Vegas

Sarah, Cameron, Jude and I just returned from a quick trip to Vegas. After almost a decade of living in the suburban fringe of Sin City, Elizabeth and her family are moving to Utah. They'd always talked about it but I didn't think it would actually happen. Elizabeth was never much of a Vegas girl and whenever we'd drive to Utah growing up, she was the ONLY one in the family who was fervently opposed to taking a hotel-tour-breather as we passed through. Then she married Kris 2 months after 9/11 when the economy was tanked, and he was lucky to get a GREAT job right out of college in Vegas, and to Vegas they went. I figured in my infinite and delightsome wisdom that Elizabeth could perhaps glean some life lessons about not judging a city by its number of retail vendors with "Adult" in the name. (She is SO lucky to have me around.) If she hated Vegas at first she learned to love it, as most Vegans promised she would. How could she not? They have Sonic.

I loved to visit her there and have done it fairly often from the time I was 19. When I came home from my mission I lived there for about a year and loved that too! I didn't mind the heat (because I sprinted from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office and reverse), there was great shopping, lots of good people, etc. etc. etc., and obviously my Elizabeth, to whom I've always been close, and her darling family.

I was a little shocked they didn't ask MY opinion in all this when they prayed about it, weighed all the factors, and decided to move (HELLO!), and if they had I probably would have told them to stay put. I just get very sentimental about PLACE and I have so many memories in their home, making cookies, dancing in the kitchen, driving down the streets of Vegas pretending we were still in high school while her kids sat in their car seats behind us, watching movies and painting our nails after the kids went to bed, getting way too deep into our Eatonisms and laughing nostril-flare style at the dumbest things.

Anyway, I really did know I'd also make sacrifices for the well-being of my family, and geez, Utah isn't that much farther than Vegas, and also has a Sonic. As it is, there isn't a lot of time before this move will go down, and they had about a bazillion toys and things to pack up. Sarah and I went up and Cam stopped in on his way home from BYU for the summer. Jude played with his cousins and was basically blown over by all the ACTION in a 6-person household, and we packed and packed. The first night we stayed up until 2 a.m. laughing hysterically at the nonsensical things we always do, something we slightly regretted the next day, but it was a great farewell to a house I've loved which will very soon be rented out to who knows who.

We will luckily still have cause to go visit Vegas because Erica and her fam are still there, and we love their methods and spunk. This is just my closure to a wonderful place, the plot of land and home where I loved to be, where I have endless memories of good, bad and whatever. Farewell [address that I can't write down here because then the creepers would stalk them for the next week], may the renters not drop sledge hammers on your tile floor.

Babies J and I watching Baby Einstein allowing us to pack the endless supply of toys. P.S. Jude did a great job in the car on the way home. Glory!

last day in vegas: anti-goodbyer

does anyone really enjoy a goodbye? i suppose we all enjoy goodbyeing the bad situations in life.

but vegas hasn't been a bad situation. quite the contrary. i've loved the last 11 months and 1 day i've lived here. i just feel ready to move on to a new spin on the old orange county where my momma and daddy done raised me. it's a-singin my name, and i am not one to stand on good feelings and brimming opportunities.

3 things i love about today, the last day in vegas:

-lindsey's living in cam's room for a month until we find a nice boho-chic place close enough to the ocean so that i can officially say, "you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a lifeguard tower." i really like knowing that she will be there with my mom and dad when i roll into town tonight.

-this morning my mom said to me on the phone, "welllll...maybe you could stay till november or something!" they know it's better for everyone if i have my own little plot of land to call my own, but it makes me feel fuzzy that my parents still consider me such a rock star that they want me to stick around and soak them for free rent, food, and laundry services. my parents are indeed themselves rock stars.
-every move savors of high school graduation. i loved graduating from high school, so it's fun to have the nostalgia running thick in my blood stream.

3 things i despise about today, my last day in vegas:

-i can't do goodbyes. i have to keep it to "see you later"s. i am sure i will see some people later, but i know in the cavities of my soul i won't see everyone. it's like in costa rica after my first transfer ended with saying DESPEDIDOS to everyone to whom i'd said so much as "hola," and i cry at all the wrong times, and i know it'll be many years before we see each other again, if in this life at all...it's just horrible. horrible horrible. i vowed i'd sneak away every other transfer as a thief in the night. i did, and it worked like a charm. no painful, sobby, or not sobby when they should be goodbyes or even "see you later"s. i can't quite pull that off today. they all know i'm takin off.

last night i gave my nephew and niece hugs goodnight,

not sure if i would be able to squeeze in one last stop at their house today, and big, crocodile tears were pouring from my face. i couldn't say anything for knowing that would release giant sobs, and i'm known in my family to be a non-cute crier. nephew looked a little startled, niece didn't really notice the make up disheveling that was taking place.

me and nephew almost a year ago when i first moved to las begas.

sitting here at 9:18 in the morning knowing at 5:00pm i'm going to have to say goodbye to loads of people whose association i have guzzled up the last year, really really puts a damper on it all.

