Love Life the Most

Sunday

We started Sunday off at the pool! It was nice to splash around in the pool with my Dad just like old times. Although, he didn’t throw me like he used to haha. Paul, Richelle & I stopped at Fat Tuesday’s for a 100oz frozen drink—-yummmm!

Then we headed to breakfast at Hash House a Go-Go. The wait was ENDLESS but the food was great and HUUUUUGE! See photo of Paul’s chicken and waffles!

After lunch we decided to take advantage of the offer we got for going to see Diva’s the night before. They told us we’d get ‘free tickets’ to Nathan Burton’s Comedy Magic show! This time the ‘free tickets’ cost us $10. It was really funny because we went right before the show was starting to get our tickets and they asked us if we wanted to pay more to get closer to the stage. We said no that it was okay to be in the back. As we walked into the auditorium, I joked with the usher that we’d take the seats in the front…and he gave me crap back but ended up seating us in the front row! They were great seats! During the show, Nathan had a guest Jeff Civillico do a performance. Jeff asked for two STRONG male volunteers and immediately Paul started flexing and I started pointing to him. He got asked to come on stage and for the next five minutes, Richelle and I were dying laughing!!! Jeff nicknamed him Chia after feeling his hair.

After the show we filled up our 100 oz drink again (YUMMMMM) and then headed over to Rio to watch Al in the World Series of Poker. Couldn’t really see his hands but it was awesome hearing the hummmm of chips moving. There were thousands of people, I can only imagine how overwhelemed and nervous he must have felt! We then we to Gold Coast for dinner. We ate at Cortez Room at Gold Coast and yet again, had an amazing dinner. The service was so impeccable that my Mom and sister actually requested to fill out a comment card so they could compliment the waiter and staff. My brother ended up lossing later in the evening. We ended the night gambling at Excalibur and had fun playing slots together.

Monday

Last day——sigh! We packed up and headed over the Planet Hollywood. This is one of my favorite hotels/casinos….mainly for the BEAUTIFUL lighting!

After a quick lunch, walking around the mall and a little bit of gambling, Paul and I headed back to Imperial Palace. Paul received ACTUAL free tickets for two to Jeff’s show and we decided to see it before we left. The show was okay—-lots of juggling which was cool! After the show we meet up with our family, packed the car and headed home. Shelley and Al were staying until the next day. We agreed to take my parents home so we detoured to Prescott Valley first. As always, the drive home sucked. So very thankful to Paul for driving the entire vacation!

Overall this trip was filled with GREAT food, fun shows and good family time! Plus I came home with money in my wallet therefore making Vegas a success!

Saturday

Slept in a bit Saturday morning—-sooooo nice! Then we all headed out to get lunch. After throwing out a few lunch ideas, we decided to go to Caeser’s Palace and eat at Cheesecake Factory. At lunch, we dedcided to bust out the surprise we had for my mom since we were all together!

Several years ago, my Mom was helping my brother move and somehow her diamond fell out of her wedding ring. You can read the details on my brother’s blog here. Several months ago, I had the idea of replacing the stone in my mom’s ring for their 35th Anniversary this summer! I mentioned it to my brother & sister who both thought it was a great idea. I conspired with my father to get the ring and Paul helped me find a jeweler to do it. Turns out my father was holding on to this other diamond ring they found YEARS ago in one of their restaurants (it was so tiny, I could only imagin it fit a child’s finger). They were able to take the diamond from there, replace the prongs and clean her ring up. Boy does it look amazing! I also personalized a card online-courtesy of www.treat.com for the added special touch. We decided to surprise her in Vegas because it was the only time we knew we’d all be together.

I handed my Mom the card and told her we wanted to celebrate their anniversary. Her and my Dad opened the card and both started tearing up just from that! I even found a card that played up to the theme of the wedding (Love in All Seasons) so it was extra special. Then we set the ring box in front of her. She looke bewildered as she opened it and gasped when she saw the ring! I can only imagine how surprised & happy she was when my Dad proposed because she was BEAMING ear to ear seeing her ring! She immediately put it on her hand, hugs went round and round and we were able to snap a few photos. It meant so much to us to thank our parents for loving each other. They’ve set the greatest example for us and as my own wedding approaches, I am even more thankful for having that wonderful example of marriage.

