The Weekend Update

It's Tuesday, and I haven't had time to do my weekend review yet, so I thought I'd squeeze it in now. It was a really interesting, weird, great, off the wall, out of the ordinary weekend. It all sort of feels like a blur when I look back on it...Like did that really happen?? So, on with the explanations we go.

Saturday, we went to LA with my aunt for a Dodger game that night. But, first we stopped for lunch in Valencia at this new restaurant, Lucille's BBQ at the mall/shopping center there. I was kind of complaining about it when my dad suggested it, but it turned out to be a great choice. It felt like we were back in Nashville with the southern food they had going on there. They have amazing rolls with sugar sprinkled on top, so we proceeded to pig out on those and fried pickles before our meals even came. I think their fried pickles were even better than the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, too. WHOA! I had a chicken sandwich with Mac and Cheese, which was really good too. By the time we finished, we were all SO full; dessert wasn't even an option at that point. We looked in one store that was close by for a few minutes and they had a ton of stuff! My eyes were on overload, taking it all in LOL. But, alas, I came out empty handed. That has got to be a first.

After lunch, we headed into LA. We drove around a bit, trying to make our way to the new Kardashian store, Dash. We went up Melrose, which even if you haven't been to LA, I'm sure you have an idea of what that street is like. There's a very eclectic vibe about it-all kinds of stores that range from rocker/vintage to snooty/boutiques with guards at the door. You can imagine the types of people you're going to pass on the street, and we did see them all. It was there that I decided I'm going to start a new segment for my blog entitled, "People of LA." From now on, I'm going to start documenting the interesting people I see whether it's in a restaurant or walking down the street. If only I had captured some of them on Saturday... Anyway, we finally made it to the Dash store, but there was basically no parking, so that took several minutes of driving around the area. When we came back around, we noticed there was now a crowd in front of the store. I thought maybe The Kardashians had stopped by for filming or just a surprise visit since it was opening weekend. By the time we made it to the store, we realized it was just a line to get in. It turns out they were only letting a few people in at a time. We waited a good 15-20 minutes outside, meanwhile at least 10 or so people had come out, and no one else was being let in. We finally got inside, and there wasn't much to look at really. It was all overpriced and there were a few security guards watching everything. Do you really think people are going to steal that much?? A little paranoid and hyped up for nothing. It was cool, though, because I'd always wanted to go into the store and with it being their first in Los Angeles, it was exciting.

My first "People of LA" shot...I didn't bring my camera that day, so it was the best I could do. The girl had on a belly shirt with some ripped up jeans and boots. It was just interesting!

Once we got out of the store, it was time to get to the Dodger game! As we were driving, I was reading tweets and looking at Instagram, when I saw Troain Bellisario had posted where she was. When I looked at the location, I realized we were extremely close to her. We ended up going right past the location she had tweeted about. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and look around for her, but I glanced as we drove past and didn't see anyone. I thought I could've seen a girl that looked like her, but that was probably me just getting my hopes up and all in my head haha.

We made it to the stadium, got to our seats and just in time for the game. We started snacking, taking pictures, and I was chatting with my aunt. We're pretty and hilarious, I must say. The game started, and I watched for a few minutes, but then decided I'd scope out the crowd for my "People of LA" and I found a few with some interesting hats...when there was no sun in their face. My aunt took a picture of a couple guys, and I was like "They look like they're in a band." I was curious, so I grabbed my dad's binoculars and kept looking at them more. That's when I noticed a cute guy with a gray t-shirt, dodger hat and Ray Ban's on. I kept looking at him and thought to myself that it looked an awful lot like Nick Jonas. I told my mom, so she started studying him too. It looked just like him, but there were certain angles where he looked different, so I wasn't sure. I decided to text my friend, Steph (who is also a huge fan) to see what she thought. Long story short, she confirmed that it was him and just a few minutes later, he took off his sunglasses and revealed that it was in fact him. I had seen him and his brothers there on opening day back in 2009, I think it was, but hadn't seen them there since. This was the day I had been waiting for, and now we finally had passes to get down to his level. I asked my aunt if she wanted to go with me to ask for a picture during the 7th or 8th inning and she agreed. It was set...I was going to get a picture with Nick Jonas, one way or another. After that, any chances of me paying attention to the game were lost. I was brainstorming what I would say, how I would approach him, did my hair look okay? etc. Well.....Long story short, we had to leave early and I wasn't able to. I was a little sad, not gonna lie, but there were more important things that needed to be dealt with and in the bigger scheme of things that Nick Jonas picture just wasn't worth near as much. Besides, when it's meant to happen, it will and I don't think it will require so much planning...It'll just happen. We've shared several moments, but a picture just hasn't been in the cards apparently. I really love Nick Jonas; his faith

We came home. It had been an interesting night already, when I found out the cat of the lady's house I'd been watching from church, had been hit by a car. I was in tears; I felt so bad! She couldn't have been more gracious or forgiving, saying it wasn't my fault...But, I still felt bad that it happened at all. I had a hard time falling asleep, with so much on my mind...But, eventually I got to sleep.

