~November 2019: One Month of Running and Hiking

~November 2019: One month of running and hiking with Sean. After taking a hiatus from forward momentum throughout most of 2019, I'm slowly trying to get back In The Groove in more ways than just on 4 panels.

John Bove's Birthday: BBQ & The Olive

Our friend John Bove's birthday was a couple of days ago so Sean, Danny, and I took a break from being hermits to celebrate with him last night! We had drinks and an impromptu bbq at our place and then headed to The Olive Mediterranean Grill and Hookah Lounge for more drinks, hookah, and billiards. I absolutely suck at billiards but I drowned (or perhaps burned away ) my sorrows in a Sweaty Mexican and had a magical time. :p 💛 you, dudes!

50% of Our Running Medals Are Now Up!

Approx 50% of our running medals as well as all of our ribbons, certificates, trophies, medals from other events, etc are still tucked away and scattered around chaotically but one half of our running medals are now beautifully displayed on this badass board Sean Gee skillfully and painstakingly made for them! Third picture is of the half of our running medals currently living under our bed which I still have to try and remember exist. 😂

Passed My 1st ITG 20: Spacetime 10/30/19

Fashionably late to the 20s+ party.

I made a deal with Sean and Urza awhile back; per my typical terms, I agreed to pass an ITG 20 by Halloween or eat a worm. Let's just say I put the "pro" in procrastinate.

Find this and future streams on Twitch.tv/TeamBBC or keep an eye out for Sean's and my YouTube vid links.

10/30/19 - My first "real" 20 imo. I still have yet to eat a worm for losing a bet. *knocks on wood* :p

Gym and Longhorn

Some Planet Fitness gym shenanigans followed by ultra cheap graveyard food and booze specials at Longhorn Casino and Hotel ~1.5 days ago! 

Pre-Halloween Date Night

I'm sure it won't surprise a lot of you to learn that Halloween is hands-down my favorite holiday. With that in mind, you might better understand why I LITERALLY cried when I went downstairs Thursday and was greeted by this sight. We've been so caught up in work recently, we hadn't gotten around to decorating for Halloween but Sean took a little time and did up this cozy space to surprise me. :'D!!! To top things off, he baked enormous chocolate chip cookies (no, that stack in the pic isn't pancakes) and planned us an extra special date night here. Around 1am, we got the rum and whiskey flowing, dusted off the hookah, put a couple of pizzas in the oven, grabbed the cookies, and cuddled up on the couch to watch horror movies. He picked out some pretty choice movies for us too! Clowns, my favorite band New Kids on the Block, a red mustang with black interior and convertible top, spiders, full-frontal male (as well as female) nudity and sex.. It's like someone created them from the typical contents of my subconscious. O_o Not just due to my small start towards repaying Sean, the sun had been up for hours by the time we remembered to do anything about the fact that humans eventually require sleep. XD SUCH an amazing night. THANK YOU, HUSBAND!!! 

Dark Desert Dog Jog Near Railroad Pass Casino 10/24/19

Sean and I took the dogs for an evening, desert jog near Railroad Pass and had a mini picnic with sunset views around halfway. :D We did a loop of Ernie's and The Sh*t trails, if not any others, starting and ending at Railroad Pass Casino. Some of the loose, single file trail was steep and cliff adjacent - nothing too deadly but still pretty badass to run around and worth a little extra caution. Other worthy mentions: we encountered a coyote and found LOADS of shotgun shells (far more than pictured) as well as a rake in good condition halfway up a big hill. O_o

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/TuWjGXp930

Upper & Lower Bristlecone Trail in Lee Canyon jog/hike/date with Sean 9/26/19

Sean and I drove out to Lee Canyon, kinda in the Mount Charleston area, for a jog/hike/date today! We decided to do Upper & Lower Bristlecone Trail, which was approx a 10k loop including getting back to the car. We saw so many wild horses and chipmunks! <3

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/gbqlOijtj0

Una Willoughby's Celebration of Life, Seth and Avery visiting, Dog Jog at Sunset Park, and Sean's Mount Charleston day

-For much of our childhood, my sister Liz and I took ballet classes from a sweet woman named Una Willoughby who remained a dear family friend until her recent passing earlier this month. Yesterday, 9/21/19, her family and friends met at the Atwater Women's Club - one of two places Una used to teach us at - for a Celebration of Life in her honor. Sean and I weren't able to make the trip to join them but were so grateful when my mom sent lots of pictures so we could share in celebrating her memory. Una played a big role in helping countless girls transition into graceful, well-mannered, thoughtful young women. (I can't even imagine how much worse I'd be without her teachings. Lol) She will be missed but never forgotten. <3

-Our friends Seth and Avery came to visit Sean, Danny, and me approx 1.5 weeks ago. Trust an unexpected friend-visit to get most of our lazy butts on the dance pad for a little ITG at some point during the night. Awesome hanging with you guys! Gotta do more of this again soon!

-Sean and I took our doggies to Sunset Park this morning for about 3 miles of jogging, walking, and playground fun. Just a small but much needed family outing!:

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/WLdH26Glc0

-At the start of this month, I believe it was, Sean went to Mount Charleston for a jog/hike up while I played a bit of ITG at home, worked, and went for sushi at another semi-new revolving sushi restaurant in Chinatown called Kaya. Pretty cool place! Anyway, Sean saw some great sights while he was out including the old plane wreckage we'd read was up there and an epic lookout over the area. I think the trek took him 5/5.5 hours or so minus driving time. I still haven't been up there yet but maybe one of these days.

Socal Bonfire Trip 7/20/19 - 7/21/19

Bonfires have been more or less an annual tradition in the southern California dance game and surrounding community since at least the early 2000s. This year, my longtime friend Christine Bladen spearheaded organizing it. <3

Day 1 - 7/20/19 (2019 Socal Bonfire):

I woke up 6am, so tired because I had had a kinda late night last night. Bonfire was important though so I got my ass moving. I finally managed to convince Sean, who hadn't wanted to put the effort into making the trek, to come with me and we were on the road by 8am.

We got gas at Arco down the road, dropped some packages that needed to be shipped out off at the post office across the street, and headed toward the freeway.

I put ITG Eurocup and Girlpocalypse songs on in the car the whole way in order to familiarize myself (since I'm too lazy to actually practice them on ITG like I should. XD)

In Barstow, we refueled and got free drinks using app deals at the Circle K just off the freeway on Main St.

