Better late than never?

Yeah, I suck.  My life has been a little crazy lately.  First, I've spent the last month trying to move, trying being the operative word.  I had to delay moving day by a week, and I'm still not completely unpacked, and it's having a profound effect on my ability to deal with life.

Second, I just got back from a week-long vacation in Canada where I got to visit with my brand-new niece!

She is the most beautiful little girl, and I am completely in love with her.  It was sooooo hard to leave her and come back to my boxed-up home.  Luckily, my sister is all about the technology, and we've already Skyped several times, and I've been getting 'baby-of-the-day' photos in my inbox everyday, which makes me very happy.

Third, since I've been home, I've been sewing.  Many of you have already visited Colby's blog, so you know how awesome she is.  This week, I made her a dress.  No, not just a dress, a snake dress.  For last night's Harry Potter opening, Colby was dressed as Nagini.  It was pretty epic.  Soon, I shall have photos to share, because it really was awesome.

I know, I know, I shouldn't have abandoned you all like that, and I'm sorry, Blogglings. But I have been busy, and out of town, and it's always been my policy to refrain from mentioning any travel plans online until after I have returned.  I am, however, fully back, with real internet and everything at home.  Hopefully, this post marks the return of your regularly scheduled blog-reading.

Enjoy your weekend!

And now, the end is near...

So late yesterday afternoon, Mum and Karen and I went to see Bodies at the Luxor. If you haven’t heard of plastination, go and Google it now! It’s amazing! It was sooo cool! I wish that I could have made all of my anatomy students go to see it – it really puts things in context, and it’s way less smelly than the corpse lab. We spent a ton of time there, and both Mum and Karen enjoyed themselves, too.

Last night, we went to see Love at the Mirage, the Beatles-based Cirque du Soleil show. Holy crap. I’m glad I was sober for that trippiness! I wish I could think of more to say about it, but it’s such an encompassing experience that you just have to see it on your own. I thought I understood what a Cirque show was like from watching so many of their specials, but I wasn’t even close. It was amazing.

Today is my last day in Vegas. We’re heading out for breakfast, and then pretty much straight to the airport. I’ll miss this place…

What happens in Vegas...

So I’m now officially thirty. It’s not too bad… at least, not yet! We rang in my birthday at a show, and got a good group photo. :) There was much drinking done, but I woke up without a hangover – whee! We weaved our way back from the Excalibur without incident, although there were several times when we thought Donna would fall over – not from drinking (she was the designated walker), but from the new shoes she wore. They were gorgeous, and about five inches high! Karen’s great at walking in heels like that, but it was pretty new for Donna. I think what threw her off was the teeny-tiny pencil heel, which was very likely to get stuck in cracks in the sidewalk. She really had to watch where she stepped.

I think I might wear my own clothes today – yesterday, Karen played dress-up with me, and most of what I wore was hers. I didn’t mind, though! My sister has great taste, and I like going through her stuff. Of course, I really like it when her stuff actually fits me, too!

Forgot to mention Freemont Street on Friday! We headed down there on the bus, which wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared it might be. The double-decker Deuce buses are really nice, and we had no trouble finding the stops. We played at La Bayou and got free beads (always fun). I didn’t win much, but that’s fine. There’s so much shiny stuff to look at in Vegas that I don’t always think about gambling…

Donna and May and I went to Sigfried and Roy’s Secret Garden this morning, and it was pretty cool. I got a crapload of animal photos, and I got splashed by a dolphin. I also managed to get some pictures of Beeper with the animals (sort of). Who’s Beeper? I’m glad you asked! Beeper is my travelling lemur. I found him at the outlet mall, and he was too adorable to pass up. I’ll add a photo of him to a later blog, but suffice to say, he’s just cute. Karen has Tutu the travelling elephant, who goes with her on all of her vacations, and gets photographed… I guess it’s kind of like the Travelocity gnome. Anyways, you’ll see lots of Beeper in the future!

Guess what?

Today’s blog is intentionally back-dated… that is, I am writing it now, and will be posting it later. Why? Because, dear readers, I feel the need to protect my privacy and my home, and because I’m an idiot who didn’t pre-blog. Today, friends, I am in LAS VEGAS!!!

