The Answer Is Always Paris.

So on Yahoo! today, I saw an article entitled "Best Fall Getaways."  It seemed interesting, and since I've recently-recaught the travel bug (now if I could only afford to have it), I was curious what they had in mind.

10. Yellowstone
9. Savannah, GA
8. Boston, MA
7. Austin, TX (hells yeah)
6. Vancouver, BC
5. New York City, NY
4. Las Vegas, NV
3. Chicago, IL
2. San Francisco, CA
1. Paris, France


So... I put in bold the locations I've visited (four of which I've visited--a couple multiple times--in the last 3 years!)... looks like I got 3 more to go!  Might as well do it in the fall, no?  And really though... Paris?  Like it wouldn't top the list for ANY season?!

Here are some photos of my travel companions, our lovely destinations, and... of course... me:

Thomas & Me at the Bean, our visit to Schutte

Chicago 11/2008... our first trip together!

Thomas & Me at the Public Garden, our visit to Jenny

Boston 5/2009

JJ, Buddy & Me at Harpoon Brewery, random visit/Jenny's graduation

Boston 5/2010

Chi Thu, Lisa & Me at The Central Park Boathouse, sister trip!

NYC 7/2010

Rachel, Najia & Me in Italy The Forum Shops (yeah... we didn't have a whole lot of pics of us all together), On our "Summer Lovin'" trip

Las Vegas 7/2011

Felix, Me, Nappy, Natasha & Donson in the Miracle Mile Shops (... apparently, malls are where you take photos in Vegas), On the "Let's Just Go To Vegas" trip

Las Vegas 8/2011

Anyway... this next one was not one of my more recent visits... but who cares?  It's still one of my favorites of ALL TIME!

LC, Me & Shana on the Champ de Mars

Paris 7/2007

Hey Thomas... where are we going next?

Girl's Day Thursday

July 28th - I went to the Austin Tidbit's 5th birthday party with LC. I got there early and got a "gift bag" which had some swag... that I will probably never use. However, the idea of swag was definitely on all the women's minds. When I got there, there were a ton of women standing around waiting to be let upstairs. When we were... I was like Simba at the bottom of that gorge... with the wildebeests. I was just trying not to get run over! I had a good time catching up with LC though... and eating free shit.

Later that evening I drove to Gruene to see Najia and Ashley (we met halfway between Austin and San Antonio). We actually met and ate at the Gristmill. A friend of Najia's came and met us too (... I already forgot his name... it doesn't help that he goes by some different name on facebook). Anyway, we had a really good night... and I was glad I got to see Najia one more time before she headed back to NYC.

It was sad... summer was starting to end...

I Know Eventually We'll Be Together One Sweet Day

July 20th - It was to be my last day with Rachel. I started off the day doing a whole lot of nothing at home... and then Thomas, Johnny, and I met Rachel up at Counter Cafe. Then I went with Sarah Bowers to get our nails done, a little shopping and girl talk. It was, after all, only a couple days before her big day (her wedding day, that is).

Rachel was moving out the next day. So Thomas and I spent a good chunk of our afternoon being sweethearts (more Thomas than me) and we helped her clean her apartment. I painted some stuff, Thomas cleaned out her fridge and we just helped out where we could.

I may or may not have put on some ladybug wings to vacuum her cabinets

Afterwards we headed out to Blues on the Green... no I don't know who was playing... I never know who is playing... I am barely conscious of the fact that music is being played...

Eventually Thomas and I found Rachel, Ashley & Najia (and Fay and a few others)

The girls had some Four Loko.... apparently it was really really good

After sitting around in the hot hot heat, we finally left Zilker and headed towards Highball for a raucous night of awesome karaoke. I spent a lot of the night serenading Rachel with love songs... probably one of the best was me and Ashley singing "Does He Love You?" It was pretty badass...

Just singing to my girl Rachel

We even got Bobby Creeding out with Johnny and Thomas

We had a really great last night with Rachel... I've missed her a lot, but she seems to be having a good time in Lubbock (whether you believe that or not...)

