Maile.

So, Maile just brought to my attention that she reads my blog. She goes, "Cait, you should add stuff to your blog. I'm sick of reading the same stuff over and over." Huh. Who knew. So, she is sitting next to me in our hotel bed, making me add more stuff to my blog. So this post is a tribute to Maile.

Funny story about Maile. Our family came up to Utah for conference this weekend. They picked me up in Vegas, then we stopped in Cedar, then went up to Salt Lake. I hadn't even been in the car with them for 3 hours, when my mom discovered that the windows on the side of the van we rented "go up and down!" (the windows on the side of my parents' van are not powered, and do not go up and down.) Maile said, "The ones in our van do too, Mom." Mom said, "No, they don't." And Maile said, "You just gotta stick your finger in real deep and push the thing!" She was actually talking about the window on the passenger's side door that is broken, and you need to stick your finger in the hole and "push the thing." Well, Kendric, Aleigha, Dad, and I immediately started cracking up until someone yelled, "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" And Maile rolled her eyes and said, "oh my goodness I didn't mean it like that." She actually did. She makes TWSS jokes more than anyone in the family. Besides Dad. Maile is funny.

I love.

I love a lot of things. But right now, I really love a couple things in particular. First, I love being outside. I'm house-sitting for one of my managers this week. She's a single, older lady who has a nice-sized house and a small, quaint backyard. Yes, I just used the word 'quaint.' Whatever. Anyway. Her backyard is really cute. She has a bunch of plants and trees and shade and a little patch of grass. And she has 5 turtles that I love. I feed them every day, watch them walk around and they pee without slowing down. I've decided that if I ever have a pet it would be a turtle. I've never been fond of animals, but I have always loved reptiles. I wouldn't own a snake because snake owners are weirdos and I think lizards are more fun to catch and play with than own. But I think turtles would be fun. They don't make noise, the don't shed hair, they're not creepy, they don't lick you. They're the perfect companion! Although you can't walk them. Aleigha has tried. Anyway, so I'm sitting out here on the patio doing my homework, and it's the perfect temperature outside. I LOVE the desert this time of year. It's 88 degrees and awesome. I LOVE autumn/fall. It is perfect. I can't wait til it drops right around 80-85 during the day. AHH it's my favorite. I want to go camping. I want to go on a hike. I want to drive around with my windows down and blare country music. I want to go have a campfire by Lake Mead. I haven't done much of any of that since being in Vegas, which is sad, but I LOVE BEING OUTSIDE.

Second thing I have been loving very recently: privacy. I don't get much privacy these days. I'm either at work, at home with a roommate or two, or I'm at my aunt and uncle's house with their 3 little kids. Don't get me wrong, I love being around people I care about and I am totally okay with that, but sometimes I just want to be alone for a little while. So house-sitting has been great for that. I love me some alone time. And I take advantage of it when I have it. Like today, I haven't worn makeup or a bra all day. I feel like a champ. The other day I drove up to Mount Charleston by myself, just because I could and, as stated above, I love being outside. I especially love the forest. Everything about it makes me happy; it's one of my favorite places to be in the world. So I drove up by myself, found a place to park, walked around the forest for a little bit (in the rain, which was awesome), and then headed down before it started hailing and flooding. But it was a perfect drive. I'm moving into my aunt's house next week just for a couple months until I move back to Tucson, and those kids are on my like white on rice, so I won't get much privacy. But I'm okay with it, I love their family.

Another thing I love lately is my new car. It's not new new, it's an '05, but it's definitely the newest car I've ever owned. I've really learned to appreciate things like this. This is the 7th car I've driven in the almost 7 years I've had my license. Most of my other cars were a piece of junk, including my 4runner I bought last March. It was a money pit. It was frustrating and stressful, it didn't have AC, got 13 miles to the gallon (on a good day), and I worried every time I got in whether it would start or not. I've broken down in the middle of the road way too many times, and I wanted to feel like I WASN'T going to die in my next car. I'd been looking at cars online for a couple months, and then when I finally had some extra money I went with a coworker (who is like an uncle to me) and looked at a couple. And I fell in love with this Mazda3. It's awesome. It's stick shift, gets 26-30 mpg, has AC, doesn't sound like a dump truck when I turn it on, and I can drive more than 20 miles without it getting tired. I love it. And because of my previous car situations and whatnot, I've developed a new appreciation for it. I've worked hard for it, I think I deserve it, and it's something that I want to last me a long time. So I'm excited about it. And I love it. Yay!

