What Happens in Vegas....Goes On the Blog

Oh, Las Vegas.  How I missed you so.  

Mitch and I had a great three-day getaway/anniversary celebration/catch up on sleep/sanity check.  And, as the good little blogger that I am, I attempted to take pictures of everything, when I remembered.  

First stop when we got into town: In-N-Out Burger!  We went through the drive-through in the cab and took it back to the hotel room.  It was freaking delicious (even though it was cold).

We spent two days lounging by the pool with enough alcohol to keep us hydrated.

Notice the view?  We stayed at the MGM Grand, the biggest hotel in the world.  And it was.  The hallway to our room from the hotel went on for honestly, a good quarter-mile.  It was two hundred seventy-five steps from the elevator to our room.  I counted.

We spent one night at the Palms Hotel, having dinner at Gardunos, a great Mexican restaurant.

Mitch enjoyed some coffee to perk up for the evening -

- but I went for something a bit stronger.  Two, in fact.  Damn, I love those Patron margaritas.

The Palms were hosting the NHL Awards that week, and so all of the trophies were on display.  Mitch, being the native Minnesotan that he is, got very excited.

We went to both clubs at the Palms - The Playboy Club and the ghostbar - where we had drinks and someone, who shall remain nameless, lost a significant amount of money in a very short amount of time.  Good thing he's cute.

While walking through Mandalay Bay on our last night, I FINALLY found "my" machine - Leprechaun's Gold.  I always play this machine in Vegas, but apparently it's a little old, because we only saw it in two casinos.  

This year?  The Leprechaun wasn't so kind.  I never even got a Lucky's Bonus or anything.  My new game?  Kitty Glitter.  (Sorry no picture for this one, but while I was playing Mitch declared, "How many damn cats do you have to see on the screen to win something?"  It was hilarious, especially after a few drinks.)

We also hit another of our favorite bars, Red Square, which is a classic Russian vodka bar.  The mojitos and martinis were delicious.

We made a quick stop at the Luxor on our way back to the hotel Tuesday night. 

Who knew this would be the sight of Mitch's greatest triumph of the week?  The Playboy Club may have taken his money, but he took it back from the Luxor.  

That's two hundred dollars, baby!  The cocktail waitress was quick to bring Jameson and Ginger Ales - my new favorite drink - to his sideline cheerleader while Mitch was gambling.

We really had a great time.  It felt so good to relax, sleep in, and just see where the day took us. 

And on Thursday morning at 6:00am, it was back to reality as Mitch went to work and Gizmo was up for the day.  So much for easing our way back into things.

Spring Break! Post #2 - The WORST of Spring Break

You know what isn't fun?  Being sick.  Sleeping on the bathroom floor.  Feeling as though you would rather have a baby again instead of feeling the way you do.  Having to stay inside when the weather could not have been more perfect for a week off because you are throwing up.   

You know what else isn't fun?  Watching poor Gizmo throw up.  A lot.  And trying to take care of someone who can't tell you what's wrong.  Luckily, she is a champ and has the sweetest temperament even when she isn't feeling well.  

Another not fun thing?  Listening to Mitch getting sick as I type.  Knowing that he is going to be sick tomorrow, and most likely will be laid up for the next 48 hours.

Yep, we've all got the flu.  Or at least some type of stomach bug.  Mine lasted for about 48 hours, Gizmo is on the mend, and Mitch is just starting his round.  

This is how we have spent Tuesday night through today.  No fun outings, no walks, no items crossed off my to-do list.  Mitch was a champ when I was sick taking care of Gizmo and me, and now I'll return the favor.  

Of course, we also have Katie at our disposal, who arrived this afternoon to take care of Gizmo for the week.  Looks like I'll add "nurse" to her list of duties this week.  

Here's to hoping summer arrives soon!

The Mrs. Has Landed!

The Mrs. arrived safe and sound yesterday at Fifty Below Zero, and we have done a lot of giggling, talking, and playing with Gizmo.  A full report of her visit will be up soon.  

Our Florida Weekend in Pictures

The lunch of champions from the Paradise Shrimp Company - shrimp, stone crab claws, and personal containers of lobster and salmon dip.  

