It’s been a long time since I’ve done a proper update. I’ve been busy, or out of town, or some combination of the two. Good times, great oldies, right? πŸ™‚

On May 9 – I went to Kenneth’s and saw Cameron (code word for “I got my hair done by the best hairdresser ever”). I love my hairdresser. He’s the cutest thing ever and sooo funny. I love talking to him. Plus, he did a supurb job on my hair:

New Hair Again
This is even after it was windblown! πŸ™‚

May 10 – took an insanely early flight and got to Vegas a bit after 9am. Didn’t check in to the Monte Carlo until a lot later, though. Visited the most ghastly Wal*mart ever. Ugh. I hate that store even more now, even though they have cute dresses. Finally checked in, got a bit settled (meaning: hooked up the internet and checked email), then headed out to the Strip. Saw the Bellagio fountains, ate good food, went to M&M World, shopped a bit. Ate dinner, then headed back out. Bellagio fountains and Paris Eifel Tower at night

Oh lovely….

Paris

Fountains at Night

Fountains and The Eifel Tower

I also got a new Tiffany ring–one to match my bracelet and necklace. Wheee.

Went through a few more casinos, grabbed some In-N-Out burger then went back to the hotel. End of a long, long day. I got to meet an M&M, though!

Me & An M&M

May 11 – more Vegasing around, breakfast at the Monte Carlo buffet (yummm), dinner at the Bellagio buffet. Shopping, pictures, loads of stuff. Hit up the outlet mall where I got a wide angle lens for the camera and some of the new slip-on Chucks. Pink, of course. Oh yeah, a new raincoat–London Fog for insanely cheap. Woo for shopping! I may or may not have gotten drunk and drunk dialed a certain someone Tuesday night. 😑 Two Long Islands in the course of 15 minutes? Yeah, I was feeling good. I went outside and looked at the lights and loved the warm, warm weather. Vegas and Phoenix at night are the best.

May 12 – headed for Arizona after breakfast at IHOP! I LOVE IHOP, just so you know. It’s definitely a special treat place for me since none are very close to me. Anyway, lots of time on the road. I listened to “Returning” in my iPod and dozed. Stopped by Lake Mead for a bit. Got to the Grand Canyon about 4pm or so. And let me reiterate–the Grand Canyon is beyond words. Here are a couple of my pictures:

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon
See, I was really there!! πŸ™‚

Sunset
Sunset over the Grand Canyon

Here is a picture I took of the full moon that came up just after the sunset:

The Moon
One day I’ll get those moon shots right.

May 13-14 – Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ. Saw lots of mountains, did some shopping, got to eat yummy food, met Melody Shore (newport2newport) which was loads of fun. She is a total sweetheart and invited me to come stay with her at her place in Laguna Beach sometimes. Can you say “um okay??!??!?!!?!?” Heck yea, I’m taking her up on that! πŸ™‚ Ate at a place called Rawhide. It’s a full-on Western themed area, with shops and shows; a very very cool and relaxing place. Aidan danced his little heart out to the live band. I tried rattlesnake. It really wasn’t bad–it tasted like popcorn shrimp. HONESTLY!

May 15 – Time to head back to Vegas. Lots of driving, including getting stuck behind a wide load going 30 MPH in a 65 MPH zone!!! I slept a lot then as well. Took a few pictures of Hoover Dam. Started to get really homesick. Wanted to see my cats and the fish and green!!! Was feeling badly due to dehydration and possibly altitude issues. Checked into the Rio way too late, everyone was cranky as all bananas. We all separated, then had dinner around 8. Everyone was okay then. I really wanted to sample more fo the buffet (Carnival Rio is amazing) but I really wasn’t feeling it. I was just worn out then, ready to be back in Ohio.

May 16 – Took my time waking up. Packed everything up. We ate IHOP for breakfast again (YAY!), then did some last minute shopping before heading for the airport. Chris had gotten severly drunk/hungover, so Craig did all the driving. It was nice. My suitcase was 6 pounds over, so I had to move some stuff around. Dang Disney outlet store. Tempting me like it did! I was glad to be on the plane and heading home. Four hours, but Southwest is a super fun airline. Singing, teasing us, stretching exercises, and the great service! I will definitely be flying them again next month, woo. Anyway, got to Ohio about 12:15am 05/17/06. I was exhausted, hungry, and sooo glad to be HOME. Gobbled up some McDonalds, arranged for another day off of work, and crashed!

So, in a nutshell, that was the vacation. Here are more pictures for your viewing pleasure (new window):

[ CLICKITY ]

Please comment here if you like them! πŸ™‚

And moving on….

Yesterday, I took the day off to recover some more. It ended up being really good. I got to sleep in, then I cleaned the house a bit. My mom, Aidan and I went to Target where I got new luggage (LOL), and then we went to Pet Supplies Plus where I got two new fish and a snail. The fish are dalmation mollys and they’re really cool-looking. I named them Burt and Nan. The snail is called Rogerson Biscoe. Ten points to whomever can tell me where I got that sexy name.

Bizzy came over and we booked our flights for Chicago! So yay!!! Can’t wait to get back there, let me tell you. It’s going to be such fun. Wooo.

Back to work today. It wasn’t too bad, actually. It was nice to see the gang and have lunch with them all again. πŸ™‚ I’d missed those crazy cats.

‘Til next time! πŸ™‚