3 minutes from Circle K, we cashed in some recycling we'd brought with us for $53.xx! (We definitely bought all of those bottles and cans in Cali during previous trips so no moral judgement, please. :p)

We got to Huntington Beach State Park, where this year's bonfire was taking place, around 1:30am. Our friends were south of the pier at a fire pit near Tower 9 so we found free parking a short-ish walk away in a neighborhood (cross streets: Bermuda Dr & Magnolia St) and walked over to find them.

It was such a chill atmosphere when we arrived! We and just about everyone else there had brought so many foods and beach and bonfire supplies we were pretty much all able to spend the day seeing how many pounds we could pack on. Stephen Russell, who'd driven down from Fresno with friends and whose birthday it was, had picked up some Jager I'd mentioned wanting on Facebook and others had a few festive beverages as well so we had some pretty fun times. As far as attendance at these things goes, it was a smaller turnout. There were good friends and friends of friends there though, both old and new, and we had an amazing time. People came and went all day but Sean and I stayed until 9pm. In addition to Christine and a good number of other wonderful people, some of the familiar faces we got to see were Stephen Russell, Ervin Ramos, Joann Phoukhao, Justin Kuret (JJK), Ian Morabito, and Jewel Rodriguez. Stephen brought his awesome friends Brittany Cavazos and Carlos Padilla from Fresno and we met Christine's friends and a few others too!

At one point, Sean and I joined friends in the ocean to catch some waves. Some people went out a few times but once was enough for me! Lol It seems I've gotten much less comfortable in the water over the years (especially after having to be rescued by Sean and lifeguards on numerous occasions x.x) but our awesome group of friends did opt to help me join them at a sand bar a little ways out in the water! Whew, that was pretty scary and I didnt stay long. Haha

Once most people had headed out for the day and the sun had set, Sean and I finally said final goodbyes and made out way back to the car. Our friend Jewel followed and we gave her a ride to Long Beach, where she was spending the night with family.

A short drive from there, Sean and I parked in our usual spot at the beach, watched Netflix for a bit, and fell asleep in the car.

Day 2 - 7/21/19 (Roadium swap meet):

We woke up again at 7am today. Rather than heading home though, we were planning to use today to go and get ALL THE DEALS. Lol We drove towards Roadium swap meet in Torrance, picking up more free Circle K drinks on the way, and then spent the first half of the day and ~$80 buying SO MUCH insanely inexpensive stuff including food, vitamins, household stuff, etc!

We were pretty pooped after swap meeting so we decided to head back towards Vegas.

Requiring caffeine, we got MORE free Circle K drinks on the way.

The car overheated about 40 minutes before Barstow but we let it cool off and were okay getting home afterward.

In Barstow, we stopped at Circle K yet again and got gas and MORE FREE DRINKS. XD We got food (including free tacos using deals!) at Taco Bell across the street.

We got more amazing food deals, such as $0.49 30oz spinach and mushroom pizzas, at Von's in Vegas on the way home.

The drive felt much longer than usual today and it was kinda late when we finally got back to our house. There, however, I found a nerdy, badass ITG shirt I'd ordered was waiting in the mail for me! We took the rest of the Jager to a warm bubble bath and relaxed. Mmmm.. Some food and Netflix later, it was time to pass tf out!

BBC and Friends Get-Together 7/17/19

We hosted an epic meal time-inspired food and dance game night with lots of friends at our house last night! John just moved back to Vegas and Gordon and Marquee are back here for summer break. Rare moment when lots of friends are here and free at once so we managed to get 14 of us, including 60% of Team BBC, together! I think most of us got kinda distracted and full so we didn't get through a lot of the food we planned to make up but I think the artery-clogging was still a success (and maybe we can offload some of the snacks and such on the Socal bonfire-goers this Saturday. :p) Anyway, thanks TONS to everyone who came by and pitched in to make the night such a memorable one. Can't wait to beast some food and dance games with you all again!

Attendee list: Sean G, Daniel Gonzales, Gordon Louie, Avery Baumann, Naomi Cheng, Marquee Simpson, John Bove, Jesse Runberg, Deja Garza, Bridgette Townsend, Dylan Mauceri, Brittany Westover, Jason Yoddumnern, and me!

Storm 2019 @ CEO Fighting Game Championships in Daytona Beach: Florida Trip 6/26/19 - 7/2/19

I'd never been to DDR Storm before so when it was announced this year and happened to land on the same weekend as my 16 year dance game anniversary I figured it was about time!

With lots of other stuff on our plates, Sean and I didn't end up having time to practice for any of the tournaments. I mean, I did practice some ITG stamina stuff and Sean dabbled with ITG and PIU leading up to the tournament. We played a bit of other stuff here and there too but there wasn't a whole lots of preparation beyond that. It didnt matter though as the social aspect was our real motivation for making the trek out!

Since we hadn't properly practiced, were unsure of which, if any, tournaments to register for. In the end, however, we just decided to sign up for everything. We knew we wouldn't do well in anything but figured it'd be good practice and was better than just standing around all weekend. $262.05 (before cash back!) later, we were both registered for all the dance game tournaments available! For Sean, that meant DDR Ace, DDR Extreme Pro, PIU XX, PIU Prime 2 tech, and ITG tech/timing stuff - 5 tournaments all in all. For me, that meant the same plus a PIU XX female tournament. :)

Time to sort logistics!

Flights with Delta and Spirit:

-My sister is a flight attendant for Delta now so I get free flights again! Accordingly, I didn't have to pay for travel this time.

-For Sean, we booked a flight on Spirit Airlines. We paid $174.21 (after redeeming $108.27 worth of vouchers we had and before cash back).

Rental car from Routes:

-We needed a rental car so we went through EasyRentCars and found and booked with a company called Routes. We paid $41.25 for 6 nights (after redeeming a $30 referral discount for one of us referring the other and before cash back)!

Accommodation at Howard Johnson near Orlando and Days Inn near Daytona:

-Our first hotel was Howard Johnson by Wyndham Tropical Palms Kissimmee at 4311 West Vine St Highway 192, Kissimmee,  FL. We paid $72.62 for 2 nights (before cash back)

-Our second hotel was the Days Inn by Wyndham Ormond Beach at 1608 North US 1 & I-95, Ormond Beach, FL, 32174. We paid $225.44 for 4 nights (after using a $22 coupon code, before taking into account LOTS of cash back)

Day 1 - 6/26/19 (to Orlando):

We'd been up for like a day when it was time to head to the airport. Technically, I could've stayed home and gotten close to a full night's sleep but I wanted to see Sean off at the airport and be more or less on his sleep schedule. Sooo, around 11pm, Sean and I hopped in an UberX to Las Vegas' Mccarran airport's terminal 1, where both of our flights would be leaving from, for $13.76 (including tip but paid with free credit we get through normal spending on our Uber credit card, which we pay off monthly and don't pay any fees on).

