My Writings. My Thoughts.
// June 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Yay! I finally made it to Vegas!
Yes, this was the destination for my surprise 30th birthday trip. It was a lot of fun!
We left early Sunday morning (actual birthday day) for a 9am flight. I found out where we were going at the baggage check. I can’t say that I didn’t suspect. And boy was Dave relieved to tell me where we were going. He hates secrets and surprises. Too bad he ended up with me! 
We arrived only a half hour after we left due to the magic of the time zone change. We were staying at Bally’s and were able to leave our bags with the bell desk rather than lugging them around all day. That was a huge relief since there is nothing that gets on my nerves more. Lesson #1: Everyone in Vegas works for tips.
We walked over to the Planet Hollywood casino for lunch and some shopping. I found an H&M store! … which did not meet my crazy high expectations… not that I didn’t find something to buy anyhow. In fact, I found some size 30 jean shorts for $30. I figured it was fate being my 30th birthday and all. (Thanks to Dave for reminding me that $30 is not expensive for shorts!)
We learned our lesson about walking around… don’t talk to anyone. Well, really, Dave learned this lesson more than me, but he claims he knew what was happening. This random guy came up to us with deals and promising more deals had Dave and I follow him down an alleyway to some seedy office. There we were hassled about free tickets and the promise of attending a sales pitch for a timeshare. No thanks. I had one foot in the exit the whole time, but Dave had some sort of sick fascination with the whole experience. He finally got out of there. Boo. Lesson #2: No need to be “nice” all the time.
After wandering around New York - New York and Bellagio, we headed back to the hotel to check in at 3. The line was ridiculous and when we got to the front we found out that they were out of King size rooms, but we could come back for one in about 15 min. We did. We were in our room at 4:30! Lesson #3: Everything takes forever in Vegas.
Dave had bought Cirque de Soleil “Ka” tickets for us that night. I couldn’t believe how close we were! It was an amazing show and even Dave was blown away. We immediately decided that their “Zumanity” show was in our future. After dinner, Dave ordered a piece of cake and had it sent up to our room…. with tip it was a really expensive piece of cake! He brought cute candles and we did the whole birthday blowing candles thing. It was a nice day.
We walked around a huge portion of the strip on Monday. Our end caps were the Luxor and Treasure Island. We didn’t do a whole lot of stuff other than walking and hanging at the pool during the day. At night, we got tickets for the Tournament of Kings to satisfy my nerd needs. It was aiiight. Something fun and relatively cheap. Lesson #4: Half price tickets are worth the wait in line.
At night we walked over to Treasure Island for their free Sirens of TI show. We showed up about 10 minutes before it was supposed to start and the sidewalk was packed! All I had heard about the show up to this point is that it was about pirate sluts and that it was really cheesy. I guess that draws quite the crowd. As we quietly took a place in the crowd we got to people watch and experience just how entitled people feel. As you’d imagine, with that many people crowding the sidewalk, no one was able to get through anywhere quickly. But some people just wouldn’t quit. Some HAD to get through to the next hotel (like no one else was in their same situation) while others just couldn’t see. The most interesting, though, was this couple from Boston. (Accents gave them up as East Coast and a passerby let me know it was Boston.) As the show was going on, there was no moving at all. People gave up and were watching very quietly, mostly because you could barely hear the thing. Then came the couple. The woman was trying to get by around me and I informed her there was no way out. Her man proceeded to wonder very loudly about “All the f$%#ing idiots watching the stupid f$%#ing show” and “Can’t even f$%#ing see nuthin”. Making friends was obviously his strong suit. Then the lady came up with her strategy. Jumping up and down and screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking people out of the way as she went through. Wow. Lesson #5: People watching in Vegas can be more interesting than the shows.
We were so exhausted after Monday that we really didn’t do much on Tuesday. We went over to the Flamingo Hotel to see their Flamingo Habitat and hung out at the pool. They had a really great drink that I enjoyed a bit too much. So much so that I almost made us miss our Zumanity show! We ended up having to hop on the Monorail and book it through the MGM and New York - New York casinos to make it. I don’t know how, but we made it in time. I was fine as soon as I was able to sit down and ended up thoroughly enjoying the show. I really hate drinking too much and would have been very pissed if that had made me miss the show. It was great! Very different than Ka. And I learned my lesson… again.
