Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
3 years ago
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
OK, so this is me in front of the huge Abercrombie and Fitch billboard at Fashion Mall in Vegas. Now, there has been some controversy about my keeping company with many shirtless guys while in Vegas, but thankfully none of this controversy has come from David, who really doesn't care since he knows what the deal is. He has a beard for goodness sakes! He has no insecurities!! Anyway, I assure you, that these are the least harmful of all the guys we saw, due mainly to the fact that they have no heads. Also I am not a fan of Abercrombie and Fitch since they feel it is good business to make sizes only Nicole Richie can wear, but this was just too good to pass up. Jennie took this picture, and she is now giving her sister Susannah a run for her money as a photographer. J/K!! Here is the link to Susannah's site: http://www.susannahsheppard.com/ But really, Jennie took this and it is one of my favorites from the trip. Enjoy!
New Fav....
nataliedee.com
This is a smapling of the comics that Natalie Dee does. She looks eerily similar to Natalie from the Dixie Chicks, but I am sure she would get pissed off at me for saying that, so we will write it off as just a passing observation. Check out her website at www.nataliedee.com and also her and her husband Drew's website at www.marriedtothesea.com. I garantee they are laugh-out-loud funny!! If you do not laugh out loud at at least ONE of their comics, I will give you your money back. But first you have to give me some money, so there you go. Peace!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Friday and Saturday in Vegas...
So on Friday we slept in and had a luxurious breakfast with $5.00 glasses of orange juice and Jack and Linda picked us up around 12:30 to go to the Venetian shops. We stayed there all afternoon and went to Sephora and some places like that. We also were right outside of Tao, which had its birthday party with a ton of celebrities later that night. So we think we are finished shopping there but Linda wants to stop back by this place she went in before called David and Goliath, and we ended up spending about an hour and a half in there! They had the cutest sushi stuff, and I bought magnets and stuff. The funniest part was that the people who worked there had been at the Thunder from Down Under show with us, and the girl had won the "Fake Orgasm" contest, and the Sly guy asked her out! So funny, and they remembered us and we talked for a while. So after that we went back to Jack and Linda's hotel room to print out our boarding passes for the next day and relax for a while, then we went to Freemont street to see the Freemont Street Experience. It was in the VERY SKEEZY part of town, which we were not accustomed to after our week of luxury. It didn't help that the light show was just women in bikinis dancing on the ceiling. So at one point I had to go to the bathroom and we went in the Golden Nugget and I honestly thought we might not get out without getting shot. So scary!! So after we finished there Jack and Linda dropped us off at the Riviera to see American Storm!
Here is the story behind American Storm... I was a big fan of the VH1 show Stripsearch when it was on, and the premise was the creator of Thunder from Down Under wanted to create and American version, and that is what the show was about. They literally got in an RV and drove around auditioning these average Joes then training them and the winners get their own Las Vegas show. So once the show was over I never heard anything else about it, but on Wednesday we were in our new hotel room looking through the magazine that you get and we came across an ad for it and it had a two-for-onw ticket deal! So that night was Thunder, and we decided to play it by ear depending on how well we liked Thunder. Well, as you know we were not that impressed with Thunder, but we didn't really have anything to do so we decided to give it a shot...
So we get to the box office and get our VIP tickets, and there is already a group of people waiting. There are about 7 big black and hispanic girls, and a hilarious gay guy; they are all talking big time shit to anyone who will listen. So they were the only people in line yet, so we went and grabbed a bite of food for dinner then came back and got in line. We waited for forever, and the people that had been there before just got louder and we got more scared! So we finally get to go in and we are across the isle from the crazy people, but I am sitting on the outside on the middle isle, and they are sitting on the outside of the isle opposite me, so we are safe. So the show starts and I am in a prime spot and all the guys at some point came up and messed with me. And let me just say that the American Storm show was in an actual theater, with cushy seats and tables and a person that came and took your drink order, and it was just all around much nicer than Thunder. So in the show there are 3 main guys and the MC named Josh who alos gets his own part of the show. So when it was his part he same out into the audience and messed with me, and we were clapping and laughing and the guys were smiling and were great dancers. So after Josh's part the show is almost over and I look down and realize that THE DIAMOND OUT OF MY ENGAGEMENT RING IS GONE!!!! I thought I was going to throw up I was so panicked! I immediately started looking around in my area to see if I could find it but, I did not see it anywhere. And all of a sudden the gay guy sitting across the aisle from me who was talking so much shit earlier asks me in the nicest voice what is wrong. I am not going to lie that I thought I might not tell him becasue he might find it and run, but I decided to give him the benefit and tell him what was up. He was so nice and told me that he and his friends were not leaving until they helped me find the diamond! So nice! So after the show we all start looking and the lights guy refuses the turn up the lights so I can look and says that the theater turns into a club after American Storm and that I will have to come back and look at 3:00 am when the club closes, but that he will give me a flashlight and good luck with that. Such an asshole!! So at this point I am starting to panick because I think there is no way I will be able to find it in the dark, and all of a sudden one of the guy's frinds pops up and says "Is this it?" while holding the diamond. I was SO releived that I just started bawling, and we paid for her drinks and her pic with the guys. So i was calm while we were looking because I knew we had insurance, but it would just not be the same. I am also gratful that of all the places to lose it it was in a confined space, because any where else and it would have been gone forever! Jennie and I also learned that the lesson of the trip was not to judge people. Always wise:) After that we took a cab home and couldn't go to sleep until about 4:00 am because we were so hyped up on adrenaline.
