Ever find yourself smiling at the smallest of things? I have been doing a lot of that lately. I feel like I can see the beauty in almost everything I see these days. For the first time in a long time I can say that I'm really happy with my life and the way it's been going. I have no worries, I'm not stressing over the little things... life is good!
I flew to Vegas last night to meet up with my family. I sat by the window on both my flights down here and caught myself on multiple occasions smiling ear to ear. Whether it was listening to music and hearing a certain song or looking outside and taking in every second of the view. Even the cloud cover has never looked so beautiful to me. As I was approaching the city of lights I was taken back by the view of the mountains just before you get to Vegas. The lights from the plane lit up just enough of the mountains so that I could see the curvature of them all. It was amazing. Then of course you see Las Vegas. I now know why they call it the city of lights! Vegas looks like an island from above. It's this big section of lights with nothing but darkness surrounding it. I could hardly contain myself on the plane when I saw the city up ahead. I was glued to the window at this point. The strip stands out so much compared to the rest of the city and surrounding areas. I was smiling ear to ear and laughing to myself because I was so excited to be here. I ended up meeting a really nice couple from New Zealand on the plane and shared the excitement with them. It was their first time in Vegas as well!
I got off the plane and was a bit surprised to see video poker machines all over the airport. You can gamble your life away while you wait for your luggage at the baggage claim. Seriously?! If you feel the need to gamble at the airport, you may have a problem! Just saying...
My family came to pick me up... perfect timing too! I walked out to the passenger pickup area and poof! There they were! I jumped in the car and anxiously we were off. Traffic was pretty nuts. I was advised to only cross with a 'walk signal' and even then to be uberly aware because the Taxi Cab drivers are effing crazy! Everyone loves their horns here too. I think I've heard more honking in the first 30 minutes of being here than I've heard in the past ten years! Even the ambulance drivers are kind of crazy. I don't know why but apparently they like to drive in the oncoming traffic lane so people don't have a choice but to get out of the way cause pretty sure they're not stopping. Thank God for the walkways that go up over a lot of the streets so you can actually survive to see tomorrow!
We are staying at the Mariott Grand Chateau. Hannah and I have our own room here which is bigger than my apartment (not saying much but still!) We have a little one bedroom suite with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and a huge bathroom! How did they know to make the bathroom so big? I'm pretty sure that like 5 people could comfortably get ready in there. Mom and Dad's room is at the opposite side of the same floor. The hotel makes a V shape so we can actually see their room from ours.
I flew to Vegas last night to meet up with my family. I sat by the window on both my flights down here and caught myself on multiple occasions smiling ear to ear. Whether it was listening to music and hearing a certain song or looking outside and taking in every second of the view. Even the cloud cover has never looked so beautiful to me. As I was approaching the city of lights I was taken back by the view of the mountains just before you get to Vegas. The lights from the plane lit up just enough of the mountains so that I could see the curvature of them all. It was amazing. Then of course you see Las Vegas. I now know why they call it the city of lights! Vegas looks like an island from above. It's this big section of lights with nothing but darkness surrounding it. I could hardly contain myself on the plane when I saw the city up ahead. I was glued to the window at this point. The strip stands out so much compared to the rest of the city and surrounding areas. I was smiling ear to ear and laughing to myself because I was so excited to be here. I ended up meeting a really nice couple from New Zealand on the plane and shared the excitement with them. It was their first time in Vegas as well!
I got off the plane and was a bit surprised to see video poker machines all over the airport. You can gamble your life away while you wait for your luggage at the baggage claim. Seriously?! If you feel the need to gamble at the airport, you may have a problem! Just saying...
My family came to pick me up... perfect timing too! I walked out to the passenger pickup area and poof! There they were! I jumped in the car and anxiously we were off. Traffic was pretty nuts. I was advised to only cross with a 'walk signal' and even then to be uberly aware because the Taxi Cab drivers are effing crazy! Everyone loves their horns here too. I think I've heard more honking in the first 30 minutes of being here than I've heard in the past ten years! Even the ambulance drivers are kind of crazy. I don't know why but apparently they like to drive in the oncoming traffic lane so people don't have a choice but to get out of the way cause pretty sure they're not stopping. Thank God for the walkways that go up over a lot of the streets so you can actually survive to see tomorrow!
