Fabulous Las Vegas

Fountains at Bellagio during a performance

Sluts are people too!

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada

New York, New York

 Would you give this guy money?

 Iron Man looks so gay. And Spidey is F-A-T.

Grand Par-ee

The Palazzo/Venetian re-create the Italian streets.

My Cra-zay-zy Week

This week has been absolutely wild! Had an 8am appointment Monday to sign for the house. Alerted late Sunday night that there was an error on the docs, so the meeting was postponed. By 10am, got an email stating we would sign at noon. Arrived at title company at 1145am where we met with our mortgage broker in the lobby. He had been there since 8am and the papers still weren't ready. We gave it another 30 minutes before finally heading off to lunch. As soon as we ordered our food, got a call that the docs were in and we needed to head back to sign. Scarfed our food then drove 15 minutes back to title company only to discover the docs arrived but there were still some errors. Normal signing process takes about an hour, we did it in 35 minutes then bolted out of the place to get Bruce Turbo to work by 3pm. Are we awesome, or what?

Fast forward to Wednesday-we are supposed to close on the house, but paperwork (surprise, surprise!) gets held up and we don't record until Thursday afternoon. I get a call from our wonderful real estate agent who informs me she is really sick and can't drive the 55 minutes from Henderson to NLV to hand over the keys. I tell her not to worry as we are resourceful and already know the code to the lock-box, so we can retrieve the keys ourselves. Although i am super excited, I wait until Friday morning to claim our house so Bryce and I can do this together.

Friday morning, Bryce carries me over the threshold as my dad hoped he would and we unload our first carload of stuff. Friday also marks 1 month following my father's passing. Imagine my emotions on a simultaneously happy and sad day. I go to work late, but have trouble concentrating. Bryce manages to get the day off work so we spend the evening packing.

Bryce wakes up 8am Saturday morning when his phone rings. It's Cox calling to say they are on their way to the house to install the additional cable outlets. Shit! We overslept. Bryce rushes to get dressed and leaves in a hurry to meet the worker at the house. Meanwhile, I get up and begin packing more. Movers are coming in 4 hours and we are only half packed. The Cox installation is only supposed to take a couple of hours, but when I call for a progress report at 1030am, they have run into problems. I continue packing, but am interrupted at 1130am when the movers say they are almost there. They are early and I have packed nothing in the kitchen yet. Double shit!

I pack while they move. From a second floor apartment to a 2 story house and I do minimal work. Best $275 I ever spent. 3 guys in 3 hours moves everything from one place to the other. Just as Bryce and I break for lunch at 4pm (we haven't eaten all day), my work phone rings-a customer needs me to come in asap. I joke with him to hurry as I'm starving and moving and thankfully, he does. We finally make our way to Red Robin, Yum! for a late lunch/early dinner. Red Robin now serves signature dessert cupcakes for $1.99. One thing leads to another and we end up at Just Cupcakes! down the road. Half a dozen cupcakes later, we settle in to the house for the night.

We spent all night setting up the office that we never got around to setting up the bedroom and as a result, wake up extremely stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor. After little debate, it's decided we should see a movie. Harry Potter 7 is awesome! Due Date was very disappointing. I would review both movies, but there isn't much more to say. HP7 speak for itself and Due Date is that forgettable. Half a package of Red Vines, a giant movie soda, an AMC hot dog and Denny's soup and salad later and I'm more than a little sick to my stomach.

Cue another Monday morning. I wake up absolutely freezing because our heat isn't turned on in the new house. I rush to work in dirty clothes because I can't find clean ones. My jacket is non-uniform because my work jacket is MIA and it's too cold without one. I get a call from hubby at 3pm informing me our water has been turned off. It was on all weekend, we had planned to switch it over to our name, but didn't have the information and overlooked researching it sooner. The soonest it can get turned back on is "sometime tomorrow."

After work, I gather everything I need to shower and take it back to the apartment. As I lather up my hair with shampoo it dawns on me I did not bring a towel. I search the apartment, naked and dripping, for something to dry off with and discover paper towels we left behind to clean with. 26 3-ply Brawny's later, I am dry and freezing. When I finally get back to the house, I prepare a salad and frozen lasagna for dinner. Only half our kitchen has been moved over and nothing unpacked, so it's paper bowls and plastic forks for me. I walk around the kitchen twice looking for the microwave to nuke my lasagna. Turns out, we don't have a microwave. This is not my night. My 4 minute prep time becomes a 50 minute bake time in the oven. I chat with my brother. A nice conversation regarding some very unpleasant things. I love that kid. After all I've been through, I decide to lounge in front of the tv the rest of the night instead of unpacking. Every noise I hear freaks me out and I become convinced there is a rapist prowler peeping tom murdering robber outside circling my house even though it is a perfectly safe, gated community next to a busy street with lots of lights.

