VEGAS BABY!!

I had only been to Vegas once for Heather and Jonny's wedding in 2006, so it was time for another trip...this time actually hitting up a club and of course seeing another Cirque show!

Me, Scott, Jill and JJ decided to meet up for a weekend there to celebrate Jill and JJ's upcoming March 14th wedding (kind of a mini bachelor/bachelorette party) and the weekend we decided to go just also happened to be my 29th birthday weekend (Feb 20-22). It was a perfect cause for celebration!

It was an awesome weekend to spend with 2 such great friends and was nice to get away for a little vacation. We got a great deal at Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin and home to one of the biggest and best buffets in town) and our room came with a bunch of buy-one-get-one-free drink tickets...perfect. Scott and I flew into town on Friday morning (our first Virgin America flight and I must say that it was the best flight we've ever had!) and walked around the Miracle Mile shops within Planet Hollywood (PH). My feet already hurt from walking and we hadn't even left the freaking hotel. Jill and JJ drove into town that evening and it took a little longer to drive thru town than normal, so we were sure to have drinks waiting in the room for them when they finally got there. Also waiting in the room (delivered while we were out walking around) was a nice bottle of red wine for Jill and JJ from her maid-of-honor, Michelle. It was so sweet of her to send something and definitely started out the evening right! Jill and JJ also had a little bday gift for me...my final Twilight series book - Breaking Dawn. :) Yaya!

After getting all cleaned up and ready to go, we had a fantastic dinner in a Brazilian-style restaurant in the Miracle Mile shops area. It was amazing food and we ate until we were almost sick cuz it was soooo good! It's the type of place where they come around to your table and carve you off big hunks of various yummy meats until you finally give in and say no. After letting our food settle a little, we then went back into PH used most of our free drink vouchers to get a free drink at almost every bar/lounge/restaurant in the hotel. Then we finally went outside the hotel and walked down to Treasure Island where our next destination of the night was...Pure nightclub. We had gotten on the guest list earlier that night and still had to stand in line from 9:30pm until they opened the doors to start letting people in at 10:30. It was way too long to wait and I still can't believe we stood there so long, but it turned out to be worth it. I still have no idea how it happened, but we ended up getting in for free (cover was $25 each) and also discovered that Pure had the Pussycat Dolls Lounge inside it so we got to see them perform as well. They were so fun and hot and really, really bendy...like little bendy straws. We also got randomly invited to sit at a VIP table right in front of the PCD stage with a couple that was there on business and had free bottle service (usually $800 minimum) for the night, but decided it was way too much for them to drink themselves. After the PCD was finished for the night and we got some pics with them...we headed into Pure with our new VIP friends to do some dancing. It was a huge club and it was awesome since it wasn't too over-crowded. We danced and drank like we were 22 again and then pretty much hit a wall at 2am. We hadn't planned on being out that late, but it was a blast!

Saturday morning we tried to recover quickly so that we could go check out the other hotels and things to do on the strip. It was a little slow getting going but we got to see quite a bit. Jill took us to see these really cool gardens that are in the Bellagio that I didn't even know existed. The gardens were beautiful with a Chinese garden theme. We also discovered that there was a Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden park in the Mirage. We got to see dolphins, lions, tigers, etc. and a really cute little leopard cub! After walking around all day and actually seeing the strip, we went back to the hotel to relax and take a nap. Then we got all dressed up nice and went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in New York New York and then got to see a Cirque du Soleil show...Zumanity. It was an awesome show...I always love Cirque...and was a lot funnier than I expected. It was a more intimate, seductive, playful Cirque show than the others I've seen, but I still like Mystere the best. After the show (we went to a late one) it was back to PH for a night of much needed sleep.

Jill and JJ got up and left the next morning and Scott and I had a really late flight so we walked around and played some more the next day...even getting in some gambling which was fun but not very productive since we were scared to gamble any more than $50 of our own money. We did get quit a bit of free game play though so it lasted us a while. I also got to finally ride the NY, NY roller coaster! Soooo fun but waaayyy overpriced for a 2 minute ride.

Well, that's about all to tell and was pretty much a small novel...but it was a great weekend and a wonderful mini vacation. It was awesome to spend such a great weekend with such great friends. Can't wait for the wedding now in March and seeing more of Jill and JJ -- when they become Mr. and Mrs. Scott! :)