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The girls from work wanted to do the Stripper 101 class at the V Theatre on August 2nd. The people who were planning on going were me, Rainee, Marie, Michelle and her mom Debbie. Rainee had to cancel at the last minute since she was going out of town. I invited my friend Alisa. She had to cancel as well. I tried to get Charisse to go, but she couldn’t make it. Michelle invited her friend Tabby. Tabby and Marie cancelled because they both didn’t feel well. Stripper 101 is a class where an instructor teaches you lap dance moves and moves on the stripper pole. I met Michelle and Debbie at the V Theatre at the Miracle Mile Shops located in the Planet Hollywood Casino & Hotel. I picked up the tickets and then went to the store to get a Monster energy drink. I was tired, so I needed something to wake me up. The tickets came with a free drink. Michelle and her mom each ordered a slushy margarita drink. We had to a sign a liability waiver. We went inside at 6 pm. It’s located in the back room. We walked in the back of the V Theatre. At the time there was the Fab Four Live show going on. The room was dimly lit and all the chairs were facing backwards to the stage. I thought it was weird that there wasn’t much light in there.. but it’s supposed to be dark like a strip club. All the girls straddled the chairs. The room looked full. There was a few bachelorette parties and Debbie was celebrating her birthday. The instructor’s name was Kindra. She worked in strip clubs for 10 years, so she had a lot of experience. The first part was learning different moves on how to give a proper lap dance. Michelle and I kept laughing because we were supposed to be sexy and touch our bodies. It was hard to hear the instructor since the show was loud. Also, a few Mexican women kept talking loudly. The instructor was funny. She was great at showing us the moves. There was a good move that had a roll, a snap and a hip dip. I forgot the name, but I remember how to do it. We got pictures taken if we wanted to do it. Debbie and I declined to do the individual picture. We wanted to do the group picture though. Michelle took a nice individual picture. The room was pretty loud. All the girls were having a great time. The next part, we learned two moves on the Stripper pole. The first was the squat spin. It was actually easy to learn. The second move was called the Fireman’s Spin. Basically, you have your hand high on the pole and you go around the pole. Then, you throw your outder leg onto the pole and it makes your legs spin down the pole like a fireman. It’s sooo much fun! I kept doing it because I enjoyed spinning around so much. It made you dizzy though! Kindra told us we would get a certificate with our Stripper name on it. She gave us a list with suggested Stripper name. We checked out the list. Debbie picked Elektra. I liked Jasmine. Michelle came up with Vixen. Kindra asked how many x’s she wanted and she picked three. We also got to pick up a page with general notes of the class and a fortune cookie. It was a great class. You get to learn, laugh and be sexy. It’s a really fun class. It’s perfect for bachelorette parties.
How did the fortune predict I would have fun at the class?
We checked out our pictures. Michelle’s individual picture was really cute. The group picture wasn’t good. We didn’t end up buying any pictures.
On August 3rd, Maria was having a birthday party at my parent’s house. Maria is the daughter of my brother and sister-in-law. She was turning 2 years old.
Maria must put on her make-up
My mom cooked a lot of food. There was chicken and pork BBQ and of course, her famous shrimp tempura. Kara brought salad (she makes awesome salad!), 10 layer dip (my brother made it) with chips, strawberries with cream and chocolate chip cookies. Charisse made brownies. Kara’s mom, Karen brought her delicious signature dish baked ziti. There was so much food! I ate so much baked ziti. Karen knew I loved her pasta and told me to save some for later. I’m glad I did! I ate way too much food! Everything was so good, I kept eating more. There was a lot of people there that I haven’t seen in a long time. My brother’s friends Scott & Stephanie, Dennis & Kelly, Rocco and his wife and Joseph came. It was greating seeing Kara’s family – her mom Karen, dad Richie, sister Dena and grandma Mimi and Uncle Kim.
Me, Kara & Karen
Maria & Maya chilling on the pink chair
There was a bunch of kids in the house at one point. The kids always seem to entertain themselves by playing games and running around.
The adults were playing board games. They played Apples to Apples for awhile, which is always fun.
Playing Apples to Apples
Maria opened her gifts and wanted to play with the toys.
I played one round of Apples to Apples. My brother, Arsenio asked if we wanted to play another game. He brought Balderdash and Sequence as well. I suggested that we make two teams and play Cranium Wow. Cranium is so much fun because there’s a variety things you do. It’s a long game though. I like when you draw with your eyes closed, sculpt different things and act like characters from popular culture. It was cake time. Maria didn’t blow out the candles though.. Kara did it for her. She had a cute Dora cake. The kids were all playing the Wii at this point. I had a great time at the party. There’s more pictures from the party on Flickr.
I was at work on Monday, August 4th. I came back from break to get my iPod. I usually take a nap on my break so I listen to Ocean Surf to help me relax. Brandon says there’s a surprise for you. He covered my eyes and took me to the surprise. It was a fruit basket. I’m like who is this from? It was a lovely gift from Ivan.
How sweet!! I took it home and shared it with my parents. The fruit was soo delicious.
On July 15th, I went to go see Marc Savard with my cousin Charisse. Hypnotist Marc Savard has a new show upstairs in the Trader Vic’s. It’s located in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Marc was one of Ivan’s hypnosis teachers at the International Institute of Hypnosis. Ivan wanted me to check out his show and buy the DVD so I can send it to him. The show is for 12 years old and older. You do have to be over 16 years old to go on stage. The showroom is small. So, he can only keep like 6-8 people. It’s an small, intimate showroom. It seems to generate a lot of energy in the room. Marc is a great hypnotist. He’s so funny. I really enjoyed the show. You have to check out this show. It’s a funny, entertaining show. I like going to hypnosis shows because they’re always different since there’s always different people on stage. The view from Trader Vic’s is beautiful. You can see the Bellagio fountains and the Eiffel Tower. I said hi to Marc at the end of show. It was nice to see him again. I’m so glad he has a new show on the Strip. He used to have the Mesmerized show at the V Theatre.
I went to see Marc Savard’s hypnosis show on Monday, July 21st. Marc was actually out of town and Buzz Collins was doing the show for the week. Ivan actually told me to see his first show. He knows Buzz since he met him in the hypnosis class. Ivan also wanted a DVD with the show. I sat in the first row so I could have a good view. I saw Ty (Ivan’s friend who does the video and sound for the show) talking to a girl. The girl looked really familiar. I just smiled at Ty from across the room. I was just waiting for the show to start. The girl who I saw came over and said I don’t know if you remember me. I looked at her closely and then said Shannondoah? It was Ivan’s friend from the hypnosis class. She is a masseuse. She gave me an awesome massage once with hypnosis. No wonder she looked familiar! She was asking if I was with any friends and I told her I was alone. She told me I should come sit by her. She was seated on a red couch on the side. She asked how Ivan was. I told her I recently visited Ivan in England and that we went to Scotland. Shannondoah always wanted to go to Scotland since that’s where her dad is from. She told me I should go on stage. Ivan didn’t want me to so I could experience the show and tell him about it. She said I’m easily hypnotized so it would good for me to go up. She was planning on getting hypnotized. I told her that I wanted to watch the show for Ivan. I said I’d probably come back later in the week to be hypnotized. Shannondoah invited me to go out with them after. I said I couldn’t go since I had to go home and sleep since I worked in the morning. Marc’s wife Joanna came to the show. Another student from the hypnosis show was there. I forgot her name though. Shannondoah did go on stage and was picked. She goes really deep. I thought Buzz would have the same script as Marc’s show. It was slightly different. Shannondoah was funny. The group that was picked was really boring. Usually, there’s two or more really good people. But, Shannondoah was the only good one. Buzz has a good stage presence. His jokes were falling a bit flat though. I think it was a tough crowd. The show was alright. It just wasn’t as entertaining as last week. I enjoy the VooDoo doll and the horse racing parts during the show.
