I was digging through some pictures and found these shots I took when I was in Vegas this past June for a conference. I thought they'd be fun to share! Seanna (my coworker from my office job) and her husband Steve had a fantastic view of the Vegas strip... (while I got stuck with a view of the parking garage ...yay *sarcasm*) and asked if I'd take a quick portrait of them. ;] Of course I said yes!
This weekend my husband and I (and my father-in-law) drove to Las Vegas for a Karate Championship. I really wasn't looking forward to it. I'm not a Vegas person. I think it's dirty and full of people trying to live the Vegas motto "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" to the limit. ...but as a loving wife, I went and it was nice to have a short get away from our daily routine.
The trip started off with my mother-in-law freaking out about our hotel. When we picked up Jeff's dad we told them where Jeff and I would be staying... the El Cortez hotel... which was followed by a few minutes of extreme warnings about the quality of our hotel choice... which according to her was in the worst part of town, frequented by druggies and whores, and complimented by an extremely unsafe parking garage. Jeff and I had read tons of reviews on tons of hotels and for the price, the reviews could not be beat. But we're much more inclined to trust the opinion of people we know... And so we started to worry. (We've had bad hotel experiences before... In March we went to San Diego and got a grey deal on America's Best Value Inn.. Which turned out to have no value, and instead was a dirty dingy tiny room with puke on the stairs and blood on the floor... But that's a whole different story).
The drive was long and it was intermittently spent worrying about our hotel. Our worrying was only made worse when we made it to Jeff's uncle's house, where Uncle Greg confirmed the impression left by Jeff's mom.
The pitstop bathrooms were either horrible... no toilet paper, dirty floors, walls, mirrors, & counters or fantastic, clean, and tidy.
We didn't get to the hotel until after 10pm. And we were very relieved. It was much nicer than expected. The El Cortez was owned by Bugsy Siegel (Las Vegas mobster) back in the day, and we stayed in a vintage queen room that was one of the original rooms from Bugsy's time. The room was smaller, but had been tastefully redecorated recently. It was clean and comfortable (although the floor creaked slightly) and even had little toiletries (which earns a hotel major points in my book ;] ). To make it even cooler there was a traditional barber on the floor of our rooms (right above the casino) and jeff got his haircut from him!
Hola from sunny and sweltering Las Vegas. I’m in town for the RESNA conference – two days of meetings, and two days of conference/exhibit as well as my very own poster presentation.
Yesterday morning I woke up early to fly down wth my boss. He has his own little plane, and so he, his wife, daughter, and stacked up our luggage and hopped in. It was a beautiful 2 hour flight. Everything looks so different from an airplane viewpoint. Rivers and mountains become swirling and branching patterns. Houses, cars, and swimming pools look like miniature replicas like a model train set. Clouds are no longer floating above you, but soaring past your windows or below you – like a blanket of white cotton.
We landed at the N. Las Vegas airport and were welcomed by a thick wave of heat. The airport was almost empty, so I took advantage of the lack of inquiring eyes to take a couple pictures.
Our hotel was off in the distance, a good 15-25 minute drive from the strip. But it was still enormous and beautiful. The perimeter was loaded with palm trees and exotic fountains and fire displays. Inside the hotel, it was just as fancy. They had gigantic chandeliers, shiny tile, large art pieces, double arching staircases, and rich red velvet enclosing a lounge area. We checked our luggage, grabbed some food, and headed out to valet to collect the car to go exploring.
It was too hot outside so I flipped around to head back inside to wait outside of the heat. As I did, a woman exiting the hotel caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks, did a double take and shouted “Bianca?!” She glanced over and froze. We both stood there for a few seconds, dumbfounded before coming to our senses. Bianca and I lived a few blocks apart during elementary school in Lake Tahoe. She and I were best friends – we danced together, had sleepovers and playdates, etc. etc. We were “bonk bonk” and “harm harm.” Both her family and mine had moved from Tahoe to Carson, within a few months or years of each other. Then a few years later her family moved to Las Vegas, and I hadn’t seen her since. We found each other on facebook a few years back, but hadn’t really kept in touch.
So to my surprise, of all the hotels in Vegas, of all the people at that hotel, of all the moments in time to get the car… it was that moment that she had stopped by to grab a coffee and I had decided it was too hot – we bumped into each other. We caught up shortly while my group waited for the car, exchanged numbers and then went on our ways. We’ll catch up more when we grab lunch or coffee before I leave.
The rest of the afternoon was long and tiring – too many places, hot hot heat, and not-so-great-for-walking shoes. When we finally returned to the hotel (9:30p) I was worn out and cranky and couldn’t help but think to myself that my afternoon had been a exhausting waste of time. But then I remembered that if I had decided to stay at the hotel and not go out and about, I never would have run into Bianca… and so it was all worth it.