"I can't believe I forgot to motorboat you last night!" -- Najia to Rachel, Vegas: Part 5 (The Final Chapter)

This is going to be the shortest of the Vegas posts. Our flight didn't leave until 8 pm on Sunday. We left our luggage with the good people at THEhotel and headed to the pool where we thankfully still had access (remember, we couldn't go the first day we were there... because the pool was closed... for Godsmack).

The only thing that would make this better is some serious heavy metal.

Don't know if you can tell from the photo or not, but there is a giant looming cloud in the distance. Probably about 15 minutes after this photo was taken, there was, yes, another torrential downpour. Vegas was NOT into us soaking up some sun. Aren't we in the desert? How was it that I experienced more rain in THREE DAYS in Vegas than I have ALL SUMMER in Austin?!

We rushed inside, decided to explore the north end of the strip and ended up at the Mirage. After deciding not to see the tigers ("So what did y'all think of the tigers? ...really? You're just going to ignore me? Nobody? Nobody wants to answer my question? Thanks." Najia tried really hard to get people to give us their opinions on whether or not $17 was worth seeing tigers. Finally the patriarch of the family that ignored us told us... well... no. No it's not worth it.)

What's the point if they're not even there?

We gambled a bit. There was nothing notable about this. Money flew out of my hand incredibly fast. Faster than when Co Huong is dealer during Tet. In fact, my dealer was a nice older Asian woman who reminded me of Co Huong. I should've known better. Question: WHY ARE ALL DEALERS OLDER ASIAN FOLK? Anyway, brightside: Rachel won some money though!

My Gangsta mom and her Gangsta Sister... Who takes ALL my money!

Anyway, we eventually wound up back at our hotel and they girls were so tired they wanted a little pick me up first. We went to the Starbucks in Mandalay Bay. I've been off coffee for awhile, so I sat down (laid down?) on a couch and waited for the girls to come back with their beverages. Not long after they got in line, I heard a cackle of laughter and a few giggles. Somehow I didn't know it was from Rachel and Najia, but I suppose I should've guessed. When they came back to where I was seated, they were still giggling whilst slurping at their straws. Apparently, while Rachel was at the counter, Najia abruptly turned to Rachel and with a look and tone of TOTAL concern and disappointment, she said, "I can't believe I forgot to motorboat you last night!" I believe the barista simply replied something along the lines of, "If this were anywhere else but Vegas, that comment might worry me." Rachel will probably correct me on that since I wasn't at the counter and therefor don't actually "remember" it.

One last notable thing of our last hours of the trip: Boris. Our flight attendant. He cracked jokes. He played songs. He kept talking and talking and talking and talking. But I was just in the right mood to enjoy it. I could tell that he annoyed some passengers (and definitely the other snot-nosed flight attendants) but he was CRACKING ME UP! And I had a great time listening to him! There were three people in the row right next to me who had something similar to a TENS unit and as soon as the pilot indicated we could take out our "approved electronics" they whipped it out and spent the duration of our flight shocking themselves. I spent a lot of my time staring at them and cracking up and their twitching nerves. They asked if I wanted to try it. I said, "Oh HELLLLL no." I guess I didn't say "yes" to EVERYTHING...

Thomas picked us up at super late AM O'Clock and he's the best boyfriend ever, have I mentioned that lately?

Anyway... that is the end of our Vegas Vacation.

Which was better? Us or Chevy's?

"Look at those fly honies. THIS is the line we wanna be in!" -- Rachel, Vegas: Part 4

At some point in the night (during our nap), Nappy texted me suggesting some places we try and that we probably want to get there early if we want to avoid another ridiculous wait. Somehow, I managed to read it, soak it in (maybe?), and ignore it all in the span of about a hot second. I fell back asleep. Eventually I woke up and saw that it was... 1 am. I was torn. I was tired. I was really really tired, and no doubt, the girls were tired too. Maybe we should just sleep and then have a really nice early morning tomorrow? But then I thought... WE ONLY HAVE TWO NIGHTS IN VEGAS, WE ARE NOT SLEEPING ALL THROUGH IT! I was torn. Would the girls hate me or love me for waking them up? Love, right?

