12 Hour Vegas Extravaganza

Some people told me I was crazy. Others said that this was the best idea they had heard. But I knew, it was going to be one of those nights you just don't forget. If you know me - you know I LOVE birthdays! It is a great excuse to party hardy! And it is the one day a year that you are supposed to feel extremely special. I try to call all of my friends on their birthdays - just cause. That is sometimes the one day of the year that I talk to people. But just hearing the smile in their voice makes it all worth it. On that note, this is what I did.

Wednesday, Aug. 29th is one of my best guy friend's birthdays. His friendship means a lot to me. And for all of my bitching and dragging him to silly movies, I wanted to do something super special, so this is what I came up with: 12 hours in Vegas. After a bunch of nights out lacking on the eye candy, I thought we needed to get out of town. Two weeks ago, I decided this was a go and bought the tickets. I didn't tell a lot of people, because it was going to be a surprise. Friday night, too many people knew and I was just waiting for someone to slip. Surprisingly enough, they did alright. Friday night was a blast, but made Saturday a little rough to begin with. I got up early, came home, ate breakfast, and went back from a nap. Finally I started to get ready... and the trip began.

Had to find something to wear that was cute on the inside, but not so scandalous on the outside... this is what I came up with.




Sweet, but not too sweet. Mom was in on the deal and I had her pick up Eddy, because I was "running late". Then I said that we had to take her somewhere. All Eddy knew is that we were going clubbing, although leaving at 3:30 pm was a little hard to explain. But he sure was ready to go.





Mom said we were going to Gilroy. How she came up with that, not exactly sure. Although he didn't ask any questions. He just knew I got him for the night. We pulled up to the airport, and mom goes, "I guess we aren't going to Gilroy." At that moment, I was asked, where are we going? So I took that as my cue to pass his boarding pass to the backseat. He couldn't believe it. I got a big hug when we got out of the car. And on our way we went. Our flight was delayed a few min. So we took the time to lay out the itinerary and cinnabons!





We boarded the plane and because Friday was long, I dozed off. But a short flight and we were in Vegas. I had decided dinner was going to be at Le Provencal at the Paris. It has opera singers every hour and of course, they do a grand ol' Birthday song.. music playing through the entire restaurant, 2 people with mics, 2 more background singers. I just couldn't resist the embarrassment. :o)





Of course the signature dinner pic, before things get silly...





Eddy grabbed a drink





as we went to window shop for a bit at the Forum shops until we realized that waiting in line may be a better idea. I had talked to my friend Dan 2 days before I left and coincidentally he was in Vegas the same weekend, or perhaps we were there the same time, seeing he actually had a hotel room. The line was longer than I would like to admit. The same line took me 1 hour to get into Pure in July. Triple that for this trip. I guess that is what you get when Prince, Justin Timberlake, and Cameron Diaz are all hanging out. Plus who knows who else.







We made friends with the guys behind us...(photo taken later in the night)





Our threesome and twosome become a fivesome. We checked out girls the entire time. Small frame, huge knockers, that seemed to be the favs. (definitely fake) We finally got into the club and immediately headed upstairs seeing that is my favorite part of Pure. 80 degrees outside and a BEAUTIFUL view of the strip.













After dancing, dancing, boozing, and more dancing, they closed the roof down at 4:30 am. At this point, Dan had gone home with the chick that he started dancing with when we first got in the club. Come to find out, they lost each other shortly after they left. Our new found friends that ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night. Oh yeah, there was a Paige sandwich around 4 am. And yes Eddy, it was still WEIRD! Anyhow, they left too. So we went downstairs and there was more music, naturally, we went back to dancing. Finally decided @ 5 am that Breakfast was a grand idea. The place I thought we would go was closed for remodeling, so we went to the Venetian and ate at the Grand Lux Cafe. Eddy was practically passing out.





And I was looking fabulous at this point.




Let's try that again...





Breakfast ran late and I think I siestaed in the taxi on the way to the airport. By the time we made it to the gate, the plane was already half boarded. We were the 4th to last people on the plane. Talk about timing. We split up because we both knew we would be out like a lite. I talked briefly with the guy next to me. When we were getting off the plane, he said we should hang out. I think he liked me... even after 12 hours of insanity in Vegas.. I thought that was funny. Called Mom and she was almost there... thank goodness. I was SUPER tired. Long day/night





Let's not to look so out of it...





oh well that one was a little blurry. This concludes the adventure!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDDY!!! Glad you had a good time!


