Get up and shake the glitter off, that's what you get for waking up in Vegas

Hello lovely TWIMOers. Sorry I've been MIA. I've been off being very un-Sarah like. Not in a bad way, but I just got back from a semi spontaneous trip to Las Vegas. Get ready to be enlightened by Sarah's good girl guide to Sin City.

How it all began: So, a month or so ago when I was home in Ohio I went out with my high school friends and my friend M asked if I was interested in going to Vegas, because he and a friend were going to celebrate being done with the bar exam and because they had never been. At first I just shrugged the offer off, but being a) boring b) bored c) needing to cross Nevada off my visit all 50 states in my lifetime list, I started to entertain the idea of spontaneously going to Vegas with M and his friends as a time for self growth in being more "wild." So, to my bewilderment I had to ask my mom if I could go, as my unemployed self obviously doesn't have any $$. This turned out to be much easier than anticipated as she was like, "Sure, you should go. You're kind of boring." Thanks mom...

So Wednesday night I boarded a plane for my roughly 48 hours in Vegas. Upon arrival (12am EST, so I was damn tired. I go to bed at like 10 people) I was met by the boys, M and H, M's law school roommate and we started our debaucherous two days (ok it wasn't that bad). First we checked into our hotel, the Flamingo. I recommend this place if you're going for a cheap time. It def. isn't luxe, but for $45 a night it will save you money that can be spent on ohh... buffets. Also Donny and Marie perform there and there is just something so tantalizing about being so close to the singing, Mormon, sibling duo.

The fabulous Flamingo

Me and Donny. Swoon.

Gambling: The first night we went to Bellagio to class it up and decided to do a little gambling. BTW the fountains ala Ocean's 11 outside of the Bellagio are really beautiful. In the casino we decided to play blackjack with a sassy old dealer who helped me out because he thought I looked "crazy" like Drew Barrymore (umm... thanks), regardless I won $20 on my first try. That's about where my gambling wins stopped, I left in the hole, but not too much. I can definitely see where people get addicted to it and it is pretty much like throwing money in the trash (M and I lost $20 each in approx. 30 seconds at one table). So as far as gambling goes H and I did not do so well, M on the other hand had the gambling gods lookin' down on him. On Friday when we were just checking out some of the hotels and stopped in at New York, New York (much cooler on the outside than the inside btw) and M decided to put $5 down on roulette. He put his chip on a black 13 and sure enough the damn little ball landed on the black 13 and M was suddenly $175 richer. Other tips for gambling. If you're ahead, walk away and always remember the house has the advantage (words of wisdom from the Good book, Lonely Planet Las Vegas). Also a thought to ponder. There is a whole industry that designs slot machines from a Maltese (as in the dog) Fortune Machine to a Leonardo DaVinci themed machine. This blew my mind. It was a neat experience nonetheless, although I think I'm done with it for oohhhh the rest of my life.

Thrills: Vegas, as we quickly learned, is very expensive. If you want to do anything it's going to cost you. Attractions range from $20-40, shows into the $100s, and clubs from $20-50 just for cover. So needless to say we didn't do a lot of any of this. M and I did go to Madame Tussuad's wax museum which was really fun. I say spend the $18 if you've never been. Check out the pics we got. I got to meet my fav. weatherman Al Roker(I told him all about TWIMO, so he's ready for our upcoming appearance on Today), my D-list girl Kathy Griffin, my single lady preacher Beyonce, and some fine fine gents(I mean come on Hugh Hefner! Hottie).

It's Al Roker!!! Let me on the Today show.

My boy Hugh. Thanks for the good times. JK. He's much too old.

Food and Drink: Besides gambling I'd say that the other points of Vegas are to eat and drink. There are TONS of celebrity chefs' restaurants (thank you Top Chef for making me in the know on my culinary who's who and being a suave name dropper. "Oh there's Joel Robuchon's restaurant" (add condescending tone). I really enjoyed seeing the interiors of the restaurants, since they are pretty much an interior design-gasm (I recommend the MGM's lower level for some restaurant eye candy). In terms of actual eating, Vegas is guess what... REALLY EXPENSIVE! Besides dropping money on the breakfast buffet at our hotel (it was like center court brunch for you WashUers) and $10 on some really bad chicken fingers we didn't do a lot of eating besides our special event going to Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay's restaurant). H really wanted to try it, so we got dolled up and stuffed ourselves silly with some fine southwestern cuisine. I have to say interiors wise, not that exciting. It was a weird mix of western and primary colors and a flame motif that in my opinion was a little cheesy. The food however was pretty good. If you're a foodie I recommend finding out when Vegas restaurant week is (apparently in early Sept.). All of the fancy schmancy restaurants have a set menu you can order off of so you can try an appetizer, entree, and dessert for around $50, which is a good deal considering most entrees run $30-40. If you're watching your gambling budget I recommend not getting drinks as they run your bill up quite a bit. I got a roasted corn soup, blue corn encrusted halibut, and coconut layer cake. It was all pretty good, although if you're not a spice lover there isn't a lot on the menu that doesn't include some type of chile or pepper. All in all pretty good, although the boys didn't fare well as one was intoxicated and the other really full and feeling ill from it. So, Sarah the responsible one took them back to the hotel and got them ready for our night out, which brought us to Lavo, a lounge/club in the Venetian. The lounge where were hung out, because it was free to enter, had a really great atmosphere and the drinks were tres yummy, although tres spendy as well.

Me and the boys at Mesa Grill. Food Coma to ensue.

Hotels/Casinos: In trying to keep our debt down we spent a lot of time wandering through different hotels. Now essentially they all offer the same things. Hotel, restaurants, shops, casino with a different theme to match. My personal favorites were Cesar's Palace and the Venetian, although I thought MGM Grand had the most to do (and Starbucks, every 4ft.). Vegas is about going big or going home, so the scale of the design of these hotel/casinos is massive (M and my conversation while walking through a lot of them consisted of "wow, it's just soo big." Now repeat). The budgets to decorate them with are equally as massive. Knowing what materials cost they spare no expense. I enjoyed seeing the hotels that were knock-offs of places I'd been so I could compare the accuracy. Another fun thing for the design minded is checking out the casino carpets. They're all custom for each themed casino and some of them are REALLY Wild. I also taught M and H, I'm sure much to their chagrin, about wayfinding since all of the carpets have paths designed into them. The thing that annoyed me the most about the design of the hotels is that the user is totally being manipulated and knowing that made me really angry, because a) you have to go through the casino to get anywhere and b)the signage and wayfinding gets a lot less and more confusing in the casinos so you can't find your way out. Interior design at work people. It is quite powerful.

The lobby at Cesar's Palace. Can we say bling. PS that woman thought it was funny to run into my photo. I agree. It's funny.

I think that's about it for my guide to Las Vegas, the land of high rollers, opulent interiors, good eats, and scantily clad women. I mean I can't tell you everything....as what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. My lips are sealed.