Friday, May 30, 2008

Anniversary Trip! Part 2

After our wonderful dinner at TAO we went to our room to change for Phantom of the Opera. I have really been wanting to see this for the last 12 years and was very excited to finally be going! The theater was built just for Phantom of the Opera and it's just stunning.



They don't let you take photos inside the theater so I pulled this picture off the web. I was kind of surprised that people didn't dress up a little more. I mean at the price of the tickets you think they would. There were people there in jeans though. Anyway, we had really great seats. We were in the second row and almost the middle. It's a very exciting show from the very beginning! There are four parts of the chandelier that slowly rise up from different parts of the theater. They slowly circles around above the whole audience (I could not figure out how they kept all the wires from getting crossed) before they all come together and rise up to the top of the ceiling. Here's a couple of interesting facts I found online- the Chandelier weighs 2,100 pounds and cost $4.5 million to create. The shimmering chandelier is comprised of 29,444 individual crystals that were hand strung.
At first I was very distracted by tiny rectangle microphone's that all the actors had taped to their foreheads. At first I didn't know what they were. The mic's and tape are skin colored so I'm sure you wouldn't even see it if you were farther back. Once I figured out what they were I wasn't so distracted by them anymore.

My favorite part of the play starts when Christine sings Angel of Music in her dressing room. You can see her reflected in her mirror and the Phantom appears behind the mirror. You can also see the dungeon behind the Phantom. Then Christine walks into the mirror. They then sing Phantom of the Opera while in a "boat". The floor is covered in fog and is really looks like they're in the water. While they "float" through the fog hundreds of candles pop up and eight 8 foot Candelabras. It was so breath taking that it gave me goose bumps and I think I was even holding my breath!! They have some really amazing special effects including fire works (which by the way were very blinding that close to the stage). It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! If you're going to be in Vegas I'd highly recommend seeing this!

The next morning we ate breakfast at a cute little Italian cafe at the Venetian shopping center. It felt like we were sitting outside but we really weren't. We then went to our room and packed our bags, checked out, and went to the Tropicana. There we went to the Bodies exhibit. I wasn't sure if I would like this or not. It's gross and fascinating all at the same time! It's real humans that have been specially preserved and well (there's no nice way to put this) sliced up all different ways so you can see what a human body is like.
Not something I'd like done to me when I am dead but hey if the people knew what they were getting themselves into then whatever. It gives you a better understanding of your body for sure. One that was very neat was a body of just veins nothing else. I have no idea how they did that. It also had a room with babies. It's amazing how much a baby grows in just two weeks. It had babies from 1-18 weeks old. I thought the exhibit was fascinating but with Sterling's science background he definitely liked it more than I did. He's been wanting to see this ever since it was in Idaho a couple of years ago.

We then went to the Titanic exhibit also at the Tropicana. Something I've wanted to see ever since it was in SLC four years ago. Sadly they won't let you take pictures so I got some from their website.
Upon entering you're given a boarding pass with information on it about a real passenger of Titanic. At the end you get to see it you lived or died. Sterling was a rich man who traveled 3rd class (so no one would know he was rich) with a suitcase full of diamonds. I was a french actress in 2nd class traveling as the mistress of a famous videographer. I'll tell you at the end if we lived or died! They had rooms that were just like the 3rd and 1st class rooms. That was fun to see. They had all kinds of things recovered from the ocean floor like the Titanic dishes and jewelry.
One of my favorite displays was a recreation of the famous Titanic Staircase. It's so beautiful. I want this staircase and glass dome in my dream house!


My other favorite part of this exhibit was the recreation of the Titanic boat deck. You walked through a door and it's like your standing on the deck at night. There are stars, and when you look over the railing it looks like water. It's also cold with a breeze!Another fun part was the room with a huge iceberg you could touch. It was real ice!
In the last room there is a wall with all of the passengers separated by class and alive or dead. It took us quite awhile to find the names on our boarding passes. Sterling and I both died! Sad, huh?

We then went to lunch at the Go Raw Cafe. They make really amazing raw food. I had the veggiecotti and Sterling had the raw enchiladas. We were so stuffed we couldn't eat our raw cheesecake. We saved it and ate it for dinner on the drive home! We had an AMAZING time. The best part was while we were on our trip Sterling's business made more than we spent. That is the great thing about internet business. Making money while you're playing!! It was the perfect Anniversary. It doesn't get much better than that!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Anniversary Trip! Part 1


Sterling and I went to Las Vegas for a short Anniversary trip on Friday and Saturday. We had such an amazing time. We'd like to thank Mom and Dad Allan for watching the kids for us! We stayed at the Venetian. It's by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in! The entrance (in the room) and the bathroom were marble floors. They had robes and slippers for you to use. Our room had three plasma TV's. One in front of the bed, one in the sunken living room, and the other one was in the bathroom. You could watch it while you took a shower in the all glass shower. It also had a buffet table with a marble top that lit up. It was just gorgeous!



After we got checked in and dropped off our luggage we headed over to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. I was so excited to do this. I've wanted to do this ever since I was a little girl.













After that we went to dinner at the very hip TAO. When you walk into the restaurant there are eight (four on each side) modern, concrete bathtubs filled with water and rose petals with floating candles. The effect is very stunning. I didn't think it could get much cooler than that until we were seated across from a 25 foot Buddha!!
The food was to die for! They make some of the best Vegan Food I've ever had. We told our waitress we were Vegan and she came back with a whole list of things we could have. I've heard this is a big celebrity hang out though we didn't see anyone famous while we were there. Even if we had I doubt I would've barely noticed because it was such a fun, loud, energetic place! The service was also very good. When Sterling left the table for a minute the waitress came and folded his napkin! They even brought us steaming hot rolled napkins after we ate some messy lettuce rolls. After Sterling got back from the bathroom he told me that I HAD to go to the bathroom. I thought what can be so special about it? Well they had people that handed you paper towels and squirted lotion on your hands. How would you like that job? Also the whole back of the counter was lined with perfume, lotion, hair spray, deodorant, tums, breath mints, gum. You name it, it was there.


I'll post part 2 soon!











Thursday, May 22, 2008

Happy Anniversary!



Sterling and I have now been married for nine years. In some ways it feels like it has gone so fast and in other ways it feels like we've been together for a very long time! Marriage has been a journey of ups and downs, tears and laughter. I feel we've both learned a lot and grown in so many different ways. I'm grateful to Sterling for how very hard he works to support our family. I love to watch him rough house and have fun with our kids. It makes me fall in love with him all over again.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!


I Love You!



Friday, May 2, 2008

About Us Tag

#1 FAVORITE FOOD

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#2 MIDDLE NAMES

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#3 FAVORITE HOLIDAY





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#4 FAVORITE PLACE TO BE





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#5 BAD HABIT



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#6 COLLEGE MAJOR


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#7 FAVORITE COLOR




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#8 NAME OF PAST PET


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#9 PLACE I'D LOVE TO VISIT


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#10 AGE I'LL BE ON MY NEXT B-DAY



Cheri

























Sterling

























We tag Tahnie, Alisha, Amanda, and Beau.