Come on, the beds were pretty comfy

Thankfully I didn't have to wait long to find out the answer to that question. Rachel stirred in her bed (Najia was lying passed out next to me). I took this opportunity to say something, "Hey! So... you ready to go out or what?" Silence. Nothing. I thought I had missed my chance. I sat still debating on what to do. I think I texted Nappy saying, "Umm... so we're still asleep... what to do." He assured me that there were after hours clubs that would still be open... "The night is still young," he said. Then... almost a full minute or so after I thought I had officially lost Rachel to the night, she said (with her eyes still closed), "Yeah, okay, what time is it?"

"One," I quietly replied.

She flew straight up in bed, turned toward me and with her eyebrows arched she yelled, "It's WHAT?!"

"Yeah... it's one. We didn't set an alarm, and it's one," I said. This time I let my voice get a bit louder in hopes that we'd "accidentally" wake up Najia with our conversation. It worked.

Rachel got out of bed and went straight into the bathroom saying, "Well we are NOT sleeping and wasting our second and LAST night. Let's GO!"

Done and done

So we did. At almost exactly 2 am, we were dressed (in our Vegas finest) and ready to go in the cab queue. We felt absolutely ludicrous for JUST NOW going out, but we were just really proud of ourselves for rallying. In fact, I think one of the other two said that in the car, "Way to rally, girls!" We made our way to Drai's, the club Nappy suggested. Literally the SECOND Rachel stepped out of the cab, she got the good ol', "Say girl, what's your name?" To which she quickly retorted, "YOU DON'T CARE WHAT MY NAME IS!" Najia and I were VERY pleased with Rachel's dress that night... in case I haven't mentioned that in a previous post. Rachel did NOT want to buy/wear it, but she and I made a deal, she'd get her SLBD and I'd get one for myself.

There is nothing not awesome about this dress...

We walk through Bill's which is the casino the club is in. This has got to be the seediest of all the casinos we walked through. And it wasn't even that seedy. Something about the fact that there weren't doors but a giant opening that led directly to the strip made the place seem less... casino-y. It was no Bellagio.

Like I said, a classy joint
So we find the entrance to Drai's which is apparently underground. We see about 5 or 6 women waiting in a line. They're all bigger, scantily clad, black women, i.e., fly honies. We had talked the night before about how Najia and I were hoping for less club/dance/house music and more... "TO THE WINDOW!!!!" music. :) We felt the demographic of this club may be the RIGHT demographics for the music we were looking for, you feel me? Not long after we got in line behind said fly honies, a giant bouncer man (with a lot of power, no doubt) walked up to us. And by us, I mean Rachel's incredibly hot dress. "Is it just the three of you?" This time we all replied (lest Najia screw this one up too, haha) "Yes," in unison. He asked to see our IDs and once we were all checked out, he opened up the rope and let us pass. Yes, we were the douchey girls who got to "skip" the line... and let me remind you, the line consisted of those fly honies. Oh well. They came in almost immediately after us. And THANK GOD THEY DID because that brought the total of people in the club to about... 15.

I resorted to trying to take pretty photos since there wasn't a whole lot else to do

