Vegas Day 4, 5, and 6

Day 4  
When we were In Canada and researching our trips I came across a Power Pass, which is like a City Pass. Not all cities have the option of one though. Basically for cities that have high tourism, these pass offer different attractions for one price depending on the number of days you select.  I found that Costco Canada offered the Las Vegas Power Pass for 2 days for the price of one. Which was perfect for us, we bought one for Brandee for her birthday and figured we could get a bunch of things done in those two days.

Chelsea and I made two mock up days. Keep in mind that there is a lot of time spent traveling to each place regardless of walking or driving, plus breaks for food.

This day we went to the Mob Museum, which was really cool. I had NO idea that a lot of the original Las Vegas hotels were owned by mobsters.

We went to Serendipity for Lunch.

The Mirage Secret Garden was really cool. I didn’t realize they had so many dolphins. We pretty much pulled chairs up to the side of the pool and watched them for a while. Chelsea loves dolphins so she was in heaven. The tigers were pretty cool too.

We went to Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum. I like that they add new people. I’ve been there practically every time I’ve been to Vegas. We watched the Mirage Lava water show and the TI Sirens and Pirate show. I know their lame, but Holly had to at least experience them.

We tried to make it to the Pink Taco at the Hard Rock Hotel for dinner, but they were closing when we got there, so we looked around the hotel.

We ended the night at the Stratosphere observation deck.

We met my goal, of paying the card off in one day.

Day5
We went to the Circus Circus, which I have never been to before to see the Chuck Jones Experience (he was an animator for bugs bunny, the Grinch etc).  It was really cool. They had a lot of his original pieces and memorabilia.

The Bellagio was next on our stop we saw the Andy Warhol in the West exhibit. Holly loves Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. I on the other hand, only like his celebrity paint/silk screens and some of his ORIGINAL WORK. I don’t like when he hacks the already made Campbell’s soup labels and replicates them. We ate gelato and checked out the gardens.

We went to the Beatles tribute show, at the Miracle Mile shops near Planet Hollywood which was really good.

We went to the Eiffel Tower observation deck and watched the Bellagio water show.
 

Holly wanted to eat at Lotus of Siam again, which we did and We dropped Chelsea and Holly off at the NY NY so they could catch the roller coaster before it closed and our passes expired. 

Day 6
The last day. We spent so much of our time checking out hotels and going to things that on the last day we couldn't think of anything else to do. We went to the North and South premium outlets and the Vegas sing. We still had sometime before we dropped Holly off, so she wanted to go to Serendipity for a frozen hot chocolate.

Holly's plane left at 7:20, so we dropped her off at 5 and waited for her to go through security before we left.  We didn't get back to Utah till about 2 in the morning.

Vegas Day 2 and 3

Day 2
We bought tickets for the new Cirque show Zarkana and checked out the Aria hotel. We ate brunch at the Patisserie there which was DELICIOUS. We spent the day shopping at the Primm outlets and the big Ross on the strip. It was raining when we woke up so we figured it was a great day to shop.

We made reservations the previous day for Lotus of Siam (when we got there it was a 2 hour wait), our favourite Thai restaurant. Holly was in Love! Everyone is when they leave.

Zarkana was awesome. We had really good seats and the show was really entertaining.

Before we went home, we decided to checkout Fremont street. It is defiantly an interesting place. The light show was pretty cool and there were a lot of interesting people to watch.

Day 3
Holly and Brandee’s Birthday!

We let Holly sleep in. We got ready for the day and went over to Cesar’s Palace to look at it and go through the Forum Shops. We ate lunch at the Cheese Cake Café and went back to the hotel to get ready for our show.

I can’t remember what day it was but a strange person on the strip, I think it was a drag queen. It was a big black dude dressed in a leather bikini. Anyways he just kept saying “Now you’ve seen my titties and nipples, smile at my titties.” My sister Holly thought it was so funny that she pretty much quoted it the whole trip.

All Brandee wanted for her birthday was to go to the strippers so we all agreed to go. She got tickets for Thunder Down Under right in the front (what Holly refers to as Perverow). I was really worried about it. You may think that I'm a prude, but I don’t care. I may be one of the dirtiest virgins you know, but that doesn’t mean I want to sit somewhere with balls and wieners flying at my face thanks, but no!