*moment for my religion: yesterday i taught relief society, which was about consolation in the time of death. it was a happy lesson. with the knowledge we have of what happens to our eternal souls after death, "we can learn how to live and we can learn how to die." i am happy to know death is the furthest thing from a quiet, stifled end. i kept thinking while nobody's dying here today, i'm just moving one state over, i'm so thankful for the time when we all just get to BE together. there are other people i've had to say goodbye to before, and i'm still quite perturbed about it. there are so many people to whom i've said the last couple of weeks, "well just move to irvine with me!" not plausible. i know i can't have everyone around all at once, and even if i could, we have stuff to keep us busy, kinks to smooth out, etc. distractions from the real happy place, which for me is just TIME with ALL the lovelies. is that too much to ask??? someday, it really won't be! i love knowing that everything that matters most to us in this life, everything we spend our time cultivating, will continue to matter and grow after we "sink asleep in Jesus."*

-i have an ottoman. i have an ottoman the size of an 8 year old that i need to fit in my car which is roughly the size of an edamame pod. then i need to fit most of my clothes, my vitamins, my books, my comforter....i'm starting to panic just thinking about how much of a non-planner i am that i didn't think about the ottoman before and how yes, i may have toted it home from target successfully, but that's when i wasn't hauling the rest of my junk with it. wheeze, cough, wheeze. my friend asked me a few days ago if i was packed, and i scoffed and said "no way." and he scoffed and said, "it took me 3 days to pack the last time i moved!" and then i said, "well that's because you're classical and i'm jazz." now in this moment i love mozart and i hate miles.

-i haven't seen any of the olympics yet, and know that because i'll be cramming objects into my car or sitting myself in my car, i'll not be able to watch any tonight.

i have an olympic curse.

when i was 14 and kerri strugg did that apparently terrific, gold winning american jumpy thing, i was in summer school and helping math "tutor" (guess) my friend andi on the phone while the TV blared downstairs. i was deeply engrossed (for the first time in my life) and then all of a sudden she shrieked into the phone, "WE WON! THE US WON WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS!" i heard my family cheer downstairs. i missed it. and even though they oft replayed the jumpy balance beam thingy that is now the stuff of legends, every SINGLE time they did this i was distracted, and now 12 years later i have yet to see the full show. everyone was talking about it for months. [kick pebble on ground in petulant 6 year old frustration]

last night when i came home some friends were there watching michael phelps' bit of athletic brilliance. they rewound a bit of it to show me. a LOVELY girl, who is so great i just want to wrap her up and put her in my pocket, accidentally changed the channel when the race was just about to flaunt sir phelps' skill, thus erasing the "build up" my DVR had worked at, and it wasn't recording.

my bit of saving grace: youtube.

now just for fun: i saw these on a 2 month old baby on friday and just about had an ulcer of joy, wonderment, and awe.

see you in the land of the happy cows.

last week in las vegas: they'll never really be rid of me.

living in vegas has meant i have had the chance to bond with my nephew and niece like i always wanted to. christmas bonus!

i love them ever so.

last week in las vegas: tribute to norma

it would be a great time to work behind the counter at a gas station mini mart. or at least that's what norma makes it seem like.

as the sun sets on my time in vegas, lashing its fury and licking my heels with its dripping temperatures to the very last, i find myself cherishing time in familiar places like the gas station mini mart that kisses my office parking lot. since i walk to it from behind, i don't even know what the exact name of this little spot is, i just know they sell sinclair gas to the masses on the corner of charleston and buffalo, and they had the good fortune long ago of meeting norma, a willing and hopeful employee, and they snatched her up good.

for the last 11 months i have click clacked over there at least once a day for a diet soda, perhaps a "2/$0.50" baggie of candy corn, or if it's a bad day, a zipping bag of planter's trail mix at an outrageous "take me for a ride because i'm desperate" sort of price. and every day i've gotten a "hello, sweetie, how are you?" heavy on the jersey accent, from norma.

