Winners! (on Post its!) & HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEG!

I thought I'd do our winners Post a little different this week.

Welcome to Winners on Post its!

And...DON'T FORGET TO WISH MEG A VERY HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY!

The Life and Times of a Vegas Showgirl (aka Meeko)

Ok . . . So I'm not quite a Vegas showgirl . . . but I can probably work it with the best of them!

Anywho . . . Onto the juice . . .

Oh dear me . . . Where do I begin . . . Well . . . I suppose . . . I should start at the beginning . . .

My long and dirty love affair with Las Vegas started when I was 21 on my first trip to Las Vegas. 

December 2002

It was about a month after my 21st birthday.  I went with my brother, sister-in-law, and my best friend at the time, Jerry.  We gambled, we drank.  Eventually, the older ones went off to bed and Jerry and I were left to fend for ourselves in Sin City.  Um hello?  Did I mention it was my first time there???  We ended up at Ceasar's Palace at the Shadow Bar.  Things were going swimmingly until I decided I didn't want to be a trampy-slut-ho-bitch-pig-dog.  So I got up and walked out of the bar.  I didn't know where I was going.  I just knew I didn't want to be there.

So I eventually made it to the hotel's front door.  I stepped outside and looked around.  Very noticeably lost.  One of the hotel employees walks up to me and says, "Are you ok?  Do you need some help?"  I told him I needed to get back to my hotel.  This presents a whole new dilemma.  I have no clue what the Hell the hotel I'm staying at is called.  Mind you, It's my first trip to Vegas and I'm freakin' drunk as a skunk.  He tells me he's going to get me a cab and I thank him.  Then he asks me which hotel it is that I need to get back to . . . [insert deer in headlights look here] . . . Then he asks me to describe it . . . "big . . . green . . . yellow . . . lions!" . . . He asks me if I'm talking about the MGM and then the light bulb turns on for me!  Yes!  So he puts me in a cab on my way to the MGM.

Now then, this was about the time when the tsunamis were going on over in Indonesia (at least I think that's where it was . . . it was so long ago!).  I'm in a cab.  The driver has the heater on.  I'm drunk and about to blow chunks if I don't get some fresh air.  The cab driver starts talking about the tsunamis and how it really is a shame, blah, blah, blah [insert Peanuts' grown up characters voice droning sound here] . . . So I look at him and say, "I'm sorry, but unless you want puke all on the inside of your cab . . . You better open this window now!"

I eventually made it back to the hotel room and blew chunks.

And it only gets worse from here . . .

Sometime in 2004Natalie and I join my brother and sister-in-law for a weekend in Vegas.  Long story short, my brother and his wifey turn into major sour pusses when they've managed to gamble away all their money and go to bed.  God bless them.  Anywho, Natalie and I were definitely not going to let a Vegas trip to go waste.  So we go and sit outside the piano bar at New York, New York.  We don't have any money gambling money left, but we still managed to hang onto a few dollars so we could tip the cocktail waitresses.  Gotta focus on the important things here, you know?  So we sit outside this bar singing along when we're spotted.  By a bachelor party (from San Francisco, may I add . . .). 

So one of the more adventurous guys comes out and puts his arm around Natalie and asks us why we're not inside.  We tell him we're broke and that we're just sitting here listening to the music and throwing back a few beers.  So he offers to pay for Natalie.  Well being the devious ones we are . . . Natalie looks at the guy and then puts her hand on my leg in what has got to be the girliest thing I've ever seen her do (I guess that taught me never to underestimate her!) and says, "Well . . . I don't go anywhere without my poodle!"  So the guy whistles to his friends, makes a gesture above my head asking them if they'll pay for me too and to my surprise one of them says yes!  We go into the piano bar and the guys keep buying us drink after drink after drink cause I'm pretty sure they thought they were gonna get lucky that night.  Poor foolish boys mortals.  Little do they know that we had a plan.  Natalie and I have our safe phrase when we know we're absolutely done drinking for the night when we're in Vegas.

I looked at Natalie and said, "Take me to bed or lose me forever".  With that, she grabbed my hand, thanked the guys for a good time, and we were out of that bar faster than a dress comes off on prom night.  I don't think those poor guys even had time to think!

October 2005Went to Vegas for my friend Carlos & Gina's wedding.  Long story short . . . Piano bar . . . A seemingly endless flow of alcohol . . . and a water bottle to Carlos' head at the end of night courtesy of his blushing bride.