We went to a Noodles restaurant for dinner inside of Bellagio. It had a wall decorated with noodles! The noodles were pretty good, though I’d order something different next time. I liked Dave’s sweet and sour noodles better than my curry vermicelli. No tofu on the menu though. One thing I love about Austin — tofu is everywhere! We then watched the Bellagio fountain show three times and it was really cool at night. The night was perfect and dry… very romantic.
After the shows were over, we headed to Bill’s (a classic) to play their $5 roulette tables. Other than the silly slots we played the night before, this was the first we had gambled since being there. We are cheap bastards. Dave took out $40 for me to play. Dave stood behind me at the table claiming his bad luck and helped coach me and count the money I was winning. I did well with one dude, but my luck changed when they switched him out. This luck thing is very interesting indeed. On Dave’s advice, I walked away with $71 in my hand. I cashed out and handed the money to Dave for keeping in his wallet. We realized then that it must look rather odd: him getting the money out, giving it to me to gamble with him helping out from behind, and then me giving him my winnings… like some sort of gambling pimp. But it worked! After calculating in the silly slots (which are basically just like video games to me anyway) we ended up with a total winnings of roughly $15! Woot! Vegas baby, yeah!
Wednesday was fly out day, so we didn’t do much
at all. Just had lunch and headed to the airport. By the way, Cheeseburger Las Vegas… good stuff!
All in all Vegas was much cooler than I’d imagined. I’d like to go back, maybe inviting a few friends along the way. It was a perfect 30th birthday trip and Dave won lots of points in his favor.
// May 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
So my surprise birthday trip was to Vegas! It totally rocked!
I have this really long and cool post about Vegas queued up to go, but before posting I realized that I should wait. If I tell all now, I won’t have anything to talk about at my party this weekend! So you’ll have to wait a few more days.
I took the rest of this week off from work and have been playing in the garden, of course. I don’t think I’ve posted my recent gardening exploits anyhow, so it’s high time I get you up to speed.
I cleaned up three of the existing beds and have two to go. Two are in the backyard - one I created over the winter to house the Texas Star Hibiscus plants and one is right in front of the deck that has been the home to many weeds since we’ve been here. The front yard bed is directly to the right of our porch… I got that one today.
Here is the Texas Star Hibiscus bed before:
and after:
I replanted the grass in areas that are bare and added a few ferns for height interest. Add a little mulch and bigger free rocks around the perimeter and you have yourself a fancy bed. Now I just have to wait for their fantastic red blooms to form.
Here is the deck bed before:
and after:
It was basically a clean slate, so I went to a local nursery for advice. I needed plants that would get to be 4-6′ tall, loved shade, and were not pink, purple, or blue. Tall order (hee-yuck), but I did end up with a few. From the left (facing the house) I have a golddust Aucuba, a golden Shrimp Plant (weirdest flowers I’d seen in a while), Japanese Aralia (huge because it was the only one left), a Variegated Tapioca Plant, the Gardenia the homeowners left in a pot that I almost killed twice, and an Elephant Ear plant. Obviously, most of them have some growing to do. I rounded out the bed with some Citronella plants… an experiment to see if they can keep a few mosquitoes away from the deck.
I tackled my small front garden today. Here is it before (last year, actually):
and today:
I went back to my local nursery for something I thought was impossible. I needed part sun to shade plants that would get to be 3-6′ tall but would not spread any wider than 1-2′. It took a while, but as soon as the helper pointed me to the Sky Pencil Japanese Holly I knew it was the one. It’s gorgeous! And it can get to be 6′ tall with only a 1-2′ spread! Perfect for my narrow wall. It’s dark too, providing perfect contrast to the white limestony facade of the house. I can’t wait to see how these grow. I rounded out the bed by removing the sage plants and 4 o’clocks and planting two regular ferns and one asparagus fern. I kept the gorgeous Asiatic Lilies… I can’t risk losing them. This bed is stunning in person!
By the way, you can see all of these pictures and more in one place, my Garden Updates 2008 set. I will soon become a Central Texas shade plant expert!
// May 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Reflections on 30.
30 is a scary number. It’s like I earned the pass into the real adult club. But that may not be such a bad thing.
I think that I’ve done pretty well for 30.
I’ve got a fantastic husband and a lovely house. Important milestones and such a key to my life.
I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been. I’ve run three half-marathons in the past year and a half and am still maintaining my weight watchers figure. I recently visited the UT campus and had no problem walking around all of the hills. That sounds small compared to the half-marathons, but it served as a reminder of how winded I got while I attended the university 10 years ago.
