Sunday, February 25, 2018

Vegas, Y'all

Every January, Rico's company holds their annual Manager's Meeting, where all of the region & department heads get together to discuss yearly initiatives and plans. This meeting is always held in a city with a warm climate, and spouses are always invited. Past years meetings have been held in San Diego, and Cancun, but this year, the location was Las Vegas. I was not upset about this.


I've never met anyone who had a neutral opinion of Las Vegas. When I told people where I was going, I was either asked if they could come along, or was told "Ew. I'm sorry." I am firmly in the "Love It" category, but I can see why others may not. I just like a place where you can let your freak flag fly.

We left Cincinnati on Tuesday morning & miraculously, had a direct flight from CVG to McCarran. We landed in Vegas at around 10:15am, collected our bags, found our ride and were whisked away to Planet Hollywood. I'd never stayed at PH before, but was excited about the location. Paris & the Bellagio are my favorite Vegas hotels, and I was excited that PH was so close to them. We dropped our luggage off at the lobby, as it was way too early for check in, and made our way into the hotel to try to find some lunch.

We wandered around a bit, trying to kill time until the clock struck 11, and lunch spots opened. We decided on Gordon Ramsay Burger in PH. Since I'm allergic to wheat & gluten, and am currently adhering to the Keto way of eating, a burger without the bun is usually my best option.






I ordered the "Anniversary Burger" which was essentially ground steak, short ribs, frisee, and pickled shallots. It was amazing. I couldn't have any of the sides, but the burger was plenty. Rico ordered the Forrest Burger, which had DUCK BACON, and fries. Did I mention the DUCK BACON? because it was DELICIOUS.

After lunch, we wandered over to Paris and hung out until about 2, when we thought a room might be ready. We headed back to PH and were given our room keys. We made our way up to the 34th floor, and were treated to a room with a view of the strip.

Day View
Night View
We hung out in our room for a bit, then headed into the Miracle Mile shopping center. I can't say I was too impressed with the stores, but there is a Sephora, so I was clearly in heaven. The Sephora also has the Pat McGrath collection in store, so I spent a good amount of time making googly eyes at the palettes and lipstick. I also needed to find a shoe store, since I'd only packed my Aquatalia ankle & knee high boots and Uggs. Totally forgot my tennis shoes.  I wound up with these Blowfish "Shanghai" shoes, which were amazingly comfortable. And I love the maroon velvet!

We then went to meet Rico's manager so they could talk business, and eventually had dinner at The Strip, the steak house in PH. The steak was great, but had a little too much pepper in the crust. Pooped after a day of travel, we headed back to the room & called it a day.

Day 2, I was going to be on my own, so I ordered room service for breakfast, and scheduled a massage at the hotel's Mandera Spa. I lazed around the room for most of the morning, but then it was time for my treatment. A couple of years earlier, I had booked a massage at the spa in the Bellagio, and was delighted at the fact that when you book a service, you have use of the spa for the remainder of the day. I took full advantage of the steam & dry saunas, whirlpool, and lounge, and was expecting to do the same at the PH spa.


The spa entrance was beautiful, so I was super excited to see the rest. I was checked in by two super nice spa employees, and was lead back to the locker room. I was told that I could use the jacuzzi tub and the dry sauna, but that the steam sauna was out of order, which was disappointing. I enjoyed an 8o minute Swedish massage, and then sat in the dry sauna for a bit. I enjoyed my massage, but the spa was definitely not the Bellagio. The carpet at the spa was really, and I mean REALLY dingy, and the wicker furniture in the lounge was not comfortable, but what the spa lacked in amenities was more than made up for in the quality of service & the friendly desk employees.

After my massage, I headed up to my room to get cleaned up and then went down to to the casino to try my hand at blackjack. My parents are blackjack masters and had given us a few sessions before we left. I couldn't get my confidence up enough to try a table, so I found a video poker machine at the sports bar in PH. I was able to keep the game going for quite a while on the same $20, so I played until Rico was finished with his meetings.

