Girls' Weekend in Vegas, Part 2

Once we finally got to bed, we did manage to sleep in so we weren't totally exhausted the next day. We made scrambled eggs and I brought awesome pumpkin chocolate chip scones for breakfast and we feasted. Then to the business of...hanging out. :)

We played karaoke games on my Wii (good idea about bringing it, April!) while the incredible Miss Valeri gave everyone (well, everyone minus Janna) awesome haircuts (thanks, Val, you're the best!). April completed the "makeover" fest by introducing everyone to Bare Minerals makeup (which I have now completely converted to), so by the time we all got dressed and were ready to go out, we all looked pretty awesome! :) (If I do say so myself...)

We headed down to the strip to pick up tickets and grab a bite to eat before we went to a show. We might have been a little camera happy over the weekend (between 2 cameras, we have almost 500 photos for four days!), so when we walked in and the professional photographer wanted to take our photo, we decided to do it.

I think the one we took turned out pretty good, too, though:

Then we headed in to find our seats. April had called me a few months earlier and asked if I thought we might be interested in seeing "Phantom of the Opera" together. "Phantom" was the first show I ever saw on Broadway in New York, so it has a special place in my heart. Plus, there is honestly nothing I love more than seeing a live show, especially a professional show. I have always been a huge musical nerd. :) Anyway, April told me the theater was built just for the show, and that it was a slightly shortened version (so basically the parts on the cd that I usually skip because they get tedious aren't there--awesome). I thought it was a great idea, and when we checked with the other girls they agreed, so a few weeks before we got there, when April heard about a smoking deal for "locals" on the radio, she jumped on it. She called me back to say, "Well, I was about thirty seconds too late to get good seats...so we're in the second row." EXCUSE ME?? THE SECOND ROW?? AMAZING!!

When we got inside the theater, we found out she was wrong...our seats were in the FRONT ROW. Yep, front row seats at "Phantom." It was INCREDIBLE.

The show was amazing. I totally had tears in my eyes practically from the moment the overture started. We were SO close we literally could have reached out and touched the actors sometimes. (P.S. Up close and personal, Raoul was SO CUTE!!!) The best part was watching Val's face--it was the first major professional show she'd been to, and you could tell by looking at her how much she was loving it. :) It was amazing. We decided to shell out for the professional photos (because, really, how often do you get to sit FRONT ROW at a show like that?!), and it was well worth it. (We cheated a little though...for $45 we bought one copy and scanned it for everyone...I mean, seriously? $45 for 2 photos? A little much, don't you think?)

Then, to round out our incredible girls' night out on the town, we went to an unbelievable dinner at Pampas, a Brazillian style grill. April had found a sweet coupon for $100 off (yep, you read that right--this girl rocks the deals!), so we decided the splurge was totally worth it. It's kind of like Rhodezio's Grill, if you've ever been to one of those, so waiters walk around with all different kinds of meat and shave it right onto your plate. Soooooo delicious! I think we probably ate our weight in grilled pineapple, but it was worth every bite (and every cent).

We rounded out the evening with a trip to the Bellagio to see the gardens, all decked out for Halloween and a (failed) attempt to see the water show (don't worry, we remedied that later).

And to end our evening, on the way back to the hotel, we stopped by the famous Las Vegas sign for a photo op, just to prove we were actually there. ;)

So, that was our big event day. The rest of the trip was a little more low-key, but gosh, it was fun to spend a night out on the town with four of my high school besties. Love you girls!

More to come...