Happy 4th of July!

This year I had a lot of fun celebrating the 4th of July. I went with some of the girls from my home group (Amy, Jennifer, and Jennifer’s sister Julie) to a house on Eagle Mountain Lake. It was Jennifer’s dad’s house and it was great! We laid out on the sun deck, floated in the water, sat in the shade, and had a great lunch. Jennifer’s dad also took us out on his boat so we could go tubing. I hadn’t gone tubing since middle school and man did it beat me up. Today, my neck, shoulder, back, arms, and legs are killing me. I feel like I just did a 3 hour work out, although tubing around the lake was a whole lot more fun than working out! When we got back from the lake, there was a group of party crashers that just kept trying to come hang out (see picture to the side). After a nice day at the lake, I came home, showered and headed out to Jennifer’s again. This time Casey got to come with me because he had been working all day. We set up camp to watch the fireworks and it was a nice show. Although, I think they must have bought some fireworks on sale because I swear the end was just the same type and color of firework shot off a bunch of times. The only thing that would have make the night complete was hearing Ray Charles’ version of America the Beautiful. See some pictures below of the fun we had…
(From Left to Right: Jennifer, Me, Julie, Amy)

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.