Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Home Again

Thursday while I was at work I got a phone call from my husband. He said, "You want to go to Vegas this weekend?"

So, since my lovely boss is so kind, I was able to take Friday off and leave on the LONG drive to Las Vegas.

My Mother-in-law is an amazing quilter. She even has a website and podcast from which she gets opportunities to speak to other quilters. (If you even quilt a little bit, this is a must see/hear site.) She was invited to speak in Vegas, so my husband and I tagged along.

We left early in the morning and arrived in Vegas in the early evening. I had been to Las Vegas before, but that was 15+ years ago, so it was basically a new experience for me. I was lucky and got the side of the car where I could watch "The Strip" go by as we made our way to our hotel. Wow! Was it a gaudy and garish place. I knew it would be, but it really was like the Disneyland of sin! It seemed that every other billboard was for the Adult Megastore, some topless/lap dancing, etc. I'm not really into that in the first place, but being there, looking at that with my in-laws was a bit... uh...unsettling.



Wouldn't you know it... Our hotel was right across the street from the Adult Megastore! Geez!! Thank goodness my in-laws are not as prudish as me and made jokes about it. After dumping our stuff off in the hotel room we made an essential vacation stop off at Wal-Mart for all of the little items we forgot; shampoo, a tee-shirt, water... Then it was time for FOOD. We dined at Ruby Tuesdays. I have been seeing those darn commercials for their Triple Prime Burger for the last 6 months on the Food Network and was not able to satiate my desire to try it until then. (Btw, it was good, very good, but not as good as the commercial portrays it to be.)

On Saturday, we dropped my mother-in-law off at her presentation and we were able to go off for the rest of the day. We went to Hoover Dam.



We almost went for a helicopter ride, but it was lunchtime and we wanted to get over to the strip for lunch. Ryan and I had seen a place on the Food Network called Ellis Island. They have a daily special where you get a Top Sirloin Steak, Baked Potato, Salad and Veg for $4.95. Ryan and his Dad had the Prime Rib Meal and I had the Fish & Chips. It was a fabulous meal and the bill came to $31 for all of us. (BTW, if you ever go, try the Root Beer.... FABULOUS!)

Then it was time to go see some Casinos. Unfortunately, we only had time to see one. I chose the Venetian.





Oh! How I want to see Love by Cirque de Soleil. We couldn't get tickets, being that it was Memorial Day weekend and we didn't plan on going til the day before. Argh!!! So close yet so far!

After the Venetian, we hurried to pick up Ryan's mother and went to change for the evening. Ryan's parents are HUGE Toto fans, so we made it out to the Toto concert. I couldn't name a Toto song before attending, but was actually a great concert. I did recognize a few of the songs as the concert went on, and it was fun to see my mother-in-law rockin' and groovin'.

Sunday was our big trek. We left Las Vegas and drove through a tiny corner of Arizona and over to Southern Utah. We stopped in St. George and had a peak at the St. George Temple.



Then we drove through Cedar City and then over to Parowan, where my father-in-law's family came from. We brought some flowers to place on Ryan's grandparents graves. It was a beautiful day at about 75 degrees with a slight wind, so we went up into the "Five Mile" for a picnic in nature.



LOOK at those red rocks!!

Then we were off to Brian Head. 13,000 ft!



SNOW!! 56 degrees! In Las Vegas it was 100!






Cedar Breaks was just a few thousand feet lower.... AMAZING!

We went back down to Parowan and got a "Fresh Lime" drink from the dairy freeze. Yum!

We parked by the old rock church to enjoy our drinks and I got out to see the Jesse N. Smith home. He was a founder of Parowan as well as Snowflake, AZ where my family is from.



He is also my great-great-great.... grandfather. Yes, Ryan and I are 16th cousins or something like that. It isn't gross... I swear!

The next day we had the LONG trip home. I slept through most of it. Ahhh....

Fun, impromptu long weekend.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

VEGAS Baby!!!



I'm going to Vegas!!!

Brits at Their Best

Ok... So I am a bit of an anglophile.

I recently found this site calledBrits at Their Best and I LOVE it. I guess it is the degree in History that helps too.

But my FAVORITE entry includes my interest in gardening.




LOOK at this!

Ugh!

I'm verklempt!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Seven things meme....

1. Lust. Well, this one is easy! My husband!

2. Gluttony. My husband is a very good chef. He likes to experiment somewhat, so we often have very yummy, but not so good for you, food in the house. This can be noted in the poundage that I have put on since knowing him. But of ALL the things he makes, I love his Pasta Carbonara THE BEST. I could eat that morning noon and night. LOVE IT!!

3. Greed. I'm not greedy in such a way that I don't want other people to have things. I'm greedy in that I want to be ABLE to have nice things if I want them. I don't want extravagant things like an 11 bedroom, 13 bath mansion. I would like to have a nice size house that is just the right size for my family. Oh! And it has to have some acreage so I could have a horse.

4. Sloth. No matter how many good intentions I have, sloth takes over all to easily for me. This last weekend I kept saying I was going to organize all of the clothes in our bedroom... I didn't take a step in there except to sleep.

5. Wrath. I wouldn't say I have a bad temper most of the time. But when my blood sugar is low..... WATCH OUT!!!

6. Envy. I am not a traditionally envious person. But I do envy people who have the means to not have a job. I would love to not have the daily grind, but be able to do things I am passionate about but don't find time to do.

7. Pride. I think my reputation is what I am prideful about the most. I don't worry if people think I am the best or most beautiful. I worry about if they think I am dependable, honest, and virtuous.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

For ALL women! Especially chubby girls....



YOU ROCK Chubbygirl27

Friday, May 04, 2007

Cuddle Sofa




I don't usually go for modern furniture. However, I LOVE this sofa simply for the cuddle factor. Wouldn't it be great for having your significant other snuggled in a blanket, watching a movie?

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Ok... So it is already Wednesday and I still haven't said anything about my weekend. I keep thinking I am going to take pictures of what I did this weekend so I keep putting off posting. So, instead of posting about my weekend I am going to share some of my favorite blogs. Actually, I am going to share some NEW blogs that I have found, that I LOVE.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is a fabulous blog. I grew up in the country with Pigs, Horses, and Cows, so I miss that life as I now live in the Bay Area. I still think of myself as a cowgirl, and this site makes me feel back home and all warm and fuzzy.

Loralee's Looney Tunes is a hilarious blog. She is one of those people who turns everyday things into something terribly interesting.

As you probably don't know... I pretend I am a crafty person. So here are some of my favorite Crafty Blogs.



Adorn

Creative Little Daisy

Make Art Everyday

Not Martha

Next time I'll suggest some of my design blogs!

About me

  • I'm ~Plain Jane~
  • From Sunnyvale, California, United States
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