Thursday, June 30, 2011

Best Month Ever: June 2011

As I sit here I am coming to grips that it is the end of June. No question about it, June 2011 was one of the most fun months in my life. It is funny, this month seemed both short and long. It seems like just yesterday I started using the number “6” to start off my dates and I was turning in all of my work stuff for the end of the month of May. But then I think about my sister getting married at the start of the month and I say to myself “Wow, that seemed like that happened so long ago.” So I must say I don’t know if I can say that the month flew by or dragged on because it seems like a little bit of both. One thing I can say though is that I had a complete blast over the last thirty days.
It is actually inaccurate to say that just the past thirty days have been a blast. I came into June strong, closing out the month of May with several fun days. I spent May 19th – 22nd in Pittsburgh visiting my friend from high school while seeing all of the sites of the city and attending a couple of Pirates games (read about it here ). The week after that, Memorial Day Weekend, I was in Mesa, Arizona, getting away from the cold Montana temperatures and enjoying the 100 degree desert temperatures. By the time I came back from Arizona on May 30th, June was right on my door step.
The month of June started off a little shaky for me as the Arizona sun had left my face badly burned. Being someone who never burns, I was freaking out at my mess of a face as I had my sister’s wedding in just a couple of days. I was very afraid that I was going to have to face (no pun intended) all of my relatives, friends, and people I had not seen in years with a hideous profile. Luckily, I just had to endure the embarrassment of a hideous face for a couple days at work. All of the lotion and care I gave to my face 24/7 over those couple of days paid off and I looked half way presentable for my sister’s wedding. I arrived in Spokane on Friday, June 3rd , and attended my sister’s rehearsal/rehearsal dinner that night. The next day, my sister was married. I had a wonderful time seeing all of my family and old friends/acquaintances. My brother and I had a blast together throughout the whole weekend as well  as we were always doing something with each other.
I returned to Missoula bright and early on the morning of Monday, June 6th. The first three days of the work week sped by and once Thursday came around, it was time for a couple of very fun work events that we stage annually here in the Grizzly Athletic Department. On that Thursday night we hosted Huddles and Heels. The next morning, I was out at the Canyon River golf course grilling hot dogs for the Montana Grizzlies Conoco Golf Classic, quite possibly one of the best events in all of Montana. Over the weekend (June 11th and 12th) I was in the office frantically trying to make up the work that I missed out on during Thursday and Friday while also completing the intimidating task of making sure everything was in order for me to be gone the whole next week. I probably made the poor decision of going out on Friday night and Saturday night as it made me a little sluggish those weekend mornings. However, I got everything done and I put myself in a good position to enjoy the upcoming week of craziness.
June 13th through June 17th I went to Las Vegas with my good friend Dan. We met up with my brother and a couple of his friends. It was a week of drinking, swimming, clubbing, and WINNING. Much craziness and mayhem was had on this trip. We met some great people and had a ton of fun. The experiences we had during this week will forever last as great stories.
After a brutal flight on Friday morning, we were greeted back to Missoula by cold, rain, and wind. As I did not sleep at all while I was in Vegas, I slept from about 3pm on Friday afternoon to 6am on Saturday morning.  June 18th  is Dan’s birthday (guy I went to Vegas with) and he was having his usual crazy birthday bash so after my 13 hour sleep marathon I got ready and made the drive to Kalispell to party it up in honor of my friend’s 25th birthday. It was your typical good time. On Sunday morning I made the trip back to Missoula to try to get a week of normalcy in before my next couple of big adventures.  It did not happen
Monday, June 20th was crazy at work as I paid the consequences for missing a whole week. I got out of the office late and then completed a long work out in hopes of rectifying the fact that I had gone a whole week without setting foot in the gym. Tuesday I woke up at 5:30am so I could work out early in the morning as I was going out of town once again right after work. After the work day was over I drove over to Kalispell once again to see a friend. I had a very nice time but had to get up at 4:30am the next morning so I could make it back to Missoula in time to shower at my house and then make it to work on time. I was successful in doing this on all accounts. After work I went to opening day for the Missoula Osprey. It was a beautiful night, the Osprey won, and the beer tasted so good. The next night, Thursday, June 23rd, I went to the Osprey game again. Only this time the Osprey lost…this of course caused us to drink more. After the game my friend and I went downtown and enjoyed the Thursday night.
This leads me to Friday, June 24th. After a good day at work and a solid work out, I left Missoula for Spokane. Once I arrived in Spokane I went to downtown where I had court monitor training for Hoopfest in the Bank of America building. I completed the training and then went to my parent’s house. Soon enough, my brother and his three Hoopfest teammates were at the house. The five of us enjoyed each other’s company and then we hit up downtown Spokane and Lilac Lanes casino. Saturday and Sunday, June 24th and June 25th, was Hoopfest Weekend. I spent the weekend as a court monitor for a male 18-24 year old bracket. I co-court monitored with Carissa, a girl who was nothing short of amazing. We called over 30 games during the weekend as we were lucky enough to have a great bracket. Later on Sunday night, I met up with Carissa as it was her birthday! We went to the Elk, a really cool bar cafĂ© in downtown Spokane. We drank apricot ale out on their patio on a gorgeous night. From there we went to a couple of other bars in downtown Spokane. I probably drank too much but it was a blast.
The next morning, Monday, June 27th, Glen (brother) and I headed off to Seattle for our annual Mariners trip. Both of us started the drive a little tired but we snapped out of it quickly. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Glen and I attended Mariners games. Unfortunately, the Braves swept the Mariners. It still did not detract from a great time that we had. During the late night we frequented the Seattle bars with our friends who live over in the Seattle area and on Tuesday Glen and I explored Pike Place and the waterfront. Wednesday’s game was an afternoon game so immediately after the Mariners lost for the third time in a row, we hit the road back to Spokane. We arrived at my parents’ house at around 8pm. I got to bed at around 1:30am.
Well, this brings us to today and the end of June. I got up at 5am this morning and made the drive back to Missoula where I went straight to work. It was a good day, not as overwhelming as when I returned to the office after my Vegas trip. I then worked out and then came right home. I have done absolutely nothing tonight, definitely a sharp contrast to what I did the rest of June. It is definitely nice though. I plan to get into bed before midnight and be ready for July.
June 2011 will go down as a very memorable month for me. I had so much fun and met so many new, great people. Did my month of fun have consequences? Yes. The body I worked so hard to gain over the past four months previous to June was basically abused and disregarded. When you are on the road constantly, it is so tough to eat right and hit up the gym. I am angry at myself for neglecting my fitness so much but it does not outweigh the fun I had. I know I will get back on my program soon and get back to where I want to be. Another casualty of June? My vacation time. As I have beaten to death, I missed a lot of work. I did prepare adequately though as I had diligently built up a lot of time over the past year. Time to do that again. You want one final tradeoff for the past thirty days? Let’s say my bank account. I definitely shelled out a lot of cash for all of these various trips but once again it was well worth it. When you are young and single, you have to spend your money on something. Hey, I get paid tomorrow!!
July 2011 should be much more low key and I am more than fine with that. I need to rest a little. This next month I plan to enjoy the Fourth of July holiday, watch as many Osprey games as possible, put in a stellar month at the gym, and have a great time in Los Angeles when I go July 22nd – 25th . I don’t know if this month will breeze by or drag on but I whatever it does I know this: Don’t Blink.

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