At the Ho

For Mother's Day weekend, Tiffany got passes to a spa event. She was also able to get a room at the Valley Ho (a super awesome retro hotel in Scottsdale). Woo hoo!!! We had such a great time. Here are Penny and Lisa posing while Tiffany was checking in: I love Lisa's Blue Steel face.

Then we checked into our super cool room. I loved the decor (which you can't really see in any of these pictures - but trust me, it was cool).
Sooo....we went to the spa event - walked around a bit and got a bag full of free loot. Then we sat in the car and giggled over all of our stuff. It was like Christmas morning! There was a coupon for a free blow-out, a coupon for a facial, philosophy mosturizer, perfume...and much more! Here's a picture of some of the stuff:

After the event we went to dinner at that super good mexican food restaurant that we had went to back in October. I forgot the name. We had so much fun chatting and being silly. Our waiter brought us a free dessert because we were so charming. Then we ventured over to Fashion Square to see "Something Borrowed" at the movie theater. After we headed back to our hotel and chatted until the wee hours. I think I fell asleep around 1:30 but Lisa and Tiffany were still chatting away.

The next morning we checked out and had breakfast at a cute little joint called Butterfields. The strawberry shortcake pancakes were AWESOME. Like super duper awesome. And then we headed over to Anthropologie. I think the salespeople there thought we were a little crazy because we'd try something on and then congregate in Lisa's dressing room - giving each other critiques. I got a pair of $165 Citizen of Humanity jeans for $20. I'm not lying. We all got some awesome deals.

One of my favorite parts of the day was at the end when we went to Target. Lisa was desperate to buy something - the only thing she had bought so far was a pair of pants at Anthro for $20. We kept encouraging her to try things on. But she didn't want to use the dressing room - so she tried a skirt on in the back of the women's section with me, Tiffany and Penny standing around her. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time. I will forever have a picture of Lisa shimming over to the mirror with her pants around her ankles. Awesome.

Now that summer is around the corner, I hope to hang out with these girls more.

Thank you Tiffany for a great weekend!

SYTYCD: A Magical Night

We had been waiting for this night since July. And just so you all know, I brought a perfectly good camera with me. And the battery was dead. A little part of my heart died when I discovered that. I'm not kidding. So I was stuck using my phone and couldn't take pictures of the stage because of the glare - didn't know until today that I could take the flash off my phone - bummer. Anyway...back to our magical night. We arrived around 6:30 and ate dinner at the same BBQ place that we ate at last year at So You Think You Can Dance. Why mess with a good thing? btw, I love pulled pork. Yes sir, I do.

After we made our way to the arena and down, down to our seats ON THE FLOOR! Super close on the floor. Like close enough to see facial expressions and see tears. That close.

Me and my better half. I love my husband. Not only because he's more obsessive about SYTYCD than me, but also because he makes me laugh so hard that sometimes my stomach hurts.

This girl is so awesome. And she is totally her mother's daughter. Which makes her super awesome.

*I had a picture of Tiffany to post here, but since I value our friendship, I didn't post it. Even though she looked hot in it.

Lisa and Julie came too. Btw, Julie's hair is magical. She can flip it and people give her what she wants. I've seen it.

The show was everything I wanted it to be and more. Seriously. So many of the dances gave me the chills. And since it was the last night of the tour and Lauren & Ade's hometown, the dancers were in high form. Ade and Allison switched outfits for the bollywood number. Lauren lifted Kent (instead of the other way around) during the disco number. All the girls wore mustaches during that number. Jose and Dominic stuffed their pants for their hip hop number. And Dominic was freakin' hilarious. He totally stole the show.

We decided after intermission to give each worthy dance a standing ovation. We are such nerds, but it was so much fun. And we totally made eye contact with the dancers. Ian swears he had a "moment" with Kathryn.

My favorite dances included: Fix You, the best friend's dance, the Mad World dance and the prom dance. I also loved the dance with Russell, Dominic and Jose. Mostly because of Dominic. I would've loved the Alice in Wonderland dance but they put Lauren in instead of Allison. It was still good though.

A picture of the stage at the end. I wanted to remember how close we were. Because it was the last night of the tour, the director put a montage together and we got to watch it with the dancers. This is the dancers leaving after.

