I gave most of the stitchy part of the trip in yesterday’s Viva Las Vegas (Part 1) post.  Today’s second (and final) installment of the Viva Las Vegas series will cover the gambling part of the trip.

As I mentioned yesterday, we all won a little something.  That really made the trip that much more fun.  I was actually the first person in our group to hit for a win.  It happened on Thursday night after dinner.  I was playing one of my favorite games — the 5X Diamond slot machine.

I actually like all the Diamond slot machines, but having the chance of getting that 5X multiplier is pretty appealing.  Speaking of which, if you look closely at the photo, you may have noticed that I did indeed hit on the 5X multiplier with a couple of 7′s on the wheels.  Normally speaking, having any combination of three 7′s on the wheels would yield 120 credits.  Since I had the 5X multiplier, that gave me a 600 credit win.  w00t!!  Needless to say, I cashed out immediately rather than risk losing it all again.    So, what exactly did that mean?

Yep, $150!!  The other $4.75 was what I had left of the $10 I put into the machine initially.  Who says playing quarter slots can’t pay off?!

Still high from my slots win the night before, I was a bit hesitant initially about gambling more the next morning.  I ended up deciding to give it a go though and threw $20 into a video poker game since Annette was already set up playing on one.  Well, I’m glad I did since I won again!  As soon as I hit for a small win, as is my way, I cashed out. Yeah, casinos probably hate me because I take the money and run!

Last up in the gambling department was bingo on Friday night.  It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve played bingo and it’s definitely come a long way in the interim.  Did you know that bingo has gone all high-tech?!  Well, it has!

They have electronic bingo “cards” now that even mark themselves.  Gone are the days of big paper sheets of bingo cards and ink daubers.  These days, all you have to do is sit and enjoy your drink until it’s time to yell BINGO when you win, which I did!  I hit for a $100 win on a triple bingo game.

Annette’s mom, Pat, also won a $100 game.  The big winner at bingo was definitely Terri though!  She cashed in winning two games and took home a tidy sum.  I’ll let her share that news on her blog if she wants.   While Annette didn’t cash in on bingo, she did manage a nice win on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine I posted about yesterday.  Again, I’ll let her post about that if she wants.

Speaking of Annette, please keep her family in your thoughts.  Her grandmother passed away early yesterday morning.  Due to that, she’ll be taking a short break from blogging.  You can certainly go by and leave a condolence note in her comments though.  I’m sure she would appreciate the love & support now.

Oh, and thanks to some enabling help from Cheryl, I found some great brick fabric for the stand-up that I mentioned in yesterday’s post.  I ordered it today, so hopefully I can actually figure out how to make a stand-up and finally finish-finish my Ho Ho Ho piece nearly four years after I stitched it.   Oh, and I may or may not have ordered a few other pieces of fabric, too.  For those wondering about my stash diet, I never said anything about not buying finishing fabrics, so there!

That’s it from me for now.  Until next time …

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Sorry I haven’t posted in several days.  I was off having an awesome weekend in Vegas with friends.  We had an a.maz.ing time and even all came away winners on the gambling front to boot!  We all won at least $100 or more.   I was up $222 at one point, but ended up gambling a bit more and came home “only” $180 to the good.  Given I usually break even or lose a bit, I’ll take it.

We all arrived in Vegas pretty late on Wednesday night, so we pretty much just crashed at the hotel.  Thursday marked the day the fun stuff began!  To kick things off, Terri surprised me while we were still in our hotel room with an early birthday present since we won’t see each other next month for my real birthday.  It’s the Chocolate Sampler design by Jean Lea who owns the Attic Needlework shop in Mesa, AZ.

We then headed downstairs to meet up with Annette and her mom, Pat.  We grabbed some breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants (remind me sometime to tell y’all about the vegan shrimp cocktail! ) and then headed out to Stitcher’s Paradise for some stash shopping!

Since I’m on a stash diet, I limited myself to only what I needed for the Chocolate Sampler.  Ok, ok, I know I shouldn’t have even bought that, but it doesn’t really count since it’s for something I got as a birthday present, right?   Annette also added to the birthday stash list by gifting me with the couple of charts on the left as well!

While we were at the shop, I saw an adorable finishing idea for a piece I have stitched!  It’s the Lizzie Kate 2007 Special Edition Christmas piece.  I’ve had it stitched for around four years, but I’ve never finished into anything.  Well, they had that same piece on display at Stitcher’s Paradise finished as a chimney stand-up made using brick fabric.  So, now my quest is on for some brick fabric so I can duplicate this idea.   I wish I could’ve gotten a better photo, but the piece was on a shelf almost at the ceiling.  Anyway, isn’t it just awesome?!

