Just call me tequila girl

30 Margaritas in 30 Different places?  Done and Done!  #15 on my 30 under 30 list was to have 30 margaritas in 30 different places throughout my 29^th year on planet Earth. 

Besides my love of margaritas, the reason I chose this was so I could go out and meet friends, have fun, and just be more social.  I always tend to go to the same places for lunch or dinner and I wanted to branch out and try new places.  Looking back at my list they were mostly places I had been before, but  a few were different. 

What was my favorite margarita?  By far was #11 at the restaurant inside Bass Pro Shops of Pearland.  It was a jalapeno infused tequila with an actually large whole jalapeno sitting on it.   I am not sure of my least favorite though.  I heart margaritas!

Here is a list of the places I went, and the fabulous peeps I went with.

1.       Iguana Joe’s-with Erika and Oscar

2.       Alecia’s House-with Alecia, Jeff, and Ryan

3.       Floyd’s Seafood-with Strangers (it had been a looooong day at work!)

4.       El Palenque-with Mandy and Jay

5.       Los Rosas-with friends from my church group

6.       Gringo’s (Pearland)-with Kali

7.       Mamacita’s-with Carol

8.       Big Texas-with Cathy

9.       Café Adobe-with Alecia

10.   Don Julio’s-with Brandon

11.   Bass Pro Shop-with Deb-Hibernaro Lime Margarita*****By FAR my favorite

12.   Texas Roadhouse-with Lori, Clyde, and Chris

13.   Outback Steakhouse-with Colleen-Trio of margaritas

14.   Monterray’s Little Mexico-with Mandy, Jay, Carly, and Brooklyn

15.   Jalapeno Tree-with Krista-In Nacogdoches right before the pumpkin judging!

16.   Luna’s-with Lynda

17.   Zio’s-with Carol

18.   Pappasito’s-with Amy

19.   Wasabi Sushi-with Lori and Clyde-@ Clyde’s moving away from Texas party

20.   Chuy’s-with Lynda-Pomegrante Margarita

21.   Chili’s-with Lynda, Kathy, and Dawn

22.   J.R’s-with Brandon, Chris, and Justin

23.   New Orleans-with Amber

24.   Sharky’s-with strangers

25.   Yard House-with the Limo crew (see this post for an explanation)

26.   Cyclone Anaya’s-with the Limo Crew (see this post for an explanation)

27.   Next Door Bar-with the Limo Crew (see this post for an explanation)

28.   Three Sheets Bar and Grill-with the Limo Crew (see this post for an explanation)

29.   El Ranchero-with Courtney, Carberry, and Amber (the night before the DJ5K)

30.   30^th Birthday Party-Dad/Pie’s house with my birthday party peeps

 

Here are some more pics!

Guess Who’s UNO?!

For more pictures, go here!

Guess who's UNO?  This guy!

 

My adorable nephew Cole turned one at the end of April and we celebrated him with an UNO themed birthday party.  Happy Birthday Cole!

For the decorations my sister Laura had black table clothes on the tables and blew up UNO cards on the copier to stick on the walls and table. She also had Cole’s picture with a birthday hat on top.

We all signed an UNO picture matting for his birthday memories. I didn't get a picture of it after it was signed, but at the end it was full of happy wishes for Cole.

Of course the birthday boy wore a shirt that said UNO.

Food!  UNO is of course Spanish for one so we had a Mexican food theme.

Fruit Kabobs!  Made with the colors of the UNO cards: Red-Strawberries, Blue-Blueberries, Yellow-Pineapple, Green-Grapes.

Taquitos

Individual Seven Layer dip

Salad

Red sauce, Green sauce, and cheese dip. (I didn't get a picture with the lids off)

Cups!  Primary colors of course!

Cole’s throw away cake was a yellow UNO card that he smashed to bits.

Everyone else had a two tiered cake with Uno cards made of fondant.  Super cute.

Cole demolishing his UNO cake!

Mt. Rushmore

At the beginning of May I travelled to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore to complete #5 on my 30 under 30 list. Originally I had planned on taking a road trip to see it, but then I figured out how long it would take me to get there and decided to check into flying ot see it.  21 hour one-way roadtrip? Yikes!  It would take forever.  Planes are so much more efficient.

