Vegas baby!
Well, I am a married woman now. Woohoo! :o) And now I will clog up your friends list with my longest post ever about our trip to Las Vegas.
Everything turned out beautifully...the chapel, the flowers, the ceremony, the cake, the reception....just lovely. I couldn't be happier!
It was quite the busy week in Vegas.
Monday (5/18) -left Jax and arrived in Vegas. Special dinner for 2 at the Top of the World restaurant. It was surrounded by glass and rotated 360 degrees for a complete unobstructed view of the Strip at night. Beautiful. The food was incredible and you know it's fancy when you're constantly referred to as "the lady"; ie: would the lady care for another glass of wine?
Tuesday -Not quite sure what all happened on Tuesday. I know that we (including Sandy, Matt and Zach) rode the Duece downtown to get our marriage licenses. Dad took us all to get the tuxes for the guys. Time ran short so J and I got left but had wonderful margaritas at El Patron next to the Men's Warehouse....2 drinks later and I'm quite buzzed. We (we being myself, J, Stevie, Erin, Sandy, Matt, and Zach) also went out to Fremont Street that night which was nice but got a bit boring because it's all the same. I started bickering with some religious guy who wanted to talk to me about God...Matt saved me. Damn booze makes me want to argue. :o)
Wednesday -the BIG day. J and I woke up and got something to eat together (yeah, yeah, I know we're not technically supposed to see eachother the day of, but I wasn't down for being without him until 5pm) and we also made a stop at the Oxygen bar...pretty neat...for just breathing, ya know? Then we split ways and I got my hairs did and makeup done. Really threw me for a loop because I'm not used to seeing myself look like a beauty queen. Craziness. Luckily I had Sandy there to reassure me. After the glam treatment, it was back to my hotel room to get ready with Mom and Sandy. Then it was time to head to the chapel with my entourage who had to scout ahead to be sure that my groom didn't see me (he almost did...TWICE). Met with the minister and saw my Dad. As soon as Dad saw me...his face went red and his eyes filled with tears, which meant that mine did as well. Aww. Then it was time for the ceremony where my Dad leaned into J and said "don't screw this up" right into his microphone. NICE. I sped through my vows (had to read them) because that's what I do when I'm nervous. O yeah, and I put J's ring on the wrong hand, lol. Oops. Anywho, we kiss and we're married. Followed by a million pictures, cake, and champagne. After the ceremony, we headed to Maggiano's for our private dining. There was about 27 people including J and myself. Now I wish that I hadn't drank so much wine at dinner (instead of actually eating the food I picked out) because they forgot my chocolate cake! Not to mention, Vince Neil (yes, from Motley Crue) was totally at Maggiano's that night as well. All in all, everything went very well. But according to my Mom, I am not a fun drunk. Well DUH...NO ONE is a fun drunk when you don't drink. :o) Aaand props go out to my husband because he somehow got me out of my dress, took off my jewelry and my make up, and even took my contacts out...all of this while I kept drunk dialing people back home and asking him the same 5 questions over and over. Yep, I'd say he loves me.
Thursday -Woke up early and had Sandy come to my room so I could do her hair for her wedding. The wedding company was picking the 5 of us (Sandy, Matt, Zach, J and myself) to take us to the Valley of Fire at 10am. Believe it or not, the desert is effin hot! But their ceremony was great and the location was absolutely beautiful. After we got back to the hotel, we all did a shot of wedding cake (Sandy got 2 since she was the bride) and everyone went to change clothes to get some lunch and return the tuxes. Hahaha and my favorite Sandy emerged. She opens up my bathroom door and says "you know...after those 2 shots and not having anything in my stomach...I think I'm drunk" and she turns into this giggling mess which in turn, makes me a giggling mess as she starts to call people back home (we're really very alike when we drink). I walk her back to her room (can't remember what for though) and we all meet back up to return the tuxes and have lunch at El Patron (2 for 1 margaritas). Good stuff. After lunch we take a cab back to the hotel and part ways for a bit. J and I meet up with Corey (my cousin) Maggie and Ramon (they drove in from CA to come to our wedding), J's mom and her husband, and Stevie and Erinn (J's cousin and his friend) to go out to the strip. We watched the Siren's Song at Treasure Island, and also went into the Forum Shops where everyone basically got seperated. It's too hard to keep track of that many people! Eventually my new mother-in-law and her husband went back to the hotel (they were leaving the next morning) and shortly after so did Stevie and Erinn (they wanted to have a fancy dinner together before they left) and it was just me, J, Corey, Maggie and Ramon. So we went to In N Out Burger....a MUST apparently. I must confess, it was rather tasty! Too bad we don't have them here on the east coast. After we ate, Ramon drove us down the entire strip and took us back to the hotel (we had to get up really early the next day).
