So obviously if you’ve been following along on my Instagram, you know that DeAndre is a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers. This is the 4th team he’s been on and if you’ve read my last post (linked here), then you’ll know how I REALLY feel about this team.
So anyways, as you guys know from the title, this is a blog post about the 49ers Open Practice.. I know.. This post is a little delayed! But as you can imagine, between starting a new job, gaining more traction with Beyond Casual, and D being in camp and having his preseason games, I’ve been a little preoccupied with life! But better late than never, right?! So I’ll start with the days leading up to the open practice, since I did a couple of things to prepare and then I’ll get into the actual day!
For preparation, I’ve ALWAYS customized t-shirts with D’s name and number for camp, so first stop.. The mall! I think I paid like $20 at one of those t-shirt kiosks, for “CARTER” and the “#14”.
I then went on the hunt for a clear bag… dun dun dun!! For those of you who don’t know, the NFL has a clear bag policy.. And 99% of those clear bags are HIDEOUS! 🙁 So after heading into claire’s and icing, I finally found a backpack at Forever. I still haven’t decided if I like it, but it gets the job done I guess.. The struggle is real y’all!
From there I went to get my nails done. I was definitely due for a fill and a pedi so I stopped by the nail salon the day before and got a fresh coat of RED polish!! It’s seriously the only color I ever get lol and it’s NINERS colors! 😉 And if were being honest, having clean, painted nails have always been one of my top priorities because… well, ya girl has to look good!! 😉
So now its the day of open practice. Practice was on a Saturday at 10am in the stadium, so I got ready and left my house around 9:00am. With traffic it can take up to an hour to get there from our house.. Just depending on the day and time! I seriously still can’t get over Bay traffic!!
But on top of that, I realized D forgot to give me the parking pass, so it took me another 40 minutes to navigate through traffic and find another place to park! It’s seriously madness by the stadium! So if you live in the area and are planning on going to a game, GO EARLY! Parking is not easy! haha. I eventually found a spot a couple of streets over in a gravel lot and started to make my way over to the stadium.
I breezed through security and met up with D’s mom just inside the gates. We then made our way over to the VIP entrance and I could see her excitement building!
So after getting our badges, we went into the clubhouse where there was a ton of food! Burgers, chicken tenders, pizza, polish dogs, you name it! They also had dessert, so you guys know I went STRAIGHT for the sugar cookies! haha..
It was such a nice setup and they truly went above and beyond for the families! But the coolest part had to be the fact that the clubhouse led you straight onto the field! So we were standing right there next to D! I just love watching him out there on that field.. living his dream.. I’m just so happy for him ♥
It was a pretty warm day though, so I went back inside to grab some waters and to my surprise, someone came up to me to introduce themselves as one of the players’ wives. It was such a kind gesture and we hung out for the rest of practice. That was just the beginning of my wonderful experience with the wives/fiancées/girlfriends on this team. There’s truly nothing better than the friendships I’ve gained throughout this journey over the past three years.
Once practice ended, D was signing autographs and came to where we were for a quick hug and picture! With fans yelling their names, it got a little hectic where we stood.. So me and the other wife headed to the locker room where we would meet up with D and her husband after.
We said our goodbyes and before I knew it, we were driving away from our first experience inside Levi’s stadium… Since then there’s been two preseason games and the third is tomorrow.. I’m feeling all sorts of emotions, but proud is an understatement.. I can only hope we get to continue our journey with this amazing organization… #prayersup
*All these shirts are available in other teams too! Just click on the photo to select your favorite team.
