Girls Only Vegas

For my sister's birthday, my mom and I took her to Vegas for the weekend. She had never been before and a a couple of days sans children was a VERY appealing concept. :-) We booked a night at the Bellagio in a queen guest room overlooking the swimming pool (yes, it was nice and warm enough to be soaking in the sun).
After a six hour drive, we finally got to check in...and by golly the lobby of the Bellagio was teaming with people. Amidst all that stood a silver-gilt horse poised beneath an umbrella of a colorful array of glass peonies. What a sight.

Freshened up, we headed straight for the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. Shopping was the main agenda, after all. Most of it was of the window-type, however, considering the high-end stores that could be found there. But we Cabilan girls had the greatest time. One bummer, though, I had promised my abandoned kids gifts from the famous toy store FAO Schwartz, but we had found it CLOSED.....and not just for the day....but for FOREVER! BUMMER!!!!

After three hours of perusing the racks, I only came out with a perfume from Coach, a Coach scarf for my birthday gift to Abby, and a frame with a photo of Holmes' winning touchdown catch of the latest Steelers' Superbowl victory for Dylan.

Next destination: The Mirage. We picked up our tickets to the late night showing of Cirque du Soleil's Love. Separate post on the review of that.

We picked the Onda Ristorante at the Mirage to eat dinner. The antipasto platter had prosciutto, cotto, grilled eggplant, marinated olives, machego cheese and some pink caviar. My sister had the best veal chop of her life (or so she claims), I had a perfectly flaky garlic crusted sea bass, and mother had the salmon. A shared creme brulee with almond crisp, a glass of riesling, an apple martini, and 200 buckaroos later (all my treat, btw), the three of us were pleasantly full and ready for the show. (Which was fab!)

To complete the night, we made it back to the hotel just in time to see the last fountain show of the night. The water synched beautifully with the song "Proud to be an American." It was a perfect way to end the night.

The following morning, we simply ate at the buffet downstairs for a champagne brunch, and we spent the next three hours gambling. Some of us won (Abby and mom) and some of us lost (me). But not much.

It was a great weekend.