Rollin' VIP style!

Saturday, Casey and I got to experience what it’s like to be a VIP. My manager, Wendy, was able to get me tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert, but not just any tickets, LUXURY SUITE tickets. Wendy is good friends with the VP of Food & Beverage for the stadium so we were in her personal suite. We knew this would be our only shot at going to a suite in the new Texas Stadium so we were very excited. We even had a VIP parking pass with our own designated spot! When we pulled up to the parking lot, they scanned our parking pass and then shouted to one another, “Spot 229!” then we went around a barricade and were literally 20 ft. from the stadium (see picture below). The stadium looked gorgeous inside. All of the employees were wearing suits and ties, the floor was marble, and there were chandeliers. We found our suite and let me tell you, it was NICE. We had a great view and there was more food than you could imagine. They had chicken fingers, hot dogs, fajitas, jumbo shrimp, crackers, cheese, popcorn, and passed our fresh pizza. The food that Casey and I both gave 2 thumbs up was the truffled mac and cheese. It was easily the best mac and cheese I have ever had. Even our beverages were free! I had some wine and Casey had a couple beers (which are typically $8 at the stadium). The seats in the suite were leather and reclined! The suite even has a private bathroom which anyone that’s ever been to a large stadium can appreciate. Once the Jo-Bros came on, we learned something, you don’t go to a Jo-Bro concert to hear them sing, you go to scream your head off. We could barely hear ourselves talk. The fans were insane. So after a few songs, we decided to tour the rest of the stadium. This was when we realized that the whole stadium was not like what we experienced. Once you pass through the doors to the rest of the stadium its very loud (the VIP area has glass doors all around it so once you pass to the concession area, its quite), the floor is the typical concrete with cinder block walls, no one is wearing a suite and tie, and the concession stands looks like any other (not like the huge bars with bartenders in the VIP area). Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a brand new stadium so it’s still very clean and nice. Casey and I had an AMAZING time and all I know is that it will be tough to go back to that stadium any other way besides VIP.

This pic was taken from my car. This is how close we parked to the stadium!

These are the chairs in the suite

Sushi and Oz

Last night was a girl’s night! Alyssa and I went out to dinner and the theater. For dinner, we went to a new sushi place for both of us called Blue Fish. It was really hip looking inside with club music playing. The sushi was really good though and it was nice to have someone to go eat sushi with! It was so nice to catch up and have girl time. After dinner, we headed down to Fair Park to see The Wizard of Oz the musical. I got to see where my season ticket seats are which are in the VERY back of the balcony. Luckily, it wasn’t a full night so we moved up to some pretty nice seats. The show was good but LONG. We enjoyed laughing at some of the weird things in the show like the munchkin (which were played by children) that had a blue colonial wig on that had totally checked out of the show while on stage and the weird psychedelic song and dance that was the “jitter bug” number. I can’t say I remember that part of the movie though. By far, the star of the show was Snickers, the dog that played Toto. He was so cute and so well trained. Overall, it was a really great time of lots of laughter and girl talk.

Cat is spelled E-V-I-L

Friends, do not be fooled by the feline kind. I started off feeling sorry for Missy peeing on my couch because I felt it was due to her age. Well, the she can't pull the wool over my eyes twice. Continue to read on as I take you through the last hour and a half that was my life. 

8:00 pm: Missy pees on my bathroom floor. I clean it up.

8:20 pm: Missy pees on my bathroom floor...again. I clean it up and run out of paper towels.

8:35 pm: Missy blatantly poops on my living room floor right in front of me. I yell, get out the Resolve and a sponge and start attacking my carpet. 

8:40 pm: Missy had been hiding under the coffee table because I had yelled at her after the pooping incident. She hops up on the couch which I assume means she thinks I'm no longer mad. 

8:41 pm: Missy gets off the couch and leaves a little pee puddle behind. I yell. I clean. 

8:42 pm: I go to put the cleaner up. Meanwhile, Missy gets back on the couch. I come in. She hops off. Pee puddle...again. Apparently she is trying to make a point.

