The Meaning Behind My Name

    After seeing Elizabeth Dubinsky make a status on Facebook about the meaning behind her name, it made me think about my name, and it's meaning.

      I've known for awhile that the meaning behind the name "Alexa" and "Alex" was "defender of mankind", but never really how that correlated with my life. I didn't really think it did. "Defender of mankind" seems like such a huge task. But then I thought about what has the most meaning for me in life, and it does have to do with defending. A big part of my life story is defending the lives of the unborn. It also has to do with defending my friends, and defending those with special needs. Showing the world that each life is important, and it matters no matter how different someone may be. Loving people and showing them that they matter, defending their lives and seeing them as sacred.

     My parents thought they were picking a random name, but all along God had brought the name to them. A name that has been molded around my life. It's so cool to look up your name and have it totally fit your life's purpose and story.

   

California Trip: Day 4

    My bed in the cottage was next to large windows overlooking the ocean, so I had literally fallen asleep to the sound of ocean waves. We all got up early again, which was surprisingly easy during this trip. (I wasn't as tired as usual).  I actually slept the best this night even though I was most likely to sleep the worst that night due to excitement. (Meeting Ryan Ross later that night). Today my friend Katie cooked all a dozen eggs for breakfast. At this cottage there was a hot plate. It took a long time to cook the eggs. but we didn't have to feel like we were being wasteful then.

   While the eggs we're being cooked, we walked along the shore of the beach one last time. Playing on the beach one last time. There was a lot of crab shells. Lizzie and Anna had gotten a bag of items from the gift store, and when we weren't looking a seagull almost robbed us. The seagull actually ate a hole in the bag before we chased it away. We put the pile of scrambled eggs on a plate and each took a fork and ate, while looking out a big window which overlooked the ocean.

       

    Today was my day to get to plan activities, due to it being the day of the Christmas show(Ryan Ross performance). In advance I ordered tickets online for a Hollywood Tour. We were nervous we were going to miss it, due to traffic. But we managed to get there just in time. On the Hollywood Tour we got to lookout at the Hollywood sign at Muholland Drive, look at celebrity homes, look at crime scenes, and see other historical sites. Some features include "the" Hotel California, where Jim Carey got his start, where Britney Spears shaved her head, and Iron Man's house from Iron Man 2. We decided to get off the tour bus on Hollywood Boulevard instead of riding back to the parking lot. Here we did the obligatory Walk of Fame, and looked at celebrities footprints and handprints (Hollywood's a place you only need to see once and never again, it's not too exciting, it's more hyped up then anything.) The Walk of Fame is a sidewalk not it's own area. I got my obligatory picture with The Beatles star. 

     After exploring the stars, we decided to find a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. We settled for a restaurant called Rock N' Roll Sushi and ate outside. My left over Pad Thai leaked from the left over container onto my dress. It was the dress I was supposed to wear to the show, but luckily Lizzie let me borrow hers. Luckily my camera covered the orange stain, until we had time to change. 

   Since the Guitar Center of Hollywood was nearby we walked over there after lunch, and it had me awestruck. There were hundreds of different guitars. Some famous music stars also had there handprints and footprints outside the store. Since it was my day we were hoping we could go explore Venice Beach or Santa Monica but sadly that would of been a 50min drive from Hollywood, and we weren't going to risk getting to the show late. So instead we drove to Cinnaholic, a place where you can get a custom ordered cinnamon roll. I ordered a cinnamon roll with cake batter frosting and rainbow sprinkles. Best cinnamon rolls ever. 

  Before the show we went to the fanciest looking Starbucks to change, do makeup, and hair to prepare for the show. (Since I already posted about my experience with the show I will not repeat the details.)  

California Trip: Day 3

   Today we actually did the unthinkable, and woke up to see the sunrise. The breeze off the water was pretty cold. We had to wake up at around 6:30 to see the sunrise. But it was incredible.

   
     We had breakfast at the restaurant on the beach. We shared these powdered baguette things that tasted like funnel cake.

