Bloggers in Sin City Recap - The Final Episode

Life Lessons Learned in Las Vegas: 

The Las Vegas airport has two completely separate terminals. Which means folks you know arriving at the same time may not be at the same baggage claim as you. This was news to me even though I had been to Vegas four times perviously. 

Don’t drink the ever-clear. It will only lead to bad things. Especially when you choose to drink it in copious amounts.  

Chicken and waffles are a thing… a very BIG and delicious thing.

Tiff is the most amazing person at dividing bills for large parties. All servers should bow down to her. It wouldn't surprise me if they end up tipping her one day. 

Don't take the free sample of the “energy gum”. It tastes like pennies and won’t give you extra energy. Lies I tell you.  

Sharks... because Vegas! 

Watch out for hidden glass floors because SHARKS and Vegas!

When you hug someone for 8 seconds, you bond. It’s been proven. And when you hug someone for 45 seconds or longer you instantly become life long friends.

Food courts are the best place for bonding at 3:00 am. The best. 

Everyone has a story and you would be surprised at how similar others are to yours. We are never alone.

The "O" Cirque du Soleil show is the best of the cirque shows. 

 If you’re not tired at 2:00am… GET UP! It’s Vegas! Sleeping is for being at home.

Silicon and Silicone are two very different things. And silicone breast implants have nothing to do with "Silicon Valley".  The more you know. 

Solar panel breast implants need to become a thing. You know… so we can charge our phones in our cleavage.

 Nico apparently knows Vegas very well… you know… because he is Phillipino…?

 It IS actually possible to krump in a pool. And when you are Casey, it still looks as bad-ass as when you do it on dry land. 

 According to the conversations we had about this topic (multiple times), Canadians apparently say “mmm hmm” differently that Americans. Canadians say mm-hmmmmmmm…. And drag out the hmmm in a calming agreement. Yet Americans add a question mark at the end. “mmm hmmmm? As in ‘Do I agree with you?’”. 

 Biscuits and Sausage gravy at breakfast. This invention is delicious. Who knew? Yet this must remain in the U.S. or I would just eat them at all the breakfasts!

The party is wherever you want it to be. Even in an H&M fitting room.

All the feelings come out when folks wear wigs to brunch.

Don’t even bother packing heels. You are wasting precious suitcase space.

True friends can be found anywhere in the world You just have to open your heart and mind and not be afraid to take a chance.

Biscuits equals family. 

Tis the season!

Now that American Thanksgiving is over and its only a few days away from December, I can put up my Christmas decorating with out feeling like I'm jumping the gun. 

I looked up some photos for a little inspiration... 

This is a little excessive... yet I still love it. 

I totally already made one of these a few weeks ago... 

Yum! Definitely making these! 

A cozy candle cozy.

Dance Dance Revolution

There was a surprise at my BFF's wedding in July... check it out!

Speech! Speech!

This summer my best friend got married and I had the (terrifying) honor of the speech to the bride: 

Good Evening everyone,

If you don’t already know, my name is Michelle and I would just like to say a few words to the newlyweds. But before I do that, I would like to thank all of the groomsmen for everything they have done for Bryan and Jennifer’s special day and for looking so handsome this evening. Ladies, can we get a quick round of applause for the handsome groomsmen?

Jen and I have been friends for about 18 years now and we have countless memories together from all of our adventures. I would like to share a story though that very few people in this room know about, in fact, I’m pretty sure Bryan isn’t even aware of this.

Early last May, I was rummaging through some old boxes at my parents house and found a bunch of things from high school, most of which were just pictures of the Backstreet Boys and notes between Jen and I. But then I came across an envelope that had some very important papers in it. It was about 6 pages folded together that were titled “The Dream Love List”. I called Jen right away and told her what I had found; she was just as excited as me and made me promise not to look at it until we could read it together. Best friends do those sorts of things for each other…

So we got together the next day and, as giddy as can be, unfolded “The List”. We wrote this list when we were about 17 years old so it was of course written in blue marker and covered in heart shaped stickers. When we wrote the list, we said that before either of us even thought about marrying someone, we would have to go back to that list and make sure he fit the criteria.

The list was composed of very important qualities that any good man should have. Such as:

# 4 – Has to be able to dance.

Or

# 28 – Must have good hair.

Or how about,

# 39 – Doesn’t mind shopping.

After we laughed over all 50 items on the list and how brilliant we thought we were at 17, we thought it would be fun to see how well Bryan scored. We went through the list line by line, item by item and he scored a whopping 97%!!

Both of us looked at each other and said “well… I guess you can marry him now…”

The very next day, I got a phone call from Bryan asking me to help him organize the surprise party where he would be proposing to Jen… It was fate.

As someone who has known Jen since before her height growth spurt, I can tell you Bryan, you are one lucky man today. Not only are you marrying the most beautiful woman in the room tonight, you are also extremely blessed to be marrying someone who will stand by your side no matter what life throws at you, someone who will never cease to amaze you with how much love she can give and someone who only gets better with age.

Every single one of us ladies at this table have felt the contagious love that Jen can give and if that is even just a glimpse of the love she will show to you as her husband, you have a lifetime of happiness ahead of you.

Jen… my soul sista… words could never express how much I cherish having you as a best friend. I am so beyond proud of the amazing woman you have become and it is an absolute honor to be up here with you on your special day. I truly can’t imagine another man more destined for you than Bryan. I wish you both all the best in your new adventures as husband and wife.