After lunch, we all went our separate ways. Paul, Richelle & I walked around Caesar’s shopping. OMG did I want to buy the entire Michael Kors store!!! We decided to look for a show to go to that night since Al, Shelley & my Mom would be at the concert (turns out, I really should have gone to the concert-it was the best they had been to…read recap from Al here). When we didn’t see anything great at the half price tickets, we decided to go see Divas at our hotel since we had received ‘free tickets’. The free ended up costing $15 each but it was well worth it! Before we headed to the concert though, we meet my family at Flamingo. I sat down with my Dad, sister & brother to play Pai Gow. It’s about the only table game that I enjoy. I hate blackjack because before I can even do the math in my head, the dealer’s won and I’ve lost! Pai Gow is much slower paced so I can play with the same amount of money for longer. AND—-I’ve had great luck! I always play the bonus and this time I got 4 of a kind and won $125 off of that hand! After Flamingo they went to the concert and we walked around with my Dad for awhile. I won at a few slots too that day! Then Richelle, Paul & I headed off to dinner. We ate at Margaritaville, one of my favorites! We sat in the bar area and overlooked the strip. It was fabulous people watching and the volcano at the Mirage even went off!The Divas show was halirious! They are female impersonators and impersonated all the big name female singers. We all had a blast laughing and I would highly recommend the show to others. Afterwards, we headed to bed for an early night (Vegas standards that is).

Beyonce impersonator was probably our favorite!!!

Several months ago my brother told me he was going to get Garth Brook’s tickets for him and Mom (as a Mother’s day gift) in Vegas over his vacation time. I was EXTREMELY intersted, but with the high ticket price and impending wedding, I had to be frugal and not buy the tickets.

For those who don’t know, my brother Al is a Foreign Service Officer and just finished his first post in Belize. He was lucky and able to come home for both Christmases while he was in Belize but it’s very unlikely that will happen at other posts. He has less than a year in the Sates (he’ll be in DC) to learn German and then will be posted in Frankfurt. Al’s visit grew closer and I realized that with my parents now living in Prescott Valley (a little less than 2 hours north of my home in Phoenix) he would likely stay with them for the majority of his time-one week-in AZ. So I decided it was the perfect excuse to tag along in Vegas! Paul was able to get the time off of work too and so we all made a nice trip out of it!

Friday

I had wanted to fly, but the majority voted that we drive because we would need two cars in Vegas. So Paul and I headed out early Friday morning, as did my parents and Al from Prescott Valley. Shelley was working and would fly in Friday night. A few days before we left, Richelle (Paul’s sister) stopped by for dinner on her way back to Kingman from Tuscan and I realized she should join us for Vegas! My sister, Paul & I were sharing a hotel room, so we would have room for her to sleep. And she’s living in Kingman over the summer-less than two hours from Vegas and she recently turned 21! Ran it by my family and her….and everyone was in!

So we stopped in Kingman at the In-N-Out to meet up with Paul’s family and mine.  Richelle said she was helping her mom around the house and would drive in later that night. We then drive into Vegas. We were staying at the Imperial Palace…we’ve stayed there before as it has a good location (right in the middle of the strip) and is cheap. This time it was under construction which sucked, but oh well. We weren’t there for a luxuouris hotel!

We had planned to meet a friend of Al’s from Belize that night from dinner. As we were putting our bags in the hotel, I get a call from my dad. “Change of plans-were meeting Bob at a steakhouse in Belagio so you better call Richelle and tell her if she wants as a free steak dinner she better get here by 7:30.” AWESOME! I called, and she obviously got right in the car!

Turns out Bob owns a poker room in Belize and was also there for the World Series of Poker like my brother was. The steakhouse was Fix at Bellagio and was easily the best steak of my life! And the structrue was as beautiful as the food was delicious. The only downside was the music—-it was SOOOO loud (which ended up being a trend of the vacation) and I couldn’t hear anyone but the two people next to me. Which was unfortunate because Bob seemed to have some great stories! I ‘ooooh’ed and ‘ahhhh’ed, watching Al’s reaction to make sure mine was appropriate. As promissed, Bob footed the bill for ALL 6 of us, plus himself and his daughter. Which, at $70+ per person, was no easy feat. Shelley REALLY missed out & we made sure to tell her! That night we went to old Vegas and got to see the light show.