I went to see Buzz Collins again on July 24th. I met Charisse and her friend Victoria there. I was planning on getting hypnotized. My stomach hurt. I have stomach problems so sometimes it will boil. I didn’t know if it was that or the fact that I was nervous about going on stage. I think it may have been a little bit of both. I haven’t been on stage in a few months. I’d rather go on stage to sing or be hypnotized.. than reading a speech. I was trying to convince Charisse to head up on stage too. When it was time for volunteers to go up, I took Charisse’s hand and took her on stage with me. The funny thing was.. I was going to sit by Charisse. But, I know I shouldn’t sit by her since I know her. I was left with no seat. This guy said you can have my seat. I almost didn’t get to be a part of the show! Of course, I thought later that.. the hypnotist moves people around anyway.. so I would probably be sitting by somebody else. Buzz did the induction and kept only the best people. I was chosen and Charisse was sent back to her seat. I feel really relaxed when I’m hypnotized. You hear the suggestions and you just feel like you should do them. You do have a choice of whether you want to do them. You’re not being controlled by the hypnotist. There was one guy who seemed like he was drunk or something. He was rather strange but funny. I danced like a River dancer. Buzz would shake the hand of the guy next to me. When he was shaking his hand, the guy would get a horrible case of jock itch. I kept trying to cover my eyes so I wouldn’t see it. At one point, we went to the audience and showed off our modeling skills.
Me as a model
The people in the audience were allowed to use their cameras to take pictures of the models. Buzz said sleep and it put us back into hypnosis in the crowd.
Slumped over - Hypnotized in the audience
He woke us up and we were wrestlers. I went on stage and started yelling at the other people saying I was going to beat them up. I kept screaming at this guy saying I’m going to get you punk! He kept yelling at me too. Buzz said that the night had the most people. Charisse said it was a really funny show. Charisse ordered the DVD so I could have a copy. I said Hello to Buzz Collins. He said I was great during the show. A few people came up to me and said I was really good on stage. I saw the guy who I was screaming at when we were wrestlers. He said I remember you. I remember yelling at you a lot and wanting to beat you up. I said Yah, I kept saying I’m going to get you punk! He told me he was sorry. I said it’s all good, I’m sorry too. I didn’t want to be rude. Haha. We were hanging around the showroom to pick up the DVD.
Victoria, Buzz Collins and me
On the show tickets, there’s a coupon for a free appetizer if you buy two drinks. Charisse, Victoria and I wanted to take advantage of this. We headed to the Trader Vic’s patio area. We saw two Australian guys who were also in the hypnosis show. Charisse and I both ordered a Mai Tai. Mai Tai’s are my favorite drink. They were created at a Trader Vic’s. The bartender made them really strong. We ordered some lobster pot stickers for the free appetizer. The dish was really good.. but only came with four pieces. Victoria talked to their friend Cory and she was going to meet us at the bar. We were planning on going to Krave. It’s a gay bar that’s attached to the Miracle Mile Shop at the Planet Hollywood. We decided to get another appetizer. Charisse and I picked the Calamari. One of the bartenders turned out to be Charisse & Victoria’s friend’s roommate. What a small world! The Calamari was soo good. It was a little spicy. The sauce was wasabi and aioli. There was tons of Calamari. I was addicted to it. We sat for a little while chatting. Cory came. Soon after, we decided to walk to to Krave. Krave is the only gay club located on the Las Vegas Strip. The club wasn’t crowded, but there was a good number of people there.
Check out the video I made of a dancer at Krave -
He really knew how to dance. It’s nice when you’re at gay clubs. Mostly, there’s only gay guys so they don’t hit on you. We danced so much. It was a mix of popular music and hip hop music. Charisse’s friend Aaron stopped by the club as well. We just kept dancing. Charisse told me that they wanted to go to another gay club called Goodtimes. It was goth night.
We all drove there to meet. I was waiting for Charisse to get there with Victoria and Cory. We were talking in the parking lot. Then, we heard a Ssssssss’ing sound. I said What is that? Somebody said it sounds like it’s coming from that white car. I said No, that’s my car! So, we walked to my car to see what was going on. The sound was coming from the tire. Cory tried to touch the valve but it was hot. We noticed that the tire was flat. I said Oh, great. I looked in my trunk and cleared out some junk. I had to find my spare tire. I couldn’t find a jack though. Good thing, Charisse had one in her trunk. There was a guy named Joseph in the parking lot who decided to help us change the tire. It was kind of dark in the parking lot. There were street lights, but it wasn’t that bright. I tried to pull the spare tire out of the area it was in. It was on a metal area that was made to keep the spare in. It wouldn’t budge at all. Aaron tried to pull it out as wll. This strong black guy (who was in the club earlier) helped us get the spare out. One of the girls went inside the club and got a flashlight. Joseph puts the spare on. Guess what?! Yah, it’s flat too. I couldn’t believe it! The guy who lent the flashlight to us starting talking to me. He said I’m the one who lent out my flashlight. I was thankful. He said he thought I was cute and if I wanted we could talk in the bar and have a drink. He thought I was cute because of my height (okaay, whatever). I said Sorry, I have a boyfriend. He said he thought he’d just throw it out there.
Aaron kept saying I should call to get my car towed and deal with it in the morning. There was a lady who said that there was a place down the street that was run by Mexicans. I could get my tire fixed there since it was open 24 hours. The area we were in wasn’t the best part of town. I certainly didn’t want to leave my car there overnight. I know getting a car towed can be a bit expensive. Joseph was really nice. I told him I’d buy him a drink for helping me change the tire. Joseph gave Charisse his number and said he liked meeting new people. I think he liked Charisse. I asked Charisse if she would take me to this place. Aaron wanted to go home since he had to work later that day. All the girls wanted to go with me. They didn’t want me to get mugged by the Mexicans. I said I’ll be fine. I’ll just mace them (although I don’t even carry mace). But, I do know how to take care of myself. It was only five minutes away to the place. It was empty except for the two Mexicans who worked there. I told one of the men my situation with the tire. He said he would look at it. I sat down while the girls stayed in the car. It only took a few minutes. One of the guys was trying to explain it to me, but I don’t think he spoke much English. The guy who fixed it told me that the valve broke. I said does that happen often. He just nodded. I don’t even know if he understood me.. but I think he did. I asked how much. He said $8. The tire had air again and he even washed it. I was happy and put the tire back in the trunk. We drove back to the Goodtimes parking lot. I haven’t changed a tire in years. I remember doing an instructional video of how to change a tire (and other problems you can encounter) for Driver’s Education class in high school. My brother helped me and my classmates make it. My teacher kept it to show future students. It was funny cause in the middle for some reason it had my dad playing tennis. I guess it was an old tape that we taped over. Anyway, Victoria was jacking up the car. Charisse had texted Joseph that we were back with the tire all fixed. Victoria did a good job of jacking up the car. Joseph came out of the club to help us out. He jacked up the car more and took off the spare tire. Then, he put the tire back on. Everybody wanted to get home since it was really late (or early in the morning) like 4 am. I felt bad and apologized to Charisse, Victoria and Cory. They said it’s fine. We all hugged and went home.
I was thinking of sleeping early on the night of June 20th. Then I’d be really tired on the plane. But, I ended up getting like 6 hours sleep. I know I needed it since I haven’t been sleeping much lately. I woke up on Friday, June 21st. I went to get some last minute errands done. I had to buy my contacts. Then, I returned my library books. I came home and showered. I was ready to go after that. My mom and Dad drove me to the airport. I checked in my two bags at the airport. I got an aisle seat. I forgot that I could check-in online beforehand. I went to the gate area upstairs. I had a small pepperoni pizza at Pizza Hut. I didn’t have much food all day so I was hungry. It was taking forever to board the plane. They kept calling names to the counters. They actually called my name. I proceeded to the counter to see what was going on. The guy said how many bags did you check in. I told him two bags. Then the woman next to him said yes. Finally, we boarded the plane later on. The plane was a big 747. There was actually seats upstairs as well. Virgin Atlantic is a nice airline. We had some pretzels and a drink for a snack. Then a little while later we had dinner. I had chicken and rice. It came with a roll, cracker and cheese. I also had a red wine. The food was good. The airline gave us little bags filled with a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, a pen and a sleeping mask. There was a good selection of things to watch like movies and comedy channels. I was thinking of sleeping. I couldn’t get comfortable for some reason though. My butt seemed to hurt. I even played my Ocean Surf on my iPod. It usually is very relaxing and helps me sleep. I only rested for a few hours. But, I don’t think I got any proper sleep. I was too excited to get to England. We were close to landing. The captain got on the intercom to talk about the weather. He said that it was depressing weather. It was rainy. I laughed at this in the bathroom.