       We were told by the cottage staff, that they'd know if we could stay another night if we came to the office at 11am. We decided to stay and wait, so we spent the morning playing by the water. My friends Anna and Lizzie got soaked during this endeavor. 

                      

      When it got to be 11, my friend Katie went up to the office to see about another night. It turned out she won another night at the cottages by the flip of a coin. There was another family trying to get in at the exact same time. You can't convince me, that this wasn't a miracle, especially with the day before. If we had barely gotten the cottages this day, how did we get a night at the cottages at 3ish in the afternoon, without anyone snagging it for exactly 4 people? The cottage available was a different one, but it was again for 4 people. We were relieved. We then made our decent to Joshua Tree National Park which was a 2 hour trek away. Driving through the desert was pretty boring, so we were kind of nervous the park would be a dud, but it wasn't. It had amazing views, and the boulders were fun to climb on. We first attempted to climb Ryan Mountain, we thought we were almost to the top when a mother and a daughter told us we were only half way up. I was literally dying by then so we decided to climb up the boulders in the park instead. Joshua Trees look like something out of Dr. Suess. 

        It was after sunset when we got back to the cottages. Our cottage this time was larger, so we were sharing it with two other groups. A couple and a few women. We tried to get into the wrong room at first. We thought our room was letter B....turned out it was letter D. We were pretty sure the room we were trying to get in to, was for a couple having sex. I immediately went to the office, before I knew we had misheard the letter, and he made the correction. (Thank goodness, we were the ones that made the mistake and the couple hadn't accidentally just had sex in the room we were staying in.) 

California Trip Day 2

      Here comes the most stressful day of the trip. However, although it was very stressful, we were all able to keep it together. This is also when the biggest miracle of our trip happened as well. The day didn't slowly turn into a bad day. It was a stressful day from the start.

     I was awoken to shouts of, "Our car got towed." Turns out we had parked in someone else's spot, and they had called the tow truck sometime during the few hours that we were there. My friends weren't sure if our rental car had gotten stolen or not at first. They went to the front office, where they found we were apart of a scam. The lady who rented us her Air BnB was doing so illegally. The apartment complex does not allow people to rent out apartments as Air BNBs. We didn't think much of it at the time, but this encounter would eventually lead us to getting kicked out of our Air BNB. 

   We told the lady renting out the Air BNB about what had happened, and went to pick up our car. Before calling a Lyft we went to a cafe next door. This is where I experienced my first taste of fresh California orange juice. I drank it all in about 10 minutes. We then took a Lyft to the towing company, then went to Walmart to buy food for our trip. Assuming we would be at the Air BNB the rest of the trip. 

   It was Lizzie's day due to it being the hottest day of the trip, in the 70's, and wanting to explore beaches. We went to Crystal Cove to explore Newport Beach, and had a picnic on the beach. It totally felt like we were in a secluded village, and again it was peaceful. There was a Christmas Tree set up on the beach as well. We laid our towels on the sand and laid down until we got the call that we were kicked out of our Air BNB. The Air BNB hostess had sent my friend who had booked it a series of documents right before we arrived. Like a half hour before. She frantically filled them out without reading them. In one of the documents it stated that she would not tell anyone about what had happened. So when they had told the front desk, they had broken the agreement. 

    

   While relaxing at the beach we were told we were basically stranded in California without a place to stay that night. We all rushed, going online to look for cheap housing. We had noticed that there were cottages on the beach, so we went up to the gift shop to ask about these cottages. It turned out that a 4 person room in a cottage would cost $71 a night. The catch was these cottages were always booked out, and reserved 6 months in advance due to popularity. She told us we could go to the front desk however and see if they had anything. After praying, we went up to the front desk, and to our surprise there was one room yet to be rented out. A 4 person room. It was too perfect to be a coincidence. We were so excited. We were excited to be able to come back to the beach after spending almost no time there, and the cottages were super cute. We definitely struck gold. God had our backs that day, and had our backs again the next day, you'll see why. 