So the next morning we went to the Rio to eat a breakfast buffet, and we got to take pictures by the Chippendale's theater! So fun, and sexy too!! The breakfast buffet was ok, but after all the amazing food we had eaten it did not really measure up. We went to the airport and turned in the rental car, and winged our way back to Austin. It was a long trip, but so fun! I would recomment Vegas to anyone who can do it right!!
Here is the story behind American Storm... I was a big fan of the VH1 show Stripsearch when it was on, and the premise was the creator of Thunder from Down Under wanted to create and American version, and that is what the show was about. They literally got in an RV and drove around auditioning these average Joes then training them and the winners get their own Las Vegas show. So once the show was over I never heard anything else about it, but on Wednesday we were in our new hotel room looking through the magazine that you get and we came across an ad for it and it had a two-for-onw ticket deal! So that night was Thunder, and we decided to play it by ear depending on how well we liked Thunder. Well, as you know we were not that impressed with Thunder, but we didn't really have anything to do so we decided to give it a shot...
So we get to the box office and get our VIP tickets, and there is already a group of people waiting. There are about 7 big black and hispanic girls, and a hilarious gay guy; they are all talking big time shit to anyone who will listen. So they were the only people in line yet, so we went and grabbed a bite of food for dinner then came back and got in line. We waited for forever, and the people that had been there before just got louder and we got more scared! So we finally get to go in and we are across the isle from the crazy people, but I am sitting on the outside on the middle isle, and they are sitting on the outside of the isle opposite me, so we are safe. So the show starts and I am in a prime spot and all the guys at some point came up and messed with me. And let me just say that the American Storm show was in an actual theater, with cushy seats and tables and a person that came and took your drink order, and it was just all around much nicer than Thunder. So in the show there are 3 main guys and the MC named Josh who alos gets his own part of the show. So when it was his part he same out into the audience and messed with me, and we were clapping and laughing and the guys were smiling and were great dancers. So after Josh's part the show is almost over and I look down and realize that THE DIAMOND OUT OF MY ENGAGEMENT RING IS GONE!!!! I thought I was going to throw up I was so panicked! I immediately started looking around in my area to see if I could find it but, I did not see it anywhere. And all of a sudden the gay guy sitting across the aisle from me who was talking so much shit earlier asks me in the nicest voice what is wrong. I am not going to lie that I thought I might not tell him becasue he might find it and run, but I decided to give him the benefit and tell him what was up. He was so nice and told me that he and his friends were not leaving until they helped me find the diamond! So nice! So after the show we all start looking and the lights guy refuses the turn up the lights so I can look and says that the theater turns into a club after American Storm and that I will have to come back and look at 3:00 am when the club closes, but that he will give me a flashlight and good luck with that. Such an asshole!! So at this point I am starting to panick because I think there is no way I will be able to find it in the dark, and all of a sudden one of the guy's frinds pops up and says "Is this it?" while holding the diamond. I was SO releived that I just started bawling, and we paid for her drinks and her pic with the guys. So i was calm while we were looking because I knew we had insurance, but it would just not be the same. I am also gratful that of all the places to lose it it was in a confined space, because any where else and it would have been gone forever! Jennie and I also learned that the lesson of the trip was not to judge people. Always wise:) After that we took a cab home and couldn't go to sleep until about 4:00 am because we were so hyped up on adrenaline.
