Vegas, Baby!

Keeper and I just returned the other day from our first trip to Las Vegas. We'd wanted to go at least once while we live in AZ and are within driving distance. Since 2010 is the year many of my friends (1980 babies) and I turn 30, we have a lot of big birthdays to celebrate. Our friend (and Keeper's study buddy) Karen turned 30 on Monday and decided to make a group Vegas weekend celebration for the big day. She got a ridiculous deal on rooms at the Wynn/Wynn Encore ($100/night!!!!) so we hopped on board. I was very excited for a weekend of glitzy ridiculousness:)I used the upcoming trip as an excuse to : (1) get my hair cut/highlighted (hadn't been done since before xmas (2) get a much needed pedicure, (3) buy a short fancy dress that I would never wear anywhere else except Vegas (Thanks, Mom, for shopping with me!). Keeper and I carpooled with our friends and they picked me up after school on Friday... the drive up was pretty uneventful. Lots of desert/nothing until you get to a little tiny town (like Wickenburg or Kingman) and you think: who actually LIVES here? The desert is much greener up north than in Phoenix so the drive was pretty and we saw lots of Joshua trees along the way. I was impressed by the Hoover Dam but we didn't stop to take pictures :(
Friday night was spent settling into the hotel (which was AMAZING!!!) There is a Ferrari showroom INSIDE the Wynn. Enough said. We grabbed something to eat (note to self: "casual deli" food in the Wynn (turkey sandwich) cost more than some sit-down restaurants in Phoenix). Then we headed out on the strip to see some of the lights of Vegas. My first impression was: Times Square on CRACK! Absolute mayhem. Throngs of (drunk) people walking around with drinks on the strip. Lights and music everywhere. It was a bit overwhelming. We walked around to a few casinos and then my 4:30am wake-up (workout) was finally hitting me so Keeper and I called it a night pretty early and were in bed by midnight. It sucks getting old :)
Saturday, I felt much more rested after 8 full hours of sleep and was ready to take on Vegas. We ate breakfast, grabbed some coffee and explored the Fashion Show (mall across the street from the Wynn). We picked up a few things for Keeper to wear (I can sniff out a sale at Macy's like no other...and ALWAYS have my coupons too!) Saturday night and I ended up finding dresses for the (many) summer weddings we are attending in the next few months. We met up with our friends for lunch, then wandered around some more casinos on the strip and finally came back to our hotel to relax by the pool before dinner.
We all got studded out for dinner (hotel buffet= amazing food) and dancing later on. We pre-partied with everyone who came for Karen's bday (about 20 people!) and then headed downstairs to one of the clubs in the Wynn/Encore complex, Tryst. The club scene is not really our thing but when in Rome...er, Vegas... It was nice to know that my gold shoes were NOT considered overdoing it AT ALL. The club was actually lots of fun after I got over the "what am I doing here phase?" and some of the people started clearing out (it was packed when we first got in). We danced the night away and got to bed pretty late.
Sunday was spent sleeping in and then met up with friends for fabulous Asian food at a restaurant in the Venetian, and toured more casinos/hotels on the strip. I played Black Jack for the first time in the Imperial Palace (dumpy casino) where Bette Midler was my dealer (celebrity look-a-like dealer theme). We saw Paris and the weather was surprisingly cool, cloudy, and windy. We were still tired from the night before so Keeper and I (after losing our money) went back to the hotel room for a nap. We hung out with friends again Sunday evening but called it an early night and were up early Monday morning to check out and hit the road by 6:30am. I took a personal day on Monday, but Keeper and Karen had a 12:30 shift at the clinic. We had a great trip and I'm glad I got to experience Vegas.