    We left the beach to go get our stuff out of the Air BNB. We splurged on this Air BNB. It was a higher price then most Air BNBs we had been looking at. But we wanted to do it due to the perfect location and the luxury of a hot tub. This was definitely not your typical scam. All the reviews online were really good, so there is no way we could of prepared for this malfunction. Since our Air BNB was next to Newport Pier we decided to check it out before heading back to our beach house. Once at our beach house, we explored the beach at night with flashlights. Although it was much cooler to explore the beach in the daylight. 

    Two of my other friends stayed and sat down by the beach while my other friend and I went back up to the cottage. We met the other person living in our cottage. His name was Vince, and he was very sweet. We told him about all that had happened that day, and he offered us a mostly full bottle of wine. The cottage had a refrigerator which we were happy for, so all the food we had bought wouldn't get spoiled. Although the stove in the cottage was just for decoration. The cottages were made to look like when they were built in the 30's. 

California Trip Day 1

    Since we got into LA late Tuesday night. I'm going to talk about Tuesday and Wednesday in this post. Tuesday contained a lot of stress as it was Finals week, and I crammed everything into Tuesday. I do not wish to remember the stress I felt that day so I'll start with after my schoolwork was done.

    I got my hair done right before the trip. It just so happened the girl had availability on the day I was leaving. After I got my hair done, I packed up my car and was picked up by my friends in Kenosha. From there we made our way to O'Hare in Chicago. On the way we took turns choosing songs to listen to. When we got to the airport, we found out our flight was delayed an hour, so we had to wait in the airport for 3 hours once we got settled in. However we found a nice area with comfy couches and drank Christmas flavored Starbucks coffee as we waited.

    The flight there wasn't very memorable. It was a big airplane so there was a lot of space and I got the whole row of seats to myself. I think we got to LA at around midnight, and from there we took a Lyft to our hotel for the night from LAX. It was a bit concerning when after we told the Lyft driver where we were headed she said it was on a bad side of town. A 7 on a scale of 10 of how sketchy of an area it was. The Lyft driver had lived in LA for 30 years, so I was definitely worried for our safety that night. She told us it was a nice hotel however, and we did survive. There were no complaints besides it being pretty cold, and a dog barking at night. (The Lyft driver was the sweetest lady).

    The next morning my friend Anna got to plan the day. She had seen a video on  Buzzfeed of cool restaurants in LA so we decided to try one of them out for breakfast. This restaurant was called The Griddle Cafe. At the Griddle Cafe you can order 5 pounds of pancakes as bigger than your head. The waiter mislead me into getting two pancakes, I didn't know you could order just one. I ordered a pancake named "Mounds of Pleasure". Mounds of Pleasure contained powdered sugar, vanilla flavored whipped cream, and a bunch of coconut pieces. I had left overs for days. We weren't hungry again until late that evening. (As you can see the pancakes don't even fit on the plate.)

    To walk off the large breakfasts we had consumed we went to Ferndale. Ferndale makes it seem like your walking through an indoor botanical garden, or next to zoo exhibits. At the end of one of the trails was an outdoor cafe, where we stopped for a couple minutes. It was a beautiful, peaceful spot. Although one of the picnic tables outside was made to look like a Oujji board. Only in California.... (Other strange things about California include billboards with pictures of women in weed bikinis with the caption "Get the Grass", a lot of people you meet are stoned, signs on the side of the road that read "Hump" instead of "Bump". 

    Are next stop was to the Brotsmann Cave and Canyon. A lot of movies were filmed here, including Batman. You walk through the cave, into a valley on the other side. From the valley, you can climb up the side of the hills to see the Hollywood sign. It was really beautiful, and peaceful as well. 

      

     From here Anna decided she wanted to go to "The Getty." "The Getty" is an art museum in LA. After going to "The Getty" I realized that art museums aren't really my thing, at all. I also almost knocked a painting off the wall, so there's that. Looking at paintings on the wall is just not very intriguing to me, however there was a great view of LA from "The Getty." We also got to see the sunset. 

