Birthday Madness in Vegas

Well it's been about a week since I've updated on here but it's because I've been celebrating my 21st birthday in style in Las Vegas!

It was an incredible weekend with my entire family and a couple of my best friends (although I wish Katie could have been there!!) and we all had so much fun!

The first night my God-sisters Courtney and Lindsey took my friend Cory and I to this place called Lavo where we got free dinner and a cocktail and then free drinks and dancing all night! It actually turned out to be "Latino Night" at Lavo so we pretended to be Latino and Salsa dance all night and it was hilarious.









The second night my whole family went out to dinner at Hussong's where we had 2 for 1 margaritas all night and sang drunken tunes with the Mariachi band (there are so many pictures from that night but I'm gonna try to keep it minimal!). These guys from New York bought us all a shot of tequila because it was my birthday, then Cory bought all the girls a Jello shot, so by the time we left dinner, we were well on our way!






After Hussong's the girls (me, Cory, Jill, Courtney, Lindsey, my sister Ashley and her friend Karen) went out to this new club at the Hard Rock called "Vanity" where we had a table and bottle service all night.









It was really awesome! We danced the night away all over the club and got a little crazy.









On Saturday, we rented a Cabana by the pool and just relaxed and laid out in the sun all day. It was just what we all needed to recover for the new night's festivities!










Saturday night we had a cocktail party at our suite in the Luxor (after moving rooms because our air conditioner didn't work and the lights blew out in the bathroom from all us girls getting ready).







We were joined by a whole bunch of other family members and family friends which made the party the best! We all just took shots and sang karaoke for hours before heading out for more dancing.








We then headed downstairs to a club in the Luxor called the "Cat House" (that I kept calling "Cat Walk" all night for some reason....) which was so much fun! Again, we got free entrance and bottle service thanks to Courtney who totally hooked us up all weekend! It was a blast dancing with my whole family and being silly.





Of course I got some gambling in.. lost everything I put in in less than 2 minutes so it's safe to say I had no beginners luck and wont be gambling again! But it was still a good experience and tons of fun (I even got carded for ordering water once - NO JOKE!).

All in all, it was probably the most amazing weekend of my 21 years thus far. I was so lucky to have my whole family there celebrating with me and it meant so much to me to have them there. I will never forget it!

Finally 21!

Last night I made my initiation into adult-hood and ordered my first LEGAL drink - a 22 oz Margarita - I wasn't messing around!

I went to this restaurant in downtown Denver called Lime and it was perfect! They even made me a "Happy Birthday, Chelsea" poster and hung it above our table.

It was a great night. Here are some more pictures of the fun!

A Beautiful Wedding Day

On Sunday the 18th of July my good friend Danielle got married to her soulmate, Blake!



It was a beautiful wedding at Lookout Mountain in Golden, CO and I am so glad I got to be there to share that day with her. She looked absolutely incredible and so so happy, just the way every bride should! I am so happy for her and Blake and I wish them all the happiness in the world!

Carole King changed my life last night.

Last night James Taylor and Carole King were in town and my family and I (minus my dad, sadly) were lucky enough to get FREE tickets! Usually when you get free tickets you can't expect too much, right? Well, we were in the SECOND row. The stage was in the center of the arena and it rotated around in slow circles the whole night so each section of the audience was able to see everything. It was incredible. We were SO close to them! Like I could see details in their faces!

I've seen James Taylor in concert about 7 times now (which is funny because all night my brother and I kept getting asked if we were having fun or if we were forced to be there with our mom) but this was my first time seeing Carole King and let me tell you... I was blown away. That woman is an incredible performer and she has the most amazing chemistry with James Taylor (who is one of my favorite artists of all time).

The whole show just kept getting better and better. They played all my favorite songs of theirs, and being in the second row (this was my FIRST time seeing him/them so close!) made it so much more emotional and sentimental to me. I felt like crying tears of amazement when she sang "So Far Away" because I just felt so connected! It was absolutely amazing.

Of course, I see James Taylor every year with my mom; it's like our little tradition now, rain or shine (and I mean that literally - we've seen him in the pouring rain before) and now I would be thrilled to see Carole King again, but seeing them TOGETHER was unbelievable. Who knows if that opportunity will ever happen again, so I feel so honored to have experienced that. They defined a huge generation of music that I have been listening to since I was a wee little nino, so I will cherish that experience forever.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

Last night, my dear friend Hannah who I used to dive with at KU began a long trek from Lawrence, Kansas to Seattle, Washington, in which she made her first stop in Colorado! She stayed at my house for the night and we had the chance to catch up and spend a little bit of time together. It was the happiest surprise visit of my life. Hannah is the first person from KU that I have seen since my transfer, so it was just so exciting to have her in my hometown! (Plus, she is also now the first friend of mine from KU to see where I'm from.) I was absolutely THRILLED!

