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10 for Tuesday: Romantic Cities

So St. Vincent’s Day is upon us and Richard and I don’t have much of a Tuesday planned. It is a Tuesday. We work longer than the average man’s 9 to 5. The last thing I want to do is get dressed up while I could be watching Glee in my pajamas.

This weekend, however, we did have a celebratory breakfast at a local diner that had a mix of a hospital vibe and a senior citizen home. It was apparently the place to be on a Sunday, and – despite one’s first impression – the food was amazing. Hole in the wall places are usually a hit or miss and this was definitely a hit. Aside from that, we went to REI and tried on some backpacks for Richard’s first backpacking trip coming up this Spring Break! We’ll have to leave those specifics to another post, but our “romantic weekend” was just any other weekend…both of us working on Saturday and being completely lazy the rest of the weekend, and I don’t think I would’ve wanted it any other way.

Richard set his alarm at midnight this morning to wish me a Happy Valentine’s Day, but I was way too tired to wake up and hear him. He’s making me waffles for breakfast with the waffle iron I bought him in college (which he has yet to use). It’ll be a fairly simple Valentine’s Day for us, and I love it.

Despite the fact that we aren’t having an overly romantic weekend doesn’t mean we won’t take advantage of a romantic getaway some other weekend, particularly on a weekend that isn’t grabbing for money out of our wallets. (side note: I went over personification with my students today, and I included this example. They nailed it).

Paris, Venice, and Barcelona might be the go-to romantic city destinations, but there are plenty romantic places to spend a weekend getaway in The States.

Here are my top 10.

10. Santa Fe, New Mexico- Santa Fe is known for many things other than a reference in a RENT song. Richard and I are determined to make it there on our upcoming road trip. It is an atypical southwest getaway with some iconic sites and many Spanish cultural influences (It was once Spain’s capital for it’s US territories). Throw in some desert sunsets and you have yourself a beautiful and relaxing weekend.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Finish Reading the Top 10…

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20 Las Vegas DOs & DON’Ts: All Girls Getaway

It’s Groundhog Day, and apparently we are due for 6 more weeks of winter.  That doesn’t mean future Vegas trips can’t be in the works!  Going to Las Vegas with all girls is a completely different experience than with the fam or the bf.  Here’s my list of 20 DOs & DON’Ts for an all girls getaway, which frankly, are the funnest trips.

Flamingo's GO Room Bathrooom

#1.) DO: Get a fabulous room in a fabulous location.  The strip has hotels for all budget levels so don’t book a hotel to save up a few bucks when you’re inevitably going to pay more for taxi fares!  Figure out the clubs you want to hit or hotels you will likely tour and grab a hotel near there.  Many of the hotels are renovating their rooms, so do your research and get the best room for your ideal price. The Flamingo’s Go Room is my current recommendation for the cheapest, newly renovated, room on the strip.  The casino floor might be a bit older, but the pool is recently renovated as well and makes for a great time. My favorite place for a larger group of girls is definitely PH Towers, Westgate in their 1 or 2 bedroom suites.  The suite includes a full kitchen, jacuzzi, and TV projector that takes up the entire wall.  Both hotels are in the middle of the strip that make for prime access.  The Venetian is also a go-to for larger groups since they are all suites, but I don’t recommend them as highly only because of the resort fees.

PH Towers, Westgate Suite

DON’T: Break your budget or forget about the “resort fees”. Yes, you want to splurge on your vacation and a relaxing hotel, but don’t break your budget.  Otherwise, you’ll secretly be passive aggressive about the price the entire trip and nitpick at everything imperfect with your room or hotel.  Pick something in your range and only pay for what’s important to you. If a full kitchen is worth it to you because you know you’ll be stocking it up, great. If you’re not going to actually take advantage of the extra space and ever be in the room, maybe it isn’t worth the extra bills.  Also, don’t forget about those pesky resort fees when figuring out the room price total.  Many Vegas hotels are now charging a per day “resort fee” for things you won’t use, with the exception of maybe internet.  Whether or not you use their resort fee services, you’ll be slapped on with a daily fee between $10-$30/day.  Your room might not seem as affordable when you take these into account.  (The aforementioned hotel recommendations don’t include resort fees). 

