sparkles, winnie the pooh and "in a family way"

january 14th, 5:30am.  i had just gone to bed a few hours before hand, but when you are going on vacation it seems as if you don't care how early you have to get up or how little sleep you actually got, you spring out of bed ready for the adventure.  adventure it was sure to be.  i am headed for las vegas.  i have never been to this place "sin city"...it sounds very intriguing.  what kind of trouble will i find myself in here?  i have a trio of companions to join in the mischief.

first there is kkc.  the reason for the adventure.  kkc, is really kathy crosby, but we call her kathy kathy crosby or kkc for short.  how did this come about, well let me tell ya.  a few years back the crosby, redmon, brickey, wolff (that was my last name then) clan went on a mommy/kiddo camping trip.  there were 4 moms and 12 kids (2 brickeys, 2 crosbys, 2 wolffs, 3 redmons and 3 friends of the redmons)..it was a zoo.  well kathy was walking with my son to the bathroom and he looks at her and says, "what is your name again? kathy, kathy crosby?" and well the rest is history it has stuck.  all of our friends, teachers at the kid's school, the students themselves call her kathy kathy crosby.  so back to the story, kkc is turning 50!!  so fricking awesome.  her birthday wish, to spend the weekend with her best girlfriends in vegas.  well heck yeah count me in.

i have always wanted to go to vegas, but i used to be married to a man that i loving refer to as a "human hater".  he doesn't like crowds, doesn't like participating, would rather be at home by himself.  so um yeah, we never made it to vegas.  that would have been an absolute disaster, and now that i have been there, i am even more convinced that his world probably would have ended if i had drug him to vegas just to satisfy my own curiosity.

background/details about kkc; first off she is turning 50.  i met her in kindergarten because her son and my daughter were in the same class.  she is an absolutely amazing woman.  she knows exactly who she is, has an incredible family, is willing to share her ideas, triumphs and failures, and knowledge if you want it.  my favorite part about kkc is that she has a great sense of humor, she can make fun of herself and take a joke.  being the oldest of my mamma group, she ends up being the butt of jokes quiet often, sometimes just because she doesn't get it and sometimes just because she is the oldest and we tend to point that out occasionally, oh alright frequently.  so another detail about kkc is her love of all things sparkly, sequins and shine.  now i am not so sure if it is her love or her hubbies love, but whosever love it is sequins was the theme for a 50th birthday adventure.

ok, player number two, kari brickey.  in my group we call her trickey, another nickname from my son.  not sure when it originated, but he called her trickey, because he couldn't quite get his "br" sound down and well that has stuck too.  trickey and kkc are the best of friends and for some unknown reason they love me.  yeah me!!  so trickey is the kindergarten teacher for both of my kiddos.  from my first meeting with trickey, i knew we were going to be friends.  one because she is just a great woman and has more patience than i could ever hope to have and two because she needed a gentle push in the fashion world.  when i met her, she looked great very laid back and kinda outdoorsy.  she took outdoorsy to a whole new level the day she wore overalls with a moose appliqued to the butt...this was sometime in october of my daughter's kindergarten year.  she had made this comment about overalls being so comfortable and that you just can't find them anymore.  i responded with, "there is a reason that people don't wear moose on their butts".  it wasn't meant to be mean just a gentle eye opener.  well at the time i worked for a clothing designer, i had some samples in her size and gave them to her, the cause of updating this wonderful woman from your typical kindergarten teacher with the holiday themed sweaters to a modern teacher who is dressed appropriately for her age.  sorry to all of you who wear these types of clothing, but really why would anyone want a moose on their butt? 

the third participant is kristin, kkc's cousin.  we, trickey and myself, were told that she is an expert in all things vegas.  has been here several times, has tons of stuff in mind for us to do, and that she is under the weather with a cold, but is up for the job of tour guide extraodinaire.  i have met this kristin once before, for some other celebration, kkcs was decked out in sequins gotta love her, but i hadn't spent much time with her.  i was sure that kkc not only included kristin because she is an expert but also because she is super fun, just like the rest of us.  so when we finally get to vegas and our hotel and meet up with kristin, kkc says, "how are you feeling?"  "i think i have turned a corner, feeling much better."  "she is 4 months pregnant!!!"  which makes me look immediately to her tummy...nope not showing at all.  well of course, congrats go all around and we all get acquainted. 

ok so there is the cast...now back to the story.  so i was instructed i could only bring a carry on, "NO checking a bag"  i had worked all week on packing just the right things and carefully planning my outfits.  when it came time to actually leave, i still had room and threw in some extras, thank heavens because i wore everything i brought and wished i had one more outfit. next time!  the crew, except kristin who flew in from oregon, meets at kkc's at 630am.  we pile into the trooper and we are off.  yahoo!!!  we go through security without a hitch, no full body scanner or wanding or rifling through our bags never to get them to close again, and board our plane.

when we take off it was cloudy, rainy, probably only 50 degrees.  pretty much miserable weather, but hey it is january in washington what do we really expect?  our plane starts it descent into las vegas, nevada and what is peering through our windows but SUN, glorious, beautiful, heat producing SUN!  it was truly a beautiful sight.  our first step outside and it was warm, a wonderful dry heat.  i turned to gaze into the sun, realizing i left my sunglasses on my dashboard, closed my eyes and soaked up my first dose of vitamin d, let out a huge sigh and climbed into the cab.  he asks us, "where to?"  kkc responds "The Hotel at Mandalay Bay", and we are off.