Finally, we landed in London at 10:05 am on June 21st. It was a delay of about 15 minutes. I went through Immigration. It went relatively quick considering there was a long line. The guard asked me who I was visiting. I told him my friend. He asked if my friend was from England. I said yes. He then asked if we met here or in the US. I told him the US. He asked how long I had known my friend. I told him a year. So, off I went to get my luggage. The display screens weren’t showing any information. So, I waited to see if my luggage was going to arrive. I was there for a few minutes. Finally, I went to find an information desk. I asked where the flight 44’s baggage was. She said it was on 7 but the luggage is now on the floor. I got my luggage and left. There was nobody in the Customs area so I exited. I was so tired at this point. There were many people waiting for people. I hoped that I would be able to find Ivan. I saw him. We were going to ride the train and then switch to another train. It seemed like a lot of walking. I think my tiredness just made it worse. We were staying at the Marriott Hotel in the West India Quay which is in the Docklands. It’s a great area. We had a view of the water.
It was a great hotel. It’s very pretty inside.
Ok, I think England is backwards. The escalators have people going up on the right and people going down on the left. Of course, they drive on the wrong side of the road and the driver’s seat is on the right side. I noticed that the bathroom light is outside of the bathroom. On the keyboard, the @ and ” have switched places on an English keyboard. The toilet seats don’t usually have a handle. There’s a button to press instead. I’m sure there’s other things as well.
We took it easy that Saturday. I slept around 5 hours that afternoon. That night, we went to a pub close by called The Cat and Canary. Ivan wanted to watch the football (soccer) match. It’s the Euro 2008. The match was Holland vs. Russia. It turned out to be a draw, so it went into overtime. I had half a pint of Fruli, which is a great fruity Strawberry beer.
Next, we walked to La Tasca. It’s a Spanish tapas restaurant. We had ordered a bunch of little dishes. We had potatoes with spicy tomato sauce, Spniash Manchego cheese, shrimp cooked in olive oil and garlic, white fish in a batter with a roasted garlic mayonnaise, arroz with broccoli and chicken skewers. It was really good!
Ivan and I went to Leicester Square since the West End Live event was on on June 22nd. We only caught the end of Jersey Boys. We did see the cast of Mama Mia. But, sadly they were lip syncing. It was filled with people. We then walked to Trafalgar Square. There was an Indian festival going on. The chariots were coming in as we got there. The square is really big.. it was packed with people. There were some Hare Krishna’s there. They were singing and dancing in a circle. Then, we walked to Covent Garden. We saw a street magician perform. They also have jugglers. It’s a nice area to walk around since they have lots of shops. Then, we went to an internet cafe. It’s cheap like $2 for an hour. We went to a backpack store. There’s so many outdoors stores in London. I’ve been looking for a great big backpack for our world trip. Las Vegas doesn’t have a good selection of backpacks. So, it was great to look at some backpacks in London. I tried out the North Face W Terra 40. I was thinking about the W Terra 40 or the Solaris. The W Terra is a nice size and is big enough to fit a lot of stuff. It’s more expensive in London. So, I’m definitely going to buy it online.
We went to a pub called Two Brewers where I had a half pint of Kronenberg.
That night, we ate at Busaba Eathai. We had some fish cakes. I really enjoyed the yellow curry. The red curry was a little too spicy. We went to The Comedy Store. It was some great comedians there. I really enjoyed it. It’s improv and similar to Who’s Line is it Anyway?
On June 23rd, we were going to take the Thames Clipper boat. For breakfast I had a ham, roast chicken, onion and olive oil pasta salad. It was good. I also had a Breakfast2Go smoothie from Kruger. Ivan suggested this smoothie. Although, it wasn’t as tasty as Ivan’s Famous Smoothies. The boat was pretty fast. It had great scenery all around. We saw Tower Bridge.
We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It’s simply beautiful inside. Unfortunately, there was no picture taking in the cathedral. We walked across the Millennium Bridge. It’s a long bridge. We were headed to the Tate Modern. It’s a modern museum. Public museums in London are free.
They had a great exhibit called Street Art. The artwork inside was good. I saw a Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. We walked back across the Millennium bridge. I was still jet lagged. I was just super tired. We went to go move into Ivan’s flat. It took forever for his roommates to read and sign the paperwork. It was a nice view from the agent’s office. I love looking at water. It’s relaxing and quiet in Ivan’s new neighborhood.
We were going to see a musical with Ivan’s family on June 24th. I was really nervous about meeting his family. I just don’t know what they’ll think of me. Will they like me? Ivan’s mum Denise and his brother Neal arrived at his flat. We then met his Dad and took the train. We went into London. His mum and dad were going shopping. Ivan, Neal and I walked to the Punch & Judy bar. We sat outside and had a drink. I don’t know what we had.. but the beer was really strong. Then, Neal got us more beer. I seemed to like the taste of the second beer better. Originally, we were going to all eat at a Greek restaurant. Ivan’s parents finished early with shopping and got to the restaurant early. We ended up eating at an Indian restaurant called Masala Zone.
They had these dolls hanging from the ceiling. It was really kewl. There was a special going on.
I had a chicken thali. It was delicious. We walked to the theater to meet Ivan’s parents. We were going to see We Will Rock You. It’s a musical with Queen songs. Oh my goodness.. it was just simply amazing! We were seated in the fourth row.
So, it was a great view and the sound was so loud. I loved it! It was a good night. I liked meeting Ivan’s family. They’re great people. His mom is really cute. She’s short like me.. a little taller though. His dad is nice. Ivan and Neal get their height from their dad, who’s 6 foot 2. Neal was very funny. I get to see them more this weekend. We’re going to Southend-on-Sea to stay at their house.
The weather’s actually been nice. It gets a little cold. But, I always have my jacket with me. It hasn’t really rained. I love the buildings.. they’re so old. London is a great city. We have been taking the tube a lot. I’m glad Ivan’s my host around the city. I’d get so lost without him. He knows London so well too.
Ivan and I went to Isla for dinner at Treasure Island on May 23rd. We started off with the Chipotle Adobo Guacamole. It has pumpkin seeds in the guacamole. It’s pretty tasty. We each got a Margarita. Ivan got the Strawberry Margarita on the rocks while I had a blended Raspberry. My drink was smooth and delicious. Ivan got his favorite dish at Isla the Chicken Breast Mole Poblano. I got the Roast Pork Pipian. My dish was alright. Ivan enjoyed his dish. We were thinking of getting dessert. But, then Ivan said he was too stuffed to eat anymore.
We went to go see Mac King for the second time at Harrah’s on May 24th. He’s a great magician. I am still amazed at how he makes goldfish appear out of nowhere. He’s very funny and entertaining. He does a lot of tricks like cutting a rope and card tricks. It’s a great afternoon show and cheap.
Ivan and me at CatHouse
Ivan and I went to eat at CatHouse at The Luxor for dinner. We got the best seat in the house. It was a booth with the closest view to the one-way mirror that contains a girl in lingerie getting ready for the night. We started off with our favorite starter the Fromage Fondue. It was delicious as usual! We had the Mini Crab cakes next. It’s three petite crab cakes with a nice sauce on top. We had some drinks. We had the Pear Martini and the best drink on the menu, the Multiple Orgasm. For the main course we shared the Brick Roasted Organic Chicken. This is a big dish with two pieces of chicken on top of farro. It was really good. We decided to get dessert. We didn’t go with our usual the always tasty Red Velvet Cake. We tried the Creme Brulee with Berries. It was really good and light. It was a great dinner at my favorite restaurant in town. The only thing that irked us.. was that the waitress added a service charge onto the bill. Ivan asked about this and she said that it was so we wouldn’t have to figure out the tip. Of course, it was 20%. What a load of crap! Ivan was mad because it was her telling him what to tip. That’s just rude.
