Pop Quiz: Alina's plane leaves at 7:30am. Val's plane leaves at 8:40am. Who arrives at the airport first?
If you guessed Alina, you are sadly mistaken and do not know me at all...

Friday
After arriving at the airport ridiculously early, going through Southwest's new seating procedure (which is the most basic thing in the world, but, apparently, impossible for most others to understand), and sleeping through much of my flight, I arrived in the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada to...rain? It rains in Vegas? Apparently Vegas doesn't know this fact either because it seems to break when it rains: the escalators all stop working, the porn guys stop coming out, employees go outside to sweep the water from the streets...sillyVegas.

I met up with John and Alina and headed to the hotel, the MGM Grand, where we checked in and waited in our room for Mike who was driving in now that he lives oh so close in California. Once he arrived we headed downstairs, found that the lions were not going to be out (I demand my money back), ate sammiches at 'wichcraft (yummy steak, egg, and oyster mushroom sammich), and waited for Alina and Mike to get married. Joe's plane hadn't arrived yet, so she had to take what she could get...

Then it was on to gambling! Alina and I played penny slots while waiting for JoeJoe to arrive. Penny slots is one of those games that you just desperately want to lose but can't. It takes forever to lose a dollar. Alina managed to only gamble $2 the entire weekend and retained every cent.

Joe came and he and the boys hit the tables. I played $20 at the roulette table but soon after everyone at the table left and it was just me. That makes for very boring gambling because it goes way to fast and there is no interaction. I was prepared to leave anyways, but played one more and won $54. :-) My lucky number 13 and its corners helps me every time!

I told Joe that I was up fifty and he thought "so what" because he assumed that when I said fifty that I meant cents. And he did an awesomely amusing double take when he saw that I had actual chips :-)

After gambling a bit and drinking a bit we headed across the street (leaving MGM for the first time since arriving) to New York, New York. We settled on a dinner at a Mexican place: Gonzalez Y Gonzalez in the heart of NYC where I got me a soso chimichanga. And then it was off to the show!

We went to see Zumanity...the sensual side of Cirque. We decided on the show because I had never seen Cirque du Soleil and Alina had seen many but not this one. It was kind of more a Cirque du Soleil burlesque show. While sitting and waiting for the show to begin, some of the actors started going around looking all hot and kind of flashing people and such and then there was a little pre performance.

I think my favorite act was the first one, which had two naked women swimming in a giant fishbowl. Yes, that was my favorite. The tricks they did though were phenomenal and really unique, like nothing I have ever seen. It was at the same time so graceful and dance like and, yes, a little erotic. It was beautiful though. The rest of the show was neat too. I am just glad I was not pulled up on stage though. It was more like a burlesque show than what I'd think a typical cirque show would be. It was mostly just individual acts mixed with comedic filler and singing. But it was very amazingly good and a fun show.

After the show we hit the streets and everyone made me get a giant margarita. I ordered a strawberry one and asked for it to be in a pink glass. If I was going to be forced into caring around and drinking a margarita as big as me, it was going to be pink damnit.

We walked the strip with drinks that trailed down to my knees. Surprisingly I was the only one who didn't think it was a bad idea to sip the "free extra tequila shot" that they poured on top directly from the top of the drink. How am I the only one who can take her tequila straight???

We checked out the new Planet Hollywood casino which replaced the Aladdin and looks like a crappy giant billboard from the outside. The way I see it there are two types of Vegas hotels: the shiny fancy purdy ones (see: Bellagio, Wynn) and the over-the-top themed ones (see: Excalibur, Treasure Island, New York, New York). This fit neither and wasn't even Planet Hollywoodesque. It was just kind of there. Inside though it had one of the best redeeming qualities of any hotel on the strip. There were certain sections deemed "pleasure pits" that had go-go dancers in the gaming area. Now, I know you're all thinking Val this is the second time you've said that the naked women are your favorite thing. But fear not my friends, what made these Pleasure Pits so awesome was that the game tables were PINK! :-)

After a bit of gaming and trying and failing to chug down the remaining margarita, we headed back to the MGM and called it our first night in Vegas.




