Birthday Weekend

Hopefully blogger is back up and working... it was so frustrating this past week with the outages, posts not posting, posts not working...

THURSDAY
- Mike was in Dallas for work and his flight was diverted to San Francisco- he took what flight he could get out of Dallas due to weather. We were worried he might have to fly to LAX and I'd have to get into his house to get our tickets for Ellen
- He made it into the nearby airport by 8:30am and I met him at 11
- We were going to see the Ellen Show in LA
- He let me play with his iPad as we drove and played a new game he found on his iPad that was totally addicting called AirTycoon.
- I played AirTycoon most of the way to LA and kept losing $$$$... Mike laughed at my inability to make money
- Stop for a few things at CVS
- Go to Taco Bell for lunch... chicken taco was ok
- Went to Taco Bell down the street from NBC Burbank with tons of child star photos inside... none we knew... but this was the Taco Bell for short people... signs everywhere to watch your head
- After we go to Ellen
- We see some midwesterners there and other eccentric people... a guy with a studded leather purse... a mom and daughter with $ from Cincinnati... a gay nightclub singer
- Lots of waiting to be seated for Ellen show... very different than Leno
- The show starts- the guests were Collin Farrell, Christina Perri, and Lil John from Apprentice

- We got the Justin Bieber movie (OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and Christina Perri's CD... her CD is pretty good
- Mike is starved as am I - he suggests food trucks - we find the Grilled Cheese Truck nearby
- I have the amazing mac and cheese with pork rib grilled cheese
- They were parked outside of a winery and the winery had a $5 wine tasting promotion in conjunction with the truck visit
- We go in and sample the wines, talk about Ellen experience and my Leno experience
- Ellen was much more structured and she interacted much less with the audience, which was disappointing. She just came out at the end to say a really short thanks. Leno was personable on the other hand and came out before the show to take pictures, meet audience members.
- Traffic was bad since it was 5:30 on a Thursday, so we drive down to the 210 and make our way home about 8:30
- Talk to my professor about my final corrections for my masters paper


FRIDAY
- I didn't get called to sub :(
- Mike had a call at 5:30am and worked until 11 or so
- Wish Mike a Happy Birthday when we wake up
- He emerges from work about 11 and says we should go to Vegas as he found an awesome cheap hotel using his points
- I surprise him with 2nd row concert tickets to see Adele next month... SCORE!!! He loved that!

- Call my mom and tell her, pack, and then we are off to get a rental
- Rental was between a Maxima and Santa Fe. I said Santa Fe and he said Maxima. The Maxima won. No complaints- it was comfy.
- Cruise to Vegas playing AirTycoon and I start to make money
- Talk about lots of stuff to do in Vegas, my sad paychecks, work
- Get to Vegas about 5
- We stopped at the outlets at stateline for Williams and Sonoma and Old Navy
- At the hotel we check in and look at how "shady" it looks
- I search on yelp to find an awesome special at Fiamma inside MGM where appetizers are under $10
- Sit at a table at the bar chatting with 2 older ladies and a daughter from Seattle - we talked about Seattle, good eats, and they advised us what to eat
- We had the bruschetta, gnocchi, and mussels --- gnocchi was DELICIOUS
- Dinner was my treat for his birthday
- We go for a walk down the strip and try to take the Deuce bus... it should be pronounced doosh... they were serious dooshes... we put $7 in the machine that we didn't get back because the sign was lying about the fares and the bitch handling the fares kicked us off hte bus and the driver couldn't speak English. Mike was so pissed off calling the driver and fare taker fuckers... never thought I'd see that side of him
- We walk down the strip while he calms down and I do too to an extent
- Go to Downtown Vegas... old Vegas...
- Drive down and park... this is the Vegas you see in the movies!!!

- Walk through the casinos and see the old signs and what Vegas was... it was a cool trip
- Go into the Californian Casino... tons of Hawaiians there
- They actually let you play quarters and pennies and you the machine spits out coins... the old slots
- Mike teaches me to play poker at one of the video poker machines... sort of have the hang of it
- I was insistent I had to play a penny machine and was not going to be happy until I did. I lose Mike for a few minutes and find my machine. I put $5 in and was down to $1.40. Suddenly I get into the bonus round on some machine (something Fiesta?) and I have 14 free plays. I end up winning $51.05. Mike was shocked.
- I treated him to cheesecake at Smiths grocery after. We looked for Albertsons, but only found Cardenas and every Albertsons on his GPS ended up being Cardenas and he didn't like the barrio look or impuestos store on every corner.
- Get some cheesecake and go back to hotel
- We end up making out, which we hadn't really done and he rode me, which he had never done... saw a different wild side of him that I liked

SATURDAY
- Go to the Dunkin Donuts we saw on the drive in - we don't have those in Cali by the way
- I have a cinnamon and raisin bagel, iced tea, then we get the mini donuts for the road
- Go to Fry's Electronics and look at iPad cases and accessories
- We go to the Hoover Dam

- We take the tour where we go above and in the dam wall. We take lots of dam pictures.
- It was cool to see the inside and it is hard to imagine anyone building anything there (even a dam) with all the rock
- I liked looking out of the dam and the picture of both of us from the inside
- We walk the Pat Tillman Bridge above the dam - it was kind of scary to look up at it and see how high it was when we were at the dam
- After we go to the Red Rock Casino since they had a good happy hour
- We found a good sushi place special and the gal serving didn't charge us for the drinks and was really friendly. The LCD roll we had was good... not sure what was in it... don't recall, just remember it being good
- Drive to Freed's Bakery as seen on Rachael Ray's $40 a Day for dessert. I had been searching for the best desserts in Vegas. This ranks up there. We got a couple cookie sampler boxes, red velvet cake, and strawberry shortcake. The red velvet cake was excellent - I was upset they used buttercream and not cream cheese icing, but the flavor of the cake was amazing.
- Mike doesn't let me get the green Vans shoes at Nordstrom Rack and tells me how they'd only look good in my mind. I want. They are only $24. I plan to check our Nordstrom Rack tomorrow.
- I also found a pair of Cole Haan casuals in black and brown that I just loved, but couldn't dream of paying $79 for - especially when I know I need to save my money since I don't have summer paychecks and I have a boyfriend. If I had them, though, I could guarantee that they would be awesome, I'd love them, wear them, they'd make my world go around, and ensure that the sky stays blue. They're that important.
- Mike gets some undies at Marshalls
- Mediterranian hookah bar... Mike had never done hookah and was surprised I had... had some so-so hummus and good calamari
- Both restaurants we found MIke said would be must stops for him when he go to Vegas from now on
- Go back to hotel to play AirTycoon on my phone and his iPad
- Cuddle on the bed as we eat our treats from Freeds
- Bed about 9:30

SUNDAY
- Up around 7:30
- Search for McDonalds
- Talk about living in Vegas/ridiculous investments in Vegas/Phoenix/his friends who have places in Vegas and Phoenix and are in over their head
- Drive back and play more AirTycoon
- Back at Mike's about 1
- Watch Real Housewives of NY, the Food Network Chef Show with Border Grill lady
- Family keeps calling, texting, and emailing, so I head home
- Home about 5
- Lots of family drama I managed to miss this weekend... whew! So tired of my Aunt in Nor Cal. So tired of my sister. She called me a "ducking fitch" because she was mad I was home and being the good Christian she is...