I know a place where the grass is really greener.

Remember that time Michal came to visit me in Cali-FREAKIN’-fornia since the last time I wrote?!?!?!? HOLY COW BATMAN!!!!!!!!! I honestly CANNOT believe that we counted down for THREE MONTHS and it’s already come and gone! I must say, though, that those five days were absolutely INCREDIBLE! Here are our never-ending adventures…in detail, of course!

Wellllll, I picked Michal up at LAX around noon-ish, and we immediately started being the ULTIMATE tourists! First stop? The Hollywood sign, OF COURSE! Thennnn we went to Hollywood Boulevard and took a tour of the city! We got to see a bunch of sites that I hadn’t seen before, which was an added bonus for me, too! During our tour, we rode RIGHT BESIDE….ASHTON KUTCHER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andddddddd saw Dr. Phil and his wife on their front porch! He waved to us and even yelled out, “hey guys!” YAY! After the tour, I took Michal to have her first In-N-Out burger! SUCCESS!!!! Not only were the burgers excellente, but they also came with even better service….(cough cough) KEVIN!!!!! (cough cough)…wait, what? Hahaha Michal and I were quite obsessed with him. (Teeesh, if you’re reading this…I’m only joking. Sort of. Okay, not really at all. Pweeeeease forgive me! Haha!!!)

Once we finished up dinner (and lusting), I took her to Santa Monica so she could see the Pacific Ocean for the first time! We went onto the pier, rode the ferris wheel, then she put her toes in the cooooooooold Pacific for the veeeeery first time! Dave met us down there, too, and we planned our next day….THE SAN DIEGO ZOO!

And there ya have it, we road tripped to San Diego for the day with Dave! We stopped for lunch at Phil’s BBQ (yummy!) and then headed to the zoo! Which was HUUUUUUUUUGE, by the way! It’s definitely safe to say, I was obsessed. I got to see koalas AND pandas. CHACHINGGGGG! That makes ANY day a great one! We also discovered that Michal is a meercat whisperer. Not. Kidding. She whistled and they popped up from wherever they were and stared at her. SO CUTE! We were dyyyyyyying of laughter!

Day numero tres had two parts: touring the Pacific Coast Highway AND Downtown Disney! We went to Laguna, Newport, Huntington, Venice, and Malibu. All of them were so pretty—seriously!! The only bad part of the day was that there were a billion clouds in the sky and we didn’t see the sun poke through one time. Boo! BUTTTTTT the beaches were still incredible! After touring the PCH, we then ended our day at Downtown Disney! I found my wedding dress while we were there (one that I had actually already researched a few years ago and fell in love with it—it was designed after Belle’s yellow dress! AHHHH!!!!!), we took waaaaaay too many pictures of random things (i.e. Michal pretending to be Hannah Montana, trying on super cool sunglasses, hung out with Woody, etc.). I wish we could have gotten to go inside Disney, but thanks to the NOT COOL guy that lied to me and told me there were discount tickets (which there were NOT!), we just had to settle for the next best thing. We still got to see the fireworks show, which is my favorite part anyway!

Thennnnnn the fourth and final full day came. SO FAST. We slept in (because we were DEAD tired!), went to UCLA to pick up a couple t-shirts for Michal’s dad and future brother-in-law, went back to In-N-Out for some foooooooood (no Kevin :( boooo!), and then headed to House of Blues on Sunset for the SKYLINE concert!!!!! YAYUHHHHHH! We got there early enough to see them on the red carpet, which was SAWEEEEET! Not only did we get to see them perform, but we also met a few Nickelodeon and Disney Channel stars! WAHOOOOOOOOOO! We met Dan Samanos (Dean from Wizards of Waverly Place), Jake T. Austin (Max from Wizards of Waverly Place), Carter Jenkins (from Aliens in the Attic and Valentine’s Day), and Tony Oller (from As the Bell Rings)…we met a few others, too, but those were our faaaaaavorites! We. Were. Starstruck. Michal took the role of P. Sawyer in my life for the night…I was too busy freaking out to go up to any of them, and she took charge and got us in the in-crowd. I love how my friends complete the parts in me that are lacking! :-D And for the record, Skyline was out of control AWESOME on stage! I am so incredibly blessed to get to hang out with them this summer! Not only are they ridiculously talented, but they are also AMAZING people. They’re going to be BIG TIMIN’ in just a short while…mark my words! YAY!

And thennnnn the time came for Michal to leave me. And we both teared up while hugging each other bye. I am so thankful for such an OUT OF THIS WORLD friend like Mary-Michal Boyette Martin. Like seriously. How lucky am I to have a friend that was willing to save up all her money for MONTHS just to come see me across the country for five days? Now THAT’S what you call a best friend.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.” –Winnie the Pooh

There’s nothing like Winnie speaking the truth. That’s for you, my girls state best friend. I am SO thankful for you and our three years as bests! : )

Aaaaaaaaafter I dropped Nickelback (that’s for you, Teeesh!) off at the airport, I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with Erick, Ry, and V! So. Much. Fun. And exactly what I needed after saying bye to Michal! We only got to stay for a few hours because they had to leave for an out-of-the-blue meeting, but it was SUPER fun even for a short time! I got to be the mommy for the day, taking care of my three boys. And I even got to have a baby bump for the special occasion. Anything to save a couple bucks, right boys?! Haha, they are SO much fun and I always love getting to hang out with them! The only thing that would have made those few hours flawless is having EMILIE CAROL with us! At least I have one Uphoff out here with me (for a few more days, at least!). And I am SO excited to see EC in just another month! When I GRADUATE. From COLLEGE. Holy smokes, when did this happen? I can’t believe that in just THIRTY EIGHT days, I will be a Clemson University Alum! WOWZERS!

Speeeeeeaking of countdowns...TEEEEEEEESH COMES IN SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh. My. LANTA. I cannot wait! I am going to LEAP into his arms and SQUEEZE him until he can’t BREATHE when I pick him up from the airport! His trip is allllllllllll planned out, so the only thing left is for him to be here already! I miss his face! And that goofy grin that stole my heart all those years ago. : )

Toooooooday, I got to go deep sea fishing at Dana Point with work! We had a blastttttttt! We even saw more DOLPHINS!!! And LOTS of them! It was deeeeeefinitely thebomb.com! I had an incredible five days off while Michal was here (which I am SO thankful for!), but I sure am grateful to have a job that I actually look forward to doing every day! I could seriously work at Outdoor Adventures every single day for the REST of my life and be the HAPPIEST girl in the WORLD! Fact.

Tomorrow is an office day, which will be spent organizing the 50+ camp registration packets that came in the mail while I was off…whew! That’ll be fun. Actually it will be…why? Because I love my job! YAY!

I think that basically covers everything from the past six day. Exceptttttttt for ONE thing: today is MELISSA MASCARO’S 21^st BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! YIPPEEEEE! I wish SO BADLY that I could be there with her to celebrate! I miss my east coast peeps so much! Espeeeeeecially when I miss HUGE things like this! 

Anddddddddd my wittle brudder’s state tournament for baseball. I feel like I’m missing out on so much but, at the same time, gaining so much more. I guess it’s true: sometimes you have to make sacrifices to follow God’s plan for your life. And THAT is something I will always be willing to do. All for the GLORY! : )

Alrighty, welp, until next time…hugs and kisses from the west coast. MWA!