    Next stop was Rodando Pier for toe rings. I was not peer pressured into getting a toe ring, instead I got pineapple earrings. A lot of stores were closed at that time, but not that cute tiki looking shop. Finally, after we were done visiting the pier we were somewhat hungry. Since we were in California, we felt obligated to go to In N' Out. The burgers were pretty good for being fast food burgers, although the fries were stale. (I've heard the fries always suck though?) (Another random thing I noticed about California is that they don't decorate very much for Christmas, there were only a few houses decorated for Christmas, and decorations here and there. Nothing like how Wisconsin does Christmas or Chicago.) 

    After trying out In N' Out we checked in to our Air BNB. We were supposed to stay there for 3 nights, but only ended up staying there for about 8 hours. The next post will go into why. Since our Air BNB had a hot tub, once we loaded everything into the room we got on our swimsuits. The apartment complex where we were staying also had an outdoor pool. We could only stay in the hot tub so long however because it was after 10pm when we got there. We then went back to the room, made 4 boxes of macaroni and cheese, and watched part of "The Holiday" which partially takes place in LA. 

The Z-berg and Ryan Ross Christmas Show

     As stated previously, my main reason for going to LA was to see Ryan Ross perform. Right now he is my favorite celebrity, and has taken part of my heart. (You're all probably gagging....I'm sorry)

    We got to the Pico Union Project around 7:20, with the concert starting at 8:30 and the doors opening at 8. Since a lot of Ryan's fans are also fans of Panic! At the Disco, most of the fanbase was younger. Although they're were quite a few people my age as well. Before going to the concert I found some people online who were going to the show, and we had a groupchat set up to talk about the show beforehand. Most of them actually hung out outside the venue for hours before the show. (Don't worry they were all really nice, and who they said they were.) If was strange meeting a group of people from across the United States that came from Twitter.

   The friend's I went to California with were true sports. None of them had been fans of Ryan Ross before the show, but even though they didn't know his music they were excited for me. They even did my makeup and hair before we arrived at the show. When I got into the venue, I didn't even stop at the merch table. I wanted a close spot, and I did get one...on the floor. The thing about this show was that it was smaller. It had a capacity of 350 people, so it was a very intimate space. The venue was an old synagogue made music venue. There were pews, but wide aisles. Since it was a concert I thought it would be okay to stand in these aisles at the front. (It turns out no one actually stood at this concert, until the last song.) We got mixed answers when asking if it were okay for us to stand there. Some people said yes. But a guy told us not to stand in front in the aisles so I sat instead. It was awkward because most people stood in the back, instead of siting in the aisles when the pews were filled.

   However, the other acts when they weren't on stage would sit off to the side of the stage on the ground behind a barrier. I thought that maybe if someone came to tell me to move I could always pretend to be a photographer for the venue, with my professional camera, or blend in with the other performers. No one asked me to move...and a few others besides one of my friends sat up there with me. I think Ryan and I made eye contact at least 5x during the night. Right before one of the times Ryan went on, he peaked out the side door, smiled and waved. This was during the time that Z-berg was talking so most people were focused on what he was saying. I told a girl sitting near me about it, and she thought I was joking. I actually couldn't believe it myself.

   Being so close to the stage was incredible, but meeting them, hugging them, and talking to them was even more incredible. I didn't feel like I was actually living most of the show. My friend told me I went completely still, like I forgot how to breathe when Ryan came on stage. I wanted to take in every moment. During one song, when he was done doing back up vocals he just sat on stage. If you haven't heard their music I highly recommend checking it out.

   After the show was over, my friend and I wasted no time standing in the back of the room where they said they would meet fans. Thankfully I was one of the first people to meet them. (I wasn't leaving until I did, and that would of meant my friends waiting extra long). It was important that they made a connection with each fan, so they spent a couple minutes talking with each fan. I was at a loss of what to say with Z, but was prepared with Ryan. Thank goodness I could get myself to speak to the man. His mannerisms are so gentleman-like, and he smiles and gives perfect eye contact so you feel like you really matter to him. I wrote down what we talked about so I wouldn't forget. I'm so glad they took the time to speak with each fan more than 30 seconds. When I met Tyler Oakley and Shane Dawson you were super rushed by security. So it was more like a meet, greet, and leave. ha ha.