It was a bit of a gamble that they'd actually let me through B gates, where Sean's ~1am Spirit flight was departing from, like 7 hours before my D-gate-departing ~6:30am Delta flight but I figured I'd take my chances. I don't believe all airports do but they seemingly hesitantly let me through security! The nice lady checking IDs and boarding passes gave me a funny look at first but I explained. After looking at Sean's documents too and checking with him that we were together, she said, "okayy, you can do that." and let us through. Awesome. :)

I walked with Sean to his gate then and kept him company til he had to board just before 1am. With a layover in Dallas, he'd get into Orlando before 11am eastern time. I wouldn't arrive til 5 hours or so later so it'd be a long day apart for us! :p Anyway, I finally had to say goodbye for a bit and spend the rest of the night all by my lonesome. Lol

The airport was DEAD after that. I started the long walk and tram ride to D gates, found a spot near my morning flight's gate, and set up camp. As far as choosing my spot, I thought I'd look for something with an outlet but kept finding these horrible, fake outlet stickers instead. 😂 Luckily, a cleaner guy saw me searching for a spot like a pup finding the perfect place to poo and came to my rescue by showing me where real outlets were. Too funny!

With a layover in Salt Lake City, where my little sis figured I'd have the best chance of getting on a standby flight, I'd be getting into Orlando just before 4pm eastern time. It'd be a pretty long day so I figured I should get some shut-eye but that just did not work out at all. I tried everything - even melatonin - but couldn't sleep a wink!

Sean got a free sandwich (normally $6) at 7 Eleven at the airport during his layover in Dallas using points. (We still had lots of points left over due to a crazy promotion). They were also giving out free bananas so he got those too.

On my end, the airport eventually got busy again as people started arriving for morning flights. I made it onto my flight okay. One standby passenger wasn't quite so fortunate but the rest of us got seats. The plane was a newer one: an Airbus A321. The flight was short but rough! I got a middle seat in the back of the plane and had to put my carry-on on the opposite side of the plane and 3 rows ahead of me as the bins near me were full when I got to board. There were outlets and seat-back screens but I was too tired and was feeling too nauseous due to turbulence to make use of the latter. I spent the flight trying not to actually vomit. Ughh I couldn't sleep at all and it was REALLY cold. I felt like they were trying to refrigerate us. I turned my air off but was still shivering the entire flight. They were giving out Cheez-Its and drinks but ran out of time due to the short flight length and had to completely skip the last few rows, including mine. >:[ I just got to sit there smelling the delicious Cheez-Its while hearing everyone in front of me crunch. So irritating, probably moreso because of sleep deprivation.

Once off that first flight, I had to walk pretty far to get to my already-boarding connecting flight and then had to wait in an insanely busy area to get on but I got on! I was given an aisle seat, again near the back of the plane, but someone was sitting in my seat. Luckily, his seat was the window seat in the same row so we just traded.

On this flight, I discovered that Delta has free wifi (limited to messaging and a few other things, I think). Better, however, is that T-Mobile customers like us also get an hour of free regular wifi as well as text messaging. I finally got my Cheez-Its on this flight too! A lot of people, including lady next to me, bought expensive snack boxes but I just took the freebies. Snack-wise, that meant either Cheez-Its, a Biscoff biscuit, a Kind bar, or Almonds. The flight attendants made two full snack and beverage rounds and I had to go with the long-awaited Cheez-Its twice over. For drinks, it was Starbucks coffee, hot tea, water, any of a handful of Coke products or juices,.. I opted for OJ both times as well but they brought coffee around immediately after the first round so I finally got my Starbucks too and without the line or the cost! There were outlets and seat-back screens with entertainment galore including hundreds of movies, TV shows, audio options, games again on this flight. I still didn't look through much or enjoy any of it, as I was still trying to sleep, but I saw that there was lot of new stuff, at least in the "New Releases" movie category.

Sean had spent over an hour fighting with the rental car company but eventually got our car. He'd then gone for a walk around a nearby park and did some shopping and exploring. When I arrived in Orlando, he was ready for me and met me at passenger pick up with lots of bags of jalepeño cheese balls - some of my favorite chips!! Omg.. Apparently, he'd stopped in a Dollar Tree store and picked up a bunch for me! <3 <3 <3

Hungry, our first stop was a place we don't have out west and hadn't been to in ages: a Racetrac gas station! We got a couple of $1 burgers there and threw on so many toppings we could barely taste the burgers anymore. XD

Not even gonna get into all the details here but we had a hell of an ordeal getting checked into our hotel room then. LOL Not sure how things manage to be so hard for us sometimes but we got there in the end!

There were cute, stray cats wandering around at our hotel! We got to hold and pet a couple of them over the weekend. :3

Sean collapsed into bed not long after getting settled in our hotel room and didn't really get up again for the rest of the night. My little sis Liz was flying into Orlando to hang with us though and would be arriving tonight so I stayed up to greet her when she got there. (I'd been up approx 2 days by that point and didn't trust an alarm to wake me if I got cozy in bed.)

Liz's flight landed at 11pm but it was probably nearly 1am by the time her Uber got her to our hotel. I chatted with her for a good while before she decided to walk to Walmart and TGI Friday's to get booze and food before winding down for bed. I passed out around 3am. Liz probably got to sleep around 4?

Day 2 - 6/27/19 (Orlando Exploration):

Today was my 16 year dance game anniversary! I figured I'd save the dance game celebrations for the weekend though and enjoy Orlando with family in the meantime!

I was awake again around 8am somehow. Must've been the excitement?

Once I finally managed to get everyone vertical and headed out for the day, our first stop was Aldi! I figured trying to survive on cheese balls was a bad idea so we needed some groceries. :p

Next up was Dunkin Donuts. Liz and I used our T-Mobile Tuesdays deals and got free, much needed, iced coffees!

At a Speedway gas station, which we also have zero of out west, we all used coupons we had for a free Red Bull each. Gotta get those deals! :p

Then we stopped in a CVS we spotted and I used a $2 credit they'd given me for who knows what reason and got a lipstick and a Lindt chocolate for like $0.41. I swear, my life is like one big ass bargain hunt! XD

Finally, we were ready to do some real exploration! We got into Orlando and drove up and down International Dr and nearby areas, where lots of the major sights were. Sean and I had seen it all plenty before but it'd been a good while and Liz still needed to sightsee there. We saw baby alligators, visited a random Hulk Hogan store, and looked around the huge McDonald's at 6875 Sand Lake Rd (no dance games but they DID have Grand Piano Keys) before stopping for food.