Ok, so after we were waiting in line to get t-shirts when a woman approached Julie (it's the hair) and gave her 2 backstage passes. Of course she took Lisa backstage with her so the rest of us waited in a room by one of the exits. There were also a whole bunch of teenagers there with shirts that said something like, "I loved Lauren before America". Whatever. Anyway, when the security guard asked them why they were loitering they said they were waiting for Betsy Frodman (Lauren's mom) to give them backstage passes.

A couples minutes later in comes Betsy with a bag full of backstage wrist bands. She starts handing them out. I beg Ian to get some for us. But he won't. Then we see super creepy guy ask Betsy and she gives him two. I guess Ian figured at this point, why not? So he went over and had a conversation with Betsy while me, Tiffany and Tayler tried to pretend we didn't know him (I know I told him to do it but it was still embarrassing!). So....thanks to Ian we got to go backstage to meet the dancers! WOOOOHOOO!!!!!

We quickly made contact with Lisa and Julie and then waited. In the meantime Julie used her hair to get us some posters from Betsy (I feel like it's ok to be on a first name basis with her because she did give us the passes). A while later, the dancers came up!! I first saw Dominic and Ade and right then I felt like my evening was complete.

Dominic was rad. I asked him if he was still in Quest Crew and he said "no" but hoped to be in it again some day. WE LOVE YOU DOMINIC!

Then we met Ade. We had to wait because he was hugging his mom and family. But it was worth it. I told him he was my favorite dancer - which is mostly true. If you haven't seen him dance, I'm sorry. He is amazing.

Ian was a little obsessed with Kathryn. He's pretty upset that this picture is blurry. Hey! I was using my phone! She was gorgeous and super nice. I could've stayed and chatted with her all night.

We tried to get to Kent but a whole bunch of old ladies were surrounding him. Poor kid. He was so awesome. Oh! and I loved the Kent/Allison relationship dance. LOVED IT!

Here is Allison and Ian. We have loved Allison from the beginning when she danced with Ivan to "Why". And remember when she left and Travis was crying and she danced around him. I'd pay good money to see Allison and Travis dance together. We told her we loved her.

I also met Billy but he was snotty. So whatever. The other girls got a picture with Courtney and Lisa told her, "I've loved you since Courtney and Gev!". All the dancers were there, but the only ones I really wanted to meet were Dominic, Ade, Allison and Kathryn. And I did. :)

It was one of the best nights of my life. I'm not even kidding. I was with some of my favorite people in the world meeting some of my favorite dancers in the world.

It was perfect.

P.S. My apologies to Trina because I didn't get a chance to ask Lauren or Kent if they were really dating. If I had to guess, I'd say no.

Weekend Away

A few weeks ago Holly had the idea to book a girls' weekend at a hotel for Tiffany's birthday. We figured out dates, e-mailed Jason (to make sure he didn't have to work) and then Holly booked the Phoenician for Oct. 1 & 2. I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. Or maybe it just felt like a long time (kind of like when you are a kid and Christmas is near but it never seems to get there).

We started off the evening with dinner at Blanco, a Mexican food restaurant in Scottsdale. The same company that owns Sauce owns Blanco, which means I was bound to love it. And I did. I think Ian and I will go back this week. And I think I'm going to have to try the rice that Holly and Tiffany got.

When we got to the Phoencian I noticed something: I packed more stuff than anyone else. And I packed waaaaayyyy more stuff than Lisa. Above is a picture of my bag next to Lisa's. Also, notice my pillow and blanket in the background. I didn't end up needing them though because the Phoenician has super comfortable beds, pillows and blankets. Like heaven on earth.

This is the gals hanging out Friday night. We basically sat around and chatted. And we didn't hear "mmmmoooommm!" even once. It was weird, in an awesome way.

The view from our room. We never did go to the pool. But that's because we went shopping. Which is better.


This is Lisa and Tiffany recreating the pose from Blossom. Congratulations if you have no idea what I am talking about. Seriously. Remember Blossom's crazy outfits?

The chandelier at the Phoenician. They also had a lot of really interesting Native American art work.

I wanted to get a cute picture in front of the fountain. Dang that back lighting.

Saturday morning we ate at a little place called The Pancake House. It was divine. The best pancakes I have had - EVER. Next time I will try the apple cinnamon ones.

It was a great way to celebrate Tiffany being born. I am so lucky to have her as a friend. She listens to me, gives me pep talks, brings me yummy treats...I never feel like I have to be anything but myself around her. She's awesome.