Plus I got to see the street characters – you know the people that dress up like famous people or characters and work based on tips. I saw an awesome Jack Sparrow, Iron Man, Batman, Elvis, and a couple Michael Jacksons. If I were going to be a street character I’d either be a robot like character – like Transformers or Iron Man, or a pirate.
My hotel room is gorgeous. If it had a kitchen, I’d move in permanently. The bedroom area is spacious, beautiful colors, a large flat screen tv, bose radio system, desk, beds, chaise lounge, and benches. The bed is incredible. Super soft down pillows, incredibly high thread count white sheets, and a pillow-top or down topped mattress. I felt like a princess. The bathroom is probably my favorite part. Two sinks, bathtub with tv mounted to the wall, hidden toilet, and tiled shower. Plus they gave me shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, lotion, facial soap, oatmeal soap, sewing kit, and a few other odds and ends. [I don’t know about all of you, but one of my favorite parts of staying in hotels is the little toiletries you get to use and can take home… I love them so much, I hide each day’s in my bag so they’ll give me more! Ssshhh don’t tell, k?]
By the time I went to bed last night I was thoroughly exhausted. I sunk down into the deep pillows and fell asleep in an instant, and didn’t wake up until my AM alarm [despite a band playing at a pool party outside and down 15 floors].
Today was completely booked with meetings, a short lunch break, and some diner. I drank a ton of water, and iced tea. I was up and down visiting the little girl’s room. And although I probably consumed a gallon or two of water, it’s hot down here, so it’s okay. For dinner we went to Hatchi, an Asian restaurant. The architecture and design was absolutely stunning. An original Takashi Murakami large wall piece was along one wall. The opposite wall had huge framed prints of cherry blossoms. There were glass flowers hanging from the ceiling, and fun textures and shapes all around the walls. I ordered a couple sushi rolls. My food came out last, but it was worth the wait. It was the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. Jeff and I love to go to Ming’s in Carson. But this sushi made Ming’s sushi look like it was store bought junk. Incredible. I think I might go back there for dinner another night before I head out [if I can… and I really hope I can].
Tomorrow morning will be another day of meetings - I’m so bummed I can’t play hooky and go to church :(
Anyway.. I can’t believe how quickly my time down here is flying by. I’m staying for nights, and tonight is already my second night! [ that means 2 more days of free toiletries! ;) ]
Greetings from warm sunny San Diego!
I’m on my way home now! I just got to the airport, its about 4:00 pm. I thought my flight left at 5:00 so I left the hotel at 3 thinking it’d take 30 minutes to get to the airport and then I’d have 1.5 hrs to get through security, to my, gate, and have enough time for any emergencies or delays or whatever. Well I realized after I got here that my flight leaves at 5:30…. So now I have an additional 30 minutes to hang out at the airport. Oh well.
I had super butterflies again before heading here. I just get nervous that I’m not going to know what I’m doing or that something could go wrong. It didn’t help that when I grabbed my luggage I realized it was pouring rain, with loud booms of thunder and flashes of lightening. It was coming down so incredible hard! I took a taxi to the airport and about halfway there the rain went from pouring (so hard it was like a blizzard of rain) to being completely dry. Praise God that it is completely dry here at the airport.
Anyway, I’m glad to have a little bit of time to work on catching up with editing photographs and 365’s. I’m way to far behind (again!). I just can’t seem to keep up, I have so many other things going on that cause me to fall behind. At least I’ve been good at keeping up on taking them!
I’ll try to post some New Orleans pics at some point! (No promises though as I always seem to promise pictures and then never make it around to getting them up. But I’ll try hard!!!) 9 more hrs and I’ll be home!
There are three adorable little girls sitting in front of me. Each has the same dress, but in a different color with their name embroidered on the front. They all have beautiful blond hair tied up in big colorful bows. So cute! ;] Someday I’ll have my own children. I really hope I at least one daughter, if not a couple.
Today I had just finished a big committee meeting (4 hrs with no breaks!), I’d been drinking tons and tons of water and had to pee like a racehorse! The bathroom was on the completely other end of the hall and so I half waddled half ran down it to get to the bathroom, which I promptly tried to open and was just as promptly met with a deep “whoa – whoa!” And thankfully the door was barely cracked and so I quickly shut it. There was another door around the corner, which was unoccupied, but the toilet was disgusting. I wasn’t about to wait outside for the man who I’d almost walked in on to finish and I also didn’t want to have to wait for the elevator to go up to my room to use my bathroom.