Friday -Trip to the Grand Canyon! Longest bus ride in the history of bus rides. This trip included a 15 hour day, visit to the Hoover Dam, a stop at a weird mystery buffet, discouraging weather, but all in all, some decent pictures and time well spent with family and friends. I realize I tend to be rather verbose so I'm trying to wrap this up.
Saturday -Hiking/ Kayaking tour! Another early morning...picked up at 6:30am and drove past the Hoover Dam and started with a 3 mile hike through a slot canyon. Wow was it beautiful! And luck was with us in the canyon because it wasn't deathly hot...we even had a nice wind. J and I stripped down to our swim suits and made this HUGE jump off the rocks into the river below. I jumped and kept waiting and waiting and waiting to hit the water and then BAM, there it was and it was COLD. But totally worth it. :o) The hike ended at the Arizona natural hot springs and the scariest part about that was climbing the ladder to the top. The first spring started at about 97 degrees, then the next went up to 107 degrees, and then to 117 degrees. The top spring was miserable! I thought my flesh was going to fall off so we moved back down to the first spring. It feel great to just soak it in. On our way out of the spring I almost fell to my doom when I slipped on some algae trying to go back down the ladder. But I survived :o) and made it safely back down. We came across a rattlesnake (our second of the day) and one of the guides with us says "oh...he looks pissed" so he threw rocks at it. Good job. We all got into our kayaks after some snacks and headed out onto the river. It turned out to be a pretty windy day which was great for the hike...shitty for the kayaking. Not to mention it was the first weekend that boats were allowed on river for the summer and they were pretty much assholes speeding up and down the narrow canyon which makes kayaking even more difficult through the wind because you have the waves from their wake coming at you. I was struggling pretty hard core so I pussed out the first leg of the kayaking and hopped on a boat. Best decision ever. J did really well and was the first one to make it to the beach for lunch (where I was waiting with one of the guides). After lunch I decided to give it another chance and got back in the kayak. The total distance of the day was about 11 miles -3 miles hiked and 8 miles kayaked (4 for me) but DAMN that is a LOT of work but it was fun and we did get some great pictures of the river. We even saw some big horn sheep! It was a long ass ride back to Vegas mainly due to dam traffic at the Hoover Dam but we made it!
Sunday -I promised J that I wouldn't wake him up (at least not until noon) but I was up and ready to go by 9am so I texted with Kristy for about an hour and then snuck into the bathroom to talk on the phone for another hour until J got up and found me whispering on the phone in the bathroom, lol. Sunday was a lazy day mainly. We went down the strip and checked out the hotels..got our tickets to see "O" at the Bellagio and gambled and drank. "O" was phenominal! I have always wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show and am so glad that we did. I think my jaw was dropped the whole time. It was beautiful and funny and amazing all at once.
Monday -our last day in Vegas. J and I met up with our wedding photographer to pick out our pictures and get our album. We also ordered a 24x30 stretched canvas of one of our pictures. The photographer got this bad ass shot of my feet in my zebra shoes and turned it into black and white with just the tattoos on my feet in color...pretty sweet. We got that in an 8x10 to frame and hang up. Then J and I hit up our favorite place...the hotel buffet. Delish! And went back down the strip to catch up on everything we missed and to pick up trinkets for people. It was nice to have a few days to ourselves to do stuff that we wanted. We went into Madame Toussad's wax museum...pretty neat but I didn't feel it was worth the money. I would've rather done the gondola ride at the Venetian but I have no complaints. It's crazy how fast your money flies away in Vegas! We took the red eye out at 11:20pm on Monday night and got back to Jax on Tuesday at 8:30am.
Tuesday -sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep and lazy day.
Wednesday -more sleep and laziness but did go see the new Terminator movie. It was alright...not a lot of acting/ plot but a lot of action and special effects. Star Trek was infinitely better.
Today -another lazy day before we got back to work tomorrow. Yes, we go back on a Friday and then have the weekend off. :o) Perfect!
