Spring Break!
Hello all! Haven't done a proper update in ages, so I figured I'd come back with a bang. Read on for the story of spring break in Vegas and what was suppossed to be the most gleeful week of all time and how it turned into somewhat-glee and DOOOOOOOOOOOOM >_<
So anyway, mom and I left for Vegas on Monday. My parents had promised I could go for my graduation present so I could see Celine's "A New Day" show. We got in Monday afternoon and got all checked and everything before heading out for our first night on the town. Vegas truly is a crazy city. The Strip just consists of several HUGE themed casinos that are like mini cities unto themselves. We actually stayed in a Westin just off the Strip, but if I ever go back, I'd love to stay in either the Venetian (Italian with Renaissance artwork and gondolas) or the Mirage (tropical).
Hotel room! WOO EXCITING!
We went to a nice restaurant in Caesar's Palace our first night. It was one of several restaurants that Wolfgang Puck has along the Strip. You can see the interesting architecture and how the ceiling was painted like a sky. They'd adjust the lighting to make it appear as if it were different hours of the day. It was really lovely.
Me and mom at dinner. As you can see, we were dining right beside Christian Dior. The shopping in Vegas is a little insane. Ick, I look gross. SHIELD YOUR EYES!
We went walking around Caesar's Palace after dinner, and there were all of these interesting statues and fountains everywhere.
All of the hotels have tons of shopping (most of which is COMPLETELY out of the league of any normal person). Caesar's had this incredible FAO Shwartz with a trojan horse as its entrance. The toy store was three stories tall. Just to give you an idea of how everything is a just a little (...or a whole lot) ridiculous in Vegas ;) They had the most amazing stuffed animals, including two giant stuffed impalas when you first walked in *COUGH*hopelessfangirl*COUGH* :p
Because both Celine and Elton perorm in Caesar's Palace, they both have their OWN STORES!! AHH! My brain exploded a little bit. There were also boutiques for the Beatles and Phantom (see below). I'm a fan of this. I've decided every fandom needs its own store ;)
Later that night we went outside to watch the fountains in front of the Bellagio.
Here's the pretty view of Bally's and The Paris that you could get from across the street. I think some of the fountain mist got on the lens :/
FOUNTAINS!! I think the fountains were my favorite part of Vegas. The pictures don't do them justice. They're truly incredible. Every 15 minutes or so the a song plays and the fountains are somehow synchronized with it and it's absolutely fantastic. The first evening they played "Fly Me to the Moon" AND "Your Song" :)
Next day, mom and I went walking (and walking and walking and I completely effed up my feet with blisters UGH! Ok sorry, TMI...) But it was a beautiful day and I got some nice shots of The Paris.
The MGM.
Excalibur. It's like Disney World on crack ;)
The Statue of Liberty and the skyline from New York, New York. They had a crazy roller coaster that ran through it. Needless to say, mom and I were NOT riding that.
That night, we went to the Venetian, which was GORGEOUS. We went to another of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants called "Postrio." Look how nicely they have everything lit in there. GUH, pretty.
GONDOLA!! The lines were always really long, so we never got to ride the gondola v_v But it was great to watch the little guys in their stripey shirts singing to the riders. I don't know why this picture turned out so dull, but the water was really blue and lovely.
This was the hallway stemming from the lobby of the Venetian. As I said before, I'm pretty sure this was my favorite of the hotels. The architecture and design is SO beautiful. All the Phantom signs were for the version of the musical that they held in one of the theatres. Mom and I didn't go b/c we already had tickets to see Celine and couldn't spend more on another show *deadpan* (see below for the soul-crushing irony x_x)
Phantom Store.
EEEEEEE!! Another highlight of the trip. That night, mom and I went took the "Eiffel Tour" (heh heh, clever) at the Paris. We went to the top of its Eiffel Tower (which is actually only 1/2 the height of the real one, which is a little crazy b/c we were already so high I was having a little bit of a moment on the ride up). Here's the view, isn't it PRETTEH?! Vegas is so sparkly!!!