We walked to the Caesars Palace from The Luxor. We were both a little tired.
We went to go catch Dane Cook at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace. We were a little early but decided to sit down. We each got a fruity drink. There was a host who told some jokes. He was alright. There was an opening comedian. I can’t recall his name at all. He was good. Then Dane Cook came on. He was funny, but not amazing. Ivan was so tired, he didn’t get to enjoy the show. I think I enjoyed him better the last time we saw him at the Mandalay Bay Events Center last year.
Ivan and I went to Tao Beach on May 25th to see Bad Boy Bill. But it was packed, so we couldn’t get in. We decided to chill by the Venetian pool instead. We could still hear the loud music plus it wasn’t crowded. Ivan went to get a snack for us. We shared a BBQ Chicken wrap. He also ordered some fruity smoothies.
That night, we headed to Tao for dinner. We got the Lobster Dumplings and the Stuffed Shrimp for appetizers. Both dishes were good, but the Stuffed Shrimp were just heavenly. We shared the main course the Salmon with Udon Noodles. We also got a side of Eggplant. The eggplant is so soft and has a great sauce. The salmon was very good. It was a great meal. When you eat at Tao, they stamp you and this gives you a line pass to the club. It means that you get to go in the smaller line to gain access to the nightclub. We asked to get stamped. Since we had just come from the pool, we were in casual clothes. The guy said we couldn’t be stamped now because we weren’t in dress code. Ivan brought up that this was stupid.. because we were going to head home to change and them come back to the club later. Of course, they wouldn’t let us into the club anyway wearing a t-shirt and jeans. But, it was alright since we were able to come back later with the receipt and get stamped before we headed to the nightclub.
We stopped by the V bar inside the Venetian. Unfortunately, there was a DJ event at V bar so they were charging a cover. We went to the bar at David Burke. We had a few different drinks. They were quite tasty. We headed back to the nightclub Tao to see Erick Morillo. It was crowded. They had a DJ on.. he was okay. We were just waiting for Erick Morillo to come on. He finally come out at 1:40 am. We stayed to dance for about 30 minutes. Ivan was tired and wanted to head home. It was definitely a good night with great food, drinks and dancing.
We went to the Wet Republic pool at the MGM Grand in the afternoon on May 26th. We ordered some food. Ivan got the Lobster Wrap. I got the Grilled Chicken Panini. Each dish comes with potato chips with assorted nuts. We also shared the fruit bowl with frozen yogurt. My sandwich was decent. The different fruits were pretty good. DJ Jazzy Jeff played a set. He was good, but played too much r&b for me. We swam a little and chilled on these green chairs that are in the shallow part of the pool. Roger Sanchez finally came on at 4 pm. We only stayed 15 minutes of Roger’s set. We had to go across town for a BBQ.
Ivan and I headed to my sister’s house for a Memorial Day BBQ with my whole family. We brought some Asian Veggie burgers and had those with bagels. I also had some chicken bbq, steak, salad mixed with cranberries and walnuts, and noodles. We played with the kids outside playing soccer. Then all the kids went out front to ride bikes. My nieces also had a battery powered Barbie jeep. Anissa was driving around in the jeep with Maria in the passenger seat. My brother was flying his remote-controlled airplane. We were playing the Wii. I love the tennis game. We also played boxing. It hurts a lot! Ivan enjoyed playing Dance Dance Revolution. He played Battle Mode with my sister-in-law Kara. They also had the Wii Fit. Games like Hula Hooping, Ski Jump, Heading Soccer Balls, Ski Slalom, Table Tilt and Tightrope were played. Ivan beat my brother’s high score at Hula Hooping with a score of 283 spins. I had fun spending time with my family and playing the Wii. My arms were definitely sore the next day from playing tennis, bowling and boxing.
We went with the Australian couchsurfers (Hannah and Andrew) to go see the show Folies Bergere at the Tropicana on May 27th. This is a classic showgirls show that has been running in Las Vegas for 50 years. It’s a topless show that has many girls with big feathers and dazzling costumes. The show showcases the different styles of women from the 1850’s up to present day. I didn’t think the girls were that good-looking. Their boobies were small in size.. but I guess it’s better to be perky and small in a topless show. Of course, the bigger boobs were fake. I enjoyed the Can-Can at the end.. it was a lot of fun. This was the first showgirls show I’ve ever seen. It’s a good entertaining show.
We watched one Bellagio fountain show. Then Ivan decided that we walk across the street to eat at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. Ivan ordered the French Onion Soup. It was a big cup of soup with delicious gruyere cheese on top. We shared the Crab Cake & Gribiche Sauce. It was good. We shared the main course of Fennel & Pepper Seared Ahi Tuna Salad. I really liked the salad. I didn’t eat much of the tuna. .
Ivan and I went to Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Hotel on Thursday, May 8th. The view was beautiful on the balcony. We could see the waterfall at the Lake of Dreams. We ordered from the Prix Fixe Menu that contains three courses. Ivan got the Chilled English Pea Soup while I got the Caesar Salad for our appetizers. Ivan ordered the Salmon with Mushrooms for his main dish. I got the Chicken Poullis. The dish came with two drum sticks and two chicken breasts that were so tender. For dessert, Ivan got the Warm Pear Clafoutis. I got the Chocolate Hazelnut Fondant It was really rich chocolate. Each dessert dish was average. It was a nice meal in a cool setting.
We went to the Hard Rock open bar at the pool on May 9th. It was an event with Eek-A-Mouse. We stood in the long line to get a drink. It was filled with a lot of people. We walked around the pool area to check it out. There wasn’t much going on, so we left to get some dinner.
Ivan and I wanted to eat at Firefly but there was a long wait. Ivan suggested Marrakech which is in the same shopping center. It’s a Moroccan restaurant. The bread came out first.
This restaurant has belly dancers dancing to great music. The girls were twirling around and dancing around the room. I don’t know how they move their belly that fast. The first course was Shrimp Scampi in lemon, wine and garlic sauce. The sauce was great with the shrimp and bread. Ivan didn’t like the shrimp. We got Harira Soup next, a traditional lentil soup. Ivan ate the soup. We received the Hummus with vegetables. It had onions, cooked carrots, red beats, cucumbers and red peppers. We got a tasty Shrimp Kabob next.
The Main course was a Cornish Game Hen with Cous Cous. It was a pretty big dish. Our dessert was B’stilla. It’s a huge filo dough pastry filled with nuts, sugar and fruit. It’s topped with sugar and cinnamon. It tasted so good. We were also served a sweet Moroccan mint tea with our dessert. The tea had a great flavor. It was a great meal.
Ivan and I went to see Yellow Brick Road at the Boulder Station. The band played great. They performed songs from different rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Rush, Aerosmith, Queen & David Bowie. We saw the first half of the show and then went home.
We went to my niece Anissa’s 6th birthday party on May 10th. It was at the Little Pastry Chefs place. It’s where kids can create cakes, cookies and pizzas. Her classmates, sister, and cousins were there creating different things. Ivan wanted to make stuff, so he helped out my niece Maria.
The first thing they created was small pepperoni pizzas. Ivan saw pictures where the kids wore chef’s hats.
He looked around the place and found a hat to wear. Later, my brother saw an apron and told Ivan he should wear it. I guess it completed his chef’s outfit!
Then, they were practicing using frosting to make pictures and decorations. The kids each got a cake and were allowed to decorate it. The kids all got to keep their cake and take it home with them. It was a fun time.