The show was really funny. I didn’t find any of the guys attractive they may have had nice bodies for the most part but the fact that they had hairy butts, couldn’t dance worth crap, had gross leather skin, greasy hair, and sometimes nicer eyebrows then I do pretty much turned me off. I was either laughing hysterically or covering my face in embarrassment. I think there were 2 or 3 guys that did solo “dances” and would bring a girl on stage and they were raunchy. I felt like I was at a party and walked in on someone. Yuck. But the other girls seemed to really enjoy themselves so that’s what matters. Unfortunately, because it was Tuesday we couldn’t find a club to go to so Chelsea and Holly just got yards and jello shots.

Vegas Week

Like most of our trips, there is always something that goes wrong.

When we got to our grandparents house, our grandpa had checked himself into the hospital for kidney stones. So we stayed up waiting for him and finally went to bed at midnight. Holly had a cold and the likelihood of it spreading to the rest of us was pretty high. She didn't get much sleep and neither did the rest of us.

The next morning we left our grandparents later than we planned to so we didn't get to the border till after 10 a.m. We were tired and Holly wasn't that comfortable driving so there was just the two of us. Chelsea noticed a sound coming from the car, which I thought it was the tension belt. When I looked at it, it didn't appear to have any cracks or problems with it. Chelsea does have a lot of anxiety when it comes to car noises and long drives, so I thought that maybe she was just worrying herself sick. We stopped more frequently to give the car a rest, as it was so far past the time that we could get anyone to look at it. I finally pulled over at 3 a.m. at a rest stop about 1/2 hr from the border of Utah and slept till 7.
We couldn't get any mechanic to look at it, apparently their all closed on the weekends (because nothing bad ever happens to cars on the weekend!). So we shopped with Brandee the rest of the day so that Holly could get the things she wanted. Brandee ended up driving her car to Vegas, which sucked space wise but at least we had a car!

The weather in Vegas was super nice. We tried to make it to the Country Music Awards on Sunday, but when we got to the MGM at around 4:30 p.m., they were taking things down and said it was about halfway done. For future reference, if you are going to be in Vegas during the recording of an award show, plan to be at that hotel at least at noon if it airs at 9 p.m. Also if it's at the MGM, you wont have access from inside. You have to go to the MGM road (I'm pretty sure the road is called MGM if your going North on the strip and the hotel is on your right, it will be a right). So when they say LIVE, they really mean it was taped live and your seeing a recording.

Chelsea and Brandee were sad, but Holly and I didn't really care. We walked through MGM till we found the conference rooms, but had to walk all the way back to where we came in from to get out. We did see Toby Keith in line at the Starbucks, as well as a couple dudes and one girl all dressed up but we didn't recognize them.

We went to the M&M and Coke store. I bought the flavours of the world for all of us to try. It's always a fun thing for newbees I think. Chelsea and I had done it once before with our brother. We checked out some hotels.

We ate at the Haffbraugh House. It was really good, German style food and entertainment. There was a really good German band playing when we got there. The food was really good and when ever someone ordered a shot, the waitress would paddle (spank) their butts. That was VERY entertaining!
***I will add a slide show of all the pictures we took on the last day I write about, their all just uploading right now***

Leaving NOT on a Jet Plane

It's crazy how quickly time goes by. I had all these plans to get things done before we left, but they didn't work out. I was working on refashions, but I took a bunch of extra shifts and just ran out of time to finish everything. I will complete them when I return.

We leave for Cardston tomarow afternoon.

Here we go...

Travel Adventures and DIY Refashions (Week 1)

I have been researching anthropologie like, diy, refashions, look a likes, etc, for years now. I've written three posts with links to what I've found and liked. I can't usually bring myself to purchase anything there because of the ridiculous prices. I have been very lucky though, over the last few years to find some reasonably priced clothing and accessories. So in my true thrifty way, I usually see a shirt or decoration and think "that would be so easy to make my self". Although, I have never actually gotten around to making anything yet. Which is really sad considering the hours of research it takes to find decent tutorials.