Weird morning.

So I've been home alone the last couple days, because both of my roommates are out of town. Not that that has anything to do with this story. I guess I've just had a lot of alone time, which has been pretty nice. Anyway, last night I had a really weird dream about Shane. Shaney poo. Pretty much, I really had to talk to him about something but he was on a date with another girl. I don't know what I had to tell him, but I never got to because his date was giving me the stank eye. So then I woke up this morning, and I was kind of freaking out because I needed to talk to Shane real bad about whatever, and I went to go call him. And then I realized he won't answer :( And I've been missing him real bad all day. I don't remember what I needed to talk to him about, but when I woke up and realized I couldn't call him I got real bummed out. I'm not the type of person to try and interpret my dreams or anything like that, but it just kind of sucks. I have a lot of weird dreams, but I haven't woken up this bummed since I dreamed about winning $4,600 in the penny slots when I only put $0.06 in. This is a different kind of bummed though I guess. It's more of like a, I-really-miss-Shane-and-talking-to-him-whenever kind of bummed. So I called my mom instead and wished her a Happy Mother's Day.

Argh

Here is something I seriously have been bothered by lately:

YOLO.

What the heck. You Only Live Once. I saw a few teenagers wearing sweatshirts that said YOLO on it the other day. It really annoyed me. Sorry people, you DON'T only live once!

argh.

la dee da

So I was thinking the other day, about how I've been in Vegas for about 9 months and I feel like I haven't had very much time to go out and do anything. And how I don't know many people here who I am comfortable enough with to just be like, "hey, let's go explore Vegas." But then I realized, I've done more things here than I think I have. And they've been FUN. Vegas can be a real cool town. Let me break down some of my adventures, in no particular order. If you are ever in Vegas, I recommend you do ALL of these:

So far in Vegas, I have:

1. Eaten at one of Vegas' famous buffets. I hate buffets. But I couldn't say no.

2. Watched a few of the shows: Vegas! The Show, Jersey Boys, and the Ultimate Variety Show. Can I just say that Jersey Boys was THE coolest show I have ever seen. SO cool.

3. Ridden to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. And watched the water show at the Bellagio from up top. Pretty. Dang. Awesome.

4. Won $20 at the penny slots at Harrah's casino. But then I lost it all. Ha.

5. Gone snowboarding for the first time, up on Mt. Charleston.

6. Went to my first concert EVER at Mandalay Bay: BLAKE SHELTON. I've fallen in love with him. Not to mention he sounds incredible live.

7. Walked through about 16 hotels on the strip in one day: MGM, Mandalay Bay, New York New York, Luxor, Excalibur, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Treasure Island, Mirage, Venetian, Palazzo, Costmopolitan, Harrah's, Stratosphere, and Paris.

8. Rode the roller coaster at New York New York. So fun.

9. Rode the zipline down Fremont Street.

10. Bought frozen lumpia at Seafood City. Seriously, it was a great discovery. You can't do that in Tucson.

11. Bought a gym membership for the first time in my life. Haha. But seriously.

12. Eaten at the famous Sugar Factory down on the Strip. Kacy, Tricia and I split a $24 ice cream sundae. It was HUGE. And delicious.

13. Been in a live audience on TV at the Strikeforce MMA fights at Hard Rock Hotel.

I probably have pictures to go along with all of these, but that would be a lot of pictures. But I guess I can't complain about not doing much here. I really have done more than I thought I have. And it's not like I have all the money in the world to do all this, cuz doing all that is EXPENSIVE. The Jersey Boys tickets we had were $250 apiece, we sat literally right in front of the stage. We got the tickets for $25 each. At the Variety Show I sat in the VIP seating, tickets run around $200 each for those. We got in free. My friend's boyfriend bought our tickets to Blake Shelton. We got hookups when we went snowboarding. When you come to Vegas, it's all about who you know and what hookups you have or can get. Otherwise none of that would have happened for me. So I am pretty fortunate to have gotten to know some of the people I have here. And I'm not done yet. I am going to the Aloha Festival in a few weeks. My extended family is having a huge luau in a couple weeks for my cousin's mission farewell, so I'll get to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins. It's been fun. I can't complain. Now all I need to do is find someone with a boat and take a trip to Lake Mead. Then my Vegas experience will be complete and I can move somewhere else. Ha.

