What happens in Vegas...

Gets posted to the blog! Months after the fact (This trip occurred at the beginning of August 2018)

Honestly not much happened that I'm not willing to share. I think it was a fairly tame trip so far as the stereotype goes. I was going with a group of women that I've internet known for about seven years now. We were all pregnant and on Reddit together and bonded and formed a facebook group. I've met a few of them over the years. I left on a Thursday afternoon with one of the UK members who had flown in to see her Michigan family.

We got to the airport early and sadly parked before my husband could send me the cheap parking coupon. ALAS

 The direct flight was wonderful. I was seated in the Comfortt+ part of the cabin in Delta and had lots of leg room, free headphones and free media. I pretty much watched tv shows I've been meaning to check out.

The seven of us who were attending this meetup were splitting the cost of an AirBnB just off the strip. It was a house purposefully renovated to be a rental and had lots of single beds. It meant we were able to save some money by making our own food at the house. It also had a pool!

I missed the PNW. I was so excited to see mountains. This was before the wildfire smoke rolled in.

Friday stuff involved pedicures for some of us

Despite the impossibility, I think toilet papering this building would be grand.

There was some gambling. I gambled a dollar and lost it. Then I was done. 

The margaritas flowed with bounty!

Everything is over the top

The Venetian

Canal Shoppes at the Venetian

It took me too long to figure this out... but all the stores are shipping containers! Hence... Container Park. The Praying Mantis is basically a giant blow torch that lights up to music.

Of course I find the horse. This is from Fremont Street. We ziplined down it!

Pay to get your picture taken!

We ate here while high out of our minds and it was so good.

We went to see the sexy Cirque du Soleil. Very very erotic and enjoyable. I went home wishing Eric was with me.

We had drinks at an ice bar.

And posed on a throne of ice.

And got my first tattoo!

Chihuly Glass at the Bellagio

Bellagio Fountains

It was a great trip! I'd want to go back and go hiking and visit some of the park areas. That's my one wish that we didn't get to do. Sure we did a lot on the strip, but if it were just me and Eric, that's not my thing. And now that I've had the experience I don't need more it. 

Pub Draw and Creative Goals

For a while now I've been listening/watching the livestream or podcast of Critical Role. It scratches a Dungeons and Dragons itch that I get now that our gaming group is gone, left either in Florida or Washington. IMO, it's better than some of the TV shows available nowadays.

They recently started a spinoff where an artist, Babs Tarr, teaches Marisha (one of the players and also a voice actress), how to draw. This was inspired by the plethora of fan art that gets shared with the Critical Role community but I think it's really a wonderful thing. Babs is super talented and she really breaks things down in a way that makes drawing characters extremely accessible.

As part of 2019 I made a committment to myself to engage in some form of creative endeavor once a month at a minimum, with once a week being my goal. Pub Draw will be live streamed once a week on Twitch @critrole so it's an easy way to meet my goal while following along to her instruction! I'm already super pleased with the one thing I've done. Take a look!

 I sketched this on watercolor paper and did some of the simple lines in a waterproof ink. I'm going to try and paint it later.

 One of the things she suggested to do was warming up with circles, just to get your hand feeling confident in moving the pencil around on the paper. I did a few of those too, especially during the downtime.

On this one you can see some other practice stuff I did after watching a video on SkillShare. That's also a good resource for classes in artistic and business endeavors. I accidentally paid for a year membership so now I'm determined to get my money's worth.

I'm also currently working on a gift for a Mom Friend (and using a skill share video to help me along). It will be a painting of Orchids. I started it and then Eric went and Marie Kondo'd the kitchen which immediately covered the dining room table in stuff. It's finally mostly cleared off so I'm going to get working more on this too.

Super super work in progress level, lol