I invited several friends along, but my friend Lili was the only one who could get the time off to go.  Lili also went with me to swim with dolphins and ride a roller coaster 30 times in a row, and also she was part of the limo crew (all part of my 30 under 30 list).  We left Houston on a Friday and came back Sunday afternoon.  It was a quick trip!

On the way to Mt. Rushmore we had two layovers (the plane tickets were only $275 each so a few layovers helps with the price).  We got to South Dakota around 10 pm and checked into the motel.  Since we were going the budget route, we flew into Sioux Falls, SD.  Sioux Falls is about 5 hours from Mt. Rushmore so we had a bit of a road trip ahead of us.  We got up, had breakfast at the hotel and were on the road by 6:30 am.

I loved the trip there, the scenery is beautiful!  All the mountains and farms were breathtaking.  Along the way we heard of a great place in Wall, TX call Wall Drug Store.  Apparently the place is famous for giving out free ice water to travelers on the way to see Mt. Rushmore.  There are billboards every 5 miles advertising this place (it reminded me of all the billboards advertising Buckee's on the way to San Antonio).  When we got there I was expecting a place like Walgreen or Buckee's, but no this place is HUGE!  There is so many shops (all connected) and they even had a restaurant (where we had lunch).  We shopped a bit and took pictures (more pictures of this trip here).  They had lots of silly things to take pictures by! haha

After we left Wall Drug Store we headed out so we could make it to Mt. Rushmore soon (it was about another 40 miles).  We got to Mt. Rushmore about 12:30 PM.  Somewhere between Wall, TX and Sioux Falls the time changed so we had gained an hour.  We decided to wait to check in to the hotel until after we got finished with seeing the sites (plus I don't think check-in is until after 3 anyway). 

We drove up the mountain and saw Mt.Rushmore from far away and it looked so tiny!  We were hoping it would look bigger once we got closer (it did!).  We got to the admissions gate and paid the $11 fee to get in.  We stopped by the gift shop on the way in, because I love shopping and I got a postcard of Mt. Rushmore and a magnet for my fridge. 

We walked through the Avenue of Flags and guess what we saw!  The Texas flag!  Well, all of the states had their flag but whatever.  Each state has their flag, the year it was admitted to the union, and the order it was admitted.  Texas being number 28 of course. :) (Ok, ok.  I didn't pay attention in history and I didn't remember what # or year it was admitted.)

We walked to the lookout to see the mountain side and it was beautiful!  So much cooler in real life vs. pictures.  Of course we did a photo opp!

The pictures make it look small, but even the noses on these guys were huge.  The nose is at least three people stacked on top of each other tall.  Big.  For some reason I always thought the monument was straight across, but it's not.  Roosevelt faces the side of Lincoln's cheek.  Oh well, maybe everyone else knew that but it was a surprise to me.

After taking more pictures we heard there was a .5 mile trail that leads you a bit closer for photos.  We were told it's a big circle so you can go anyway.  Travel tip: It's true, it is a big circle...but start at the left side! The right side is full of stairs going up and you will be out of breath by the time you get to the middle (and want to turn around!).  If you start from the left you will be going down stairs for the majority of the way. Anyway, the trail is cool and you get to take a bit closer pictures.  Take the left! ;)

 On the trail is a handyman's museum where you can learn a bit of history about the museum and see what it was supposed to look like.  I think they either ran out of time or money, I don't remember what they said (I need to pay more attention). 

After we got done at Mt Rushmore we had icecream in the shop and left to see Crazy Horse.  Crazy Horse is about 10 miles from Mt Rushmore and you can see it from the road.  It costs $10 each person to get into that museum and neither one of us wanted to see it that bad.  We just took a picture from the road.  When the Crazy Horse Memorial is complete it will look really neat and I might want to see it, but I didn't want to that day. :/  I think it is so high to get in ($10 per person vs. $11 per car at Mt. Rushmore) because they are still building it and they aren't taking any government money.