I've turned a new leaf and decided it's finally time for me to start making them. I know! I've been really pre-occupied with my old CRAZY job, looking for another, what I'm doing with my life, helping out with my family, etc. I have a pile of clothes I need to mend and refashion, that just keeps getting bigger over the last few years. Each time I add a new thing that needs to be fixed or a plane shirt I got for cheep, it makes me want to just DO IT already!

So you may be asking yourself, why would a perfectionist, indecisive, procrastinator like myself change a new leaf?

My sister Chelsea and I have been planning a trip to Vegas for about three years. To celebrate our friends 40th and our other sister Holly's 21st. They have the same birthday, April 9th! We found out one of our family friends that live in Utah (who are more like family) is getting married at the end of April. So we have really struggled with how we could justify going at the beginning of April and coming home, just to go back in a few weeks. We also had a cousin's wife invite us to go on a cruise in the middle of April. What to do, what to do?

So we decided last week that we would go on the cruise and take a month off. I know it's so crazy. We really struggled with the decision because, let's face it I may love my job but I don't work a lot and don't have as much as I did with the crazy job (even though that wasn't very much either). Chelsea and I decided that if we don't JUST DO IT, we never will! We work so hard and save, but never actually really enjoy life or do anything we say we want to. We've been saying will go to Harry Potter world since we graduated almost 4 years ago and have never made it.

I decided that if we went on the cruise and we already paid for the plane tickets we were going to Orlando too. We booked the cruise last week and met with our cousins a few days ago to plan. We are working on booking and planning our adventure in Orlando and have decided that the cruise and Orlando will be our celebration for our birthdays.

Here's to us celebrating Holly and Brandee's birthday in Vegas, mine and chelsea's birthday's early in Jamaica/Bahamas/ and some island in the Caribbean I can't remember, our first time in a new Country (besides the USA), a wonderful family friends wedding, visiting old friends in Utah, going on a cruise with our cousins, and finally getting to Florida and Harry Potter world!

Now were trying to save as much money as we can in Florida with cheaper flights, hotels, car rentals, tickets, etc. I have decided that instead of going and buying a bunch of new clothes I can work on my refashions. I need to save money where I can and fixing old tee's seems like a good option. Over the next few weeks, my goal is to finish at least half of the shirts I have in my basket (geesh that just might be 15-20). I started by preparing everything I needed for one colour of shirt, so that I could prepare the sewing machine and just sew.

Here are the shirts I've refashioned or fixed this week;

Before

After

This one has some holes on the front. I didn't find a site that had a tutorial, but I did find a inspiration board with a dress(#4) that I thought was cute. I just cut up an old sweater into strips (about an inch). Sewed at the top and in between the pleats. I trimmed them on an angle and staggered the length.


After

After

This is the same 3'4 inch sleeve shirt just in grey. I loved these shirts but some how both ended up with holes in the front. I saw this cute tutorial at Adventures in Dressmaking that was anthro-inspired.  I didn't like that the ruffles were sewed in a square shape and it wouldn't work with the pleating that was already present in the front, so I staggered the size and sewed the ruffles on an angle. 



After

After

This one was just a black T-shirt that was old and plane. I used the rest of the stripes from the black sweater that was the same kind of fabric. The tutorial is from Dear Lizzy, but it's a broken link on her site or she deleted it. Luckily, some one else did the same thing and it can be found at Tina Palas blog.

Before

After

This shirt had the ribbon at the bust that wrapped to the back to tie and I hated that so I cut it at the sides and used the fabric to make a rolled fabric flower, tutorial here. I also bought some polka dot and striped fabric and made fabric yoyos, tutorial here. I have them pined to the shirt to hand sew. I just can't decide if I should sew them to the shirt or make them into a pin.

After

















I love this cover, but some how it ended up with holes (I don't know how this happens, I assume it's in the wash but don't know how). I just followed the same style of folding strips of fabric like the Dear Lizzy shirt, along the edges. The areas that the ruffle covers the holes, but doesn't stay over them. I just hand stitched a small piece.