Ivan and I went to Tao Beach on May 11th. We met up with two Polish couchsurfers. It’s always nice to chill out here. It was only a little busy. They have a big jacuzzi there. It’s great sitting and talking. I was reading a travel book and Ivan read a magazine. We chilled for a little while. But, we were both hungry so we decided to leave to get some food.
We went to Grand Lux Cafe for dinner. Ivan ordered the Seared Rare Ahi Tuna Salad. I got the Portofino Chicken Salad. My salad was really good with chicken breast, glazed walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, red onions and different types of lettuce mixed in the House Vinaigrette.
Ivan and I went to Salo Salo Grill on May 12th with my family. We were celebrating Mother’s Day. We had some great food such as Crispy Pata, barbeque chicken, noodles, egg rolls, Chicken and Beef BBQ, Inihaw na Hito (grilled catfish) and Korean BBQ Beef Shortribs.
Ivan booked tickets for Nathan Burton. His show is usually at 4 pm, but it was 8 pm on this night. It turned out to be Press Night. We saw lots of celebrities there such as Lance Burton, Robin Leach, Penn, Criss Angel, Mac King, Wee Man, and the girls from the X Burlesque show. This is a good comedy magic show. The last trick made somebody appeared behind a curtain. It turned out to be Emmanuel Lewis (who’s an actor who starres as Webster in the 1980’s).
We went to Kung Fu Restaurant on May 13th. We ordered our usual appetizer, the always tasty Fish Cakes. Our main dish was the Sweetened Green Curry with Chicken. The service was pretty fast on this night.
We went to go see the movie What Happens in Vegas. This movie starrs Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. Joy is dumped by her fiance while Jack loses his job. They both fly to Las Vegas with one of their friends. Joy and Jack meet each other in Vegas. They have a fun night out. They end up get married during their drunken night. Jack wins a huge jackpot with Joy’s quarter. You can not win a progressive jackpot with only one quarter. They’re back in New York a judge orders that they should try to live together and work it out. The person who doesn’t cooperate will not get their share of the money. It shows all the dirty things they do to try to sabotage the other person. The movie was good.
I met Ivan at Wet Republic after work on May 14th. This is the new adult pool located at the MGM Grand. The main pool is pretty big. They also have a medium sized pool that has a volleyball net. Then on the side there’s two narrow jacuzzis. The pool is filled with salt water. Ivan had been previously and knew there was speakers in the pool. So, if you went underwater you can hear the music. That’s pretty kewl. We shared the Kung Pao wrap dish. It was a decent size. The dish came with shrimp with bean sprouts, peanut sauce, mushrooms, lettuce and wraps. They recently added really big speakers. The music sounded distorted. We swam around for a little while then headed home.
That night we went to Rao’s at Caesars Palace for the second time. The first time the food was really good. So, we both were looking forward to a good meal. We wanted a booth so we waited at the bar. Ivan ordered us two pear martinis. They tasted really good. We were seated at the booth. The area is nice with pictures of celebrities on the wall. Ivan and I shared the Mini Ravioli Soup. It was horrible. The broth tasted like water and the raviolis were supposed to have three different cheeses inside. The raviolis didn’t have much of a taste and you could barely taste any cheese. Ivan complained and it was complimentary. Our main course was Uncle Vincent’s Famous Lemon Chicken. I’m not sure why this dish is famous. It was actually quite ordinary. It was part of a chicken with lemon sauce. We decided to order dessert since we were still hungry. We got the Crostata di Mele which is a Granny Smith apple tart. The dish was sweet and tasted good. We were very disappointed with the food.
Ivan and I went to my brother-in-law’s sister’s wedding shower on Saturday, May 17th. His sister Rosemary is getting married next month. It was being held at my sister and my brother-in-law’s house. It was a pretty hot day. There was so much food there such as tempura shrimp, noodles, rice, chicken bbq, chicken fingers, pork BBQ, vegetable eggrolls, fruit and chips. I ate too much chicken bbq since I haven’t had it in awhile. The backyard is really big and it has a playset for the kids with a climbing area, slide, money bars and swings. Ivan and I played with my nieces and one of the little girls at the party. We both went down the slide. I climbed up on the play set. We were pushing the girls on the swing. Ivan was helping the girls with staying on the monkey bars. I was swinging high on the swing trying to go higher than my niece Maya. We had fun at the party. We had to leave early since we were going to see O at the Bellagio.
We went to see “O” show. It’s a Cirque du Soleil production. It was the only Cirque show that Ivan hadn’t seen in Las Vegas. So, he was looking forward to seeing it. The show was decent. I found it really amazing the first time I saw it. But, that was years ago when I’d only seen a few shows including Mystere. I didn’t think it was spectacular this time around. Ivan was bored during the whole performance. He thought it was crap. It’s odd to know that this show still sells out weeks in advance.
For a late dinner, Ivan and I went to Casa di Amore. It’s an old school Italian restaurant located a few minutes off the Strip. There was entertainment there with George Bugatti singing and playing the keyboard. He was pretty good. We started off with two appetizers Roasted Peppers and Sauteed Mushrooms. Each dish tasted good. The waiter kept singing the songs when he brought the food to the table. We ordered the Chicken Francaise. It’s chicken with sauteed mushrooms, garlic and a lemon sauce. The main course dish was delicious. This is a cool restaurant with great food.
We headed to Michelle’s Graduation BBQ Party on May 18th. Michelle graduated from UNLV majoring in Advertising. Some of her friends, family and family friends were there. There was
good food to eat like burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit and vegetables. Ivan and I put on our bathing suits and went in the pool. The pool is five and a half feet deep. So, I couldn’t stand up in the middle of the pool. The pool was a good temperature. We had a few drinks. We chatted with everybody for awhile. Then Ivan hypnotized two girls. One of the girls got distracted though. Joel’s girlfriend April was hypnotized but she was really shy. She didn’t seem to want to talk at all. It was still amusing though. We had a great time at the party.
We were planning on eating at N9NE at The Palms on May 19th. But, unfortunately the restaurant didn’t have an opening until late. So, Ivan suggested we go eat at Simon restaurant at Palms Place. This is the new restaurant by Kerry Simon. The bread basket had some awesome breads. It had a few crackers. There was a cheese cracker which so tasty. Also, there was a nice garlic roll. Ivan got a Zen drink and I got the Watermelon Martini. Both drinks tasted nice and were refreshing. We got the Colossal Crabcake for an appetizer. It was crunchy on the outside and had big chunks of crab inside. It tasted good. Our main course was the salmon topped with pineapples with couscous and a mango sauce. It was delicious. We got a side order of sauteed mushrooms. It was the best sauteed mushrooms I’ve ever had with a taste of garlic. We ordered dessert. The waiter suggested the Dark Chocolate Cake with caramel. It was a little cake with chocolate and caramel inside. This cake was heavenly. The waiter also brought us a complimentary bowl of cotton candy. This was a wonderful meal.
Ivan, Ivan’s friend Ty and I attended the Dr. Scott Lewis show at Riviera on April 28th. Ivan and Ty went on stage to get hypnotized. Ivan was translating Martian, Riverdancing, being mean to Kelly Karl (Dr. Scott Lewis’ assistant) in the Love Connection game and dancing like a Chippendale. It’s always fun to watch Ivan when he’s hypnotized. He’s just so funny.
Ivan and I went to Kung Fu Plaza Thai & Chinese Restaurant on April 29th. We started off with the Papaya Salad with a Hotness of level 3. The salad was a little spicy. We also got the great Fish Cakes. They tasted similar to the fish cakes at Lotus of Siam. We shared the Sweetened Green Curry with chicken. It was a good portion and had great flavor. We also ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice. Ivan and I were both so full from all the food that we didn’t get to eat much of the Pineapple Fried Rice. It tasted slightly sweet. This restaurant has good cuisine with cheap prices.
Next, we headed to the last part of the Self-Hypnosis class. During the class, people talked about their script that talked about their goal. The scripts that were read were pretty good. John Zulli also walked us through another hypnosis experience. The class was really good. I’m definitely going to try out my script and self-hypnosis to accomplish the goal of losing weight.