we could see our destination from the runway.  a towering building with gold tinted windows that rose from the concrete into the beautiful blue desert sky.  for those that aren't familiar it sits at the end of the strip, not sure which direction because well it was my first time and i was completely turned around, right next to the luxor.  thanks to shows like "Las Vegas", and "CSI" i knew my hotels.  well if you haven't guessed, The Hotel, is all things lovely.  it is The Store, The Cafe, The Robe, The Spa, The everything, as if nothing else could compare to what The Hotel had to offer.  i believed it, it is a gorgeous hotel.  very clean lines, no fuss about it.  the lobby and most of the hallways on the main floor are lined with oversized floral arrangements of calla lilies.  they smelled amazing and they were just the classic white callas no colored callas for The Hotel. 

so the 3 amigas from washington run into our first snag.  kkc had called kristin when we landed asking about our room number and kkc being the "old" lady that she is didn't quite hear kristin correctly.  so we get to the hotel and try to find elevator 428.  well it was like trying to find platform 9 3/4's...it doesn't exist in this world.  kkc tries to call we can't get ahold of kristin and decide to just take an elevator that goes to floor 28, since we know that our room in on that floor.  yep you guessed it, we weren't looking for elevator 428, we were to take the elevator to floor 28, duh!  this is what happens when you are traveling with an "old" lady who can't hear well on her phone.  :)

we head off to explore our hotel and end up at the pool.  we all get a cold beverage, water for the one "in a family way" and just chillax in the sun.  giggling and chatting about what we wanted to do for the weekend.  kkc had some very strict rules, she didn't want to walk a lot, she wanted to have lots of fun and she didn't want to engage in....well the gentleman sunbathing in the lounge chair next to ours turns around and says, "well that's a shame if you change your mind..."  well you can imagine we all start belly laughing.  we had no idea that he was paying such close attention to our conversation.  ha!  off to lunch/dinner in paris we go.  so fun, it did look like we were in paris, except for all the crazy people and the kamikaze birds that were swooping our table on the "outside terrace".  kkc had seen a billboard for "peepshow" starring holly madison and decided that we HAD to go see it.  so after a little sight seeing, the fountain show at the belagio and the volcano at some hotel i don't recall a quick walk through the venetian, a huge scare from a captain jack (from pirates of the caribbean) he came up behind me and scared the crap out of me, and dodging all the people "snapping" nude lady cards at us, we went back to The Hotel to change for our first show.

peepshow at planet hollywood; billed as a burlesque show starring holly madison.  so as you know i don't watch tv, i had no idea who this person is, apparently she is from a show called "the girls next door" and used to be the number one girlfriend to hugh heffner, i just learned this.  we get our seats, kkc and kristin are squealing with excitement, seeing as they are both fans of the show, trickey and i well we are just along for the ride.  the show is fantastic but ive got to say, and this is just my personal opinion, holly madison isn't the star she is a supporting member to the outstanding cast of that show.  the 3 divas who sang, the 3 men (1 who sang and two who had acting roles) and the seemingly no-name supporting cast were the actual "stars" of the show.  those women were in such fantastic shape it blew me away.  the gal who performed the "pole routine" she was incredible, the amount of core strength she had was truly something to be admired.  the gal who did the blindfold riding a swinging saddle was mind boggling.  those woman were incredible and they had the best rears i have seen in a long time.  good show i would recommend seeing it.

day two: woke up mid morning, ate a great breakfast and then went to the aquarium at mandalay bay.  trickey was in heaven and i think this may have been her favorite part, she is diver.  i have to admit it was very tranquil inside the aquarium with the sharks and the rays and sea turtles swimming all around you.  we sat there for a long time just being peaceful with the sealife.  then off to the pool.  we sat at the pool for hours getting another dose of vitamin D.  kkc had got us tickets for a show, the lisa lampanelli comedy show.  so off to get ready for this adventure. 

our tickets got us a "discounted" dinner at Simon a restaurant at the Palms, where our show was at.  so we decked out in sequins (trickey and myself), a very revealing dress for kkc, and what kristin called a "slutty" dress but in my opinion she looked very lady like and classy.  Simon is a very cool restaurant, the pool outside is spectacular, we asked to eat our dinner out there but the answer was no.  our waiter, Steve, was a kick in the pants, the poor guy just had our table and we were being very silly.  halfway through our dinner Steve comes over and tells us that the lady who just left was lisa lampanelli..."get out, no way!"  how did we not notice her?  oh my word, we had dinner with lisa lampanelli!!  so for those who don't know her, i was one of those had never heard of this woman, she is a very crude, raunchy woman, but funny as hell.  she makes fun of everyone and has some very suggestive material, but we laughed our butts off, it was great!  then a night of "clubbing".

i am not a "clubber".  i don't really enjoy the whole club scene, it is loud, people are drunk and rude, the girls all look like hookers, the guys are just slimy and gross.  i prefer a low key dive bar where you can throw peanut shells on the ground and they have a well crafted beer and trashy fried food, none of this fancy martini and tuna tartar, but this was the plan and i was along for the ride.  we got ourselves a pass that got us into 8 different clubs and no cover...super!  so the playboy club was first on the list.  i have to admit this was a really swanky place, the "bunnies" and the view it was pretty darn cool.  well this creap-o guy wouldn't leave kristin alone and we had to leave.  we ended up sharing our elevator ride down with a man who was celebrating his 91st birthday.  he had his walker and his army of well wishers and a grin on his face that you couldn't wash off!  we hit a few more and called it a night.

our weekend was over.  we had some really good laughs, enjoyed watching some really crazy people, saw two great shows, and celebrated the birthday of an amazing woman and wonderful friend.  i am not sure if i am really a "vegas" girl....there is a whole lot of stimulation; lights, sounds, people, smells it was a little overwhelming.  all in all it was fun.  i am not sure i would make this a regular trip but i will definitely go back, maybe celebrate another birthday or some other milestone.  who knows, guess we will find out.