I knew there had to be stairs somewhere (we were on the 8th floor), and I found them behind an almost unmarked door. The stairwell was just like from movies – completely empty, somewhat dusty/dirty and clearly rarely used. First I ran up one flight of stairs to the 9th floor, but realized this was a floor of rooms and there were no public bathrooms. So then I tried to go down to the 7th floor, but this door was locked with an employees only sign on it. Gah! I really had to go by this point and so I went one more flight down to the 6th floor. When I opened the door I realized I was in some sort of office, but it was like I was in the back area of the office. I had no clue who’s office it was or if I was allowed to be there, but I could clearly see a door marked “Women’s” and there was no stopping me. I quickly glanced around (like a secret agent woman) and then calmly walked into the bathroom. As I entered a woman exited and I smiled and nodded and tried my best to act like I was supposed to be there. She nodded back and walked away.
Yeah! Success! On my way out I opened the door slowly, glanced around and quietly slipped back out the door to the stairwell and went back up to the meeting room to gather my stuff. I only regret not bringing my camera to document and better tell my story. ;]
Hello world from who-knows-how-many-thousand feet! I’m currently on a plane on my way to Denver and then New Orleans. I’m attending the RESNA conference as part of my training to assist with some wheelchair standards balloting and other administrative/secretariat work with my office job. [note- I found out later that we were flying around 37,000 feet]
I was so incredibly nervous. This morning Jeff woke up at 5:00am to go to the gym, and I figured I’d sleep till almost 6, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. (Which is a bummer because I couldn’t get to sleep last night until midnight or later.) So I got up, did my hair and finished packing my bags. Jeff got home, we ate breakfast, said goodbye and headed to work.
Around 10:00am I started getting major butterflies. It was the weirdest feeling. My stomach felt like it was being vacuumed out. My boss and I were planning on leaving the office at 11:30, but didn’t get out until noon, and so then I was really worried we’d miss our flight or be late or something. But since he’s in a wheelchair (and he flies all the time & knows all of the stewardesses and check-in people) we bought lunch and made it into our seats in only a few minutes. (And they upgraded me from my crappy seat at the back of the plane to sit in the third row with extra legroom so that we could sit together and go over work.)
I haven’t been on a plane since my honeymoon. And honestly I don’t remember much of those flights except for looking out over parts of Mexico that were very odd landscapes of desert and weird bushes and swamps. I know that some people don’t like flying, but I thought takeoff was kind of fun. I like the feeling of being pushed into my chair – it makes me feel like I’m a racecar driver or something. My favorite part is looking down on everything. You get to see clouds from above, blue skies below you, the layouts of cities and towns, and the amazing formations of mountains, valleys, & waterways. It’s so beautiful from up here. I imagine this is only a sliver of the kind of view God has of earth.
My rough butterflies have gone, but I’m still nervous. The farthest east I’ve ever been is around Colorado. I’m going all the way to New Orleans?!? Is that considered east or south? I’m very excited to see and experience a different city’s culture and I’m stoked to eat Creole and Cajun food, but I’m nervous about the work part of the trip. I have meetings all day Tues, Wed, and then Thurs, I’m meeting with tons of people through RESNA’s organization. I know some, but not nearly enough to fully comprehend what is gong to be going on during the meetings. But I’m hopeful I’ll be able to pick it up quickly and learn the lingo and such.
My boss and I spent the first part of this plan ride working on things for the meeting and the office. Then he said he wanted to take a short nap. I would love to take one, but I can’t sleep with people all around me, so I figured I’d take out my computer and work on some stuff… then I realize that while I did manage to back up 100 gb of pictures I’d been putting off for months, I forgot to copy the pictures I’m yet to edit onto my computer off of my external hard drive so that I could work on them on my plane rides. Oops!
Hopefully there’ll be somewhere I can plug in my hard drive during my layover and I can transfer some pictures over to work on during the next flight. If not I’ll just keep writing blogs or something and make sure I copy them for my plane trip home on Thursday.
Oooh! Turbulence! No joke I’m looking out the window at eye-level clouds! When I was little I told myself that when I was older I would take a flight or something, capture a cloud in a jar and bring it home with me so I’d always have a cloud to look at. ;] If only that were actually possible.
In other news Jeff and I upgraded to iPhones last Friday. I am so glad we did too. I’ve been using a piece of junk phone for the past couple years and another crappy phone before that and so on. I love being able to check my email and…
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Sorry, I got cut off on the previous entry while on the airplane . It was time to turn off electronics so I had to shut down my computer. Its now Wednesday night (technically Thurs early morning here in New Orleans). I’ve been super busy the last couple days with standards meetings. Tomorrow is my last day, and I’m spending the morning in some paper and poster presentations and then heading back home!