Can't get enough of those crab claws!  Thanks to Winnie for the Florida State tee.

Feeling weightless and stylish in the pool.

Winnie and Aunt Rhoda on the beach - maybe the most beautiful beach day we've ever had.

The whitest people on the beach.  Hawt.

Aunt Rhoda and her brother Kidda at dinner.

Even after being sunburned, I can't even get close to Winnie's permanent tan.

The three of us at Guy Harvey's on the beach.  

We had a great weekend - thanks to Winnie and Aunt Rhoda - we miss you already!

Can I Get Some Customer Service, Please?!?

Mitch and I received free ticket vouchers after our February debacle with a terrible airline that will remain nameless. After kicking around a few ideas on how/when to use them (Vegas was a top-runner for a long time, until we realized that I would never make it out there when I was pregnant), we decided to use them to go visit Winnie and Sarah in Florida. We made the final decision this week, and I sat down last night to book the flights.

First, I got online to see what flights were available. I found a few that would work in our time frame, checked to make sure there were available seats, then found the vouchers to book the flights. Of course, I couldn't book online - I needed to call to make the reservation. Of course, even if I booked through the phone, I'd have to either mail in my vouchers or go to the airport to redeem them. Stupid.

So, I decide to call Nameless Airline last night to book the flights. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I got to speak with a customer service representative (in India). I gave her the flight numbers and times I wanted, and she then told me that on the flight coming home, Mitch and I would have to take different flights, as there were not enough seats in our specific booking class for both of us. Now, there were plenty of seats on the flight - I checked to make sure. Just not enough in our "booking class". I explained to the lady what had happened that we received the vouchers, and asked if she could do anything else for me. She said no. I hung up and cried. (I was very weepy last night - I blame it on ER.)

Today after work I decided to try to reason with a human being in the United States face-to-face, and so went to the airport. Luckily, the airport is very close to us, so it wasn't out of the way to go there. I waited in line and spoke with a lady at the counter, told her the situation, and she again told me that she could not help me - there were now no seats on any of the flights home that I wanted. (Lie.) She was checking in people for flights, and recommended that I speak to another customer representative. At this point, I was afraid this trip would also not happen.

I waited in another line, got up to the counter, and again explained the situation, and what could they do for me so that I could use these tickets on the days that I wanted to fly. And FINALLY! this guy could help me. He cheekily booked us on a flight coming home on a different day (where there were seats available in our booking class), then changed our return flight to the day I wanted, where I knew there were seats available.

Finally. A customer service guy who knew where I was coming from, and knew I was extremely frustrated with the entire process. I am completely grateful to this kind man who booked our flights for me.

Florida, here we come!

Our Most Unexpected Trip

As I'm sure you're all aware (since we saw many readers of the blog!), Mitch and I spent the weekend in Chicago instead of our intended destination of Marco Island, FL.  Originally, my parents had given us tickets to spend the weekend with them to celebrate my upcoming birthday and have the entire family together, as Winnie and Sarah live down there, and my parents, Katie and Boston were vacationing.  The plans had been made and were quickly destroyed when those damn United people decided to overbook the plane and bumped us.  Surprisingly, Mitch handled the entire situation incredibly well (although my pregnancy hormones were RAGING something terrible), and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be in FL this weekend.  The airline put us up Friday night, and we went to the hotel and regrouped for the weekend, calling friends and hoping no one had plans for the long weekend.  

Because our luggage made it to Ft. Myers (of course), the only things that Mitch and I had were our the clothes on our backs and our carry-ons, which included a purse, two bags filled with magazines and books, and our beach bag.  I used my beach cover-up as pajamas, while Mitch decided that he would enjoy his swim trunks even though we weren't in Florida.

Hot.  

The next morning, we got up early, rented a car, and drove to Elk Grove to start making the rounds to see our friends.  We started with Fred and Wilma, went to breakfast, and spent the morning being entertained by Pebbles.

It was so great to see them!  We then headed south to Oswego to make a stop at Target for underwear and socks and to visit TubaLady and Rachel and spend Valentine's Day with them.  

