It's Christmas Time!!!

The Christmas season has arrived in full force!! Christmas is my favorite season of them all and I am obsessed with it. I love decorating and getting in the holiday spirit so I had my friends over for a night of fun!

We started at Allen’s Tree Lot by SAMs Club. After walking around for about 10 minutes, we found the perfect tree. I didn’t want a super large tree and we found the prefect three foot tree. It was only $25 so I was even more excited!

We loaded it into my friend’s truck and went back to my apartment. After turning on the Christmas Country Pandora station, my boyfriend wrapped the tree in lights and then we put up the decorations.

My beautiful tree all decorated!

 I was most excited about some red bulbs with cowboy boots on them that I bought at Hobby Lobby on Black Friday. After we put up the real decorations, we decorated some wood ornaments. I had princesses for the girls, ornaments for the boys, and a dog with a bone for my puppy.

We really enjoyed decorating the ornaments with paint pens. Then we each puffy painted our names on a stocking and hung them on the wall! After that, we hung tinsel around the apartment and put a wreath on the front door! 

Our stocking were hung by the tree with care!

To finish the night, we decorated a gingerbread house while drinking eggnog. It was definitely a successful Christmas night!! Now I can’t wait to fill everyone’s stockings and continue the Christmas magic!! Merry Christmas to all!

From left to right: Elli, Kayla, Dani, and I am in the back. These are my sorority little sisters.

Daytrippin: "The Lion King" in Phoenix

AZ Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi outside Gammage Theatre in Tempe, AZ

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to go to ASU’s Gammage Theatre to see the Broadway production of “The Lion King” as a sisterhood event with my sorority.

On Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early and headed to Mt. View dorm to meet up with the rest of my sisters. We went outside to get on the bus and realized we would be traveling to the valley in NAU busses. We did not see that one coming. Surprisingly, they were very comfy and promoted conversation during our journey.

As we got closer and closer, I got more and more nervous because we were cutting it really close. We were going to see the matinee at two and when we pulled into the parking lot, it was 1:59.

Now picture this. About 90 girls trying to run in high heels and dresses. It was quite the sight. We all got inside and almost every one of us was seated when the house lights went down.

I personally have seen this production before in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre when I was six years old. While it was very different than what I remember, I thought it was an amazing show. The costumes were incredible and the singing was like nothing I had heard before. My favorite character in the play was Rafiki, she was so funny and had an amazing voice!

At intermission, I went out to the souvenir shop. I have a collection of pins from everywhere I have traveled in the world and all the things I have done. I was very disappointed to see they did not have pins so I got a keychain instead.

We went back into the theatre and enjoyed the rest of the play. I highly recommend it to anyone who can go see it while it is so close!!

As soon as the play ended, we all loaded back onto the busses and headed to In N Out!! That was definitely a treat. I wish we had one in Flagstaff but for now I can settle with the deliciousness of Animal Fries every once in a while.

We got back to Flagstaff just after nine and everyone was exhausted! All in all though, it was an amazing day and I will look back on it fondly in years to come. 

My Pi Beta Phi Little Sis Kayla and I 

Review: The Lumberyard's "Country Night"

One of my favorite hobbies of all time is line dancing. When I go home, on Friday nights, there is an 18 and up country bar called Stampede that I go dancing at. So naturally when I heard there was a place to go line dancing in Flagstaff, I got extremely excited.

For the last three years of my time here, I have been counting down the minutes to when I could spend my Friday nights doing what I love. Finally this summer I turned 21 and was allowed to go to Country Nights at The Lumberyard.

My sisters Sophia, Shelby, and I decided to go this past Friday night to celebrate Sophia’s 21^st birthday. We arrived at 8:30 to have a late dinner.

The food was so delicious. We started with an appetizer of Fried Mac N Cheese Balls. Then I had a Bacon Bleu Burger with veggies. It was easily one of the best burgers I have every had! With all of that, we were so full. We had half an hour til “Country Night” began and the dance floor was cleared but the drink specials had begun!

For “Country Night,” the special is $6 Yard Jars, which are 32 ounce mason jars with options for different types of drinks. There is something for everyone. I personally love the Wicked Weed Peach Tea.

At 10:00, the staff moved some of the tables to create a dance floor. I couldn’t wait to dance! After two songs, “Merry Go Round” by the Jane Deer Girls came on. So naturally I headed to the floor to do the “Redneck Angel” dance.

I was the only person on the floor. Turns out, in Flagstaff, going line dancing means everyone knows how to do a whole two line dances. I was so bummed!! Then during one of the two dances everyone knows, I did it differently because of the way I know how to do it from back home. After doing two quarter turns, I discovered the person next to me dancing my dance! As soon as the song ended, I began to chat with him and discovered he goes to Stampede as well!

After that, the two of us did most of the line dances together and it made my night! So overall, the food and drinks were fabulous but the dancing, not the greatest. I guess I am just lucky to have Stampede and it makes me look forward to the next time I go home! 

Me, Sophia, a photobomber, and Shelby

Daytrippin: Sedona Winefest!

This past Saturday, I went with my sorority sisters Michelle and Jada to the Sedona Winefest! I found this event in July while researching Sedona for my internship and texted my sisters about it. After discovering that the weekend of the Sedona Winefest was also NAU's Family Weekend, we decided to buy our tickets, knowing none of our families were coming, so we would celebrate the end of September instead. 

On Saturday, we left Flagstaff around 10 and headed south on 89A to get to Sedona. The drive itself to Sedona is a gorgeous one. The red rocks are an amazing sight. We arrived around 11 and after parking the car, we checked in and received our wristbands.

Then we got our commemorative glasses and headed to check out our wine tasting options. There were 15 Arizona wineries represented at this event and we only had six tickets each! So we continuously shared our tastes among ourselves to check out the different wineries.

We also bought raffle tickets and amused the people who were running the raffle because we were so disappointed every time she drew a number and it wasn't ours! 

We left around 1:30 and headed into town where we had lunch at the Oak Creek Brewery. I had eaten there with my mom the night before I moved back to Flagstaff and knew it was delicious. If you need a restaurant recommendation for Sedona, go here and get one of their specialty pizzas, they are to die for!! 

After lunch, we decided to head back to Flagstaff along the scenic 89A once more. It really is a gorgeous drive. All in all, I considered it a successful day and was able to check the Sedona Winefest off of my Senior Year Bucket List! We might even make it a tradition and go back next year! 

Here is to the next adventure, coming soon.

Bisous, Abby

A little bit about me...

Hello all!
Welcome to my new blog, Abby's American Adventures! This is a spin off of my blog, Abby's Adventures Abroad from my time studying abroad in Spring 2013 in Chambéry, France. So many people told me they loved reading it so I thought I would continue!
A little bit about me is that I was born and raised in Yuma, AZ, attended high school in Carlsbad, CA, but currently live in Flagstaff, AZ where I am a senior at Northern Arizona University. I will be graduating in the Spring of 2014 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. I am a member of Pi Beta Phi and Order of Omega. Along with those, I work at BTO, a frozen yogurt shop. Some of my hobbies include line dancing, reading, crafting, scrapbooking, and going out to Happy Hour. :)
I hope you enjoy my adventures as much as I have!
Bisous, Abby