Liz had a $50 for a restaurant called Saltgrass Steak House so we went in and ate WAY too much delicious food! Nice atmosphere there!

We were back at it then, window shopping near the ICON Orlando Observation Wheel. There was an arcade called Arcade City there so we checked that out too but no music games.

Behind a Walmart, we caught a cute lizard! Just for a moment, of course, before I turned him loose slightly further from the road.

We picked up some booze at Walmart and then headed back to the hotel to get festive while relaxing in the huge, warm, and very busy pool! So nice. The cats were hanging around near there too. Haha

I caught a toad back outside our hotel room. So many cute animals here!! I turned him loose in a slightly safer spot after a min.

Lots of drinks and TV later, we made it back to sleep.

Day 3 - 6/28/19 (Storm qualifiers):

We did a bad job of checking out of and leaving the hotel in a timely fashion today but we got there.

Liz had to fly back to Atlanta this afternoon but we had some time to kill before then so we found a place called Kissimmee Lakefront Park and went for a walk around. Though it was crazy hot and humid out, it was a really nice day! We spotted lots of wildlife in and near the water there including gators, various birds, giant snails, lizards..

Food time next! We grabbed more $1 burgers from Racetrac and used T-Mobile Tuesdays deals to get some free tacos at Taco Bell.

Sean and I had to drop Liz off at the airport then. :'( His and my adventures were only just beginning though.

It was time to drive to Daytona for the main reason we'd flown out here: DDR Storm! We had to get checked into our second hotel, about 20 mins north of Storm, first though and it was a good 1.5 - 2 hour drive from where we were at the time. We were hungry again too so, after getting settled into the hotel and starting back out again, we got food at Checkers on the way to Storm. We then found free parking about a 9 minute walk away from the Ocean Center convention center, where Storm was being held.

FINALLY, a little before 8pm, we were at Storm! We picked up our badges and some cool commemorative coins they gave out with the badges and went in search of the dance game room. (As DDR Storm is currently sort of a side thing at CEO, it took place in one of the large side rooms.) We immediately started seeing lots of familiar faces as well as countless new ones! We didn't have a lot of time to spend on socializing just yet though. Today was the only day to get qualifiers done for PIU Prime 2 tech, DDR Extreme Pro, ITG tech/FA, PIU XX, DDR Ace (so all dance game tournaments aside from women's PIU XX, which didn't have qualifiers) and we only had til 10pm! We got them knocked out fairly quickly, playing all of our qualifiers together except XX, which we decided to attempt separately. Speaking of which, I think this was our first time playing PIU XX, if I'm not mistaken! We dont have access to Prime 2 or XX. Actually, Prime 2 might be somewhere in Vegas? We don't have it at home though and don't go to arcades. Also, no XX anywhere in Vegas. We've also only played a handful of DDR Ace songs ever before because the nearest machine is a fairly far drive from us at an arcade we've never been to before. Not sure I know of anywhere that has Extreme Pro in Vegas either, though maybe we'll start running it on our machine at home soon?

Once done with qualifiers, we checked out Jebailyland Arcade in another of the rooms there at CEO and found lots of other video games, arcade and otherwise! In addition to all the fighting games, there were lots of arcade music games there too - even Dance Rush, which I've still never played before.

After leaving Storm for the night, we stopped by another Racetrac right by our hotel for drinks and more $1 burgers. It was late when we finally got to sleep.

Day 4 - 6/29/19 (Storm, crazy afterparty, and skinny dipping!):

We woke up at 7:30am today. I think we got 4 or 5 hours of sleep and omfg I was feeling so dead. No rest for the wicked though so we got ready, inhaled some free continental breakfast at the hotel, and drove back to Storm to knock out our 5 (for Sean)/6 (for me) tournaments.

First up was the women's XX PIU tourney at 9:30am. Bleh... Only like 7 of us ladies entered though so the whole thing was over within like 1.5 to 2 hours! Also cool, I wound up placing 2nd (after Nayla <3) and won a nifty, pink "Stomp" pendant thing for my efforts. (I was given a red, plastic replica of an ITG bracket for participating too. So nerdy but awesome!!) Not bad, I guess, for an ITG player! :p I'm sure a lot of it was just down to Pump scoring or w/e but I'll take it. Also, so proud of the other ladies who got out of bed to come and haul with me! Top 4 results:

1. Nayla Arshad
2. Aleta Lucretia Ewing
3. Sara Ezgi Akgül
4. Katie Huang

One funny thing I remember from today was my last match on PIU XX: I got eliminated by ChadThaChillest on some song called Obliteration (S17). So appropriate! Hahaha

I sold some arrow and token necklaces I had with me to friends and Sean and I bought a couple of sexy arrow wristbands and were given car decals while there. We were given some PIU AM pass stickers, I think for participating in PIU Prime 2 tech, too! I LOVE my souvenirs from this event and I love all the dance game-inspired merch the community has been coming up with lately. <3

At some point during the night tonight, I started my period. :/ I was ready for it though.

I'm hurriedly typing this up more than a week after the event and things were already a whirlwind at the time so I don't even know where Sean and I placed in any other events. There were SO MANY talented players there as well as tons of new, eager, excited faces. We won some, lost maybe about as many in each of our other tournament matches, but we made so many new friends and caught up with so many old ones in the process! By the end of the tournament day, we'd JUST finished getting eliminated from all tournaments we were in. Our legs were so sore, my shoulders were in knots, and we were just overall physically and mentally drained. It couldn't have been more worth it though and damn, what a great workout!

Don't ask me how I managed to type more about airplane amenities than a huge, 3 day tournament. I don't know. X'D Maybe I was just too in the moment at the tournament and feel words don't quite do it justice. I guess that's what all the pics and vids I took are for though!

Done at the tournament, Sean and I started back to the hotel to shower. We got a soda and booze at Racetrac and got super cheap food at Burger King using an app coupon and a gift card we got discounted on Raise through Ebates. We tried to freshen up quickly and then headed back out to Daytona Beach.