After the stash shopping fun, it was back to the hotel for some stitching time.  Unfortunately for me, I realized I made a HORRIBLE error on my Celtic Christmas piece and had to do some massive frogging.  In fact, frogging was about the only stitching time I had while we were in Vegas.  At least I’m ready to start making some forward progress again.  By the time it was all said and done, I had to frog about 580 stitches to get myself back on the right track.

Ok, that’s about it for part one of my Vegas trip recap.  I’ll post part two about the trip in the new few days.  I’ll leave you all with this photo which I’m also using as my entry for this week’s PhotoHunt theme which is circular.  Given I was in Vegas, it seemed only appropriate.   This is the Wheel of Fortune slot machine which was definitely a favorite of our group this weekend!  I think we all played on a WoF slot at least once over the course of our stay.

I know I’m several days behind in my 30 Day Blog Challenge.  I’ll try to get caught up on those over the next couple of days, too.

Until next time …

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Anyone who knows me well knows I’m definitely NOT a morning person.  I freely confess my night owl ways.  Accordingly, I’ve pretty much always worked out in the late afternoon or evening.  The only exceptions are pretty much on the weekends or when I’m on vacation and fit in morning workouts.

Earlier this week, Carla (a.k.a. the amazing MizFit) blogged an easy 4-step plan for becoming a morning exerciser.  I admit, I was intrigued.  Here’s the basics of her plan (check her website for full details if you’re interested in giving it a try!):

1. Make the decision and tell your accountability partners (AKA friends & family).
2. Plan and practice your workout routine.
3. Wake up and dont workout!
4. Go go go!

I know that I generally feel much better on the days when I’m able to workout in the morning.  I have more energy, my calorie burn throughout the day is higher, and I just generally seem to feel more peaceful and serene (thank you, endorphins!).

After I finished reading her post and watching her video that day, I tweeted about it mentioning I was tempted to try it despite my night owl ways.  Well, my Weight Watchers buddy Ginger called me on it!   We made a pact to give this a try together.

We pretty much covered step 1 by committing to each other to do this together.  Since I also consider all of you, my amazing readers, my accountability partners as well, I’m sharing it here, too.  As for step 2, Ginger and I committed to getting out of bed five minutes earlier every day this week and to check in with each other during to week to make sure we’re following through.  So far, so good! We’ll hit step  3 next week which means getting up 20 minutes earlier every day, but not working out.  For me, that means getting up at 5:25am.  (O.M.G. )  Doing this will be for just getting our bodies used to getting up earlier.  The following week will be step 4 which means the 5:15am torture morning workouts start.  I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes!

Woo Hoo!  As difficult as it is to believe, it’s time to start thinking about FitBloggin’ again!  Roni announced on the FitBloggin’ site yesterday that registration will open up next Wednesday, January 11.  The hotel is already accepting reservations, so I knocked that out yesterday.   Yeah, I may or may not be a little bit excited about this.   I had SUCH an amazing time last year that I knew it was definitely something I wanted to attend again this year.  Is it September yet?!

The assignment for today’s 30 Day Blog Challenge is to post a photo of an animal you’d like to raise as a pet.  This is an easy one for me.  I would *love* to have a bunny, especially a Mini Lop! I mean, seriously, how cute is that?!!

Until next time …

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I saw this really fun meme today on Cynthia’s blog.  Since I love to travel, I thought it would be something fun to do.  A lot of the questions are about international travel.  Even though most of my travel has been domestic (I’ve been to 47 of the 50 U.S. states so far), I decided to play anyway.   As always, you can click each photo to biggify it.

A:  Age you went on your first international trip:  Ok, this is a little bit of a sad way to start, but my first international trip was in 2005 when I was 41 years old.  My friend Tracy and I went to Mazatlán, Mexico together.  Loved it!

B: Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where:  I don’t think I’ve ever drank beer in a foreign country.  I’m not much of a beer drinker.  When I do drink it, it’s generally Guinness.  I blame it on my Irish heritage.

C: Cuisine (favorite):  This one is really difficult. I love so many ethnic cuisines — Mexican, Italian, Greek, Indian, Thai, etc.  The list could go on and on.

D: Destinations — favorite, least favorite and why:   One of my favorite destinations thus far has definitely been Hawai’i.  I went to there three years ago with my BFFs Terri and Tracy (I keep hoping if I link to her enough that she’ll start blogging again ).  It was just so gorgeous there and we had a blast!  Here’s a photo of the sunset at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.  That’s just a raw photo without the use of filters.  It really doesn’t do it any justice either!

One of my least favorites would probably be Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  It’s not because it’s wasn’t beautiful because it clearly s as evidenced in the sunset photo below.  The reason I didn’t care for it was due to the inundation of people selling things on the beach.  Literally every two to three minutes, another local would come by trying to sell some sort of trinket.  I realize they rely on the tourists to make money, but it was just a bit much.  It made it very difficult to have fun.  Once you got away from the beach, it was much less intrusive, thankfully.

