Bachelorette Recap: What's Your Fan-ta-ta-syyyy?

Happy Bachelorette Finale Eve, dears! But first, here's a recap of last week to get you all caught up before the big conclusion... 

As I mentioned in the last post, the hometown dates episode with the top 4 guys annoyingly ended on a 'to be continued' and JoJo seemed super torn and distraught but I thought suuuuurely she would still send Chase or Robby home - no brainer. MUCH TO AMERICA'S SHOCK AND DISMAY, however, she sent Luke home. He was legit her ONLY good option left, so not only was he completely shocked and looked like he had been hit by a truck at this news, but pretty much all the viewers in the world were like... 

Our only consolation is that I am 99% sure he'll be the next Bachelor which hoooopefully will be announced tomorrow night on After the Final Rose. 

After JoJo's shocking and horrible decision, she takes her (lame) top 3 guys to Thailand for the *~oVeRnIgHt FaNtAsY sUiTe~* dates. Robby's is first. I don't even remember what they did on the date... I think it might have started raining and they got foot massages at one point. (ooooh - my Google image search has proved this to be correct.)

He is dropping the L-word like it's his job and she kind of wants to say it too but won't yet because that's what Ben did to her which was v misleading since he dumped her shortly thereafter. They spend the night in the fantasy suite and blissfully leave their copious amounts of room service seemingly untouched the following morning. 

Next date is Jordan - aka who she will probably choose despite his numerous red flags like previous cheating, horrible communication, and weird family issues. They go for a scenic hike on their date and it's cute and makes me want to go for a hike in the near future. 

He gladly accepts her invitation to the Fantasy Suite and they have some 'much needed' time alone and yadda yadda yadda she loves him too but doesn't want to tell him yet.


Next up is Chase (is that his name?). They have a great day frolicking on a Thai beach and he tries to amp up his non-existent personality. Things seem to be going swimmingly and she offers him the Fantasy Suite card and he accepts (duh) and then they get there and he drops the L-bomb and JoJo immediately goes from 😍 to 😕 in 0.5 seconds. She then excuses herself for a few minutes and comes back and pretty much says, "yeahh..... I know saying "I love you" is extremely difficult for you and that was a life-changing step for you but the feeling's not really mutual so can you please just leave now?" Chase immediately chugs his champagne is OBVIOUSLY v mad about this and Jojo cries and the whole situation is like 'what just happened here??!'


So the top 2 guys are Robby and Jordan - 2 douchey former professional athletes with impeccable hair and extreme red flags. (Oy veyyyy). I predict that she'll choose Jordan and they'll move to LA with the hopes of continuing their 15 minutes of fame and break up within 6 months (tops). 🙄

Excited for the finale party tomorrow! 

xoxo, 

Annie. 

Bachelorette Recap: Hometown Daaaates

Happy Monday aka Bachelorette Watch Party Day! As you might know, I'm a biggg fan of the outrageous insanity that is the Bachelor / Bachelorette franchise. I've been hosting watch parties since high school, and was even in the New York Post for my watch party one time. That said, I send out a weekly reminder / recap email to my watch party girls every Monday... so I figured, in case anyone missed last week's episode or wanted to re-live the craziness, I'd share that little recap here as well. You're welcome. ;) 

First of all, THEY DID THE ANNOYING 'TO BE CONTINUED' AT THE ROSE CEREMONY LAST EPISODE, SO WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE TOP 3 IS YET. Ugh abc... why you gotta be so annoying?

​

First hometown date was Chase (is that his name?). It was in beautiful snowy Colorado which was painful to watch while we're sweating to death here in this ungodly heat but that's neither here nor there. He comes from a broken family so part 1 of the day was meeting with the dad and part 2 was meeting with the rest of the fam. Key takeaway - he is a child of divorce and 'love' means a lot to him and that's why he doesn't open up much and is really boring.  

Date number 2 - Jordan (aka the probable winner). Hometown is Chico, California (not to be confused with Chino...#ILoveTheOCForever). 

​Jordan brings her to his high school to relive his glory days because that's all he has and he's still wayyyy bitter about living under his superstar brother Aaron's shadow for his entire life. Speaking of - he and his other older brother both were like 'WE DON'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT AARON. DON'T BRING IT UP.' which was a very weird / awkward red flag that Jojo seems completely oblivious to. Oy. Also his mom as super weird and their house was neon green. 

Date 3 was to Florida for Robby's hometown. Rob continued to put off the vibe that he miiiight not really like women with a strategically one-buttoned pink shirt. 

His family was normal and great - the best fam thus far - but then his mom lets him know that his ex-girlfriend's roommate has been spreading the "rumor" that he broke up with her to go on the show, and drama ensues. 

Reminder - Robby was the dude who straight up said "i love you" on their first 1-on-1 date, which according to my unscientific estimation occurred a mere matter of weeks after he broke up with his gf of 4+ years.  * CUE RED FLAGS *

The last date was in Texas for our beloved Luke and it was PERFECT. Like straight-out-of-a-Nicholas-Sparks-movie-this-can't-be-real perfect. His family was great, his friends were great, he was great. The collective female population was completely swooning. 