So the next morning we went to the Rio to eat a breakfast buffet, and we got to take pictures by the Chippendale's theater! So fun, and sexy too!! The breakfast buffet was ok, but after all the amazing food we had eaten it did not really measure up. We went to the airport and turned in the rental car, and winged our way back to Austin. It was a long trip, but so fun! I would recomment Vegas to anyone who can do it right!!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Thursday in Las Vegas!!
So after the crazy night we had on my birthday, Thursday we slept in and Jack and Linda picked us up around 10:00. We had tickets to go to this gift shop convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center to scope out new educational things for our gift shop, but when we got there we were going to have to park way far out and we had lunch reservations at 12:30 at the Aladdin Shops, so we decided to go there and go shopping first so we would be there when it was time for lunch. Well, needless to say we had a ton of fun shopping! The first place Jennie and I went to was Origins, where we each bought this amazing lotion and I got moisturizer. I have since gone back and bought the other two products that she let me sample, and I LOVE them!! We went to a bunch of different stores before lunch, one of which was a magnet store where we both bought magnets and $8.00 duffel bags to take back all the stuff we bought! At 12:30 we met Jack and Linda for lunch at Commander's Palace, which is this highly rated restaurant. We each got the 1885 lunch, which a three course meal for $18.85! It was also25 sent martini lunch that day, so we big plans for getting about a dollar's worth each, but when Jennie took her first sip and thought she had swallowed it wrong since she coughed for about 10 minutes and thought she was going to die but then she took her second sip and found out that was just how strong they were, we all decided just to have one! They were really good, but really sugary. The food was amazing, and after lunch we stayed in Aladdin for a couple more hours and Jennie got me this beautiful glass necklace for my birthday. After that we went to the shops at Caesar's Palace, home of the famous club Pure. The very first store we came to was the Coach store, and Jennie and I made the mistake of going in. OK, so Jennie almost immediately found a purse she absolutely loved, and having never bought a Coach purse before she was not prepared for the price! Personally I have two Coach purses, and I consider them an investment, not just a purse. They are beautiful and will last forever, and I have the ones with the fabric and the one Jennie wanted was all leather, so it was even more luxurious. She asked them to hold it so she could think about it, and as we walked around she decided that she deserved it, so before we left for the day we went by and she bought it!! As David said, "Welcome to the club. It's all downhill from here..." Ha! She was ecstatic, and we named it Godiva since it is a beautiful brown leather. While we were at the shops Jennie and I split from Jack and Linda, and when we met up with them Jack said that as they were walking around the ran into Lewis Black, who coincidentally we were going to see live that night!! So Jack was trying to show us the picture that Linda took of him and Lewis together, and it had turned out blurry. Oh he was mad! Lewis Black is one of his favorite entertainers. They made up, but the photo is pretty fuzzy.
So after a very long and exciting shopping day, we went back to the hotel to get ready for Lewis Black! We had a few hours before Jack and Linda were supposed to pick us up, and we had promised Jessica that we would get her some of the signature Bellagio perfume, so we walked down and saw the light show then went inside to get the perfume. Inside in the lobby is the Chihuley glass ceiling, which was beautiful, and we also went in the gardens, which were changed for fall. We were so tired after that that we took a cab back to the hotel, then went upstairs and changed. We walked over to the MGM Grand and met Jack and Linda at the theater. The guy who opened for him was crazy, but he became more entertaining as the evening went on. Then Lewis Black came out, and we laughed for a straight hour and a half. So funny! Then afterwards Jack was ready to go!! I had been dreading it all day since I was not ready to go to Rain at the Palms, which Jennie and I had gotten on the guest list for the week before. I had been looking forward to it, but as it got closer I was kind of wanting to back out. This is what happened when we got there...
OK, you know how when you see something on TV and you really want to be there, but you can't imagine that it could really be like that. I thought Rain would be classy and hip and an adult place, but when we got there it was a HUGE crowd of barely dressed skanky looking people who scared the shit out of me. I am all about going out and having a good time, and even though I am married I like to go out and shake my ass a little, but almost as soon as we got in there I felt like I had to leave immediately. Unfortunately, Jack has not turned his phone back on after the concert, so we had to take a cab back to the hotel. Uhhh! It was absolutely crazy. I can't remember when I have been more uncomfortable. So Jennie and I stayed up and played Texas Hold'em and went to bed! I felt bad because I am 22 and supposed to be out being crazy, but that was just not the place for me, and Jennie was grateful I didn't want to stay, since it was definitely not the place for her!! It was a fun day of amazing shopping! Check out the album below for a few shots!
