We returned from Las Vegas last night. Everything about this trip was easy. Both airports, both flights, check-in, food, drinks – the whole thing was amazing. Our view wasn’t as great since we were on a lower floor – floor 30 so we couldn’t see the Sphere; however, the Bellagio fountains were still in view and stunning, gorgeous. I love hearing them start to go off, and then heading out to the patio and watching the show. The first two nights we were on our own, the last two nights our friends joined us after their son graduated from middle school. He was valedictorian.
When we arrived, we checked in, headed up to the room to change, immediately left to walk over to Posh Burger at the Aria. We got burgers with jalapeno tator tots. On the way out, I stopped at Javier’s for a jalapeno margarita. Later that night, we went back to the Aria after dinner because Christopher wanted to look at the store and we wanted to grab dessert from La Patisserie. We got detoured by the glitz and sounds of the slots as Christopher spotted the new Planet Moolah machine and told me he wants to show it to me so we stopped. I put in $20. On the fifth spin, we hear the glorious sounds of bonus and wilds ringing and realize they aren’t stopping, they’re still going to the point where we won 200 free spins (the total after all was over 400 free spins) and we won $715! It was incredible. My second largest win on a slot – I’ve previously won the Mr Big bonus of $900 on the Sex and the City slot a few years back. The bonus took over an hour to finish. It was so exciting. We looked over and saw how long the lineup was for our dessert and decided to skip it. I forgot how much I love the Aria and told Christopher next trip we should stay there. We are in a long run of staying at the Cosmo (which we love!) but nice to shake it up too. We had $450 of free play at the Cosmo and used that at night to gamble – we were able to keep $350 of it and I used it over the next few days.

Night 1 – Dinner
We went to Scarpetta! I had the hot honey margarita with their spaghetti while Christopher had their filet (I think) with Peroni. It’s so yummy, one of our faves, highly recommend!

Monday, I woke up and headed down to the pool. I got an ice coffee and a blueberry muffin from Va Bene and headed to the Chelsea Tower pool since it’s on the same floor as the spa and I had my massage and facial appointments right after. I found a nice seat and set myself out when a lady walked and asked to take the chairs next to me. She asked the waitress for a menu which I had, so I reached out and offered it to her. She and her husband were so kind and so funny. They are in their mid-sixties, from California and we chatted for an hour. They were a hoot! They bought me a drink, so nice as I helped describe the menu for her and what’s good and how the pool cabanas work to book. Lulu and Manny – thanks for the drink! I headed off to the spa for some relaxation. I packed my locker with water bottles, qtips, makeup wipes, and the snack mix that Christopher likes. I enjoyed the hot tub before my sessions where I basically fell asleep. The massage was incredible. The facial was nice, fresh. She asked me if I have ever dermaplaned and said it can get rid of unwanted hairs. I had a little chuckle. I think of my mom and her chin hairs. I showered and headed upstairs to the room, realizing I forgot my LV scrunchie! I called down in a panic and thankfully they had it so I picked it up. Christopher and I went to STK for happy hour, had a cocktail. I had a salmon slider and he had a regular slider. He was leaving after to go out to some field and blow off fireworks. He rented a car, drove out to a town to visit stores and buy fireworks earlier in the afternoon. So we parted ways after dinner. I walked over through the Parq Hotel to get to the Hello Kitty Cafe and got strawberry lemonade and a donut plus a cute pair of socks. On my walk back, I saw a pug machine! I channeled Pedro’s spirit and asked him to come help mommy and of course he did. I won $100! So I walked over to Gucci and bought the sandals I’ve been eyeing for several months as they are within our travel limit. I waited for Christopher to come back, I read my book in the room while doing so, and then we sat outside and had a really good conversation. He was so happy, so peaceful, told me he doesn’t have any stress about life. The only thing stressing him is how much Vegas makes him want to smoke a cigarette, but otherwise, everything feels good. I loved hearing that. I love being happy. I love my man.