We ran into Charles Vigus and other dance game friends while walking around and followed them to the Hilton where there was a huge dance gamer party going on in and outside of Charles' oceanfront room! It was SO packed with friends and got even more packed as the night went on. We got to talk to so many people we never get the chance to. Hotel personnel started coming by so a lot of us made our way onto the grass just outside the room, overlooking the ocean. Lots of horseplay! A few of us did crappy flips and cartwheels on the grass. Sometime after Flash arrived with friends, Sean and I played a ridiculous game of frisbee with them. Sean and I went skinny sipping in the Atlantic with a handful of people a couple of times. Most people hung out on dry land not too far away but didn't come down onto the beach or into the water. I dont recall even realizing I was the only female out there in the buff til Matthew Staniecki (Big Matt) told me how brave I was the next night. Haha I didn't feel very brave. I was just in the moment, goofing off with friends. <3 Back on dry land, where most people still were, we spent most of the rest of the night just hanging out, only broken up by the occasional pee break and visit with friends inside the hotel room. It was 4:30am by the time cops finally came to clear us off.

We were, again, soooo tired when we got back to our hotel room and finally got to sleep.

Day 5 - 6/30/19 (Storm final day and afterparty):

We tried to get up at like 9:30am today but we were just too damn dead and hit snooze repeatedly til like 11:45am. Since we weren't in any tournaments anymore, it didn't matter too much but I still wanted to spend the final day of Storm with friends! Finally, we got up, got ready, and headed back to Storm.

We stopped in Dunkin Donuts by Ocean Center and used Sean's T-Mobile Tuesdays deal to get me a free iced coffee.

Today was mostly for hanging with friends and seeing things we hadn't had the time to earlier in the weekend. We cheered on a couple of friends in their matches and looked around the fighting game areas, the arena, Jebailyland again.. We met some fighting gamers we didn't know before, pet a cute corgi names Yoshi, and played a fair amount of easier to moderate (17s and under) stamina charts on ITG when it was free.

Around 6:30pm, as the dance game tournaments came to a close, it was time for the almost ceremonial Storm group photo at the Daytona Beach Coquina Clock Tower behind the Hilton. It's a shame that the weather had been so terrible the day prior because many people had already gone home and missed the photo. Still, there was a procession of a huge group of walking to the clock tower together and just about turning the photo into an event all it's own. It was great!

Machines started making their way out of the event as the last tournaments were resumed and then wrapped up. Without competition for play time, Sean and I got some last songs in on Flash's machine. Things wound down and people started their return journeys. A lot of us stayed in the area another night or two though and a good number of us even came out for one last party!

Sean and I had our first mini look around the shops and places near Storm before cashing in more points for an entire free pizza and fountain drink at 7 Eleven! :O (We still have points for tons more free pizzas or w/e there despite rarely spending or even going there. LOL) We took our whole pizza out onto the boardwalk and enjoyed the night views of Daytona Beach while munching.

Stomachs happy, we went back to the car to get freshened up.

When we made it back to the middle of everything, we realized then that we had no booze for the night so we walked back to 7 Eleven and picked up a couple of Four Lokos. Ibotta and credit card cash back got us big discounts.

So it turn out we didn't actually have a clue where anything was happening tonight afterparty-wise. We figured we could wander around and run into other dance gamers to figure it out though. We started at the Hilton but were surprised by how many people had cleared out. We did run into Nayla and Adam Styles walking around and we spotted a few other friends but no one who knew where the party was at. We went back across the street to the event center to see if anyone was still there who might know where stuff was happening. While there, we chatted with Steven Lo and a couple of others. It was really nice. ^_^ They suggested checking out a sort of nightclub called Razzle's. We walked down to Razzle's for a look. The place was really cool but almost no one we knew was there when we arrived so we gave up and started back towards Hilton. After spotting a handful of dance game friends through their oceanfront room window and saying goodbye to them during a final walk through at the Hilton, we admitted defeat. We gave up on locating any major get-togethers and had started through the hotel lobby on the way to the car when we ran into Flash and a few other friends. They told us they were headed to room 720 to party with dance game friends there so we joined them!

It was pretty chill in room 720! Not nearly as many people as we'd hung out with at the previous night's party but likely as many people as would fit in the room and some of the coolest people from the weekend too! Flash, Fabo, and their friend Jordan, who I'd met that weekend and played matches against on a couple of dance games, were all drinking Four Lokos too. Lol Peer pong was the main event there at the time. Sean and Flash teamed up for a game or two, Nayla and I battled it out against them later but got pretty annihilated X'D.. At some point during the night, thanks to Nayla's encouragement, I took a sec to clear the air with Adam Styles. I was drunk but I think I told him that he's not allowed to hate me. He said he never did. I apologized for thinking that he did. Lol (Long story but I'm really glad we got to sort that out and be friends again, especially bc I <3 Nayla so much. :p) Then he, Nayla, and I joked around briefly and took ultra-cute pics. I talked nerdy, stamina and general dance game stuff with some people there. I remember we got a good massage train going with Nayla, Sean, Evil Dave, Flash, and Jordan (am I forgetting anyone?) for a good several minutes. That was pretty awesome. A bunch of us shared a few hits of festive smokes and I think my brain broke temporarily. Haha Flash invited me for a talk near the bathroom towards the end of the night but we couldn't get much privacy so we just hung out there for a bit instead and did some general catching up and goofing off.

I didn't realize how late it was getting by the time the room started emptying out a bit and people started wanting to get to sleep. So sorry if we kept anyone up longer than they might've liked but thank you SO MUCH for the great night and I can't wait to see you guys again!

Sean, Jordan, Flash, I think a couple of others, and I were apparently really trying to get value out of our night because even after we said goodbye to those staying in room 720 we still lingered in the hotel lobby just chatting and not wanting to leave! We finally had to head out and call it a night though.

The sun was up and it was after 6am by the time Sean and I reached our motel. Free breakfast time! X'D We knew we wouldn't wake up before breakfast was over so we decided to just get it before bed instead.

Day 6 - 7/1/19 (Daytona Beach and a good talk):

I woke up at noon and started getting ready for the day but it was sometime after 1pm before I was able to wake Sean. We were both exhausted but wanted to seize our last full day there. Before heading out for that, however, there was one last thing I needed to take care of...

