And we're back....

Greetings and salutations my totally fab friends! I'm sorry - I've been completely delinquent with my posts

(1 post every 2 weeks = no). So to make it up to you, I've written an extra long one and from this day on, plan to write more frequently...So with that, on to my post-Vegas post!

Wow. Vegas came and went just like that! And as always Vegas delivers! We had an awesome mix of crazy clubbing, extreme relaxation, delicious food, pool side fun, intense heat, cool drinks, shopping (of course) and even a touch of Paris and Nicky Hilton! Yes!!!!

So let me tell you the top 10 highlights from my trip:

1) Aria - First our hotel was GORGEOUS. OMG. It was modern, luxurious and smelled of vanilla...Now all of you know that I have an intense fear of hotel authority. And since my other cousin and his gf (who's room we were going to share) weren't going to be there until the next day, this meant that 6 of us were going to be in a room for the night. Yikes!! Luckily it's Vegas and there are TONS of people walking around. The only stressful moment was walking past the "elevator bouncer". There was always someone (hotel authority) standing at the entrance to the guest elevators asking to see your room keys. Luckily I was one of the "key holders", which made me less stressed. The room itself was SO beautiful!! And even though it wasn't a view of the strip, it was still a great view. We will definitely will be staying here the next time we come...

2) Croque Monsieur - I don't know if you guys know the reason I actually started this blog? It was because I was in search of a croque monsieur and I found a blog of a guy who decided to make his own at home. After reading it, I forgot about my search for the croque monsieur and ended up starting my own blog! However, I am ALWAYS on the search for a croque monsieur. You may be wondering what exactly that is?? Well it's basically a glorified (and rightly so) ham and cheese sandwich that is broiled with mornay sauce (a creamy cheese sauce) so it's all nice and bubbly on top. It's totally decadent and SO good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. And this hotel had it at their patisserie. Yes. A patisserie. SOLD. I had it for breakfast every other morning.

3) Food - While I'm on the subject of food, let's talk about the 2 buffets we visited. Rio (as always) and Aria (wowza!). We went to Rio after shopping all morning at the Premium Outlets. It wasn't crazy busy which we were happy about but then realized that we were there too soon! The crab legs were not out yet (since it wasn't "dinner" until 3:30) and the crab legs are THE major reason we go. We looked at the time - we basically had an hour and a half until they were gonna come out. So we tried to eat S-L-O-W. Unfortunately, being hungry and eating slow doesn't really work. We finished eating with about 40 minutes to go until the crabs came out. Our server even finished her shift and another one started. I was starting to get worried about the buffet authorities, I was sure they were going to kick us out!!! And then...drink specials!!! Everyone went up for a drink which gave everyone a second wind and gave us the extra time we needed to wait out the crab legs...Ah crab legs. They were sweet and succulent and completely worth the wait : )

The Aria buffet was...heaven. There were so many different choices (obvi, it's a buffet) but the sushi was huge and fresh, their crab legs were already split, and they had creme brules. And it wasn't ridiculously priced. It's my new fave buffet.

4) Girls Nite Out - If you have not experienced a girls night out in Vegas, you are completely missing out!! This time we were on a guest list at Lavo - which is at the Palazzo. We hadn't eaten yet, so we decided to have a snack at the Lavo restaurant first. Our waitress was a complete bitch. Seriously. She looked like a cheap version of Tila Tequila. (I personally think she was intimidated by 4 hot asian chicks). But we did not let that ruin our night. Once we finished our food, we went upstairs to the club. It was full of...girls. LOL. Girls night out!! We had free drinks from 10:00 - 11:00 which we took full advantage of. The music was bumpin and soon, it wasn't an all girls bar! (wink) We were having so much fun so we decided to leave...and go to another club.

