Vegas Baby- Day 2!

Our second day in Vegas consisted of us pretending to be world travelers. It started at Mr. Lucky's 24/7 at the Hard Rock cafe where we shared a sub-par overpriced breakfast and where I was reminded once again that Vegas is definitely it's own culture- where dressing slutty and wearing a bikini to breakfast is totally acceptable. However, the music there was awesome and I was reminded of my great love for 90's rock. Yay!
Then we headed to Serendipity 3 for, yup, more food. (It was a long walk!) Brittney had also told us we had to go here for frozen hot chocolate. Which was, granted, completely delicious. However, it was also a 45 minute wait and $10 for one glass, which seems completely ridiculous. The mango sorbet, however, was $4.50 and was completely to die for. It was like 80% mango and 20% sorbet stuff. yum yum yum.











Next, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It's half as high as the original, and something tells me the view isn't really anything the same, but it was fun anyways. We were up there for about 5 minutes when Jonmark says, "Quick- I need a piece of paper!" And just like that, we started throwing paper airplanes off the eiffel tower. Only 3 total, really, but it was hilarious. As was hiding them from security when they walked by. I think we may have landed them all in The Paris pool.




Next! Off to New York! Which looked like a short walk but really wasn't. We were both exhausted, but we did get shots of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. I was actually pretty impressed by how realistic they were. (The one of me by myself is at the real one 4 years ago.)



We also strolled around Little Italy and ate perfect little fruit cups and sat and listened to guys play dueling pianos in the Times Square bar. Basically, it was just chill and fun.
And then I finally got to see the Bellagio fountains. I've actually been to Vegas a couple times with my family but only for about an hour. And I'd never seen them. I had no idea it was like a huge lake!! So fun.
AND...the escalator. This is something I wish I could have taken a picture of, but there was really no way. After going up several elevators over the last few days, Jonmark suddenly says to me as we walk by an escalator, "I can go up that."
"Um, what?"
"Yup. Stand behind me. Let's go!"
And so we did. Like 3 times. And it was awesome. Mostly to see everyone's reaction. As we got off one, a 20-something kid came up to us and was like, "Dude, that was the coolest thing I have ever seen in like, the LONGEST time."
It was.
We finished off the night with delicious Carl's Jr. and a quick stop at the Hoover Dam at night. It was beautiful. And such an awesome trip.

Vegas Baby!! - Day 1

So school is over. And I've decided to take a hiatus. Maybe a long one. Which has freed up my schedule a bit to do fun things. Like go to Vegas. With boyfriend. To see Phantom.
Because of all the things I've done and seen in my life, I've never seen The Phantom of the Opera. Not the movie. Not any performance. Ever. And Jonmark loves it. And sings it. Well. But that's a different story. Phantom plays every night at the Venetian. Which is where we almost stayed, except that it would have been like a million dollars.
So instead we stayed (click here). It used to be the old St. Tropez, and it definitely was an old hotel that seemed like IKEA got a hold of. It was really fun. And the pool was awesome. And so was the DJ who played all day long.
I knew Vegas was a Jonmark place when he came into my room at noon shouting, "Wakie, Wakie!! There's a pool party at noon! Whoo-hoo!!" (We didn't get in until like 2 the night before).
So I got up and got ready and headed off to Planet Hollywood for Earl of Sandwich. Brittney from work said we HAD to go there, and she was totally right. The sandwiches were delicious!


Then off to Sephora because I forgot my bronzer. And the one place pale girls don't want to go without bronzer is Vegas....And Jonmark talked me into this:

The lipstick. Not the picture. I seem to do this about once a year. And then remember how utterly impractical red lipstick is. And how it gets in the way of kissing. And gets on my teeth. And makes me self-conscious. It is, however, a great red. For special occasions.
I also bought a shirt that seemed very Vegas to me, which is somewhat hard to do when considering sleeves and hemlines, but I was excited. I also curled my hair with my flat iron and was very very proud (How sweet is the Venetian's bathroom?)