Why Vegas, you ask? I’ll tell you! In a few short hours, I’ll be turning thirty. Despite the fact that ‘age is just a number,’ I’ve been freaking out about it. Part of me is worried that my friends and co-workers will make a huge deal out of it and embarrass me, and part of me is equally worried that it will just go by as another day and people will ignore it. So, in order to avoid both of those scenarios, I decided that I would turn thirty on my own terms, with people I trusted, so that I would have a good day.

I’ve come to Las Vegas with my mum, my sister, and my pseudo-sister and her sister. (Donna spent so much time at my place when we were younger that my parents called her their third daughter, so we’re pseudosisters. It works for us.) I arrived yesterday afternoon (after blogging about being up early!), and all four of them were waiting for me at the airport to take a limousine to the hotel! It was unexpected and sweet. :) We’re staying at the Mirage, which is a fairly nice place. We got an upgrade in our rooms because my mum told the front desk that we were celebrating my birthday, which was awesome! And the hotel delivered a complimentary bottle of champagne! I think we’ll crack it open tomorrow.

Mum and Karen and I had a nice, long breakfast this morning, and spent the afternoon shopping with Donna and May at the outlet mall. I hadn’t planned to spend quite so much time shopping, but we got some great deals. I’ve played a couple of dollars in slots so far, but not much. Perhaps tomorrow!

Drowning Part A, B, and C

I'll preface this post by pointing out the obvious - I am not dead. However, that is not due to any lack of trying on the part of the ocean.

As you may recall, I spent last weekend out in St. Augustine. We spent Saturday on the beach. There were five of us - Colby, me, and our three gigantically tall friends. Please note, they are gigantically tall, at least relative to the 5'1" and 5'2" lives that Colby and I lead. The five of us decided to go play in the water, which is a reasonable thing to do whilst on a beach.

Unfortunately, the three gigantically tall friends have long legs, and were able to get further out into the ocean. Colby and I tried, but we were somewhat limited by the fact that we're short. As we were attempting to get out to where the other three were, the ocean decided that it no longer wanted to play nicely. Instead, as we were talking to each other, the ocean snuck up from behind and smacked both Colby and me upside the heads. In the mayhem, both of us lost our sunglasses. This part of the incident was Drowning, Part A.

As we regained our footing and tried to figure out why we were suddenly blinded (oh yeah! The ocean ate our sunglasses!), the ocean took another potshot and knocked us over again. I got a rather large mouthful of water, and I think Colby did, too. This was Drowning, Part B.

Before I could even get fully upright, the ocean struck once more! It came from behind, well above our heads. I must not have been close to dying, because my life did not flash before my eyes. In fact, all that was going through my head was, "Where the FUCK is the air??" As it turns out, my lungs don't function well when I inhale water rather than air. Somehow, beneath the waves, Colby and I managed to crash into each other, and we clung together as we finally found the ground again. Have you figured it out? This was Drowning, Part C.

As we coughed and sputtered and swore, we caught sight of our three gigantically tall friends smiling and laughing at us. As one of them would later say, it was like a bad Lifetime movie - "Oh, look. They're screaming, they must be having fun." Needless to say, we bade the ocean goodbye and headed back to the sand.

That night, we bought new sunglasses and named them Jack (mine) and Rose (hers) - "I'll never let go, Jack!"

Long weekend

I went out of town this weekend. I went to St. Augustine and spent four days in a condo with four of my best friends. Guess what? We didn't kill each other! We didn't scream at each other, and we came out of it just as close as when we went in, if not closer! How cool is that?

There are many stories to tell - the near-drowning and acquisition of Jack and Rose, the ridonculously-shaped sunburns, the kick-ass sand dragon (which ties in with the ridonculously-shaped burns), the matching shirts, the roller coaster - but they will wait. Why?

Because it's quarter to twelve and I just got home and I have to work tomorrow morning! But I promise, you will hear these stories and see photos (because the kick-ass sand dragon kicks ass!).

Just not tonight.