Apparently we were not quite after enough of the hours, because there was NO ONE THERE. Thankfully it didn't take too long for the place to fill up. I'd say in about 30 minutes (just enough time for us to speak to NO ONE and finish a drink or two) the joint was jumpin'. We made our way back to the bar to get ourselves a drink when we were accosted by a group of gentlemen. We referred to these gentlemen as "cholos." Apparently we were popular with them in Vegas. Anyway, long story short, somehow we got stuck talking to them, and Najia and Rachel even agreed to dance with some. I had not agreed to this, but I also didn't want to be the douchebag that felt she was too good. So I made my way to the dance floor with our expanded group and I caught sight of these two dudes that had been hanging out by themselves since we walked in the club.
Najia with our history teacher friend JamesMe with Phil the poker player
Long story short, I ditched our cholos and bee-lined to the only dudes who WEREN'T pushing 300 lbs in the club. I introduced myself to them and lucky me, THEY HAD ACCENTS! They were from "a city outside of Manchester, you've never heard of it." Eventually Najia and Rachel made their way back to me and the boys (Phil and James) and we spent pretty much the rest of the night chatting it up with our new Brit friends. I know I had to be a BIT drunk because I recall blurting out something like "I love Harry Potter!!!!!!" Because naturally, they not only love Harry Potter too, but they probably had to study A History of Magic & Harry Potter at school. Because they're English. Right? When I told them I was from Texas, one of them actually said, "Oh, from Austin?" I was quite impressed. He said he'd never been there, but he hopes to. The only other place in the states he's been was "Seattle... and it was dreadful. Never go there."

"Raquel!!!! Don't be afraid to TOUCH me!!!!" (Please say in obnoxious Puerto Rican accent)

We were also joined by our friend Paulie D (not his real name, obviously, but the name "Miguel" which we also called him might not be his real name either...), who liked to do a lot of dancing. He got his hands on Rachel and Najia and seemed like they had fun dancing in front of our table. Maybe a little awkward, but definitely amusing. Other things I learned about our English friends:- They were 22 and pretty fresh out of school.- One has a tramp stamp that was the result of a really drunk NYE in Thailand.- The same one has another tattoo that was a result of ANOTHER drunk NYE.- One got a degree in business and hated it (sound familiar) so decided he'd become a professional poker player (hence, their 5 week vacation there).- One was a history teacher.- One loves Taylor Swift.- When Najia asked one of the boys if the other was possibly gay, he replied, "I sure hope not, I slept naked with him last night." Yes. That is a direct quote. And please remember to read that with a British accent.- One paid $100 to get into the VIP room that us girls could freely walk in and out of.- The history teacher did not mind nerding out with me when I told him my love for Queen Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II.- When asked if they've gone out a lot while in Vegas, they replied that it all depended on how well they did at the tables that day. I asked how bad a typical losing day might be. He replied "Umm... five figures or so?" WHAT. THE?! You're 22!- They had a third roommate who was on their journey with them but said roommate found a girl earlier at The Palms and they hadn't seem him since.- They were staying at the LAVISH hotel that I mentioned earlier: Bill's (aka the same place the club was in).

I told you the cholos loved us

Overall, despite more run-ins with cholos and some awkwardness, it was another fun and successful night in Vegas. The drinks were still insanely expensive and could not rival our beloved 6th street, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. By the time we headed back to our hotel it was... 6:30 am. AM. In the words of Najia, it was "daylight as dick." Naturally, what does one do at such an hour in Vegas? Why, they walk (looking like the ultimate walk of shame) through the Bellagio, of course!
"Now that dawn has broken, it's high time we walk through the lobby of the Bellagio for no apparent reason."-- Najia paraphrasing Rachel

Eventually, after traipsing around the Bellagio and part of the strip (getting cat-called at 7 am is a new one), we caught a cab and got back to THEhotel.
Once again, I passed out on our bed.

"I'm really glad we came to Vegas to go to Aldo." -- Me, Vegas: Part 3

We slept all morning. I, having a body that just naturally hates me and wants to wake up early, woke up at 8 am, despite the fact that we went to bed at 4 am. Funny note about falling asleep that night... I apparently got into our hotel room and laid, face down, over the covers on my bed. When I woke up around 6:00, I looked over at Najia and Rachel, nice and comfy in their beds, and thought to myself, "Why do they look so comfortable?" Oh, maybe it's because they don't have their necks stretched at a 90 degree angle face down on a pillow. So I got under the cover (just the comforter, yes... the CLEANEST possible thing on earth) and laid on my back. Once again, my neck was at a 90 degree angle... but in the opposite direction.