We made our way to XS at Wynn, it had a long line but it moved quickly and soon we were inside another hot club! It was bigger than the last and as we pushed our way onto the dance floor, we knew it was even better than the last one! We kept pushing through and guess what? We ended up outside again (the club was so huge, it sprawled to the outside pool area and bar where people were still dancing and living it up!). We had a shot and pushed our way back inside to the middle of the dance floor. We stayed there until our feet hurt and we could barely walk. Finally, we  went back to our hotel, tired but pumped from our GNO!! Personally I was a wee bit wasted and seriously could not walk from the bed to the bathroom. I actually had to crawl. My cousin's gf has a video of this if you don't believe me. LOL. I will see if I can post it. Even if it's a little bit humiliating. Oh here it is:

5) Celeb Sightings - While in line for XS,we had the ultimate (well I guess in Vegas, it was the ultimate) celebrity sighting: Paris and Nicky Hilton!! They look exactly like they do in the magazines. Paris was on her cell and the both of them walked quickly by with a small entourage. Too quick for a picture unfortunately, but still enough to feel excited that we saw them! I read later that they were meeting Leonardo DiCaprio at Surrender (another club at Wynn, or was it Encore? I don't know.) Anyways, THAT would have been cool to see. It was my first celebrity sighting in Vegas. In our own hotel bar, we saw a basketball player, Damon Jones (who I didn't know, obvi, but my husband did. So he got a pic with him. I thought he said Damon Wayans and I was like "That ain't him!"). My hubby also got to meet Alton Brown of Food Network fame and got a pic with him as well. Lucky!

6) Pool - The day after our Girls night out, I needed a day to recover and sitting by our pool was just the ticket! In fact there were 3 pools to choose from! We got a great spot (even under some shade!) to chill and relax (chillax) and it was poifect! We had some slushy drinks and  Ahh...that was the life.

7) Spa Day - Did I just say that that was the life? Well it was the life until my spa day. Now THAT was the life. $30.00 for a day of bliss? Yes please. I was so relaxed, I fell asleep whereever I lay down! There was the  Gabanyoku hot stone bed (nice), the Shio Salt room (nicer) and the outside therapeutic infinity spa pool (nicest!). (Not to mention the other jacuzzi tubs and cold plunge pool, the eucalyptus steam room and the red cedar sauna). They had every amenity and toiletry you could think of, unlimited refreshments, fresh fruit and snacks...yeah. Good times. I walked around there in my plush robe and comfy slippers with a loopy, dreamlike look on my face and I never wanted to leave...

8) The Beatles "LOVE" Cirque du Soleil - This was SO amazing! I highly recommend it.

9) Sex and the City Slots - I saw these slots on our first night and put in like $20.00, but alas, I did not win. We met again at our hotel, but it was always busy, and when I finally was able to scavenge a seat, I lost right away. I suck at gambling. Then, on our last day, my husband said, "Let's go play Sex & the City". So we put in $20.00 and...we won! I thought that was the end, but the gambling itch still needed to be scratched and we had like another 2 hours to kill, so...we put in another $20.00 and ended up winning again! We cashed out at $200.00. On penny slots!!! I love Vegas.

10) The heat - My nemesis. I know I've been complaining about this from day one. +40 I thought was going to kill me. We stepped out of the airport and immediately felt the heat. We thought, "hmm...this ain't that bad". But then we felt it during the day. It was before 9:00am and it was already +30. Really? OMG. It felt like a blast from a heater that was constant. Like when you open the grill and all the heat comes out? Yeah, it was like that, but it never dissipated. It was ridiculously hot. I could feel my skin literally baking in the sun. We did however, negotiate a truce whenever I lay by the pool. I got some good color and actually began to enjoy it. I mean, everytime I went outside, I was still always overwhelmed with how hot it was and always exclaimed "I can't believe how FRICKEN hot it is!" but the heat and I, well we actually became friends. A dry heat - that's what they call it. And after feeling our humid heat here, I can finally appreciate the difference. Hot is hot, but dry heat is definitely better than humid, sticky heat. And now that we are home, I kinda miss my friend - dry heat. So until next time...

So that's it. All my outfit planning (I wore most of them) and shoe worries are now all over. I survived the heat. I'm now in withdrawals. We've been watching "The Hangover" non-stop since we got home.

"I guess that's why they call it 'Sin City'." LOL.