8:43 pm: I throw her off the couch. Yell. Clean. Turn around (which was my mistake)

8:45 pm: I think you can see where this is going. This time she gets on the couch on my side. Since she has been here, Missy sits on her side of the couch, and I sit on mine. So, I walk out, see her sitting on my side. We stare at each other from across the room. I move her off the couch and sure enough folks...pee puddle. 

At that point, I lost it. I started crying. I couldn't take it! She was obviously trying to make a point. I cried because I didn't get it. Why would she do this when all I do it give her treats and hold and snuggle with her? I began pacing and felt like I was going crazy. Then, Missy looked at me. I knew what she was thinking. I'm sitting there sobbing and she looks at me with this cheeky grin and I swear she is thinking "I win! I broke the human!" Well, she did win. But I had one more trick up my sleeve. I remembered that I am the human in this situation and I hold the power. So, I put her in the laundry basket and started driving to Casey's house. I am free at last! Free from poopy carpet and free from pee puddles! Casey doesn't know this yet, but when he gets back, he will be moving my pee couch to his place and I will be taking his new leather sofa back to mine. It is safe to say people, Jenna Hill is not and NEVER will be a cat person.

P.S. I still love Missy...I just love her when she is not in my apartment.

Please tell me that's not what I think it is...

All friendships have a rough patch and I think Missy and I are currently going through ours. Yesterday I got home from work and was talking to my mom on the phone and walked into the bathroom. As I was talking to my mom, this thought went through my head, “Either someone just took a shower in my shower and forgot to dry off or I am standing in cat pee.” Unfortunately for me, it was the later. I couldn’t even continue the conversation with my mom. All I could think about was the pee on my foot. I had to look at the bright side though. She was close to the litter box (proving an effort was made) and it was on tile not carpet. Unfortunately, this would not be my last encounter with this particular liquid. This morning I couldn’t sleep so I went out to the couch to watch TV and have some Missy snuggle time. Within 10 minutes of snuggle time I realized that Missy had peed on the couch (just a little, maybe to mark her territory?) and then a little on the coffee table, and then had the nerve to go poop behind my chair. The thought crossed my mind that she is old (16) so maybe she doesn’t know she is doing it. However, I found the poop unacceptable because I know she knows where the litter box is because she has used it before. After cleaning up the mess and yelling at Missy, she eventually felt brave enough to attempt another snuggle. I fell asleep this time and when I woke up, I smelled it again. I knew it was close by, I just didn’t realize how close…it was on ME! She had peed on my shorts which in turn went on the blanket. I had officially reached my grossed out max. Keep in mind that I have never had a creature larger than a gold fish in my home (I mean even growing up) so I’m not experienced in what to do. It’s too late for today, but tomorrow, Missy will be staying in the bathroom while I’m at work.

Grand Canyon Blues

It’s true. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Casey left on Saturday afternoon to go on a big road trip to the Grand Canyon with 5 of his closest friends. I am so excited for him because I know he will have a blast seeing Arizona and the Grand Canyon for the first time. On the other hand, I miss him horribly and it’s only been 48 hours. I have tried my best to fill up my week so I will be distracted from missing him. Tonight I am going to happy hour and dinner at Farina’s with Ann and Aaron Hailey, tomorrow is the first night of my Gaylord bowling league, and Thursday Alyssa and I have a date to go out to dinner and the theatre (it’s the showing of The Wizard of Oz for my season tickets).

I have had one steady companion for me since Casey left though and her name is Missy. Yes, me, the girl who has never had a pet before, is cat-sitting. Since Casey’s house has been broken into a couple times recently during the day, I didn’t feel like going over there to feed her so she came to live with me for a week. She is a laid back cat and just wants to snuggle (see the picture of us below) which is great when we are hanging out watching TV but not so much when I am trying to sleep. Our first night together, she woke me up every hour trying to get close to me or lay on my pillow (while laying on my hair as well). Needless to say the sleepovers in my bed have ended. Now she has the whole apartment except for my bedroom to sleep, play, and wander at night. It is kind of nice having her around though.

And the rain came down...