Saturday
Saturday we all dragged ourselves out of bed and headed downstairs to the Stage Deli for some yummy sammiches. I had a brisket on sourdough and i was indeed yummy. Then we hit the strip again for a walking tour of the wondrous city. We stopped at Bellagio to check out the new garden setup...unfortunately it was still under construction. It was all decked out for Christmas with penguins and trees and reindeer. We went in search of a restaurant for dinner because I was determined to go to a fancyshamancy place and thought I knew just the one, so we found it and made reservations. John and Mike headed back to MGM to watch some sports so Alina and Joe and I went off to explore.

We found the new Trump hotel, which is just a big golden phallus. We walked through Wynn because I think it's pretty. They replaced the floating flower balls that usually hang from the sparkle trees with sparkle balls for the holiday. And they had PINK poinsettias :-) We went through the Venetian and watched the gondolas go by. We stopped at the creperie in Paris to share a crepe (delicious!)

After our snack we headed back to MGM for sports and gambling then back to the Bellagio for dinner. We ate at Todd English's Olives because all I really wanted to do in Vegas was eat at a celebrity chef's restaurant. We had an amazing view with the Eiffel Tower right out the window and the spectacular fountains going off right outside.

They start you off with some olives and two different olive spreads. I'm not a big fan of olives but the spreads were just very salty and I like salt. I decided that if I was going to do this, might as well do it right, so I ordered myself a $42 kobe hanger steak with foie gras mushroom sauce, polenta, and a crispy mushroom frisee salad. It was the most delectable steak I've ever had. The mushrooms in the salad were breaded with a crunchy texture and the steak was so tender and the sauce was thick and delicious. Mmmmm. Sorry, I was not able to get a good picture (there is still one crappy one).

I also shared a bottle of Syrah with Joe and Alina and it was tasty as well.

The waiter asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu and almost thought we said "No" so we had to yell at him...as I said, if I'm going all out, I'm going all out. I split two desserts with Alina and Joe: a creme brulee and a chocolate volcano cake with a hot fudgy center. Drool.

After paying my $80 tab Alina and I headed off to the Rio for show #2: Penn & Teller. Damn you people because now when I saw them all I could think of was KennyK and ScottyMcHotty and how they would look awesome if they went as them for Halloween. :-(

The show rocked. Especially when they showed you how they did the tricks. Like they did that cup thing where the balls magically appear under the cups...and then they did it again using clear plastic cups. Of course, even though they explained it it still made no sense and they still kind of magically appeared :-)

They did a knife trick where they brought someone in from the audience blindfolded them and pretended to throw knives at them. They actually did this same trick at cirque as well. So, even if I knew it was a trick, I still could imagine that if I was brought on stage I would be crying and screaming so loudly they'd hear me three casinos over.

I think the best quote of the night though was just before juggling broken bottles Penn, explaining on the level of injury it might cause said "I won't be rushed to the hospital or anything. I'm not Roy."

After the show Alina called Joe who said they were headed to the Venetian. So off we went to the Venetian. When we got there, we saw that Joe had tried calling and that they went to O'Shea's to play beer pong instead. Which was way closer to where we started. :-( Needless to say , we were pissed. Now I am definitely one to see both sides of most arguments. I agree that they did try to call us to tell us several times. I was pretty upset though that they did not do the polite thing of staying where they told us they'd be until either we arrived or they were able to get in touch with us. What fueled the fire even more was that minutes after we got to O'Shea's, John announced that they were done there and we were heading to the Venetian...

So I was pretty pissed because I thought it was rude of them to not be where they said they'd be and to leave without actually getting in touch with us. But at the same time, I do understand that they (and by they I will mean Joe) at least tried to tell us. Alina on the other hand is a bit more stubborn than I am...and when you pair that with John, you're not going anywhere for a while. They argued for a bit, resulting in this conversation between me and Mike as we sat there watching:
Mike: This will be a while. Let's just go in the back and make out.
Me: OK!
Mike: After all, love solves everything.
Me: Wait wait wait. Don't bring love into this.

