Sunday, April 27, 2008

Happy Birthday, Stewart!

I'd like to take a moment to welcome my amazing boyfriend Stewart into a new phase of his life... his LATE TWENTIES!

Surprisingly, he doesn't even seem stressed out about the situation. I think it's because men generally only get better looking as they age. Bogus. In any case, we started off Stew's birthday week celebration by visiting his dad down in Vancouver, WA. We went out to dinner at Beaches, where they were nice enough to give Stew his own menu and even some token birthday gifts.

As for me, I made Stewart wait until his actual birthday before opening my present: a pretty rad watch if I do say so myself. Then, on Saturday night, we stopped at Dave's house for a little BBQ fun before heading out on the town.
We spent some time at Fado before walking across the street to another bar where we danced the night away.
The next morning the reality of getting older really hit us... we were too sick to even get off the couch for food until about 2 p.m. So much for aging gracefully.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEWIE!
XOXOXO

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Fling

In addition to all their fabulous summer camping extravaganzas, Brett's parents are also nice enough to plan some off-season activities to keep us entertained. One of these is the annual "Spring Fling" -- basically an adult prom!
Held in a private banquet room at the Muckleshoot Casino, the event was catered and had a professional DJ and photographer... just like the old dasy! We got to eat, drink and dance our little hearts away... along with the additional bonus of a casino right outside the door... Winston even won some money!
I don't know about everyone else, but the Spring Fling was MUCH more fun than my own senior prom. There's just something about dancing that allows me to shake my groove thang a little bit better.
Oh and also, this time, I didn't go home sober and alone... and my date was HOT!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Welcome to Spring!

Stewart and I never even got a chance to put on our bathing suits in Las Vegas, but we ironically came back to gorgeous weather this weekend in Seattle. Just our luck. Regardless, the forecast of temperatures reaching the mid-80s on Saturday was as good a reason as any for Stew's good friend Brett to open boating season. How ridiculously exciting! I think the only reason I made it through another winter in rain-soaked Seattle is because I took up snowboarding this year. Otherwise you might have found me in another one of my, "I think I'm just going to up and move to Waikiki for a while..." phases.

I am extremely lucky that some of my good friends like expensive toys. I can't really explain how much being out on a boat in the sun enhances my mood and life, but I'm pretty sure it's better than most drugs. We headed out on American Lake in the early morning and although the water was FREEZING (warranting a super-rad 1980's style dry suit), that didn't stop the boys from breaking out the wake boards and surf boards. I was content to sit in the boat and bask in the glorious sunshine. If this is any indication of how my spring and summer are going to be, I think I just might have fallen back in love with Seattle.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Viva Las Vegas!

Stewart and I survived our much needed vacation to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. And of course we had a really amazing time, despite all the shenanigans we had to deal with in order to make the trip work.

We left Seattle early Tuesday morning and arrived in Sin City a few hours later. After checking into the obviously most fabulous hotel on the strip, Circus Circus, we proceeded immediately to ESPN Zone to watch a soccer game Stew absolutely could not miss. Thus began our vacation, complete with giant frosty mugs of beer before noon - what could be better?
We spent the rest of the day wandering through various hotels while sipping yummy slushy fruity rum and alcohol drinks. Cheers!
Later that evening we jumped on the brand new monorail and headed back to our hotel for a break before heading back out for the evening. Unfortunately, the daytime drinking had really taken a toll on me, and we ended up spending quite a few hours in our hotel room. And as you would expect, I DO NOT recommend staying at Circus Circus. Motel 6 has better accommodations. The furniture was styled from the mid 1980s, the curtains and wallpaper were old and stained, the carpet was worn and the beds were covered with cheap scratchy comforters that we immediately pulled to the side. The bathroom housed towels that I assume used to be white, but were now a bluish-gray color. Thanks a lot, Promotional Trip People. As soon as I was feeling better, we got the hell out of there.
We wandered around for a while playing slots and drinking tall cans of Bud Light (oh I heart your laws, state of Nevada) until we decided it was probably time to grab something to eat. It was my brilliant idea that since we were already there we might as well check out our hotel's breakfast buffet... oh Sarah. If there was an edible equivalent to our hotel room upstairs, we had definitely found it. Watery scrambled eggs, rubbery sausage, doughy rolls and gravy covered with a nasty film didn't even seem appealing as midnight munchie food. We grabbed some cookies off the desert tray and headed to bed.

