Simultaneously, a fun and pain-in-the-ass weekend.

So, right after I got off of work on Friday, Mike met me at my house, we loaded my shit up, and headed for Blackhawk. Blackhawk is a gambling town- it's quite funny. It's west of Denver, nestled in the mountains, about a 20-30 minute drive in, depending on conditions and traffic. It's funny because, right in the middle of these crazy, fairly high elevated mountains, there is a town FULL of huge casinos/hotels/resorts. And that's all. If you are under 21, there is literally nothing else to do. No stores. No restaurants (other than those in the casinos), no entertainment. Just casinos and hotels.

Mike was competing in the main event of the Heartland Poker Tour. He qualified last weekend, April 10, thru a $300 buy-in satellite tournament. Out of 92, only 18 made it... and Mike took out the last guy!! However, over 300 people entered Flight A (there are three flights to Day 2 of the Main Event), and Mike was out after just over 2 hours. It was really lame though- the tournament was suppose to start at 5:00, but so many people came to register at last minute (a $1650 buy in) that they delayed it until everyone was registered- 5:30. That's really messed up, and extremely unfair to those who were there on time. We might write a letter to complain. They should have started the late qualifiers as dead stacks >:/

We ate dinner at a steakhouse in Blackhawk (they had a soup and salad bar, yay!) and had wonderful wine, before heading to Mike's Uncle Todd's House. It was only a 20-25 minute drive from Blackhawk, and very comfortable! The next morning, Saturday, we went into Denver, downtown, to the Aveda Institute for haircuts. Aveda is awesome- they charge $15, and you get a head and shoulder massage, hair wash, hair cut, and style. After that (when it started RAINING!) we met my younger brother, Mickali, who lives in Denver, for lunch at Sam's No. 3. It's a diner that has a good deal of vegetarian options for me, thankfully. Then Mike and I headed home.

It was a rainy and foggy drive home! I was only at my house for maybe half an hour, until Mike picked me up again, and we went to our friends' Robbie and Krystal's house. Mike and his friends Chad (guitar/vocals), Aaron (guitar/vocals), and Robbie (drums) practice- their punk rock band is called The Bad Beat. We loaded the gear, and heard down to Independent Records, where they were to perform a show with several other bands. The first band was AMAZING- truly awesome. They are a folk/bluegrass band called The Haunted Windchimes. I was enchanted.




THEN- the Bad Beat played. These men are seriously amazing.

















So after the show, Mike and I went back to his house and hung out with his mom. I should mention... my eyes had been extremely itchy, watery, and I had had a runny nose all day- but I thought it was due to my contacts. Putting my glasses on didn't help. When I woke up the next morning, it was a lot worse. It suddenly hit me that it must be allergies... but I'd only had mild allergies once in my life, when I was living in Boulder. Anyways, Sunday was miserable. My mom and I got the grocery shopping done early, I took two Benadryls, we stopped and bought "Honey Moonshine" on the way home... and by the time we got home, I was feeling relief from the runny nose and itchy eyes, but extremely loopy and drowsy from the Benadryl. So... I had to take a nap. When I got up, I helped my mom make green chili, worked on some homework, ate dinner, cleaned the kitchen, worked out, showered, then Mike came over. He always makes things better, even pain in the ass allergies. We worked on homework and watched the season finale of Life. So I guess despite a crazy busy, allergy filled weekend, it ended on a good note- spent with my love ;)