We walked through the Venetian and the Wynne again...

John: Mike, look this is your first time in the Bellagio.
Me: Did you just say Bellagio?
John: No Val, this is the Venetian.

Me: Those two drunk are like if Bert and Ernie grew up and got wasted. Except slightly less gay.
Alina: Slightly.

Me: Mike, will you buy me that dress?
Mike: Only if you sleep with me.
Me: Yes! Totally worth it for three seconds of work.

That plus Johns drunken ramblings, John and Mike completely failing at picking up women, Mike's trying to get me to make out with him the whole night, and John trying to throw me in the waterfall pretty much sums up our time there...

We cabbed it back to MGM where Alina retired and the rest of us gambled. I finally got to play the pony game I'd been dying to play. It's this really old game from the 70s or something with a race track. There are five plastic ponies that race in a circle. Odds are given and you place quarter bets on the horses you think will come in first and second. It actually isn't hard to win at because if you for the most part stick to 3-1 odds ones you're most likely to win and will make your money back. I, however, managed to make $26 by betting on a horse combo with 104-1 odds!!! :-) I also like the machine because it is so old that it actually clinks out quarters :-)

I decided then to walk away so that I'd finish with a profit of about $50 in all. Not bad for really only playing roulette once and the ponies once :)




Sunday
Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to downtown Vegas to the Golden Gate for $6.95 prime rib and $1.99 shrimp cocktail. Mmmmm. Counter balances the $42 steak :-) John left earlier, so it was just Mike, Joe, Alina, and me.
Downtown Vegas is not nearly as fun during the day because none of the lights are on :-(

Back at MGM the boys wanted to watch the Bears game and Alina wanted to chill. So I headed to Bellagio myself to catch a "Oh, Holy Night" fountain show. The show was beautiful as always and amazing because there were a ton of tricks where the fountain reached heights well above the height of the hotel. Then I browsed through the garden that was now fully open, grabbed some Jean Philippe pastries, and headed out to catch another fountain show before going back to the hotel.

Alina and I got some Starbucks and ate the Jean Philippe tiramisu and pumpkin cheesecake, which each cost about as much as the prime rib I'd had for lunch :-) Then we joined the boys for the final ten minutes of the game to watch the Bears lose :-(

Mike headed back home to California and Joe and Alina and I headed off to the airport. We sat around for a while because we ended up leaving even before the time I wanted to leave at :-) Then it was the plane ride home where Alina taught me the real rules of Sudoku which made the game so much easier to play (I thought you just went up and down/side to side, I didn't realize the boxes counted too) and we snacked on snack packs.

And thus ended my fourth trip to Vegas in four years and the only time I have ever made any money gambling!
Can't wait 'til next year!




MORE PHOTOS HERE!!!
p.s. sorry about the millions of spelling mistakes in the picture captions. I did it late at night with little light in my cramped seat on the plane. Maybe I will fix them later...

Posted by valry at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What? You didn't think I was going to skip a year of going to Vegas, did you??? Maybe I'll win big this year...fourth times the charm...

I have managed to pack all my stuff into the tiniest suitcase. And for my "personal item" managed to fit both my camera and laptop into my normal purse. I kind of rock.

The last time I was in there, I had everything and nothing figured out. I keep trying to figure out what goes after that sentence. I'm not quite sure.

Posted by valry at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

or, maybe not.

That should BE something.
Everything should be something!