It was so hard to get a picture that wasn't blurry up there b/c you had to get your camera through the guard fencing and try to keep your hand steady while you're assaulted with wind since you're a ZILLION FEET IN THE AIR. At least you can still appreciate the shininess in this picture.
WE GOT TO SEE THE FOUNTAINS FROM THE EIFFEL TOWER!! Oh MAN it was freakin' awesome. I love those fountains. I think I need some for the backyard ;)
View of the Paris Hotel from the Eiffel Tower. It's constructed like an X. Again with the crazy architecture.
Next day, mom and I went to the Mirage, where Cirque du Soleil's "Beatles: Love" show is playing. They had an entire Beatles Boutique by the box office and everything had this wicked psychodelic lighting. It was good stuff.
View from outside of the Mirage.
We went to this nature exhibit thing done by Ziegfield and Roy at the Mirage. It was really nice. They had a really large, natural habitat with five dolphins that you could view above or below water.
They also had their signature lions and tigers and bears, oh my!. I loved the lion, he was so beautiful! He was very bored with us, though. He'd lift his head and look at all the tourists every few minutes and then just lie back down.
ROTFL, they also had alpacas...WTF? They smelled bad.
UGH I AM SO FUGLY!!!!!!!!! Just look at the pretty lobby of the Mirage and ignore the awkward-looking girl.
So anyway, after our adventure at The Mirage, we went back to the hotel to get ready for CELINE! We had gone earlier that day to pick up our SECOND ROW!!!!111111111 tickets at will call and we even got these cheesy little "VIP" passes for being "Team Celine" members. (Hell yes, I'm a member of the Celine Dion fanclub, bitchez!! *SNORT*) So needless to say, I was exploding with glee and excitement. We got all dressed up and went to a nice restaurant at Caesar's Palace so we'd just have to walk to the adjoining Colosseum for the show.
Me bubbling at my glee-peak right before...
DOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! x____________x
THE. SHOW. WAS. CANCELLED. She was SICK. Just, WHY?! Seriously. Shit like that doesn't happen to people. Who gets incredible tickets to see her favorite singer in celebration of conquering the public education system and travels across the country, only for the concert to be CANCELLED?!!!!! OH. MY. EFFING. HELL. We walked up to the Colosseum after dinner only to be greeted with a sign informing us of the show's cancellation and a bunch of ushers giving us sheets listing other shows around town. Ok, FIRST OF ALL, nothing is going to compensate for my effing lack of Celine and SECONDLY how in the hell are we suppossed to get to another hotel for an 8 o'clock show that's likely already sold out anyway?!!! So mom and I didn't go to the Beatles Cirque or Phantom shows during our stay BECAUSE we had already spent UNGODY AMOUNTS OF MONEY ON WHAT WAS SUPPOSSED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST EVENINGS OF MY LIFE! GOOOOOOOD WHHYYYYYY?!!!!!!!!!!!
[/outburst of the anger that will likely torment me for years to come]
*sigh* Celine's engagement at Caesar's ends in December, so who knows if I'll ever actually be able to see it. The prospects are looking kinda bleak. v_v We'll see.
So after that soul-crushing little event, mom and I went back to the hotel and watched American Idol and Lost and felt sorry for ourselves. The next day we had a bit of free time in the morning before we had to go to the airport, so we went back to the Venetian and walked around some more. It was just difficult to get excited about anything after the disappointment of the day before though :( Only somewhat exciting thing happened Thursday was when mom tried her hand at some slot machines in the hotel lobby and won $38 in a Wheel of Fortune machine, giving us a net of about $22. *snort* We're high rollers.
Got home late Thursday and we had one night at home before leaving yesterday afternoon for Raleigh for the JJOSH GROBAN CONCERT! My sweet sweet Josh. He made feel so much better. I'm SO glad that I had bought the tickets despite the fact that the concert was soon after our trip. If I had missed out on Josh to see Celine and then NOT been able to see Josh after my Celinelessness...MC wouldn't have been in a happy place.
