Vegas Baby!

We took our trip to Vegas, and it was fun. Dan got to do his gambling and golfing, and I got to do lots and lots of shopping. It was fun for all :)

I've compiled a picture show on this post to give some snippets to the trip. We used to live in Vegas for about 6 years, so on our first day before anyone else arrived, we drove over to our first apartment, and our first house. Dan tried to go see his barber to get his hair cut, but the barber was no longer there. We walked down the strip hoping to eat at an outdoor restaurant at the Bellagio so we could watch the fountains while we ate. That didn't work out. We were looking for something really casual, but the only thing opening up was really fancy and we really just wanted something light and casual because we were planning on eating at the Alliante steakhouse later that night. Well, that was a bust and Dan was getting tired of walking and was very hungry, so we wound going into the Margaritaville Jimmy Buffet restaurant. This turned out to be right across from the Mirage, so we did all that walking for nothing-oops. The food was really good though, and the decor was really cool. It had giant whales and fish hanging from the ceiling, there were booths that were shaped like the back end of fishing boats, there was a huge "booze in the blender" thing by the bar (from the song "margaritaville"). It was cute. The only drawback was, they were playing music but while we were there they never played 'margaritaville' which is my favorite song by Jimmy Buffet.

We've only stayed on the strip one other time (at the New York New York) , so it was neat to stay on the strip and be RIGHT there with all the Strip activities nearby. However, I learned very quickly, that I don't like walking on the strip when its crowded. Yuck. Mornings were nice because there were very few people out. But afternoons were very crowded, and I didn't even try it at night (I would have hated it). Its funny though, especially in the hotel, you can see ALL kinds of wardrobes on people at any time of day. There will be some people in swimsuits and coverups, some people who evidently don't realize you are supposed to wear a coverup when you leave the pool, and they are strutting around simply in their swimsuit (!), casual shorts and tshirts, bachlorette groups (with the bride to be wearing a mini veil), nightlife clothes, and (in my opinion) hooker clothes. Its crazy some of the things people will wear! Most of the women can't even walk in the heels they are wearing (they are so high!) I don't even know why they bother trying, they look ridiculous hobbling around. But whatever, to each his own I guess.

Here is the beginning of my 'photo journal' of the trip.

 This is the iconic Vegas sign that is still standing. When we lived here it was sort of all by itself and just in the middle of an empty median. Now they have landscaped all around it and provided parking on the median so that tourists can safely and legally pull over to pose for pictures in front of it. Nice improvement.

 This is our room at the Mirage. It turned out really nice. I was glad we decided to stay here. The Mirage is 22 years old, but with the recent room remodel, the rooms were just like new!  We unfortunately didn't have a view of the volcano or the strip (just casino rooftops), but besides that the room was great.

 It was all sort of minimalistic modern. I liked it. The minibar was funny though, it was packed to the gills with stuff, and they told us when checking in, "if you don't want to eat it, don't EVEN pick it up because it is all weight sensored, and the minute u pick it off the shelf u are charged for it!" wow.

 This was the craziest thing in the mini bar. I had never heard of this "Sugar Factory" before but there was a store downstairs, and on the strip so I checked it out. Basically just expensive candy. These rhinestone encrusted lollipops though were $24!!!!!   Insane. Although the saleslady did explain to me (and that made it a LITTLE less insane) that u can actually unscrew the lollipop from the handle when u are done and insert a new one. So the sparkly stick is actually not thrown out after eating it. Thank goodness! lol.

 This is me during our meal at Margaritaville.

 See the back side of the fishing boats with all the fishing rods sticking up in the air behind Dan at Margaritaville? The lighting made us blue. It was pretty neat in there and the food was good. They served (which we didn't order) nachos that were 18" tall! They looked good, but we were trying to eat light because we planned on a fancy dinner that night. That wound up changing though because with the time change and everything we wound up being full and tired and didn't want to go eat another meal at 9pm (our time), so we skipped it.

 Friday night we saw the Beatles Love Cirque Du Soleil show at the mirage. This was the walkway to the venue. Kind of neat.

 Before we went to the Beatles show we ate dinner at Stack which was inside the Mirage. The food was good, but the music was WAY to loud for a nice restaurant. More appropriate for a nightclub. One of the reasons I decided on this restaurant was because they offered Lobster Tacos on their "Small Shared Plates" section of the menu. Appetizer basically. We burst out laughing (as did the couple sitting next to us who we befriended during our meal) when the waiter set down the plate.

