VEGAS, BABY

This past weekend I went to Las Vegas for the first time to celebrate my roommate's 21st and our graduation and let's just say Vegas lives up to its reputation! I survived, but I've also determined that I'm just not cut out for Vegas. I'm not a huge partier and I don't really drink, and I much prefer a good night's sleep than staying out all night club-hopping. I managed to limit my drinking as much as is possible in Vegas (still far more than usual) but my diet didn't fare so well. Thanks to the near constant consumption of alcohol and the intense triple digit heat I was dehydrated most of the weekend and got nowhere near 8 hours of sleep.

It wasn't all bad though. I got to spend a final celebratory weekend with a couple of my closest friends plus some older alumni sorority sisters who I hadn't seen in a really long time. I even ran into a good friend from high school! Of course there was some drama and I spent far too much money, but after all it is Vegas, right? Thursday morning I flew from Sac to Long Beach and hung out at a friends house til my friends picked me up that evening. It was a long drive through the dark desert and we didn't arrive til 1am so I called it a night. We were staying at the Luxor right on the strip so Friday we headed out to explore, with highlights including enormous frozen drinks, drunkenly taping my sandals together, randomly running into an old friend, and roaming through random hotels. That night we went out to our first (and only) club of the night, Tao, got in free and had an open bar, and had a blast. Afterward we waited in the hotel, the Venetian, for our friends and found ourselves in the weirdest room ever. The ceiling was painted with a blue sky and fake "sunshine" shone everywhere. Even though it was after midnight spending a half hour in that place totally threw me off and made it feel much earlier!

Our pyramid hotel!

Strip

Frozen drinks!

Nothing compares to the real thing...

My ghetto attempt at shoe repair (ignore my ugly toes, kudos of running)

Loved : )

Inside the gorgeous Bellagio.

Flashing, lights!

First night out.

Creepy fake daylight in the Venetian.

Again, can't compare to the real thing. Plus it's inside?!

Saturday morning we hit up the champagne brunch at the Encore. After more mimosas than I could remember and a heaping second plate of delicious food and I left with a very happy stomach but a not so happy wallet (Vegas buffets are pricey!). After that we hit up an insane pool party at the same hotel where we spent the rest of the afternoon floating around, soaking up the sun, and drinking more of course. That night we went out for the final time at a club called Jet. Again we got in free and got free drinks (I feel so bad for guys - they have to pay for everything!). Everyone (besides me, surprisingly) was pretty tired and hungover from the pool, however, so we made our way back to our hotel around 1am.

Gorgeous brunch venue.

Pool party!

VEGAS

 Second and final night out.

Courtesy of the club photographer.

Before heading back to Long Beach Sunday afternoon we stopped to play a few slots. Now I don't gamble and had never done so before, but I figured I'd put in a dollar just for fun. Well call it beginners luck or whatever but I won $20! Not a bad way to end my Vegas experience, huh? On the way back we got caught in horrendous traffic and it took twice as long to get back than normally. It was a pretty crazy weekend and I'm definitely glad to be home. The rest of the week will be spent detoxing and recovering from my first trip to Las Vegas : )