We’ve checked off a TON of items on our massive wedding to do list lately. Including:

Selecting our DJ: I already posted about this…but seriously so excited! And with the DJ comes lights and a photo booth! WHOOT! Now, just want to play for our first dance?

China and Linens picked out: Meet our wedding coordinator last night (just from the venue, we aren’t that fancy) and picked out our linens. We’re going to have a nice grouping of red, black and white to go with our color scheme! 

Flowers Selected: Well, basically. Still have to officially meet with the florist & get our quote back. But when we meet with our coordinator, we were able to figure out the idea we want to fit within our budget. We’re doing babies breath bouquets with a few red roses. Than mine will be a bigger version. It will look nice and save us a ton of money by using babies breath as a main flower.

Food and Alcohol: We’ve started thinking about this. We have the food list to select from and are planning to ask advice from our families and then do our tasting. We also need to set up the cake tasting soon but I know what I want it to look like. As far as booze, I think we’re going to do kegs, wine & then have a signature drink. We’ll have some liquor outside of that but not every type because it gets too complicated. We’ll probably stick with soda mixers to save some $$$ and hopefully everyone will be okay with that.

Save the Dates: They went out in the mail today so that’s a BIG check off our list! And our wedding website will be completed tonight for all of our guest to find more info.

 Lately I’ve been finding myself day dreaming a lot about the wedding. I can’t help it! I guess I’ve never thought about my wedding before and now that we are making more and more selections, I just can’t stop thinking about it. I even find myself tearing up at times because I know it’s going to be such a beautiful day. Even without the material things, it will just be so wonderful to have all of our loved ones there with us!!! Or at least thinking of us on that day if they can’t make it.

Gosh, even just to have all of my family together would be wonderful! Or just all of my girlfriends in one city together would be incredible! Or to see all of Paul’s family together and meet the few that I haven’t yet would be amazing! Or to get to dress up and spend the night dancing around would be so much fun! Or to just celebrate our love and commit to each other for the rest of our lives would be breath taking! BUT WE GET TO DO IT ALL——-IN ONE DAY!!!!! And what an amazing day it’s going to be :D

Work sucked [as usual lol] but that gloomy day turned right around when I got home:

-Save the Date photo cards came!!! THEY LOOK GREAT! And I have the magnets, envelopes & labels so I foresee crafting in my future tonight

-Paul was so sweet and thought of me when he went to the grocery store: bought a bottle of my favorite wine and COOKIES! Haha I’ve been complaining to him for awhile that I really want cookies so I was so excited to see he got some for me!

For awhile now I have been hearing about the Clarisonic cleansing ‘tool’. I loved the idea, massaging bristles with face wash to clean your face. But I was skeptical for a few reasons. One—-the price and Two—-I get annoyed with cleaning my face. 

Last Sunday I was at Ulta and saw that they had the Clarisonic Mia for $120. This was significantly less than I remembered them being. Apparently the Mia is a new version and comes with a lower cost point. I checked them out. Walked around the store convincing myself I didn’t need it, but I quickly walked back. With the wedding coming up (188 days——WOAH) I knew I wanted my face to be in tip top shape. I still get acne, white heads and feel like my pores look like the Grand Canyon some times. I knew I would end up buying it eventually, so why not that day?

Someone at Ulta gave me a few pointers (use a non-foaming face cleanser) and I picked out my color and was on my way. While I was reading the instructions, I got even more excited. It only takes one minute….ONE MINUTE!!! And it times itself so you don’t have to count either :) I often use face wipes because I’m lazy and I can tell you I spend more than a minute trying to get all my makeup off. You still have to remove your eye makeup first.

Not only does it do a great job cleaning (their website says it gets 6x better than with your hands alone) but it FEELS great-during and after! It was like a little face massage and then after wards my skin felt sooooo soft! I try to exfoliate once a week, and just one use of the Clarisonic was better than exfoliating! 

I’ve been using it for just under a week and have noticed a big difference. My skin feels great and I look FORWARD to washing my face! CRAZY!

And you only replace the heads every 3 months and they are approximately $20 each, so not bad. Go buy it…you won’t regret it! 

and I feel totally naked!!! I’ve been wearing it for 5 months and I guess that’s enough time to make it feel natural. I also realized that I must fidget with it a TON throughout the day because I keep going to play with it and it’s not there. Ahhhh can’t wait to get home and put it back on!!!