vegas

I went to Las Vegas this weekend for Michelle, Jason, and Phil's birthday. They all have birthdays within a month of each other so they made it a joint thing. It was an interesting weekend being that I invited a guy I've been talking to see if we could get along in person and with my friends AND Vance was there with his new gf. Both situations were pretty uncomfortable and I was anxious almost the whole weekend. Things didn't go to well with the new guy so I felt bad about that. Also, seeing Vance with someone else is still really painful even after all this time. So that's frustrating. Anyways, onto the good stuff. The picture is of us girls on Friday night at the club Rain (note my tan has faded but I'm still WAY darker than everyone else!). We had so much fun dancing that night. We stayed in Palazzo which is a new hotel that's an expansion of the Venician. It was NICE! We got two rooms to split with 11 people and it was very comfortable. There were 3 flat screen TV's in each room! It was crazy. So I flew in Friday night at the same time as Christy flew in from Monterey. We shared a cab to the hotel and met everyone at dinner. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe but it was really a Cheese Cake Factory with a different name. So I loved it :) Then we went to Rain. I stayed out until 4am which is so late for me! But we had a good time. Saturday, Christy, Phil, and I went to the Mirage to play penny and nickel slots. This was the best time I had the whole weekend. We played a bunch of our favorite games for over 6 hours! It was very entertaining. Phil and I are obsessed with a game called Mermaid's Gold (see picture below).
We played it the last time we were in Vegas together and HAD to play it again. The best thing about the penny slot games is that you can win bonus games. That was our goal. To play all the bonus games. Saturday night we went to dinner at the Queso Fundido place in the Venician. Every time this group of friends goes to Vegas we have to go to this one restaurant that serves an appetizer called Queso Fundido. It's basically melted cheese with ground beef and spices served with tortillas. Everyone loves it so it's a fun little tradition we have. Afterward we went to a lounge called Blush at the Wynn. It was really cool looking inside but it turned out to be lame. The only places to sit were Reserved tables and we didn't want to pay tons of money just to sit down. We only stayed until the girls got free glasses of champagne. Then the group split up a bit so people could go do different things. Christy and I weren't feeling well so we went back to the hotel and watched the end of Sleepless in Seattle. Then we went to bed early. Sunday we packed up, watched some football, walk around the strip, and went to the airport. I was still not feeling well (some kind of sinus cold that made my nose drip and gave me lots of painful sneezes) so I was walking around kind of zombie like. I was happy to leave and be in the comfort of my own home. I was happy to spend some time with my old friends but I was also happy to get back to normal life. It's funny how being so uncomfortable for so long can make you crave the people and places that bring you comfort (i.e. family, friends, roommate, co-workers, apartment...all the everyday regular things that I love). I could have lived without this weekend but I learned a few things:
-I don't really like new guy that much (not a fan of crude humor)
-I cannot hang out with the group if Vance is there (at least for now...it's not worth it)
-I have amazing friends that continue to blow me away with their love and intense loyalty
-I love my everyday life...thank you to all the people who make me feel loved
*Side note - thanks to everyone who let me borrow clothes so I didn't feel the need to buy new stuff!!! :)