That Time I Met Carrie Underwood

You should know I'm writing this from heaven, because I met my idol and then promptly died, but I realized this was something I absolutely had to document, 1) You can still blog in heaven apparently, 2) because I've written about all the other Carrie Underwood concerts I've been to and, 3) I MET CARRIE UNDERWOOD AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. So yeah, you bet I'm going to write about it.

The story to previously accompany this post is here, about the time when my mom and I drove to Reno to see Carrie Underwood in concert because she had announced no Utah dates on her tour. That post ended with me finding out that Carrie Underwood had in fact announced a second leg of her tour, with Salt Lake City, UT being the last date of the Storyteller Tour.

Now let's fast forward seven months to November. SO MUCH has happened in my life since that last concert. I filmed a web series, met my now best friend and roommate (which means I also moved out), went to Guatemala, filmed a Harry Potter short film?!?!? It was already the best year of my life by far, and I just felt like it was my year. As I always did before every concert of hers I went to, because I'm an official Carrie Underwood fan club member, I entered to win a meet and greet with her. I think I had done this like 4 times before and been unsuccessful (they randomly choose 10 winners). So I entered the meet and greet and then basically put it out of my mind as much as I could.

Now let's go to November 18, 2016, that very fateful day. They close the meet and greet entries two weeks before the concert (which was happening on November 28), and I remembered this had happened and figured I'd check my email just to make sure I hadn't gotten anything about it. They always send an email whether you win or not, just to let you know. So I checked my email and there was a little email that I opened and it said this:

And then I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a solid minute (and then started beating again because I realized I couldn't meet Carrie Underwood if I died). I was chatting Amanda at work--bless her for dealing with my insanity--and sent her this (exact wording):

Me: AMANDAAMDANDA;LKFJ A;SLDKJF ;ASLKDJF ;ASLDKFJ A;SLDKFJ A;SLKDFHAI TUPIQ;ORH; GOSIDAGH AKS;LDHGAS;LKDG HAJ'SD
A: yes
Me: OMG
A: plz
Me: IM FREAKING OUT
A: i can tell
Me: I JUST WON A FREAKING CARRIE UNDERWOOD MEET AND GREET

THIS IS WHAT DEATH FEELS LIKE

WHA;LDKSFJ A;SLDKFJ ;ASLDKFJ ;ASLDKFJ AS;LDKJF ASDFAJSD

I CNA'T TYPE

And I WAS freaking out SO SO much. Now remember, this is all happening at work at my desk which is in a pretty open area, and wow I was not dealing haha. I was getting so emotional, so I took my phone and went into an empty conference room and just was BAWLING. I called my mom--bless her too, because I've called her so many times and have sounded the exact same when things have been terribly wrong, so naturally she thought something was terribly wrong.

Me (through all the sobs):  a;ldkf ja;lkd la;f ;aldkf a (translation: I just won a Carrie Underwood meet and greet!)
Mom: Kailee, what's wrong?! I can't understand what you're saying!
Me (taking a deep breath so I can get a few words out): I. just. won. a. Carrie. Underwood. meet. and. greet. (tears ensue again)

There are few times I have ever cried that hard in my life, and they have usually been when I've been at very huge lows. But there I was in a conference room, crying the ugliest tears you ever did see, but feeling like the happiest girl in the world. Possibly finding out I was going to meet Carrie was cooler than actually meeting her. It was just an unbelievable thing and I will never forget that day or those feelings for as long as I live.

Oh, and I totally left work pretty much right after that happened, because finding out you are meeting your idol kind of makes you a non-functioning human for hours days weeks forever.

That sentence is not even a joke either, because I had so much anxiety ensue over those next ten days. My emotions were SO HIGH. I was super nervous that somehow it wasn't going to happen (people with anxiety often think something bad is going to happen, even if they have no logical reasoning to back it up). I had dreams about it not happening or happening, every night (I often have had dreams about meeting Carrie Underwood in the past, but these were now a daily occurrence). My excitement over finding out I was going to meet her was then replaced with a fear of me thinking that I was not going to meet her and that it was all just a big mistake.

FINALLY, the day before the concert, I got an email about the meet and greet, giving me all the details and taking away so much of that anxiety (thank goodness!). And then...
THE FATEFUL DAY ARRIVED.

I got to the concert venue (the Maverik Center in West Valley City where I've seen Carrie at twice before) pretty early because they said if you were at all late for it, they wouldn't let you in. Obviously my paranoia got the best of me and I was there like an hour early. But! my mom had the tickets (I had given them to her for safekeeping, I was so scared I would lose those tickets) and I needed my ticket to get into the meet and greet. She got stuck in traffic and I was SOSOSOSOSO stressed that she wouldn't make it in time (thankfully I explained my situation to the ticket people and they were very nice and said if my mom didn't make it in time they'd still let me in for the meet and greet). But she made it with like ten minutes to spare, yay! Unfortunately she couldn't come with me to the meet and greet (you both have to win one, unless you're a minor) so then she just had to wait while I had the greatest experience of my life.

There was a group of about 15 of us and they took us downstairs. I talked to a few of the people and one girl had been to a ton of meet and greets, it was like her thing. Surprisingly, I think most of the people in our group were seeing Carrie in concert for the first time (vs. me who was seeing her for the SIXTH time because i'm such a great fan). They took us to the merch table where we could buy our merch sans lines and also buy something for Carrie to sign. This was actually great because I had just brought one of my cd covers for her to sign so I bought an 8x10 poster that she could sign instead. I didn't get a shirt or anything because I had one from the last Storyteller concert that we had gone to just six months ago (and even then, for Carrie Underwood concerts I like to buy my merchandise online beforehand because it's cheaper and then I can go to the venue already wearing it).