We went to the Morels open bar at The Palazzo on April 30th. We had some sweet Lychee Vodka drinks and watched the Sirens show at the TI from the balcony. The dress code was dressy casual, so it seemed like a different crowd than we usually see at the open bar events. We had a couple drinks and I was actually buzzed.
We walked to the Wynn to find a nice restaurant to eat at. Unfortunately, Okada was booked up and the outdoor seating at Morels was closed. So, we walked back to the Palazzo. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe. Grand Lux is an awesome restaurant. The portions are huge and the food tastes great. We shared the appetizer Vietnamese Chicken Summer Spring Rolls. The spring rolls were very fresh. I got the Pasta with Chicken, Sun dried Tomatoes and Mushrooms for my main course. The combination of the cockscrew pasta with the chicken, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese was delicious. Ivan ordered the Thai Chicken Pizza. I previously thought the Thai Chicken Pizza sounded odd, but it’s actually good.
Ivan and I went to see Yellow Brick Road at Boulder Station on May 2nd. This band is a Classic Rock Tribute band. That night the band was playing a Pink Floyd Tribute. The band played the whole album of Dark Side of the Moon. They did play other songs from Wish You Were Here, The Wall and Meddle. Yellow Brick Road sounded just like Pink Floyd. It was awesome! When they played Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, they brought out about nine kids to sing the “We Don’t No Education” part. Then at the end of the song, a British gentlemen in a judge outfit came to do the “How can you have any pudding, if you don’t eat your meat?” part. Other songs that they performed were One of These Days, Mother, Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb, Welcome to the Machine and my favorite Wish You Were Here. We’re going to check them out next Friday to see their regular show.
We went to the Pinball Museum on Saturday, May 3rd. We played pinball for almost an hour. I love the games Family Guy, Wheel of Fortune, Lord of the Rings and Spiderman. I wasn’t having much luck though. I kept losing my balls rather quickly during a few games.
That night, we went to go see Penn and Teller for the second time at the Rio Hotel. The show had three new parts. I’m still amazed at their magic. It’s great that they show how some of the tricks are done. This show is funny and very entertaining.
Ivan and I went to ride the dune buggies with Sun Buggie Fun Rentals on May 4th. Ivan had a free voucher for a 2 seat buggy for an hour and a half. He told our guide that we wanted to go fast. But, for some reason our buggy was pretty slow. The guide didn’t seem to know where he was going. We were going over mostly rocky areas instead of all sand areas. I kept getting bumped up and down.. and that hurt my butt. It was alright time. We’ve had more fun on previous occasions.
For dinner, we went to Quark’s Bar and Restaurant at Las Vegas Hilton. It won an award on AOL for being one of the Most Unique Restaurants. The atmosphere is cool with the stars and Star Trek ship above the restaurant. Star Trek characters (like Quark) walk around the restaurant. They also play Star Trek episodes with English sub-titles. We both had a soup. I got the Clam Chowder which was really big. Ivan had the Grilled Chicken Khan Sandwich. I had the Photo Torpedo Sandwich (basically an Italian sandwich). Both our sandwiches came with cold pasta salad. The food was average. I’m not sure why it’s one of the most unique restaurants.
After dinner, we drove to see Second City at the Flamingo. This show does sketch comedy. Ivan heard good things about this show. It was not very funny. I laughed maybe a few times. Ivan thought it was really bad.
We went to go eat at Kung Fu Plaza Thai & Chinese Restaurant on Monday, May 5th. We had the Fish Cakes to start off with. Then we ordered the Tom Yum soup with chicken. It was just the right spiciness at a Hotness of 2. We got the Sweetened Green Curry with Chicken again to share. We love the food here. Sometimes the service is a little slow though.
That night we met Michelle at Diablo’s Cantina at Monte Carlo. We ran into my friend Alisa and her husband Jay. We had some good margaritas and a few beers. Their margaritas are really good. The bar was giving away a trip to Cabo San Lucas. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. They had a band playing that was alright. There were so many people there. Another band came on later. They were bad.. it was a heavy metal band. My cousin Charisse met us there too. It was a fun night.
I was really tired on Tuesday, May 6th. I went home to get some sleep after work. I took a long nap for a few hours. We had two French couchsurfers staying with us. They cooked us a late dinner. It was crepes with mushrooms, onions, cheese and meat. They tasted great! We had french bread and a nice salad. We also had a dessert crepe with strawberries and honey.
Ivan and I went to the second part of the Self-Hypnosis class on April 22nd. Some members of the class talked about their thoughts of the self-hypnosis exercises. I wasn’t the only one who fell asleep during the longer second part. There’s actually two ladies in the class who have never been hypnotized. Last week we were to write down a goal that we wanted to accomplish. This week our homework is to write a script (based upon our goal) that we’ll be reading to ourselves before we hypnotize ourselves. Next week, we’ll be hypnotizing ourselves in class. I have actually hypnotized myself twice before. I like learning more about it. I also like getting an idea of what to say to myself when I’m hypnotizing myself.
Ivan, me, the Manchester girls (Amy & Beth) and Michael went to Todai Sushi on Wednesday, April 23rd. We love this sushi buffet. It has a variety of fresh sushi, crab legs, noodles, shrimp tempura and desserts. We had a good time eating. The girls had never had sushi before. I ate too much as usual.
That night we went to Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel. We love Wednesdays nights at this nightclub since they play house music all night long. There was an open bar, so we got a few vodka drinks. The dance floor was actually busy early. Usually nobody starts dancing until midnight. The first DJ mixed Rocket Man. I kept picturing Stewie from Family Guy being cool saying the lyrics of Rocket Man. Next, Heidi was DJing. She’s plays some cool, unique music. We danced for awhile. I had to go home early since I had to work the next morning. I watched Family Guy when I got home and they played that episode where Stewie recites the lyrics of Rocket Man. How funny!
We met Emily (a French couchsurfer) and Andrea (a local couchsurfer) for the open bar event at the V bar inside The Venetian on April 25th. It was advertised as free cocktails and appetizers. But, it turns out ladies were each given one complimentary drink ticket for a Pomegranate cocktail. If you’re a lady wearing high heels, you would get an extra ticket for every inch of your shoes. We had some egg rolls and a drink. It was taking forever to get served since the bar only had three bartenders working.
We decided to head to Dos Caminos for dinner. We all had the Guacamole. It was so spicy that you couldn’t taste the ingredients as much. Ivan and I shared the Shrimp Empanadas. They were okay, nothing special. We got the great Dos Enchiladas for our main course. It was great as usual.
We all hopped into Andrea’s car to head to our condo. We had a drink and then got ready for the evening. We went to JET at The Mirage. It was really busy, so it’s good that we arrived early. We still had to wait in line for like 20 minutes. Andrea and Emily had met a guy (earlier in the day) who said he could get them in. He gave them wristbands that included free drinks until midnight. When we entered the club, a guy gave us four drink coupons. We had a bunch of drinks and danced for hours.
Ivan and I went to participate in the Freezemont Experience on April 26th. This event was being held downtown in the Fremont Street Experience. Ivan heard about this on the couchsurfing forum. Improv Everywhere has done other similiar events like Food Court Musical, No Shirts and Best Buy. Below is a video highlight of one of their events called Frozen Grand Central.
Frozen Grand Central
A group of people gathered near an area by the Golden Nugget entrance. The plan was to stop moving right after the 8:00 pm show. We were to remain frozen for 5 minutes. Ivan and I froze while holding hands. I was looking upwards at the Fremont Street Experience in wonder. I had my mouth open, which was bad cause my throat was getting dry. It wasn’t too hard not moving. People weren’t sure what was going on. We started moving after the five minutes and people started clapping for us. It was an interesting thing to do. I hope to see the video on youtube soon.
We walked to the Golden Nugget to go eat at the Italian restaurant Grotto. We each got a glass of the Riesling wine. It was really strong and tasted great. Ivan had the roasted garlic chicken pizza. I ordered the Chicken Fettuccine with mushrooms and peas. My dish was tasty with a different type of sauce. Ivan’s pizza was good.