norma has fluffy gray hair parted down the middle, and wears the same maroon polo shirt every day, as the gas station uniform dictates. she's overall shaped like a grape, but for all the attention and loyalty she gets you'd think surely she were jessica simpsonn or some other silver screen siren.   every morning a stream of males come in alongside me.  some of them are headed off to a construction site to sweat it out all day long on a balance beam.  some of them look like they've done so much crack for so long they'll momentarily blow away in the wind or at the very least start muttering profanities to beat the band.  and some are dressed in well cut, stiff shirts and ties.  no matter where they're headed, they bee line to norma and wrap their arms around her, sometimes planting a smoochy smooch on her cheek or forehead.  i think my favorite was when a latin man of small, stocky stature, snuck up from behind and wrapped his arms around her as she restocked the cheetos.  then he hoisted her a few inches off the ground and said, "mmmmorning norma!"  then he picked up his 20 ounce can of beer, paid, and was out the door.  i know many grown men who don't make it a habit of showing such affection to their mothers.  but for norma, it is to be shown, no way around it.  while i haven't taken our friendship to the hug level (large radius of personal space), i'm sure if i ever needed a hug she would be loathed to deny me one.

i am also pretty sure she is a workaholic, because she doesn't seem to leave that mini-mart.  about once or twice a month i'll have an enrollment meeting i must translate for which begins at approximately 6AM.  i almost always drive with my office manager, and we meet in our vacant office parking lot.  i know, it's like seminary except it lacks the presence of the Spirit, and i get paid for it.  sometimes i'll stumble into the mini-mart before the meeting, and who's there reading a cheesy romance novel behind the counter?  norma.  a few times i've filled up with gas after work, and it's norma who's still there at 5:30PM to accept my cash.  norma lives and breathes her mini-mart, and happily so.

she's calm and doesn't care, but she does.  she don't take no crap from nobody who's trying to buy ciggies without showing an ID.  she knows who's coming in for the bathroom key before they can say a word and forks it.  a cheery grin is included in all transactions, unless you look like a smart alec, in which case she'll obliterate your smirk with a smirk of her own.  norma is the boss.  she's mrs. weasley mixed with fran drescher mixed with the donald.  she's got snacks within reach at any given moment, she's got pals, she's got opinions, she's got power.  

which is why i was glad i threw up into her trash can this morning of all the trash cans in vegas.  i should have seen it coming, i've thrown up enough the last couple years to last 3 lifetimes.  reason implies i'd be able to accurately estimate to the very second when my stomach's going to say, "SORRY, SUCKAH!"  but all i knew was that as i stood there, filling a cup of diet coke (indeed, i got addicted to it on my mission trying to soothe my violent stomach with the carbonation, and now i love the stuff to an almost unnatural degree), i wished to be laying on the floor in p-a-i-n.  and then 2 seconds later i whirled around and tossed it all into the rubbish bin to the right of the soda fountain.  an elderly man restocking FUZE bottles in a nearby fridge case gasped a la jennifer love hewitt.  norma was right on the scene, "oh, i'm so sorry, honey, here i've got napkins for you."  she asked questions, directed me around the store, and then i was cleaned up and on my way to report i wouldn't be coming in to work today.  

good old norma.  i wish all my diet coke providers could get the cheers theme song stuck in my head.

last week in vegas: verifying info on hotel high rollers

sometimes i have a picture in my mind of what someone looks like before i see or meet them. sometimes i'm dead on (danielle steele) and sometimes i'm yards away from accuracy (steve miller).

i was was spot on for steve wynn. punto!

last week in vegas: jordi's pool and a christmas miracle

this face is the "bunny rabbit who's just ransacked a crystal meth lab" face.

ah, m' gals.
the christmas miracle of 2008.

More Info on the Weekend of Divinity

If you want more deets, check out the OTHER blog. We had such a great time with Mom's company retreat, I don't want to tell Cam how "scrum" it was (scrum is what Cam used to say in lieu of "scrumptious"). As it is, I'll tell all y'all reading my blog.

The guy moseying on through with the bruskis is our new pal Herb. Or I just want to call him that.

LOVE was fantastic; I think my favorite part was seeing it with Elizabean, since we bonded with The Beatles together as younglings. The show had lots of energy, Elizabeth has lots of energy, I have lots of energy, when we're together and listening to Fab Four there is a high likelihood of implosion or spontaneous combustion.

Moi at the Mandalay Bay pool. It was loaded with Cabanas and a Lazy River and a "Wave" Pool, but also, I'm sorry to say, the most unfortunate grouping of people ever. Dad was so traumatized that after a while he went to the Four Seasons pool for a while to escape the diabolical conversations we couldn't help overhearing. It was like the herds (audiovisually) you find at concerts and amusement parks. I don't care if you're living on a steady diet of Ben & Jerry's and Curly Fries, that's your right and privilege, but that means you trade in your bikini/speedo rights. But we put mind over matter and tuned them out, and thus I am found in my sophisticate mode.

Sal + Hal = endless conversation on movies and books. These 2 should write books and make movies, because they know everything, and I mean EVERYTHING about them. Every single one.

My pretties. Mom's favorite visor, isn't it the best.