I’m still learning new things all the time. My voice lessons and choir performances have been eye opening as far as my singing is concerned. Gardening over this past year has been a blast and now I’m really seeing the fruits of that labor in my fantastic yard. It’s so fun to learn new things about yourself, don’t you think?
I’m more self-confident than I have been, though still working on completely being myself. I figure that will be a theme for my 30s as I hear from everyone that’s pretty common. Maybe my 40s post will be about just that.
I’m looking forward to my 30s. This awesome surprise trip from Dave will be a great start. Then, I assume, it’ll be one adventure after another.
// May 21st, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Only 4 days left of my 20s and they’re disappearing fast… What to do?
// May 2nd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // post
I have found the best new foundation!
I’ve always used a liquid foundation and right around this time of year it becomes the wrong color. I’m pale, but tan easy, and my face changes color this time of year. Not to mention that my freckles come out of hiding and I like to show them off. Surely, some of you can relate…
Anyhoo… I was recently in Sephora wanting to explore new foundation options. I wanted something with only a light coverage, something that could stick with me through the color seasons of my skin. They pointed me to Bare Escentuals foundation. It’s certainly trendy right now… I’ve seen the commercials. So I tried it. And… I L-O-V-E it! With only a few brush strokes, my skin looks amazing. And bonus, when I use this for foundation I can skip the powder step in my routine.
Trust me. Next time you are in or near a Sephora, stop in and ask about it. Let them do their sales pitch and see how it looks. You might just have a whole new view of how your face can look. ;o)
// March 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
It’s funny how the Web has changed the idea of celebrity. I just had a dream that I was holding a party and three of my favorite bloggers showed up: LJC, Not Martha, and Making it Lovely. I was so excited! If I had the chance to meet them in real life, I’d probably be just as excited. Why oh why don’t they come to SXSW?
// March 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Well, ain’t that a b**ch. Looks like I got me one of these on my shoulder. Seems like it’s no big deal and we found it early enough. I’m getting it cut off on Tuesday. Thank goodness I go in for yearly skin check ups.
// February 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Now that I have my own *small* camera, I can take pictures of whatever I want, whenever I want. It no longer takes a special event to pull out the camera. So I figure I should start showing off my non-event pictures too. I might just call it “Everyday Pictures”.
This is the Valentine’s bouquet that Dave made for me. He delivered it to work himself. It was super sweet. We went to North in the Domain for dinner that night. I highly recommend it.
Here’s a rainbow that came out last Saturday. It was super cool because we were right on the edge. It wasn’t raining at our house, but it was down the street. It looked much better in person. The lighting was freaky!
Nik brought Rock Band over one day. That was awesome. It was way more fun to play when we didn’t have to worry about being too loud for the neighbors. (Nik’s apartment has too many shared walls.) I think we played until 2 in the morning or something crazy like that.
Super Bowl. For some reason Nik and Dave find the 50 McNugget special at McDonald’s fascinating. Even the drive thru guy was giggling when we placed the order. It was a nice big grease bomb. I ate a million vegetables in the following two days. My body had to regulate!
// February 9th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // post
So they are voting for new license plates for Texas. I just voted and found out that the ugliest one is winning! (At least in my professional opinion.) And winning by a landslide!
My guess is because the only people who care so much about this vote (or have even heard about it) are the die-hard Texans. The large majority of Texans are certainly not known for their fashion sense. Think about the big haired ladies getting their nails done throughout the state at this very moment. Those ladies are not going to pick us a decent license plate.
So now I feel it’s my duty to get this information out to the “right” Texans. Pick a decent license plate design… PLEASE! Don’t let the large majority pick a design for something that you will not only have to see every day, but something that you will have to put on your personal prized possession - your car!
VOTE NOW! And spread the word far and wide.
// February 9th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Tex-Mex Update:
Was recommended to try Antonio’s on Jollyville Road near Duval. We went there first since it was so close and we were lazy.
The food was actually quite good! I got the fish tacos (yum) and Dave had his standard chicken enchiladas with verde sauce. He said the verde sauce was odd, but not bad and I loved the fish tacos. Extra bonus was that they came with a grilled option. The all-important salsa was different, but quite tasty. Hot for sure.
Dave said it was a little too Tex on the Tex-Mex side for him. So we’ll keep shopping around. But we’ll be back if I have anything to say about it.
