Reno Rewind Weekend

So it's december 13th, and I woke up this morning to more flowers blooming!



The holidays have officially started, and I am still finding it very hard to believe that they're here! This year has gone by so fast! The weather here has been gorgeous, my daily uniform has been t-shirts and flip flops! No white Christmas this year!
Now on to the Reno Rewind Weekend! This might be a long one! We got back yesterday, and for a short road trip it was pretty epic!
I did get to see some snow in Reno this weekend, the drive up there was fantastic! We traveled the 395 and it was a clear trip the whole way up and barely any traffic... Along the way we got to stop at some fun places and enjoy some of the most breathtaking views!


Outside Mojave on the 395
The Sierras

Lake Mono
Our Hotel, The Grand Sierra in Reno

It took us a little over 8 hours (with stops) to get to our final destination, and our hotel was awesome! Ryan's friend Chris got us a three room suite at the Grand Sierra, our bathroom was no joke the size of our living room and had two showers! Talk about spoiled! ;) After we got settled in Ryan got cleaned up and headed out to sound check at The Alley while Alexis and me hung out in the suite and got ready. Alexis' husband hit a quadruple jackpot while we were getting ready and cleaned out a slot machine before the show, luck was definitely on his side that night!

We got to The Alley just before the doors opened and we were greeted by a pretty big crowd at the door! (I got to say "I'm with the band" and bypassed the crowd, I loved it! lol)



The show was pretty insane, not what I expected at all! People literally went nuts as soon as the bands started up, and even more so when Ryan's band hit the stage! The crowd went so crazy they crashed a security barricade and the show was almost stopped in the middle of one of Sworn Vengeance's songs! Go Ryan! Actually, all the bands were pretty amazing! They all deserve a pretty big pat on the back for the show they put on! :)


Ryan and me behind the merch table before the show started.
Tony being... Well... Tony!
Ryan getting geared up for his set.

I finally got to meet Ryan's old friends Jose and Amy, it was so nice to finally put faces to names, Jose even got on stage and rocked out with Ryan and the band for a song!



Here are some more photos from the show...



Glen and Jason babysitting me during Ryan's set!
Alexis, my partner in crime! :)

Chris, AKA the jackpot king! He's also Alexis' hubby.
And finally, some shots of Ryan on stage!






All the bands rocked it! The show lasted until about 12:30 am, then we all headed over to the Peppermill for casino omelets and hot chocolate/hot tea! (Reno was freakin' cold! I have turned into a total wuss when it comes to the cold ever since I moved from Utah lol) We pulled a pretty late nighter that night, it was almost 4 am when we finally got back to our hotel and crashed.

The next morning we got up early, yes, I said early (bleh), to get ready to meet everyone for breakfast before we hit the road...


The cutest little rockstar in training I have ever seen!
Our boys after the traditional "Day After Mayhem" Program breakfast.


We got on the road about noon after the breakfast, and we decided to take the 395 back home. We stopped at the chocolate factory and loaded up, seriously, we have like three pounds of chocolate and ice mints laid out on the kitchen table right now!



The place was pretty awesome, tons of homemade goodness, and they had one of those weird giant miners on the hill behind their store!




After that we made a quick drive past Lake Topaz...



And then a few hours later we stopped in Historic Bridgeport for some of the most delicious burgers at Rhino's, right across from the old Bridgeport Inn...




The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, we were on a mission to get home... But we did run across the historic Western Film Museum on the 395...



Wow, this really was a long one! I was going to add some other updates to it, but I think I will hold off for another day! I took a ton of photos from our awesome road trip weekend, you can view them all here...

Reno Rewind Weekend Part 1
Reno Rewind Weekend Part 2

So I guess that's it for this post! Take care! :)

Malibu!

Tonight's update comes from June 11th... My dear friend Jasna got me hooked on Malibu the first time she took me to the Malibu Seafood Patio Cafe!



Words cannot describe how fun this place is... They have an awesome menu, and all their fish is caught fresh that day! It's a celebrity favorite in the area and barely a stones throw from Cher's front door! (I should also mention the awesome view of the ocean you get to enjoy while eating on one of their patios!)




Almost every weekend we have been beating the heat by heading to Malibu with Jasna, Dimir and their children. It's always at least 9 degrees cooler, the air smells delicious, and it's almost like time stops there! We have made Zuma Beach our nice little regular spot (more specifically the Starbuck's there lol)! The pictures I am posting tonight came from an evening Ryan and I spent there watching the sunset on the beach... You know me, I love to take pictures, so I have tons to share from this little excursion!

(Hint: Click 'view all images' to see the pictures as they are.)

Long Beach Harbor and The Queen Mary

So to kick off my big blog catch up I thought I would start with something recent! Yesterday we went to Long Beach to have lunch with a friend of Ryan's, and afterwards we decided to make a day of it and explore The Queen Mary.



This was by far the coolest little "date night" we have had this month. We wandered the ship for 5 hours straight, and everywhere we turned we found another little piece of history.




One of the highlights of our little day trip was the Ghosts and Legends tour, I was totally bummed out because they didn't allow photography on the tour. We went into the famous swimming pool, and boiler room, and they had everything rigged with special effects in an effort to make it uber creepy, but it actually ended up being a little cheesy... Plus I am convinced our tour guide was having an FML day and really didn't want to be there! (For those of you who have no idea what an FML day is ask me later lol) Another thing we did was the self guided tour through the engine room, another eerie place on the ship, but very cool... At the end of that tour there was a little side opening that took you into what was called the "propeller box", if you weren't paying attention you would totally miss this little part of the tour. In there they have built a water tight room around one of the still submerged propellers and spotlighted it for all to see.



After our tours we wandered around the vintage shopping area, walked along the promenades and hallways, we even climbed up and around the stacks for an absolutely breathtaking view of Long Beach Harbor.



Towards the end of our wandering we did find the bar! Where Alberto (my new favorite bartender) mixed me the signature Queen Mary Absolute Mandarin Cosmopolitan...



Words cannot describe how yummy this little cocktail was! We also found out some fun facts about the bar, it is built out of one solid piece of of granite, and there was never an opening cut, so all the bar staff has to jump over the top of the bar to get behind it! There was also some pretty cool original artwork and carvings all around the ship, too much to view in one day so we plan on going back at some point! :) When we got home we looked at the pictures and realized we had orbs in some of them... Ghosts? Maybe ;)



All in all we had an amazing day! If you ever find yourself in the Long Beach area, take a day (yes, I said a day) and wander the Queen Mary, it's an awesome little day trip!


I took tons of photos while we were there, so here's a little slide show of some of the sights on The Queen Mary! Enjoy!

Road Trip!/It's Good To Be Back!

In less than a month I have logged 2300 miles road tripping it back and forth to Utah! I think it's safe to say I am officially a pro! I think I will stay put for a while and give my car a rest and a well deserved detail and oil change! It is nice to be back though, I missed Ryan and the boys! While I was gone Ryan did manage to stage a house plant massacre, the poor plant on our balcony looks like it has been scalped! Since I have been home I have been giving it lots of TLC, hopefully it will come back :) I am missing my family already, it was so nice to spend time with them... I know it won't be long before we get to see them again, if we don't make it out there for Pioneer Days we will be out there for Rachelle and Boyd's wedding for sure! Here are some of the sights from the trip home...

The Mountains Leaving Utah

320 Miles Into The Trip, 430 Left!

Pink Clouds On The Way Into Barstow
Sunset Just Outside of Barstow
I found a Ghost Town! I know where we're going on the next road trip! :)

That's it for tonight, I am officially exhausted, but happy to be home!