We hit some horrible traffic on the way and didn't get inside until 40 minutes after the show officially started and I was beginning to think that I had broken some mirrors are walked under some ladders that I didn't know about, but we only missed the opening act, which wasn't a big deal.
Our seats were really nice, and the show absolutely blew me away! Like...his voice is literally so beautiful it almost makes me cry. And he played the piano for several songs, too *swoonage* I was able to get a few decent shots of Josh when he came over to our side of the audience.
I had seen Josh at the same venue for his last tour and I had met him by the busses but I didn't have my camera >_< And of course, I brought my camera this time and he did indeed come out (which, don't get me wrong, had me squeeing all over the place <333) but one of his "handlers" came out before he did and said we could only get one thing signed and no posed photos v_v And on top of things, my camera decided to be a bitch and start flashing its little low battery warning AFTER Josh comes over and it was really slow and stupid and I only ended up with one close picture of Josh and his nose is cut off *forehead smack* At least you can still see the closeness and teh pretty, though.
I got my program signed, so I'm pretty stoked that I have signed programs from both the Closer Tour and the Awake Tour :) I WAS ALSO ABLE TO GET A JOSH HUG!!!! GUUUUH he was so cuddly warm and Joshilicious. I don't have any pictoral evidence of this excellent event, but you'll just had to trust me that Josh Groban and I have engaged in full upper-body contact. ROTFL that makes it sound a lot more exciting.
So. This spring break was certainly...an experience. I mean, a lot of great stuff DID happen. I got to see Vegas, and while it isn't my favorite place in the world, it's really sparkly and exciting to visit. And the Josh concert made me REALLY happy, as so did his snuggly goodness.
If you read through the whole thing, I certainly commend you ;) Sorry I haven't been the best about commenting lately. I was going to get caught up over spring break, but most of the time I was without internet. But please know that I AM thinking of all you guys! <333
Tomorrow is back to the death that is college x_x *sigh*
So anyway, mom and I left for Vegas on Monday. My parents had promised I could go for my graduation present so I could see Celine's "A New Day" show. We got in Monday afternoon and got all checked and everything before heading out for our first night on the town. Vegas truly is a crazy city. The Strip just consists of several HUGE themed casinos that are like mini cities unto themselves. We actually stayed in a Westin just off the Strip, but if I ever go back, I'd love to stay in either the Venetian (Italian with Renaissance artwork and gondolas) or the Mirage (tropical).
Hotel room! WOO EXCITING!
We went to a nice restaurant in Caesar's Palace our first night. It was one of several restaurants that Wolfgang Puck has along the Strip. You can see the interesting architecture and how the ceiling was painted like a sky. They'd adjust the lighting to make it appear as if it were different hours of the day. It was really lovely.
Me and mom at dinner. As you can see, we were dining right beside Christian Dior. The shopping in Vegas is a little insane. Ick, I look gross. SHIELD YOUR EYES!
We went walking around Caesar's Palace after dinner, and there were all of these interesting statues and fountains everywhere.
All of the hotels have tons of shopping (most of which is COMPLETELY out of the league of any normal person). Caesar's had this incredible FAO Shwartz with a trojan horse as its entrance. The toy store was three stories tall. Just to give you an idea of how everything is a just a little (...or a whole lot) ridiculous in Vegas ;) They had the most amazing stuffed animals, including two giant stuffed impalas when you first walked in *COUGH*hopelessfangirl*COUGH* :p
Because both Celine and Elton perorm in Caesar's Palace, they both have their OWN STORES!! AHH! My brain exploded a little bit. There were also boutiques for the Beatles and Phantom (see below). I'm a fan of this. I've decided every fandom needs its own store ;)
Later that night we went outside to watch the fountains in front of the Bellagio.