That leads me to today.Very uneventful, comparatively. Just preparing for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and my mom's visit next week.

Soundtrack to My Life

The alarm clock goes off and I wake up:

Katy Perry- Waking Up in Vegas

Getting ready for the day:

Glee- Dream On

     *I LOVE LOVE LOVE Neil Patrick Harris!

Driving in Las Vegas rush hour:

Depeche Mode- Wrong

     *BTW Las Vegas rush hour last longer than an hour. Little known fact: It's "rush hour" anytime you happen to be on the I-15.

At Work:

Fall Out Boy- I Don't Care

Staying late at work to catch up on filing my paperwork:

Harry Belafonte- Jump in The Line

Staying at work late trying to figure out inventory discrepancies after a total wall-to-wall:

Barry Louis Polisar- All I want Is you

     *Then I start to dance through the warehouse as I walk the aisles recounting equipment:

Pink- Funhouse

     *After re-counting items 4 times, I lose my mind on how a 300lb A/C unit can disappear:

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

     *Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.

Thinking about my Dad:

Straight no Chaser- Fix You

Drive to the gym:

Auburn- la la la

Doing cardio:

Aphex Twins- Tetris Remix

     * I couldn't find a good link to this song

Weight training:

Jimmy Eat World- Best Theory

More cardio:

Fatboy Slim- Rockafeller Skank

     * This makes me think of Christopher Walken dancing on the ceilings even though that was the other video Fatboy Slim did.

When I turn off the radio while driving and pretend I am on American Idol, I sing these songs:

Alicia Keys- Fallin'

Evanescence- Bring Me To Life

Duffy- Mercy

Doing chores and cleaning house:

Santana- Put Your Lights On

The song I secretly love:

The Lonely Island- Jizz in My Pants

When I have an important choice to make:

Ludovico Einaudi- Fly

Dancing around the house when I get bored doing chores:

Fall Out Boy- Dance, Dance

Getting carried away while dancing around the house and try to dance sexy in front of the mirror:

Kesha- Take It Off

While writing, what I listen to depends on the story I am creating. Here are a few:

     Unrequited

           Joshua Radin-Sundrenched World

     Shut Up and Drive

          Weezer- Beverly Hills

     Rhiannon Chronicles

          Lady Gaga- Teeth

When my husband tucks me in bed at night:

Norah Jones- Love Me Tender

Walking around the Las Vegas Strip:

Silversun Pickups- Catch and Release

PF Chang's at Planet Hollywood $35 All-You-Can-Drink:

Trey Songz- Bottoms Up

     * Tell Securiwy!!

Thinking of Bryce:

Bloodhound Gang- Bad Touch

     *Oops! I meant this:

Cat Powers- I Found a Reason

     *This was our First Dance when we got married more than 2 years ago. 

When I'm the only one in the office, I let loose and start singing to:

Rick-James- Super Freak

The Best Song to Play on AudioSurf:

Flobots- Handlebars

What I play right after I listen to Flobots-Handlebars:

Blobots- At The Scottsdale Bars

When I get Sick of Stupid People (this happens more often than you may think):

Lily Allen- F@*& You Very Much

When I feel like a chollo in a low-rider, I listen to:

Lil Uno- So Addicted

I imagine myself being able to throw down mad rhymes and simultaneously solving a Rubik's cube to this:

Busta Rhymes- Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water on Them)

Take a break to Blog, Facebook, and be awesome:

Britney Spears- Radar

Michael Buble- Cry Me a River

     * Did anyone see him on SNL? "Bubbly and Ham" skit was hysterical. I'm just sayin'.

Eiffel 65- Blue (Da Ba Dee)

Muse- Undisclosed Desires

Linkin Park- The Catalyst

     * I am actually obsessed with this whole album

The Fray- Never Say Never

Honorable Mention:

My Favorite Song

WHAT SONGS ARE FEATURED IN THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE? WHAT'S THE MOST RANDOM SONG ON YOUR IPOD? WHAT SONG DO YOU BELT OUT IN THE CAR WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS AROUND?

Photos I Love

Going through photos as I clear my SD card and move pics from my tower to the raptop and these were just a few gems I came across. Yes, I really know these people.

The Farlows Have a Little "Captain" in Them

The face makes it classic

Cat Bond loves the sink.

Photo Bomb!

Trying on kitsch glasses in Vegas.

What makes this funnier is he's actually the sweetest guy.

