Memorial Day Weekend: Vegas

Here's to the latest weekend update ever.

A bit over a week ago I headed down to sunny southern California to meet up with one of my best friends in order to spend the first weekend of summer in Las Vegas.

After about three hours from Fresno to Burbank, and another 5ish from Burbank to Vegas our little group of girls talked our way in to an upgraded room with a view and set about to get ready for our first night out.

We spent most of our night at Surrender, where Afrojack was the celebrity DJ on hand for the night. One mark of a successful night in Vegas- not buying ourselves a single drink =). Night one was definitely a success by that standard.

       
 

Night one also began a long string of pictures in which I preferred to give the camera some of my favorite cheer facials rather than simply smile.

Based on these pictures I clearly have two go-to faces if I'm not smiling.

We woke up bright and early Friday morning to make sure we got ourselves a good breakfast before hitting the pool. We hit up Grand Lux Cafe (basically Cheesecake Factory but Vegas-y) for some bomb.com breakfast food then headed back to Wynn/Encore to hang out at Encore Beach Club.

This place was over run with girls all looking for the cute guys (who were probably still asleep in their beds) but its always fun to hang out by the pool, drink(s) in hand. We found a few interesting characters to chat with and had ourselves a pretty darn good time.

Fast forward through more exploring, dinner at Earl of Sandwhich, getting ready, and some club struggles- we ended up spending the bulk of our night at Tryst. I have to say I am NOT a fan of clubs, but I somehow always manage to have a darn good time at Tryst. And hey any night spent chatting and dancing with cute boys from Texas is a good night in my book!

Having fun OVER doing the "skinny" pose. You know, chest up, butt out, hand on hip, and lean in. Haha

Pre-Pool

Fat Tuesdays Love- No I will not smile like a normal person =D

The only pictures from night number two...

Day 2 did not greet us with the same loving welcome that Day 1 did. After sleeping in, lounging around the room, and eating some lunch we started getting ready for the afternoon's highlight- the UCLA 8-Clap at the Bellagio fountain!

Just like last year I had a fabulous time meeting up with hundreds of other bruins at the fountain to loudly display our UCLA pride in front of one of Vegas' most famous sights. Of course, I did not take pictures with my fav adpi's nor any of the other friends I ran in to... but here's the couple of pics I did get there.

8 Clap Amazingness

 The rest of the afternoon/evening consisted of exploring the Cosmopolitan, napping, and another evening out. Overall it was quite the experience. I had no intention of returning before my move to OH, but I've recently been informed by my best friend and fellow buckeye (omg that still sounds so weird!) that she may be making her first trip to Sin City in July. I could not possibly miss that... so Vegas- it looks like I will be seeing you one more time, very soon.

Props to you if you made it all the way through this post. I love you, you're awesome.

Friends. Football. FUN.

I can not possibly begin to express how much fun I had this weekend, but this will be my brief attempt at doing exactly that. Saturday I made the quick drive up to Mountain View/Palo Alto to watch the Bruins play the Stanford Cardinal. Knowing that Stanford was ranked number six in the nation and the Bruins have not been having the best season (typical...) we decided to make an event of the day to ensure that even a Bruin loss could not wreck the weekend. As an added bonus I decided to not only include my wonderful UCLA/ADPi girls in the weekend, but also Weston, a friend from the midwest (Alumnus of THE Ohio State University) who moved out to California a few months ago.

A total of six of us all met up at Wes' apartment for some good old fashioned college drinking games (graduating definitely does not mean we plan to stop playing beer pong) before cabbing over to the stadium to meet up with some more ADPi's, and other UCLA friends. A mini-barbecue courtesy of the wonderful Kelsey provided us with some delicious hot dogs pre-kick off. Despite an opening drive that looked promising (until the end when we failed to score...) the Bruins were no match for Stanford. Still, clapping and singing along to Sons of Westwood and The Mighty Bruins brought all my Bruin pride flooding back, and reminded me that I could not be more proud to have graduated from such an amazing school.