 Take a look for yourself how incredibly small these tacos are! They don't even reach the top edges of the 'taco holder' that they were served in. They were about an inch tall, and two inches long. They tasted AWESOME! But for $21 I really wish they had served us a dozen of these, not just four!  Dan got a lobster stuffed with crab and Ritz crackers. He liked it. I got some fish with lobster risotto. Very good. Then we got four mini bites of key lime pie and margarita sherbert. Pretty good, but I was wishing I had gotten the mint chocolate chip bon bons instead. They were good though. I actually wanted to try both but Dan didn't want a dessert, so we just split one instead of splitting two.

 This is the decor in Stack. It was nicely lit with subdued earth tone lighting and these cool cantilever shaped walls. Very cool looking, just too loud on the music and too expensive. I don't mind paying for expensive restaurants, but when I do I want the whole package. I want super-attentive service, good decor, good lighting, good mood (not loud club music), and of course super good food. This place didn't hit all the marks so we wouldn't go back. I still recommend the steakhouse inside the Alliante on the north side of town if you are ever in Vegas. It had all of the above. Great place. We would have gone there but since we were seeing the Beatles show that night we wanted to eat in the hotel to make everything easier and less rushed.


Here is a picture of Dana, me , and Jennifer on the day we headed out to shop together. They were fun, nice ladies, who I had never met before this trip. Did I mention we didn't know anyone that went on the trip except for Jennifer and her husband Randy, who organized the whole thing. Crazy us.



 One thing I wanted to do while here was visit the M&M store on the strip. I was intent on bringing home personalized M&M's for the girls with their names and favorite colors. I've seen it online before but have never purchased them (too expensive), but this time I knew I was going to do it because they would love it and it would be something really unique for them (plus I wouldn't have to pay for shipping). As it was, I bought 3/4 pound personalized and it cost $25. Certainly not cheap, but I went there planning for it, so I did it. They did really think it was cool. Bummer was, I had picked up a 15% coupon and forgot to use it!!!! ugh.

 This is the giant Coca-Cola bottle that is next to the M&M store on the strip. I have always thought it was really cool so I had to take  a photo. There is a glass elevator inside it.

I bought several new outfits before our trip (remember my post about shopping at Old Navy and having such good luck there?) so I took pictures of my outfits as I was wearing them. I know pretty silly, but since I am the only one to take pictures I knew if I didn't take them of myself I wouldn't have any, so I snapped some. Here they are...

 This is a skirt and tank I got at Old Navy before we left. Really casual and comfy for summer. I want to find a better belt, but the one I'm wearing is actually one I picked up at our church garage sale for about 50cents (I bought it anticipating to use it for T's Greek Feast in 6th grade-they dress up and the belt would work well on a toga) lol.
This next picture has a funny pose mainly just because I was getting bored of always having the same pose for my shots. So I struck a 'pose' and snapped it. T commented when she saw it that she didn't think it was me, she said it looked like a teenager. I'll take that as a compliment! ;)

 This is a new pair of those chino shorts (so are the yellow above) that I got at old Navy that actually fit my waist (!). I paired them with rhinestone flipflops and a silver belt. The funny thing is this tank top has a criss cross back that I have never worn (in the several years that I've owned it-eek) so its really pretty. I guess I always thought it would be too hard to find a bra to work with it, but I just crossed the straps on one of my convertible bras and it worked perfectly! I was pretty happy because now I will be sure to wear it. I didn't even wind up wearing it in Vegas, because I had bought so many new clothes THERE and wound up wearing those instead! lol

 This is me before a day of shopping. I finally succumbed to wearing tennis shoes because my shins were killing me from wearing flip flops everywhere and limping (I hurt my toe the night before we flew out). That is one of my cute new tanks I got here. Casual, but could be dressy. I like it.

 Me and my new hair. Which by the way I colored the day before we left on our trip!

One night when I was shopping till midnight (true story!) I wasn't sure if I should buy these capris, so I snapped a photo and texted it to Dan to see what he thought. He didn't get my text, so therefore didn't reply... so I bought them anyway and sent him a text saying since he didn't reply I was buying them! ha :)
They are Miss Me jean capris with sparkly crosses on the back pockets. Now the story behind them is this... when I first started buying 'designer' jeans about a year and a half ago, I would see these sparkly cross jeans and would want them really bad. But I would never try them on, because I was like "I am not putting sparkles on this big butt! When my butt is smaller , THEN I'll get a pair of those cool sparkly cross jeans."
So... every place was closing and I had no other places to shop except the boutique at the Mirage, and I was wide awake and READY TO SHOP, so I'm browsing the racks in there (beautiful stuff), and I'm really just grabbing items that I think are beautiful but that I don't really have a place to wear them (black and white striped form fitting cocktail dress-beautiful!), to just try them on for the fun of it and kill time since Dan is gambling and I'm wide awake and don't want to go to sleep yet. I see the cross capris, and knowing I've always loved them but never thought they'd fit, I grab them too and figure I'll just try them on for fun even though I don't think they will fit.
Well, they did! and I really liked them. So that's when I took this picture and sent it to Dan, but he didn't get it, so I made an executive decision and bought them anyway  lol  :P

 I am actually wearing a cute new tank too, that I love so much I bought in two colors!