We are staying at the Mariott Grand Chateau. Hannah and I have our own room here which is bigger than my apartment (not saying much but still!) We have a little one bedroom suite with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and a huge bathroom! How did they know to make the bathroom so big? I'm pretty sure that like 5 people could comfortably get ready in there. Mom and Dad's room is at the opposite side of the same floor. The hotel makes a V shape so we can actually see their room from ours.
(it's the one on the left... we're on the 16th floor)We got ready, made a drink and off we went! Headed out around 10:45 or so. At this point I had realized that I hadn't even ate much for dinner... but who needs food right?! I decided at this point I'd just drink my dinner... more than enough calories in my drinks to last me for a while! We hit the strip, drinks in hand. I think it's so crazy cool that you can walk around outside with a drink. Shoot, you can even take your drinks inside the casino's with you!
First stop of the night was the Monte Carlo. Nobody had been there yet, so we decided to check it out. We were strolling through the casino when this guy sitting at the blackjack table hollered over at us. Hannah initially was like, no... sorry. Let me tell you, it's a good thing Mom said, go over there & we did! We walked up and he laid out his bet. He said, if I win this hand I'll give you $50! He won and seriously gave us $50!!! We stuck around for a while and kissed a few of his chips for good luck. I know what you're thinking... eww gross!!! We were too but we were making some money! Someone should invent instant lip sanitizing chapstick for circumstances like these! But we ended up making about $110 in a matter of 20-30 minutes. I will get paid to be someone's lucky charm anytime. That was the easiest money I've ever made. So at this point Hannah and I are ahead $55 each without even laying a penny down... life is good! We hung out with this guy for a while longer. He was from Texas, really funny, married with three beautiful girls and a beautiful wife, here for just one night with business meetings in the morning. He made our night and even bought the whole family drinks. Thanks David!!!
After an hour or so at the Monte Carlo we headed to New York, New York. I love all the themes in Vegas. We walk in and it seriously looks like downtown New York... or at least what I imagine it to look like. Needless to say I loved it & this was the home to Coyote Ugly! This is one place I wanted to go and here it was! Only $5 to get in too! Mom and Dad (very hesitantly with scared looks on their faces) decided to leave us girls to go dance and have a good time. We'd be fine on our own. There were so many people out and about, I wasn't worried about someone snatching us or doing anything. We were very cautious... bought our drinks and held them with our hand over the opening to the cup/bottle. No drugging us Harris girls! Who knows how much people actually drug people here but Dad drilled it into our heads before we left so we were being extra cautious. Afterall, why drug someone when you can just pick up a card with a naked girl, her name and number for a good time!?! After all, this is Sin City, right? Eww. Coyote Ugly was fun... it was a lot like I had imagined. Girls dancing on the bar... both Coyote Ugly girls and girls just having a good time. There were bra's hanging from the ceiling, none of which were cute but whatever! The Coyote Ugly girls pour some sort of 'love potion' right into your mouth as you're dancing on the bar (yes... we got up there!) and at one point even spray water out over the crowd of people. We met a handful of interesting people... a couple girls we exchanged numbers with, some really nice respectful guys and some dude from 'England' (pretty sure that was a pickup tactic after he asked "Can I have this dance? I'm from England" in his little English accent). Sorry dude... but I don't have a thing for English guys with accents apparently so it's not getting you anywhere with me.
We got back to our room around 3:45am! I had no idea it was so late... now I understand why they call it the city that never sleeps. Pretty sure I didn't see any clocks either. It must be another scheme they do in casino's (along with designing them so you can't find your way out) to make you stay longer since they don't close.
Night one in Vegas was a huge success in my book & I think it's only going to get better! We have Tryst tonight (rolling VIP status) & GARTH BROOKS tomorrow!!!!
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