E: Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”:   That would probably be on a Mexican Riviera cruise I took in 2007.  I ended up with a horrible case of Montezuma’s Revenge and missed out on a couple of days of the cruise, including our port of call and planned snorkeling excursion on a private beach at the edge of a rain forest near Puerta Vallarta.  I was stuck in the stateroom on the ship sick as a dog.  I just kept saying, “Wow, I don’t remember the last time I was this sick.”  These photos are courtesy of my traveling companion who I insisted should still go on the excursion since we’d already paid for it.  It was bad enough that we were going to lose my money for it, no need for both of us to throw away our money!

F: Favorite mode of transportation:  I adore the Pulmonia taxis in Mazatlán!  They’re so famous there that they even have a bronze statue of one on the sea wall!

G: Greatest feeling while traveling:  I just love going to new places and seeing more of the world!  I’ve only started expanding my travel outside of the continental U.S. in the past few years by visiting Mexico a few times and going to Canada twice.  I’m really anxious to expand that even more and visiting Europe and taking a Mediterranean cruise in 2014.

H: Hottest place you’ve traveled to:  Phoenix

I: Incredible service you’ve experienced and where:  There was an amazing waiter named Jorge at the condos in Mazatlán where Tracy and I stayed in 2005.  He took amazing care of us while we were there!  We went to the pool every afternoon for a couple of hours and I don’t think our drink glasses were every empty.

J: Journey that took the longest:  Hmmm, well, I guess it would be the Mexican Riviera cruise since that was 8 days.

K: Keepsake from your travels:  My pearls from Hawai’i.  We won’t discuss how much I paid for them, ‘mkay?  Thanks!

L: Let-down sight, why and where:  I can’t really think of any place I’ve traveled that has let me down.  I can generally always find something fun to do anywhere I go.

M: Moment where you fell in love with travel:  I think it was probably when I was eight years old.  I had just finished my 3rd grade school year and my family traveled to Florida to visit my great aunt.  We arrived in Pensacola just before sunrise.  My dad drove us to the beach and we watched the sun rise over the Gulf of Mexico.  It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’d ever seen and the first time I’d seen the “ocean” (yes, I know now it’s not really the ocean, but rather an oceanic basin).  Anyway, I was hooked on travel from that point forward.

N: Nicest hotel you’ve stayed in:  Well, that’s an easy one — the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.  Several years ago when I was still married, a dear friend of mine gifted us a weekend at the Ritz in an oceanview room for my birthday.  She also provided us with gift certificates for his & her full-body massages at the spa and dinner at the hotel restaurant.  It was heavenly!

O: Obsession—what are you obsessed with taking pictures of while traveling?  Sunsets!  Here’s one I took a couple of months ago at the Grand Canyon.  There are no words to describe the beauty of the sun setting over the canyon!  Everyone should see it at least once in their life.

P: Passport stamps, how many and from where?  I’ve had a passport for several years, but I don’t actually have any stamps in it.

Q: Quirkiest attraction you’ve visited and where:   It would be a toss up between Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  I’ve tried trips to both of those attractions that were less than 24 hours each.  Yeah, don’t ask, it was crazy.

R: Recommended sight, event or experience:  As I mentioned earlier, I would definitely recommend seeing the Grand Canyon at sunset.  It’s beyond beautiful!  I would also recommend a trip to San Francisco if you’ve never been.  It’s one of my favorite cities to visit (and one of my planned trips for 2012).  Lastly, I would highly recommend taking in a hot air balloon ride!  I’d been to a couple of balloon races/festivals when I lived in Nashville, but finally went on a hot air balloon ride a couple of years ago.  It was a.maz.ing!  Here’s a picture I took of another nearby balloon as we were both floating over the southern California wineries in Temecula.

S: Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while traveling:  Definitely food!  I love finding local restaurants and checking out the local food scene.

T: Touristy thing you’ve done:  Oh, I’ve done lots of touristy things.  I usually do at least one touristy thing on every trip I take.  Perhaps the biggest touristy thing would be going through the tour of Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee multiple times.  That’s the town where I grew up, so every time friends from college would come home with me for the weekend, that’s what they always wanted to do.  Then again, since the town was only about 360 people, that’s about the only thing there was to do.

U: Unforgettable travel memory:  During a trip to Michigan a couple of years ago, the friend I was visiting made arrangements to have some mutual friends drive up from Indiana to surprise me.  We had just arrived at a nice restaurant for dinner when someone tapped me on the shoulder to ask if the empty chair next to me was available.  When I looked up from my menu to say it was available, well, you can clearly see my surprise in the brief video below when I realized it was Betsy (another wayward blogger ) and  her wonderful husband, Mike.  It was so unexpected and such an awesome surprise.