I thought it was 100% obvious that she was keeping Jordan and Luke and a toss-up between Robby and Chase on who would go home... but probably Chase (is that his name?) But then something weird happened and Luke pulls her aside at the rose ceremony to tell her "hey i didn't fully say this during our impeccably perfect date yesterday, but I love you." and then she starts bawling and is like "I don't know what to doooooo." So was she going to send our boy Luke home and then this made her re-think that RIDICULOUS / COMPLETELY DUMB choice? Or was she just like 'ahhhhh my mental / emotional well-being is literally hanging on by a thread and I'm pms-ing and I just needed a good cry." 

STAY TUNED for more insanity next week. :) 

xoxox, 

Annie. 

I love Andrew McMahon

Andrew McMahon is my all-time favorite musician. I've loved him in all his iterations - Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, and now Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. Not only is he a super talented piano player, song writer, and performer, he also survived cancer and is an all-around fantastic person. 

Since 2003, I've seen him live approx. 12 - 20 times, and have gotten to meet him a couple times. 

Circa 2006 aka the black faux-hawk days of Jack's Mannequin. 😍 

One of his many shows I saw at the Viper Room in LA... living in your fave musician's hometown makes for MANY great concerts. 

The latest of these wonderful concerts/meet and greets was last Friday. He was opening for Panic! At the Disco (who knew they were still a band?! and apparently have a huge rabid following of angsty teens?!?) and Weezer. While Weezer was cool, I went solely to see my boy Andrew. His set was AMAZING (one of the best of his I've seen) even though it was wayyy too short. 

But the best part happened after his set when he tweeted this... 

So naturally I was like...

I got to chat with him briefly and take the best picture of our 13+ year relationship. 

Shout out to Chris for supporting my extreme fangirl-ness and taking these action shots. 

It was absolutely the highlight of my month so far, and my heart didn't beat at a normal pace for over an hour after this occurred.

If you haven't listened to the glory that is Andrew McMahon yet, here's a great little starter kit for you... ENJOY! (And go see him live next time he's in your town). :)

xoxo, 

Annie. 

7 months later...

Hello, hello! I figured after an unintentional 7 month hiatus, it was time to dust off the old blog. I blame my extreme blog neglect on the past 7 months being some of the most happy/stressful/fun/busy/life-changing months of my life, full of wedding prep/parties, more work travel than the rest of my career combined, GETTING MARRIED, etc. 
A quick (photographic) recap... 

J  A  N  U  A  R  Y 

• I rang in 2016 with my darling Kayla, my boo, and hundreds of strangers at party thrower extraordinaire Rhonda's super fun #BeatsAndBubbly party. 

F  E  B  R  U  A  R  Y

• I was part of a new business pitch for the first time ever which was equal parts time-consuming, stressful, and exhilarating... and ultimately super exciting because WE WON the business! That new client is LongHorn Steakhouse and I'm the account lead for the team. (Shameless plug: if you don't follow LongHorn on social yet, you can do so here, here, and here).  It's been a big learning experience and as I mentioned above - a LOT of work travel. 
• I spent a week in LA and worked at the Oscars again!  I was able to get Kayla bleacher seats on the red carpet, so she came and spent the weekend with me in LA too (just like old tiiiiimes). :) 

M  A  R  C  H

• The beginning of wedding festivities! From March - May we had several sweet friends host showers for us. In the midst of all the insane wedding/work stress that was killing me softly during this same timeframe, these parties were a great reminder that these last couple months of engagement were a special time to be CELEBRATED with wonderful friends and family. 

A  P  R  I  L 

• Went back to LA for the best bachelorette party weekend there ever was. Mary found a fantastic house in the hills for the weekend, straight up Lauren Conrad style. Me saying "I feel like Lauren Conrad!" numerous times throughout the weekend inspired McKenzie to create this wonderful/hilarious video montage... hahaha.

• Chris and I both got in car wrecks this month. 2 separate car wrecks. 24 hours apart. 3 weeks before our wedding. WHAT ARE THE ODDS.  Blurghhhhh to the max. 

M  A  Y

• WE GOT MARRIED!! And it was a glorious, beautiful, emotionally overwhelming blur. It was truly the best, most special day of my life to be surrounded by all my family and friends from all my different chapters of life... Duncan, OU, LA, Dallas, and everything in between. After 9 months of planning every little detail (and there are seemingly NEVER ENDING details to be planned - oyyyy), it really came together just how we wanted it. :) I am dyinggggg to get the photos and video back (hopefully any day now!), but here's a little sneak peek from the photographer in the meantime...

• We took a super relaxing/rejuvenating honeymoon to Cabo, and it was wonderful - full of delish food, tropical beverages, hammocks, beach beds, exploring, etc. I did not want to leeeeeave.

• The day after we got back from the honeymoon, I had to leave for a work trip (oy veyyyy), so I didn't get to move into our new place until I was back from that. In case you haven't moved recently and might have forgotten - MOVING IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD AND I HATE IT WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS. 

JUNE 

• Unpack, work trip, unpack, unpack, work trip, unpack. Rinse and repeat. 😐

JULY 

• We spent 4th of July in Katy with my parents and it was lovely. We starting watching The People v. OJ Simpson on this trip (late to the game, I know), and it was SO GOOD. I highly recommend everyone watch this right now if you haven't yet, and then let's discuss. 

And here we are in mid-July, mostly settled into our new place and getting used to married life. So far, I give it 2 thumbs up. :)

xoxo, 

Annie.