What a Life

Yesterday Mandi, our mom, and I flew out to Las Vegas for the day to help celebrate Memere’s birthday. Celebrating this occasion in Las Vegas is a yearly tradition for Memere, Pepere, and my Aunt Debbie, and we have joined them in some years. This year, we decided to make the trip a surprise to Memere, which added to the fun! We flew in, met at the airport, and shuttled over to the Mirage, where they were staying and playing. Aunt Debbie provided us a play-by-play of Memere’s morning activities so that we could coordinate the surprise. Memere was playing the slots when we arrived, and she came across us standing in the casino. Her face was priceless! She was utterly surprised!

We started the day off at Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden, checking out the dolphins, white tigers, lions, panthers, etc. The animals get really close to you here…it’s really unlike a zoo. The lions and tigers were about 3 feet from us behind a seemingly-plain-old wire fence. I’ve never seen them like this–they’re huge and awe-inspiring. Here I am with the birthday girl.

After that, we checked back in with Pepere, who was spending the day where he is most comfortable, in front of the slots at the Mirage. He was doing just fine!

Next, the girls headed down the Strip to Planet Hollywood casino (formerly Aladdin) for some shopping at the Miracle Mile. Mandi and I got soooo thirsty during this walk, so we stopped at Cabo Wabo for some thirst-quenching drinks and chips and salsa. If you know me…you know I love me a good mojito…and these were by far the best mojitos I had ever had (second best award goes to Little Prague in Davis!). They were pineapple mango, and just incredible. I drank them down as if they were water. And that salsa was unspeakably good. We were tempted to start scooping it up with our fingers and licking it. Mandi yearned for a Slurpee straw to suck it up.

Mandi and I chatted for awhile in the warm, warm sun. Then we met back up with the rest of the girls and did some shopping, gambling, and exploring. Here we all are in Paris:

There were a couple of shenanigans (Mandi and I are good at creating them, as I’ve said before).

We had a good time meandering back to the Mirage to get ready for dinner. Mandi and I had an hour or so to kill, as we weren’t getting ready/changing, so we headed to Rhumbar for some drinks in the outdoor lounge. I tried the Spanish Trampoline, which was a Food Network Challenge winner.

Finally, we headed to a gluttonous, unbelievably delicious dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib. I enjoyed multiple lobster tails, while everybody else enjoyed the famous prime rib. Also enjoyed was their famous spinning salad, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, veggies, etc. So much fun!! We had also brought with us an incredibly moist white chocolate raspberry bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes, possibly my favorite new bakery and Nik’s desired wedding cake baker. The cake is indescribable. Happy birthday, Memere!

Heading into and out of Vegas in a day, let alone scampering all over the Strip for the day, left me pretty tired (but happy, man was I happy!). Luckily, I have a wonderful life which allows me much flexibility in terms of my schedule. I am technically on spring break right now, so don’t have classes to deal with, but I am still working. I am currently writing up an entry for the Encyclopedia of Autism (how cool is that?). I let myself sleep in a bit today, then got up and spent the day writing from home in my pajamas. In addition, I cleaned the house and got some work done on my dissertation.

I am heading to LA this weekend to celebrate my mom’s birthday. What a fantastic life I live!