I went with some friends for a long weekend in Vegas. I have a timeshare and she works for an airline so we didn't really have to pay for airfare or lodging. Four of us went in total and it was a blast.
We did get to see a show, Viva Elvis by Cirque du Soliel, but unfortunately I got sick halfway through the show and then was sick for the rest of the trip.
But we did a bunch of fun things before then. The first night we went out to dinner and walked around Downtown Las Vegas before we picked up the 4th guy who was on a later flight. The next day was the Kentucky Derby which we watched at Caesars Palace which was alot of fun. I didn't win but one guy got a few dollars for something. I still don't get horse racing.
That night we went to Mirage for a yummy dinner at the wine bar and then to hang out at the Revolution Lounge (Beatles theme). We were nice and drunk and had fun dancing. We went back to the timeshare and the boys made mojitos which we took down to the pool and hot tub. So fun!
I so excited! Today I ordered the HTC Droid Incredible and it will be ready for me to pick up at the store on Thursday, the same day it's released. I've been waiting for a smart phone since I refuse to switch to AT&T and this one got really good reviews and is on Verizon.
Luckily my soon-to-be brother-in-law was able to get us tickets to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds. This is an annual even where the Three Floyds Brewery launches it's special batch of Dark Lord beer. People come from all over to get their hands on some. I think they sell for about $100 a bottle on eBay.
I confess, we cut in line. The line was CRAZY long and when were were checking it out someone came out with their beer and told us to cut because that was what he did. So the boys went and got the beer and then we went back to watch the Blackhawks game.
This ended up being a really traumatic day though. The guys were taking turns on an ATV and one of them got really hurt with a bad head/brain injury and we spent most of the time in the ER. It was horrible.
UPDATE: Our friend is okay. A few weeks in the hospital and few months of rehab, but luckily he'll be fine.
My addiction this week has been Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour. I missed it when I came to Chicago back in 2008, and in fact I somehow never have been to a Madonna concert. But last weekend VH1 aired part of it and as I watched each new song she performed I became more and more amazed. I know I'm probably the last to realize it, but she puts on one hell of a show! I mean, she was jump roping while singing "Into the Groove" - and double dutch too!
The tour was recorded for video in Argentina, and I was really blown away when she performed a few Spanish type songs. She had a really cool routine for "Spanish Lesson" and then she followed it up with a whole new version of "La Isla Bonita". There's a male gypsy singer who is singing with her and it is so neat. So it was with that song that had me hooked. The whole show was amazing, with the lights and graphics and colors... but I especially loved the dancing.
So of course I immediately ordered the DVD and downloaded the album that came out on Tuesday. I don't even usually like live music unless I'm at the concert, but these songs are all so amazing and even more fun live. I guess it's because I'm hearing them in a new way. She also re-worked Borderline with more of a heavy rock guitar in there and there is a club version of Like a Prayer. It's just all so much fun. This has been my workout soundtrack all week and I'm loving it!
Oh, and I still have the behind the scenes featurettes to watch - I've been too busy watching her performance over and over.
We were lucky to see Johnny Weir skate in the Cutie's Ice Dreams 2010 show. He has been my obsession these past few months, ever since I saw him skate in the Olympics. One of the fans made a bunch of "We love Johnny Weir" buttons and she gave me one.
Dorothy Hamill was there too, but she was the host so she didn't perform. As the show started, all the skaters came out one at a time and did a short mini-routine. And each skater was better than the previous one so I was excited that the people were really good and entertaining. After quite a few of them came out we noticed a guy wearing a silverish mesh top with HUGE shoulder pads. They were full and kinda see through. Yup, that was Johnny Weir. We were all so excited when we realized it was him! But that was just a little intro and he was off the ice before we knew it.
Several skaters then did their thing. They each did full routines and there wasn't one that was disappointing. One guy, Dan Hollander, dresses up in costumes and he was actually really funny. There was also another Vancouver 2010 Olympian, Rachael Flatt, and she was really good too. I was watching the doorway where they entered the ice and I saw sparkles. I saw lots of sparkles. And the next skater up was Johnny Weir! We weren't expecting this because it was still early in the show.
There was a cute exchange between him and Dorothy Hamill. She was still introducing him and he just walked over to her and gave her a hug and stuff. Then he stood there and waved to everyone. I wonder if he's ever met her before... it seemed like he was kinda honoring her a bit. He skated to a Russian composition called "I Will Never Forget You" and he dedicated his skate to the families who lost loved ones in the recent tragedies in Moscow.
By the way, a "cutie" is a Mandarin Orange. Who knew? Oh, and I discovered it's REALLY hard to take pictures of ice skaters. So I decided to take a videos of Johnny skating.
One of the nice things about this show is that they combined all these performances of Olympic skaters with local talent. So there were also kids skating and they were so adorable. They were good too!
Johnny did perform a second number. And this was the one he tweeted about and the reason I bought the ticket. He skated a new routine to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". I loved it! And he wore a fabulous new costume too. It was black and had a huge gold collar up one side - very Gaga. There were little feathers for a tutu kinda thing of the back too. It's really cool.
We didn't hang around to see if we could get pictures or autographs. I heard you could pay $100+ to do a meet and greet with him but I'm not sure if that's true. He seems so nice. He hung out on the ice signing autographs and taking pictures anyways.
Also, he had some camera following him around (off ice) that we could see, so I'm hoping it's for a second season of Be Good Johnny Weir. So maybe we'll get to see a professionally filmed version that routine sometime too. Maybe even some of his experiences at this same show!
See a few other pictures here. And professional pictures here. And official Cutie's photos posted on their facebook page here.
Okay, this is kinda cute. The project I've been working on for the past year is a Marketplace at Sears. We went live with the whole thing sometime in January. So now marketing is picking up and it's kinda fun to see the stuff I worked on getting advertised.
To build awareness and create excitement for Marketplace, we launched a fun marketing campaign in New York City yesterday. Marketplace at Sears.com took over Times Square with 5,000 posted “SALE” tags on several iconic New York City items including a NYC Taxi and the Midtown “LOVE” sign.
Some of the tags had cute sayings, like "okay, this item's not for sale, but you can find what you're looking for at the new marketplace at Sears.com."
