Vegas at the Mandarin, High Roller Gamblin’

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Country Chatter Country Music, Las Vegas, Maren Morris

…Me and Diddy drippin’ diamonds like Marilyn

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HBD @marenmorris !!! ❤❤❤

A post shared by busbee (@busbee) on Apr 2, 2017 at 8:40am PDT

Maren Morris celebrated her birthday a bit early this year during her time in Vegas for the ACM Awards. This Grammy winning “hard to get starlet” turns 27 on April 10th, but who can resist the chance to throw a birthday bash in Las Vegas?! Complete with friends and family, boyfriend Ryan Hurd, and decorations matching her tattoo that she got back in July, this one was for the books!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIEC79qjSMt/

THE CAKE MATCHES HER TATTOO!!

BLOG CAKE MAREN

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ACM Week – Day 3 – Women Of Country

April 14, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Making It Happen #ACMparty, ACM Week, Brandy Clark, Kelleigh Bannen, Kelsea Ballerini, Las Vegas, Lauren Alaina, Maddie & Tae, MGM Grand, Next Women of Country, Party For A Cause, Thomas Rhett, WPOR

Friday 4/1/16

Total girl confession first off; I totally loved my outfit for Friday and wanted to have a mini photo shoot by the pool where we were staying with Jencita’s family. So we did.

First on our agenda for Friday was a meet and greet with Thomas Rhett at the BMLG Music Has Value pop-up store at the MGM Grand at 1:30pm. One hundred people received wristbands to meet Thomas by purchasing some Music Has Value merchandise from the shop and then there was an “if he has time” line. Since I didn’t have a physical copy of his recent album Tangled Up (I know, shame on me!), I purchased that for him to sign. One thing I learned that day? I probably shouldn’t wear white/ivory. My shirt had a lipstick stain on it within 5 minutes of arriving at MGM. So typical of me!

Party For a Cause festival gates opened at 3pm on Friday, so Jencita and I drove down to the other end of the strip, to the new MGM Grand Festival Grounds, across from the SLS Hotel. Part of my goal during this years ACM week was to keep my radio station and all of it’s listeners, WPOR 101.9, informed with an inside look!

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UPDATE FROM ACM WEEK! (From street teamer Jess!) Gates are open for the #acmpartyforacause festival! #ACMparty Tonight's lineup is ALL FEMALE and #CarrieUnderwood is headlining!

A post shared by 1019 POR (@1019por) on Apr 1, 2016 at 3:06pm PDT

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ACM Week Recap – Day 2 – Guitar Pull

April 12, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Making It Happen 95.5 The Bull, Charles Kelley, Country Music, Guitar Pull, Hunter Hayes, Justin Moore, Kelsea Ballerini, Kip Moore, Las Vegas

Thursday 3/31/16

As soon as I learned two of my ultimate favorites, Kip Moore and Kelsea Ballerini, would be at the 95.5 The Bull’s 8th Annual Guitar Pull, I made it a goal to attend! As most of you all know, this was a “budget trip”, so funds were limited. Per usual, I reached out to 95.5 for a chance to win some tickets, but heard nothing back. As fate would have it, my friend Chris had a pair of tickets and became ill, and he graciously donated them to me! So appreciative beyond words for this opportunity to see these artists acoustically in a laid back setting.

Up first on stage was Hunter Hayes and Kelsea Ballerini! Kelsea started off by telling the crowd that her and Hunter are “real-life friends” and that he was actually with her when she found out that Dibs had reached number 1! (It appears that Cody Alan (her “favorite human”) was there too!

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late last night, I got a call that my second single Dibs was the number one song on country radio. I was surrounded with many of my favorite people in the world. These moments are so precious and cherished, and ones that I'll hold in my heart forever. Sending giant hugs to everyone who has played this song on the radio, turned it up on the radio, sang it sassily to the person they like, downloaded it, and supported it. We just made history together. Gonna go cry now.

A post shared by Kelsea Ballerini (@kelseaballerini) on Feb 21, 2016 at 8:18am PST

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ACM Week Recap – Day 2 – Cali to Vegas

April 10, 2016April 11, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Making It Happen ACM Sessions, ACM Week, ACMs, BBR Music Group, Brandy Clark, JoJamie, Las Vegas, MGM Grand

Part 1: ROAD TRIP!

Road trip to Vegas with @_Jencita_! Eeeek! It's almost time for #ACMweek 🙂 #ACMparty

— Country Heartbeat (@country_hrtbeat) March 31, 2016

Jencita and I left in the morning (after a quick photoshoot with Madison!) for a 3.5 hour road trip from California to Las Vegas, which ended up actually being a lot of fun! We finished getting ready in the bathroom at MGM Grand and our first stop of the trip was at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club in the “Underground” section of MGM Grand.