"There is a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning." - Jimmy Buffet

Surface Friends

You spend so much time getting to really know someone to have your friendship disappear. Are people really more interesting on the surface than underneath? They say you can make a fairly adequate judgement in the first 2 seconds of meeting someone as to whether or not you like them, but the world we live in today stresses well thought out decisions. Do you truly make a better decision by digging deeper into someone or have you just ignored your first impression and are doomed to fail as friends at a later date?

Why is it some relationships grow for years and others disappear within months? Is it the positive energy of two people that keep them afloat? Is is honesty and truth? Is it better communication? Respect? Or is it just a fact that two people can be doomed from the start?

I have friends that I wonder if I had met them today, if I would still be friends with them. Does history count for something? If I answer no, then why is it, I am willing to put so much effort into what seems to be an always struggling relationship. So perhaps in essence history does count for something. Meeting new people can be very interesting. This is your chance to start from square one. They know nothing about you, but you also know nothing about them. What each of you says is counted as truth and there is no reason to suspect anything else. However, if one thing is found to be false, then is it all false? Do "minor" lies hold more weight than major ones or should it all be looked at on the same scale. A lie is a lie. There always seems to be something exciting about new people, but is there something that is also inherently scary. I never think of it much as being scary, but perhaps to certain people it is.

There is a comfort zone when people actually know you. They know more than your name is Paige and you are from California. Even the fact that I routinely play soccer on Friday nights could be considered "surface". They know that it is guaranteed that I will order pancakes when going out to breakfast. That I put up a wall to make sure I don't get hurt. That I act tough more than I should as another defense. That I forgive more than I should because everybody needs a second chance and maybe a third. Do our weaknesses differentiate our surface relationships from those that we would consider close?

Girlfriends of the 21st Century

I often wonder what it was like to grow up when our parents did. I look at the young girls today and wonder where their role models went. Wearing next to nothing, caked on make up at the movie theaters? What is up with that? Once upon a time e-mail didn’t exist, the internet was 56K dial up if you were lucky, and IM was a service that only people who paid for AOL had access to. Now, there are networking sites, a phone number isn’t any good unless you also have their AIM, Yahoo Messenger, or iChat sn. You e-mail your friends because you don’t have the time to talk to them. Single conversations don’t even exist. You talk to your best friend who is talking to another mutual friend, who is actually also talking to you as all of you carry on an extra 3 convos. I will admit it, networking sites, Myspace, I am addicted. I don’t know how my day would go if I didn’t have it. It is what keeps me busy at work and I have found that it makes communication with no time so much easier. It’s funny how the internet will go down and you think life is over. If a download doesn’t complete within 10 seconds, something is wrong with the internet.

Basically, we are connected! We have a cell phone on us 24/7. The first thing we do when we return home is check our away messages. The last thing we do before bed is check our e-mail. Hoping someone, somewhere, was thinking about us long enough to want to say HI!

But the question is, in our parents age, did a girl friend run away from her other girl friends to answer her cell phone? No. Cell phones didn't exist then. So has technology changed everything? Am I better friends with those people in different states because of technology? Or worse friends with people in my current state because of it?

The Comfort of Sleeping Next to Somone

Why is it you feel safe with a guy's arms wrapped around you? You feel comforted by the fact that there is someone to protect you. Yet there are some people you can sleep next to comfortably, and others that you just pray they will go home soon. Is there something intimate about sharing a bed? If so, why is so acceptable for siblings to share a bed? Are there different circumstance as to when it is intimate and not? If you share a bed with your best guy friend, does that fall under sibling? Whereas with your boyfriend, is that intimate? When you first meet someone, does your initial interaction within a relationship dictate which heading "sleeping in the same bed" will fall under? And can it change?

Can you sleep with your significant other in complete comfort and after you break up, still be comfortable? Or does it immediately change to a sibling type of comfort? Is it perhaps just awkward due to feelings not being extinct? Can the comfort level change as time heals wounds?

I have slept next to people where the comfort level is unexplainable. It was this instant satisfaction. Everything felt right, fit right, and yet, nothing worked out. There are others, that I just hoped that they would get up early in the morning and scurry off. Him on his "side" and me on mine, trying to stay as far away as possible. So what made it so unbearable? Was it him and the impression I had gotten? Or was it the actions I was afraid he might take? Do some people just fit better than others?

Colorado

Here are some random quotes and stuff from CO - if you want further details - just ask!

"Did he check our names off the list?" "Don't think so" "Oh well".... just tell the doorman you are on Eric's list

"How much for my drink?" "Don't worry about it, that guy got it" "Um, ok, thanks"

"How much for our drinks?" "The guy over there got them..." "Which one?" "Um, I don't know, one of them over there." LOL

"Sorry Eric, I just wasn't fast enough to catch them kissing"

"Your Brother is trying to have phone sex with me!" -oh man, drunk siblings!