After Crazy Horse we had a few hours left before everything closed (everything closes at 5!) so we went to the Cosmos Mystery Area!   I had seen an area like this on the Travel Channel and have always wanted to check one out.  Water travels uphill, people's heights change on level platforms, and more!  It was so cool but super hard to explain.  Just look at these photos and know that we are on level ground and gravity does weird things!

I am standing straight up in this picture, but it doesn't look like it.

This ball is traveling UP instead of the usual down on a slope (the same with water but I couldn't get a picture in time).

All the trees are growing in a weird direction in a few places throughout the property.

There are more cool things, but it's hard to explain.  Here is a list of mystery areas/gravity areas for you to see if there is one close to you so you can check one out (there are two in Texas).

After Cosmos we headed to dinner and then to check in to the hotel.   We fell asleep early that night and had to wake up the next morning to travel back.  Our flight was at two pm and we had a 5 hour trip back (plus an hour time change).  We got back to Houston at around 10:30 pm and my sister picked me up (Lili's brother picked her up) and I headed home. 

It was a fun trip!

Free cake

Originally this should have been posted in mid April but it's never to late to tell a good story!  This post goes along with #25 of my 30 before 30 list.

Soooo….I crashed a party this weekend.  It was a fun Saturday night filled with limo rides and margaritas!

 

So you by now know that I rode in a limo and had margaritas with 7 friends on Saturday.  What I didn’t say was that crashed a party as well.  I think it was a quinceanera.  We were headed to Next Door Bar and walked in on the wrong entrance.  We walked by a group of teenagers that I thought were going to a prom dinner or something.  We had to squeeze by a really cute cake that was turquoise green and zebra cake.  The mom was giving us a dagger look from H-E Double Hockey Sticks.  I didn’t realize that we were intruding on someone’s party!  Honestly.

 

We sat down and Next Door used to be an old Jiffy Lube sort of place complete with holes in the ground.  They did a great job fixing it though because there was glass that you walked on and under the glass was bottles of alcohol (like Grey Goose).  Super cool.  We sat down and ordered drinks (margaritas for me!) and a little bit later we noticed that some of the teenagers were inside the bar.  Then everyone from the party started to go to the bar.  They started to show a slideshow of the b’day girl from when she was a baby until now.  So my friends told me that if I wanted to crash her party I should go watch the slide show.  So I did!  I got bored two seconds after I started to watch it and got up to go back to the table that housed my margarita.  That’s when Debra dared me to eat some of the cake.  Not being able to turn down a dare, I walked over to get some.

 

I have to admit, when I walked over there I sort of lost my nerve.  What if they caught me? Or said no?!  I was racking my brain to see how I could get some freakin’ cake!  IDEA!  This was my conversation with the servers cutting the cake:  Me:  Oh is there only chocolate cake? I  really only like vanilla. Servers: Yes, it was only chocolate. Me: Oh ok.  I guess I can wait til later to get some then.  Servers:  You can have some now if you want.  Me: OK!

After I got the contraband cake I ran back to my friends.  They could not believe that I just took some cake from the birthday party!  Of course I did, I said.  I was dared to!  Then I was told that to make it complete I needed to get a picture with the birthday girl. She or her family had no idea that I just crashed their party and had free cake. haha.

Done!  Easy. 

  After we got our picture our limo group hi tailed it out of there to the next bar.  Crash a party?  Done and done!

150 ft Drop

#24 on my 30 before 30 list is to Ride a Roller Coaster 30 times in a row. Now, I will tell you that when I made the list back in June I absolutely, positively, did not, did not, did not, think it through.  30 times?  Really?  Why did I pick this #?  Well, I was going with a theme of course!  Did I stop and think that it might not be the healthiest decision on planet earth?  Nope!  Throughout the entire year I was thinking it was crazy, but it could probably be done. 

 

Which roller coaster did I pick?  Seaworld San Antonio’s Steel Eel.(link is to the You Tube video where you can experience the ride).  The Steel Eel boasts an impressive 150 foot drop.  Why did I choose this?  Well, Astroworld closed down years ago (boo!), Six Flags Dallas is too far, Kemah Boardwalk’s is an older wooden roller coaster that hurts after one ride, and I was already headed to Seaworld to go visit dolphins so I might as well make it a double trip. 

