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.

Sunday

 Last weekend I had the chance to go home and spend it with my family, which was fun, because I hadn't been home in a while. Saturday night we went to see The Addam's Family musical at the high school my mom works at, and it was really good and funny! It's amazing to see how much talent there is everywhere you go in the world.

Sunday was a great day. Very chill and I spent some of it taking pictures with my new 50mm lens! I absolutely love it and kept gushing about how good this lens was to my family.

Pretty sure they were tired of hearing about it, but they posed for pictures anyway. Isn't family great?

My mom decided she wanted to pose for a good picture after I took the one above haha.

This picture above basically describes me..every day! I have absolutely fallen in love with my camera and its video and picture-taking abilities. It makes me pretty happy and I love getting to document all of life with it.

Oh yeah, one more kind of exciting thing happened on Sunday...

I CUT MY HAIR! I haven't cut it (besides trims) for about five years because I made a promise to myself long ago that I wouldn't cut it until I got married. Ha! Well, that doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon, and if it does, then I guess I'll have short hair at my wedding! ;)

But in all seriousness, I love my short hair! And so does everyone else haha. I've gotten a ton of compliments on it. It was definitely time for a change, and I've been wanting to cut it for a little while, so it came at a perfect time. My mom cut it for me and I think she did a great job! It's been so fun this week to keep looking at myself in the mirror and remembering that I have different hair. I keep forgetting! I know it's just hair, but it makes me really happy and it feels like it matches my personality perfectly right now.

So yep...pretty good Sunday! Cheers to short hair and double that to spending time with family. :)

Things I'm Currently Enjoying

Good friends and talking about real things with them. I love having close friends to do that with.

School and everything about it. Also, my schedule is the BEST. Classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's it!

The fact that it's winter but not terribly cold outside.

Still feeling the aftermath of Christmas in all its happiness and glory

Being around my roommates again after three weeks of being home for Christmas

Applying for jobs...it's so productive and makes me excited for what's out there

Wearing my Frozen shirt!

Being passionate about many things right now--fashion design, videography, blogging, school, etc.

Gilmore Girls :)

Friends on Netflix!!

Reading books again, because I've made a goal to do it more this year. (currently reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown)

Already making so many plans for this year to come. With weddings, family stuff, and trips, it's already going to be a packed and exciting year.

The fact that I own a Canon Rebel t5i. I own it AND I get to use it! Revolutionary, right?

Thinking about Noodles and Co.'s pesto pasta with pulled pork. I guarantee it's the best pork you will ever have in your LIFE. I want some so bad right now.

Listening to music with my new head phones.

Enjoying life. I really just love being happy.

The fact that I posted a picture of myself wearing glasses on here is true proof of how much I love myself ;)

Current State of the Union

If I had to give one simple word for how life is going right now, it'd be "great!"

No lies, life is so SO good, and it makes me really happy to say that I've never ever been in a better place in my life. College especially has been rocky, but I'm doing so well. I'm so happy!

When I took a break from school a year and a half ago, it was really really hard. I honestly didn't want to, but I knew it was ultimately the best thing for me. I hadn't been doing well in school and I was dealing with a lot of anxiety around that as well. So getting out of that was good, but I was in limbo for a while with a job at JC Penney that didn't last long until I kind of got some steadiness with my job at the daycare.

Before all that, I'd been dealing with an eating disorder for some time, though I had recovered from that by the time the break from school happened. I was maybe going to start taking classes again last January, a year after I'd stopped, but in the end it didn't feel right, and I'm glad I didn't, because not too long after that I relapsed back into my eating disorder and it was pretty bad. I'm not gonna go into details about that right now, but I was able to get back into therapy and pull myself out of that relapse a few months later.

The point I'm trying to make is not that my life is horrible, because it's not! I love it so much and I've had so much good happen to me to that I'm just not mentioning right now, like fashion shows, great friends, fun activities, an amazing job, etc. I'm just trying to say that it's been such a long time since I have felt normal. With an eating disorder, depression, and anxiety coming in and out of my life, after a while, it feels like that's the way things are supposed to be, and you just deal with it because that's all you can do.

But right now, I feel none of that, and it's amazing and also really weird haha.

Sometimes I keep thinking that something must be wrong, because something has always been wrong, but alas, life is just good right now, and I'm beginning to realize that a good, and normal life is a real possibility. A happy one! Bad things will happen again, and I will hopefully be ready when they do, but for now, I'm enjoying just being happy and me. It's taken years of difficulties, and months of therapy and bajillion amounts of faith, but if that's what I had to do to get here, then I'm pretty good with that.

