I’m writing to you from my ultra hip room in the W Hotel Union Square NYC!
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I went to Las Vegas this past weekend. I got home late last night (our flight was delayed 3.5 hours,wouldn’t you know it?!), repacked my bags and left for the Independent Fashion Blogger’s conference in NYC this morning.
I’m not used to all of this travel, and neither are my kids. It was one teary night at my house last night! My 12 year-old, M, was so angry I was leaving again she would barely speak to me and my 8 year-old, E, was sobbing uncontrollably when I put her to bed. I seriously almost cancelled my trip. If I could have gotten a refund on my tickets, I would have. I miss them so much when I’m gone. It even seems so much harder to leave them now than when they were younger. I would have thought it’d be the other way around. Does anyone else feel that way?
On a quick side note, while I was in Vegas, my little E called and asked if she could go in my closet and put outfits together for my blog. Isn’t that the cutest thing ever? I’m thinking being in my closet was her way of feeling close to me while I was gone.Here’s what she had laid out for me when I got home. Mind you, I will be modeling these “as is” on the blog, but I have to give you a preview:
Ironically, that outfit with the polka dot dress was one I featured on the blog last summer, but she didn’t know that. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it? Watch out daddy!!
Well, I’m here [...break for phone call from my 8 year-old saying goodnight and missing me so much that I think I might as well lay my heart out on Park Avenue and let a city bus run it over it...]so I’m going to try to make the best of it. …back to blogging…and all I can think to write is MOMMY GUILT… I don’t know how these traveling parents do it. Luckily I have an awesome husband who is very supportive of my new venture and who is the world’s best dad. I know she’s in good hands, but gosh this is hard.
Back to the blog…I want to tell you all about my trip to Vegas! To me there’s no better place to spend a weekend. In my opinion, you just can’t beat the selection of restaurants, shows, gambling and nightlife. The only thing missing is the beach, but the pools at the hotels are so posh who can complain? We went out with three other couples and like you do in Vegas – ate, drank, gambled, shopped (my favorite place to shop) hit a show and barely slept. So much fun, so little time!
One of the highlights of the trip was a private Super Bowl party we went to on Sunday night. It was over the top spectacular:
You can’t see it in this picture, but there were 100′s of couches and end tables set up with about a dozen different food stations. There was anything and everything to eat from chicken wings to clam chowder to a freezer filled with ice cream bars. What a party!
One of the (many) reasons I love to go to Vegas, is I get to dress up. We went out to nice dinners both nights. Jean Georges was Friday night. It’s a steak house in the Aria. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can recommend it. The service was not good and everyone was complaining that their food was too salty, including me. And when I say too salty, I mean I couldn’t eat it because it was so salty.
Saturday night we went to American Fish. While the service was slow, the food was fabulous. I had the scallop dish and it was cooked to perfection. I would definitely go back. so what did I wear out you ask? Here are picts of my dresses from Friday and Saturday night – both coincidentally from my favorite dress shop, Caché:
The dress on the left is the ombré open shoulder dress. I love the cobalt blue and black combination. The open shoulders give it some edge and sexiness. I also love the detailing on the slim skirt. It’s so unique, isn’t it? I’m sure you recognize that stunning dress on the right. Yes, it’s the hot pink shift dress I said I would buy if I was a winner in my giveaway. (Tracy, did you use your gift card yet?? Do tell!) Winner or not, I couldn’t live without this dress! I just love everything about this dress – the standout color (it’s impossible to be a wall flower in this dress), the drapey fabric and the sexy slits in the sleeves. You know that feel good feeling you get when you know you look good? That’s how I felt in this dress.
Like I said, Vegas is my favorite place to shop. I love that you have every single store you could ever want from high-end designer to regular mall store jam packed into 3-4 miles on the strip. Did you know that the Fashion Show mall has more department anchor stores than any store in the country! It’s true! Usually on my first full day in Vegas, I’m out the door by 10am for 6 or 7 hours of uninterrupted shopping bliss, but this time around I only got a few hours in. That’s ok. I’ve been hitting it pretty hard in the shopping department lately, so it was time to give it a little rest. Oh don’t worry, I didn’t come home empty handed! I picked up these awesome booties by Dani Black at a boutique in the Aria. I couldn’t find these booties on the web (strange) but here are a pair that are very similar from HSN. I just think they’re so hot. In fact, I’ll be sporting these beauties tomorrow at the IFB conference. You’ve got to have a stand-out piece for a conference filled with fashion bloggers!
So before I leave off on Vegas, I have to tell you about the Rod Stewart show we saw. If you have a chance, (and you’re my age), you’ve got to go see Rod Stewart. He was absolutely fantastic!!! I’m telling you, at 68 years old, he’s still got it. I think it’s one of the best, if not the best show I’ve ever seen out there. It was such an upbeat show and I knew the words to every song. In addition, the instrumentals (in some cases orchestras) were incredible and the back up singers were amazing – so many incredibly talented musicians. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole concert and Rod was so much fun kicking soccers balls into the audience and even traveling around the auditorium shaking hands with fans. What a performer; a legend actually!
Here are some picts from the show! I’d pay to see it again!
By the way, I’ve decided that in my next life I’m coming back as a back-up singer for Rod. These three women rocked the house!
I’m going to wrap it up for now. Have to get fueled up for a long day and night of conferencing tomorrow and oops, it’s 11:15pm! Alarm set for 5:30am. This is going to be brutal! No fun goes unpunished you know! Good night all!!