 This is a picture of me and my good friend, Tes, who was my mentor and friend when I first started working for Enterprise in 1992. In fact, to this day, I can remember what she was wearing on my first day of work (she was the only other female in the office at the time so I was paying attention to what she was wearing so I would know what I was supposed to wear), it was a black pencil skirt with a shiny emerald green silky top :)  She has two little girls too so we spent over three hours talking about kids, life, family, everything! It was so fun catching up! (love and miss you Tes!)

 This is a picture for anyone who has never been to Vegas... EVERYTHING on the strip is in lights, even the McDonalds!

 This is the machine at the M&M store that made my personalized M&M's for the girls.

 This is my favorite part of the M&M store... a whole wall of tubes filled with different colors of M&M's that you can buy as much or as little as u want in a bag, and mix the colors any way you want. So cool! Black, silver, maroon, pink, purple, pastels, lime green, turquoise, all kinds of non-regular colors!

This next picture is me in my new capris heading out shopping (surprise surprise!) and wearing a cute new tank that has beads and sparkles on the neckline. As you have probably picked up on, my favorite vacations involve lots of shopping, yummy food, and hopefully snow skiing or tropical paradise. Two out of 4 on this trip, ain't bad ;)

 This is Dan's favorite sandwich shop. We ate there one day and he was so happy. Now they have several locations throughout town (as well as the country), but when we lived here there was only one location which was near his shop and he and the guys LOVED eating there. Again, he was very happy.

 Here are just a couple pictures of the hotel and sign.

That's all folks, the back of the infamous sign  :)

All in all, we had a really good trip. Dan enjoyed gambling and golfing. I enjoyed shopping and seeing my old friend. We didn't do EVERYTHING together, but after being married 19 years, and together for 24(!), we know what works for us, and we do what makes each of us happy without dragging the other one along when we know they don't enjoy that stuff. Dan knows I can't stand the noise and smoke affiliated with casinos, and I know he can't last more than 5 minutes in a store without being bored. So all in all, we both had fun, but just not together all the time lol  :)

Heading to vegas woohoo!

My hubby and I are heading to Vegas soon...woohoo!
A long weekend without the kiddos, lots of fun (hee hee), lots of gourmet food (I hope!), and lots of shopping!  Soooooo looking forward to this trip! (especially since its probably our only 'vaca' this year). We initially planned on heading to MI and CA to visit relatives, but my husband's workload had increased DRAMATICALLY over the last several months due to some changes that he is making with one of our companies. Because of that (which is GOOD), he can't afford to be away much right now, so we will probably stay a lot closer to home than anticipated originally. Therefore, this trip is even more important to me, because for a lady who LOVES to go on vacation, I'm really going to relish this one in case its the ONLY one we take lol.
The trip is actually a golf trip for Dan and a bunch of guys, but the wives were invited too, and since we used to live in Vegas, I jumped at the chance to go! I can hopefully see some old friends and co-workers, relax at the Mirage pool, and (definately) get lots of shopping in!
I love fancy, yummy food. I love watching Top Chef where I get to see chefs create this amazing food. When we went to Aspen last year I got to eat some really amazing gourmet food... I loved it. So, in doing some research online about what I'm going to do while there, I've come across some amazing looking restaurants (Vegas has certainly picked up its game-food wise- over the years. They are now not only known for cheap buffets(yuck!) but also brillian culinary masterpieces.) I am SOOOO looking forward to hopefully eating at some of these places. The only problem is, I am probably the only one :(  
My husband will join me, but if we are eating as a group with all the other golfers, I have a feeling I am going to be severely overrulled and we won't be going to many of these places. Hopefully we will still eat at decent places. We have Thurs and Fri to ourselves before everyone else arrives, so at least those nights I'll be guaranteed to be able to try some of these fantastic restaurants I've been reading about.
I've lost 5 pounds (so far) in anticipation, to make sure I've got room for all this yummy food I want to eat while I'm there ha ha :)
We've got our flight, our hotel, our car rental, and now just yesterday, I booked us for the Beatles Love Cirque Soleil show at the Mirage. I love Beatles music, and Cirque performances are always amazing so I'm thinking it should be really good.
I had wanted to stay at one of the newer hotels like the Aria or Vdara. They looked really cool, and I like to stay in nice rooms, because old, crappy hotel rooms gross me out.  Since it was just the two of us, I wanted to splurge on a room to thoroughly enjoy. Plus, there is no gaming in those hotels, which I liked, because the annoying sound of slot machines in casinos gives me a headache. But I was unsure about how far it was to eat and gamble at (for Dan, since there were few restaurants on site and no gaming), and then I read some really bad reviews about the rooms so I decided not to take the risk of the unknown. Unfortunately, all the hotels that were cool and new when we lived there are now 10-20 years old. In hotel years, that's old. Unless of course they have done some remodeling and updating. Which it turned out the Mirage had just done. Since everyone else was staying there, we decided to go ahead and stay there too to make it more convenient to get together with every one.  Plus it was cheaper (more money to shop with!) And to cement the reservation, my old friend Gayle, had gone there about 2 months ago and she said it was great. Rooms turned out really nice after the remodel (yea!). So that is were we are staying. I am still trying to work out details to meet up with a couple old friends. Maybe for lunch or pedicures or shopping. I only wish it was a 'holiday' so the shopping centers would be running some sort of 'sale'. Oh well, hopefully I'll still find good deals, I love shopping when there are good deals!
I heard the Mirage pool is like an oasis with great decor so hopefully that will be enjoyable too :)
I guess I don't have much more to share, I am just really excited and can't wait to go. I'm sure I'll have a post to make afterwards :)