   So here's how the conversation went. I said hi and introduced myself to him, he introduced himself back. (In retrospect I think it would of been really funny to act like I didn't already know). I had brought him a gift for Christmas which contained Christmas candy and a bandanna for his dog. (He took a video of himself putting the bandanna on his dog, and I'm still shook). Before the show as well I had gotten other fans to donate to a dog rescue that Ryan supported. He seemed confused when I told him about this, though and asked if I was from California since the dog rescue was located in Southern California. I told him that I was actually from Wisconsin and flew in Tuesday after Finals (that really showed my age ha ha). He asked what I had seen in California, and I told him it was my first time seeing palm trees and the Pacific Ocean and how I had visited Newport. He agreed that Newport was a beautiful place. He then asked how long I was staying for, and I told him how I was going to be leaving tomorrow. He wished me a safe flight then we took a picture together and I hugged him.
   
   Both of them signed my ticket for the show. I literally didn't know what to say to Z so I kind of just told her I thought she was really pretty and that she sounded really good singing ha ha. When I asked for a picture she told me to hug her body, which I did. They are the sweetest humans and I love them so much. I might have to make another trip out to LA next year just to see them again. Until then I'll just run a fan blog I guess, and try to get noticed by them ha ha.

Who's Ryan Ross?

     As you may have noticed, I went to California for a couple days. My main reason for going to California was to see Ryan Ross perform and meet him. But who is Ryan Ross, and why would I fly all the way to LA to see him. You're in luck as, in this post I will answer these questions.

     So who the heck is Ryan Ross? If you don't recognize his name, you might recognize the name of the band he started, which is still famous to this day. The band that he started is called Panic! At the Disco. The last remaining member, and lead singer of Panic! is Brendon Urie, who has a more famous name at the moment. Panic's most famous songs include: "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", "High Hopes", "This is Gospel", "Nine in the Afternoon", and "Miss Jackson."

   So why Ryan Ross and not Brendon Urie, if Brendon Urie's the most relevant one now? Back story. So during the summer I went to my first Panic! At the Disco concert. Not wanting to be a fake fan, I dug deep into their history. The original band members, the split, how they became famous, etc. I watched old interviews, and old concerts. While watching one of the older concerts, I noticed that I really liked the background singers/guitarist's voice a lot. Since no one usually notices the background singer, I didn't think the comments would mention him at all, but tons did. As I watched the interviews and old concert videos, I noticed we had a lot of similarities. Ryan wrote most of the songs for the first two albums, and the lyrics are filled with deep meaning and intelligent words.

    Ryan is a writer, and a guitarist. He is soft spoken. He's witty. He's overlooked. He's misunderstood. He's filled with joy. He's soft spoken. He's humble. He's kind. Whereas Brendon Urie is loud, energetic, seen. Ryan also writes more of the music I'm into. Ryan writes more acoustic songs with deep lyrics, whereas Brendon writes catchy songs that are more modern pop sounding.

    Okay but that still doesn't answer the question of why you flew all the way to LA to see this dude perform. The thing is after Panic! split Ryan became increasingly less famous. From the top, slowly sliding down the ladder. He kind of went into hiding after 2011. He stopped posting anything online. Only occasionally after 2013. But in May, 2018 he came back on the scene, and did a show with a close friend, Z-berg. He also did a show in September, as well as the one I went to in December. I'm blessed that in the same year I came to low Ryan Ross, is the same year he began performing again. He recently released a new song on December 10th of this year. I do believe Ryan Ross will become relevant again and maybe even tour the US in the future once again.

    So who's Z-berg, and how does she relate to Ryan. Z is one of Ryan Ross's ex girlfriends. Ryan and Z's relationship was really toxic, and they decided they'd be better off as friends. They've become close as the years have gone on and she's his best friend now. The Bad List, the song that just came out is about the toxicity of their past relationship. Z never did become as famous as Ryan did, but her voice is of a singer that might as well be famous. She has a really beautiful voice, and interacts easily with fans. She is originally from the band "Phases" and "The Like". I'd highly recommend listening to her work. (Since this post has been long enough...I will post about the show in a separate post, along with the other parts of my LA/California experience.)