 

Seaworld San Antonio has two roller coasters to choose from, The Steel Eel and the Great White.  Now, if you know me at all you know that I get motion sick watching video games so I do not ever play.  The Great White roller spins you about 3 or 4 times and I knew I would not make it on it without getting sick multiple times (plus going 30 times around and around can’t be good for you).  So safety first I choose the Steel Eel.

 

 

I asked everyone if they wanted to go, and my friend Lili was the only one that was able to attend.  We left my house at 5:45 am so we could be there right when it opened. The entire trip up there I was praying to God that I would be safe, I would finish it, I wouldn’t get sick, and that he would part the crowds so I will have time to finish it.  God answered my prayers.  You would have thought since it was Easter weekend that they crowds would have been horrendous, but they weren’t.

We got to Seaworld about 9:15 and you cannot get to any section of the park until the National Anthem plays at 10 am.  We were at the entrance with a big group of people including a group of teenagers.  Literally when they let us go the teenager RAN  towards the roller coasters.  I looked at Lili and said that I was not about to run.  She agreed.  

Before I left my house I made index cards with the number of # I was about to do.  

 

Lili doesn’t like to ride rollercoasters so she was my supportive friend the entire day!  She just sat down at the bottom of the entrance/exit and waited for me to come down.  As I was going up the hill I was like, am I crazy?!  I don’t like this.  Haha.  I rode twice (there was no line) and they made me get off and exit.  Then I rode three more times (and got off).  Finally, about the 6^th or 7^th time all of the workers knew what I was doing (and so did my fellow seat mates) and they let me stay on without getting off.

Everyone that I rode with (sometimes I did ride by myself) thought it was a really neat idea.  They thought I was crazy, but it was neat. Haha.  As I got to the higher numbers the workers asked me what number I was on.  Every once in a while I would get off and go down to take a picture with my index cards and drink some water (I did get dehydrated a bit).  At about ride # 21 or 22 I saw my friend Brandi from high school. 

 

I told lili to let me know when it was 12:15 pm so we could take a break, eat something, and go to the dolphins.  From 10 am to 12:15 I managed to finish 24 roller coasters in a row. I had to tweak my list a bit and break them up into 24 and then 6 so I could fit the dolphins in.

 

We ate lunch at a Rosita's Pizza buffet in the park and then headed to the dolphins.  Read my dolphin experience here.

Me and Rosita!  I just love getting my picture taken with famous people (err animals?!)

 

 

After dolphins we went straight back to the rollercoaster to complete the last 6.  Before lunch there was not that many people in the park so I was able to ride it again and again.  God truly parted the crowds!  After lunch, there was a bit more people  but the lines weren’t that long.  I was able to get the last 6 done in about an hour.  The same workers were there from the morning.  I wasn’t able to ride multiple times in a row because the lines were long and there weren’t any open single seats (once or twice out of the 6), but I was able to go get some water at the bottom of the ride and Lili took my picture each time.

 

Ok.  This was the final time!  #30…whoo hoo!!

 

I have got to say that the last six were terrifying!  The first 24 were quick and in a row.  By number 5 I knew what to expect.  3 bigger hills, a brief stop, go down sideways and a few smaller hills. Easy.  After I took a break I was so scared that something would happen!  Each time I prayed that I would be safe.  I was going to do thirty one (like one to grow on), but I thought I probably shouldn’t chance it.  LOL. 

 

When I completed my last one all of the workers that had been there all day gave me a high five. It was great!  I felt so accomplished.  It’s funny how something so silly can make you so proud of yourself. J

After I finished the roller coasters we met back up with my friend Brandi and we watched Shamu’s show.  All I can say is WOW! I loved the show. I didn’t think it would be that cool, but boy I am so glad I went.  I thought it was going to be cheesy but it was awesome.  I can barely do back flips, but huge whales can do them!  I need to work on my flexibility.

 

Thank you Lili for coming with me!! I had fun and I can’t wait to head to Mt. Rushmore next month.

 

Ridin' In Style

#28 on my list of 30 under 30 was to ride in a limo.  I had been hoping that I would find a way to ride in a limo somewhere, but it was getting close to my deadline so I called and booked a limo myself.