That was the motto of our Vegas '06 trip. Why isn't cherry, cherry, seven, seven, seven something??? It's beyond me. I also still think that it is totally unfair that you can get blank, blank, blank. Here's a recap for all you suckers who didn't come. I'm having trouble remembering what we did at some points, which I guess means it was a good vacation:

Thursday, March 16, 2006
I woke up at 3:30 to make it to my flight at 6:30 am. At the airport they had to inspect my bags. Apparently 3 cameras plus one giant bag of change equals national security threat. It was impossible to find a seat at the gate because everyone was sleeping and taking up 3 or 4 seats. I also managed to break my boarding pass and was paranoid that they weren't going to let me on. On the plane the safety video broke. Yup. I also closed my window at one point and was terrified to open it for fear of seeing a gremlin on the wing. Four hours later at 8:30 am I arrived in Vegas. It defiantly doesn't look as cool as when flying in at night.
After making my way to the Luxor I call up JoeJoe and go up to our fourth floor room. The view sucks and there are these strange cables swinging against our window every few minutes. We then changed rooms to the 14th floor, right near Wilkey, and with a view of the Rio and Palms and the mountains. We then walked around forever chasing after a Starbucks (I'd been awake for almost twelve hours with no caffeine and the Pepsi machine right outside our room was broken).After several near misses (there's one, nope coming soon), we found one in New York, New York (leave it to New York to have a Starbucks). Alina, Joe, and I walked around the Coke store (no Coke blak, damn, but they did have some American Idol season 3 bottles). Joe and I went to check out the pool and then we all headed to Mandalay Bay to watch basketball. The Illini game was postponed though so once Glen got in we went to meet him and then went to watch that at the Bellagio. While the boys watched their sports, Alina and I watched an old man totally hitting on the waitress and then some poker players who were getting massages while playing.
Once jen arrived, we skipped out of the end of the game and headed to heaven in the form of the Bellagio buffet. It cost $30 and was very surprised when there was someone behind me pushing in my chair for me after I sat down. Classy. We filled up on plate after plate of sushi, venison, prime rib, pasta, potatoes, crab legs, and of course dessert. mmmmmm. The food was soso good but I was feeling so sick due to waking up early, flying, lack of caffeine, lack of food (we had starved all day in anticipation) so I couldn't take full advantage like glen eating 10 plates of sushi and Joe eating prime rib for dessert and Alina eating 20 desserts.
After dinner, Alina, JoeJoe, Joe, Meredith, and I went to the Wynn to see Avenue Q. Twas brilliant. Basically the show is Sesame Street on crack. It has puppets who sing songs such as "If you're gay its OK" and "Everyone's a little bit racist." There was also sex and nudity and "bad idea bears" who would convince people to go buy lots of beer. Hilarious.

Friday, March 17, 2006
Friday was basically a day of sightseeing. Kelly got in early and then off we went. Lions at the MGM, M&M World to see how they really are made, pathetic rain storm at Alladin (I swear it used to be better), the butterfly and dragonfly themed Bellagio Conservatory (where Heather joined us), Ceasars Palace, the Venetian. At the Venetian we watched a bride and groom take a sail down the grand canal. Awwww. After our tour of the strip, JoeJoe, Alina, and Kelly went off to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" and the rest of us went off to gamble. Most everyone else played poker and I confined myself to 2 penny slots where I worked off of the same dollar for over an hour. When JoeJoe got back, some of us went over to Nine Fine Irishmen. Very shortly after the drinks were served we were told they were closing but "you can take your drinks with you." Only in Vegas.