April 2006

Trust me . . . The rest of these aren't that long . . .

It's Puffin's birthday weekend.  So what do we do?  Bring our friend Bridge along (yea, yea . . . I'm Holly) and paint the freakin' town red!  We end up at a bar where it turns out the bartender fancied me just a little . . . If I do say so myself . .  Five years ago (and about 30 pounds ago) I was a hot piece of ass!  So the bartender keeps making us these strong ass drinks.  The end of the night comes.  We go back to our hotel and being the classy bitch that I am . . . The minute we pulled into valet . . . I open the door and throw up. 

2007 and 2008 were pretty tame.

July 2009

I'm totally cheating and copying and pasting this from a past entry . . .

My poor brother (I made sure he had an excellent anniversary celebration weekend) didn't get out of bed until about 8 p.m. on Saturday night. Then there's yours truly . . . Who decided to stick my head between two slot machines at New York, New York Hotel & Casino and christen them (yea, christen them . . . that's what you call it when you soak something in a bottle of alcohol, right?) instead of making the sprint to the nearest bathroom for fear of getting myself dirty! Yup. Sure did. No shame to my game. I'm sure I wasn't the first and I definitely won't be the last to throw up in the middle of a casino in Vegas. After being told by a cleaning lady that security was watching, we made a quick dash for the nearest exit and hopped a cab back to the hotel.

Anywho . . .

Thus has been my illustrious career in Las Vegas.  I've been many more times than the ones listed, but these times stick out in my mind the most.

With that all this said . . .

I want to wish Amber and Meg a most joyous and happy birthday!  :)

 

  

  

  

 

Meeko's Hotel

The name of my hotel would be Lost Resort. It would themed between a cross of Neverland and Alice and Wonderland. The halls would look as if you were walking down a wooded path with branches sprawled out across the ceiling. To add to the ambience, a fog machine would spread fog over the floor. Additionally, it would always be sort of darker inside since it willl be like nighttime. Bedrooms would be furnished with luxurious accomadations in shades of green and blue. Cocktail waitresses would dress in stuff along the lines of a naughty Tinker Bell. Male employees would dress between a cross of Mad Hatter/March Hare. The outside would look like a dark gothic palace. Along the lines of a Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld in Florida.

Miss Dot Goes to Vegas

I have to admit, I haven’t really been to Vegas a lot.  Seems that many people out here in Southern California basically feel that Vegas is yet just another common weekend getaway but since I don’t really gamble or drink I just never quite had the urge to visit repeatedly.  That is, of course, until my husband and I went about trying to plan a little celebration for our first wedding anniversary.  We tossed about so many ideas from the oft-accepted “dinner-at-a-fancy-restaurant” to the super-pricey “flight-to-someplace-warm-and-tropical,” but nothing seemed to fit just right.  Besides,as my husband and I were on a bit of a budget, we decided for the vacation that allowed us to get out of the city but didn’t break the bank.  That’s when, thanks to a good friend, we came up with the idea of heading to Vegas. 

Since the man and I don’t really gamble or drink, though, we did a bunch of really cool stuff instead.  The first night, we saw the Blue Man Group at the Venetian and, let me tell you, there are no words to describe this show.  So fun!  The music and imagery are just so powerful and you’re wowed around every corner.  If you haven’t had a chance to see The Blue Man Group and you’re heading to Vegas anytime soon, you have to check out this show!  I mean, come on, look at how awesome they are in all their blue shininess!

The next night we went to the Palazzo and checked out Jersey Boys, a story about how Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons got their start.  If you’re a fan of the oldies at all, this is the show for you.  Obviously there’s great music involved but the acting and storyline are really top notch, too.  Now every time I hear a Frankie Valli song on the radio, I think back to this show!

Our final night we went to the Wynn, only the most elaborately decorated hotel I’ve ever been in, to watch the Cirque du Soleil water show Le Rêve.  I cannot believe how lavish this hotel is!  I swear I even saw gold flakes embedded in the toilet paper…

OK, maybe not, but they did have a Ferrari dealership right in the hotel.  Crazy… 

This show is truly beautiful, though.  Real artistry!  It really is a show that lives up to the prestige of the Cirque du Soleil name.