I wanted to go around and bar hop finishing up the last of the 30 margaritas so I called some friends and asked them to go with me.  Mandy, Erika, Lili, Lori, Debra, and Kennisha were the people who ended up coming with me.  I told everyone to come around 7 pm and we would head out to dinner.

The limo got there around 6:50 was awesome!  I highly recommend Houston VIP Limo Service.  Our driver was nice and really fun.  He made sure we were having a great time.

My original plan was to go to 5 different restaurants/bars and have a margarita at each one.  At this point, I had 6 margaritas left on my 30 list.  I wanted to have my last margarita at my 30^th b’day party, so I chose 5 different places.  Yard House, Cyclone Anayas, Hank’s Crawfish, Next Door, and Three Sheets Bar and Grill.

We headed to the Yard House in City Center for dinner.  My friend Colleen had told me that they are super packed on Saturday nights and that I needed to call ahead to get a table.  At about 6:45 I told them we were on our way and to expect about 7 of us.  We got there and right away we were seated.

I had the shrimp pasta and it was really good!  Everyone chose something different, there was a pot pie, garlic seafood pasta, blue crab cake hoagie, turkey burger, mac and cheese (YUMMY!), and they have THE BEST parmesan truffle fries ever.  I highly recommend going there.  The margarita I got at the Yard House was the Silver Caddy margarita.  It was good, but not my favorite of the night.

Then we hopped across the street to Cyclone Anayas.  We all got a margarita from there.  Kennisha and I both got a strawberry margarita, everyone one else got regular.  We were running low on time (dinner took forever!), so I told them all to chug the margarita!  Do you know how difficult it is to chug a frozen margarita?  Talk about brain freeze!  We headed out to the limo after we had finished our margaritas.

I told the driver that we were running low on time so we were going to skip Hank’s Crawfish (sorry Hank..catch you next time!) and head straight to Next Door.

Once we got to Next Door we crashed a party and had their signature muddle berry margarita.  Not the best.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad but it needed to be stirred around.  We were talking to a group of cool people and somehow we got to talking about my 30 under 30 list.  They loved it!  After I took a picture with the birthday girl that’s party I crashed, we headed out to our next location. ..Three Sheets!

Ok, so when I read the reviews on yelp.com they said that the place looked sort of shady and they were absolutely correct!  The limo driver did not want to drop us off! LOL.  My friends were all weary of this place and didn’t want to go.  We almost didn’t go in, but my friends are troopers and they went in with me.  Safety in numbers!!!  The margarita I had at Three Sheets was by far my favorite of the night.  I had the bartender add grenadine to it (so good, I might try that with all my margaritas!). 

We sat down and noticed that a poker tournament was being played there that night and karaoke was being set up (SCORE!).  Now, many of you remember what happened last time I sang karaoke in public…it wasn’t pretty!  I was determined to redeem myself.  I tried and tried to get my friends to sing with me, but only Lori sang with me (right before that she sang Fancy by Reba McIntire-Lori is a great singer!).  What song did we sing?  Girls just want to have fun of course!  During the instrumental parts of the song I did a few dance moves.   You haven’t lived until you have seen me do the sprinkler, lawnmower, and the q-tip swab dance moves.  Classy.  The owner of the bar kept asking me if I got my free lap dance yet.  I tried to politely decline, but she kept insisting.  Now, I have never had a lap dance before and I wasn’t about to have one in a redneck bar on the shady side of the Energy Corridor!  Then she said that a lap dance was their signature shot. OH! OK. I can take a shot. Haha.  It tasted buttery but smelled awful (like a stripper!)  After I consumed my last drink, sang my heart out, and took more pictures, we left for the night and returned to our fancy limo that was waiting outside.

We got dropped off at my apartment and everyone left (I was the only one that had too much to drink so everyone could drive home).  I came home to my favorite kitty cat waiting at the front door for me to get home safely (and probably feed him!). :)  I heart my Jabba the Hutt.

Thank you to everyone who made my night a blast!!  I’m glad all of my friends got to come out and knock off a big item on my list.  Check out Houston VIP Limo Service for your next limo ride. :)