What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Even though K turned 30 a couple weeks ago, this past week was the ultimate celebration. We left on Wednesday for a trip to Vegas, with several surprises along the way that I'd been working on for about 3 months. I wanted so much for this to be a wonderful birthday for him!!

Surprise #1: Ryan and Leah

Ryan co-owns our boat with K, and the two of them have been friends since long before K and I started dating. He and his wife Leah are an amazing couple who are not only so much fun to hang out with, but are also very generous and loving with true servants' hearts. Their laid back personalities and great friendship made this trip all the more memorable.

As we were riding the escalator down to baggage claim at the airport, a crowd of people holding signs awaited us. K looked over at me and jokingly said, "Where's my sign?" 2 seconds later, he spotted Ryan and Leah in the crowd holding this:


He ran, jumped in the air, and gave them both huge hugs with a look of surprise and excitement on his face. The suspense had been KILLING me up to that point, so needless to say I was so relieved and also way excited to see them there!

Surprise #2: Flo

I cannot take claim to this surprise as it was all Ryan and Leah's doing. As we walked out of the airport, they escorted us to Flo - a cherry red 1948 Ford Cabriolet that they had rented for the day. That night we cruised up and down the strip with the top down. We felt like movie stars. :-)

Surprise #3: Stan and Carolyn

Stan and I worked together for several years before his recent departure to Bank of Texas. Over the past few months, I have gotten to know his wife Carolyn, and they have also gotten to know K. They happened to be in Vegas at the same time celebrating their 4-year wedding anniversary. It was a real blessing to be able to share parts of the trip with them. They are such a fun and relaxed couple, so easy to get along with, and truly enjoyable to be around. Another very memorable addition to our Vegas memories.

They met us up on the balcony at Margaritaville after we had checked in to our hotel on Wednesday. As he walked up to our table, K turned to me in amazement and said, "Is that Stan????" Yes, yes it was Stanton indeed.

Surprise #4: The Barrett Jackson

So before I met K I never heard of the Barrett Jackson. Apparently it's this ridiculously famous car auction held every year in Scottsdale, AZ. K often watches old reruns on Speed TV - how entertaining. This was the inagural year for it's premiere in Vegas, held at Mandalay Bay. I have to say, Leah and I did not anticipate enjoying it nearly as much as we did. Listening to the auctioneer himself was fascinating. I mean, he talks faster than the Micro Machines man in those old TV commercials.

Most of the cars seemed to be going for dirt cheap. K was very tempted to register, but in the end held out. We took thousands of car pictures. This happened to be one of his favorites:

Surprise #5: O

We spent our final night by having dinner at Penazzi in Harrah's, then going to see O at the Bellagio by Cirque du Soleil. The show itself was AMAZING!!! The acrobatics and even just the stage itself was unbelievable. Much better than Mystere, and less random than a big blow-up snail ending.

Earlier that day we toured the casinoes. The first picture below was taken at the Wynn, 2nd is of course the fountains at the Bellagio, and 3rd is of us with Stan and Carolyn before O.




We stayed at the Flamingo, which ended up being a great location - centrally located on the Strip and close to everything we needed. Our "Go" rooms were quite modern, flamboyant, and hot pink, but well worth it. The best part? Being able to watch TV from the bathroom mirror while getting ready in the morning. They also had a really cool pool that we laid out at on Friday afternoon.

Thankfully we returned on Saturday to have Sunday to recover. We didn't gamble too much - mostly played slots and ended up breaking even thanks to a last-minute win on the Tobasco machine before leaving our last day. We will likely return one day, if not to Vegas for the Barrett Jackson again then to Scottsdale for the auction in January. Maybe next time we'll even come home with a hot new ride....

NASCAR, baby!!

After attending the Stars game on Friday night, along with the movie Fireproof followed by a romantic dinner last night, K and I rounded out the weekend on an adventurous edge. This morning we made our way out to Texas Motor Speedway for a 10-lap driving school via Team Texas. It was seriously one of the most fun things we've ever done...

