Big Bang Piggy Bankin'

Well, it's been over a week, but we recently took a lovely road trip to Vegas. Aside from our overnight Sedona excursion in March, this was the first road trip Michael and I had taken alone in a while (before we were married, in fact). We also discovered around the third day that it was the longest we had been completely alone with each other since the twins were born. As much as I love my children, it was very nice to spend some quality time with my Michael.

I always try not to laundry list events, so I'll try anecdotal highlights. You might say that's just a fancy way to laundry list, and I'd say, well, it's my blog so I'll do whatever I want.

All the single guys in Vegas wear the same uniform. It's true. Michael and I took great pleasure in our people-watching activities, an enjoyable pasttime in a place like Las Vegas. Apparently, it's fashionable for young men to wear jeans, black dress shoes and an untucked and vertically-striped blue shirt (preferably light blue; although, darker shades of blue may also be acceptable). If they have hair, it is to be short on the sides and sort of spike up a bit on top. This might not sound like a big deal, but it cracked us up to see a group of five guys, all hanging out in a bar, all wearing the exact same outfit. I hadn't seen something like that since my UofA days when I would see flocks of sorority girls walking down the street--All wearing the same black, flared pants, black wedge/slides, and gaping v-neck shirt. And they all had shoulder-length blonde hair. All of them. If they didn't have blonde hair, they dyed it. If they didn't have short hair, they cut it. Seriously. I can see the image perfectly . . . walking by the Delta Delta Delta house on my way to go read books onto tape for blind students . . . (I am such a nice person!--Joe, that was for you).

White socks do not go with black dress shoes. OK, so this I knew before I went to Vegas, but I promised to embarrass our friend James. We were fortunate to have our good friends James and Heather join us for an evening out in Vegas. We had a fabulous time eating, drinking, playing, etc., but I thoroughly enjoyed the white sock experience. Thanks to James and Heather, we had special passes to a very exclusive lounge called The House of Blues Foundation Room. It's at the tippy-top of Mandalay Bay, and it was the coolest bar/lounge I have ever been to. We had a man-servant. I'll leave it at that. Anyway, before we could get into the club, the guys had to meet dress code inspection. Michael passed, but James needed to put on pants and black shoes, so up we went to their gorgeous suite. Apparently, James didn't receive the memo about needing jeans, black shoes, and the blue stiped button-down shirt, so he was in a bit of a pickle as he tried to piece together an outfit that would meet the approval of the fancy-schmancy bouncer. The biggest concern: socks. James brought dress shoes but no dress socks, so it was white or nothing. He really wanted to wear no socks at all, but I thought that would be extremely uncomfortable, and Heather and I told him to suck it up and wear the white socks--no one would see because his pants were plenty long. Then, of course, Michael sticks out his leg and reveals that he was actually wearing little white golf socks with his black shoes--not, of course, out of necessity, mind you. James was so embarrased to be wearing white socks and black dress shoes, that I felt the best thing would be to assure him that I would blog about him so everyone out there in my shared cyberspace world would know . . . James Scriven wore white socks with black dress shoes.

Big Bang Piggy Bankin' was once at Mandalay Bay, but it is no longer there and may actually no longer be in existence. Poor Heather. She purposely booked her hotel room at Mandalay Bay so she could play a slot machine called Big Bang Piggy Bankin'. We looked everywhere for her game, and after a few drinks we were very vocal with the Mandalay Bay casino staff and had them on their walkie-talkies trying to locate the machine. Alas, Heather never got to play her game.