Golden

Last October a few of my girlfriends and I flew to Sacramento, California to meet up with our friend who moved to a town near there a couple of years ago. We had a full agenda, as we were celebrating her birthday with a music festival, and throwing her a surprise bridal shower.

It’s always special when we get to spend time with her, but this was an entire other level of special since the whole trip was about celebrating Stevi. When she picked us up from the airport, we went to a cute brunch spot near her house.

She was excited to show off her new neighborhood. Not to mention finally exploring and experiencing certain things that she was waiting on us to enjoy. We also got to accompany her to her final dress fitting.

That night we hung out with her and her family, taking over the office, hallway, and living room with all of our luggage and a bunch of air mattresses. It was like a huge adult slumber party, and I’m so grateful we did that.

Day two we gave her a dress code (nice brunch) and navigated her to the winery. She didn’t know where we were going until we passed the sign. That’s when we let her know it was her surprise bridal shower!

I’ll share more about how we bullied her into being bridesmaids in a later installment, but it was pretty magical. The scenery was gorgeous, the cheese board was amazing, and the wine was okay. (I don’t drink wine, but she does and she enjoyed it!)

While we were enjoying ourselves at her surprise bridal party, her father called to ask if he could give her away. The timing was impeccable and completely unplanned. Let’s just say she cried a lot of happy tears that day.

Day three included driving into the city to attend the first day of the Golden Sky music festival. They had a beer garden set up for part of the day, which we definitely enjoyed.

The main stage was set up so that you could watch the secondary stage on the giant screens as the audio was blasted through the speakers. It’s the only festival I’ve been to like that, and I thought it was absolutely genius.

The grounds were clean and massive. We somehow walked nearly 20,000 steps that day. Besides the beer garden, stages, bars, food, etc, there was also a huge dance hall with line dancing lessons.

Besides sore bodies and feet (who knew you’re supposed to put inserts in your cowboy boots), it was an amazing experience.

We got a room near the festival grounds so we didn’t have to drive too much. Had some food delivered to the room so we could rest and prepare for day two of the festival.

That was my first country music festival, as I’m more of an R&B and hip-hop kind of girl. I didn’t know most of the artists, and only knew a few songs from the ones I was familiar with. However, watching my friends and other concert-goers enjoy the live music was beautiful. Not to mention, hearing the passion in the artists’ work.

I was familiar with the headliner for day two, though. Sam Hunt sang several songs that I knew, which made that final performance of the event extra special for me. I got to sing and dance with my friends, while watching an artist I enjoy.

We drove back to her house that night, just to wake up and pack. That final day was bittersweet since we knew it would be a couple of months before we got to see Stevi again.

The older I’ve gotten, the more I appreciate and enjoy simple things. I absolutely love exploring and new experiences, however the time I get to spend with my loved ones is more important than I can adequately express.

“It’s not what you do, it’s who you do it with.” ~Unknown