We were a couple of the very few people who were present at a special taping of ACM Sessions with Brandy Clark, which included a question and answer session with Lisa Lee, the SVP of Creative & Content Production for the Academy of Country Music. You can watch the entire Q&A session below!

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ACM Week Recap – Day 1 – Maine to California

April 8, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Making It Happen #ACMparty, ACM Awards, Country Music, dreams, Las Vegas, Law of Attraction, Manifestation

Wednesday March 30th, 2016

My adventures started off by being asked to call KBUL 98.1 in Revo, NV shortly after arriving at the airport! I had connected with their morning show host, Bob Richards, on twitter a couple of weeks before. During my search to win fly away’s to Vegas for the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards, I entered every contest that existed. I secured a one way flight, just in case I didn’t win, to insure that I would get there. However, while being there, I also had my hopes set on being able to attend the 3-Day Party For A Cause Festival. The price of the 3-day festival, however, was $175 before taxes and fees. Definitely not something that I could afford on my own, on top of flights, especially with this trip having a super strict budget!

Luckily I believe in manifesting your desires and the Law of Attraction. I believe that acting like you already have something (or in this care that you’re already attending) will help the Universe deliver what it is that you want. BUT, you must also put in the effort to obtain this desire, and ASK. You’re not going to get what you want magically (unless you’re insanely lucky)… you have to take some action. So I searched the official PFAC hashtag, #ACMparty on twitter to find contests to enter. I entered the ones that I could, but the “call in to win” ones, I knew I would be unable to listen to non-local radio stations day in and day out. So I reached out to the KBUL Moo Crew in Reno, NV.

@KBULMOOCREW @ACMawards I'm flying all the way across the country for this but need wristbands! 🙏🏼

— Jess L. (@ButtrflyKissez) March 11, 2016

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Vegas Bound for “The Week Vegas Goes Country”!

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards, Making It Happen #ACMparty, ACM Week, ACMs, Las Vegas, Party For A Cause, The Week Vegas Goes Country, WPOR

I’m a strong believer in chasing dreams, and I know that you must do whatever it takes to make your dreams happen! Blood, sweat & tears! I spent the entire month of March picking up extra jobs and extra hours from various places, hustling, and busting my butt to be able to afford to go to Vegas for ACM week this year. I’ve worked HARD, and I’ve earned it! I wasn’t willing to accept not being there this year, especially with this being the last ACM week before the big Nashville move! There are a lot of connections to make, tons of networking opportunities, and some amazing performances that I hope to catch! I’m also extremely excited about escaping the cold and the upcoming snow predictions!

I will be sharing my adventures LIVE on snapchat! You can add me manually at @country_hrtbeat or scan my snap code below! I can guarantee that my “stories” will be filled with some exclusive behind-the-scenes stuff! You definitely don’t want to miss out!

I will also be posting photos to an album on my facebook page, so go LIKE my page and follow along for updates throughout the course of the week! It will almost be like you’re right there with me! Feel free to live vicariously through me!

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ACM Party For A Cause Set Times!

March 17, 2016March 25, 2016 countryheartbeat ACM Awards #ACMparty, ACM Awards, ACMs, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, Las Vegas, The Week Vegas Goes Country

Who else is counting down to The Week Las Vegas Goes Country? The schedule has been finally announced so that all of us going can start to plan our weekends! I’ve already printed and highlighted the artists that I absolutely cannot miss, and then those whom I would like to see, but willing to miss if it interferes with a meet and greet or something. I’m still undecided about Sunday, because I really want to try to find a way into the awards show at night… however, Sunday has THE BEST LINEUP! Ahhhh! I’m thinking festival then “home” (aka back to the hotel) to nap then shower and get all fancy for the after parties?! I guess I will play it by ear and see what my friends want to do! 🙂 Let me know in the comments below if you will be there!

Bookmark this page to save this map of the Festival Grounds!

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“Dream Trip of a Lifetime”

October 1, 2014February 9, 2015 countryheartbeat ACM Awards ACM Awards, Blessed, Contest, Country Music, Las Vegas, Law of Attraction, Manifestation, The Week Vegas Goes Country

My local radio station, 99.9 The Wolf, announced a contest opportunity to win a trip to Vegas for the 2011 ACM Awards. Teaming up with J.D. Haas Entertainment, they were able to offer an all expense paid trip including round trip airfare, 3 night stay at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, tickets to the live 2011 ACM Awards show, and tickets to attend the taping of the CBS Special, Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country to be filmed and then aired at a later date.

First of all, Vegas is one of my all time favorite places on earth. By this time my interest and knowledge of country music had grown and blossomed and I knew that there could be nothing better in this world than combining my TWO LOVES into one. A entire weekend of country music concerts, shows, a red carpet experience, fancy dresses, cowgirl boots, and everyone who is anyone in the country music world all staying at the same hotel. I HAD TO WIN. It wasn’t really an option.

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