They then took us down to the meet and greet venue. And let me just say that for all the nerves I had been feeling for the days up to that point, I was just feeling chill and excited. It was nice. We waited in line and the rules were that we could record or take pictures of anything when we got in there, and Carrie would sign one thing and they'd take a picture for us that they would send to us later. While in line I got to talk to Carrie's assistant Mina (can you say dream job?!) about some of the stuff she does for Carrie. She's worked for her since 2009!

THEN..it was time. It was my turn to go in and I cannot believe how chill I was. I will never understand but always be grateful that I didn't have a heart attack right there. I went in the room and THERE WAS CARRIE. She was very nice and it honestly happened so quickly and is a little bit of a blur but she signed my picture and we joked about the weather and I told her I'd seen her in concert 6 times and always came with my mom, which she thought was very cool. And then they took our picture and we hugged and then it was done! It was crazy quick. But it was awesome. (man, I can't believe I actually met Carrie Underwood.)

After that I met up with my mom, who was so excited for me and then we went down to the concert! We had general admission tickets on the floor (which, I can never see a Carrie Underwood concert not on the floor anymore because it's just too amazing to do it any other way). And the way they did general admission for this was actually great because it wasn't super crowded, and the stage was like an oval in the middle, so you could kind of move around and follow her wherever she went. Like anywhere you were standing was good! It was such an incredible concert, obviously, and it was pretty much exactly the same as the one in Reno, except for some different costumes, which I loved because that concert was literally perfect.

We got a picture with one of the opening acts, but I am the worst and I can't even remember his name. *face covering emoji*

It was one of the best days of my life and I will cherish it as long as I live. If you want to see some video footage from it, you can go HERE. Also, I'm just so glad that I have seen Carrie Underwood with my mom every single time. It's now like really special for me and I'd never want to go with anyone else! Also, nobody else is allowed to see my insane self at a Carrie Underwood concert. They're just the best days of my life. Can't believe how well it all worked out. And also if you read to the end of this, kudos to you because it is SO LONG. Anyway, Carrie Underwood is amazing, and November 28, 2016 was the most incredible day of my life, the end.

Change

The end is near. I'm leaving Provo on Wednesday, then my roommates, some other friends, and I are going to the Grand Canyon on a road trip from Thursday to Sunday, then it's Harry Potter world and a Disney cruise with my family from Tuesday to Monday, then it's a week at home, and then the second week of May I take off for Boston.

I want to say that I'm so totally psyched to be going to Boston, and I know that will come, but right now I'm just feeling incredibly scared. It's been a week full of goodbyes with my roommates, best friends, and people who I've come to know and love in this place I now call home.

Change is hard. It always is. When my family moved when I was fourteen it was hard. I found myself crying in my bed the night we moved, so scared and feeling so lonely. But I got through it and good things came from the move. I'd never change how it happened because of all of the people I met because of it and how much I love where we live now. Change was hard when I came to college. My parents dropped me off in the Wilkinson Center and as I gave them goodbye hugs and watched them turn the corner, the tears couldn't help but come. But college turned out to be great and the best thing that could have happened for me in my life at that time. When I moved apartment complexes last year, getting different roommates and moving wards, I knew it was for the best, but I got there and my first night in my now apartment, I cried. But that might have been one of the best changes I ever made, because I got the most amazing roommates I ever could have and the best ward. And right now as I sit in my bed, my second to last night in this bedroom, the tears slide down my cheeks. Because change awaits, and in my life, change generates tears.

Change isn't a bad thing, it's just a hard thing, and it really is okay that I cry over it. The tears mean that I'm leaving something I care about, something that was the best thing for me at that time in my life. And the change means that it's time to move on, because something else will be better for me at the time coming up.

I promise I'm not ungrateful, and I know it's probably going to be one of the greatest summers ever. Right now though, I'm just going to let the tears come. Out of fear of the unknown and the pain of leaving the ones I love.

It'll be okay. :)

My roommates and I this past Sunday. I love this picture, and I love these girls even more. :)

Just A Little Sprain?

This is what i get if I try to type normally with both hands right now:

Hi may a asf;kja kaileree

(an attempt to write, "Hi my name is Kailee")

Yep. I sprained my wrist so it's in a sprint and a sling. I slipped on some ice earlier and as I caught myself on the ground my wrist bent back too far. It still hurts pretty bad so I can't just move it around as I please. It hurts to type with both hands so i'm using the old pointer finger typing technique.

I was trying to change into my pajamas and it took forever so when i was done I started crying. Because it hurts, because I feel bad that my parents had to pay more at the doctor's so that we could go to Urgent Care tonight for something that wasn't broken, because everything is ten times harder to do, and because I feel so pathetic that I'm being so wussy about just a sprain.

But the thing is that all that stuff is legitimate, at least to me. Maybe a sprain is no big deal to someone else but for me it's a lot of pain. I'm glad that my parents love me enough to take me to the doctor sooner even if it means paying a little more. Because this isn't the funnest thing in the world and maybe one of my biggest concerns is how I am going to be able to try on clothes at the Park City outlet tomorrow with this big splint, but it's still a concern to me. And I know there are starving children in Africa that have things much worse than this. But I still think it's okay for me to cry about it and I'm gonna.

Also, it took me twenty minutes to write this little post and that is ridiculous. I will be soooo very grateful when my wrist heals. Never again will I take a wrist for granted. :/

P.S. Happy 5th birthday to my best friend and sister Gracie today! (don't worry I will blog more about this later)