Our Vegas Vacation

Phew, what a whirlwind week! After lots of frustrating conversations about the timing of our annual vacation, Tim took matters into his own hands last week Tuesday and up and surprised me with an extremely last-minute trip to Vegas. We've been to Vegas before despite the perplexed looks upon our family's faces. Tim and I are not gamblers, we don't party all night, what could we possibly find appealing in this town? Plenty! Guaranteed sunshine and nice weather, a fantastic pool to read beside, and mouth watering restaurants a plenty, what more could I ask for?! We were lucky enough to fly and stay for free at the JW Marriott off the Strip thanks to Tim's frequent flier/hotel miles. Adding a rented car to the mix, we were able to experience a totally different vacation than our last trip to Sin City. First stop: Red Rock Canyon. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. Once we got past the 105 degree heat, the canyon was simply awesome. We're already vowing to hit the Grand Canyon on our next trip out. I can only imagine! You might wonder why on earth I'm wearing a dress in the canyon photo. . . No, I don't dress up for hiking. That shot was taken our last night in town after having been out for dinner. We stopped back at the canyon to hopefully see the sunset. Not as glorious as we had imagined (I think we hit it at the wrong time) but definitely still beautiful in it's own way. The perfect complement to all that dry heat and dessert sand and sun was our lush hotel and visits downtown. I'm such a sucker for palm trees and waterfalls! We were lucky enough to score half-price tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show "Love". I think our expectations were set just a tad too high and we were just bound to be a little disappointed. Still an amazing show but I think next time we'll hit a standard Broadway musical. However, we stopped at a rum bar before the show and I savored the most delicious minty mojito ever. Couldn't help but wonder if the mint was grown by magic fairies or something. It is Vegas, weirder things must have happened. After all the chaos our unplanned trip brought, I'm happy to be settling back into the routine of things. Thanks so much to Zina for helping me out the last couple days--those photos of the girls and their art are absolutely priceless! Now back to the sewing machine. . .

We interrupt this blog . . .

I just got a phone call from my husband telling me to pack my bag, we're flying to Vegas for a few days. We've had trouble getting the dates to work out for a vacation this summer and he decided there was no time like the present. Surprise! I'm giddy with excitement and running around like a crazy lady tossing random things into my suitcase. Thankfully I knew a vacation was looming on the horizon and I hooked up a fantastic guest to keep you entertained while I'm gone. My partner and dear friend Zina is going to take the reins for a few days. She's got some great thoughts on quilting and art that she wants to share, but I'll let her get to that. Meanwhile, I'll be humming along with good ole Frank here: Chat with you next week! Be sure to leave Zina some love while I'm gone!

In the gardens

Today was a rare treat. We made the pilgrimage over to the Chicago Botanic Gardens--my true happy place. I take the peanut there frequently to let her run around and burn off some energy, but trying to take pictures while keeping an eye on her is a total challenge. Today we went as a complete family so I was able to do my thing knowing that Tim would wrangle the wee one. I'm just simply not good enough of a writer to explain in words what this place means to me. All I can say is that it is my own personal slice of heaven, breathtaking views at every angle. Guess I'll let the photos do the talking. It was a perfect morning:

My girlies

I was lucky enough to get away to Madison this weekend to spend some time with college friends. It's been ages since my last visit and I had forgotten just how much I love that town. I imagined posting a fantastic photo post today chronicling our adventures at the Farmer's Market and around the Capitol Square but I was just too busy having fun to grab my camera. The only photo I managed to capture happened before the rest of the girls arrived. Oddly enough, I think it kind of sums up the whole visit anyways. Madison is just the kind of place where you might see something like this. It makes me want to run out to my nearest nursery and stock up on the supplies needed to hook my own bike up with some summertime bling: There are new babies on the way, new houses to admire, work accomplishments and stresses to commiserate over, and plenty of fantastic food to fuel the conversation. I was there for less than 24 hours and am already counting the minutes until I can visit again. I'll leave you with one final nugget from my fantastic weekend. This chicken salad recipe is To Die For. Everyone went back for seconds and I promptly went out to buy the ingredients to make it for myself this week. I'm completely addicted to Epicurious.com now. If you haven't already, be sure to check it out.