First of all- please take a moment to reflect on what’s happening in Japan. Because it suuucks that the troubles cannot seem to end. These days it seems like it’s a natural disaster somewhere else almost every few months! I watched a lot of the tsunami videos on Friday and just could not believe my eyes. So, take a moment, be informed, and care a little.
And, besides just that, this past weekend was surely one to remember.
It began Thursday night (cuz college taught me that’s when weekends really start) with girl’s night. We’ve been having girls nights for about 2-3 months now, and, if-I-do-say-so-myself, they’ve been a great success. Every other week, one of about 10 girls hosts the group for an entertaining evening full of delicious homemade foods and plenty of wine.
Friday was my dear friend, Jaime’s birthday. In “honor” of the Japan disaster, or something like that… we went to Midori Sushi for a late-night feast. The rest of the group journeyed onto, what I later learned, was a rather brief stint at Canary Roost Karaoke. Jaime told me she wasn’t feeling so hot, so they didn’t stay long enough for anybody to sing. I felt better knowing I didn’t miss anything while I was at home sleeping. I got Jaime this sweet birthday gift:
and made these delicious
cheesecake bites!
Thus brings me to Saturday, our camping trip!
Since January, the lot of us has been trying to find a good weekend to use these Texas Stunt Ranch Paintball Groupons we all bought ages ago. The paintball course (I guess it’s a course?) was way out west, so it made sense to combo it with a hill county camping adventure. Chris and I left around 10am on Saturday and headed up to the LCRA park, Muleshoe Bend. We arrive around 11.45am and picked a pleasant spot, just up the hill from Lake Travis.
One of the benefits of Muleshoe Bend is they have about 6 miles of biking trails through the park. Brandon was kind enough to loan us his “crappy mountain bike,” (his words, not mine) so James, Jaime, and I took our turns on the trails. Riding around was a blast, but… not gonna lie, I came back with an injury or two. The road was extremely rocky, and when we were a bit over halfway through the trek, I lost balance and fell right on top of a cactus. Documentation below:
James and Jaime were a bit ahead of me. Jaime later told me told me she heard me giggle, and the yell, “dang it.” Thus didn’t really think anything was wrong. Yeah… my leg had about 40 cactus pricklers stuck into it. It was also bleeding a bit. If only I’d had my camera with me to take a quick photo. Oh, if only. No, it was really gross, and looking at it did not help. So, I got out of the cactus, back on my bike, and hurried to catch up with James and Jaime.
The entire ride was about 1.5-2 hours long, so when we returned to the campsite, my first thought was, “Get these out of me!” Thankfully, I had tweezers in my first aid kit. Note to readers: if you don’t have a first-aid kit already in your car, MAKE ONE ASAP! And for those readers residing in Texas, it should definitely include tweezers. Joe claimed he had the steadiest hands, and carefully pulled the pricklers out, one by one.
Sunday, we woke up a little bit out of it, mostly due to the daylight savings time switch. After a few filets and breakfast sausages, we eventually packed everything up and reluctantly drove to Stunt Ranch Paintball, the original reason for the trip. Now, I had never played before, and honestly didn’t think I’d like it, but per usual, I’m always up to try a new experience. Well, let it be known, that was absolutely, the last time I will ever partake in paintball.
They make you wear this big scary mask, and then split you up into two teams (I played against my friends!!), throw you into this battlefield looking area and say, “ready, set, go, go, go, go!” Immediately everybody starts shooting their guns, er, “markers” at each other as if it’s a real-life war! Why? Oh, I dunno… some people think it is fun or something? So, I spent the whole time hiding behind this big bunker thing with two other girls. Within about 5-10 minutes, both of them had been shot and taken out. Right- so if you get hit with paint, then you’re out. I remained, terrified, hiding way in the back behind this bunker for what felt like eternity. I had a good view of the out of bounds area, which by this point, had filled up with all my friends. Then, out of nowhere, my legs felt like they were being slapped repeatedly with sticks. I look down and there’s no paint on me, however the pain was so extreme I threw my arms in the air yelling, “I give up, I give up, I’m out!!!!” I could not run off the course fast enough.
That night, when I got in one of the best showers of all time, I looked down to see my legs totally covered with bruises. It’s so epic, I’m documenting.
You can also sort of see the cactus needle residue on my ankle.
There’s more smaller bruises on the back of my left leg, but I couldn’t get my camera around there to get a good enough shot. You will have to just imagine it.
So, I’m not doing any work out classes this week, nor am I ever playing paintball again. But, I will get back on a bike, just hopefully never ever fall onto a cactus again.
