Viva Las Vegas!

Pia, Katie and I are home from our fab Las Vegas weekend!  This was my first time experiencing the "only in America" wonder that is Vegas. We met up with some of her friends and the Virginians (yay!) for a long weekend of all the stuff you do when you go to Vegas:

We stayed at the Paris Hotel/Casino, which was very nice.  We hung out at the pool one day, where I burned the right side of my body due to my refusal to turn around/over.  It's turning to tan though.

People-watching is the BEST activity.  You have not SEEN sequins, glitter, cleavage, high heels and skirts that barely cover the crotchular area until you've spent some time here.  We saw some epic mullets, clothing that I thought didn't exist outside of Frederick's of Hollywood, more silicone boobs than I could count, and much more.  So much fun!

Gambling!  I've always avoided the casinos here, figuring it might be an activity I'd like just a bit too much.  I was probably right in thinking that.  Cara supplied me with plenty of money to fuel the slots, and a few lessons on how to play after I told her I didn't know if I was winning -- the slot machines "baffled" me.  We spent about 12 hours at one bank of slots as Car went on an epic winning spree; she ended up winning about 1300 bucks on a 40 starting pot.  Well, as you can imagine, it was all Eiffel Tower cocktails after that:

I required ice packs and carpal tunnel wrist splints after my epic day hitting the "bet again" button on my chosen slot machine.  But it was a lot of fun.  Tony brought along his friend Alex, who was a good addition to the gang.  He placed a couple of winning sports bets, but threatened to blow it all by betting on the Mariners (pretty sure he was just kidding).  Katie's bestie from school days Sarah joined us for 24 hours and she was def. the life of the party.  Thanks to Skokie, we learned that you cannot say The F Word in any casino.  You can use any other swear word you want, you can dress like a hooker or get drunk as a skunk, but no F Word.  F-ing weird.

Since we were there to celebrate Katie's 30th birthday, a show was on the agenda.  Patty (big Tony's fabulous spouse, she's great) had been to several of the Cirque du Soleil shows and recommended "Zumanity", so we headed over to New York New York to the show:

Um, Patty?  Love you doll, but this show was kind of horrifying.  Billed as "the sensual side of Cirque Du Soleil", this one would be great for bachelorette parties.  For parents/kids attending together?  Not so much.  I realized we might be in for a bit of an uncomfortable evening when our usherette was wearing an assless dress :-)  The acrobatics were cool, though (if you ignored the t&a and the orgasmic moans and groans) and there was a lot of funny interaction with audience members, who were super good sports.  And the drag queen Mistress of Ceremonies was great.

All in all, a very fun weekend hanging out with the people I love to hang out with best.  We're already planning our next adventure.  Rumor has it we'll be in the Dominican Republic for Thanksgiving.  Can't wait!