After

 
 

I owned a really cute Vera Wang shirt with this grey chiffon and silk ruffle at the bottom, but it too got holes in it. I removed the bottom and just sewed it to a new shirt. I'm sure you could just find two different types of fabric and make ruffles and sew at the bottom as well.  

Smashing SMASH book

I bought this Smash book on black Friday with a bunch of prompting cards and accessories or embellishments to put inside, but I just never got around to it.

I've been a bit obsessed lately with it. There was a 75% off clearance sale at Michales a few weeks ago and I got a bunch of K&Company stickers for super cheep and fancy tape. They also had all the SMASH products on 20% off, so I got a little crazy. I've been journaling a bunch of random stuff I have laying around and cutting up old cinema magazines.

 

I've actually really enjoyed it. It's taken a while to think about how to answer the prompt cards. I bought every one and have tried to include them all in this book. The journal is about me so it's all in here. I know of alot of people who make alot of them and use them as scrapbooks, but the only other reason I would buy another is for travel or at a different time in my life. It's not finished and there are a few blank pages, but I will continue to add to it.

 

I've bought all the embellishments for SMASH, and this year they have so many new things that haven't been released in Canada yet (that's probably a good thing!). I have discovered that if you tape pictures or prompts, you can fit more in.

 

Here are few pages I've made. These pictures go with a prompt card. The pics were one's we got printed last year, but didn't make it in the scrap book because they weren't very clear or we had a better one.

I've written about favourite things before on my blog. I printed the list from my blog and taped it in so that I can still glue or stick stickers behind it.

 Again I printed a quote and a list of my guilty pleasures along with two prompt cards.

 Here is a prompt card and my bucket list from my blog.

I'm sure if you had some extra scrapbook paper or note books, you could use them instead of buying a SMASH book. Use what you have and make your own.

New Art

One of my best friends moved into their first house and asked me if I could paint something for them. Of course I said yes, however, it's been quite a few years since I painted. I was worried that they would suck or that they wouldn't like them. If you know me at all, you would know that it is rare if I actually like my art. I generally think it's okay or I hate the piece.

We decided on me doing two pieces (I know sometimes I'm too ambitious). One will be her favourite flower and the colours of her walls and the other a landscape for her husband. I decided to use acrylic paint (even though its not my favourite and I don't think it blends well) basically because of it's drying abilities. Oil paints can take sometimes up to 3 months to fully dry and acrylic a few hours or day's depending on the size.

Here they are;
This one is 24x36. To this day it is the largest singular piece I have done.

 This one is 18x24. This is the first landscape I've done and just out of my head.



I used some photos I found on google for references, but they are my interpretations and concepts.

Dollhouse and Tahmoh Penikett

The Dollhouse is a super interesting concept I think, but I honestly didn't get into it when it was on TV. Apparently, not many people did. Their ratings were really low for the first season, which continued into the second. Although, I was actually really satisfied with the ending. It seems that they knew they weren't going to be picked up again so they spent the second season completing it. The ending tied everything together and the second was a much better season than the first.

For me, I couldn't really get past the fact that Eliza Dushku was the main actress, she just bugs me for some reason. It also seemed like the show was based more toward pervy guys who wanted to see hot chicks being brain washed into doing whatever rich men wanted. Not that there is anything wrong with a little eye candy, but I felt like the show was geared more towards men and their fantasy's.

As I watched, I noticed that at first the show moved really slowly. I read a good blog that asked this question, "How different would the shows reception have been if we'd seen a glimpse of the ass-kicking Echo to come?"Click here to read the rest. I think he would have got more ratings. If you had a strong female lead with depth, I would think more women would have watched (now I'm just assuming that that is why the ratings were low).

I've already mentioned like 100 times, that I don't watch a lot of TV. In fact, I don't pay for cable. I have netflix, I rent, borrow from friends, and even check them out of library's. Lately, I've been watching A LOT of TV, more than I should. As you can tell by my blog, I've gone through four series in the last few months. I suppose only half made it past three seasons though.

Season 1

 Season 2

For me, I got a little eye candy in this series too. I think Tahmoh Penikett is incredibly handsome and has a super sexy voice. Just look at that jaw line! He even has a fan site devoted to him here. I have never heard of this Canadian actor before, but I'm glad I know now.