Four Days in Las Vegas.
Truth be told, I’m not the biggest Las Vegas fan. I think gambling is boring and depressing. My club-kid days are long over, and I have complicated feminist feelings about hookers. But an opportunity came along for Mike D and I to spend a few days in the city of sin to celebrate our friend Ellie’s birthday with ten of our friends, so we were like “VIVA LAS VEGAS!”. And now I’m here, an unreasonable amount of time later, to tell you about the trip. How long has it been, you ask? A month? Nope. Many multiple months? Yep. And that’s what’s up.
After our flight landed in Vegas, we dropped our bags at the hotel, rented a car, and drove to Red Rock Canyon. It’s only a thirty minute drive from the Las Vegas strip and it’s breathtaking. I highly recommend going in the evening and watching the sunset. It was a real treat despite the 8,000 degrees of blasting solar heat that day.
The following morning we visited the Neon Museum for a guided tour. Colorful vintage signs of old casinos, shops, and restaurants are artfully arranged along gravel paths. This is a dreamland of vintage typography and the colors were very pleasing to my eyeballs. Definitely check it out! Tip: Bring plenty of water and sunscreen because there’s nearly no shade.
And then we melted into a sweaty puddle of despair. Have I mentioned that it was hot in Vegas? Effing HOT HOT. Walking on the sun hot.
That evening we celebrated my friend Ellie’s birthday with dinner and drinks at Park on Fremont. The prices were good (especially for Vegas because DAMGURL that city is expensive) and the ambiance was on point. Quirky art, good food, craft cocktails, and a sweet patio with an old Cinderella-like carriage and a teeter totter. Highly recommend!
After dinner we walked along Fremont street and things got REAL silly. Ridiculously overpriced cocktails may have been involved.
The next morning we rented a private cabana by the pool at MGM. Each cabana has it’s own mini-fridge, lounge chairs, chilled towels, inner tubes, a music dock, a safe for wallets/phones, and a waitress. It was quite luxurious for us hobos! We spent all day lounging around, drinking, swimming, stuffing our faces, and having long theoretical pool-side discussions. It was delightful.
After a quick nap and a shower, a limo picked us up and took us to The Tunnel of Love Drive-Thru Wedding Chapel. Mike D and I, along with two of our best friends, Charlie & Halina, thought it would be fun to renew our wedding vows in a double drive-thru ceremony. *Spoiler Alert* BEST ONE HUNDRED BUCKS I’VE EVER SPENT. We almost didn’t do this and I’m so glad we decided to just go for it. The chapel was… um, interesting? The pink Cadillac they let us “rent” didn’t run and had four flat tires. Ha! I’m sure there’s a metaphor for marriage in there somewhere. Empty love tank something or other? Doesn’t matter. WE DOOOOO!
My friend Kate captured the faux nuptials so perfectly. Truth be told, we were a little tipsy from spending all day at the pool and it was hard to keep a straight face. SUPER SERIOUS WEDDING TIMEZ COMING AT YOU.
Thank you, Kate! Because of you, I’ll never forget my second wedding to my first husband.
*dabs at a tear*
On our final day in Vegas, Mike and I wandered along the strip and came across The Polaroid Museum. This was a totally random and lucky find. I NERDED OUT over rare cameras, Polaroids by Lucas Michael and Maurizio Galimberti, and an installation of Andy Warhol’s silver clouds.
That evening we met up with our friends for dinner at The Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge. It’s iconic, weird, gorgeous, and offers the quintessential throwback Vegas experience. You HAVE to check this place out. Make sure to head into the fireside lounge after dinner for a nightcap. The ambiance in there is insane. Honestly, the food and drinks are nothing over the top, but the decor is what really makes this place special.
We ended our trip with The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage. I basically ugly-cried for a straight two hours. The costumes were BONKERS. The dancers’ bodies were BONKERS. The trapezoid acts were BONKERS. OMG SO MUCH BONKERS.
And then we flew home. Happy, heat exhausted, and hung over.
Ok, Vegas. You win.
I like you now.
PS: I shoved my iPhone in my friends’ faces the whole trip to create this video just for you.
Posted in drive-thru wedding chapel, las vegas, neon boneyard, neon museum, park on fremont, peppermill lounge, polaroid museum, red rock canyon, Vegas in four days // Add a Comment
What’s Going on in My Bedroom?