After a restful sleep, the next day I started again at the pool. This time, I got ice coffee from District and went to the Boulevard Pool. Christopher met me down there. We were down for about an hour and then went back to the room to shower. We just went downstairs and gambled in the afternoon, I was still on that first ticket! I go up, and then I go down, and then back up, and eventually land even. Christopher was similar. We headed over to Bellagio because we had reservations at Spago. We checked out the sanctuary first, it was so beautiful. I saw a dynamite game, thought it would be fate as we were planning on driving the car back to blow up the remaining fireworks after dinner. Turns out, I was wrong. Lost $50. Le poo poo. After dinner, we took a long drive out to the middle of nowhere. I mean, nothing is surrounding this place. There’s a giant field with a chain-link fence. I was the videographer using Christopher’s phone where he will post everything later on our youtube channel (HanktheCityPug). Some I didn’t like, they were loud and a little scary but others were cute. Christopher was so happy and excited, so I loved that. I also liked that it was just us and no other people were there. Some debris caught a little fire and I worried and asked if we need to do something about that but Chris said no, laughed, and eventually it burned out on its own. A jeep showed up, and they parked and watched us set off the fireworks. We left after an hour or so, started driving home. We watched the sunset as we drove back. Dinner at Spago was amazing, we had a table at the window, a nice drink each, a prawn appetizer and yummy meals. We were waiting for our friends to arrive, their flight was coming in after dinner, so we met them at the Chandelier Bar and jumped up and down in excitement to finally all be together! We played at the bar to get free drinks. Chris leaned over and said “what do I want again?” lol a Saint Germaine Spritz! We got two drinks at the bar and headed to the casino floor. We played the piggies, wheel of fortune, frankenstein. Then we headed up to Secret Pizza (which in hindsight, we should have done right after the Chandelier Bar) and I ate this glorious slice of cheese pizza. Our friend had to be put to bed by her husband lol she was so drunk and kept saying “I can’t feel my face!”. I went up to our room too because it was late but the boys stayed up for more gambling.

Wednesday morning, back to the pool, Chelsea. My friend’s husband was there first, he saved chairs so we laid there and baked. My friend arrived a half hour later and then we went in the pool. In and out, enjoying the coolness of the water in between having that hot sun radiate on our bodies. There are these great pool chairs that you float on the water in, they are so nice. Chris went to return the car, he also slept in. The three of us went to Dave’s Hot Chicken in the miracle mile at Planet Hollywood, it was tasty. We hopped in a cab and went down to the Wynn because my friend wanted to pet the leathers at Loewe. That store is so pretty. I love it all in there, so dangerous. I still want to purchase that t-shirt online but now I see they may not ship to Canada and omg how sad !! I have until June 30th to decide. I asked if they had it in store, they did not. I tried on another shirt for size, a small will work. We went over to Fashion Show Mall, I bought a shirt for Chris but it’s too small. There’s no way for me to return it, so I’ll give it to Tyson, it will fit him. We found these stunning Fendi sandals in Neiman Marcus, my friend tried them on again the next day but at Crystal Mall. I don’t own anything Fendi, plus I just purchased my Gucci sandals and didn’t want to drop $900 on shoes I wasn’t planning to buy and wouldn’t have the option to return. We cabbed back to Cosmo, I showered to get ready for dinner and our concert. We ate at Bevette’s in the Parq. It was so good, I had a salmon caesar salad and rum punch. After dinner, we dumped the boys and went to see NKOTB! I got my concert T and a tote bag. My friend bought the tote bag too. We had a blast singing and dancing and remembering when we wanted to marry (still might) a member of the band. They were a fun show. So nostalgic. Great songs.

Later that night, we went back to Cosmo and gambled for a while, then said our goodbyes and went to bed. Woke up in the morning, finished packing and headed to the airport. We were able to pay our bill in cash, and come home with almost $1,000 cash. We did so well this trip! Christopher’s parents met us at the airport with Hanky and it was so nice to hold my baby again. Chris drives like a taxi and I sit in the back with Hanky. We got home, unpacked, made a nice dinner and I got to snuggle Hanky again for the night. What a great trip, I feel so good and as always, cannot wait to return.

Tomorrow, we get to go see my sister. She and Tyson are going to make an exciting announcement to our parents !!!