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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The assignment for today’s 30 Day Blog Challenge is to post a photo of yourself from two years ago.  I decided to share a few photos of an amazing experience I had back in 2010 with a group of absolutely a.maz.ing women!  We called ourselves Team Shrinking Jeans.  I’m the one with the yellow finger pointing at my head.

Most of us are members of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, but there were a few additional friends and relatives in the mix, too.  Oh yeah, and our awesome coach, Joe English.  We came together and, between the 13 of us, raised $44,007 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Team in Training program.   We all met up in San Diego for the 2010 Rock ‘n Roll San Diego half marathon.  The entire experience was just amazing from start to finish.

As you can see, we were all pretty amped at the starting line.  I blame this on a combination of too much coffee on too little sleep.

This whole experience was extremely personal to me because my dad is a 20+ year lymphoma survivor.  During the course of training, one of my coaches (who was also a survivor) found out his lymphoma had returned.  I walked in their honor and wore their names on my back.

We all ran and walked at different paces, so everyone was finishing at different times.  Thankfully, most of us were able to reconnect outside the beer tent at the end of the race to get a group shot with our race bling.

If you’ve ever considered signing up for Team in Training, DO IT!  It one of the most rewarding and amazing experiences you’ll ever have, I promise.

Looking at all of these photos again has been kind of bittersweet and left me a bit melancholy.  Several months ago, I registered for the inaugural Rock ‘n Roll Pasadena half marathon taking place on my birthday weekend next month.  Just about the time I needed to start training, I started having all of the issues with my knee (osteoarthritis and possible torn ligaments).  So, no half marathon for me.   My friend Nick also registered and is flying out from Detroit to run the race, so I’ll just have to be content being there cheering him on instead.  They just unveiled the race bling yesterday, check out what he’ll be getting when he finishes!  Pretty cool, huh?!

Until next time …

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The assignment for today’s 30 Day Blog Challenge is to post a photo of your best friend.  I’m very fortunate to have THREE best friends.  Yes, I know it’s technically not possible to have multiple instance of a superlative, but I do, so deal with it.

I know I posted this one recently in my travel meme, but it’s a perfect photo for this as it contains two of my three BFFs, Terri and Tracy.  This was taken in October 2008 when we all went on vacation together in Hawai’i.

Next is a photo of  Nick from November 2007 when we went on a Mexican cruise together.  I took this pic of him as we were on the tender returning to the ship after a fun day in Cabo San Lucas.

Until next time …

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I seem to be on quick the streak lately. I finished yet another piece over the weekend. That makes three finishes for me in as many weekends. Since I have a long weekend next week for Christmas, perhaps I’ll try to keep the streak alive.

Here’s my latest finish. As always, click the biggify.

Designer: Primrose Needleworks
Fabric: 34-count Oaten Scone linen
Fibers: DMC & GAST
Finished: 18 December 2011

After I finished that piece midday on Sunday, I picked up another WIP from my pile that I’ve not worked on in several months.  It’s Needle from the dictionary series by CherryWood Design Studios.  Here are my before and after progress pics from the weekend.

Designer: CherryWood Design Studios
Fabric: Graziano Celery & White 28-count gingham linen
Fiber: Tortoise Shell Belle Soie
Stitched 1 over 1
Progress as of 18-Dec-2011

I had a productive week for work and school this past week, too.  I passed my final for my project management class.  The cool part was that the final was a certification exam, so not only did I pass the class, but I earned yet another professional certification in the process.  I am now Project+ certified.

In other news, I received a beautiful Christmas package this week from my dear friend Tracy.  She stitched this awesome quote by Oprah Winfrey for me.  I love it!!  She also made those awesome Thank You cards for me.  She creates incredible hand-made greeting cards!

I also wanted to point out a new page listed in the navigation menu at the top of the page.  It’s the 2012 WIPocalypse page.  You can read more details about what it’s all about on that page.  In a nutshell, I’ll be focusing on trying to get in some work on my outstanding WIPs coming up in 2012 as part of the WIPocalypse SAL group organized by Measi.  So, be sure to check out the page.  If you want to participate, there’s information on that page on how to sign up.

Hope everyone has a great week!  Until next time …

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