We recently upgraded to a king-size memory foam mattress. After years of sleeping on a queen-size garbage mattress with a pit the size of Grand Canyon in the middle, it was long over due. I often woke with an aching back, hips, or neck and it made me depressed and annoyed. But now I wake up every day feeling like this:
A king size bed has been on our wishlist for years, and I figured if we were going to get a new mattress anyway, we might as well upgrade to a king now. I researched a bunch of the online bed-in-a-box mattress companies – Leesa, Brooklyn Bedding, Casper, Tuft and Needle, and honestly, they all seemed kinda the same. Free shipping, 100 night risk-free trials, a bevy of glowing reviews. In the end I chose Casper because, based on customer feedback, it seemed to be the softest of the bunch, which is good for side sleepers like me. It arrived in a sturdy box, just like my favorite wine, and was super easy to set up. The mattress came compressed, so all we had to do was pull it out of the box, unroll it, and watch it expand to size. Mike D and I loved it immediately. It alleviated the soreness I was waking up with in my back and hips, which was great, but after a few nights, I began to notice some soreness in my shoulders. I made a quick call to Casper to see if they could recommend anything. The woman I spoke with was very nice and offered to send a free topper to alleviate some of the pressure on my shoulders. YASSS! So nice. She explained how the mattress is designed for an average size human, so those under 140 lbs might find the mattress a bit too firm. That explains why I (a grown woman trapped in a 12 year old’s body) had some shoulder soreness but Mike D was fine. I received the topper within a week and it totally did the trick. No more shoulder soreness, and I’ve been sleeping like a baby ever since. It’s the perfect combination of firm and soft now, and Mike still loves it, even with the new topper (in fact, he didn’t even notice a difference). This isn’t a sponsored post by the way, even though it seems like it totally is. I just wanted to share my good experience with you. Because y’all my dudes.
We sold our queen sized bed it and replaced it with this bed in sky gray. It’s a real grown-up kinda bed – it’s sturdy, comfortable, looks nice, and you can’t beat that price! I picked up some new sheets (on sale! Hurry!) and traded in my great grandmother’s chenille bedspread for a down alternative comforter for the winter. It’s all so comfy and warm now. I just want to spend the rest of this stupid dark winter lounging about on my new mattress-in-a-box, drinking wine-in-a-box and watching dick-in-a-box.
Our bedroom is tiny, so with the addition of the king sized bed, there was room for only one nightstand. The mirrored table I had there was pretty, but I always kept a pile of junk on the nightstand – a book, lip balm, eye cream, remote, vitamins, you get the picture, so I wanted something with storage to hide all that garbage out of sight. I looked around in stores and online, fruitlessly, before remembering I had an old nightstand from my parents house in the basement that might work. I brought it upstairs to try it in the space, and low and behold, it was the perfect size and scale. It just needed some zhushing.
Ok, fine, it was totally whacktastic. First I wiped it down with some Mrs Meyers soap and warm water, then I lightly sanded the surface to roughen it up for paint. I brushed on two coats of “Soot” by Benjamin Moore in satin finish (the same color I used on my dresser a few years back) and it was looking pretty good. Then, the pièce de ré·sis·tance – these fancytown handles from Anthropologie.
I bought 8 of them on clearance several years ago, but only needed six for my dresser. I’m so glad I held onto those two extra handles. They are bringing the heat and they are bringing it hard.
Is your head, like, totally exploding from the transformation? Just wait until you see the drawer liners I cut to size with my very own hands.
DAYYYYUM those drawers are SECK. (Like your mom).
That blanket and that dreamcatcher were totally separated at birth! Now they’re best friends and plan to bring their wayward parents back together.
That’s our sassy ghost cat. She came with the nightstand and terrorizes us in our sleep.
NO BIG DEAL.
The end!
Posted in bedroom, bedroom updates, casper mattress, dreamcatcher, new mattress, nightstand makeover // Add a Comment
My Home on Front & Main.
Recently, the incredibly nice humans at West Elm invited me to share some photos of my home on their blog, Front & Main, and I was ever so happy to oblige. You can see the full interview here.
As we head into the new year, I want to thank you all for being here. I truly appreciate every single one of you who support this creative endeavor of mine. I LOVE YOU GUYZ! I hope you all have a very merry New Year spent with the ones you love! xoxo
Posted in front & main, home tour, interview, west elm // Add a Comment
20% Off Everything in My Etsy Shop!
Everything in my Etsy shop is currently 20% off until 12/13/15 with the code: hohoho. Everything ships for free to the U.S.!
Get in here!
Posted in 20% off, 20% off etsy, etsy sale, free shipping // 2 Comments
Dreamcatchers For Sale!
Hey, frands! Remember the dreamcatcher DIY I wrote for Natural Modern Magazine? Well, I made a verrrry small batch of them and you can buy them right here. Snag them up now, because these are the last ones I’ll be making until next year.
Happy shopping! xoxo
Posted in dream catcher, dreamcatcher diy // Add a Comment