We walked to the Neonopolis theater to go see Harold & Kumar Escape from Guatanemo Bay. The movie takes place after the first movie. Harold is still thinking about Maria. He and Kumar decide to go to Amsterdam so he can find Maria. Unfortunately, they run into trouble on the plane and they’re thought to be terrorists. Harold and Kumar get sent to Guatanemo Bay. All sorts of craziness happen and they escape jail. It’s a funny movie. It’s not as funny as the first one, but it’s still a good movie.
We went to Tao Beach with Emily and Andrea on April 27th. It’s a topless pool area for people 21 years old and older. It was a little busy. We had a frozen lemonade drink and went into the pool. They have a new stupid rule there where you can’t hold your drink in the middle of the pool. So, you can be in the pool at the side and hold your drink or outside of the pool. Emily and Andrea left early since she wanted to see the Paris and Luxor Hotel before she headed to the airport. They have a lot of reserved chairs and tables at Tao Beach. People start leaving around 4 pm and you can get a better seat. The Sunset Sessions starts around 5:30 pm and they start playing nice house music. We moved over to the big round bed area to relax. We read travel guide books and just chilled out. It was nice. The sun always makes me tired. It was annoying my eyes that day.
Later on, Ivan and I went to see the 3 Redneck Tenors at the Luxor Hotel. The show has the redneck tenors singing opera and television songs. It shows their rise to stardom. They do different shows like Wrestling, Disco, Elvis and dressing up as women. It’s a fun show filled with redneck humor and lots of great singing. At one point, they brought out the guitarist Nicholas Marks from America’s Got Talent. The end of show the cast made noises to the song Beethoven’s 5th. It was so funny.
Ivan and I went to Ago at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, April 11th. There was a special 944 event there. It was slow though since it had just recently started when we arrived. We each had a drink and relaxed by the pool. We were both hungry so we decided to go inside the restaurant to be seated. We ordered a special salad which had arugala, caramelized walnuts and bits of cheese. It was really good but a little too salty. We shared the Trofie alla Genovese. It’s twist pasta with pesto potatoes and green beans. It was really tasty. We also got the Tonno Scottto con Caponata di Verdure. It was two big pieces of ahi tuna on top of an eggplant. The tuna was good.
We drove out to the Clark County Fair in the early afternoon on April 12th. It’s an hour drive to Logandale from the Las Vegas Strip. We noticed a long line for the Logandale freeway exit. I squeezed the car in at the beginning of the line. Otherwise, we’d be sitting there forever. There was still a long wait for miles after getting off the freeway. We later noticed that there was a accident that caused the big delay. We were trying to make it to the fair by 1 pm so we can catch Marc Savard’s first show. Marc Savard is one of Ivan’s hypnosis teachers. Ivan and I both wanted to go on stage to get hypnotized. Marc’s show was family oriented since it’s at the fair. The show was really funny. We saw about half of the first show. We went to check out the food stands. We got some Chinese Food. We each got the dish that came with an eggroll, fried rice, noodles and a chicken shish kabob. It tasted good. Ivan and I both went on stage for the second hypnosis show at 4:30 pm. We ate some roasted pecans and funnel cake. The fair had a variety events like Wild about Monkeys, pie eating contest, small animals display (pigs, roosters, rabbits, goats, etc.), bands, comedy magic and retail booths. I had a gyro for dinner. It was pretty big and tasted good. There was also a carnival. We only rode one ride at night. It made me a little nauseous. We had a good time at the fair.
Ivan and I went to go watch No Country for Old Men in the movie room on Sunday, April 13th. The movie was alright. The ending didn’t make sense to me though. We were both confused on what exactly happened at the end. I really have no clue why this movie won an Oscar for Best Movie.
That night, we went to see Wayne Brady at the Venetian. His show is called Making $#It Up. The name fits since he combines improv, comedy and music into his show. He makes up a song with an audience member. He also pulls out four people from the crowd. The people create props for the scene that Wayne and his friend Jonathan create. Wayne dances, sings and tells jokes. He’s very entertaining and funny.
On Thursday, April 3rd, we went to eat at Company American Bistro in the Luxor. We started off with the Vietnamese Summer Roll with Shrimp, Mint & Peanut Sauce. It was alright. Ivan got a banana flavored drink while I got the Company Perk. Ivan loved his drink. My drink was very good. I ordered the main course Herb-Roasted Organic Chicken. It came with sauteed mushrooms and rice. It was a big delicious dish. Ivan got the Roasted & Spiced Vegetables. He liked it a lot.
Ivan and I then went to see Carrot Top. He’s so hilarious when he pulls out the props. I think he should have done more of that. He’s still funny doing jokes. I enjoyed his show. This is a fun show that will have you laughing a lot.
Ivan and I went to go eat at Dos Caminos on April 4th. We went with two couchsurfers named Claire and Hannah. We all shared the wonderful Guacamole. I could eat their guacamole everyday. We shared the Cazuela De Queso Fundido with roasted garlic, artichoke hearts and spinach. We got the Grilled Shrimp Quesadilla again. It’s sooo delicious. This is a great restaurant with awesome atmosphere, good food and friendly staff.
We went to the Pink Taco at the Hard Rock for Cinco de Taco on Saturday, April 5th. We started off with the Guacamole. It was good, but a little salty. We each got a Sauza Margarita. The food came out very fast. Ivan had the Burrito Mojado with chicken. I ate the Chicken Tacos. My dish was good. We thought they would have more of a celebration there. But, the specials weren’t any different than the Happy Hour specials. They did have a mariachi band. Supposedly, the restaurant was going to have a pinata, but I didn’t see one.
We had time to waste before heading to my friend’s party. We went to Whole Foods and bought some healthy food. Then, we went to Green Valley Ranch Resort to play arcade games. Unfortunately, the arcade didn’t have any pinball machines.
We headed down to the street to the party at Josh’s apartment. We were the first to arrive to the party. Ivan played some Guitar Hero. He was pretty good at it for a beginner. More people began showing up. They decided to play Beer Pong with teams of two. I told Ivan he should play. It was his first time playing and he was really good. I’m so bad at beer pong. I hate having to drink the warm beer.. ewww! Michelle is always good at beer pong. She thinks she’s the beer pong champion. I only had one mixed drink with Absinthe. I knew I’d be driving home, so I didn’t want to drink much. Next, Michelle thought they should play King’s Cup. Josh was looking around his place to find a deck of cards. He couldn’t find one. He went to Walgreens to buy a deck. King’s Cup is a fun game. I didn’t play, but it was hilarious watching the game. When you draw a card, there’s a different thing you have to do. It was really crazy when people kept making up rules that everybody had to do. My favorite rule one was when you had to say penis at the end of every sentence you said. Ivan wanted to hypnotize somebody. He did hypnotize Kevin who works at the Bell Desk of the hotel I work at. He was a little drunk so certain things didn’t work. He hypnotized Dena (my sister-in-law’s sister) next. I was watching Josh and his brother Jeremy play Gears of War in the meantime. It was a fun night.
I got to sleep in on Sunday, April 6th. I love sleep. But, we do a lot of events during the week, so it seems that I’m always catching up on sleep. We were going to watch No Country for Old Men in the movie room. But, the colors on the DVD player are screwed up. So, we didn’t end up watching it there. Ivan complained about the colors (it shows too much green and reds) in December.. but obviously it’s still not working properly. Hopefully, they’ll actually fix it soon, so we can watch it later this week.
Ivan wanted to go check out Anthony Cools again. Ivan decided to go on stage. This was his third time being hypnotized. Anthony Cools is really funny. Ivan kept seeing this lady flash him when Anthony said his name. He also danced with a guy and had a fake wedding with him. Ivan’s really funny on stage. Anthony also had all the people on stage show off their sex skills with a chair. One guy kept dancing around the stage when a Tom Jones song came on like Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Anthony Cools is a good adult hypnosis show.