I'm also making myself a cuter wardrobe. Well, I'm not making anything, although I would like to try. But I'm sick of my bland, unstylish closet. So I've slowly been replacing my old t-shirts with cuter, layer-y type clothes. I feel better about myself when I feel like I look cute. Ha. Duh. Whatever. The Ross's here are awesome. Yay.

Ooh, another happy note. When I rode the zipline down Fremont St. a couple weekends ago, we had to get weighed to make sure we were too fat and the harness wouldn't break. And I've lost 10 or 12 pounds since the last time I weighed myself, which was probably about a year ago. Yippee!

i'm a little more country than that.

Last night I went to my first real concert ever. BLAKE SHELTON. I'm a recent convert to
country music; it started about two years ago. I used to hate it. I literally despised country music. And I don't actually know why. It's not like I listened to it enough to be like, "yeah, I actually hate this kind of music." I knew nothing about it, really. I was just ignorant I guess. But since being properly introduced, I would probably be content if there were no other music genres in the world except country. I love it! It tells stories. Not all country music is about dogs dying and breaking up. I think it's cute music. And, it certain country songs make me feel super patriotic and love America. It's awesome.

But anyway, I reallllly decided I love Blake Shelton when one of my managers introduced me to The Voice. It's that one TV show that is better than American Idol. Blake Shelton is one of the voice coaches on it. And the first episode I watched of this season I knew him and I would get along if we ever met. Haha. But seriously. He's hilarious, chill, down-to-earth, country. I fell in love with him. Not to mention I always have his Honey Bee song stuck in my head, so much that I bought a Blake Shelton Honey Bee shirt for $5 of his website. Not obsessed. Don't worry. Anyway, I saw a billboard a few weeks back that said Blake Shelton would be at Mandalay Bay on March 17. I was like, "oh freak, I want to go so bad!" But I knew my roommate wouldn't be able to go even she wanted to, because she works nights. So I was talking to a girl my age at

work, Jessica, and I mentioned it, and she was like, "ooh, I'll go." So I was like COOL. That was a few weeks ago. We didn't really talk about it again for a while. Then one day at work this last

week, I was really grumpy cuz my boss kind of pissed me off, and Jessica was asking why I was grumpy. I said, "I dunno dude. I just need some happy medicine. Blake is gonna be in town this weekend. I wanna go. Blahhhh." She said, "if I get my boyfriend to buy us tickets will that be good enough happy medicine..." And it was. And he bought them for us. AND WE WENT

YESTERDAY. And it was seriously incredible. THE funnest night I've had in Vegas so far. His opening guy was Justin Moore, who sang "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away." (Great song, btw. I jammed out). And then when Blake Shelton came on, he opened with his own version of the Footloose theme song. Seriously, how cool is that. I don't know if someone told him that I LOVE

the Footloose soundtrack. Ever since Tallen's musical in high school, I've absolutely loved the

Footloose music. It got me so excited. A couple songs later he did a rendition of Michael Buble's

"Home," which also happens to be one of my favorites. It was seriously just so awesome. I can't put into words how much fun I had. I felt like a little kid meeting Santa Clause. Only I didn't meet anyone and I didn't get any presents out of it. Although, I DID buy a shirt. Of course. But I sang along with every song. Danced with my boots on. It was just the greatest thing. I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN. And now I want to see all my favorite country singers in concert.

My Boots :)

Oh, just Blake Shelton singing to me. I mean.....

AGH it was seriously SO FUN.

Country music FTW

Hummmm

I always wonder if I've already met the person I'm going to marry. Who knows.