They were so incredibly generous to let us use their laundry and shower (our luggage still hadn't showed up yet), and we had a blast lounging with them, laughing and talking.  We did a very romantic Valentine's Day dinner at Giordano's pizza, which was INCREDIBLE (it's all about the food right now).  After a competitive game of Phase 10 (Mitch won), we retired to our hotel in Oswego for the night.  (And our luggage was still nowhere to be found).

Sunday was a big day- OUR LUGGAGE ARRIVED!  It was so nice to have our stuff - clean clothes (not that we could wear any of the warm-weather stuff we had packed), my makeup and Mitch's razor.  We got ready and headed into the City to visit more of our friends.

Pooh-Bear and Piglet live in the Lakeview neighborhood, and we haven't seen them in a long time, so it was great to catch up with them.  Pooh-Bear and Mitch used to work together at Raddon years ago, and have kept in touch.  We had lunch at a delicious pub (I got fish and chips - yummy!), and watched the Illini beat Indiana.  

After spending a few hours in Chicago, we were too tired to really get out and do any shopping (I know, we're wimps), so we just went to Cin & Tom's to relax and get ready for the next meal and social time.  The four of us met Zan and The Mrs. at La Mex, my all-time favorite Mexican restaurant.  I had been craving flautas for at least a month, and they tasted SO good, once they finally made it to the table.  (Of course the waiter messed up my order and got everyone else's correct - oh well.)  It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and listen to them tell kid stories - soon we'll be able to contribute.  

This morning we went back to O'Hare to come home (and of course our flight was delayed about an hour - par for the course for the weekend), and we then spent the rest of the afternoon napping.  Unfortunately, Mitch spent the weekend with a cold, which got progressively worse as the weekend wore on.  He's feeling pretty bad today.  I'm hoping to not catch it.  

Although it certainly wasn't the relaxing weekend we were anticipating with my family (and we were SO SAD not to have seen everyone), we made the best of it and enjoyed spending so much time with our friends.  The silver lining?  United gave us two free round-trip tickets for anywhere in the continental US.  Can you say "spring break"?  Hello, warm weather in April!

Slight Change of Plans

Instead of flying to sunny and warm Marco Island for the weekend, we are staying in cold and windy Chicago due to getting bumped off an oversold flight.

Hopefully our luggage shows up later today so we can...get out the shorts and flip flops? Looks like we'll need to do some shopping!

Quotable quotes from last night:

Big Poke: "Those free tickets you got are mine."

The Mrs: "Grama said you are stranded in Chicago!"

Mitch: "I want two free tickets plus money."

Gate agent: "We don't negotiate, but here's two free tickets, a hotel voucher, and meal vouchers. Thanks for not being an ass about this." (Mitch, quite surprisingly, was not an ass)

Tina: "I've never needed a drink so bad in my life!"

Vegas = Warm

This is the week that we would normally be flying to Las Vegas for a long weekend, but we decided to stay home this year and save money. I only bring this up because the wind chill is currently -33 degrees here and the weekend forecast for Las Vegas is sunny and 62. That means it would feel 95 degrees warmer there!

We Reminisce about Last New Year's

As Mitch and I had a very low-key New Year's, we thought about the last New Year's that we had spent in California for the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl.  The trip was definitely one of our favorite vacations ever, and we really missed being there this year as we watched the parade on TV.  (Television doesn't do the floats justice.)  So, we looked through our pictures and decided to share a few of our favorites from the trip, in no particular order.  

The game, as the Marching Illini performed the 3-in-1.

Us, very excited at the beginning of the game.  Clearly, we didn't look this happy afterwards.

One of the floats.  Even the picture doesn't show how beautiful and detailed the floats are.  If I could, I would go to the parade every year!

The Illnois Float!

Mitch and I, decked out in Illini gear, at 6:30am at the Rose parade.

In the USC bookstore with Cara, a USC alum.  We tried not to hold that against her!  (Although she was a very good sport after the game.)

On the beautiful USC campus, posing with Tommy the Trojan.

At the Petry's house (Mitch's godparents live in the LA area), where Mitch and his mom showed their displeasure for where their loyalties would lie throughout the weekend.

Another shot of us  decked out and ready for some football!