Sin City Demands Sin… | Spring Break 2016

Friday, 13 May 2016Saturday, 14 May 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Last time on Spring Break 2016, the bachelorette party crew enjoyed a lot of good food, some poolside chillin’, and an amazing concert at the new T-Mobile Arena by The Killers, with Wayne Newton, Shamir, and special appearances by the Blue Man Group and Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons. After all that excitement, it was time to get ready to leave Las Vegas…

Thursday was our last day in Vegas, and I woke up with the sun yet again despite how dead-tired I was the day before. But it was going to be our last time seeing the desert and the craziness that is Las Vegas, so we just enjoyed it while packing our things. At this point, Kristine had already flown to LA (which I momentarily forgot when I woke up and thought I had kicked her off the bed whoops) so Megan, Jennifer, and I just chilled and finished the champagne and orange juice we had while waiting for the boys to pick us up in the rental cars and watching HGTV. (I think I understand why people get so into HGTV now; we watched two full episodes of Flip or Flop because we just felt too invested.)

I was so willing to wait through anything, though, because the bachelor and bachelorette party crews were finally uniting over a magical thing: gluttony at Wicked Spoon. I am a big fan of buffets and was pretty excited to try out the caliber of buffet that Vegas offered, seeing so many trips by so many friends that checked off this Deadly Sin off their list.

Considering that we had been waiting in our hotel for this epic food-stuffing for over an hour, we were completely famished. Walking in was a little bit overwhelming for me, because I knew that I wanted to pace myself but also that I wanted to eat a lot of food and fast. These, as you can imagine, are conflicting goals. So, I took a stroll around the buffet to get an idea of what I definitely wanted to eat and what could be passed over in case I got too full.

A view of the buffet — A view of a portion of the buffet (the salad part, because goodness knows I needed this section)

Wicked Spoon is nice in that they do small, individual portions of food instead of having you scoop out too much of every dish and realizing that you got too excited too soon. (This happens to you too, right? … right??) So they call it “small plates”-style but it’s perfect because you just get a little dish of food and you don’t have to share anything muahahahah! This also aids in pacing because you can only fit so many little dishes onto your plate.

Let’s just share some photos of my food now, shall we?Read More »

Gotta Gotta Get Down… in Vegas| Spring Break 2016

Friday, 22 April 2016Friday, 22 April 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Last time on Spring Break 2016, I landed in Vegas for my friend, Megan’s, bachelorette party and we headed straight to the club to get our dance on. After 26 hours awake and a weird song choice by the DJ, we called it a night so we could have energy for the next day…

I was pretty surprised by how not-late I woke up, thanks in no small part to the sun streaming through our open window. It was my first full day in Las Vegas (and Paradise, if you want to pick bones about it) and I was excited to leave the frigid cold of the DC area behind. (The day before my flight, I endured a blustery 30°F walk to work.)

First order of business was brunch/lunch at Mon Ami Gabi! We actually do have locations in the DC metro region, but none of ours are below the Eiffel Tower with a gorgeous view of “Paris”. I have never been to the locations over here and I’m not sure I can ever go knowing that it won’t be as magical as it was over in Vegas. It’s a really cute restaurant, and the hyperrealism that Beaudrillard wrote about is in full force here as you sit in a “Parisian cafe” on the Strip. In anticipation of eating a lot of waistline-unfriendly food for this trip, I stuck with a really yummy salad and we all kicked off the day with yummy food in our bellies.

Ah, la vie en rose... — Sous le ciel de Paris, erm… Las Vegas

Salad with salmon! (Full disclosure: I thought this was going to be smoked salmon, but this was actually very well cooked.)

Meanwhile, the bachelor party crew was at Hash House a Go Go. While I had seen Christine mention going there before, I didn’t realize that the portions were hilariously humongous, as evidenced by the photos we were sent to incur jealousy. Warning: You may want to share food here, do not try to be a hero!Read More »

Club Going Up… in Vegas | Spring Break 2016

Tuesday, 19 April 2016Sunday, 31 July 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Let’s kick off recap season strong, shall we?

Although we had planned to get everything ready the Monday evening before our trip, Ben and I kind of zonked out and had to ready ourselves to wake up early Tuesday morning because there was just no way I was going to shower or finish packing Monday night. I was already too exhausted. We did, however, spend a decent bit of time bopping our heads to some get-hyped music:

SO. It’s 4AM Tuesday when I roll out of bed to finish packing and to shower and get myself ready to go! The work day flies by and the next thing I know, I am back at home and a miracle happens: my package is at my door! It has arrived at the latest possible moment, but I can bring my new sandals and swimsuit on my trip. (Which is great because I bought them for the trip, so.)

Ben and I head to the airport, park our car, and I proceed to be 100% passed out on the plane. Except for the one time than I was awakened because there was now a cup of water and a snack on my tray table. (Note: NEVER ever wake me up for things like this when I am flying, I will fly into a sleepy rage.) After my little nap, we arrive in Las Vegas! Almost an hour early, actually, thanks to a nice headwind.

SO, I got dropped off at Planet Hollywood while Ben went off to Don’s bachelor party suite at Stratosphere. While Ben was greeted with shots walking into his suite, I was greeted with a much tamer scene. Some cell phone chilling and fish tacos!!

It's Britney! On my hotel keycard! — It’s Britney! On my hotel keycard!

Anyhow, we arrived in Vegas at close to 11PM and my crew headed to Omnia at around midnight. At this point, I would like to remind you that I woke up at 4AM Eastern time. That translates to 1AM Pacific time. And now I am only leaving the hotel at 12AM Pacific time. And while I was not greeted with shots, being greeted with the NSFW bachelorette party goodies in the hotel room was a strange experience in and of itself… (Given that I am the vigilante who will herd children away from the bachelorette party section of Spencer’s. They get lured in by the Pikachu backpacks and start walking towards the lava lamps and they don’t need to see all the sex toys in between!)