The Weekend Santa took me to Houston....

Yes, he did. As I've told you in my last post, I've got an early Christmas gift, which was a trip to Houston to see the Lakers play the Rockets. K-O-B-E my man Bryant. I was in heaven. I'm still in heaven every time I think of it... *sigh*

The game was on a Saturday, so we actually wanted to take off Friday around noon. But my body decided to make this impossible by having a bad episode of the pains I suffer from lately. So I went to bed early, only to wake up with a migraine the next day...

Thank goodness for Exedrin, I made it into the car and was good to drive after being able to nap for additional 30 minutes in the passenger seat. Hallelujah!

The drive from southern Arkansas to Houston was alright... Nothing spectacular.

We stayed at the Sheraton hotel, and checked in a soon as we got to Houston. Man how I've missed big city smell, big city traffic, big city people!!! I fell in love with Houston right away, even though it was raining and storming al through my stay.

After we checked in, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant, Mai's, downtown. It was DELICIOUS!
This is just my appetizer. As usual:

A photo posted by Anni S (@anni_s) on Dec 12, 2015 at 11:12am PST

The minute we stepped out of the restaurant, I decided I wanted to go for a walk.... AT THE BEACH! So I took over the wheel again, and drove another hour to Galveston. The ocean does something to me. It makes me calm down. It makes me being able to breath again. It makes me forget all the bulls**t that's going on in my life. The second I saw the beach, I cried. Bad. Here we go again. I parked the car, and didn't even pay any attention to my companion. I took off my shoes and RAN into the shore! It was a whooping 72F that day, so it wasn't even too cold!

We only had 1 hour before it was time to go back to Houston and to the hotel to get ready for the game. But man, it was so worth it! Those few minutes with my feet in the sand and the water felt like at least 1 week of vacation. It felt as if I recharged my (way too empty) batteries again.

Traffic going back was insane... So when we got to the hotel I ran into the shower and left for the game with my hair still wet!

Parking at the Toyota arena was 10 bucks. Not too shabby... I was expecting way more. The arena itself is sweet! We've had seats upstairs, and the view was amazing! I was in a "zone" throughout the game. I wanted to take in as much as possible. I've had goosebumps non stop, especially when the WHOLE ARENA was chanting "Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!"

It was an amazing experience. I was so so happy to see Kobe play! And let me tell you a secret: Since that day I'd say I'm a Houston Rockets fan as well! They are having a pretty awesome team, and definitely some characters playing! James Harden is my new favorite. What a dude :oD! He's now my MacBook, iPad, and phone Wallpaper. Yes! I'm that crazy.

I love basketball. I love Kobe Bryant. The NBA and especially my Lakers won't be the same again ever again. My team has a lot of work ahead of them. They have to rebuild... The current roster is not that spectacular, and now imagine it minuts Kobe - bummer. But we will see!

What I can say is: This was one of the best Christmas gifts EVER! And the 4 pillows I had FOR MYSELF at the Sheraton were like heaven... in a pillowcase...

The best gift is and will always be: Making Memories.