And Jonmark found a sweet shirt 15 minutes before the show started at Banana that was half off and I had $30 in coupons, so, um, yep. It was free. So sweet.
Phantom was PHENOMENAL. The auditorium is created for it, so it's all very exciting and just awesome. I snuck in one picture....

Next we went to eat at Canaletto still in the Venetian. Our waiter was actually from Italy and was so cool and friendly. We had caprese and pasta and seafood. And it looked like this.


And it tasted like YUM. And there was even a pigeon for authenticity! (can you spot it?)

And then.... TAO!!!
Tao is the nightclub in the Venetian. It was just rated #1 in Vegas and we really wanted to try it out. I've never been dancing in Vegas, but I wanted to, and Jonmark really loves getting his groove on :-).
The line was crazy long, and so while I went outside to look where the end was, Jonmark asked the usher where the line started. The usher asked how many of us there were. Then suddenly the two of us were being ushered to the front of the line, past all the people who actually had to pay to get in, into the elevator, and up to Tao. The place was definitely vegas, and so so crowded, but the people were all really cool. I never knew quite how much attention a girl could get from dancing on the lap of a guy in a wheelchair. (p.s., mom, it was really REALLY crowded. I was literally being shoved constantly. There was no where else to dance!) We didn't stay for too long, but it was so so fun.


And then we went to the parking garage. Where we stayed for 2 hours because neither of us could remember where we parked. And we were led all over the place to different garages until finally we broke down and asked security to go find it. And they did. On 7b. In between the 7th and 8th floors. In a weird dumb place that I still couldn't figure out how to get to so I crawled up through the steel ropes and then drove it back down. Never ever ever will either of us ever forget to remember where we parked!!

Microwave Cookout

ATTENTION MINDY: Jonmark and I are back on.

Moving on....
so Jonmark has begun his healthy summer diet. I suppose I have started it with him, as I did finish of the last of my Butter Crunch Blue Bell earlier. (Also, I thought I might have had a little chest pain associated with it, so I went running, too.) Afterwards, I met up with Jonmark after some work appointments for a workout.
Then we stopped by his mom's house for a bit and for our post-workout meal.
Jonmark and I eat very much the same. We eat veggies and fish and chicken and brown rice and pride ourselves on being pretty healthy. (Even if we might eat a lot of taquitos. Guacamole=avocados=good fat.)
The difference in our eating is that Jonmark can make these things quickly. Like in a microwave. I generally take about 30 minutes longer to cook anything, at which point I've likely consumed enough sugar to balance out the healthiness. (Hence, Brad yelling "I'll make you a sandwich! I'll make you a sandwich! every time I get hungry.)
Oh, and I eat butter on my rice and veggies. That's different, too.
Today, however, Jonmark made a delicious discovery. Now, Jonmark's mom is 73. She has a few idiosyncrasies. For example, she loves the dollar store. LOVES IT. And yesterday she discovered Sweet Chile Garlic Sauce. Today Jonmark discovered it.

He put it on his rice and green beans. I was skeptical. "No, really! It's good! Try it," he said. "It's like Chinese food now!!" Oh boys.
While eating this delicious Chinese food, I myself made a discovery. It was this:

Following a questioning look, Jonmark said, "She gives money to save the Jews."
Um, what?
"Yeah, she might be overdrawn like crazy and have no money and she'll still give money to the Jews. She feels she'll be blessed for saving God's people- kind of like tithing."
I don't know why this struck me as hilarious. I think it just struck me as the absolute most random thing anyone could ever do. Especially a 73-year old American Mormon woman. Really? Is there a special Jew in your life? Did you ever visit Israel? Or, for some reason, it just is your sweet mission to help save the Jews? Whatever it is, I'm glad she does it. And so are they.
It was the best random cookout ever. And I even learned how to cook tilapia in the microwave (not with the rice).