"My best friend and bro are talking about cum on boobs and phone sex. Isn't there something wrong about that?" "haha, never"

"We can bitch and go shopping, so let's go shopping"

"Why did we walk around that whole mall again, we only really went to the first store...."

"I'm not drinking." "I don't think I am drinking either" "How about this, after dinner we'll go by the Rio for Margs, first round, my treat." - later on, most of us were a little drunk

"At least someone is bold enough to stand over here" "You're old, don't fucking touch me" - about 5 min later I pushed the guy off the bar stool and we all left.. LMAO

"Dave called huh? Make sure she knows not to tell Lisa..."

"Ryan wants us to go to the Walrus." "He isn't worth it, if he wants to see you, he can come see you..." - Shortly after, Ryan shows up

"We can fit 5 in my car" ...."can we try to fit 7??" "I guess I could fold the seats down"... 7 people in a Toyata Celica Hatchback, Avg. height @ 5'11"

"Boulder is not that big, what takes a cab so fucking long to get here."

"Where's Brandi?" "Not upstairs" "Her shoes are here." "I don't know" "Her clothes are here" "She'll be back later than" - coming home @ 6 am

Ring-ring

This is a little anecdote from driving to work this morning. You will probably find it a little entertaining.

I have had my "new" car since November of last year. Like most luxury cars, my car has a built in cell phone, however seeing I already have one phone, I saw no need to activate another. I don't need to pay for two. Logical right? On my way to work, nice and early mind you, I am cruising along listening to music, and the phone in my car starts ringing. It stopped my music, and kept ringing, thrown off, I couldn't figure out why it was ringing. As far as I know, it is NOT activated. I pressed the radio on/off switch, which didn't do anything. Fully knowing that my computer in the car is NOT a touch screen, I touched it anyway, trying to get the annoying thing to stop. Finally I hit the talk button on the steering wheel to find that no one was there. Perplexed by the situation, but relieved the ringing stopped, I kept on my way to work. Again, the phone started ringing! This time a little more calm, I turned the dial and hit answer. It was some dude from Nextel looking for someone else... I politely told him he had the wrong number then he asked if I was some hospital. Does it sound like I am at some hospital?? How strange. Needless to say, I was very confused. I don't think I even have buttons to dial a number, although after thinking about it, I just may. I will be checking this out after work. I should have asked him what number he called. HAHA. Anyhow, just thought that might give you a laugh, I was definitely laughing at myself! =o)

Birthdays

Birthdays are a weird thing - it is the one day that is "ours", although we probably share it with more than a thousand other people. It is rare to have more than one friend that shares that special day, that is if you have even one friend that shares it. We build this one day a year up in our minds every year. Planning for that big blow out! Hoping that even if we don't say anything, everyone around us remembers. It is like that big test of who cares and who doesn't. The day we get random calls from people who we thought would never recall it, and those close to us forget to remember.

Getting caught up in my own world and the weekend, I failed to check the date today. It is April 3rd - my good friend Jessica's 23rd birthday. She is a couple hundred miles away in sunny Arizona and I couldn't be there to celebrate with her, although I did one more wrong, I didn't realize what day it was until 10 pm tonight. I am typically good about these things, I keep a book with all my friend's known birthdays. I think birthdays are great! They give us a reason to celebrate and they give people their own special day. A day when they can feel like King/Queen. However it seems more often than not, this 'special' day is one that we would like to forget every year. Hoping that the next will be that much better than the last.

I know this far too well, for many consecutive years, I had this habit of crying or getting disappointed on my birthday. I have been to Vegas the last 2 years and this coming year will be the 3rd. Each year is better than the last, and yet, every year I hope the next will be perfection. It is funny how you can have some of your closest friends in Vegas for the one reason being your birthday and still have people forget to wish you Happy Birthday, on that very day. So I am apologizing to Jess. We are human and make mistakes, but here is the birthday song...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! Happy birthday to you!! HAppy Birthday dear Jessica! Happy Birthday to you!!! LOVE YOU CHICA!

Le petit déjeuner

Le petit déjeuner translated means breakfast. They say it is the most important meal of the day, coming from the thought that you are breaking the fast with this meal. It is typically eaten in the morning, however I guess logically if you got up at noon, your first meal would still be breakfast. This is the meal that is supposed to "provide important norishment and energy for the day" according to most nutritionalists. It is also thought that food eaten early in the day is less likely to contribute to fat gain than food eaten in the evening. Perhaps we should be eating dessert after breakfast instead after dinner.