Utah for Work

I'd love to write more, but it's friggin Utah. Bo-ring! Spent all day in meetings with a bunch of engineers and plant managers from our corporate office and also had my Regional Operations Manager and Vice President of my division in town. Then hurried to the airport to catch our flight. An hour and 20 minutes we arrived in Salt Lake City. The flight was absolutely miserable because I forgot to take Dramamine for motion sickness and had a mini-panic attack on the plane. I almost convinced myself I was going into anaphylactic shock because my throat started to close up and I couldn't breathe. My whole body tensed and spasmed like it does when you have the worst case of the flu. I felt nauseous and dizzy and suffered from vertigo.

Finally got off the plane and my colleagues insisted on lugging around my bags. They were 30% sympathetic and 60% mocking. One guy told me I looked like shit, no offense. Then they harassed me when I said I was hungry. Salt Lake City is an hour ahead so I'm not real tired but I have to be ready to leave by 715am for a 45 minute drive to Ogden. What the frick is in Ogden? We will be there for all of 5 hours doing our mock audit of the branch before it's time to turn around, drive 45 minutes back to SLC, to hop on a 1 hour and 20 minute flight back to Vegas so I can then drive 30 more minutes up to North Las Vegas and finally get home at before dinner which I will be eating alone because Bryce works evenings.

At least I have a corporate card I can expense all my meals to.

BTW we close on our house next week! So excited for that. Makes works almost bearable.

God's Gift

You always made me feel safe. Alone in the world, I knew I had you. Everything I needed, you gave to me no questions. And I took and took until you gave no more. 

I counted on you to cheer me and heal me and take away the pain. You absorbed the darkness building in my heart to let me live in the light. I marveled in your magic and took you for granted.

Too late I realized the love you held-the love I didn't share. Too long had passed to start again and friendship faded. I loved you later. I love you now. We both love someone else.

You may as well be 16,857 kilometers away-the distance that separates us too great to overcome. I thought about you yesterday and the day before. You wished me a "Happy Birthday." You remembered. You cared. 

You told me no guy was worthy of me waiting by the phone. I waited for no one, but you. I wait still with butterflies and open arms for an email that never comes. You know I used you.

It didn't go well, the last time we talked. Or the time before that. If you had only showed up when invited, I would have walked in your path for good. I dug my hole.

I would dig all the way to China if it meant reconciliation. My other half. Anxiety and tension float away when I know you think of me. I linger on your words. Breathe again.

I purge my memories of you. I write the story of us. A timeless tale. I wonder where your perception differs. Perhaps when I am done I will think of you no more. Perhaps our story isn't over. 

I've squandered God's Gift to me. 

In A Locket

In a locket around my neck
I lay my father to rest.
Hanging always over my heart
he will never be forgot.
Ashes to ashes; dust to dust
going on, the living must.
A grown woman regressed
A little girl repressed
A daughter depressed, I find.
A time to mend, a time to heal,
it's the time robbed, I mind.
Mourning and grief
sadness, relief.
Guilt and no guilt
the anger builds
The tension spills then the tears.
No more years
to bond to grow.
All the things you'll never know.
Everything I've ever said
bubbles to my head
Eerything I wanted to say
dies silently with the day.
Day by day I'm fine I find
Strong of will, hard of mind.
Head on task, composure clear,
it's the evenings alone I fear.
To you I wander, I grasp, I gasp
to know what I know and what has passed.
I cry and weep and pray for sleep
and still the evening taunts and laughs
and memory bad and good take hold
But I'm not ready to face the gap.
I bend. I break. I re-shape:
a stonger me to take my place.
Seconds, minutes, days and weeks
hope returns and misery retreats.
My happiness will make you proud
even when you're not around.
I celebrate the time we had-
the time we'll share again-
every time I crack a smile
or laugh with a friend.
In a locket around my chest
all that is after my father's death.
Ashes to ashes; dust to dust
going on, the living must.

Don't Be Late...to Save this Very Deadly Date

The Alice in Wonderland themed mystery murder halloween party hosted by Beth and Cori on Saturday was phenomenal!! I had so much fun and it was the perfect distraction to all the extra stressful c-r-a-p going on these last few weeks.

Everyone was pre-assigned characters from the novel and given short bios to act the part. Bryce and I went as The White King and Queen. After searching every Halloween shop in Las Vegas and coming up empty handed for costumes, I decided to scour department stores and malls for a white dress, white pants and shirt, white anything. not an easy task given it's winter and the only colors to exist are black and brown after Labor Day.

Seeing everyone dressed up and acting their characters was a lot of fun. As was solving the murder mystery of who killed Alice? What a great way to celebrate halloween with your friends! Here are some of the costumes:

Our Tea Party hosts-Mad Hatter and Hare

The White Rabbit

Humpty Dumpty

Chef!

Tweedle-Dee and Tweddle-Dum

Lizard and Pig 

Door Mouse 

King and Queen of Hearts

Everyone was so creative in their outfits, but what was equally impressive were the decorations!

