Sports Themed Nails

Now that our stadium tour is officially over for the summer, I'm having some sports withdrawals.  For a while there, between hockey playoffs and our trip, it was all sports all the time!  Now I have a little more time to breathe, which is nice, but I am missing some of my sports action.  Luckily, we have a couple of Dodger games coming up (and they are doing awesome right now!) which should help with my withdrawal symptoms!  I thought for today we could look at some of the cute things you can do to get decked out for a big game.  These are some super cute nail designs and decals you can use to support your team literally from head to toe!  (Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)

And here are my nails from the Kings' playoff series!

You can have lots of fun with your team colors or just the sport in general.  Can't wait for football season and some cute designs there!

Stadium Tour: Camden Yards

Hey sports fans!  Sorry for the delay bringing you our final stadium of our four park tour.  I wanted to save my favorite stadium for last, even though it was actually the first park we visited.  We went to Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, on the first day of our trip for an afternoon game.  They just happened to be playing the Red Sox, which meant two of our crew were rooting for the away team.  Despite that fact, we had an amazing time at the game.  Everyone was so nice, the stadium was beautiful, and the food was incredible.  I knew I was going to love it when we walked up and saw this...

Just gorgeous.  The interior of the stadium isn't too bad either...

One of the best things about Camden Yards is the ease with which you can acquire booze (more on that later).  As we were walking up the ramp to our seats, they had vendors selling beers, you know so you don't get dehydrated on your walk up.

We sat in the cheap seats (spent our good money on Yankee and Fenway), but the view was still awesome.

The one food item I really wanted on our trip was the famous Camden Yards crab mac n cheese dog, so we went on a mission to find it...

The crab mac n cheese dog and the birdland dog are both available here, in the outfield pavilions...

The outfield section is awesome.  There is great food (both dogs were AH-MAZING) and cute little tables and benches where you can sit and still see the game.

But, by far, the best thing about Camden Yards...in stand beer vendors.  That's right folks, you don't have to leave your seat and miss the game to grab a beer, they bring the beer right to you!  Best. idea. ever.

This local brew was delivered to us in our seats, just as easily as if we were buying peanuts.  Awesome.  Camden Yards set the bar high for the rest of the trip, and I'm not sure any of the other stadiums truly lived up to our high expectations.  Overall, it was an amazing trip and we had so much fun.  I feel so blessed that we were able to have these experiences, and I cannot wait to explore more stadiums around the country!

Stadium Tour: Fenway Park

Today we are traveling to Bean Town to arguably one of the most historic buildings in sports.  The stadium opened in 1912 and is the oldest stadium still in operation today.  The age definitely shows--the stadium is tiny and has features like our seats that faced the wrong way--but it makes the stadium so charming and such a fun place to visit.  Unfortunately, because of our rain delay in NYC, we arrived to our Red Sox game late in the third inning.  A total bummer, but there probably aren't many people in the world who can say they have been to a game at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park all in the same day!  Going from the stark concrete of Yankee Stadium to this made me uber happy...

So gorgeous.  I didn't even mind having to sit sideways in my seat since this is what I got to see!

One of the most famous attributes of Fenway is the Green Monster (or Monstah if you're a local).  It's one of the hardest areas to hit a ball out of the park.  At the bottom of the Green Monster is a good old fashioned score board.  A real live person comes out in between innings to update scores from around the league.

Everything about Fenway spills out charm and history.  And as a bonus, the locals were so nice and friendly!  This is a park I will visit again and again!

  

Tomorrow we tour our final stadium, Camden Yards.  I'm kind of having end of vacation syndrome all over again!  Guess I'll have to hurry up and find some more stadiums to visit soon!

Stadium Tour: Yankee Stadium

Hey there kiddos!  Today we are traveling to one of the most famous sports arenas in the world: Yankee Stadium.  I have to say, it is a huge regret of mine that I never got to see the old Yankee Stadium, but I had heard such good things about the new one, I was looking forward to our trip there.  To make the deal even sweeter, the Yankees were hosting my Dodgers for the first time ever during the regular season.  Now, if you are a baseball fan at all, you know that if you are not a Yankees fan, you are a Yankees hater.  Given that we were traveling with a Dodger fan, a Giants fan (they also originated in NY), and two Red Sox fans, we were looking forward to a Yankee beat down.  However, when we arrived for our game, this is what we saw...

It was pouring rain!  The game was canceled and we were crushed.  We had scheduled our trip pretty tightly, four games in four days, we did not have time for rain!  Luckily, since the Dodgers were only in town for two days, they scheduled the make up for the following day at 1:00, which meant we only got to see two hours, but we still had time to make it to our night game (more on that tomorrow!).  We arrived early the following day so we could tour the stadium.  It dawned as a gorgeous summer day!