Ivan and I met our roommate Michael and his friend Rada at Sushi Mon on April 7th. We decided to check out the other location on West Sahara. This sushi restaurant is all you can eat for $25.95. We had so many different types of sushi. We also had some edamame and tofu. Ivan and Michael had a sake shooter. It has a raw quail egg in it and Ivan wouldn’t swallow it. I got the green tea ice cream for dessert. The sushi was good, but the other location on Maryland has better food and service.
We walked to the Paymon’s Hookah Lounge. Michael thought it was called Pokemon. Ivan agreed with him. Rada and I laughed at them. They didn’t know that Pokemon is an anime. We decided to get Caramel & Double Apple for the hookah flavors. I ordered the drink Babylon Spice. We had a good time smoking hookah and chatting.
Our last stop was The Artisan Hotel. It’s a small hotel on West Sahara. It’s a cool place. The lobby has a lot of artwork everywhere even on the ceiling. There’s also statues, a suit of armour and a baby grand piano. We went to the bar area to have some drinks. Ivan had a Kashmir. I ordered a great tasting Black Orchid. Ivan played some tunes on the piano and then we headed home.
We went to Table 10 at the Palazzo on Tuesday, April 8th. This is a new restaurant by Emeril Lagasse. Ivan had an Absinthe Sour. It had tons of fresh blueberries in it. It still had that licorice taste but not as strong. I had the Metropoli-10 drink. My drink had a nice mild taste. We shared the appetizer Miso Marinated Blackened Cod. It was very tender. On top of the cod, there’s clear noodles and a vegetable salad. There’s a tasty sauce that the cod sits in. We had the Grouper for our main dish. It contains onions, peas, Yukon Potatoes and a mushroom sauce. The Grouper was plain in taste. It tasted great with the potatoes and the mushroom sauce. The potatoes were so good. We actually had room to order dessert. We were undecided between the Banana Split and the Almost Flourless Bourbon Chocolate Cake. Our server recommended the Banana Split. I’m so glad we ordered it. It is a delicious re-creation of the original Banana Split. The dish has a big scoop of chocolate ice cream in the middle topped with cubes of pineapple and topped with marshmallow fluff. It sits on top of strawberry sauce. Around the ice cream there’s four slices of banana spring rolls. The banana spring rolls are crunchy. It’s so great all mixed together!
Ivan and I went to the Mandalay Bay Pool on March 27th. We ate at the grill there. Then we went into the wave pool. Next, we swam around in the lazy river. We headed back to our seats and laid out. We read some magazines. I was reading The God Delusion. I was really tired and fell asleep.
We stopped by Border Grill for dinner. This restaurant has a patio area that faces the pool. We sat upstairs on the balcony. We started off with Plantain Empanadas which are always great. We tried the Aztec Avocado Ceviche. It had a great fresh flavor to it. I ordered the Kobe Beef tacos. Ivan had the Portabello Mushroom Mulitas. My dish was good.
We woke up early on Friday, March 28th. We were going on the Funniest Dam Tour. This is a funny tour that takes you on a tour of Hoover Dam. Our tour guide Joni was really funny. She made fun of everybody on the bus and told us lots of jokes. She’s very knowledgeable about the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. Joni gave us funny glasses to wear when Security came onto the bus.
Here’s me and Ivan wearing our glasses.
We took the tour of the Hoover Dam and learned more about the dam. We met Joni to walk across the top of the dam and hear more about the dam.
Everybody went on the bus and we drove to a hotel in Boulder City. One part of the group went to see the museum while the others got to each lunch. So, we looked at the museum and waited to eat lunch. Finally, we sat down to eat.. we both had the Chicken Parmesan sandwich. I had onion rings while Ivan got the potato wedges. The sandwich was nothing special.. but we were both starving, so we both wolfed it down. I liked the onion rings though. We headed back to the bus and drove to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory & Cactus Garden. The part where they make the chocolate wasn’t in operation. Our guide said it was because they were getting new equipment to make the chocolate faster. We walked through and got our dark chocolate truffle sample. Ivan and I walked through the Cactus Garden. It was a fun tour.
That evening, we went to the Red Rock Hotel to see Earth, Wind and Fire outside at the pool area. We decided to have dinner at the cafe. I had a great Tuscan Chicken Salad. We went out to the concert. Ivan loves 70’s music and enjoyed the show.
Ivan and I went to the Amusement Showcase International at the Las Vegas Convention Center on March 29th. It’s a convention that’s filled with video arcade games, photo booths and touch screen jukeboxes. We played lots of games, pinball and took silly photos. It was cool playing the new pinball machines Shrek and Indiana Jones. Ivan and I like playing the racing games to see who wins. We played Nascar and Wacky Races.
We went to the Grand Lux Cafe at the Palazzo with the Swedish couchsurfers for dinner. Ivan and I shared the Chicken Lettuce Wraps. They’re so tasty! My main course was the BBQ Chicken Pizza. It’s a good pizza. The crust was delicious. Ivan had the Polynesian Salad. He said it was okay.
Later, we went to the Palms Hotel to see the movie 21. This movie is based on a book. It’s about a couple college students who count cards in Las Vegas and earn a bunch of money. The main character Ben Campbell is trying to earn $300,000 so he can attend Harvard University. I thought the movie was okay. I was hoping it would have more action. Ivan thought it wasn’t good. I really like the song Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John that is on the 21 soundtrack.
On Sunday, March 30th, we relaxed most of the day. That night, Ivan and I went to see the Chippendales with the Swedish couchsurfers who were staying with us. I’ve never attended a male revue show. The Chippendale men do a lot of dances with pelvic thrusts and wear different costumes. I can’t believe that at one point… they have their backs to the audience and rip off their underwear.. you see their private parts.. really just a shadow of it (since the lights go out right away). All the women in the audience were going crazy. I found it a bit amusing. The men are very muscular and only a few are good looking. The guys take up a few girls on the stage. It’s a good show.. not my type of thing though. Single women are sure to enjoy this show for the dancing and the eye candy.
We went to the CatHouse at the Luxor on March 31st with the Swedish couchsurfers and a couchsurfing couple from New Zealand who are teaching in Japan. We ordered the Fromage Fondue to start off with. We both love the fondue. Ivan kept recommending it to the couchsurfers. Ivan and I shared the Potato Leek Soup with Maine Lobster. I really enjoyed the creamy soup. Ivan and I both had our favorite drink the Multiple Orgasm. Our main course was the Brick Organic Chicken. It was really good. The service is usually really good. The service was bad.. I think since the restaurant was really packed. Afterwards, we went to the loungerie for Madame Monday. There was actually a lot of people there. The music was great with a good mix of different types of music. The club offers free champagne to women on Mondays. We had so much fun dancing the night away.
Tuesday night, we took a nap to catch up on sleep. We stopped by the Circus Circus to play some pinball and video games.
We went to the British Foods store on April 2nd. I bought some toffee for my friend Cory. He claims English toffee is better than American toffee. Ivan bought some Heinz baked beans and some chocolate bars. The store has a variety of items including frozen items, chocolate, teas and souvenir items from England.
Next, we went to the British pub Crown & Anchor. Ivan and I decided to order some dinner. I had the Chicken Curry over rice. Ivan got the Fish & Chips. Both dishes were quite tasty.
Ivan had a Kronenberg which is from Germany. I had the Wyder’s Raspberry Cider. The cider had a great taste. We went to go play darts. Ivan had a Stella Artois and I ordered a Magners Cider. Ivan won the first round and I won the second one. It’s a nice pub with good food and a nice selection of beers. Ivan bought the Daily Mail. It’s contains the same stories, but the newspaper is printed in America.
We drove to the Hooters Hotel to see Bobby Slayton. We were early for the show, so we went to the Tropicana Hotel to play video games in the arcade. We saw Bobby Slayton before. Ivan got free tickets, so we decided to go again. He’s very funny. He did have a bunch of new material and some old jokes. It was a good show.. but I did it enjoy it more the first time.