Here's the pretty view of Bally's and The Paris that you could get from across the street. I think some of the fountain mist got on the lens :/
FOUNTAINS!! I think the fountains were my favorite part of Vegas. The pictures don't do them justice. They're truly incredible. Every 15 minutes or so the a song plays and the fountains are somehow synchronized with it and it's absolutely fantastic. The first evening they played "Fly Me to the Moon" AND "Your Song" :)
Next day, mom and I went walking (and walking and walking and I completely effed up my feet with blisters UGH! Ok sorry, TMI...) But it was a beautiful day and I got some nice shots of The Paris.
The MGM.
Excalibur. It's like Disney World on crack ;)
The Statue of Liberty and the skyline from New York, New York. They had a crazy roller coaster that ran through it. Needless to say, mom and I were NOT riding that.
That night, we went to the Venetian, which was GORGEOUS. We went to another of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants called "Postrio." Look how nicely they have everything lit in there. GUH, pretty.
GONDOLA!! The lines were always really long, so we never got to ride the gondola v_v But it was great to watch the little guys in their stripey shirts singing to the riders. I don't know why this picture turned out so dull, but the water was really blue and lovely.
This was the hallway stemming from the lobby of the Venetian. As I said before, I'm pretty sure this was my favorite of the hotels. The architecture and design is SO beautiful. All the Phantom signs were for the version of the musical that they held in one of the theatres. Mom and I didn't go b/c we already had tickets to see Celine and couldn't spend more on another show *deadpan* (see below for the soul-crushing irony x_x)
Phantom Store.
EEEEEEE!! Another highlight of the trip. That night, mom and I went took the "Eiffel Tour" (heh heh, clever) at the Paris. We went to the top of its Eiffel Tower (which is actually only 1/2 the height of the real one, which is a little crazy b/c we were already so high I was having a little bit of a moment on the ride up). Here's the view, isn't it PRETTEH?! Vegas is so sparkly!!!
It was so hard to get a picture that wasn't blurry up there b/c you had to get your camera through the guard fencing and try to keep your hand steady while you're assaulted with wind since you're a ZILLION FEET IN THE AIR. At least you can still appreciate the shininess in this picture.
WE GOT TO SEE THE FOUNTAINS FROM THE EIFFEL TOWER!! Oh MAN it was freakin' awesome. I love those fountains. I think I need some for the backyard ;)
View of the Paris Hotel from the Eiffel Tower. It's constructed like an X. Again with the crazy architecture.
Next day, mom and I went to the Mirage, where Cirque du Soleil's "Beatles: Love" show is playing. They had an entire Beatles Boutique by the box office and everything had this wicked psychodelic lighting. It was good stuff.
View from outside of the Mirage.
We went to this nature exhibit thing done by Ziegfield and Roy at the Mirage. It was really nice. They had a really large, natural habitat with five dolphins that you could view above or below water.
They also had their signature lions and tigers and bears, oh my!. I loved the lion, he was so beautiful! He was very bored with us, though. He'd lift his head and look at all the tourists every few minutes and then just lie back down.
ROTFL, they also had alpacas...WTF? They smelled bad.
UGH I AM SO FUGLY!!!!!!!!! Just look at the pretty lobby of the Mirage and ignore the awkward-looking girl.
So anyway, after our adventure at The Mirage, we went back to the hotel to get ready for CELINE! We had gone earlier that day to pick up our SECOND ROW!!!!111111111 tickets at will call and we even got these cheesy little "VIP" passes for being "Team Celine" members. (Hell yes, I'm a member of the Celine Dion fanclub, bitchez!! *SNORT*) So needless to say, I was exploding with glee and excitement. We got all dressed up and went to a nice restaurant at Caesar's Palace so we'd just have to walk to the adjoining Colosseum for the show.
Me bubbling at my glee-peak right before...
DOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! x____________x
THE. SHOW. WAS. CANCELLED. She was SICK. Just, WHY?! Seriously. Shit like that doesn't happen to people. Who gets incredible tickets to see her favorite singer in celebration of conquering the public education system and travels across the country, only for the concert to be CANCELLED?!!!!! OH. MY. EFFING. HELL. We walked up to the Colosseum after dinner only to be greeted with a sign informing us of the show's cancellation and a bunch of ushers giving us sheets listing other shows around town. Ok, FIRST OF ALL, nothing is going to compensate for my effing lack of Celine and SECONDLY how in the hell are we suppossed to get to another hotel for an 8 o'clock show that's likely already sold out anyway?!!! So mom and I didn't go to the Beatles Cirque or Phantom shows during our stay BECAUSE we had already spent UNGODY AMOUNTS OF MONEY ON WHAT WAS SUPPOSSED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST EVENINGS OF MY LIFE! GOOOOOOOD WHHYYYYYY?!!!!!!!!!!!
[/outburst of the anger that will likely torment me for years to come]
*sigh* Celine's engagement at Caesar's ends in December, so who knows if I'll ever actually be able to see it. The prospects are looking kinda bleak. v_v We'll see.
So after that soul-crushing little event, mom and I went back to the hotel and watched American Idol and Lost and felt sorry for ourselves. The next day we had a bit of free time in the morning before we had to go to the airport, so we went back to the Venetian and walked around some more. It was just difficult to get excited about anything after the disappointment of the day before though :( Only somewhat exciting thing happened Thursday was when mom tried her hand at some slot machines in the hotel lobby and won $38 in a Wheel of Fortune machine, giving us a net of about $22. *snort* We're high rollers.
Got home late Thursday and we had one night at home before leaving yesterday afternoon for Raleigh for the JJOSH GROBAN CONCERT! My sweet sweet Josh. He made feel so much better. I'm SO glad that I had bought the tickets despite the fact that the concert was soon after our trip. If I had missed out on Josh to see Celine and then NOT been able to see Josh after my Celinelessness...MC wouldn't have been in a happy place.
We hit some horrible traffic on the way and didn't get inside until 40 minutes after the show officially started and I was beginning to think that I had broken some mirrors are walked under some ladders that I didn't know about, but we only missed the opening act, which wasn't a big deal.
Our seats were really nice, and the show absolutely blew me away! Like...his voice is literally so beautiful it almost makes me cry. And he played the piano for several songs, too *swoonage* I was able to get a few decent shots of Josh when he came over to our side of the audience.
I had seen Josh at the same venue for his last tour and I had met him by the busses but I didn't have my camera >_< And of course, I brought my camera this time and he did indeed come out (which, don't get me wrong, had me squeeing all over the place <333) but one of his "handlers" came out before he did and said we could only get one thing signed and no posed photos v_v And on top of things, my camera decided to be a bitch and start flashing its little low battery warning AFTER Josh comes over and it was really slow and stupid and I only ended up with one close picture of Josh and his nose is cut off *forehead smack* At least you can still see the closeness and teh pretty, though.
I got my program signed, so I'm pretty stoked that I have signed programs from both the Closer Tour and the Awake Tour :) I WAS ALSO ABLE TO GET A JOSH HUG!!!! GUUUUH he was so cuddly warm and Joshilicious. I don't have any pictoral evidence of this excellent event, but you'll just had to trust me that Josh Groban and I have engaged in full upper-body contact. ROTFL that makes it sound a lot more exciting.
So. This spring break was certainly...an experience. I mean, a lot of great stuff DID happen. I got to see Vegas, and while it isn't my favorite place in the world, it's really sparkly and exciting to visit. And the Josh concert made me REALLY happy, as so did his snuggly goodness.
If you read through the whole thing, I certainly commend you ;) Sorry I haven't been the best about commenting lately. I was going to get caught up over spring break, but most of the time I was without internet. But please know that I AM thinking of all you guys! <333
Tomorrow is back to the death that is college x_x *sigh*