Saturday, March 18, 2006
Saturday was one of those days where you wake up the next morning and can't believe that that happened just yesterday. It started out leisurely by the pool. It was a little chilly so I just sat with my feet in the hot tub for some of the time. We then went to a little Mexican restaurant to eat yummy food, drink margaritas (yum, melon flavored), talk about vibrators, and watch the Illini lose. After that Alina left :( She told Joe he was allowed to do anything I asked of him while she was gone as long as it was something he'd do for her if asked. Hehe, let the reign of torture begin. We then went on a hunt for cheap gambling. It started with the Tropicana, which despite promise, had none, then a long stroll down the strip (stopping for some hot coffee along the way, who knew Vegas got that cold?) We stopped at Harrah's and a few other places and finally (after somehow losing Wilkey and Meredith along the way) made it to Casino Royale, a hellhole of a place with craps, roulette, and other suchness for under $5. I watched as everyone played craps (Go Susie! Go Larry! Go Lee!). At the slots, JoeJoe laughed at my new method for playing. He earlier told me that it is not true that if you leave a machine and someone else walks up to it and wins a bazillion dollars that you would have won the same if you had stayed for just one more spin. It all works on random number generation or something. This got me over the paranoia of not being able to leave a machine. It however created a new habit of putting my hand on the lever, closing my eyes, concentrating, and trying to wait for the exact right moment to pull. After the Casinos, JoeJoe, Kelly, Jen, Heather and I went to a dance club at the Rio. Glen decided to stay home (boo). The club we decided on cost $20 (boo) but once inside advertised 3 for $9 beer for the next 10 minutes only so I had me a cheap Killian's and all was good. Before getting inside Heather decided to split (boo to her too). Kelly and Jen danced with a bunch of random guys and I made JoeJoe pretend to be my boyfriend so I wouldn't have to. They were all kind of smarmy looking and for me, dancing in whatever way they were dancing with a random guy is not my idea of fun. A couple of them came up and just started shaking their ass at mine and I'm like hello, get out of my personal space now, I did not say that could go there. JoeJoe was a good cover at least, even though he doesn't like to dance. When we got back to the hotel we decided to go gambling some more. At about 5 or 6 in the morning I sat down at a Roulette table, lost $5, put a bet that included my lucky number 13 and its two corner spaces. The ball landed on my lucky number 13 and I won a lot. I put $30 aside (the $20 I started with plus an extra 10) and then proceeded to lose all the rest of my winnings). When I went to cash in my chips the lady said to me "Have a good day," and I'm like, day? It's almost bed time. Around 7 or so we finally went up to bed, where JoeJoe insisted on sharing a bed with me.

Sunday, March 19, 2006
We woke up, well, late (no surprise there, eh?) We ate at a champagne brunch buffet, which was just a regular old buffet that served lunch food and breakfast food and had little plastic cups of champagne. Jen then took off for home and we all went to the Stratosphere where we went 1,149 feet in the air for a view of all of Vegas. They had these metal strips along the window that you could lean out against for a better view down and out. JoeJoe held me while I did it so I wouldn't die, but I couldn't look at much anyways. Heather and I found out we were separated at birth both being afraid of heights, and loving to torture JoeJoe and loving MTV reality shows. We were both pretty scared to be up there. JoeJoe and Kelly went onto this ride called Insanity which was, well, insane. It's this big claw thing. That spins. Up at the very top of the stratosphere. Hanging off the side of the building. Scary. I, bravely, made my way to the outside observation deck and actually managed to get near the edge, shakily, but there. We then spent some time gambling there, where I won $40 on one hand of video poker. I cashed out right away. hehe.
We went to the Bellagio fountains, beautiful as always. Glen found out, while stopping to get batteries for his camera, that the Bellagio does in fact carry both beef jerky and KY lubricant. We got dinner at Bertolini's, a yumyummy Italian place at Ceasars.
Glen, JoeJoe, Kelly and I went to ghostbar, a bar up at the top of the Palms. It was a really nice place except that to get a table you had to be famous or something. We did find some seating in what Glen and I came to call the "creepy room" because it was basically empty minus a few people groping and making out. My theory is, if no one else is in there, there is a reason for it. So, I sucked it up in the freezing weather to stand outside because it was at least less creepy. The highlight of the bar was the bartender. Me and Joe went up to the bar to get drinks. We were standing there for a few minutes when this woman sidles up and pushes her way to the front, then hoists her chest out and leans in front of us to try to block us out. The bartender walked right past her and took our orders. I just asked for something fruity and he gave me a yummy mixture that tasted like those little gummy peach rings. Yumyum.
After freezing our asses off outside we decided it was time to leave to spend the rest of the night gambling at the hotel. I lost another $20 on roulette way too fast. Me and Glen were the only ones at the table so it went wayway to quickly. Heather and Glen then had to depart around 5am :( and the rest of us passed out.

