/Channel 8 (which is the local ABC Network in Dallas) saying that she had won a contest that was recently featured on "Good Morning Texas" that she had signed up for online.

She won a trip for two to go here:

with a two night stay here (Beverly Wilshire Hotel):

and tickets to attend the LIVE FINALE taping of this:

!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it!?!? I can not. And best of all, she is taking ME with her! I am beyond excited!! I have never been to Los Angeles before! We will be there from Nov. 22-24 and literally the day after I get back, Mason and I are going to New York for our 5 day Thanksgiving trip! Can you say BEST WEEK EVER! First half of the week in LA, second half of the week in NYC (and I have never been to either city)! I am going nuts trying to figure out outfits for that many days of travel! No time to chat, must go shopping! ;)

Faux Fur Love

I don't know why exactly, but I have been drooling over this white faux fur throw from West Elm for quite some time now. It would look just lovely on our couch, and would be perfect for cuddling up in when the temps start falling outside. We refuse to turn on the heat until icicles start hanging from our chins in order to save some dollars (our heating bill is always ginormous compared to our AC bill bc we have such awful insulation in our apt). Anyway, this precious little blanket is usually $119. Probably worth every penny, but a little much to justify spending on a blanket. Also, Mason thinks we shouldn't get a white one, because he is afraid it will get dirty. Geez Mase, it's not like we have spaghetti and meatball wars in the living room. I mean we are mature adults people!! We can handle the responsibility of owning a white blanket! Anyway, I got the West Elm catalogue in the mail last week - and do what to my wondering eyes appear, but a sale on faux fur throws! Now I can own this luxuroius animal fur knock-off for the much more reasonable price of $83. Sold! I'm on my way to go pick one up now! Maybe I can pawn it off to Mason as one of his birthday gifts next week. ;)

Taryn & Kyle's Wedding Weekend

Back in D-town after a looonnnggg weekend of driving! Thursday afternoon Mason and I drove down to Shreveport because he had a meeting for work there on Friday morning. Mase's dad met us there and took us out for a yummy dinner and then afterwards we went to the Horseshoe Casino for a little gambling. Mason turned $20 into $200 playing roulette. I was too nervous to part with any of my own money, so I just sat jealously and watched him rake in the dough (ohhh how I long for the days of a joint bank account ;).

Anywho... after Mason finished up his meeting we drove through the country to places like Carthage, TX and Mansfield, LA looking at some of the oil wells he is in charge of. Not the most exciting adventure, but it was a beautiful day and we did most of our driving with the windows down! During our roadtrip, Mason started to get a little sleepy and asked if I would take the wheel! He NEVER asks me to drive so I was kind of excited to have something to do on our way to Houston! I even got Mase to take a picture of me manning the wheel for the first time (I'm cheesy, I know...) and here is Mason catching some Zzzz's... (sidenote: I would not recommend taking pictures while driving...;)

Friday evening, we went out in Houston and met up with a lot of our friends...good times! Then Saturday evening, we went to Taryn and Kyle's wedding. Taryn is a family friend of Mason and Cameron's. She was a cheerleader at UT and her boyfriend played baseball for UT. They are soo cute it is just sickening! Anyway, here are a few pics from the wedding:

{Travis (Taryn's brother), Mason, Cameron, Trevor (Taryn's brother), Kyle (groom), Nathan}

{Mase and I at the reception}

{Mason and me with Jenn and Trevor who are getting married in January!}

{Mason, Cameron and I with Taryn the beautiful bride}

We had a fab time at the wedding (which was held at the Four Seasons in downtown Houston). I'm still coming down from my champagne coma! ;) And now I have a very busy week ahead of me as someone (Mason ;) is turning 26 next week, so I have to finish some bday shopping! Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!! :)

Ch-Ch-Changes!

It's already November!? My, oh my... how the time flies! The arrival of November means the shortening of our days (aka Daylight Savings) and let me just tell you how motivating that is for my workout regimen. Um, yeah...it's not. I've been trying my best to avoid carbs to counteract my laziness, but that really hasn't been going to plan either. Oh well! Lucky for me, Daylight Savings Season is also Big Bulky Sweater Season! ;) Aside from changing our clocks, Mason and I have also made a change to our weekly routine. We are trying to implement "date night" into our Mon-Thurs schedule. I mean we definitely have date nights and do plenty of things together on the weekends, but during the week we are pretty much each in our respective areas of the apartment doing our own thing. Mason in the living room watching football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf (basically anything involving a ball and scoring points)... while I am in our bedroom watching Gossip Girl, Glee, 90210 (and basically any sitcom featuring a corny high school plot ;). Oh sure, we have a little "How was your day?" chit chat after work and eat dinner together, but after that we pretty much part ways until bedtime. This week we decided we should try and dedicate at least one week night evening to each other and spend time together, in the same room, talking and enjoying each other's company! Such a novel idea I know... So last night was Date Night #1. It started off a little bumpy with me burning our dinner, then getting denied at Blockbuster because we had returned a movie earlier in the week without the DVD inside of it, then once we got home from our 2nd trip to Blockbuster our movie skipped (without us realizing it) and went straight to the end, spoiling the whole ending. But what matters is that we had an awful night TOGETHER! :) Haha, let's hope our next attempt at a week day Date Night goes a little more smoothly!

Dia de los Muertos

We survived another crazy Halloween night, but not without a little drama, but I'll get to that in a sec. This year for Halloween, Mason and I dressed up as Senorita y Senor Tequila! We went to a party at Sambuca that some of our friends were hosting and had a blast!

Until.... I got into a little chick fight with this girl who I realized after the fact that I know... oops! ;) It all started while waiting in line for the girls bathroom. The line was ridiculous. Seriously, it was like a 30 minute wait! Anyway, so this one girl tries to cut in front of everyone and I was all "ummm no, back of the line sweetie"! So she comes up to me and dusts me in the face with her little feather duster (she was dressed as a french maid) and says a few unfriendly words to me. Anyway, so after I finally go to the bathroom, I walk back over to where my friends are and have totally forgotten about the bathroom encounter. Feather-duster girl, however, has not forgotten about it and while I have been in the bathroom she was busy telling Mason and her boyfriend what a bitch I am. So when I get back, she walks up to me and grabs both of my arms as hard as she can and starts saying more unfriendly things. So Mason, grabs her and pulls her off of me (aww, my night in shining armor ;) and then she ripped his costume and kicked him you know where! What a LUNATIC! Thankfully a police officer was standing nearby and witnessed the whole thing and feather-duster girl got carried out of the bar by 4 police! Ha, thats what you get for trying to cut in line for the bathroom! ;)

Anyway, it wasn't long after our dramatic episode that we decided we should probably call it a night. Upon arriving home, however, I realize that my Blackberry was not in my purse where it should be! I break out into a full blown PANIC! I have only had my BB for like 2 months!! I can NOT live without it and I do not want to buy a new one! So I get Mason to drive us back to Sambuca, and I can't find it anywhere. So we go back home feeling defeated and of course I am a crying mess by this point! I sobbed inconsolably all night long about losing my stupid phone! Then the next morning I decided to go look outside, just in case I had dropped it. And guess what... there it was lying in THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!!! It didn't even have a scratch on it! I can not believe it wasn't run over or more suprisingly stolen! It was a Halloween Miracle!!! :) And that is how we spent Halloween 2009! It's prob a good thing Halloween only comes around once a year... ;)