Marketing breakfast is another story, in a $23 billion industry, every company is looking for the next "hot" breakfast food. With $9 billion of that in breakfast cereals alone, maybe companies are even more importantly looking for the next hot character. These characters define breakfast cereals as we know them. Think about it, what you think of when you hear Snap, Crackle, Pop - Rice Krispies, what about "they're great!" - none other than Tony the Tiger from Frosted Flakes. How about "silly rabbit trix are for kids" - The Trix rabbit. Granted I am also pointing out slogans that go with these boxes of cereal, but these slogans have been so carefully associated with their cereal box characters. I know most of us don't eat much cereal anymore, heck I started off my day at 6:40 am with a chocolate chip cookie. And it was GREAT! Of course that also would not be considered a balanced meal, but just in case you were worried, I did have so real food once I got to work.

In the dorms in college, I lived on cereal. The dorm food was nasty and you couldn't really mess up cereal so it worked out well. I have never been a breakfast person. I was always the type of person that would be up for hours until I finally decided to eat. As the years have gone on, I have become more accustomed to eating breakfast (at least during the week). In college, we did breakfast every weekend sometimes both Saturday and Sunday. Of course our idea of breakfast was still hungover at 1 pm, but it was fun nonetheless. This is what got me thinking about breakfast. My senior year (after I detached from my significant other) my girls and I were going out every night starting Thursday through Saturday. If you have ever gone out with a group of 5-7 crazy girls, you will find that you don't always stay together. Typically most of us ended up back at my house for table dancing and whatever else we could come up with, but breakfast, that was the key. Not only was that the best way to start a hangover cure, but it was always the best way to figure out what exactly happened the night before. I don't go out to breakfast anymore on the weekends. I tend to end up cooking myself pancakes, which is what I always have if I go out anyhow, but I do miss the company at breakfast. It is a good time to relax, talk, and catch up on anything you have missed. Even in my past 3 visits to Colorado, I haven't made it to my favorite breakfast place, Le Peep.

I definitely need to start going out to breakfast more. And it isn't because I don't enjoy cooking. But in order to make breakfast successful, I need great company. Anyone want to go to breakfast?

The Concept of the Toilet Seat

Through the years, we have taught men how to lift up and replace the toilet seat at home. It is only polite. But somehow, we seemed to have missed the concept all together. The point to this is so that the toilet seat is clean for the next person that uses it. I live in the glorious state of California where it is required for all public restrooms to have toilet seat covers. I don't really care if you use them or not, that is your prerogative. But please don't ruin it for the rest of us. SIT DOWN! Don't hover, squat or whatever it is you do, it causes a mess. Use the toilet seat cover or put toilet paper down. It is DISGUSTING to walk into a stall that is dirtied from the last person that was in there. Do you do that at home? If you're going to hover, lift up the toilet seat like the guys do, so the rest of us don't have to deal with it. We have taught men how to use the toilet seat, let's now teach women how to use the toilet seat cover. It isn't as complicated as it looks.

Sleep?

Like clockwork, 5:30 am the alarm goes off signaling another work day is about to begin. And like every other day, I hit snooze for about 15 minutes praying that it be Saturday, Sunday, or whatever other day I have off. The Sleep Foundation says that the average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep. I didn't get that last night and on most nights I get closer to the minimum than the max. On a good day, I will be in bed asleep by 10 pm. When I first started working these slightly awkward hours, I had a lot of good days, as time has passed, the good days are few and far between. I am lucky to be in bed by 11 pm, and more often than not, I am still awake at 12 am. This means if I sleep soundly through the night, I may get 5-7 hours of sleep.

Then there are the weekends. Every weekend I manage to mess my sleeping schedule up more than I did during the week. It is also recommended that you get up and go to bed at the same time, come Friday, I am going to sleep at the time I normally get up. How's that for regularity? Then I continue to sleep until one of my friends calls me enough times to convince me to get up.

We always say 24 hours in a day is not enough time, but if you think about it, what would we do with 36 hours? We wouldn't rest more, we wouldn't sleep more, we wouldn't have more time to enjoy ourselves, most likely we would work more, sleep less, and continue being tired. Of course you wonder how someone with a fulltime job has enough time for 8 hours of sleep, the recommended daily amount. We spend no less than 8 hours at work, an hour or two in commute time, a couple hours at the gym, an hour for eating (preparation and eating time), get ready time is about another hour if not longer. So overall you are left with 2 - 3 hours of "you" time if you get a solid 8 hours of sleep. That is enough time for one phone call and a movie.

