Oh Vegas, you bitch. My head feels oh so lovely thanks to you. What do you mean it's my fault? Your pretty lights dazzled me! Your shining baubles lured me in! You brought me vodka with giant rave sticks and half naked women! Yeah okay fine, it's my fault. But hey, thanks for a good time.
Our day was long and amazing. I got up with less than three hours of sleep yesterday, packed, and we were on the road at 6:49am. The drive itself wasn't bad to be honest. Pretty boring but not bad. I got really great gas mileage on the car, around 45 mpg for a lot of the trip. B pretty much slept the whole way which was a good thing as we didn't go to bed until well after 1am. Rolled into Vegas at just before 2pm and even managed to stop once for gas but no other stops.
Side note - the lack of stops on the way here AND the lack of not having to go outside last night at all are some of the many reasons why I am glad I finally quit smoking. On a 7 hour car ride I would have easily stopped 2 or 3 times for smoke breaks. More on this later.
Checked in to the hotel and went off to find food and this one particular store I have been wanting to go to. We had INCREDIBLE thai food. It's always hard finding stuff B likes but she gobbled up her Pad See-yu like no tomorrow. I had a thai beef salad that was one of the best I have ever had. After lunch, we found the store I wanted. It's a store specializing in items for the transgender community. I have been looking for a couple of things for my halloween costume and figured they would be my best bet. Little did we know, it was their annual Halloween party last night. We walked into this place only to be surrounded by a room full of people in costumes. Everyone looked great but it was a bad time to shop. I did find a couple of things, but didn't buy anything as they were all busy and I wanted to try stuff. We are going back Tuesday morning when it will be less crowded.
After all that we headed back to the hotel, got back here around 4:30 or 5. We both took a nap, me about an hour, her about 2. We had 9pm dinner reservations with a bunch of people from my work. Headed over to Mandalay Bay around 8:15. On our way in we went past the shops. The first shop as you walk in is a men's clothing store. B saw a sport coat that she said I should try on. I figured the stuff in the store would be well out of my price range but what the heck, why not. While we were in there, I saw another sport coat that was more practical - black, very basic, but with this shimmering rainbow lining. I tried it on and fell in love. So did B which is amazing.
Side note #2 - this is her first time to Vegas. She was like a true tourist looking at the lights and sounds and shops and EVERYTHING. She was slowly getting into it.
Back to this sport coat. Anticipated price? $300 - $600 range. Actual price? $175. Mine. Mine now. Even B agreed because I can wear it for work. I looked good, it was practical with a bit of flair, and I can write it off on my taxes. S-c-o-r-e. From there we happened to hit a memorabilia store. Now she normally doesn't go for anything like this BUT they happened to have a Sorcerer's Stone poster with all 3 signatures on it. Original price? $1100. BUT 50% off sale going on. $550. Ugh. No we didn't buy it. I wish I could have right on the spot, but nope, not ours.... yet.
We finally got to the restaurant and had a great time. It was a mexican place and pitchers of margaritas started happening. There was 10 of us and we had a blast. The strolling mariachi band even stayed at our table for extra songs. Maybe it was the $100 in tips our table slipped them but what the heck. After that 8 of us went up to The Mix - the nightclub on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay. Holy shit, that view.
Here's where my boss and I shine. The rest of the group doesn't know how to function in places like that. We got us through the rope, in the reserved section, and right on the wall overlooking the strip. BAMF. This was also B's first time at a real club. She was watching and checking everything out. Next up, bottle service - aka $350 for a bottle of vodka so you can make your own drinks. Yes, we bought bottle service. Fuck it. Our boss was with us and we got him hammered. SO hammered that I found out that our team (all 2.5 of us) made $850k so far this year for the company. Of that wanna know how much I brought in? $450. Yeah. When I heard that my brain started spinning hard. Before the night was over I had negotiated a new laptop for me AND the above mentioned Harry Potter poster for B. Yes, we are going back today and I am buying it for her on my corporate card. BAMF.
To me one of the best parts of last night was not once having to leave to go smoke. I didn't have to leave the table, I didn't kill my throat and I didn't ruin my new jacket with smoke smell. THAT to me is a significant victory.
Today I have to be in the booth at 4:30pm for about an hour for pre-show setup but that's it. I am going to take B on her first trip of the strip. Oh and buy her a poster. So far this trip rocks.
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