My Heart Belongs to Bass Lake

*Psst - Don't forget to like Embrace the Crazy on Facebook!

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When I was a child my parents would take us camping at Bass Lake. I remember, we'd pull our little tent trailer behind us, get in our reserved spot and I'd watch as my family set everything up. Most of the time my Mom would have my sisters do small tasks and then we'd start to check out the area. We'd climb things and try to find squirrels. One particular time in general, we had a side of a mountain right behind our designated spot and there was a hiking trail. My sisters climbed up no problem and left me behind to fend by myself. This was typical. I kept trying to get up but it was just this side of too steep. 

I walked over to my dad who was setting up the dinner stuff, and asked him to give me a boost. Instead, he grabbed his hammer and used the nail pulling side to create a few notches that fit my feet perfectly. I was able to climb up and down as I pleased and to walk the trail. My dad walked away whistling and I was off on an adventure. 

I love Bass Lake.

I mention that because we recently stayed at Bass Lake because Bryan played a gig in Oakhurst. I felt so.... at peace there. It was a much needed break. The phones didn't quite work all the time and I definitely got lost in the mountains after Bryan's gig (and drove 45+ minutes out of my way) before breaking into tears and turning around. Turns out the mountains are intimidating when it's pitch black outside. 

Outside of that, it was a great gig. We were allowed to stay in a friend-of-a-friends cabin that was comfortable and amazing. There was definitely a late night sitting around the kitchen counter eating fresh baked cookies session. 

It was simple, yet soul restoring. 

Bass Lake, I love you. 

Things I'm Going to Do Now That This Program is Over

• sleep
• read
• blog
• write
• read
• sleep
• sleep
• sleep
• float around in a pool
• get a tan
• eat a popsicle 
• sleep
• read
• breathe
• see friends
• blog
• clean my house
• maybe not that last one
• do something crafty
• do my makeup
• do makeup
• play with makeup
• see a movie
• a movie I CHOOSE and not Bryan. ugh.
• be a rockstar CBO at an awesome school district and use everything I learn to improve the lives of children. 
• sleep.

At Capstone...

I just finished my presentation, like literally just finished. Tomorrow I have mock interviews and Saturday, I get my certificate. But the most stressful piece is done and I can relax. I am done.

I cannot wait to read a book. A real book about fictional characters and I can't wait to blog regularly again.

See you soon!

50 Days

School is almost over. I have 50 more days until the Culminating Event.

This has been hard. Really hard. Especially with Bryan being gone most nights, especially working full time and having a toddler. I knew it would be hard. Now that it's close to the end? It's somehow getting simultaneously better and worse. I'm so close to sweet freedom. To having my nights and weekends back. To seeing friends. To seeing family.

Mixed in with school has just been life. I'm managing to live one while juggling everything else, which is a surprising to most, including myself. Lots of changes are on the horizon which, instead of filling me with anxiety, is bringing about a peace. I don't know how any of these things will work out, but in this moment as I type, I feel peace. I feel hope.

One important thing I've been doing outside of work/school/everything else has been putting what resources I can into fighting Senate Bill 277. I'm going to be working on a separate post regarding this bill and what it means for parents.

The last time I posted was in March. What have you missed since March? I'll look at my photos to see....

We had an impromptu dinner at Harris Ranch right before my sister Kari's birthday.

I joined Snapchat.

I went to LA to visit my home-girl Denise....

And attend The Makeup Show - where I increased my makeup skills and spent waaaay to much money. 

NARS

Smashbox

We took a fantastic family photo right before the Easter Campout (in which Bryan looks amazing... ;) )

We didn't make it to my Grandma's for Easter so we went the day after.

And there is MUCH more to tell you about. But at least you are caught up to April. I'm not holding myself to blogging with any kind of regularity over the next 50 days BUT after that? I'm coming out swinging. I have lots of plans for this blog that I have been working on even though I haven't been blogging. I know it's been quiet on the front end but I've still been cooking up some fun ideas for the future. 

Until then, I created a Facebook page! Just search Embrace the Crazy and you'll find me. 

xoxo, 

Megan

Facts About Us!

A few weeks ago Bryan and I filmed an impromptu video and I finally edited! Sorry things have been quiet. It's my life right now. Enjoy!

Leopard Pajamas

I'm sitting on my bed with wet hair. I got out of the shower about ten minutes ago and do not feel up to brushing it or securing it in a bun. My hair is just sitting on my right shoulder, soaking the long-sleeved, black-and-white leopard (I googled it to make sure it wasn't cheetah) shirt. I'm also wearing the matching pants. I look like a big, fat, sad black and white leopard.

 I'm listening to my Clarensau radio station that is now playing John Mayer. If you are wondering, 'Your Body is A Wonderland' is playing. The live version. I hope it is stuck in your head for the next week because I'm sure it'll be stuck in mine. Misery loves company.