What did we do during the day, though?  Well, we visited the Bettie Page Clothing boutique at The Fashion Show Mall (where I bought a super cute red wiggle dress), we walked the strip, and… we did a CAKEWALK!!

After reading through the Cakewalks on CakeSpy, I thought it'd be fun to try out a bunch of new cupcake places. 

Then, Amber (who suggested Vegas to us in the first place) found some cupcake places in Vegas, and so the hubbs and I went and searched for some more to try out and review while we were there.

Without futher ado, here is our

~VEGAS CAKEWALK~

First stop:

Sugar's Bakery

[website] 

It took us a bit to find this place -- it's not on the strip and so we had to drive about 10-15 minutes to get there.  Initially, we were kinda bummed about the distance but we soon found out that there are (at least) two other cupcake places in the immediate vicinity (reviewed below!) so it was OK.

Our first impression came from their sign.

How cute is this?

Inside, it gets even cuter! (Can you believe it?)  It has great display cases for their cupcakes and other baked goodies (like cookies and brownies!) plus fun seating and reading for kids and adults alike to enjoy while munching on their baked treasures ♥

[Look at the cute hubbs enjoying the little kiddie chair on the far right] 

[Hubby enjoying a cupcake classic] 

For flavors, we finally settled on these three:

(clockwise from left: Lemon Cream, Red Velvet, and German Chocolate)

Review  

The good:  They had a nice variety of flavors to choose from, the decorations were thoughtful and creative, and we liked that they sold other baked goods though they advertised themselves as a cupcake shop.  We loved their interior decorations, too.  Everything was fun, whimsical, and made us want to stay forever.  

The not-so-good:  Their cupcakes were refrigerated --boo!-- which tends to make the cake dry out.  Sure enough, after tasting the Red Velvet, we thought both the cake and frosting were dry and unappealing.

Bottom Line: Of the 4 cupcake places we visited, we ranked this one #2.  Definitely worth the drive!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ 

Second Stop:

Mad Hatter Cupcakes

[website] 

This is the second cupcake place that we visited in the area that we came to term "Cupcake Alley" because of the (awesome) predominance of cupcake shops.

Seriously, there were three all within a 2-mile radius. 

FANTASTICO.

 

Here's the front of the cupcake shop.  Seems pretty cool, right?  Oh wait, it gets better.

CHECK THIS OUT.

WHAT?!?!

Did I READ that correctly!?

CREATE YOUR [my] OWN CUPCAKES???

OMC I'm sold.

They let you choose your cake flavor, filling flavor, frosting flavor, and then your own candy to put on top.  They even offer suggestions if you can't decide on your own!  

This place is like Coldstone for cupcakes.

 

MAKE MY CUPCAKES!!  

(please!)

Yummy cupcake supplies :D 

Taking in the glory of Mad Hatter Cupcakes. 

 

 

After much thought, we finally chose to make two cupcakes: 

•HIS: Peanut butter cake with chocolate ganache filling and white chocolate frosting 

•HERS: Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate frosting with m&ms on top 

Review  

The good:  OMC can you say "MOIST"??  The cake was so, so nice and moist.  MmmMmmMmmmmmmMmm.  The chocolate was so good and rich.  In the words of my husband,  

"That's a d*mn good chocolate cake." 

The peanut butter cake was perfect, too.  I feel like it can be difficult to capture a good peanut butter taste without creating an overwhelming flavor but Mad Hatter achieved it! 

Other things we liked:

They sell shaved ice, too (neato!), they have a great seating area for enjoying your goodies, they provide mini cupcakes as samples (that day they had peanut butter cupcakes with white chocolate frosting), they have single cupcake holders in case you just want to take one for the road, AND they have a punch card for frequent visitors.     

The not-so-good:  Um... 

Bottom Line: Of the 4 cupcake places we visited, we ranked this one #1. Are you booking your trip to Vegas yet?

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ 

Third Stop:

Cupcake Lane 

[website]   

First off, fantastic sign!  No doubt about it -- this is a cupcake shop! 

The inside was cute and quaint with curtained windows into the back bakery area.

 

This cupcake shop also had a great selection of cupcakes to choose from.  With flavors that had names like Savannah Street (their version of red velvet) or Michigan Avenue (lemon cupcake with lemon frosting), they definitely won the award for more creative names.  

