Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

The annual girl's trip to Vegas has come and gone. We had such a good time! There was the usual Nicole, Melissa and Me, plus Mel's friend, Jane. This was the first time I had met Jane. She has lived in the United States for years and years, but still has a wonderful English accent. Everything just sounds so fun with an accent! She is a ball of energy, which kept us on our toes. Janell was unable to go this year, since she's going on a family cruise to Mexico. Poor thing!

Vegas is easy to sum up, since we were low-key this year. We were all ready to relax and get away from the real world. That said, none of us really wanted to 'party like a rock star'. We didn't take any cocktail dresses this trip, and we really toned down even the semi-dressy stuff. I had hoped to lounge around the pool some, but it was pretty cool down there. I wasn't getting down to a bathing suit to freeze my butt off!

Nicole and I didn't shop much. We're both trying to conserve money, so we were more set on seeing some hotels that we hadn't seen yet. We got the opportunity to visit the Wynn when we went to see La Reve. This story is kind of comical, but a little long. Last year, Nicole wanted to see Beatles Love again. None of us were up for spending that much to see it again, so she tried to go alone. She decided that if it was meant to be, she'd be able to get tickets an hour or so before the show. Sure enough, she did. Fast forward to last weekend and her desire to see La Reve. A $160 show ticket isn't exactly the best way to conserve money, but she had talked herself into paying for the experience. I, on the other hand, was not about to cough up that kind of money if it wasn't for Elton John (who, by the way, is never playing when I go to Vegas!). I was at the hotel napping and they decided to go without me, which I was totally okay with. Knowing that I don't sleep very well, I was seriously 'out like a light' in my nap. They were trying to reach me with 'big news!' and I didn't hear the hotel phone ring, or my cell phone twice! That's impressive, since I'm such a light sleeper. After calling the hotel line again, I finally answered their call. It was 5:50pm and Nicole quickly explained they got a great deal on La Reve tickets, but that seating started at 6:20pm. She kept asking if I was awake, if I was hearing her, if I had turned on lights, etc. I finally told her that it was HER stalling me. (Admittedly, I wasn't very sweet after just being woken out of my beautiful slumber.) I had 30 minutes to be awake, up, ready and across the street to the Wynn. Easy enough, right? Sheesh, have you ever tried to cross the Las Vegas strip? It took me all of the time, but I got there. They finally explained to me that when Jane gave the cashier her ID for her purchase, the woman noticed that she was Retired Military status. 'This changes everything', the woman said. She then rang up everyone's ticket at half price! Nicole decided to buy my ticket, since she had already decided she'd spent the full amount. (I appreciated the offer, but told her I would've spent $67 on the ticket and that I'd pay for it.) She is sweet though!

La Reve is the newest Cirque du Soleil show. It has an aquatic stage, which is similar to parts from 'O' at the Bellagio. 'O' is still my favorite of these types of shows, but La Reve was amazing! I would definitely recommend it. You can see a quick, 2 min. clip of it here La Reve

I did visit the M&M World store, which is a favorite of mine. We only skimmed Tiffany & Co. though. That is just too tempting for me when I don't have money to spend. Nicole and I both bought toys for our kids at F.A.O. Schwartz. I found these cute, soft pull back cars for Mason that he absolutely loves, Plus, I found a flashlight from M&M World like the one he played with in Idaho. He makes it spin and light up all on his own. Jane and Melissa shopped a little bit and both came home with some fantastic new boots! Can't go wrong there.

Nicole and I rode the monorail, which was her first time. Ever since her first trip to Europe, she has a place in her heart for trains. It's a pretty good walk to the back of the casinos for the stops, but it certainly saves time and energy to not walk down the entire length of the Strip.

What did we do the whole time, you ask? We ate! We had Cheesecake Factory, Grand Luxe (which is owned by the same people), mexican at Isla, pastries and drinks at Starbucks every day, and my personal favorite, white-chocolate covered strawberries! It was so great! There was no worrying about how much we'd gain on this trip, we just all made a goal to be skinny by NEXT year's trip. Ha ha.
My friend, Lara, lives in Vegas and joined us one night for dinner and lounging. It was so great to meet up with her, on her turf. She arrived a little early and hung out at the hotel with us. I was feeling kinda 'frumpy', so I asked if she'd do my makeup. She accepted and in no time flat, my makeup was stunning! She has taken some lessons from a friend and I'd say she kicks butt at it! We all went down to Isla, which is a mexican joint at TI. Yum, yum, yum. I had my signature virgin Strawberry-Colada! After a couple hours there chatting, Lara convinced us that we should go to a lounge for a drink. Considering half of us don't drink, it's funny that she was all about the lounge. Oh well, we had juice/lemonade and Diet Coke! It suited us just fine. Nicole kept getting embarrassed by me taking out my camera, but I hadn't taken very many pics of the trip. I also wanted to commemorate this night with Lara. I'm glad I took pictures, even if a few people walked out of Mist because of it.

Finally, after all of this, I'll share with you that Nicole caught a cold/flu and felt terrible for most of the trip. You wouldn't know it, because she is one tough cookie. She made sure she had a good time, regardless of her pending doom. Not to mention, look how GREAT she looks in all the pictures! Thanks, Nic, for being in good spirits, even though you didn't feel up to it.