The next day we were determined to play some tables, so we headed next door to the adjacent casino - Slots O' Fun. Basically, the best thing about staying at the ghetto end of the strip is the casinos with cheap tables! For a few hours we played 50 cent Roulette and even though we lost about $40 each it was super fun since I've never played before. Next we wandered on down the strip to checkout some more hotels. The new Wynn Hotel was absolutely gorgeous and I don't think I will go back to Las Vegas again until I can afford to stay there.

Thanks to the Promotional Trip People, we had been given $100 to gamble at Casino Royale, which we were pretty excited about. But alas, we arrived at the casino and were pointed back toward five lonely slot machines with "PROMOTIONAL" signs across the top. Ah ha. We had found the catch. We had to sit and play our $100 until it ran out... and there was no way to win or cash out without hitting the jackpot. So... we basically sat and wasted almost 40 minutes of our vacation while I watched Stew push the same button over and over again. Thanks, Promotional Trip People.
Afterward we rewarded ourselves with a visit to one of my favorite Vegas destinations: the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. The sunny day and tropical atmosphere, surrounded by palm trees and lush foliage was exactly what I needed. we watched several beautiful Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and checked out Siegfried and Roy's Royal White Tigers, as well as white lions, a black panther, leopards and beautiful tigers.
On the way back, Stewart announced that he had a surprise activity for me, and we walked up to a building near the strip for indoor skydiving! Since we hadn't been able to bungy jump as originally planned (it was closed) I was pretty excited! I don't know how much indoor skydiving is like the real thing, but actually flying is one of the most fun things I have ever done - I highly recommend it. I'm super excited for the real thing in a few months!!

After getting pretty we grabbed a quick dinner at Planet Hollywood (thanks, Promotional Trip People) and got to MGM Grand just in time for KÀ by Cirque du Soleil. We had paid top dollar for tickets and it was more than worth it. The gravity-defying aerial acrobatic production was almost too much to process. If you ever have a chance to go, do it.
We grabbed some beers at a bar across the street in New York New York called Nine Fine Irishmen, and although the live band was great we just didn't want to pay $9 a beer all night, so we headed out and hit the slots - for the free drinks, of course! A few more hours of drinking, wandering and gambling rounded out the night.

The Stratosphere was stop number one in the morning, and screaming my head off as I was shot straight up 160 feet at 45 mph (over 4 Gs) until I was 1,081 feet above the Strip was a great way to start my day. Rumor had it that the Rio had the best buffet on the strip, so we taxied our way that direction and stuffed ourselves silly. Then since the weather was so nice we walked all the way back down the strip - sadly, we missed the water show at the Bellagio - and found ourselves back at Slots O' Fun for some $3 Black Jack. A few hours later we had to drag ourselves away from the table and head to the airport -- both about $30 richer!
Notice that when you go on vacation with just two people, you get a lot of single photos unless you are brave enough to ask perfect strangers, "Will you take our picture?" all day long. And I must say that going to Las Vegas with your boyfriend is a lot different than going at age 22 with your single girlfriends, but I definitely had just as much fun. But lucky for me my boyfriend is pretty fantastic!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Um… A Little Creepy.

The time has come for me to say it. It’s just getting a little too weird and creepy. As most bloggers do, I check my statistics fairly frequently. And for months now, without fail, every time I check out my stats, someone from an unknown IP address is repeatedly, sometimes a dozen times in a day, checking out my May and June 2007 archives. Most frequently, the viewer clicks on images of me at Cailin and Clint’s wedding. Please tell me… what the heck is so darn entertaining about this time in my life?

What should I make of this situation? Should I be flattered? Should I expect to one day soon stumble across my face photoshopped onto someone else’s nude body? I just don’t know what to think. Advice, loyal readers? Anyone want to fess up?