It was sort of surreal (in a great way) to wake up to her in my house in Colorado. I wish she could have stayed longer but I am so grateful to have had the chance to give her a great big hug after a year of being apart.

We took this picture this morning before she left (still half asleep and groggy - at least on my end) and to me it says so many things. It shows memories, happiness, close friendship, and changes in appearance and location and time, but also that no matter what changes have happened in the past year, the fact that our friendship will withstand.

Hannah has always been such an amazing friend to me. She helped me through so many obstacles during my time at KU, and supported me through my transfer home. She has always been there for me as a role model and someone I look up to in so many ways. In a couple weeks she will start a new journey in Guatemala and I wish her the best of luck. I know she will succeed and that I will be seeing her again soon!

a heartfelt happy birthday.

Here we go. The post I have been thinking about all day. Every time I sat down to write it I somehow stopped myself, basically postponing the inevitable. I need to write this, HAVE to write this, but ironically don't know what to say. So I'll just write. Whatever comes out is how it will be.

It's 11:38pm right now, which means the day is almost over so before I let the last 22 minutes run out, Happy 18th Birthday Brianna. That's what has been on my mind all day. For so long she looked forward to turning 18. In fact, one of the last status updates she ever wrote, right before she turned 17 was "Needs to be 18.. NOW" to which her mom replied "One day!" Looking at that now absolutely breaks my heart because that "one day" is here, and she is not.

I can remember a comment she wrote a few days after my own birthday on my Myspace from a couple years back: "happy late birthday hoe!" Come to think of it, I remember most of the comments she ever left me because well, I've read them several times since she passed. Every one of them an "I miss you" when I went off to college or a subtle reminder of how she looked up to me. Reading them makes me feel like she's still here because there is so much life in every word she wrote. It hits me like a brick in the face.

I cling to those precious comments because they are all I have left. I don't have a picture or a scribble in my yearbook like everyone else has. I have a Myspace page and my fading memory. I don't think anyone understands how much those little things mean to me. It's why I take too many pictures or keep little things that have no relevance anymore. I should have deleted my Myspace years ago, but now I refuse because that's where she is. She reached out to me on there for the last time a little over a month before she passed.

None of this has to do with her birthday anymore and at this point I know I am rambling on another post about my late friend, but it's the only way I possibly know how to express my feelings toward the situation (not that I do a good job of it on here, when I re-read previous posts on the matter they don't even say half of what I was thinking/feeling at the time). It's hard having no one on the receiving end too because no one really gets how this has effected me. And at a certain point it started feeling like I was just talking to myself anyways. People began picking up their lives and moving on, but I never could seem to pull it together for long enough to classify as "moving on." I still have so much guilt and regret and unanswered questions - and so many tears left to cry.

I guess almost a full year after Brianna passed, I am still in the shock phase. Sometimes I still don't believe it. It still hits me like it hit me on the first day. I'll see someone who I know was connected to her and she wont leave my mind for days. I pray for dreams about her and signs that she is ok and that she knows how much I love her. I didn't tell her enough how I would have done anything for her. And it physically hurts my heart that I can't even remember the last time I saw her face while she was alive.

I wish so badly that she could have lived to see this day she looked forward to so much. She really was something special, even with her trouble-making ways. She really was special to me. So, happy birthday, Brianna. This may not have been the silly birthday card you would have enjoyed but you would have liked the attention anyways, THAT I'm sure of. I hope wherever you are now you are happy and smiling down on us from a better place.

This world was just too small for someone as beautiful as you.

A few things on this 4th of July weekend

1. Happy 4th of July! (real original, I know.) Here is my post about the 4th from last year. I remember writing it and having those exact thoughts in my head all day. This year, I feel pretty much the same (with the exception of a couple things I wrote) so no need to reiterate, you get the gist.

2. Yesterday would have been my Grandpa Ford's 81st birthday. So, happy birthday, Grandpa. I miss you every day.

3. Since this day is practically over (it's more than halfway, so I'm counting it as over) that leaves only 17 more days till my 21st birthday! Sooo close!

4. I saw "Shawshank Redemption" for the first time a couple nights ago and oh my god. I was completely blown away. I don't think I have ever deeply loved a movie as quick as I did this one. If you haven't seen it, it is seriously an amazing film and it is imperative to your life that you see it.

That is all. Enjoy the weekend.

Official Countdown: 21 to 21

Today is July 1st, 2010 which means.... today is the official first day of my birthday countdown! Of course, I've actually been counting down since the first of my friends turned 21 back in August of last year, but today I can actually count the days and see my 21st right around the corner!

21 days to 21! I absolutely cannot wait. Meet me at the pool with a Marg in Vegas. :)