Speaking of miserable, I'm sick. I've got that bug that is going around and it's uncomfortable and stupid. I spent the day doing finances, meal-planning (to get healthy and lose weight) and meal-prepping (to get healthy and lose weight) and we ended up having take-out pasta for dinner. Turns out it takes a while to go to three different grocery stores, come home, unload and put it away, chop and peel and a myriad of other cooking verbs to prep. I also broke another rule, eating after 7:00pm. You know, you lose a lot of weight just by telling yourself no more food after 7. I have a soup going and I "cooked" some Tilapia. Cooked is in quotations because they were really small pieces and I meant to only cook them for 7-10 minutes but I didn't hear the timer go off so they are extremely well done. At this point, I'm wondering if they are edible. I guess I'll find out.

This weekend was pitiful and I feel pitiful. I get all mopey when I'm sick. Why me and all that. It doesn't help that I hate Bryan right now, so you know how that goes. You know, people don't talk much about when they hate their spouse. I mean, they'll post on Facebook or Instagram when their spouse does something sweet but it's rare that they are like, Dude. I could just PUNCH my spouse right now. Don't act like you never feel that way, if you have a significant other. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with you if you never hate your spouse. I equate it, in my mind, to having siblings.

It's like, when you just get so ding-dang frustrated with them that you could just hide their favorite pair of jeans and smirk as they tear apart the bedroom looking for them? But you still love them. But you also hate them. Does this make sense? I'm not trying to say that Bryan is a bad guy cause he isn't. He didn't even do anything to deserve me hating him today. He's a great guy. But he can be such a douche-copter without even trying. So can I. Real love is living with a douche-copter and thinking, man I hate that guy, but he's my guy to hate.

You know who does not belong on my Clarensau and John Mayer Pandora Station? MILEY CYRUS. There is a time and place for her and this. isn't. it.

Skip.

Anyways, I love Bryan. Poor guy is coming down with the same stuff that Shep got, and then I caught, and he had to do TWO three hour gigs yesterday. Ugh, that has to be hard. Today he just wanted to lay around and not do anything. Understandable. But, laundry still has to get done, groceries need to be bought and life must go on. All too often the two of us just don't do that life stuff. We certainly don't like doing life together. Which is fine. But we are always on opposite schedules. Our life is opposite each other.

I get tired of the struggle.

I am tired of the struggle.

Tomorrow is a new day and all this will be washed away. Tomorrow, I'll be grateful for the work I did today. Tonight, I'll just listen to soft music and brush my hair.

Life is Made of Days Like This

Sorry, I haven't been around this week. Now that a negotiations paper is done and a facilities paper is almost done, I have time to catch ya'll up on my life over the past two weeks. On February 9, it was some holiday. A presidents birthday. I don't know which but believe that I appreciate his birth. Cause day off. Duh. 

First, I was going to hit up the Monday sale with Jamie, a cousin from Bryan's side of the family. Bryan had band practice with the guys and Shep and I were on our own. The plan, at first, was to take Shepherd and Isaac but then we realized that they would be hard to wrangle. I got ready as quickly as I could, got Shepherd ready and grabbed all of our stuff to load into the car. Except I couldn't find the keys. 

Bryan took them to Fresno. I was so ticked. I called and it was looking as though I was going to have to bow out of my plans with Jamie to wait for stupid Bryan to turn his stupid truck about to bring me the stupid keys. I tell Jamie that we probably can't go and she got mad and came to pick us up. We dropped Shepherd with Troy and went on our way. 

It turned out to be the best day I've had in a long while. 

We walked around, I bought some L.A. Girl makeup (don't worry, I googled, it was legit.) and ate some tacos. It was AWESOME. 

I have always wanted the second holes done on my ears but never pulled the trigger. I didn't do my makeup because I had hoped to film that day, but alas, it never worked out. Too bad I didn't foresee that because it would nice to not look haggard when I look back at these pictures, but this is real life, yo! Jennifer is the one that pierced our ears and she was really sweet and did a great job!

I decided to get my second hole in my ears pierced today. Kind of random but totally awesome. I was also a bad influence and made @jamielynnfriend get hers done too. 😊👂💎

A video posted by Megan Vickers (@meganlauriana) on Feb 9, 2015 at 8:14pm PST

See? @jamielynnfriend did it too! It was a beautiful day today and we made the most of it! Monday sale, shopping, ear-piercing, pizza eating. Thanks @troyweezy for watching the boys! 😄

A video posted by Megan Vickers (@meganlauriana) on Feb 9, 2015 at 8:23pm PST

Then, to celebrate, Jamie bought me a pretzel! I haven't had one of these in forever and it was so dang delicious! 

We also got a drink and frito/nacho boat from Minnah's Cafe, which was not bad. I'm not a huge fan of nacho cheese. I like regular shredded cheese on chips. It's the way it ought to be!

Jamie's boyfriend Troy asked that we bring home food, so we stopped at Geta Express to grab him some food. He deserved it for watching both boys for most of the day! He sent text updates as the day went on AND  he got Shepherd to eat lots of healthy food. Love that guy. Shepherd even fell asleep on Troy! It was so cute. 

It was an amazing, fun and lowkey day. It almost felt like we were young and free again. It was so nice to have a taste of that again. And I LOVE my earrings. Glad I finally got it done. Thank you to my niece Kyndall for inspiring me to get it done.