Sam took the Lazy River very seriously.

Sadie bears no prejudice against fake sand. Or keeping her floaties on whether in the water or out. Like her mother before her, she likes some extra protection and cushioning in every day life (if you knew Elizabeth in jr. high, you know about the helmet).

Lovely weekend.

and a happy pioneer day one and all!

in vegas we don't get the day off for it, but tonight i completely plan on celebrating those that went before us by watching

nerds, face cards, boston, vegas, it might have all it needs to be my favorite movie.

how's THIS for a sign?

i keep a stick of deoderant in my glove compartment. just in case. today i used it and stuck it in the driver door handle knook for speed purposes.

today, due to the inhuman heat of the desert, my precious, brand SPANKING new stick of clicking deoderant, exploded all over my car door.

i was so disgusted i stuck my nose up, drove around leaning far to the right, and chose to ignore the aforementioned catastrophe until at least 5:30 pm. when i imagine cleaning this thing i see a plastic spoon, lysol wipes, and grumbles.

i'm so not long for the vegas world.

when i was like, 17 i saw a movie called fools rush in. maybe you've seen it, and if you have, i'd have to be a little bit surprised, because if i do recall correctly it didn't do so hot in the theaters. como se dice "migraine for studio executives"? but just like she's the man, charlie bartlett, enough, and loads others, i am such a sucker for movies like these because they're easy. easy squeezy entertainment. they don't require too much thought, they spell it all out for you not unlike your kindergarten teacher. they always end happy, and include 2938 cliches. so when i'm tired and can't offer up the deserved attention span to a deep character developing movie like darjeeling limited, i go for a lovable flopper. did i mention after the 2nd time watching these movies are incredibly quotable? "darling, they fell in love! and looooove....is a beautiufl thinnng...." which is why in my personal DVD library i've already blasted "frequent use" scratches onto my personal DVD of fools rush in. there's already one memorable quote from this movie that has already come true in my life!

Tracey Burnham: Well nobody ever plans to end up in Vegas. You just do. Kinda sneaks up on you.*

*no disrespe-tin' vegas. but seriously folks, if you'd told me 5 years ago i'd live in vegas i'd have told you to alert the presses, you were entering the cirque lodge for detox. anyway, moving on.

salma hayek's character in this movie is deeply religious. She desperately cleaves to fate and signs and waits for one before making big decisions. so as not to bust out any korihor behaviors, (alma 30:43) i'll not start it in seriousity.

BUT. if i did, as to and pertaining to the current decision i think i've made about where to go/what to do, this is what i'd come up with:

-got a speeding ticket from a (kindly) cop returning to vegas from irvine on tuesday. leave vegas.
-the weather was cloudy on wednesday in vegas. my favorite. stay in vegas.
-the albertsons in irvine didn't have samples. stay in vegas.
-the song don't leave home by dido just came on my ipod. go back to irvine.
-the apartment i was going to move into here in vegas when my lease expires in september is not in a ward i really want to be in. leave vegas.

you get the idea. just if i were salma hayek.

JUST to clarify....

1) i am NOT dating the guy in the previous post from my mission. 'twas a joke. he's great, ultra kind and reminiscing mission style with people who were there is something i could do all day long, but this is completely plato style. JUST to clarify. even if there were that sort of vibe on the table, i would have serious issues a) dating someone from my mission and b) he's loads younger than me. in 2001 i dated a guy 3 months younger than me and almost broke out into hives on my bday. i've come a ways since then but am not ready for multiple year age differences. bleh.

2) someone asked me in march if i'd seen any good plays or cirque shows, etc. in vegas. i was horrified to realize that i hadn't! i sort of regret never milking the utah "powder" (as they love to call it) for all it's worth, after all that time i lived in p-town, so i made a hasty resolution:

i would most definitely see 2 vegas shows during the summer, and i would pay for neither.

i am most pleased to report that this friday i will be seeing my 3rd FREE vegas show!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

guess what.

having 4 days off in a row isn't the best thing in the world.

lack of productive behavior is a voyage of soul gnawing and watch glancing.

i never ever ever ever ever thought i'd say this, but i'm enthusiastic about the prospect of returning to work tomorrow.

p.s. since every blog seems to be reporting on day of independence, i'll throw it in to be cooperative: the 'rents and sally and i went to the reynoldzizzles for, among other things, the best apple pie, the cutest blonde girls running and swirling around the fireworks, and a concierto. thus saith ray charles: i'm talkin about, america, sweet america, God done shed his grace on thee-eeeeee, he-he-he-ee crowned thy good, and with brothah-hoooood, from sea toooo shinin sea!

I love a good day at the lake of mead

this is how i position myself before, during, and after wake boarding.