Lets all raise our glasses for the newlyweds. Here’s to love, laughter and a happily ever after.

Want to see more photos? Or are you looking for the BEST wedding photographers in Calgary? Check them out here: Diane & Mike Photography.

Farahs Wedding

Last year at this time I went to my dear friend Farah's wedding (you probably know of her, she blogs at facesbyfarah.com. If you don't know of her yet definitely check her out).

Anyhoodle, last year I traveled the long 5 hour flight from Calgary to Toronto to take part in her magical wonderful day. But it was more than a one day event, there were 3 extravagant events and 5 days of visiting with WONDERFUL people.

Event 1 - Henna Ceremony 
Which included a delicious Indian feast. OMG I die... I definitely gained a good 5 lbs that trip.

That's my hand!

Event 2 - The Traditional Indian Ceremony. 
 In the afternoon I had some time to kill and it was a beautiful fall day so I went for a stroll around the neighborhood I was staying in. I am SO glad I did too. I was blown away by the colors and all the leaves! 

Fire trees as I like to call them.

More fire trees.

The Orange! All the Orange!

I feel like I could write and entire story based on this photo.

That evening was the ceremony. I couldn't get over all the rich colors. 

Its been a year now and I still love looking at these photos.

The "stage" for the bride and groom.

2 photos of the same, I couldn't pick just one to post.

Entrance of the BEAUTIFUL bride.

Now THAT is an entrance!

Event 3 - The Traditional "Western" Ceremony. 
I felt like I was at a wedding for royalty. No picture could truly show how amazing it was. And a BIG part of it was all DIY'd by Farah. Seriously, how amazing is that right? 

STUNNING!!!!

Flip-flops provided for sore feet from wearing high heels all day. 

A handmade bouquet. WOW!

Her shoes! She HAND glued all the stones on. Can you believe it?

It was one of the best trips ever. So much love. Her family and friends welcomed me like their own. I was so blessed to be apart of her special day.

If I were a critic...

Last night the boyfriend and I went out to celebrate our 1 year milestone together (it was technically last Sunday but we were hung over from our Halloween party that day and super busy all week so we planned to go out last night).

On our first date last year we went to see Paranormal Activity 3 together, so this year we thought it would be cute/romantical to go see the 4th installment together too.

The movie wasn't very good. Actually... I thought it was kinda lame. The boyfriend liked it better than me. I didn't find it as scary or eerie as the first 3 (specifically the first 2) and I swear you could see the harnesses that the actors were wearing when they would be "thrown across the room by the demons".

I'm still glad we went though, for the sentiment of it.

After dinner my man surprised me and took me to Laurier Lounge for dinner. This is where things got a little interesting (no proposal if thats what you're thinking... we both aren't there yet! LOL).

He had made a reservation for 8:30 and we got there right around that time but our table wasn't really yet. The boyfriend doesn't like waiting so he wasn't happy that we had to wait over 15 minutes after he had booked a reservation. Once we finally were sat at our table... it didn't get much better. The restaurant is an old converted house and we were sat in one of the rooms on the top floor, there was another couple and a group of about 8 people that were all just finishing their meals. In the room right beside us (that had an open window to our room) was a VERY LOUD group. Obnoxiously, arrogantly, drunkenly loud. We couldn't even hear ourselves talk to each other across the table. The elderly couple beside us said they had been there for a couple of hours and that group had only been there for the last hour and they couldn't believe how rude they were. We asked the waitress if we could be moved but the place was packed solid. She did say that the larger group in the same room as us (the quiet nice group) would be leaving any minute and we could have one of their tables that was in the corner and further away from the rowdies. We decided to take that option.

While we patiently waited for our second table to be ready, the loud group got louder and louder and more vulgar with their language (if we were at a pub I wouldn't care if people yell out F-bombs every 2 seconds, but this was a fancier romantic restaurant and it was completely inappropriate). The lady from the elderly couple and my boyfriend both stood up and peeked her heads through the window and basically said to them "you DO realize there are other people here trying to enjoy their dinners right?? Keep it down!!".

Well... that didn't help. In fact it made it worse. They began to mimic us and get even louder. When the elderly couple was gone and we had switched tables the rowdy group thought we had left so they literally started howling like wolves to prove that they could be as loud as they wanted. And they kept yelling out immature comments directed at us. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Our poor waitress was trying so hard to make us comfortable and their waitress kept asking them to keep it down too but it didn't help.

Our food came (we split the ribs and the poutine... omg... delicious!) and we wanted to have the chocolate fondue for dessert but our romantic experience was no where near romantic at that point so we decided it was just time to go home. The waitress came over to talk to us again and we told her exactly that and just asked for our bill. She came back a few minutes later and said that she had talked to the manager and he had taken care of our bill completely and had also given us a gift card with his business card attached and asked us to call him directly to arrange another night to come back. We both did not expect that. I was actually blown away at that gesture. (I told the waitress that the rowdy group should have to pay for our meals... those jerks!).

I had been there a few times before and never had an experience like that. Unfortunately that was the first time my boyfriend had been there so he has a bit of a bitter taste towards it now but I hope the next time we go that can be changed. We told both the manager and the waitress that we would definitely be back (their food is AMAZING and normally the other guests are not assholes like that). I think we will go back in December for my birthday and this time get the fondue we were both very excited for.