VBS mission trip?

James and I like to frequent a neighborhood karaoke bar. Neither of us has ever participated, but it's fun watching people perform, and usually plays pretty good music. And they serve popcorn & chex mix for free. The other night, we were there with a couple of friends, and one of them decided to sing, so we were perusing the book. (Am so proud of her! I don't think I could do it.) I, of course, was looking to see what children's/ Disney type songs they had, and was amazed... They had a WHOLE CATEGORY of kids church songs!!! I threatened to get up and sing B-I-B-L-E or Who Did Swallow Jonah, but James said no. :) They even had "An Austrian Went Yodeling"!!!! (which, I may or may not have thought was called "An OSTRIDGE Went Yodeling" until my senior year of high school...)

Anyone up for hosting VBS in a bar?

Prayer Request

Hello everyone...

Just got an email from one of our tailgating friends... His wife (I've met her a few times, but James knows her fairly well) fell at her gym last night, and is now in the hospital with several broken vertebrates and is paralyzed from the arms down. The email we got was understandably pretty sketchy, from a frightened and devastated husband, but as best as I could tell, she was in surgery this morning to try to stop some internal bleeding and repair some of the vertebrates. They have a 4 year old daughter.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

A Beautiful Bride

Something Old:
Her (great ?) grandmother's butterfly brooch, pinned to her boquet.

Something New:
A fantastic dress.

Something Borrowed:
My veil.

Something Blue:
wouldn't YOU like to know?!

for all the pics, click here.

Again with the random sleeping habits...

I woke up a little before six today. I never do that. Unless...


That's right, we've been to Vegas. again. oops. We may have a problem. :)


This time, just Dad came with us, and we stayed downtown. No convertible this time, but we did get to cruise around in a 2010 Infinity that had some serious zippy under the hood and NO KEYS! (Pushbutton start is so weird to me...)


No poker luck this trip... I made 3 final tables, but never cashed... that is FRUSTRATING, let me tell you. I still love blackjack, and I actually 1/2% understood what was going on when I played craps with dad.


We got to see each extreme of Vegas... Arrived on Tuesday to a practically empty town because it was in the morning on a week day. Left on Saturday night from MGM, an hour or so before the big UFC fight started... even Dad said he didn't think he'd ever seen that many people there.


Tuesday night, we went to The House of Blues to see Ben Folds- he was GREAT. I think Dad really enjoyed it. He is an impressive musician. Unfortunately, it was standing room only. They had a few tables around, but on top of the regular ticket price, it was a minimum $250 bar tab just to sit down. Needless to say, we stood for nearly 4 hours through the opening act & the concert. The opening act was incredibly bizarre. One thing that always strikes me about Vegas is the amount of unrecognized talent. There are TONS of street performers & players in little dives that are great, but just not quite good enough to make it in a town full of world class acts. This makes even the cheap shows and opening acts enjoyable. Usually. This opening act, however... they were three girls and a guy that were from the northeast UK, and sang only solo funeral dirges. Seriously! One was about a whole town being killed when a mine collapsed, and another was about a women who had several babies, but they all died. On top of that, while one girl was singing, the others just kinda stood around looking bored. It was very weird... anyway, it was ok, because Ben Folds more than made up for it.


Wednesday night, we saw Terry Fator. Absolutely fantastic. If you're not familiar, he's the ventriliquist/ impressionist that won two seasons ago of America's Got Talent. He is now (deservingly) the most successful reality show contestant... after he won the million $ & one year at The LV Hilton, the Mirage picked him up for a mere 5 year- $100 million contract. Anyway, sry if you knew all that. But he was GREAT. If you get the chance, go see him.


As always, some great food was involved, and it was an all around great trip. But then, will I ever go to vegas and NOT say it was wonderful?



***Update: i've left my wallet in the room safe, and my purse & phone in pleasanton. *sighhh*

Super Excited!!!

James & I start Ballroom dancing lessons tomorrow!!! I'm soooooo pumped. He will be Gilles & I will be Lacey (from Dancing With The Stars). Wheeee!!!!

Ow. I tell you what, Ow.