We chose three cupcakes here, too:

(clockwise from left: Lombard Street (their "Hostess Cupcake"), Lake Tahoe Boulevard (their s'more cupcake), and Southfork Ranch (a German chocolate cupcake)) 

Review  

The good:  Fun flavor names, creative decorations, and cute to-go boxes for single cupcakes (they used Chinese take-out containers).  We also liked that they offered some sugar free cupcakes as well as cupcakes for canine companions.   

The not-so-good:  Their cupcakes were refrigerated.  No no no no no!  Pooey.  Also, I really (really) hate to say this, but we were totally underwhelmed. We expected a lot given the nifty names and decorations but the cupcakes themselves were totally lacking.  Lombard Street tasted like, well, a Hostess cupcake which isn't necessarily bad within itself but if I'm paying $3+ for a cupcake, it better taste amazing, not like something that usually comes wrapped in plastic in a pack of two.  Lake Tahoe Boulevard also failed to deliver the nostalgic s'more flavor that I was hoping for. 

Bottom Line: Of the 4 cupcake places we visited, we ranked this one #3.  I'd be willing to go back and taste others (they do say that Savannah Street is their best-seller and we didn't taste that one) but I'm not holding my breath for our next visit.  If you check out either of the first two you'll already be in the area to visit this one in which case, go ahead.  I wouldn't block out time in my day specifically to make the trek, though :-/

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ 

Fourth (and final) stop: 

The Cupcakery

[website]  

This cupcake shop has three Vegas locations: 

Two off the strip (which are listed on their site) and one ON THE STRIP in the Monte Carlo.

We chose to visit the latter.

This cupcake shop has a great staff who seems to love cupcakes as much as we do (which is a lot!)

We were informed that the above case houses two different kind of cupcakes:

ON THE LEFT: cupcakes whose flavors come from the frosting

ON THE RIGHT: cupcakes whose flavors come from the cake (they had cream cheese frosting)

I'm not going to lie, we were excited about these.  Not only were they all pretty and sparkly but they had lots of fun colors and flavors and, well, since it was our last cupcake shop, we decided to go out with a bang.

We got six.

SIX WHOLE CUPCAKES

just for us two :)

(From left to right, back to front:  Southern Belle (Red Velvet), Gingerbread, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Boston Creme, Tickle-me-Pink (their signature flavor), and Strawberry Shortcake) 

Review  

The good: Great staff, fun decorations for cupcakes AND interior (did you see that giant cupcake??), and come on, they're located ON the strip!  Can't get much closer than that! 

We really enjoyed the Gingerbread Cupcake; not only was the cake good but the little decoration on top is really a gingerbread man and boy, is he tasty!

Our favorite cupcake, though, was the Peanut Butter Chocolate one.  Fantastic peanut butter flavor!  Man, two great peanut butter cupcakes in one weekend.  I'm in love!  

The not-so-good:  OK, I really hate to do this, but we were pretty disappointed by the other four.  The Tickle-me-Pink (I'm almost positive this is what they called this flavor), their signature flavor, is just vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting.  You can also get it as a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting.

Here's my thinking:

If you're going to do such a simplistic flavor combination as your signature cupcake, MAKE IT AMAZING!  I want it to be the best vanilla (or chocolate) I've ever tasted!  After tasting it, I want to feel like all the other vanilla (or chocolate!) cupcakes I've had before were made of deception and lies.

Their Strawberry Shortcake cupcake was not made from real strawberries, either, but rather that stomach-churning, fake-me-out chemical strawberry flavor that probably comes from this rather than these.    

Finally, did you see the carrier we got?  Our six little cupcakes were sadly squished into that container with no separators to protect them from getting all mixed together!  I feel like if you advertise selling your cupcakes in combinations of four, six, and twelve, you'd better have holders for each!

Bottom Line: Of the 4 cupcake places we visited, we ranked this one #4. We expected so much from this cupcake shop and were really disappointed by the end of the last cupcake.  We were really sad to rank this place last, though, because we really did think we were going to get some yummy cupcakes.  I'm not sure if the Monte Carlo location does its baking on-site, though, so maybe we'll chalk up the downfalls to the fact that they weren't fresh...?

[[♥]]

Well, THAT was our trip to Vegas.

We had a couple nice dinners out, some lovely Vegas-style entertainment, and enjoyed some sweet baked goodies.

What better way to celebrate our first year together as husband and wife?

We might have to do this again NEXT year!

♥♥ A Note From Amber & Meg ♥♥

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