About 30 minutes later, I woke up and AGAIN looked over at the two girls. Again, I tried to figure out why they looked so much more comfortable than me. I finally realized that they were sleeping on the comfortable WHITE pillows and not the decorative pillows. So I finally threw off all of the pillows onto the floor and found the comfy white pillows. I FINALLY was able to go to sleep. Until I woke up at 8. I woke up at 8. Yes. I looked at the pool, no one was there yet. So... somehow, I kept myself busy until we finally got ourselves out of bed around... oh... 1. :)

I wanted crepes. That's all I wanted. So... we headed towards Paris and finally settled in le cafe...

Najia had some french onion soup and chicken salad croissanwich ad :)

Rachel had the samesies... sans soup

My scrumptious crepes... mushrooms... yum...

Anyway... we wandered around the strip for awhile (which feels a lot like wandering 6th street in the middle of the day) and had to duck inside one of the malls once it started raining. And not just raining... like... torrential flow-rains.

So... we started on our search for Rachel's shoes. Not that she lost her shoes... she just needed new ones. Not long after she exclaimed, "You guys, these shoes are SO COMFORTABLE and they were SO CHEAP," Rachel could be found shoeless along the strip. Turns out, they were not so comfy, and instead, created 20 blisters on her feet. So... we were looking for some decent black flip-flop/sandals that wouldn't look absolutely ludicrous with her LBD... SLBD. (Slutty little black dress... FYI). We found some other interesting things on the way.

Here's Rachel's foot OWNING yet ANOTHER shoe...

The world's most wonderful sweater EVER!

And who WOULDN'T want a possum stuffed animal on your head?

Eventually, we wandered back to Mandalay Bay and... took a nap. And we kept on napping...

and napping...

and napping...

"Umm... yes, hello. We would like to attend the club." -- Najia Dar, Vegas Part 2

So after arriving in Vegas, we found our way to the taxis. We got in the car and the driver said, "Where to?" Rachel replied, "Mandalay Bay. The hotel." Our driver said, "The hotel OR THEhotel?" Okay, maybe he didn't QUITE say that... but we did have to make a distinction. Seriously. I want to know what brilliant person came up with the idea to name it "THEhotel." I'm convinced that someone was supposed to come up with a bunch of names for the meeting, got really drunk and forgot and the first thing he came up with was... "Uhh, dude... how about... THE hotel?!" And it worked. Stupid stuff always works.

Anyway, Rachel and I did a mini fashion show for Najia and the three of us started to get ready for the night. While we got ready, we got to enjoy the sweet sounds of Godsmack doing a soundcheck. From our window we could see the entire pool area... which for that night was closed due to a Godsmack concert. We meant to ask if there was a crowd, because there definitely was NOT one when we left our room around 8 that night.

So there we are, the three of us all dolled up. Ready for a night out on the town. I'd say something about it being "Sin City" but even referencing to the fact that it's called "Sin City" makes me feel incredibly... eww. Anyway, we asked our concierge for a good place to eat (we were those annoying people who had no preference whatsoever) and eventually settled on Sushi Roku (I think that's what it was called?) which was in the Forum shops by Caesar's Palace. This is where we realized we were walking in a glorified mall. With ceilings that are made to look like you're outside (because apparently Vegas is really into that).

So there we are. Outside while inside. Getting a picture taken of us. We felt a lot more dolled up and *ahem* slutty than we actually were. In actuality, we were just nicely dressed. It was just a really stark contrast between us and the families in their fanny packs and neon tourist shirts. We found the restaurant and saw it wasn't all too crowded so when I told them we needed a table for three, I asked if we could have a pretty window view. Our concierge said the sushi was good there, but that it had nice window seats with a great view of the strip. So... the manager said he'd see what he could do... and then... asked if we were celebrating anything special. Why yes, yes we are...? The girls looked at me, and I made a slight gesture to show my "engagement ring" which is... a really good fake that I once found. :)

We got a great table, and we even got some free dessert! We tipped well, cause I felt bad/guilty about lying... but it was kind of fun that it worked!