There are many reasons that we don't sleep well through the night and I wish I could pinpoint one because it would make my life a lot easier. Every time I wake up, I have to look at the clock. If I don't, I worry about what time it is and if I am actually supposed to be getting up soon. I did that this morning, 5 minutes before the scheduled time of my alarm, I woke up, only to find that going back to sleep would be worthless. A tip on better sleep suggests that you should never look at the clock in the middle of the night because it causes anxiety. Of course, being that I work very early hours, it is always dark out when I get up, so there is no way of telling how close or far from waking up I am. I feel the utter need to know what time it is, but I guess everything is worth a try.

Maybe if I got on some sort of sleep schedule I would be more attentive during the day. Of course, being young and the word sleep schedule don't exactly go hand in hand. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight!

Friends

Friends - we all have them, we all need them. They are the people that listen to the drama in our lives. They are the people that put smiles on our faces. They are the people that give us a reason to go out on Friday night. They are the people that make tomorrow better and yesterday a good memory. But how well do you know your friends? To say I have known someone for 5 years has a new meaning to me. Granted there is something different about a friend versus a significant other, but why is it we feel those significant others may know more about us than our friends ever will. Is it because they cared more to pay attention? Is it because they spent more time with us? Don't get me wrong, I have spent 10 days straight with a person, yet by the end of that time, you are annoyed with a friend and you feel comforted to have spent that time with your significant other. Does that make any sense? Because in all logic, a significant other is just a friend.

If you asked me how many of my friends keep journals, I could make a random guess, but I wouldn't have a clue how to answer that. I write. Mainly when I have things on my mind, but I also write nonsense. I write about the rain, the sun, passion, love, smiles, sadness, I write about anything I can think of. But I bet most of my friends don't know that. To say you know someone well is a funny thing. In these days where people can lead double lives very easily. Just because a phone rings, doesn't mean you have to answer it. And some people don't. The Internet is another story. Ever try to search for yourself on Google and see what comes up. Maybe nothing will, but there again, maybe there is something there. Funny thing is, you would never know unless you tried. We post information about ourselves on the Internet. Sometimes with our real names connected and other times with an alias so that no one really knows who we are. Is this in a way a double life? How do you really get to know a person? At what point do they become more a friend than an acquaintance?

I have a known a guy for almost 2 years now and about a week and a half ago I was told that we shouldn't talk at all anymore. I would have counted him as a friend, however his comment was acquaintances or whatever we are. Where is that line drawn? Granted we all do the how-do-you-dos? What is your name, where are you from, where did you grow up, what do you like to do, what type of music do you listen to, but isn't that all basic information. You could read that off a post and make a judgment if you so desired. Again I come back to what constitutes KNOWING someone? Do you only truly get to know someone by the experiences you have with them? Or is what they tell you enough? Then comes the question if you don't know them at all, they could logically tell you anything and you would just have to take it for the truth. Is that part of the get to know you game? You have to take everything someone says as real until you can make your own judgments.

It is funny when you talk to people you haven't talked to for a while. These "friends" only get to know the big things that happen in your life. Those people that you talk to every day get to hear the nonsense that goes on in your life. Is one better off than the other? I am 22 years old and I have lived for over 8000 days. Kind of funny when you put it into perspective like that. Most of the time when someone asks me what's going on, I say nothing. Perhaps I should just start giving them random facts about my life. Granted it isn't everyday that something "exciting" happens, but typically we learn something new every day and we share moments with people. Is that enough to be news worthy? Or is this the boring grind that people don't really want to hear about?

To my big question, how do you really get to know someone? What is it about a person that makes them more desirable to spend time with than another? What makes your best friends, best friends? Is it because you have known them the longest, share the most in common, or is it more than that? Do you share the same beliefs? Do you enjoy the same things? Do you have the same goals? Think about it.

Postivie Side of Life

Living on Earth may be expensive,
but it does include a free trip
around the sun every year.


How long a minute is
depends on what side of the
bathroom door you're on.

Birthdays are good for you;
the more you have,
the longer you live.

Happiness comes through doors you
didn't even know you left open.

Ever notice that the people who are late
are often much jollier
than the people who have to wait for them?

Most of us go to our grave
with our music still inside of us.

If Wal-Mart is lowering prices every day,
how come nothing is free yet?

You may be only one person in the world,
but you may also be the world to one person.

Some mistakes are too much fun
to only make once.

Don't cry because it's over;
smile because it happened.

We could learn a lot from crayons:
some are sharp, some are pretty,
some are dull, some have weird names,
and all are different colors....but
they all exist very nicely in the same box.

A truly happy person is one who
can enjoy the scenery on a detour.