So after a very long and exciting shopping day, we went back to the hotel to get ready for Lewis Black! We had a few hours before Jack and Linda were supposed to pick us up, and we had promised Jessica that we would get her some of the signature Bellagio perfume, so we walked down and saw the light show then went inside to get the perfume. Inside in the lobby is the Chihuley glass ceiling, which was beautiful, and we also went in the gardens, which were changed for fall. We were so tired after that that we took a cab back to the hotel, then went upstairs and changed. We walked over to the MGM Grand and met Jack and Linda at the theater. The guy who opened for him was crazy, but he became more entertaining as the evening went on. Then Lewis Black came out, and we laughed for a straight hour and a half. So funny! Then afterwards Jack was ready to go!! I had been dreading it all day since I was not ready to go to Rain at the Palms, which Jennie and I had gotten on the guest list for the week before. I had been looking forward to it, but as it got closer I was kind of wanting to back out. This is what happened when we got there...
OK, you know how when you see something on TV and you really want to be there, but you can't imagine that it could really be like that. I thought Rain would be classy and hip and an adult place, but when we got there it was a HUGE crowd of barely dressed skanky looking people who scared the shit out of me. I am all about going out and having a good time, and even though I am married I like to go out and shake my ass a little, but almost as soon as we got in there I felt like I had to leave immediately. Unfortunately, Jack has not turned his phone back on after the concert, so we had to take a cab back to the hotel. Uhhh! It was absolutely crazy. I can't remember when I have been more uncomfortable. So Jennie and I stayed up and played Texas Hold'em and went to bed! I felt bad because I am 22 and supposed to be out being crazy, but that was just not the place for me, and Jennie was grateful I didn't want to stay, since it was definitely not the place for her!! It was a fun day of amazing shopping! Check out the album below for a few shots!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
My 22nd Birthday!!
Well, Wednesday after the brunch was over we went back to our hotel rooms to pack everything up so we could switch hotels. As Jennie and I were getting ready to go down, Jack said Charles Brizius (one of our board members and my new friend on the trip!) needed to see us at the craps table, and I figured he was going to invite Jennie and me to dinner with him, his wife Sharron, Jack, and Linda. but when we got down there, he said that he wanted me to have an amazing birthday, but he knew we had our own schedule that night, but he wanted to buy our dinner for us! It was probably one of the nicest things ever, and it made it possible for Jennie and I to have an AMAZING dinner. Well, after we checked out of the Wynn Jack and Linda dropped us off at our hotel (they stayed at a different place), and after we got settled into our room at the Monte Carlo we went downstairs and had a very fancy birthday lunch of McDonalds! It was delicious, and it was nice not to have to be so fancy all the time like at the Wynn. After lunch we played slots for a minute and I doubled my money on $1.00, then we went back up to the room for a nap before our 6:00 dinner reservation. I SWEAR I set the alarm for us to get up and get ready for 5:00, but I did not wake up until about 5:40, and that was the fastest Jennie and I moved the whole trip! We ate at the Blackstone Steakhouse in the hotel, and it was WONDERFUL!! We each got an 8oz fillet, I got asparagus and Jennie got 5 cheese potatoes for the sides, there was a wonderful bread basket, and I got an amazing glass of wine. Not too shabby for Jennie and Mary Beth! As soon as we were done with dinner we went to Excalibur for THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER!!! Now, you have to understand that Jennie and I had been looking forward to this for forever, and for it to be anything less than fantastic was just not going to cut it. So, as we walk into the hotel there are these huge purple dragons, and standing in front of one of them are two Australian men wearing nothing but tight spandex pants with the Australian flag on them!! The blonde's name was Michael, and he was hilarious! He was even more entertaining than the actual show. So I get pictures taken with them, and then we go up to the theater. We were waiting outside and it was in this little side room that looked like it was a storage room turned into a theater, and immediately outside was this dingy little Chinese food restaurant that all these creepy guys were eating at. So we are definitely the best dressed people there, and the show ends up being not so good. The guys are not great dancers, the show only lasts like 45 minutes, and they are just so over-the-top looking that it is hard not to laugh. Needless to say we were disappointed. As after the show we took the escalator thing to the Luxor and then over to New York, NY. By that time we were both very tired, and we went back to the hotel and Jennie taught me how to play Texas Hold'em. All in all it was a wonderful birthday, and one I will never forget! Check out the pics below and immediately above to see the big day!!
