Four days to go!

Today was a MUCH better day.  Thank goodness!

Late last night, all my stress from yesterday worked itself out.  So, I bounced out of bed today feeling quite bridal and ready for my last day at work as a single person.

I bought a cantaloupe and a huge bag of spinach on Saturday and I’m determined to finish them before we leave tomorrow.  Guess what was for lunch?

And a giant, unpictured spinach salad.

At lunch, I ran the 0.4 miles to the gym, ran 3 miles on the treadmill at a halfway decent pace, and ran the 0.4 miles back to work.  It was sweaty, but a good workout.  My gym time this week has really been almost Zen-like—it just feels so good from my head to my toes and so restorative in so many ways.  (Aside from the fact that my shoes make my feet and legs and hips hurt.  But whatever.)

Snacktime?

Love Clif Kid bars. 

The Milhouse:

 

Tonight’s activity? 

PACKING.  Tomorrow morning I’m going to get my orthotics (yay) early in the morning, then we’re putting all our wedding stuff in the car and making the eight hour trip to Chicago.  Tonight…I have to do laundry, check my lists and check them twice, and dump everything into a few suitcases. 

Weather check?

I am oddly really excited about the trip.  Tim and I always have fun on long car rides—we both like driving on the highway and we don’t even listen to music, we just talk the whole time.  It’s wonderful. 

I’m not TOTALLY sure how blogging is going to work this weekend—we’re staying at my mom’s house without wireless (sob), but I am going to try to pop into the nearby Starbucks here and there with some quick updates.

The plan right now is to drive tomorrow, and spend Thursday getting our marriage license and meeting with the pastor.  On Friday, we drop all our stuff off at the reception venue, have lunch with friends, and get ready for our rehearsal dinner and do all that.  Then…Saturday…well, you know what happens!

Hopefully I’ll be able to check in from the road. 

What’s your favorite way to travel?  Are you a road trip fan?

It’s the final countdown

Arrested Development, anyone?

 

This morning…I got to sleep in an extra hour!

It was to go to the gynecologist, though.  Oddly, this is something I don’t mind, probably because my mom worked for OB/GYNs for 20 years, and I worked there after school in high school.  I’m kind of desensitized.

Fun fact: My old gynecologist is coming to our wedding!  (I switched because of the move, obviously.)  She’s a family friend.

This office was a little odd.  There were lots of teddy bears in the room:

And a shelf of old-timey medicine bottles…and more teddy bears.

Anyway, take this as your reminder to get annual pap smears.  (finger wag)

Unfortunately, I have a cyst of some kind that’s going to have to be monitored.  But, the doc says it’s nothing to worry about and I trust her.

There was no workout today.  I was late to work because of the appointment, and there was a going away luncheon for someone at work.  BBQ was on the menu—I skipped the sides and just had a sandwich with barbecue beef. 

I also had about half of a small slice of cheesecake. 

Around 4 p.m., I snacked on my Greek yogurt that was in my lunch (I forgot about said luncheon and brought a lunch anyway).  I knew I’d be getting home late tonight!

 

Because of my final dress fitting!

I have a wedding dress hanging in my house now.  Whoa.

Unfortunately, I felt kind of dumpy and gross in it tonight.  Apparently, every other time I try on my wedding dress sucks…so, that means when I put it on in ten days, it will be great!  It’s hard not to see the other super-skinny brides in beautiful dresses and say “I wish I looked like that” or “Her dress is prettier than mine.”

I am doing my best to chalk it up to the fact that it was a long day at work, I was tired and didn’t feel like being there, and I didn’t have any of my accessories/veil on. 

I got home, and another wedding gift!

Ramekins!

Unfortunately, klutzy me actually managed to drop one on the floor and break it while I was unwrapping.  So…now we have 7 ramekins, not 8.  Luckily, they are only $2.50 and easily replaced.

Julia asked in the comments to yesterday’s post how I was feeling, so I thought it’d be a good time to discuss my mental state.

I think the best way I can describe how I’ve felt for the last week is like I have perma-PMS.  I am moody.  Some moments I am over the moon happy and excited, but in a moment I can snap and feel like taking someone’s head off.  Last night I had a full-out breakdown—I deal with stress by crying, and I tend to let small things build up and let them all out at once rather than deal with things one at a time.  Basically, what it amounted to is that I’m overwhelmed.  I keep getting questions from wedding guests and family members, I’m juggling emails with the florist, the photographer, the hotel, the pastor, and the reception venue, and I’m….overwhelmed.  And coming to the realization that even though I’ve heard it over and over, I can’t really make everyone happy.  And I feel guilty for feeling this way, because I feel like I should be giddy and giggling and radiating glitter.

And those four people?  Still haven’t RSVPed.

I am ready to be done and be married.  I’m sure the wedding day is going to be awesome, and ultimately, I am very thankful for my friends and family that care so much about me and Tim.   But…right now the last minute things still have to get done, and they’re stressing me out.

Hopefully I will get a ton of stuff done this weekend.  Until then…I’m breathing.  And putting one foot in front of the other, and keeping my eye on the prize.  It will all be okay.

Lunchtime Warrior

11 days to go!  We’re almost in 10-day forecast territory, dudes.

I thought about photographing my lunch, but it was the same as yesterdays: pineapple pre-workout, spinach + balsamic, Chobani + strawberries + Kashi GoLean, and a multigrain bagel. 