W: Wine, best glass of wine while traveling and where?  Well, since I’ve yet to travel to France or Napa, I’ll go with the amazing Late Harvest Riesling from the Chateau Chantal on the Old Mission Peninsula in Michigan.  It’s crazy good!

X: eXcellent view and from where?:  As is evidenced in photos I’ve posted earlier in this meme, Waikiki Beach and the Grand Canyon at sunset.

Y: Years spent traveling?: I’ve no idea, but not that many probably.  Many childhood vacations were cancelled due to my dad’s job.  Once I became an adult and got married, there usually wasn’t money for travel.  It really wasn’t until I divorced just before my 40th birthday that I actually started really traveling.  Everything up to that point were mostly trips to visit friends and/or family, but not a real destination vacation.  These days I seem to be making up for lost time.  I have three trips planned already for 2012.

Z: Zealous sports fans and where?:  Cleveland Browns fans in the original Dawg Pound at the old Cleveland Stadium. OMG!  They were NUTS!

So, that’s it for me as far as my ABC’s of travel.  If you opt to play along, please leave me a comment with your post so I can check it out, too.

Until next time …

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I headed down to La Jolla over the weekend with my non-blogging stitchy friend, Lindsay. We had a great time! She’s a fellow IT weenie, so we had lots of fun stories to share with each other during the drive down and back.

When we arrived on Friday night, we immediately drove over to Needle Nook of La Jolla for a bit of shopping before going to the hotel. We got there about a half hour before they were closing, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time to look around that night. The shop is divided into two different storefronts on the same block, and we only made it through the first one. We did go back later in the weekend and did a bit more damage in the second half of the store though.

During the course of the two trips, I ended up with a good selection of neutral over-dyes in my quest to still find the last few I need for my Mary Wigham sampler. I also picked up a Namaste Buddy Case. These things are so cool! Each side is magnetic, so things like scissors and needles are held in place. Now, I wouldn’t recommend turning it upside down or anything as the magnets are that strong, but it is enough to keep things from just randomly falling out. I don’t think anyone would ever realize this case wasn’t actually leather if you didn’t tell them. It’s really nice faux leather!

The main purpose of the trip was to attend the 2009 Stitch In hosted by the San Diego chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild. The project for this year was a frame weight design called Multiplicity taught by my friend & local teacher, Margaret Bendig. Here is my progress as of last night:

As you can see, I opted for a neutral color palette for my frame weight. She did offer it in a variety of different color options. I snapped a photo of several of the finished models with my iPhone, so it’s not the greatest in the world. Here is it though to show how differently this piece looks done in different colorways:

The orange/brown combination wasn’t a option for us at the class. After seeing that version though, it really makes me want to stitch this again in orange & black for Halloween.

In addition to our class kits, Lindsay and I both walked away some goodies, too. Lindsay won a bit basket full of Southwest-inspired canvases & fibers in one of the opportunity ticket drawings. She entered about three different drawings, and actually won the one that she wanted the most, so that was very cool. Sadly, I completely spaced and forgot to take a picture of what she won.

While I didn’t win any of the three opportunity ticket drawings I entered, I did win a door prize. I got a set of three Lizzie Kate Seasonal Boxers. The bundle included Spring, Summer, and Winter. I clearly need to buy the Autumn kit now.

One of the ladies who was taking the class is walking in the San Diego 3-day Cancer Walk in November. Her granddaughter made a bunch of scissor fobs for her to sell to help raise money for her and her teammates for the walk. She was only charging $5 each for them, so Lindsay and I each bought a couple of the fobs. Since it was going to a really good cause and they weren’t that expensive to begin with, I chipped in some extra donation to help out her team.

On Saturday night after class, Lindsay and I headed up to Carlsbad to hit the outlet mall for some shopping. We only went to Crate & Barrel (very disappointing) and the Fossil store. Neither of us bought anything at C&B since it wasn’t very thrilling, but we had no trouble spending money at Fossil. Lindsay picked up a couple of cool watches, and I picked up a watch & a purse. We talked about hitting the Coach and Dooney & Bourke stores, but ended up deciding against it. We figured we’d spent enough money already during the weekend. Here are a couple of pics of what I bought:

After we left Fossil, we decided we would drive over to King’s Fish House for dinner. I started rifling through my purse to get my keys, but I couldn’t find them. I looked into the car and my heart just about sank when I saw them sitting in the seat. No worries I thought, I just use my AAA keycard that I keep in my wallet. It was then that I remembered I pulled it out recently when I went on vacation to help reduce the bulk in my wallet. I meant to put it back in my wallet when I got home from vacation, but completely forgot. So, no keycard. Instead, I had to call AAA and have them send someone out to rescue us. Thankfully, from the time I placed the call until we were driving to the restaurant was only 25 minutes! AAA FTW!!!

Well, this is turning into a novella at this point. I will end by saying we made it safely home and had a great time this weekend!

Until next time …

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