Sunday, my dad and I went to church. It was a little different than normal, but still just as good. Our music pastor spoke and did a lot of worship in between of songs he had written, dealing with faith and knowing that God is going to come through when He says He will. I guess that's what I've been dealing with a lot this summer. I feel myself pulling away from Him again, and I'm trying not to fall back into old habits. It was a really dark place before and I don't want to get rid of her once and for all. She wasn't a happy person, and I'm more at peace, but little by little, I feel that old stuff rising up again, trying to tear me down. But, day by day, I'm still trying to get past that and let myself be happy...genuinely happy.
After church, Dad and I came home to get mom. We were trying to figure out where to eat, when I suggested that we go to this Mexican restaurant downtown, hoping the since Demi Lovato was in town, she'd be eating there. Unfortunately, she didn't show up...but man, did my parents and I have a blast. I quizzed Dad on some of his Country music knowledge and I informed them on some other things pertaining to music and the like. We were laughing so hard! When we finished eating, we went across the street to the concert venue, Rabobank, where Demi played later on. We saw her and Hot Chelle Rae's buses, and walked around near the front entrance. There were several people roaming around, probably hoping to spot her as well, but we never did.

Cannot wait to see this show djgbsbjgmr,f gjusg jrg :D

After awhile, we decided to give up, because it was pretty obvious she wasn't going to be just out and about. We stopped at Sonic, and spent most of the afternoon at home. I finished putting together some photo collages for my room of the beach, LA, One Tree Hill, and Nashville. I was really happy with the way they came out. Plus, I've been wanting to redo them for about the past year, and I'm just glad I finally got around to changing them.

Later on, I decided to go with my parents to Sam's Club for some stuff that we needed, then to dinner at Panera. It has to be one of my favorite restaurants; not only do they have great food, it's just a great environment there altogether. We went to Best Buy for awhile, where I found season 2 of Growing Pains. I have been wanting it since it came out, but never wanted to spend that much for it. Well, Sunday was my lucky day! It was the last one left and it was on sale, so I took that as a sign ;). We made one last stop at Target, and ended up running into some family friends. We talked to them for a few minutes, but they couldn't stay because their dog was with them. We weren't in there for much longer and headed home.

I had wanted to go back by the convention center/arena to see if Demi would come out, but started stressing out that I had so much homework to do and it wouldn't be worth it anyway. My dad being the amazing guy that he is kept saying, "I really don't mind taking you down there if you want to go..." Finally, I caved in and thought, "This is my only chance...how often is she in town?" So, off we went. I played all of my Demi music and got my dad in the mood for it ;) LOL.
We couldn't have timed it out any better really. We were the only ones outside for a few minutes, so we scoped out the place, and just a few minutes later, the concert got out. I heard on the security guard's walkie talkie, "We got her off with no problem..." Which I took to mean that Demi was coming out...Pretty soon, a white bus did leave, but of course, on the opposite side of where we were. We debated on whether she should try to watch her leave or just wait, on the off chance that it wasn't hers. All of a sudden these girls started screaming their heads off and tried to get behind the green gate...turns out I went to high school with them....uh, yeah. *SMH* Anyway, dad and I stood there as the crowd got bigger and tried to figure out what we should. After about thirty minutes of waiting, a bus started pulling out, when about four or five guys, rode right past it on scooters and shot to the bus area down below. We were all just like wait a minute, what the heck?! Then, it hit us that it was Hot Chelle Rae!!!!! I'm not a huge fan, but I thought it was really cool. We waited a few minutes, but they had closed the gates, so I assumed that was it, and they'd be leaving. The main one I wanted to meet was Demi, so we decided to leave and follow behind another bus that had just left. We watched that bus get on the freeway, while I was reading tweets, trying to get the deets on everything. Well, I follow a couple of the girls that were standing by us at the buses on Twitter (we talk more on there than we do or ever did in person at school), so I saw they had JUST met Hot Chelle Rae. My heart sank a little, I mean somehow we always seem to miss everyone bythatmuch. Oh well, obviously there's a reason for it. I may not have been able to meet them or Demi, but I had some good bonding time with my dad. I really appreciate everything he does for me. He's always tried to help me meet the people I admired and whatever it is that made me happy. It was a great night.

Dad and I came home and all of a sudden I was wide awake, rambling, and singing! I get that way after a concert or anything like that, so that explains it. Then, it was time to jump back into homework mode, after buying some Hot Chelle Rae on iTunes. I love that their stuff is so upbeat and catchy! "Tonight, Tonight" was basically my soundtrack last year-I'd rock out to on the way home from class everyday....good times. Also, thanks to Ryan from Hot Chelle Rae, I've gotten into the app, Social Cam. Once I figure out how to get them to work on here, I'll be annoying everyone with more videos LOL...Stay tuned!
It was a great weekend, and really opened my eyes up to some stuff that I need to change and what's really important. Then, as soon as this weekend was ending, it was time to start planning and strategizing for this week.

That's all for now,
Shelby