So yes, school is really good. I'm doing pretty well in my classes and going to all of them and enjoying them thoroughly. I'm just face painting for work right now, which is really fun and chill. I'm making good money but I only have to work a few hours a week. I'm dating no one right now and going on no dates, but I legitimately do not care, and I'm happy with that attitude. I have a fashion show coming up in less than TWO WEEKS and I'm so psyched. Things are going soooo well for it (and you should COME!).

But most importantly, I'm just in a good place in my life, and that's the best thing of all. :)

If you have the time..

..watch this. I promise it will be an hour well spent. :)

2013: A Year in Review

I know everyone is posting these, but there's something nice about completing your year by looking back on everything that happened. 2013 was probably one of my craziest years yet, so for your and mostly my enjoyment, here are my top ten moments from 2013:

10. Became obsessed with making movies and made movies for weddings, trips, and other fun stuff.


9. Went to the Taylor Swift concert, met Taylor's mom, and went from nosebleed seats to the pit.

8. Planned and went to bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and weddings in May for Kelsey and Talya, two of my best friends and roommates.

7. Took a road trip to California with my roommates Katie, Heidi, and Meghan and a trip to Moab with my family at the beginning of July (still haven't blogged about that)

6. Took a trip to Boston and New York at the beginning of December (yet to be blogged about)

5. Lost the best roommates I ever had (because they graduated, moved away, or got married), but got some new great ones.

4. Got my current job at the daycare, which I love.

3. Shared my eating disorder story on my blog, which was one of the scariest, yet most fulfilling things I have ever done. I still can't believe I did that. :)

2. Took a break from school, which caused a crazy and intense year for me filled with a lot of changes. But I found out that not being in school was exactly was I needed, and I also realized that it's okay to follow my own time table and not everyone else's.

1. Designed my first collection and did my first fashion show at BYU in February. Best, happiest, and funnest day of my life thus far!

Yep. Crazy year. And definitely one of the best! I learned that you really can never know what life will throw at you. You can plan as much as you want, but sometimes plans just don't go quite how we want them too. And I also learned that that's totally okay. Because God often has better plans in store for us. :)

Happy new year! I can't wait to see what 2014 brings for us all.

[California Trip] Day 4: LA Fashion District, Hollywood, and Venice Beach

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Day 4, we woke up from our hotel semi-early (probably like 9 am? I can't remember really), and headed to downtown Los Angeles for some shopping! This one of the things I was most anticipating the whole trip, because I have been dying to go the the LA fashion district for the looooongest time. I was so excited!

It is crazy cool there. Everything is dirt cheap, like wholesale prices, and they also sell lots of great fabric for cheap as well. I want to go back and buy more fabric, because I didn't buy too much during this trip. We all bought a few things and found an accessories store where everything was only $0.50, so we stocked up on souvenirs to take home to our families there.

Next, it was off to Hollywood. We had fun looking at the stars on the sidewalk (which, I think that Carrie Underwood needs a star there, don't you agree??? How do we make this happen?!), seeing the Hollywood sign from afar, and seeing all the crazy people on the streets. Hollywood is a fun place to be, but there isn't much to actually do there, so we didn't stick around for too long.

Venice Beach was next and last on our list, and let me tell you that it was so cool. It was super cultural and I felt like I had walked into a movie because it was filled with tons of different, crazy, and cool people. We just walked the boardwalk for a little while and then to end our trip we sat out on the beach together one last time before going home.

Other fun facts about the trip:

-We successfully read and finished the first Harry Potter book throughout the whole vacation

-You may notice that on the previous days, the other three girls all happened to match...and then there was me. I assure you, this was not on purpose, but a really funny coincidence. For instance, when we went to Knott's Berry Farm, they all happened to be wearing neon. I remember that because it was a lot easier to spot them on the roller coasters haha.

-This trip to California was actually supposed to be a trip to NYC, but since we were flying on standby, it was risky and turned out that we probably wouldn't have been able to get home had we gone to NY. So we spontaneously decided to go to California just a few days before it was scheduled to happen. While I was sad we didn't get to go to New York, just as we all were, I think our California trip was perfect. We all bonded so much and it was also cheaper on our wallets.

-Many sessions of truth or truth were played in Katie's car as we drove and drove

-While we did of course have some tension and slight disagreements, the whole trip was practically drama free, which is how we have always been as friends. And let me tell you, it's very nice.

All in all, one of the best vacations I have been on thus far in my life :)

Friendship bracelets from the Santa Monica pier :)

For the video version of the trip, go to 13:06 for LA, 14:27 for Hollywood, and 16:16 for Venice Beach (the Venice Beach part is definitely the most fun to watch, if you have to pick one).