Just can't wait to be king!

Okay, Okay I guiltily admit that I was the one who wanted to see The Lion King. I think I injected the words lion king into random conversation enough to kill someone (well not quite). I can't help it, I share an affinity with Disney classics and could watch them for hours on end (well used to be able to); my top picks would include Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Mulan, Pochahontas, Lady and The Tramp, 101 Dalmatians.......and that's just the animated classics. Thankfully my date caved and told me on Tuesday morning that if I went and got the tickets we could see the show. I got up and busied myself to see if tickets were still available. Hooray I found some....I called mom to see what I should do. I felt so guilty getting them.....especially since I knew the man of the hour really really really did not want to go. I think it must have been an age thing and he missed the cult-like following Disney had. Oh well I was about to enlightened him. I phoned the concierge to see if they could find me better tickets than the ones I saw online. To my surprise they did! I quizzed them about if I could pick them up and they said yes...well through some miscommunication it came down to I had to pick them up from Will Call at The Mandalay Bay....all the way down the strip. I met the boy for lunch once again. I felt guilty not meeting him since he was going to see The Lion King. Well I was so excited I had texted him earlier and told him we needed to get the tix by 6:30...he said sure, then to my surprise at lunch I find out he's in class until 6:15......looks like I would be tasked with going to the opposite end of The Strip to pick up the tickets....and that I did. Bummed I was missing some prime shopping but excited I was going to see The Lion King I headed to The Mandalay Bay. I entered the hotel and wandered aimlessly heading toward one Will Call area to later find it was closed. I think I circled the casino several times before I finally got a lay of the land and found the right window. An hour and a half later I had the tickets and headed to shop....an hour later I was back at the Mirage to get ready for the show.

The show was great, long, but great. Just as I had expected, I had not seen the movie in years, but I remembered all the characters names and loved every minute of it. Sure it was geared for kids, but hey aren't we all kids at heart? Glad I got to see this one, but I would rank Love and Santana higher for the record I was wrong.

They say you want a r{evol}ution!

Vegas Day 2: The plus one went to his conferences and lectures while I slept after a grossly sleepless night thanks to my inability to set an alarm and calculate time zones (go ahead, laugh mom!). The alarm charmed and chimed enough to wake the dead. I slept...not soundly....but I slept. An hour later I woke up and got ready to shop. Anthropologie here I came! I headed to the shops at Caesar's and wound my way around to find THE one and only Anthropologie. I shopped my way through several stores and met the guy for lunch then quickly continued my rampage through the Vegas stores. I headed back to the hotel at five to get ready for the show....The Beatles: LOVE Cirque du Soleil performance! I was a little iffy on going to a Cirque show.....but Beatles music was a no brainer....I knew I would at least enjoy that. We met a group of his friends at The Revolution before grabbing a quick sushi dinner. The Revolution bar was cute, quirky Austin Powers inspired hangout. Based on some of the photos I have found online the inside takes you into a more of a "Yeah, baby" frame of mind. The show turned out to be more than I expected. I 100% loved it. It was like a So You Think You Can Dance performance choreographed by Wade Robsen. It was genius, light on contortion but heavy on the dance moves, costumes and choreography. It was Broadway meets Cirque. Every song was perfect. The Octopus' Garden was created with a series of dancers draped in white spinning from the air......Here Comes the Sun yielded a giant orb and Lucy.....what else but a sky of diamonds. I could not have asked for a better performance and I would definitely watch it again! I give it a TEN.

Viva las Vegas.

The good, the bad, and the Vegas. The good: a trip to Vegas since I had never been, Santana, Beatles: LOVE, The Lion King, Anthropologie, Juicy Couture, 7 jeans and other miscellaneous shopping. The bad: baggage {literally}, communication, tickets, Diet Coke, and more baggage. The Vegas: bright lights, tourist destination, desert.

I admit I had mixed emotions about leaving the Sunshine State it could have been the fact that my travelling partner failed to phone me for three straight days before our departure on Sunday so that left me a bit disheartened. A finally got the call on Saturday and began the ritualistic packing. A few hours later I was miraculously packed, zipped and ready to Viva Las Vegas, or so I thought. I was picked up a little after 6 am. I was quizzed and quizzed....was I sure my bag was under 50 pounds? I said absolutely.....well it had weighed 53 pounds....but really in the whole scheme of things what was three pounds.....well those three little pounds turned into 13 big ones! We dropped my bag onto the scale and were greeted with a "WOW" by the angry, uncaffeinated airport employee....63 pounds.....63 pounds.....she kept asking if there was anything I could take out or move to another bag. I was like no....no way. Did she not see my bag? There was not one cubic inch of space left...not to mention I wasn't going to move my handbag from my carry-on to the checked bag for fear of losing the Gustto. "Hhhhufff" I exclaimed, "let's go to the truck and unload." I started unzipping and removing a ton...a few pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of shoes (who knew Converse were that heavy) several shirts and several more expletives later I felt like I was well on my way to flying freedom. With the help of my date we zipped up my bags and headed back to the scales. The line had doubled. We inched toward the scale and lo and behold a whopping 39 pounds...no way there was simply no way that my bag had lost 24 pounds of clothing and accouterments....10 maybe but not 24. Oh well, the scale was off but there was no time for a challenge. We had 30 minutes to make the flight...would my bag make it?
Well our flights were for the most part uneventful except for the 3.5 hour one from ATL to Vegas...we sat for a little bit on the tarmac as we were informed that there was missing foam around the door....that is was unnecessary. Great, why not duct tape I thought? They also had to replace {yet another unnecessary} part, this time the engine....so many unnecessary parts....so little time but we landed safe and sound with bags to boot. We hopped on the bus to the hotels and were quickly at The Mirage. There were Vegas Valentine's brides everywhere...scary I muttered. We quickly changed for an early dinner. Forgoing red and opting for my traditional black on the plane ride over, I had a red Vivienne Tam dress calling my name for heart day. Dinner-check now on to Carlos.....SANTANA at the Hard Rock. Great band...great energy and close seats=perfect.
.....on to Day 2.......

Happy Valentine's from the air....a little less than two hours until Vegas....what to do, what do do? Just discovered a photo op was closed--the Neon Museum. It had been featured in Anthro among other publications....ah well there will still be a ton to do. In the meantime here is a snow pic. More to come....

Be strong.

No matter how difficult..always get back up and try again....as say these earrings. Love them.

Fluff Mama.....

These crack me up!

So true.

Yes....there most definitely is.

Happy hearts.....

Mom, here's an idea for one of the many showers you have to throw.

{Sun}dance like no one is watching.

Some heartfelt picks from Mr. Redford's shop. There were some other cute picks, but the photos would not download. Darn. Oh well check these out.

Get a leg up....

I need to start packing, but am procrastinating.......hmmmm what to pack. Black definitely...but I really wish I had a pair of these jeans...If it were going to be a little wamer I might be able to pull this off...hmmm maybe that's a veto. Hey, it worked for Free People.