Awesome Anxiety-Free Weekend

This weekend was really huge for me. We started it by heading out to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater for KROQ's Annual Weenie Roast, which is a huge concert to raise money for various charities.




I was definitely feeling anxious thinking about how many people would be there, but then I decided to look at it as just another challenge. I knew that once I got there I would most likely be fine plus Rommel made sure I knew that we could leave whenever I wanted to, which always makes it easier for me.

Just as I thought, I was a lot less anxious once we got to the venue. I was just so excited about what we were going to see. I did have a scary moment in the middle of the day when no bands were playing, it was getting really crowded, it was hot and uncomfortable, and I just wanted to get away. We found a little shade behind a booth to cool down and before we knew it they had opened the gates to the larger stage and I had calmed down.

The walk up to the amphitheater was actually insanely long. This was before the main stage opened and the whole place became unbelievably crowded.




This is a glimpse of the side stage where the first few bands played. It was standing only and completely in the afternoon sun. Instead of dying in the crowd, Rommel and I found a shady spot to listen to Young the Giant, Foster the People, Airborne Toxic Event, and Neon Trees.




We had seats around the middle of the amphitheater which were actually pretty awesome.




Face to Face




Cage the Elephant was one of the bands I was looking forward to the most. They were so good and they were big on getting the audience involved which always makes a show better.




Bad Religion! One of my favorite parts of live shows is when the whole crowd joins together to sing and that was what their whole set was like. It was amazing!




My absolute favorite set of the night was the Strokes. They were so, so, so good! I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to see them again in the future.




The last two sets of the night were Rise Against and Lincoln Park, but I agreed to leave early. Rommel honestly could care less who most of the bands were and only went because I wanted to. Plus we had been there for seven hours (this is after I spent half a day at work) and I was ridiculously sun burnt. The awful part was that we missed the surprise guest - the Foo Fighters! I don't think I will ever leave anything early again.

On Sunday we headed to a local arts and crafts festival that I local forward to every year. Rommel gives me a budget and I try my best to stick to it, but I always have a hard time limiting myself at flea markets, etc. Although the festival rocked again this year, I did not leave with much.




I bought a couple of steel butterflies for our front yard. I bought a few pieces from the same couple a year or two ago and I love the way the weather and rust.




I also found a gift for my dad for father's day, a hand sculpted piggy bank that is a pig dressed as a pirate.

I was a little disappointed that I was not finding much that I was really excited about when I walked by the very last booth before walking to our car. I noticed that the vendor had lilac candles which I had to stop and smell. The neighborhood in Illinois where I grew up had lilacs everywhere. I miss that lovely scent and am always looking for real smelling lilac candles. It turns out that the woman running the booth also grew up in Illinois and had created certain scents with the state in mind, which were lilac, honeysuckle, and citrus and tomato leaf. It just so happens that I hate tomatoes but love the smell of tomato plants. I ended up spending the rest of my budget on lemon, lilac, and citrus and tomato leaf candles. Even better is that they are soy candles which burn a lot longer than wax candles.




To finish the weekend off we decided to see that Pirates movie, which was not great but there was something even better about the movie - I did not experience any anxiety about going to the movie theater! I mentioned it before, but I had not been to the movies in several years because the experience caused me to have panic attacks. We have gone to two other movies so far this year and I had some anxiety each time. Plus I was only comfortable sitting in the very back corner of the theater. This time I felt pretty comfortable and we actually sat at the end of a row in the middle of the theater. It may sound insignificant to other people, but I am extremely proud of being able to do this anxiety-free.

Such a fantastic weekend!

I have so much more to share with you guys. I have a lot going on and several projects in the works around the house.

Hope you are having an excellent week!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

what i've been up to - a ton of pictures

It feels like years since I have posted anything on here!  SillyGrrl had a post on the new blog templates she had designed and after purchasing one of her gorgeous looks for my own blog, I have been inspired to start posting again!

It's definitely been a busy few months and I wanted to share pictures of my little world with you fabulous people.

My sister and her boyfriend had friends getting married in Vegas and since we have a lot of family there, we decided to have everyone meet up for a few days.  It was a great chance to see my parents and my sister all together, which does not happen that often.  Since we go to Vegas a lot and this would be the first time I have been there since my anxiety has calmed down, I set out to find unique things for us to do.

We had to hit one buffet while in Vegas, so we headed out to the Red Rock Casino.  I gambled a whole three bucks while my family waited in line.

I read about the Shelby Museum when I was looking up interesting things to do in Vegas.  My dad and Josh are huge car buffs, so I knew they would love it!

Those girls at the car shows need to watch their backs or my dad might steal their job!

My sister's boyfriend Josh had never been to Vegas and wanted to see a bit of the casino stuff, so we took him to the Bellagio and the Mirage.  The flower exhibits at the Bellagio were absolutely amazing.

One of the unique places I wanted to go was the Atomic Testing Museum.  My parents did not seem to excited about it, but they actually found it extremely interesting and kind of enjoyed it.  My grandparents lived in Vegas during the testing period, although my mom was just an infant and does not remember much of that time.  My uncle also worked as a laborer at the actual testing site.

Besides the items you would expect to see at a museum for atomic testing, they had a temporary exhibit on the culture of Vegas during that time period.  It's seems crazy now, but it actually increased tourism for the city.

This is one of the mannequins JcPenny's donated to the government to set out near the actual blast site to judge the effects.  It was strange to see how one mannequin would be decimated and the one right next to it was untouched.  And no, the mannequins eyes were not like that in before the blast.  Seriously creepy.

Miss Atomic Bomb 1957

 Sorry that the video is a little shaky, but you had to hand crank the video.

The Silverton Casino has a 117,000 gallon salt water aquarium in the lobby and has feedings twice a day where a diver answers questions.  Extremely cool.  Too bad we missed the mermaid show.

The Silverton Casino is attached to a Bass Pro Shop that has an actual "river" running through it.  It was full of ducks, turtles, salmon, and sturgeon.  You can see how large it was compared to the guy who had to wade in to get a pacifier that someone dropped over the side.

And most importantly, we had a lot of time with family.  My grandfather will be ninety-one on Monday and he is doing amazing!  He is so lucky to have Janet in his life, who takes wonderful care of him.

Then it was back home.

After seven years in California, I have finally tired of the flowers I plant dying on me.  It's not their fault; I am not very consistent about taking care of them.  So I have begun planting drought tolerant succulents around the yard.  Hopefully it will all come together and I will share some pics with you later.

I have also been adding shelves around the house specifically for the little devil above.  She needs more places to get away from the pups and I have been watching too much "My Cat from Hell."

Finally, it was time for a change from the pink hair.  Apparently bleaching the pink out would turn my hair orange, so I decided to go dark.  And I am still trying to grow my hair out, but I couldn't resist getting a little taken off.