Vegas, baby, Vegas

We were so money.

I can't go to Vegas without thinking of Swingers, especially since that movie came out not too long before my first trip there. In fact, that was one of the last times I've been there for fun! I tend to travel there for work, rather than for me. What a mistake that is.

I arrived on Friday night, and my friend Natalia arrived shortly after. As I was waiting for her at the airport, I saw a bunch of NBA folks, and BizMarKee. Dude is fug! I should have known the weekend would be a little crazy when she walked up to the baggage carousel with an older guy and said he was going to give us a ride to the hotel. Randy was a nice guy, if not a little strange. He had just gotten back from New Zealand and his son was picking him up. They were a nice father/son team. And they were kind enough to drive us to the hotel.

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood, which used to be the Aladdin. Entering the lobby, we felt like rock stars. It is totally redone with bright lights, bright walls, and bright crystals dripping all over the place. We were both a little awestruck. We said goodbye to Randall and headed up to our room, which they haven't yet redone. I say in about 2 years, that place will be off the hook. They just need some time to redo everything.

Got all tarted up and headed out to eat. We went to the buffet in the PH (that's hotel speak for Planet Hollywood), where we were totally overdressed, and stuffed our faces. Well fed, we were ready to hit the strip.

It was fun to go to Vegas with someone who'd never been. It brings back all the awe I felt that first time I saw the bright lights (although a lot of the hotels are new since I first went there 10 years ago). We walked past the Bellagio fountains, which were, for some reason, dancing to tunes like "This Kiss" and "Proud to be an American." Weird; I like it better when it's Pavarotti & Celine Dion. We walked inside and saw the fantastic Route 66 exhibit they have inside. I had no idea they changed it up so much (I was last there in May and the exhibit was different).

After that we headed over to Cesar's, where we were supposed to meet one of my brother's friends. We were early, and the table minimums were a little too high, so over to the Imperial Palace we went. That place is awesome. I sat down at "Michael Jackson's" table, where I promptly lost about 100$. I did not like Michael Jackson. We then went to the Roulette table, where Wang was our dealer. We were there for a while and even got to catch the impersonator show on the casino floor. Awesome!

It was time to get over to Cesar's. The party was at OPM, and was apparently for the Chris Weber foundation. Upon walking up to the door, we saw Nick Van Exel and a few other NBAers. I was, of course, a little star struck. Our friend didn't show up, and we weren't quite sure what to do, so we went to some jankie bar in Cesar's called "The Slice" or something. While there, a girl gave us a pass to PURE...we thought what the hell!

Off to PURE we went. The line was huge, so we went to check how long it would take. The security guy told us an hour, but that since it was just the two of us ladies, we could go to the "Ladies Only" line and get right in. We went over there, but the line had just closed, so they sent us to another one. Within 5 minutes, we were inside and ready to boogie down in PURE.

After grabbing a drink, we went to the dance floor, where I heard them say something about "DJ AM."I thought, no way is he here, it must be his remixes or something. But then we got in there and sure enough, there was DJ AM. It was awesome. Then I looked up to the VIP area, and there was Adrian Grenier. This was the most stars I'd ever seen in Vegas! PURE was great, I got felt up more than I had in a long time ;-) and we danced and danced until I couldn't walk anymore. I made the mistake, before we headed back to OPM, of sitting on a counter, and I when I put my feet back down, I literally could not stand. So Natalia decided to switch shoes with me. It could not have been comfortable for her, but I went with it.

Back at OPM, we were waved in. It was about 2.30am, so all of the big folks had probably left. We went upstairs to meet with our friend, who promptly pointed out Chris Weber and Sway from MTV. Then I looked over and saw Joakim Noah. Dude is tall! The night went on and on...by that point we'd both had a lot to drink and were just having fun!

Finally, around 5am, it was time to go home. Although we weren't far from the hotel, we caught a cab. For some reason we ate some really nasty food, which did not sit well with either of us. Soon enough...we were both passed out. And that was just day 1!!