23.

Yesterday I turned the ripe old age of 23! Ok, I know it's not "old" but I definitely feel like I'm getting up there! Mid-twenties - what up! Alright, it still doesn't sound old. Which is precisely why I still felt the need to do something fun and exciting to celebrate this non-milestone. 

(And I still can't believe it's been a whole two years since my epic 21st birthday celebration)

So instead of doing the overplayed "I live in Vegas and therefore I must go out on the strip for my birthday" scenario, I decided to do something a little different, but equally as exciting and fulfilling in my eyes. Since I'm lucky enough to have a birthday in the summer, I thought it would be really fun to go out and have some fun in the sun. So my god-sisters Courtney and Lindsey took me out on a boat on Lake Mead for the day. We swam in the sun roasted water, floated around on blow up chairs with a beer in our hands, rode a wave runner around in search of some alleged big horned sheep (which I never did find), and just relaxed in the sun. It was the perfect combination of excitement and relaxation.

When it was over and we headed back to town, I was feeling the exhaustion set in from being in the sun all day. But I managed to rally when I got home and attempted to make myself presentable for dinner at the Melting Pot with my parents and Lindsey. Of course we did the whole four course fondue meal (how can you not?!) which included cheese fondue, salads, tons of meat, and chocolate fondue for dessert. Talk about a celebratory meal. I was in fondue heaven while slowly sinking into a sun/food coma.

When we got home it was raining and nothing sounded better to me than throwing on my pajamas and cuddling up on the couch to watch UFC 149 with my dad. It was the most perfect ending to the most perfect day that could only have been made better if Urijah Faber had clenched the Interim Belt.

Don't I look just like my dad?

Today I'm still trying to shake off the exhaustion, but feeling very thankful for such a great day. The many birthday wishes I received from friends and family made me feel so special (and if you didn't wish me a happy birthday, then FRIENDSHIP OVER! - kidding, kind of) and I could not have asked for a more perfect way to begin my 24th year of life. I can't wait to see where this new year will take me, but I know big things are on the horizon and I'm pumped to see where I'm headed and where I'll be exactly one year from now.

A summer DIY project

One of the great things about my mom is that she can see the potential in almost anything. You show her a run down, crusty, old, beat up house and she can see in her mind how it could turn it into your dream home with a little work. She's the queen of fixing things up and turning trash into treasure.

So with that being said, lately I've been in the market for a new dresser. I've had the same one since I was a child, but we recently sold it in a garage sale when we moved to Vegas so I've been temporarily using a tiny antique thing with only 2 drawers and cramming all my clothes into it....and under it, on top of it, and on the floor. It's been a mess and I've really been itching to replace it for a while now.

Recently we started looking for a replacement - something cheap that we could fix up, and after months of searching, finally found the perfect thing! Only it wasn't perfect by any means. The wood was cracked and chipped, the drawers didn't quite sit right, the hardware looked like something from the late 1800's, and the wood desperately needed a sand job. But as soon as I laid eyes on it, it was like I inherited my mother's mind: I could instantly see how great this dresser could be with a little TLC. It was exactly what I had been looking for and it was only $40 so we bought it and took it home that day.

I spent the entire weekend putting my blood, sweat, and tears into restoring it, pretty much all by myself. I removed all the old hardware, sanded down all 11 drawers (4 small, 3 medium, 4 large) and the dresser itself TWICE, put on three coats of paint, replaced all the hardware with brand new handles, and installed contact paper into the bottom of the drawers. It took the whole two days, but I threw myself into it and worked my little butt off to get it done by weekend's end.

And I think it turned out pretty great! I'm really proud of how I took this piece of furniture from a run down piece of junk that nobody wanted anymore to something clean and efficient that fits perfectly in my room. Ever since the car accident I've been feeling a lack of purpose and accomplishment in my life, so this little DIY project was really great for my mental state. I'm feeling refreshed and accomplished and proud of myself for what I did. And my reward? I now have a place for all my clothes. Happy restoration!

Life Lately (part 3)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1. On June 26th I crossed "Meet Josiah Leming" off my bucket list!

[And died in the process. Amazing artist, wonderful person]

2. Spending the last precious weeks with my god-sister Lindsey

before she leaves for MEDICAL SCHOOL!

[tears on the way...]

3. Sibling times. 

We're pretty adorable if I do say so myself.

[and I do...]