It'd been YEARS since Flash and I had had a proper conversation and we had just gotten back in touch recently. Accordingly, we had a few old things to discuss so we decided to try again. He and Fabo were starting their drive home to Georgia and I think the hotel Sean and I were at was practically adjacent to the freeway entrance they had to hop on anyway so they swung by briefly in Flash's fancy ass 370Z (custom plates and all! :p). Sean waited for me in our room and Fabo went for a walk around and hung out nearby while Flash and I had a nice, overdue talk in his car. I feel compelled to admit that, after keeping the things I had pent up for about 9 years, this was an extremely important part of the weekend for me and really helped me mentally. I got a bit worked up and might've lost a tear or two but in the end found it really healing. Such a good feeling. Huge thanks to Sean for understanding why I needed this conversation, to Flash for stopping by to talk things out, and to Fabo for being such an amazing friend. <3 Can't wait til we can hang out again sometime!

SOO! Finally time to take it easy this trip. Haha Sean and I wrapped things up and got outta there.

Before getting back to Daytona, we had a little look around Florida Citrus World, which was a unique place selling fruit, souvenirs, fireworks and more and serving as the convenience store part of a Sunoco gas station right by our motel. They had a few pickled things there too and Sean loves his vinegar so we got him a pickled sausage for $1.

We went to Racetrac for a fountain drink for the last time this trip and saw a dead snake, semi-squished in one of the parking spaces there. It was brown, red, and orange.

Back at Daytona Beach (also for the last time this trip), we found some free parking, walked along the beach and pier, checked out some souvenir shops, looked around the two arcades we spotted there:

Mardi Gras Fun Center
12 Ocean Ave
Daytona Beach, FL 32118

Joyland Amusement Center
49 Boardwalk
Daytona Beach, FL 32118

Neither arcade had any music games but neat to see some beach-adjacent amusement places still going anyway.

Once we were done at the beach, we drove by Daytona International Speedway just for a quick look!

Panda Expresss was necessary then. We used gift card I'd purchased through Ebates from Raise at a well-discounted rate as well as coupons for a free entree each and got us a 3 entree plate each.

We went back to hotel with our food, ate while watching Talladega Nights (for like the billionth time! Haha), and tried to sleep at 11pm but I tossed and turned til nearly 3am.

Day 7 - 7/2/19 (Back to Vegas):

We woke up at 7:30am, got our last free hotel breakfast, packed up, checked out of hotel. It was about a 1.5 hour drive to Orlando Airport from where we were so we had to get a move on.

We put in ~$19 worth of gas at a Shell station approx 20 mins from the airport. We saved $0.13/gallon on the fuel cost using my Fuel Rewards account and a T-Mobile Tuesdays promo code.

We got to the car rental return at 11:30am and hopped on the shuttle from there back to Orlando Airport (MCO)'s terminal B, from which we'd both be flying out again. As Sean's Spirit Airlines flight would be flying out from a gate in a different part of the terminal from my Delta flight's gate, we had to say goodbye pre-security. Still, worth it for my free flight (which would've been nearly $300 on Spirit otherwise) and we wouldn't be apart too long.

We both got on our flights issue-free. I was on standby again, of course, but there were enough free seats. I wound up in window seat 29F, in the middle of the plane. I got more free Cheez-Its and orange juice during my flight but missed the coffee when it came around. x.x

Sometimes, amenities vary a bit between flights, even with the same airline, because the planes used vary. Both my return flights had outlets/USB chargers, a digital in-flight entertainment selection, and 1 hour of T-Mobile texting and data as well as Delta's limited wifi after that again though. Cool to keep in mind in the future!

My layover was at Minneapolis Airport (MSP) this time. The flight ended up being totally full though and I was sure I wouldn't get on. Luckily for me, a few people didn't show up in the end and two other standby passengers and I juuuuust made it on, claiming a row together of the last available seats on the plane. Yet more Cheez-Its and orange juice! :p

Flight on time, I got my checked bag (free, thanks to the flight perks Liz gets me! :O <3 ) and walked to passenger pick up where Sean was ready to pick me up!

We used a coupon we had to get a free Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger (apparently from Spain) from McDonald's Worldwide Favorites menu. We took it home and added some eggs, ramen, extremely essential booze, and leftover Panda Express (hey, I'd kept it in the hotel's fridge over night!) on the side for an admittedly odd but well-deserved dinner!

In the mailbox waiting for me then was a Valkyrie Unity tournament DDR arrow pin! Valkyrie Dimension is a women's DDR tournament which, I believe, primarily takes place online a couple of times annually and Valkyrie Unity was the most recent installment in the series. I'd never participated in any Valkyrie event before but entering was easy when I did so this time; there were just a handful of songs that needed to be played and I just had to submit screenshots of my scores afterward. I wasn't interested in entering in the past because I really only play ITG but I saw online this time that every chick who enters and completes some challenge of passing 3 particular additional songs in a row, in addition to the maybe 6 tourney songs that were required to be considered a participant, receives a pin in the mail so I just sightread the songs, submitted some shit scores, and here we are! There were 3 divisions with a total of 112 participants this time around. I was placed in the highest division, called Ladymion, and apparently placed 12th. It didn't actually occur to me that I'd be ranked at the time, as I was just after the free pin, so I didn't bother playing the songs more than just during that one set and I was entirely unfamiliar with DDR Ace prior to this attempt so I can't really be mad at that. :p Pretty cool ending to a 16th year dance game anniversary, nerdy, friend-filled, dance game trip!

*Please excuse the poor grammar, long-windedness, limited vocab, etc. I've been out of school a long time and am kinda just letting my brain purge thoughts as they come so a lot of crap here, mostly just for my own reference and memory years down the road!

Another, bigger earthquake!

Wow, I've seriously never felt an earthquake in Vegas til yesterday and we just had another one. Today's apparently originated in the same area in Socal as yesterday's but was bigger: a 7.1 magnitude. Funny because 1999 was the last time that region had a quake this strong. Our house went rocking from it again, despite being hours away in Vegas. Kinda worried for Socal right now..

Earthquake in Vegas on the 4th of July

Wtf I just woke up to the sound of Seans and my race medals clinking around on my wall. I jolted up and saw all the stuff toys I have hanging from my ceiling swinging side to side. Earthquake in Vegas?! :O I thought I left those behind in Cali! Welp, happy Independence Day, guys!