Paper lanters and lights hung all over the ceiling

Cobwebs made it feel like Halloween

A tea party complete with the Queen's tarts, and "drink me" potions and food

Pink Flamingo croquet set

Thank you Beth and Cori for hosting an amazing night to remember! Can't wait for next year's Monster Mash Murder Mystery!!! (say that 5 times fast)





Bandslam

I wanted to see this when it was in theaters, but it came and went so fast, I missed it. When it came available to watch on Starz, I couldn't pass it up-it was free! Thank goodness for that. While it wasn't the most horrible movie I've ever watched (See:When in Rome), I am glad I didn't spend money on this film.
So, I am a total sucker for the High School Musical series and thought this would be a less Disney-esque PC version. Kind of. Vanessa Hudgens, cute as a button, is annoying as a monotone ex-stutterer with even very little personality. Thank goodness, she isn't the focus of the film. That is split between the main guy-I don't care enough to know the actor's name because he is really ugly to look at for a whole movie and needs to only show up as a sidekick. He doesn't even have an awkward Michael Cera vibe that he can play up. At least the screen time is split with Aly Michalka. She is mesmerizing-ly pretty to look at. I have a girl crush on her beautiful blond, naturally kinky curled hair and that little mole above her pouty lips. That sounded totally lez, so let me rephrase: she's a gorgeous actress who makes watching the film bearable even though her character is stupid. Side note: not even her sex appeal combined with bubbly Ashley Tisdale in a short skirt can save Hellcats on WB.

I digress. The movie is okay and has some funny LOL moments, but overall is a snooze fest with forgettable songs.

RED-Retired: Extremely Dangerous

Bruce Willis is a total DILF. Just had to get that out of the way!

Saw RED on Sunday with the fam on an open caption screen (for my mom, she's deaf). I can't wait to see it again and then own it on DVD. It's utterly predictable, but such a fun ride, that you don't care how much cheese it spits at you. Bruce Willis is still hot kicking ass. Morgan Freeman knows how to have fun. John malkovich is John Malkovich-absolutely insane, but never breaks character. And Helen Mirren...well, I don't know much about her, but she was fantastic as well.

All are retired CIA operatives who find themselves as targets of a massive cover-up putting them at the top of a hit list. They must fight to stay alive and uncover who's behind the hit. It's fast-paced, full of action and over-the-top fight scenes. (I don't know what's my favorite, Bruce Willis walking out of a spinning car all bad-ass or john Malkovich getting revenge on a banker-dressed assassin who called him old). The fun doesn't stop and neither do the laughs.

The whole film is delivered tongue-in-cheek which just offers more outrageous scenarios. I don't want to say much more without giving away the plot, ormore importantly, the hilarious banter. JUST SEE THE MOVIE FOR YOURSELF.

HereAfter

Saw Hereafter in theaters on Saturday. It was Gawd-Awful! It was a toss-up between Hereafter and Life As We Know It (cheesy rom-com starring Josh Duhamel, gag). Life As We Know It was rated "skip it" and Hereafter was a "maybe" by my phone app critics. There is no "maybe" about this movie-it was 100% terrible.

 **SPOILER ALERT** 
The movie starts with a French reporter on vacation in Thailand when it gets hit by a massive tsunami and she dies briefly and gets visions of the afterlife. This all the action the movie has and then it gets real boring. Don't let the tsunami circa 2004 Thailand throw you-this has nothing to do with the rest of the story. It is just a meaningless hook to get people to think the movie has a point. It doesn't.

Next, we meet twin boys living in England with a Heroin-addicted mom. Long story short, one of the boys dies by being hit by a van after he ran in the street without looking because he was being harassed by some other boys. FYI not the best scene to watch 10 days after my own father passed by being struck by a semi-truck as he was walking in a crosswalk. Traumatic doesn't begin to describe this. And it wasn't even worth enduring because, let me re-iterate, the movie SUCKED.

Finally, we meet a burnt-out psychic living a pathetic life dealing with his "curse." His brother wants to use him, but he just wants to be left alone. And he can't build a real relationship because when he touches someone, he can see their hidden ghosts, literally and figuratively.

The next 119 minutes is boring exposition. Nothing happens, you are thoroughly confused and you don't understand how the 3 stories relate. The last 10 minutes, predictably, find the 3 characters meeting up in England at a book fair. The psychic reluctantly reads the boy and gives him closure after his twins death. The psychic meets the reporter, who lost everything after here life-after-death experience and they go on a date which glimpses into a happy future for them both. THE END.

I am not kidding, the movie ends here. So, to recap: Three boring characters from each end of the world have an experience with the hereafter, none of which is interesting. Then they meet.

Trust me, don't waste your time on this movie, no matter how cute Matt Damon is, it just isn't worth the 2 hr, 9 min run time.