Bellagio Entrance 

Rico came to collect me around 5, and we headed over to the Bellagio to grab a snack at the Petrossian Bar & spend some $ at the slots. Of course, we also has to step into Hermes, so I could  ogle bracelets and Scarves.

Eventually, we wandered over to the Cosmopolitan, and found a couple of machines to entertain us. Note to bourbon drinkers: when you order a Four Roses at the Cosmo, this is what they bring you. Not bad!





Day 3 was more of the same. Breakfast at the Henry in the Cosmo, lunch at Hexx in Paris, where I had the BEST chicken BLT with a bib lettuce and coco nib salad.
View from my table at Hexx.

"Unwich" at Hexx. SO GOOD!
I bummed around Paris for a while and then decided to take advantage of the sunny day and go for a walk on the strip.


Oh, hello Prada!
I have been in love with fashion for as long as I can remember. I used to read Vogue, Allure and Marie Claire the way my friends read The Baby Sitters Club books. It was so exciting to me that I could step into so many designer stores in Vegas. Even though I can't buy anything, being able to look at design & feel the fabrics is amazing. And I love the wonderful associates who indulge my wish to just be around the clothes, especially the ones who walk with me and talk about the designs. I went into the wrong field, y'all.

When Rico was finished with his meetings, we headed over to the Mirage for a dinner reservation at Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak. The space is beautiful and the food was amazing.

Heritage Steak
We'd been to his other steak house, Craftsteak, on a previous trip to Vegas, and it too is fantastic, they just have different vibes. To me, Craftsteak was more formal, whereas Heritage was slightly more laidback. I didn't take a lot of pictures because the people sitting next to us were a bit odd, and literally stared at us through our meal, and asked us about everything we were talking about and everything we were doing... not the best environment to take a pic of your salad & steak. If you ever go to Heritage, you HAVE to get the baby arugula salad. The candied pecans and goat cheese were magic together.




Day 4 was our day to leave. I always hate leaving vacations, especially when we don't have another one planned. We grabbed a taxi to the airport, made it through security quickly, and headed to our gate. I had to restrain myself from purchasing one of these beauties for a friend.

Didn't buy because I want my friends to still like me. 

I get that Vegas isn't for everyone. Personally, I love the lights, the shininess, and the absurd opulence. I love that I can order a bourbon at 9:30am, and nobody bats an eye. But Vegas can also really depress me. I hate the idea that people are gambling with money that they don't have. I hate watching people hit up the ATM's in the casinos. And I'm not blind to the underbelly of the city, but I will always love a place where at 9am, you can be decked out in head to toe sequins and glitter, while eating bacon & eggs, and it's totally normal.

Monday, February 19, 2018

A Useless Organ Is Still An Organ

Guess who had an appendectomy??

Me!! Photo Courtesy of Glamour Shots.
Super fun times. I normally stubborn myself out of going to the doctor, but after 2 days of what I thought was burning indigestion, I decided to put my insurance to work and go get a prescription for a heavy duty antacid. The doctor poked around at my abdomen for about 2 minutes and then told me to go to the emergency room because he thought I had appendicitis. Of course, I didn't believe him, I mean, medical school, schmedical school, right?? Nevertheless, I made my way to the ER... and y'all, he was RIGHT! Imagine that...

My valentines day was spent with a surgeon and narcotics, and it did get Rico to come home from his work trip early. I got to come home that night, and have been taking it super easy.

It's amazing how many actions you take for granted, until you can't do them. I alternate between feeing utterly useless and super thankful that I have the most patient husband in the world. I'm also practicing not being the most stubborn human on the planet, and have not been pushing myself to do things that I know could possibly cause injury. I also had a very wise friend remind me that even though appendectomies are routine surgery, I still had an organ removed, and I need to slow the hell down.

So, big thank you to everyone who has checked in on me and has offered support, to run errands,  bring meals, etc. It's much appreciated and really good to know that I have so many wonderful people around me.

Big, BIG, thank you to Bryan and Sam who hung out with me at the hospital and kept my mind off of the situation, so I wouldn't have the opportunity to completely freak out.

Also, someone please come to my house & force me to stop reading London blogs. It is making me so sad that I'm not going this year.