Monday, March 20, 2006
We woke up just in time to say goodbye to Kelly, and it was down to just me and Joe and Wilkey and Meredith. After lunch at the food court (corn dog and fries for $10) and some Nathan's Famous trivia, Wilkey and Meredith had to leave as well. And then there were two. JoeJoe and I went on a hunt for shot glasses, then he lost a lot of money on blackjack. We walked around MGM looking at expensive menus and the high roller slots. We found one machine that was a $500 slot. Seriously, you put in $500 and have one shot at making it big. Could you imagine getting blank, blank, blank??? Crazyness. The best part was that it still had a coin slot. You know, in case you have $500 worth of coins laying around. We also found the most brilliant game ever. Basically it was a big table with a miniature race track inside of it and little plastic ponies that run around the track. The game gives them odds and you bet quarters on which fake pony you think will win. Unfortunately it was a pretty popular game so we didn't get to play :( We went over to Tropicana then and Joe lost more money on blackjack. Stupid cards not going right once. And then it was time for JoeJoe to go, leaving me with 7 hours alone time in Vegas. I took an hour to walk through the store at Mandalay and eat some Cappuccino gelato. Since I didn't have much money and my feet were killing me, I then stuck a $5 in a two penny slot and continued to play off of that for the next two hours before heading off to the airposrt.
At the airport I got on one of those moving walkways. There were 2 people in front of me. In front of them was a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair. Now, there is a reason there are signs posted to not put wheelchairs on the moving walkways. At the end, the wheels hit the metal strip, turned, and the chair got stuck. The chair that took up the entire width of the walkway got stuck. Therefore, everyone behind it had to turn around and run like hell in the opposite direction (basically running in place) so that we wouldn't get killed or mangled. Not fun. I also managed to break my boarding pass again (how do you people keep it in one piece? It's an anomaly to me). I have decided never to fly America West again. Every seat on the plane had an ashtray (I wonder how old it was) and somehow the pilot thought it was a good idea to try to make the Vegas to Chicago flight in less than three hours. Somehow that didn't seem right.

It was actually a really amazing trip. I had so much fun, and would almost venture to say that it was my best trip out there thus far (which is kind of surprising, considering...). It was also contenting in that at the end of it and throughout it wasn't one of those vacations where I am dying to get out of there or where I never want to leave. It just happened. And it was amazing.

All my pictures can be found here: www.valbromann.com/vegas2006.htm

So, who's up for Reno '07???

Posted by valry at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm in...

Woohoo!
Third times the charm, right?
Maybe I'll hit it big.
Hardly possible because I'm a wuss gambler and have that I can't quit now mentality.
I mostly play slots because at least I can't lose 20 bucks in 2 minutes that way like I can in roulette. Hehe. What really gets you though is when you realize that the more money you put in, the more dingdingdingdinging sounds it makes. Hehe. I am looking forward to:
Marrying JoeJoe
Avenue Q
Croissants at Paris
The Bellagio Buffet
4 days off of work
a warmer climate
Hanging out with friends I hardly ever see

When I get back from Vegas I will have some massive picture updates including Vegas (duh), my 25th birthday (finally), and the auto show (go pink cars!). Silly me who still prefers her film over digital. Ohwell. Happy spring break everyone!

Posted by valry at 3:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yay! i am officially going to Vegas again! Booked my ticket last night (finally). Now, to request those days off of work... I've already spent wayway too much on the trip between airfare and the expensive tickets to Avenue Q, but it is so worth it! This will mark 3 years in a row of heading out there, and I don't even like to gamble. I do love the atmosphere and the food and the shows and the croissants. mmmm i miss those Paris croissants!
the trip is from March 16-March 20. i know you'll miss me. ans that is why you should come too!

Posted by valry at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)