Vegas - The Second Half of Day 2

Ok, here we go again... more of Vegas, and we're getting sooo close to being done. The first picture here is of Auri. Possibly one of my favorite pictures/story combo. Let's just say she was daydreaming. If she were a man, she probably wouldn't have wanted to get up for a while, if ya know what I'm sayin'...
Rose, Noelle, Auri and I headed over to the Luxor, as mentioned earlier, to visit Auri's parents. I think Noelle has been to the Luxor, but the other two hadn't, so it was nice that they got to see the place. It's been remodeled a bit since I was there last and it looks a lot better.

Let's see, Auri, me and Noelle in front of the casino looking chic... what can I say, we're hot! We headed inside to meet Teri and Jim, found them, said our hellos, took some pics, and headed up to their suite (they got upgraded from a regular room - rude, I know). On our way up to the suite, guess who we ran into??? The two dudes in picture below...

Who are those two hotties, you ask? Let me re-introduce y'all... Starsky, Hutch, this is everyone. Yeah, these are the boys from the night before, Mike and Greg. We happened to cross paths as they were heading to the airport. Kismet? Maybe. The picture below was taken immediately after we'd said our goodbyes... hmmm, I think she looks a little flushed and could possibly be beaming. Yeah, twitterpation, anyone? I thought so, too. We hung out with Teri and Jim for about 45 minutes and then met up with Odum downstairs. We were so proud of him. He took a cab all by himself to meet us. We even made him a sign like the limo drivers have when they pick someone up. I can't remember what it said. Girls, any help, please?

The picture below was taken in Teri & Jim's room. Cute, huh? Anyway, after we met up with Odum, we grabbed the fabu minivan and headed to the new outdoor mall on the southern end of the strip. I'm trying to remember the name of it... Town Square. Very cool place... in fact, way cooler than The Gateway that we have here in Salt Lake. I might be saying that because they have a MAC store, so I could be slightly biased, but I think not. Just ask the other members of the party...


There are a few pics on here that I took at Town Square... tres cute. There's one of the house where Santa Claus was chillin' and the other one is of the palm trees decorated with Christmas lights. Those pics didn't turn out so great, but you get the idea. The nicest thing about the outdoor malls is that you can drive up to the store you need (notice I didn't say "want"), go in, do your thing, and head to the next place. Especially nice if you only have one stop to make!

Above is the pic of Odum when he saw us holding the sign we made for him.

So, anyway, after the Town Square we headed west in hopes of finding the Kate Spade Outlet Store. I'm not sure one exists, but Rose and Noelle said it did... sure! We drove for about 20 minutes looking for it and didn't find one. Bummer, dude! Oh well, that just means more shopping for the next trip. We headed back to the hotel and met the rest of the girls in the restaurant at the hotel for dinner. After dinner we all got ready and I did makeup for Lisa and Holly, which left me exactly 10 minutes to finish getting ready before we had to leave for the show. I can't rememeber if I mentioned in an earlier post, but we decided to see "O" at the Bellagio. Let's see, that was three visits to the Bellage in one trip. We should have just stayed there... yeah right, we'd all need a Sugar Daddies for that!Above is the pic of the trees at the mall. Below you have Auri and Holly snuggling... I thought I was the HLP?!?!
I've only been lucky enough to see two Cirque de Soleil shows thus far, and I have to tell you, I was extremely excited to see "O." I've been wanting to see it ever since I knew what it was. Didn't really care what it was about, I was just so in awe of the fact that the whole stage is in a ginormous pool. All I can say is the show was awesome. Such a beautiful set and scenery and choreography and everything. Auri and I ended up on the front row, and the other four were in seats directly behind us. It was great, but I'd love to see it again from a different vantage point in the theater. I honestly had a hard time keeping my eyes open during the last 15 mintues because I was so tired from lack of sleep. I must have looked awesome! When the show was over we headed out to the fountains and took some pics which turned out really well. They're mostly shown in the previous post. I should back up here and say I tried to get a bottle of water before the show started and didn't have time before curtain call... then couldn't find water after the show either. Kind of irritated. And totally parched! Holly and Lisa (who are actually the two in this picture) decided after the show they wanted to go back to Carnaval Court. The other four of us couldn't keep our eyes open and decided to head back to the hotel.... the long way. Oh, I should also mention that Odum decided to forego the show in exchange for sleeping. Yeah, I know. I don't know what his deal is, either! Ha! So, because he was sleeping, he couldn't come pick us up (as he had dropped us off), and I don't know why we decided against a cab, so we walked. Even though it was freezing and my feet hurt, I'm glad we did because otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten such good shots. Once back at the hotel, Rose and Noelle went back to their respective rooms while Auri and I headed to ours. Odum had very nicely left the curtains halfway open so we'd have some light when we came into the room. I dropped Auri off and headed downstairs to the bar to grab some water because there are no vending machines in the hotel. I have no idea why. This is where we come to the point in the story where everything starts coming together. I walked up to the bar where the bartender said hello and asked me what I wanted. I proceeded to tell him I'd do anything for a glass of water. He responded with something like, "Oh, you shouldn't tell me things like that." Apparently, I should have turned and walked the other way... but what was I supposed to do? Drink water from the tap in the bathroom? I don't think so. I grabbed three glasses of water to take upstairs (for my roomies, or me, whoever got to them first) and as I turned to walk away, he asked, "Why don't you sit here at the bar with me and drink your water?" We talked for about 20 minutes and totally hit it off. I gave him my e-mail address and told him to e-mail me. (Why I didn't just give him my number, I don't know... I guess I thought it was less forward than e-mail... whatever).Once I got to my room I figured I'd either find Auri and Odum both asleep, or up wondering where the hell I was. Sure enough, they were both awake and asked where the hell I'd been. I proceeded to tell them that I hit it off with the bartender and had been chatting with him for the last little while. They were both sooo excited for me, they got out of bed, we ordered room service (french fries and chicken noodle soup - Auri and I did the same thing when we were in Vegas for my 21st) and we had girl talk. In the meantime, Joe (the bartender) had e-mailed me (and since I have a CrackBerry, I got the e-mail immediately). I e-mailed back, there were a few exchanges, and then we started texting. After I decided to get ready and go to bed, Odum had this "fabulous" idea to go downstairs and have a chat with Joe. I honestly wanted to kill Odum, or at least hurt him A LOT. Neither Auri or myself were feeling well and just wanted to sleep!Odum thought that Joe should come hang out with us after his shift was over (which was at 3:30AM) but after a half hour of me pleading with him (and Auri doing the same), he told Joe we were in bed and we'd have to hang out tomorrow before we left. This is where I'd like to back up and point out that when I met Joe, he WAS NOT WEARING A WEDDING RING, started flirting with me first, and made absolutely NO ATTEMPT to tell me he was EFFING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is where I'm stopping. Time to take the Ambien and go nite nite. I'm thinking y'all will get the end of the story tomorrow! (And thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement about the whole situation... I really appreciate it)!