Whew! That was a lot to type and I'm sure a lot to read but that's about all I have left to say. :o) The wedding ceremony is still available online to view if anyone is interested. I've watched it every day so far, lol. It still makes me tear up. :o)
xoxo
B
Everything turned out beautifully...the chapel, the flowers, the ceremony, the cake, the reception....just lovely. I couldn't be happier!
It was quite the busy week in Vegas.
Monday (5/18) -left Jax and arrived in Vegas. Special dinner for 2 at the Top of the World restaurant. It was surrounded by glass and rotated 360 degrees for a complete unobstructed view of the Strip at night. Beautiful. The food was incredible and you know it's fancy when you're constantly referred to as "the lady"; ie: would the lady care for another glass of wine?
Tuesday -Not quite sure what all happened on Tuesday. I know that we (including Sandy, Matt and Zach) rode the Duece downtown to get our marriage licenses. Dad took us all to get the tuxes for the guys. Time ran short so J and I got left but had wonderful margaritas at El Patron next to the Men's Warehouse....2 drinks later and I'm quite buzzed. We (we being myself, J, Stevie, Erin, Sandy, Matt, and Zach) also went out to Fremont Street that night which was nice but got a bit boring because it's all the same. I started bickering with some religious guy who wanted to talk to me about God...Matt saved me. Damn booze makes me want to argue. :o)
Wednesday -the BIG day. J and I woke up and got something to eat together (yeah, yeah, I know we're not technically supposed to see eachother the day of, but I wasn't down for being without him until 5pm) and we also made a stop at the Oxygen bar...pretty neat...for just breathing, ya know? Then we split ways and I got my hairs did and makeup done. Really threw me for a loop because I'm not used to seeing myself look like a beauty queen. Craziness. Luckily I had Sandy there to reassure me. After the glam treatment, it was back to my hotel room to get ready with Mom and Sandy. Then it was time to head to the chapel with my entourage who had to scout ahead to be sure that my groom didn't see me (he almost did...TWICE). Met with the minister and saw my Dad. As soon as Dad saw me...his face went red and his eyes filled with tears, which meant that mine did as well. Aww. Then it was time for the ceremony where my Dad leaned into J and said "don't screw this up" right into his microphone. NICE. I sped through my vows (had to read them) because that's what I do when I'm nervous. O yeah, and I put J's ring on the wrong hand, lol. Oops. Anywho, we kiss and we're married. Followed by a million pictures, cake, and champagne. After the ceremony, we headed to Maggiano's for our private dining. There was about 27 people including J and myself. Now I wish that I hadn't drank so much wine at dinner (instead of actually eating the food I picked out) because they forgot my chocolate cake! Not to mention, Vince Neil (yes, from Motley Crue) was totally at Maggiano's that night as well. All in all, everything went very well. But according to my Mom, I am not a fun drunk. Well DUH...NO ONE is a fun drunk when you don't drink. :o) Aaand props go out to my husband because he somehow got me out of my dress, took off my jewelry and my make up, and even took my contacts out...all of this while I kept drunk dialing people back home and asking him the same 5 questions over and over. Yep, I'd say he loves me.
Thursday -Woke up early and had Sandy come to my room so I could do her hair for her wedding. The wedding company was picking the 5 of us (Sandy, Matt, Zach, J and myself) to take us to the Valley of Fire at 10am. Believe it or not, the desert is effin hot! But their ceremony was great and the location was absolutely beautiful. After we got back to the hotel, we all did a shot of wedding cake (Sandy got 2 since she was the bride) and everyone went to change clothes to get some lunch and return the tuxes. Hahaha and my favorite Sandy emerged. She opens up my bathroom door and says "you know...after those 2 shots and not having anything in my stomach...I think I'm drunk" and she turns into this giggling mess which in turn, makes me a giggling mess as she starts to call people back home (we're really very alike when we drink). I walk her back to her room (can't remember what for though) and we all meet back up to return the tuxes and have lunch at El Patron (2 for 1 margaritas). Good stuff. After lunch we take a cab back to the hotel and part ways for a bit. J and I meet up with Corey (my cousin) Maggie and Ramon (they drove in from CA to come to our wedding), J's mom and her husband, and Stevie and Erinn (J's cousin and his friend) to go out to the strip. We watched the Siren's Song at Treasure Island, and also went into the Forum Shops where everyone basically got seperated. It's too hard to keep track of that many people! Eventually my new mother-in-law and her husband went back to the hotel (they were leaving the next morning) and shortly after so did Stevie and Erinn (they wanted to have a fancy dinner together before they left) and it was just me, J, Corey, Maggie and Ramon. So we went to In N Out Burger....a MUST apparently. I must confess, it was rather tasty! Too bad we don't have them here on the east coast. After we ate, Ramon drove us down the entire strip and took us back to the hotel (we had to get up really early the next day).