Las Vegas Monday, Tuesday, and the first part of Wednesday
Sorry it has taken me so long to finish updating on Vegas, but here we go…
Monday was our first day of work in the company store, which is where we are selling things that are uniquely ours to the bottlers who attended the convention. Before we left we ordered about 400 chip cups with our logo on them to pass out to the bottlers, and when we got there everyone was quick to point out that no one uses chip cups anymore! Everyone uses the credit card type things, so we stuffed them with our mail order catalog and passed them out as really big drink cups. Oh well. So we had to shove those onto people all day and basically just stand there and greet everyone, answer questions, and such. Right outside our booth there was a guy from this software company who had set up this touch-screen monitor with a bubble game on it, and people had to play to enter to win one of three guitars signed by Rod Stewart. So the guy was there for maybe a whole hour out of the two days, and he left us to run his booth for him, so Jennie and I played the bubble game A LOT! Mainly as demo, of course. Jennie played once and got the highest score by a lot, and she was the winner almost all day on Tuesday until a guy from Evigna named Wayne (who Jennie had a slight crush on) beat her score. For lunch on Monday Jennie and I went to Red 8, which is a Chinese restaurant in the Wynn, and the only restaurant in the hotel that we really wanted to eat at. It was soooooo good! I got Pork Chow Mien and Jennie got Mongolian Beef. After that we walked down to the chocolate boutique in the hotel and each got a $9.00 four-piece box for dessert. Very decadent. The afternoon went by quickly, and Jennie was not feeling well so I went up to Linda and Jack’s room to have a glass of wine before dinner while Jennie rested. We got Little Penguin wine at the skeezy liquor store, and it was great. We met Jennie downstairs to go to the big dinner, which had Rat Pack impersonators! They were soo funny, and the dinner was great, but they gave us these tiny plates to put all of our food on, which was not cool. There was so much good stuff, so we all got like 4 plates. Afterwards we watched Jack gamble for a minute, then Jennie went upstairs and Linda, Jack, and I wandered the Wynn shops. I went into Manolo Blahnik, but was scared of the prices so we left. Oh, and it cost $10.00 just to get in to the Ferrari show room, so we definitely did not do that. Well, that was Monday!
Tuesday was another day of selling stuff in the morning, and the hotel provided great breakfast and lunch for us. At 9:00 was the general session where they announce all the new promotions for next year, and that is also when the American Legends impersonators performed. The funniest part was probably when Elvis sang “Vive Dr Pepper.” I am trying to get the video up soon. At 2:00 we started to tear down the company store, and it is amazing that it only took about 2 hours to tear down something that took an entire day to put up. After that Linda, Jennie and I walked over to the Fashion Mall across the street because I wanted to look around, but mainly I HAD to get some more comfortable shoes. I am pretty dumb thing that the two pairs of $20.00 Target loafers I brought would be good enough for 7 days of being on my feet, and on Monday I thought I was going TO DIE my arches hurt so bad. So basically I was in pain and I felt like an old lady cause I need arch support. So at Macy’s I found a pair or really cute Born shoes and I did not even look at the price and I just bought them. I think it was the best purchase I made in many years. I wore them the entire rest of the time, except for at the night shows, and my feet actually healed while wearing them. Amazing! Go buy yourself some!! Anyway, that night was the ROD STEWART CONCERT!! So Jennie and I went up to Jack and Linda’s room again and Linda and I finished the bottle of wine from the night before. I had not had anything to eat since about 11:30, and I got a little drunk. So we went downstairs outside by the pool to the dinner and I had some bread to try and sober me up a little, but then when Jennie was not looking Linda brought me a glass of white wine! So funny. Ok, so after dinner we go inside, and as Jennie is trying to infiltrate the line to get into the concert I am running behind her yelling “Isn’t this the line for the concert??” and Jennie gets so mad! Then, I stop and ask this young guy in a pink shirt if it is the line for the concert, and when I see Jennie coming I stop talking to him. As we are walking away he goes “What is wrong with your friend? Is she drunk?” Jennie says yes, and he says “Oh, bring her back!” So funny. So we get into the concert and end up sitting close to pink shirt guy, but he leaves midway through the concert. Rod sang all of his this, and at the very end we got to go up to the front of the seats and dance to “If you want my body and you think I’m sexy….” It was a blast! By the end of the concert I was fine, but we ran into pink shirt guy who started talking all nicey-nicey to Jack because he thought he was my father. So after he talks to Jack for a minute, he comes up to me and says “So where does the evening….(pause because he realized Jack and Linda and Jennie are still around)…and your family take you?” I let him know it was taking me straight back up to my room to pack, so he left. But that is without a doubt the quote of the trip!! So Jennie and I went back up to pack since we had to switch hotels the next day.
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