So earlier today, I gouged my hand with a pair of scissors. I was trying to cut the packaging off our new can opener (YAY- gnawing is no longer the most effective method to open canned goods!!!), the scissors slipped, and of course, since they were open, cut my hand in two separate places.

I just thought that hurt...

Later, I was boiling some water in my tea kettle. Usually, the handle is heatsafe, so you can pick it up without mitts, even when the water is boiling. Not so today. It was super hot, so I tried to quickly set the kettle back down, and when I did, some water sloshed out on my hand. That sent the kettle flying, pouring almost the whole kettlefull directly on me. Or rather, directly on my right boob. HOLYPOO.

So now my right chestybits are covered in bandages & an inch thick layer of burn cream. The doc said usually second degree burns arent that bad, but since they're on such a *ahem* sensitive area, they're having me come in for the next few days to clean & have the bandages professionally changed. I got a tetnaus shot (I didn't even tell them about the scissors fiasco), a pain shot, and some vicodin. I'm totally looped right now, and very happily itching like mad, because I'm no longer in much pain. I already slept for a few hours, and I woke up a couple of times with my face held in very theatrical positions... like... a big giant "hmmmm...", an "eeeeeew" crinkled nose, and a very skeptical "uh, yah right". So g'night! I'm off to have some incredibly bizarre dreams...

Messed Up Internal Time Clock

Argh... I must say, this is rather annoying... Maybe it's Vegas... We spent a week there, and I could hardly hold my head up past 11 pm. Now that I'm home, and it's desirable to be asleep at 3:30 am, I just can't do it. It's all very weird for me... usually, I'm practically narcoleptic, & can always snooze on command, and in Vegas, I'm good to go on nothing but a shower & neon lights in my eyes. Now, this is the second night in the last few days that I simply cannot sleep. Oh well.

So yah, Vegas :)

James' birthday was the 22nd, so we went for that and for the beginning of March Madness. James thinks they invented that tournament in honor of his birth.

Mom & Dad actually got to meet us there for a few days! It's been AGES since I've been on vacation with my mom, so it was really nice. I had a mid-day nap partner, and James had a basketball watching partner. I was sad they couldn't stay the whole time.

We stayed at Harrah's, and saw Jersey Boys, Rita Rudner, and a hypnotist show. If you get the chance, SEE JERSEY BOYS. It's really fantastic- definitely one of the best shows I've ever seen anywhere.

We ate at a couple of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at (one was The Range- pretty much everything we ate was the best thing we'd ever tasted) , and ate THREE TIMES at In-&-Out Burger. yummm... On James' birthday, we ate at The Eiffel Tower Restaurant... wow. I've eaten at some fancy restaurants, but this one was definitely right on up there with some of the swankiest. Our waiter was zees leetle French man weeth zees outRAGEous accente... He seated us at what HAD to be the best table in the house/ in town... up in front of the window, overlooking the strip, with the Bellagio & it's fountains RIGHT in front of us. It was incredible. (see below). They served Amuses Bouches (remember Monica serving them, & Chandler said, "well... they are amoosing..."??) of tiny little cheese puffs, then some AMAZING french bread, then scallops for an appetizer, & our main courses. Then, our waiter came out singing, & carrying this tiny little pudding cup on a plate that had "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on. THEN, we shared a chocolate souffle (drool), and then a plate of some teeeeeny little candied fruits, chocolates, caramels, nougats, & tartlets. Holy Moly. All the while, we got to watch the fountain show every 15 minutes. :) OOH, the funniest part: I asked where the ladies' was, and the waiter led me all the way there, held open the bathroom door for me, and when I got inside, there was an attendant that held open the stall door for me, & then prewarmed the sink faucet for me before I washed my hands. Sheesh... of course, I couldn't stop giggling about it...

ANYWAY...

We actually got out of town one day & drove to see Hoover Dam... pretty cool. But I'd still rather be in the poker room. The first day we were there, I won a tournament for $380!!! Somehow, even 8 days was not long enough for us... Hopefully, we'll be back soon :)

For all the pics, see here.

The view from our table at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.

My hair pretty much stayed messed up because we got to drive around in this cute little red convertible. :)

You can't tell in the picture, but I'm actually in Arizona & James is in Nevada.

Over the dam.

I know, I'm a nerd...