Earthquake With Shaking Felt In Las Vegas Nevada Occurs Thursday -  https://thecount.com/2019/07/04/was-there-an-earthquake-in-las-vegas-4th-of-july/

Update: apparently, it was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in southern California but we felt it out here in Vegas: https://earthquake-report.com/2019/07/04/moderate-earthquake-southern-california-july-4-2019/4

Petroglyph Canyon Trail in Sloan Canyon 6/19/19

I've been bad about keeping up with my journal so I'm sure there have been other hikes and great events I'm not going to get around to typing up about but I managed to remember this one!:

Taking the doggies on a drive south through Anthem one morning, Sean and I reached the Petroglyph Canyon trailhead in Sloan Canyon. We went on a hike there on the 100 degree, desert day! We saw dozens - maybe even hundreds - of lizards as well as lots of other small animals. I can't remember the last time the thirst has been so real for any of us. We must've chugged a 2 liter each, dogs included. Lol 

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/thLqQUnEEX

Paranoia Boi (Tony Dortch) and Vegas Friends at the BBC House 6/23/19

Sean's and my dance game buddy Tony Dortch aka Paranoia Boi was visiting Vegas so we couldn't pass up the opportunity for an impromptu get-together at ours last night. Our friends Jewel and Carlos Montoya came by and played some dance games with us too! Fun night. Thanks for the welcome diversion, guys! :)

My 31st Birthday: Grand Canyon & Vegas Adventures with Liz, Sean, and friends 5/7/19 - 5/10/19

5/7/19:
Sean made and decorated a giant birthday cookie for me! No one's ever given me a giant cookie before, let alone made it himself. :') So freakin awesome. THANK YOU, HUSBAND!!

To help me celebrate my birthday, my sister Liz flew into Vegas tonight! Sean and I picked her up from the airport but it was kinda late when she arrived so we headed for home, only stopping to pick up a few free tacos (courtesy of the T-Mobile Tuesdays) at Taco Bell.

We watched Red Dwarf at home and all got in bed to spoon and sleep..for about 5 hours.

5/8/19 (Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail on my 31st!):
We were awake again at a 6:22am, half by choice and half because we'd promised ourselves plenty of time to hike the Grand Canyon from the south rim today and we still had a 4 to 4.5 hour drive ahead of us just to get there. Time to get a move on!

Sean and Liz wouldn't let me start a birthday without my gifts so we did pause a moment to do some present unwrapping. Good thing too because Julie Murphy, Sean, Sean's mom, Liz, and Sean's dad had hooked me up with some really badass gifts, some of which our trip wouldn't have been the same without. Thanks so much, you guys! I SO didn't need all of that but I did get some really neat things and feel so loved thanks to you all as well as other friends and family who thought of me today. <3

Food, quick showers, and a little last minute preparation and we were on the road before 9am. We opted to take our Saturn Vue for this trip. It's roomier than the Mustang. :)

We desperately needed caffeine but we had it covered once we got to Kingman! First, we used a free drink birthday coupon and free credit we'd gotten ages ago to get a few delicious Starbucks drinks, technically without coming out of pocket at all! Then, we went to Flying J, filled up on gas, got a free energy drink each using a Pilot/Flying J app deal, dined in Denny's there, and got my free birthday Grand Slam as well as a couple of other small things to eat!

We stopped again to use restrooms at a gas station in Ash Fork and had a little look around the many souvenirs they had for sale there. Liz bought a couple of bits and we continued on.

A bit later, we reached the Grand Canyon! There, we got geared up and set off on the Bright Angel Trail. We chose this destination in celebration of the Grand Canyon's centennial anniversary of becoming a national park. Also, we had an annual pass we'd gotten when we did Zion last month (it's also Zion's centennial this year) and what better excuse to use it?

We hiked out in the late afternoon so we came back in the dark. We did 2/3 of the beastly, ridiculous, gorgeous trail and got back to the car a little after 10pm. Crazy views all the way down the canyon and of the huge, starry sky coming back. We saw a double rainbow, rain, blue skies, so many mule deer, so much other life... Best of all, I got to spend the day with two of my favorite people in the whole world! I'm so proud of and grateful to Liz, who flew to Vegas to visit us and didn't get any warning before we kidnapped her and brought her out here for this. (Pretty sure this was her longest and hardest hike, as well as possibly the furthest she's traveled on foot in one go, to date. Also, she just did leg day two days prior and was already crazy sore.) Such an epic way to spend the day!

As for our day's physical feat on the trail, we conquered 4,069ft of elevation gain, 4.5 hours moving time (~6 hours total time), and over 13.5 miles (~2/3 of the total hike distance). We had some snacks and alcohol to keep us going on the way. I surprisingly didn't struggle with breathing at all but we all felt some dizziness and/or mild nausea from the elevation change.

We were so relieved when we finally found ourselves back at the trailhead again. Omg..On the way back to the car, we saw many mule deer sleeping in field! It was pitch black then but we spotted their reflective eyes using the light from our phones as flashlights as we accidentally approached them in the dark.

Once we'd recovered enough, we hit the road and drove as far as Love's Travel Center in Williams, AZ. There, we got gas before parking up for the night. Sean and I got a footlong to share and used a birthday coupon I had for a free cookie in the adjacent Subway. Liz wasn't hungry and was passed out in the car but Sean and I ate while watching Red Dwarf and then rearranged the car and cuddled up with Liz in the back of the car to sleep!

5/9/19:
We woke up pretty early to try and squeeze some sights in along the way back to Vegas.

Liz got some food at the Carl's Jr there at Love's. Sean and I had car food on hand but weren't too hungry thanks to last night's sandwich consumption so we were back on the road before long.

We drove on to Seligman, which was actually really busy with tourists and tour buses when we arrived! It was pretty cold out and we were still kinda sleepy so we got a tea and a couple of coffees in the cafe at the near edge of town to thaw out and caffeinate and they gave me a tiny ice cream for free when my sister mentioned my birthday. We drank our hot drinks while we walked around and looked at the quirky Route 66-themed decor and other props and sights. We did some souvenir shopping in the various stores there and chatted with the locals a little. Sean and I had been to and explored Seligman several times before but it was still fun exploring again and showing Liz the cute, little town. Also, we came across a big thrift store there which we'd never been to before! We had a good, long look around the store and picked up some good deals on useful stuff, both for ourselves and to resell online! Before leaving town, we had a quick peek in the Roadkill Cafe but we didn't eat there because it seemed too commercial and the meat was really just your standard cafe stuff like beef and chicken.

Back in Kingman, we stopped at Flying J again, filled up the gas tank and can, and got a free drink Liz had on her account as well as a birthday meal (drink and food item) I had on mine to share.

We pulled off at the Last Stop 76 gas station a little later to take funny pics with the props and various photo ops they had set up there. Sean and I had stopped to take pics there a couple of times but Liz had never been and none of us had actually been inside the building before. We went in this time and found much more than anticipated including a highly themed and uniquely decorated gift shop convenience store and a restaurant with bar.