Vegas Drag Race

Went to Vegas for Thanksgiving weekend to watch Dan race in the drag races there. Here is a video of one of his runs. He is the black car in the far lane. He won a few runs, but didn't win any money :( But he certainly had fun trying, so that's good.

reuniting with Vegas friends

Had a fun time with my fellow, former ERAC co-workers/friends, Christia and Tes. (That's Tes on the left, Tia on the right, and me in the middle). It was nice to catch up and spend some time together. We each have 2 kiddos with mine being the youngest, and Tes's being the oldest, but they all overlap in ages. So we had lots of funny stories about kids and personalities, and of course the trials of parenting. Good times, good times. Here is a picture to commemorate our visit together. Remember we are in Vegas, so that water you see is in fact a man-made lake/pond that the restaurant we were having lunch at was next to. Even the ducks came up to visit us at our table-very cute!

Our first house

Well, I just got back from a weekend trip to Vegas. Dan was competing in a drag race out there so I went out to cheer him on and also visit some of my old friends. (We lived in Vegas for 6 years when we were newlyweds).

Wow has Vegas grown!!!! We moved away in 1998, but visited most recently in 2004. In 2004 we had noticed a lot of growth, but WOW, even MORE growth since then. I can't believe how far the city has stretched its boarders. The sad part is that right now(following the housing bubble burst-which did affect LV dramatically), there are lots of new, but empty commercial store fronts and office spaces, as well as unfinished construction on homes and businesses. When we were there in 2004 I had gone and visited our first house. We were the first owners and had built it. We sold it to a lady whom my neighbor told me had sold it again and then wound up having renters. The renters evidently trashed the place. In 2004 my neighbor let me peer over the backyard fence and I was saddened to see the pool was green with algae and the yard yucky. The front of the house was looking run down and shabby too, and it saddened me. You know how it is, when its your first house. That was where Dan and I started our life together (well after our apartment-but still).

Anyway, I had missed an exit while shopping, so I was heading in the direction of the house anyway, so I just continued all the way there, out of curiosity. I know I don't live there anymore and I know its not my current life, but you like to revisit the past sometimes and just "check on it". Well, the area had continued to grow since our last 2004 visit. Now there was a grocery store and lots of businesses (doctors,hair,services, etc) within 1 mile of the house. (When we lived there, it was barren land, except for our neighborhood.)Now there were businesses nearby as well as other neighborhoods. I did see that if I still lived there, I would weigh about 30 pounds more, because my favorite spot (Cold Stone Creamery) was also only a mile away! Ha ha.

So after driving past these new businesses and homes I turned into the neighborhood. The neighborhood is now about 15 years old and the first thing I noticed is that it looked like a older, established neighborhood. Not because it was rundown, but because the trees people had planted in their backyards had now grown and could be visible over the block fences/walls. As I was driving towards my house I was bracing myself for something really bad (since last time I was there it was already headed downhill). I was very pleasantly, and happily surprised to find that new owners had bought it. They had darkened the paint color and replaced the landscaping. Thus updating it and making it very cute. I talked with them and they told me when they bought the house the pool was black and they had to have the plaster re-done. They let me walk through the house to the backyard. I have to admit I missed all the grass we had planted. But I know Vegas is on a water monitoring system now so most people can't afford to have grass anymore. The house was very cute and back in loving hands and it made me really happy! I was also pleased to see that the rest of the neighborhood seemed to be weathering the economic downturn pretty well. (No for sale signs or foreclosures). It seemed like a very quaint, very nice, little neighborhood. I'm glad. :) I know houses aren't living beings, but I'm glad its being taken care of again and cherished, instead of abused and destroyed.