Vegas, baby!

Ooops...sorry for the delay in posting. I've been out of town and then busy with job-hunting! I was lucky enough to get to go on a fabulous trip to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend and boy, was it a blast!

For some strange reason that I have yet to figure out...I got comp'd a mini-suite at the Paris! The view from my front window was incredible and the bathroom had a whirlpool and a walk-in shower. Gee, a girl could get used to this kind of life LOL!

The nightlife was great, too. We saw comedian Kevin James (he plays the husband on the tv show "King of Queens") at the Mirage and his act was wonderful! I always appreciate a comic who can be outrageously funny and yet relatively "clean" at the same time. I figure anyone can make people laugh with the dirty stuff, but it takes actual talent to be funny without it.

The next night, we had dinner at Emeril's restaurant at the MGM Grande and I was able to do the six course tasting menu WITH the wine package so I got to taste six different wines as well. The Riesling and the Moscato were my favorites. Yeah, I know, so I'm a sucker for sweet wines. So sue me. Oh, and did I mention the dessert? A flourless chocolate cake with a Godiva chocolate "milkshake" that gets poured over the top and OH MY GOD it was SO GOOD!

And yeah, it totally blew my diet for one night, but sometimes you've just gotta enjoy life! I made up for it by eating as lightly as possible for most of the rest of my meals (er...everyone ignore that lovely pastry I had at the French bakery in the Paris) and doing a LOT of walking so at the end of the trip I'd only gained 1 lb. (which I've since lost!) so I figure that was pretty good. It helps that my personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness is continuing to kick my ass every week! Since I've been going to her, I've lost another 7.5 lbs., 2" off my hips and 1.25" off my waist and have gone down another dress size. And that's on top of the 45 lbs. I lost on my own before I started at the gym. Pretty darned impressive if I do say so myself. In fact, if it wouldn't blow my diet again, I'd say I deserve another piece of that dessert!

But, back to the trip.

We had lunch at Commander's Palace at the Aladdin one day - would you believe they have twenty-five cent martinis?! And there's a menu of like 100 different kinds you can get, too. But, I was good and only had 1 Cosmo and a seafood salad. I wanted those crab cakes and turtle soup big time, though!

The last night there, we went to go see "Ka" (a Cirque du Soleil show) at the MGM Grand. I hadn't been that up to see it as I've never been a big fan of Cirque du Soleil, but wow, this show was unbelievable! It was funny, beautiful, intense at times and just totally entertaining.

Umm...and did I mention there was shopping? This whole weight loss thing has proven to be VERY dangerous in that it has opened up an entire WORLD of shopping that was previously closed to me. Bad. Very, very bad. I got some really cute things at Ann Taylor Loft and Eddie Bauer as well as a great deal on a Jacqueline Jarrot handbag that I totally do NOT need, but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up. Besides, when something is 50% off I think it's kind of the law that you MUST get it.

I got some new Laura Mercier makeup at Sephora, too. I decided my regular foundation was too heavy for summertime and wanted to try one of her new tinted moisturizers as well as her lip gloss. Fun.

Sadly, it was then time to come home and delve more deeply into the job search. My resume is done and I've submitted it to one place and am working on getting it out to some others and taking some interviewing and negotiating classes in the next few days.

Busy, busy, busy...and trying to ignore the fact that this Sunday would have been my 12th wedding anniversary. I think perhaps a day at the spa is in order? Or maybe tea with the girls...we'll have to see.

Ta ta for now (and I promise a book review this week!)

KJ