Yankee Stadium is brand new and cost a small fortune, so we were definitely expecting opulence, and we got it.

We took a tour of the Yankee Museum, which had some cool stuff in it.  My favorite part was the replica of the Yankees lockers, which have a computerized screen to personalize the players' names.  We used it for a different purpose...

(Despite the fact that Matt is a Yankee hater, he will never be on board with "Go Dodgers".)  We had cool seats out in the outfield, which is a view I love.

Of course, a trip to Yankee Stadium would not be complete without some true Yankee fans.  We were "lucky" enough to have two guys behind us yelling out all kind of welcoming messages like "Dodger fans are f***ing trash" and "You're all f***ing losers"...it was so kind of them to live up to the stereotypes.  Fortunately, most of the fans were not that bad, and there were a TON of Dodger fans representing, which was awesome to see.  I only wish we could have been there for the whole game!

In general, Yankee Stadium was lacking in the area of baseball charm.  I think it's kind of a shame that they tore down a building that housed some of the greatest players who ever lived, just to build a large, modern, boring, concrete slab.  This is not a stadium I walked into and thought about history.  It is a stadium I walked into and thought, "This cost a lot of money."  As Matt said, it was the only stadium we visited that seemed to cater to the wealthy--I mean, there is an actual steak house in the stadium--whereas the other stadiums catered to the average baseball fan, the ones who can't afford a suite but will sit in the last row of the bleachers to support their team.  I'm glad that we went, but this is not a stadium I would seek out again.  Tomorrow, a stadium I will definitely seek out again--Fenway Park!

Stadium Tour: Citizens Bank Park

Hello sports fans!  We are back from our epic four parks in four days MLB stadium tour and I'm exhausted (and full)!  I cannot wait to share our memories of this amazing trip with you this week.  We had an amazing experience and it was so cool to travel around the East Coast and see what these different stadiums have to offer.  We are starting with Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies.  One of the first things we learned about Philly--there is baseball tailgating!  Tailgating is strictly forbidden in LA so it was a cool to see a different take on pre-game action!  The stadium in general has that old world feeling to it...

The Liberty Bell rings every time there is a home run, which is super cool.  There were some awesome details in the stadium, like this adorable bathroom sign...

And of course, there was yummy food.  We happened to be there on $1 hot dog night, so we did eat our fair share of good old fashioned dogs, but we also waited in line for the famous crab fries from Chickie's and Pete's.  Located in the outfield pavilion of the ball park, these guys were definitely tasty, though lacking in some of the crab flavor implied by the name.  That didn't stop us from eating them, of course.  The cheese sauce was awesome!

Once we had tackled dollar dogs, crab fries, beer and ice cream (more on that later), we were pretty stuffed.  But I had read all about the great food in Philly, so I grabbed a pic of this famous sandwich...

And got some brown sugar and cinnamon donuts to have for breakfast the next morning...

One of my fave parts of Philly was this awesome shirt we found...

We definitely enjoyed our time in Philly and at Citizens Bank Park.  Some great food and great scenery, plus the tailgating made the experience a lot more fun, getting to see the locals in their natural habitat!  Come back tomorrow for our tour of the world famous Yankee Stadium!

Fenway Park: Foodie Style

Our final stadium visit will be at Fenway Park.  I have actually been to Fenway before for their stadium tour, but have yet to see a game there, which means I have yet to sample any of their yummy offerings.  I get the bonus of having a native Bostonian accompany me to the game so I will definitely get the inside scoop on what to eat!  Here are some of the goodies I'm looking forward to!  (Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)



Wings...

Dogs...

The lobster roll...

Burger...

Some good looking eats!  Hopefully I will have room for some of the good food at Fenway after three other stadiums full of treats!  We are off on our trip today, first game is tomorrow (Sunday) at Camden Yards!  Make sure you are following me on Instagram (@LASportsDoll) for all my trip pics!  I will be back in a week with lots of awesome stadium tour highlights for you!

Yankee Stadium: Foodie Style

So stop three on our stadium tour is in the Big Apple at Yankee Stadium.  I'm most excited for this game because the Yankees are playing my boys in blue, the Dodgers!  Along with cheering for my team, I'm looking forward to sampling some of NY's goodies, like these...(Click pic for original source, all pics via Pinterest.)

Garlic fries...

Steak sandwich...

Yummy looking burger and beer...

Yankee burger from the adjoining Hard Rock Cafe...

Good old fashioned hot dog...

I definitely plan on taking a big bite out of the Big Apple!  Make sure you are following me on Instagram (@LASportsDoll) for all the stadium tour highlights!