Best friends and football will always be an ideal weekend for me. The weekend also included a trip to the Google campus, late night jacuzzi-ing, brunch, a google+ hangout with the friends who couldn't make it to norcal, lots of reminiscing, and tons of laughter.

Check out Bethany's post about the weekend as well! Now for a few pictures to showcase some of the highlights of the weekend.

made a quick stop by Bethany's work and could not resist taking a pic with the Google sign!

Weston and I at the tailgate.
2 things:
1. I got the Ohio State alum to wear blue!
2. Don't you love my new jersey?!

baby beer shot glass

being goofy before brunch (awkward parking sign...)

we love lions... duh

i love the drive from Fresno to the Bay. beautiful blue skies and California countryside

Wait... College is Over?

I am done with college...

Finished with my undergraduate career at UCLA. okay okay graduation is on Friday... but still 

 I turned in my last final paper this morning and assuming I pass (pretty sure I'm gonna be just fine on that one) I will officially be an alumna of this wonderful university I've called my home for the last four years.

Anyone around me for the last few days has heard me proudly boasting that I would officially be finished with college Monday morning when I turned in my last paper. 

Anyone around me for the last few months has heard me say how ready I am to be finished with college and move on to something new and exciting. 

Today, when I handed that paper in and got back to the HOP (the amazing House Of Pi- my true home for the last three years) I suddenly didn't want that to be my last paper ever. I wanted to go back and do these last four years all over again.

Honestly, name another time if your life when you are going to be able to live on your own, in a brand new city, making up the rules as you go along. All while somehow always knowing that if and when you need them your family will be right there. In college you have the opportunity to make new friends, learn a bunch of stuff that you may or may not actually use later in life (still tbd), make lots and lots of mistakes, and do a lot of growing up (but not too much).

Four years ago, before I had even set foot on the UCLA campus to begin my freshman year, a friend told me "Well my dear, you're about to go on a four year adventure to a place where absurd amounts of drinking are encouraged, girls dress like sluts every thursday, and it's a unanimous belief that a morning of awkwardness is always better than a night of loneliness." Crudeness aside and remembering that college is OH SO MUCH MORE than this, it has always made me laugh and I will miss the place where this lifestyle (not saying this was my lifestyle) is somehow socially acceptable.

As high school students we thought we were moving on to the "real world" but oh how wrong we were. College is far from the real world. Realizing that, and recent conversations I've had with my friends who were forced to leave this beautiful world before me, do not make me particularly excited to move on in to the actual real world.

But... it is what it is and ready or not UCLA is kicking us out. All jokes aside, I couldn't be more proud of the person I've become and the people I've become friends with over these past four years. As nerve wracking as it is to move on to a new chapter, I am excited and ready. I think...

Inspiration

Lately I have been far too obsessed with reading tons of different Tumblr blogs, but I didn't feel like that was the right place for me to start actually, legitimately blogging. My friend Emily, an Alpha Delta Pi leadership consultant has created a fabulous blog that I enjoy reading quite frequently (http://emilysnowden.blogspot.com/), as such I've decided to follow her lead and create my own.

With my senior year rapidly coming to a close, and my future closing in on me I've noticed myself and my priorities beginning to change. College is and has been a wonderful experience; I've had (too much) fun, met fabulous friends, and gotten an education from one of the top schools in the country. I've struggled, grown, matured, and succeeded. And now, I am ready to move on to a new city (maybe multiple cities) and a new challenge.

My recent interviews for the job I want (more than anything) after graduation, have forced me to reflect on the many things I've done throughout my four years here at UCLA. I've examined my successes and failures, questioned my actions and emerged from it all with such a confidence in myself and a readiness to take on whatever my next step may be.

All of that, and all the people I've met who've helped me become the person that I am now are my inspiration. With the future somewhat unknown, there are times when I feel that I might as well just flip a coin... Heads-Carolina, Tails-California.