Friday -Trip to the Grand Canyon! Longest bus ride in the history of bus rides. This trip included a 15 hour day, visit to the Hoover Dam, a stop at a weird mystery buffet, discouraging weather, but all in all, some decent pictures and time well spent with family and friends. I realize I tend to be rather verbose so I'm trying to wrap this up.
Saturday -Hiking/ Kayaking tour! Another early morning...picked up at 6:30am and drove past the Hoover Dam and started with a 3 mile hike through a slot canyon. Wow was it beautiful! And luck was with us in the canyon because it wasn't deathly hot...we even had a nice wind. J and I stripped down to our swim suits and made this HUGE jump off the rocks into the river below. I jumped and kept waiting and waiting and waiting to hit the water and then BAM, there it was and it was COLD. But totally worth it. :o) The hike ended at the Arizona natural hot springs and the scariest part about that was climbing the ladder to the top. The first spring started at about 97 degrees, then the next went up to 107 degrees, and then to 117 degrees. The top spring was miserable! I thought my flesh was going to fall off so we moved back down to the first spring. It feel great to just soak it in. On our way out of the spring I almost fell to my doom when I slipped on some algae trying to go back down the ladder. But I survived :o) and made it safely back down. We came across a rattlesnake (our second of the day) and one of the guides with us says "oh...he looks pissed" so he threw rocks at it. Good job. We all got into our kayaks after some snacks and headed out onto the river. It turned out to be a pretty windy day which was great for the hike...shitty for the kayaking. Not to mention it was the first weekend that boats were allowed on river for the summer and they were pretty much assholes speeding up and down the narrow canyon which makes kayaking even more difficult through the wind because you have the waves from their wake coming at you. I was struggling pretty hard core so I pussed out the first leg of the kayaking and hopped on a boat. Best decision ever. J did really well and was the first one to make it to the beach for lunch (where I was waiting with one of the guides). After lunch I decided to give it another chance and got back in the kayak. The total distance of the day was about 11 miles -3 miles hiked and 8 miles kayaked (4 for me) but DAMN that is a LOT of work but it was fun and we did get some great pictures of the river. We even saw some big horn sheep! It was a long ass ride back to Vegas mainly due to dam traffic at the Hoover Dam but we made it!
Sunday -I promised J that I wouldn't wake him up (at least not until noon) but I was up and ready to go by 9am so I texted with Kristy for about an hour and then snuck into the bathroom to talk on the phone for another hour until J got up and found me whispering on the phone in the bathroom, lol. Sunday was a lazy day mainly. We went down the strip and checked out the hotels..got our tickets to see "O" at the Bellagio and gambled and drank. "O" was phenominal! I have always wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show and am so glad that we did. I think my jaw was dropped the whole time. It was beautiful and funny and amazing all at once.
Monday -our last day in Vegas. J and I met up with our wedding photographer to pick out our pictures and get our album. We also ordered a 24x30 stretched canvas of one of our pictures. The photographer got this bad ass shot of my feet in my zebra shoes and turned it into black and white with just the tattoos on my feet in color...pretty sweet. We got that in an 8x10 to frame and hang up. Then J and I hit up our favorite place...the hotel buffet. Delish! And went back down the strip to catch up on everything we missed and to pick up trinkets for people. It was nice to have a few days to ourselves to do stuff that we wanted. We went into Madame Toussad's wax museum...pretty neat but I didn't feel it was worth the money. I would've rather done the gondola ride at the Venetian but I have no complaints. It's crazy how fast your money flies away in Vegas! We took the red eye out at 11:20pm on Monday night and got back to Jax on Tuesday at 8:30am.
Tuesday -sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep and lazy day.
Wednesday -more sleep and laziness but did go see the new Terminator movie. It was alright...not a lot of acting/ plot but a lot of action and special effects. Star Trek was infinitely better.
Today -another lazy day before we got back to work tomorrow. Yes, we go back on a Friday and then have the weekend off. :o) Perfect!
Whew! That was a lot to type and I'm sure a lot to read but that's about all I have left to say. :o) The wedding ceremony is still available online to view if anyone is interested. I've watched it every day so far, lol. It still makes me tear up. :o)
xoxo
B