Boy did it rain last night! When I say rain, I don’t mean the pitter-patter of a drizzle. I mean winds that made me cower behind a chair, caused the power to go out 5 different times, and had the news telling people in Grapevine to take cover. I am not exaggerating when I say this, at one point, the wind gusts were so strong that my fake plant in my living room was blowing in the wind that made it through the sides of my door. Of course, Casey wasn’t there to calm me down. He had attempted to go the Ranger game (before it started raining) and ended up standing under the bleachers for 3 hours. Eventually, the tornado warning passed but the rain, wind, and hail did not stop. There were 3 different leaks in my apartment last night. One in my bathroom, one in the top of my closet (needless to say I have severely damp clothes), and one long crack over my bedroom window which I now think is growing some mold. It was basically raining in my room with this leak that went the whole length of my window. This morning, there were trees all over the parking lot of my apartment and the roads. There were also shingles scattered over the grass and in the parking lot, which would explain all the leaks. It’s supposed to rain again tonight and all I know is that California did not prepare me for these Texas storms.

Busy Busy!

I had a very busy weekend. Friday night and Saturday morning, I was taking the membership class at The Village Church which I have been attending for about a year now. I really enjoyed it and I only have a couple more steps to take before becoming a member. After I got back from the membership class, Casey and I went to a wedding. Brooke, a girl in my small group, was getting married. She looked absolutely beautiful and it was nice to get to hang out with my small group girls in a different setting.

Sunday was crazy and fun at the same time. Casey and I went to Six Flags and were there 30 minutes before it opened in order to make sure we would get to skip the long lines. Our plan worked. Within 3 hours, we had ridden every ride that we wanted to. The only problem was that I am used to waiting in lines and getting 45 minutes in between each ride for my body to settle after being jerked around and turned upside down. After we rode the 4 giant roller coasters, I wasn’t feeling too hot. I had to take a breather before getting back into the swing of things. The fact that Texas is about the hottest place ever didn’t help either. We left after being there for 4 hours but felt like we got everything done that we wanted to. Casey just laughed because he couldn’t make it through a whole day at Disneyland and I couldn’t make it through a whole day at Six Flags.

This weekend Casey and I also started really getting into playing cards. I taught him how to play gin and he taught me how to play a game called Pounce. It’s kind of a version of solitaire but fast and very competitive. Casey learned that I do NOT like to lose and am actually very competitive. I think we may have to play Pounce every night until I win. You are going down Casey!....well, eventually any way.

Who Said 13 Isn't Lucky?

Last night was the first performance in my season tickets for the Dallas Summer Musicals. So Casey and I had a date night to see Happy Days. It also happened to be our 13 month anniversary (but who's counting?). Once we got there, we decided to make a night of it. We saw a table that said you could pre-order your intermission food and drinks. We got a cheese platter with cheese, crackers, fruit, and nuts and some beverages. Then we headed upstairs to my nose-bleed seats and waited for the doors to open. Right before the show was supposed to start we noticed a lot of people were walking downstairs. Turns out, the speakers weren’t working upstairs so they were moving everyone to the lower level. Score! Plus, as we walked down the stairs, there was a lady passing out gift cards to itunes good for 15 songs! Once we got down stairs, we didn’t know where we could sit so we decided to claim some seats and hope they weren’t sold or no one showed up. We got seats in the 15th row! At intermission we got our cheese platter and they had a table by the window all ready for us. The food was great and we felt like high rollers. The show was cute but the night was great! I hope the speakers go out upstairs every show! Here are some pics from the night: our beautiful cheese display, Casey I giving the Foz a thumbs up, and jsut a cute picture of us...

Donnie's Visit

Tuesday night was the big family celebration for Clay’s high school graduation. We all went out to dinner at Clay’s favorite Mexican food place, Ole’s. Donnie was flew up for the big day and it was great to see him again! Casey, Donnie , and I talked sports (after dating Casey for a year, believe it or not, I actually can “talk sports) and we talked about fishing. Casey has been telling me that if we do a tournament together, I’m going to have to take my fish of the hooks after I catch them. No surprise, I’m not happy about that. Well I told Donnie about this and he informed me that there is a little tool you can get that will hold the fish’s mouth open for you so I wouldn’t have to touch the fish. The kicker is that Casey knew about this and did not plan on telling me. At least Donnie is looking out for me!