4. Happiness is: 

A zip line down Fremont Street in the warm summer breeze

with my very best friends

5. Finally celebrating Kirby's 21st birthday

[Vegas style!]

6. Spending sweet summer moments with my soulmate.

The struggles of being a social media addict.

You never realize how dependent you are on something until you no longer have access to it. Whether it's sugar or caffeine or crack or whatever it may be, you never realize how attached you are until you can't have it anymore. You start having those withdraws: the itching, the mind games, the anxiety. Well, for me that happens when I don't have my phone. My phone and I are attached at the hip. We're inseparable. We do everything together. When I wake up in the morning, I take a hit of my notifications bar. I check my emails and Twitter and Facebook before I even get out of bed. And throughout the day I'm constantly checking my sites, staying up to date on all the latest happenings, and I'm usually the first to know everything because of this. When I go to bed at night, I spend some quality time with my phone running the battery down as I refresh those apps one last time to make sure I didn't miss a beat before I go to sleep. And then I wake up and do it all again.

I realize how pathetic I may have just sounded, like maybe I have a serious problem. But realistically speaking, it's not that weird because it's my life. It's what I've chosen to study in school and what I've chosen to hopefully make a career out of. And I LIKE being addicted to it. I LIKE knowing what's going on the world, always being connected, seeing people's pictures on instagram, posting my own pictures on instagram, tweeting and retweeting constantly throughout the day. I enjoy my addiction to social media, so I don't see anything wrong with it.

That is, until some freak accident happens like today involving me, my phone, and a toilet. I think you all know where I'm going with this. I've done this once before with an old phone. I had it in my back pocket and when I pulled my pants down to go to the bathroom it fell in. Amateur mistake, and from that day on I never put my phone in my back pocket again. Lesson learned. Today, however (and don't think too hard about this, please) I had my phone clutched in what I thought was tightly in my hand when it JUMPED out and fell face first in the toilet. It jumped, people. So naturally I screamed, fished it out, and frantically started drying it off. Then amateur Chelsea made another appearance and tried to restart the phone immediately which caused it to fry the mother board. My stomach was in knots as I soaked it in a cup of rice (which did absolutely nothing, by the way) and hours later it refused to show any signs of life. It was completely and utterly dead.

I tried not to panic too much and instead tried to use it as an exercise in patience...which didn't really work out. I started seriously lashing out at pretty much everyone. I had to take a step back and remind myself that it's just a phone, and I could get through this when I remembered I had my computer! Yes, just the hit I needed to calm myself down. But it soon became apparent that it was not the same. So I gave in to my addiction and went to Sprint where they told me it was a lost cause and I could either go the next 3 months without a phone until our upgrade, or I could fork over $110 and get a refurbished piece of crap. So I had no choice. I went with the piece of crap.

#FirstWorldProblems 

I immediately began downloading my must-have apps: Facebook, Gmail, TweetDeck, Evernote, Shazam (gotta have that music ID), and Instagram. But wait, this new piece of crap phone doesn't support Instagram?! How is this possible? One of my most-used apps I just can't have for another 3 months until I upgrade?? I was (and still am) truly disappointed (and yes, I do realize how shallow and petty this sounds). And by the way, this was all happening while standing in the Sprint store with 1% battery life. That's how badly I couldn't wait to get my hands on a smart phone.

So I returned home with the refurbished, low quality, instagram-lacking phone around 5:00 and almost 3 hours later it is not even half way done charging. It's taking all I have to be patient and to give my addiction to social media a break for a while. It's been hard, it's been real hard. Not to mention, I lost a lot of stuff. Tons of saved pictures and meaningful voicemails and text messages are now gone forever. Maybe it was a sign that it's time to let some things go.

I'm trying to see this situation as a good thing. Because while I'm admittedly an addict, it's always nice to take a break and recenter my focus. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in all this that I forget there's an outside world. I need to spend some time doing other things instead of constantly relying on my phone for entertainment. I need to go outside and smell the fresh boiling hot air and go swimming or go for a walk and just give the phone a break. I have 3 months to go until I upgrade to an iPhone and probably take my addiction to a whole new level, so I've decided to not get too attached to this one and to use my time more wisely. I know that there's more important things in the world that I could be spending my time on, and I intend to let myself do that now.

It's funny how the world works. Something can make you so angry and frustrated and upset, but it can also teach you a lesson if you're willing to let it. And that's how I choose to look at this situation. One life lesson served in a toilet bowl.