Photoshopping in your friends who couldn't be there? Optional.

#2.) DO: Go with girlfriends with similar views on Vegas Vacays. There are girls you call when you had an awful day at work, and there are girls you go to Vegas with.  If you’re lucky, these girls are one in the same.  Make sure your agenda for fun in Vegas coincides with your group of girls.  While one’s ideal vacay may be lounging pools, spas, and shopping, the others’ might be boys, drinks, and more drinks.  Of course there’s always compromise in their somewhere and either way, you’re going with girls you love, but going with girls on the same wave-length will always be a benefit for upping your level of fun.

Marquee @ Cosmopolitan

DON’T: Be that girl. If you love your girlfriends but just realized you did not follow DO #2, try to get on their wave length of fun.  If you have found that girl in your group, and it’s not you, cut them some slack and compromise on what you all want to do.  You’ll probably be that girl eventually.

#3.) DO: Get on the guest list to one the hottest clubs in Vegas. If your group of girls is gorgeous, you’ll have no problem.  If your group of girls at least has lady parts, you’ll still be totally fine.  Girls rule Vegas: always have, always will.  Even at the busiest times of the year, it won’t be difficult to find a promoter that will do anything to get you into their club and use their name.  Take some time and tour your casino and the strip or search twitter and facebook.  The promoters are countless.  The second part of this DO is to get into one of the hottest clubs in Vegas.  Luxor’s LAX and Bellagio’s The Bank are now old news.  Pure @ Caesar’s isn’t even as exciting or new as it once was either.  The place to be is always changing, but for 2012, you’re pretty safe with Marquee @The Cosmopolitan, XS or Surrender @ Encore, Vanity @ The Hard Rock, Rain @ The Palms, Tao @ Venetian, or Haze @ Aria.  The lounges also are a great place to swing by if there are free drinks involved.  Send me a message if you need some contacts, but Kevin can definitely help you out!

TAO @ Venetian

XS @ Encore

The Palms

Haze @ Aria

DON’T: Pay a cover charge, ever.  People will pay for tickets because a performer/DJ is in town or because this is the newest club so “everyone pays”.  No, not everyone pays.  A group of girls should not pay a cover charge ever.  Some door men will tell you, you’re on the “guest list”, but girls still pay a reduced fee.  It only takes a bit of sweet talking and “but…(insert promoter name here) said….” to get it back down to gratis.

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Infogasm: Weird Whereabouts – ZZYZX, California

My girlfriends and I have been putting a Las Vegas trip in the works.  It has me reminiscing about the drive to Las Vegas, which I actually haven’t done in some time since we’ve moved to Houston.  The last few times I’ve been to Las Vegas, I was able to fly in.

Every Californian who makes that drive to Vegas needs to hit the I-15 S and at one point or another has said wtf to a sign in San Bernadino County.  Said sign is posted above.

“Did you see that sign?”
“How do you pronounce that?”
“That’s so funny! We definitely should get a picture of it.”
“It’s too hot, but remind me to get one on the way back.”

You inevitably forget about taking a picture of the sign on your way back as well or you’re too exhausted from the Vegas weekend to fathom getting out of your car for a photo-op.  I always forgot to Google it, until now.  Apparently, ZZYZX road eventually leads to the ZZYZX settlement, the home of the Desert Studies Center for some of the Cal State Universities.  Yup, there’s actually something 4.5 miles down that creepy looking road.  I definitely always pictured it as the perfect serial killer destination.

At one point, it was the location of a Spa run by some crazy guy over a century ago.  He unfortunately built his land on property he didn’t own.  If Winona Ryder taught us anything, it was that thieves will always eventually get caught (and that Angelina Jolie will always beat you out for an Oscar even if you were the leading lady).

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Midnight!!! An amazing firework show immediately followed after.

New Year. New Blog. New Year’s Eve in San Antonio.

We were lucky to spend time during the holidays with our families back in SoCal, but Richard had to be back at work on the 27th of December.  We were at a loss of what to do for New Year’s.  The majority of our Houston friends were out of town visiting families or heading downtown for the night, but after some Googling, we found out about the biggest party in Texas on NYE: Celebrate San Antonio, only a 2.5 hr drive away.

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