Back at the Arizona/Nevada border, we pulled off at Hoover Dam to take Liz for a look!

We made a quick stop at the Hoover Dam Lodge for restrooms and to take advantage of the free Coke they have there.

Since it was just off the road, we decided to use our annual pass to visit the marina at Lake Mead. We wanted to feed some popcorn we had with us to the ducks and fish there. (If any park officials are reading this though, we totally didn't do that. :p)

We needed some groceries and wanted other snacks and things so we did a big, speedy shop at the 99 Cent Store in Boulder City on the way home.

Once home, we took things inside and showered. No rest for the wicked though! As soon as we were dressed, it was time to head back out, this time towards the Vegas strip!

We started at Bellagio, drank a bit of booze we'd brought with us, and were away! We looked around the conservatory and botanical gardens at Bellagio first, started toward Bally's to go to Wahlburgers, saw the Bellagio fountain show..At Wahlburgers, I mega nerded out again over my favorite band, NKOTB. XD Seriously, I freakin love them so much. I even got Liz and me both wearing New Kids shirts for the occasion! We actually had dinner plans already but I had to show my sister the place so the three of us snapped some pics there, grabbed some seats at the bar, and shared an extremely delicious Fiesta Burger (since Sean and I hadn't tried it yet) and onion strings! Then we took a stroll through Bally's to try and walk off the food before exploring more of the strip and eventually meandering back to Bellagio.

Since we'd been out of town yesterday, we'd planned a belated birthday dinner for tonight for any friends who wanted to take the excuse to come hang out. Apparently, I only had two such friends who were free tonight but that didn't stop us from having an incredible time! In fact, it was probably for the best because the five of us were able to get a lot more personal and those who didn't yet know each other were able to get better acquainted than if more people had turned up.

Anyway, the details!: Sean, Liz, and I got to Sapporo Revolving Sushi - 10pm (happy hour!). Sean, Liz, and I turned on some jams and drank and partied in the parking lot while waiting for friends. Our arcade friend Jason Yoddumnern arrived first and joined our parking lot party for a few minutes. Jewel messaged us to say she was running a little late then so the rest of us went in to get started at the bar. Sake was cheap then so we shared a couple orders of that and shared! When Jewel arrived, she showed up with wine and a couple of other adorable, incredibly thoughtful gifts for me! Omg.. <3 <3 <3 So freakin sweet!! We got a table and got settled then, taking full advantage of happy hour by eating tons without spending too much and while laughing and chatting with friends til it got so late and we got so full that Liz went into a food coma and started falling asleep on me. Haha

Finally, it was time to call it a night. A few last hugs later, we were all headed home to sleep off the excessive calories.

5/10/19:
Today was kinda sad. We woke up and had to instantly get ready to take Liz to the airport to fly back to Atlanta :( That's okay though; I'd had an epic birthday celebration and I knew my little sis would be using her new flight attendant perks to come back to me very soon!

As far as freebies I picked up for my birthday (not including non-birthday freebies or any of the dozens of birthday deals I forgot to list or didn't get around to using), some of the many I claimed and shared with Sean this year were:

Weinerschnitzel: Corn dog
Qdoba: Cookie
Jason's Deli: sandwich & chips (paid $1)
Del Taco; milk shake
Starbucks: any drink
Denny's: grand slam
Subway: free cookie
Pilot: free meal (drink and food item)
Circle K: $2 store credit
Wingstop: large fries
CVS: nail polish
Baskin Robbins: ice cream scoop
El Pollo Loco: tostada
Sweet Tomatoes: buffet
Firehouse Subs: medium sub
Panera Bread: pastry
Cinnabon: mochalotta chill
Wetzel's Pretzel's: pretzel
Dunkin Donuts: medium beverage
Habit Burger: burger
Jamba Juice: smoothie
Jersey Mike's: sandwich and drink
Ruby Tuesday: burger and fries
Red Robin: burger and fries

McDonald's Worldwide Menu: Trade Any Foreign Currency 6/6/19

McDonald's was pretty awesome yesterday. Sean and I have a lot of foreign coins so we busted out the more useless ones and got our grub on! Our local location didn't have the Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger in the "free"/pay with like a penny in foreign currency deal as they said it was too expensive to do so but we tried the other three items. I gotta say that the chicken sandwich was the winner by far, the fries weren't very good at all (trade the Easy Cheese for real cheese, then we'll talk), and the stroopwafel McFlurry was wayyyy too much (I like ice cream a bit and I LOVVVE stroopwafels...for the first bite or two before I die XD) but tasty.

Lanie's 33rd Birthday at Hi Scores Barcade 6/3/19

Our friend Elaine, who lives in Norcal these days, was back in Vegas around her birthday so she organized a get together at Hi Scores Bar-Arcade in Henderson. Sean wasn't in the mood to go at the time but I went and had a good time seeing a good number of friendly faces, both old and new! I got to catch up with Elaine a bit, joked around with friends, and even squeezed in a couple of drinks at the bar with Bobby. I'll be looking forward to next time!

Mixtape Tour 2019: New Kids On The Block, Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Naughty By Nature, and Debbie Gibson at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV 5/25/19

Sean and I saw New Kids On The Block (my all-time favorite band!), Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Naughty By Nature, and Debbie Gibson at the Mandalay Bay Events Center here in Vegas last night! It was part of the Mixtape Tour 2019. Though the New Kids were definitely the main event of the night, they opened! They did something different then though: they and the other acts alternated and mixed songs with each other throughout the night! We LOVED it. Such a neat alternative to your typical concert arrangement. 

I gotta say that I don't think I could've found a better use for our night last night. :D At this point, I've lost track of how many times we've seen NKOTB. If you ask me how many more times I'm gonna see them though, the answer will always be, "at least one more". Haha Pretty sure we've seen most of these amazing artists multiple times now but it really never gets old. Thank you SO much to Sean for taking me. As always, I had so much fun singing and dancing with you! If you ever feel you've had your fill of NKOTB though, feel free to tag in my little sis Liz as my escort. I'm sure she won't argue! Haha

After all the skin the New Kids had on display last night, I do feel a bit like I owe Sean a trip to a strip club <3 ...but I have a feeling there weren't many people complaining in the crowd of middle aged women! In fact, I was half expecting a dozen stretchers to come wheeling into the audience to rescue people when the live dressing room footage started rolling. Lol

Epic bonus detail: We didn't pay much at all, if anything, for this concert thanks to Ebates cash back and Groupon deals!