If you look carefully you can see my ring...

Rachel's doing the Japanese Tourist & Najia's busy doing the Dar pose

Not long after this fountain picture was taken, we were joined by Napoleon (aka Nappy) one of my brother's friends that had been (apparently) living in Vegas the past few years. We strolled down the strip, through the Bellagio, and eventually (after some Rachel's-feet-hurt and Bellagio fountain stops) made it to our final destination: Marquee... which is in The Cosmopolitan. Which is... apparently the most bumpin' club in Vegas. We waited for 1.5-2 hours to get in. Najia famously told the doorman-dude that no, she was not on the guest list, but that she would, in fact, like to attend the club. That got us straight to the back of line. The back of the line that we THOUGHT was the front of the line... but turned out not to be. As loquacious as Nappy is(n't), I think he still had a good time listening to Rachel, Najia & myself be incredibly ridiculous in line. We finally got in, and after $20 covers and $15 drinks... we were finally happy.

Really really happy (or at least, we had to fake it for the price we just paid!)

We spent the bulk of our time just hanging out, talking, dancing, looking ridiculous, looking at ridiculous things. I spent a good chunk of it catching up with Nappy. Eventually we made it to the dance floor... where Rachel found some dudes who were just DYING to share their bottle service with us. I had hit my limit, so I passed off my drink, but continued to have quite a good time :)

All in all, I think we all had a great night! Especially at the end of the night when...

"So... You Wanna Go to Vegas, Guys?" Vegas: Part 1

The title basically describes how that whole thing played out. Rachel came back from Portugal with a voicemail that basically said, "Hey, don't go to [I already forgot which school it was that she almost went to in Fort Worth] and come to Texas Tech's med school instead!" So she did! Which means she actually got a few more days of unexpected and unplanned vacation before school started. So... once again... my life and responsibilities fell to the wayside as I continued my summer romance (there's really no other way to describe what happened between me and Rachel other than a Sandy-Danny Summer Lovin' kind of thing).

So... we said we need to go somewhere. NoLa was done. We needed the next thing. So... naturally we came up with Vegas. We looked up tickets for the weekend of July 8th (the only weekend before she left and that I didn't have a wedding or something else ridiculous going on) and bought our tickets that night. (This was... a week before...) We almost didn't buy them that night but I insisted to Rachel, "WE HAVE TO BUY THEM NOW, or the ticket prices will DOUBLE!" So we did. Sure enough, the NEXT DAY when she bought a ticket for Najia (her bff from forever ago), tickets had jumped up 50%! See? I have to jump into mom-mode and tell Rachel to do things. It benefits us.

So, Rachel and I went to Forever 21 to buy Vegas-appropriate dresses (Read: Slutty... what? I'm just being honest!) And that is LITERALLY all we did to prepare for our trip. I talked to some cousins and siblings and got some advice. For whatever reason, I was very intimidated by the gambling aspect of it all. Probably because we're pretty intense at home, but also informal, so I just didn't know what it would be like in a casino. Maybe I've watched the Oceans movies too many times.

Anyway, July 8th... the day finally comes and Rachel and I get dropped off at the airport by Thomas. We get inside through security and on the other side is Miss Najia Dar. Keep in mind, I was about to spend an entire plane ride and WEEKEND with a girl whom I had never met before. I've been on trips with people I HAVE known and have learned quickly that we were NOT compatible travel buddies... so this is kind of a tricky thing to do. We definitely had nothing to worry about. Rachel was a good judge of character. Najia and I got along EXTREMELY well. On our second half of our trip to Vegas (we had one stop in El Paso), Najia and I ended up sitting next to each other and Rachel sat in front of us (this is what happens when you don't CHECK IN to your flight online and you fly Southwest). We shared ridiculous stories and basically we totally got and understood each other within hours. By the time we arrived in Vegas, I felt like I had known her my whole life...

And that is the end of Part 1 ;)

Doesn't she just LOOK like someone I'd get along with?