We began with a 30-minute classroom training session followed by on-track training in a van. Afterwards they put you in a Nextel Cup Monte Carlo - the real thing - for 10 laps around the track. An instructor is with you in the car, but because the engine is so loud you can't hear anything. The only way to communicate is through hand signals.

The whole process was fascinating to me. I have to admit I was extremely nervous. I had irrational images of crashing into either the wall or another car, spinning out, my car catching on fire, tire blow-out - you name it. I think what specifically triggered my fear was the language within the waiver form acknowledging that driving the race car could result in serious injury or death. How nice.

So you start out in 2nd gear with the clutch pushed in. A 4-wheeler pushes you along from behind and when the instructor says so, you let off the clutch and somehow the engine magically starts. After shifting into 3rd and then 4th, you're finally able to enter the track. They have white squares marked around the track to help guide you. The majority of the driving is done in the 3rd lane. On 2 of the 4 curves, you're required to take your foot completely off the gas until you're on the inside lane. Once that happens, you can accelerate again, and even pass slower cars that are in front of you.

My instructor was a guy named Tony who I loved. He had to help me steer around some of the curves because 1) the steering wheel was unbelievably tight and 2) I was afraid of running into the wall so stayed farther away than I should have. When passing, you're essentially supposed to tailgate until curve 2 comes, when the slow car moves to the outside lane 3 and you speed and pass on the inside lanes. I did this twice, which was extremely exhilarating. The 2nd time, I held back and was scared of hitting the car in front of me, but apparently I wasn't going fast enough because Tony reached over and pushed my knee down with his left hand so my foot would press the gas pedal harder. A couple times he told me to slow down, usually on the back stretch where we topped out at 150 mph. Did I say 150 mph? Yes, 150 mph!!!

K's experience was equally as enjoyable. We love doing different things together for fun, and this was definitely extreme. Here are a few more pictures from the day:

K getting ready. He was in group 1, I was in group 3, so we got to watch each other race.

His car - 01 Army. Fate given that he graduated from A&M in '01. :-)

My turn - walking out on the track to my car - 07 Jack Daniels.

Coming back in...

Happy B-day to K!

So this Saturday we attended a marathon wedding. We were literally gone from our house for 10 hours, with the ceremony beginning at 2:30 and reception ending at 11:00. Thankfully they had a photo booth for entertainment. Not so thankful to have my husband's tongue in my ear on 2 separate occasions.

This Saturday was also K's 30th birthday. Old man!!! Cat is out of the bag that we're going to Vegas to celebrate. I had been planning a surprise trip, but he found out the final destination months ago thanks to my admin, of all people. Regardless, we will still have an amazing trip - Happy B-day to K!!!

I've been tagged

Apparently in the blogging world there is such a thing called "tagging." If you get tagged, it is up to you to list 5 random things about yourself. I do not make up the rules, and normally would not partake in such games, but with my cool friend Em as the tagger I couldn't resist...

1. I have a subwoofer for my computer. I've had it since college. Our dorm neighbors hated it, but Cath and I had some seriously awesome dance parties / karaoke nights back then. I still like to turn it up really loudly and sing to my computer screen sometimes.
2. One time I did a cartwheel in my office. It was back in the old day when we had high walls on our cubes during the holidays and times were slow. A lot of people were out on vacation. I don't think anybody saw me except for Jan and Steph...
3. I like to rent movies from the library. Save yourself from going to Blockbuster, people! Recent rentals include Vantage Point, Juno, with Baby Mama and P.S. I Love You on hold.
4. I know all the words to Estoy Aqui by Shakira in Spanish. Ask Em - we used to jam to this one also in high school while using our thumbs as a microphone. Really - we were cool I promise.
5. I had a mole removed from my chest today. Kind of gross, but a random fact nonetheless.