Once again, over the lunch hour, I hit the gym.  0.4 mile run there, 3.5 mile run on the treadmill, 0.4 mile run back.  Whee! 

My iPod was dead today, so I did some thinking while I ran.  I am certain these shoes (the Brooks Defyance 2s) are not THE shoes for me.  Aside from the blister issues, I’ve had various knee/shin/ankle pain, and today, my hips were complaining too!  Ugh.  My orthotics are in (but I keep forgetting to make an appointment to pick them up—it’s a little hectic right now), and I think I’ll head back to the ol’ running store to get a new pair.

Here’s my dream shoe wishlist:

• A wide toe box.  I think the blistering on my forefoot is because these shoes are just too narrow thanks to my awesome bunions.
• I also like the idea of a wide width shoe—I tried one for a few weeks earlier this year, but it was a stability shoe, and didn’t have enough cushioning, so I got shin splints.  I’m curious about what could happen in a wide neutral shoe with plenty of cushioning.
• A larger size.  I’m pretty sure my feet swell when I run.  A lot.  I’d ideally like to be measured, run on the store treadmill for awhile, and then be re-measured, but they probably don’t want me jeopardizing it all day. 

Anyway.  Moving on.  There was a birthday celebration at work this afternoon, so I was planning on having cake as an afternoon snack.  (Yup.)  Buuut, I went, and it was white cake with white frosting—booooring, and not worth the sugar binge.   I went back to my office and opted for a Luna Bar instead.

I’m not a white chocolate fan AT ALL, but I really like these.  Huh.

Came home.  We got a wedding gift!  Hello, new salad bowl.  May I fill you with spinach?

 

I also got a very fancy candle as an early wedding gift from a co-worker today!  Totally sweet.

I looove candles (and so does Tim) and this one smells awesome.  It’s orange/vanilla scent, so think grown-up creamsicle.

And for fun, Tim and I get 8904543 mailings a week from the Missouri Bar Association.  We got one today that we both laughed at:

We’re down to four RSVP stragglers.  Come on, guys!

What’s something that made you laugh today?

Lunchtime workout

So, lately…I’ve kind of been resenting the gym a little bit.  I have STUFF to do at home, what with, y’know, the wedding and all.  I also admit that the combination of our upcoming nuptials and being so busy/traveling so much have me feeling like a clingy koala bear and I want to spend as much time with Tim as possible.   If I go to the gym…I don’t get home until 6:30, have to shower, and basically make the quickest dinner possible.  Normally I don’t mind, but I just haven’t been feeling it lately.

But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to work out.  Au contraire!  I’ve been craving a good workout all weekend.  So, today, I randomly decided to work out over my lunch hour!  My gym is only 0.4 miles away (according to Google) from my office, and the weather was nice. 

So, I had a little snack around 11:30:

And at noon, I changed in my office, ran to the gym, and worked out!

I ran the 0.4 miles to the gym, then 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  (I decided to keep the run short to see how my knee/leg felt.  It felt awesome!  I’m going to try longer tomorrow.)  Then, I hit the weights and did…

• 3 sets of 12 squats at 95 lbs.
• 3 sets of 12 shoulder presses at 30 lbs.
• 3 sets of 10 overhead lat pulldowns at 60 lbs
• 3 sets of 10 underhand grip pulldowns at 60 lbs
• 3 sets of 12 upright rows at 30 lbs.
• 3 sets of 10 deadlifts at 40 lbs.

And sprinted the 0.4 mile back to my office.  All in all, it was quite a good workout—I think I’m going to keep this up, at least for the foreseeable future!  Obviously it won’t work for longer runs, but it’s definitely do-able, especially while the weather is nice.

I do need to make sure to bring some kind of powder for my face, some kind of body spray, and a change of undies for next time, though!  (I already keep deodorant and face wipes in my desk.)

I promptly devoured the rest of my lunch. 

Spinach with balsamic…

A multigrain bagel…

 

And Greek yogurt with strawberries and a little GoLean crunch.

 

Around 4:00 I snacked on a Chocolate Raspberry Luna Bar.  Is it just me, or are they getting smaller?

All in all, I was home and showered by 5:45.  Love the new routine!  I felt nice and cozy and worn out all afternoon, too, rather than antsy and eager to get up and move.

In wedding news, my mom sent me a picture of the flower girl basket she’s devised:

And we are still waiting on six RSVPs.  Yaaargh.  This is seriously driving me nuts!  DUDE.   

What time of day do you prefer to work out?

Good eats

I feel like I spent all day in the kitchen today!  But it felt GREAT.  I’ve been gone from home and busy the last several weekends, and it was nice to do some baking and cooking again.  I can’t wait to use all my new pots and pans, though!

Lunch was leftovers from last night.  I’m usually a plate cleaner, so I’m glad I saved half this time!  (It was shell pasta with marinara sauce and about half a meatball.)  Please note the floor plan for our reception in the background!

Re: the seating chart.  We’re still waiting to hear from ten people, but our count right now is 94 yes, 99 no.  We got a surprise “yes” from one of Tim’s old college friends today, which I’m really happy about.  I’m antsy to hear back from everyone else so we can run some hard numbers and figure out our final upgrades!

I stopped at the grocery store for a few things, and they were out of my beloved cantaloupe.  But, giant pineapples were on sale for $2.99, so I risked it!  I got a ton of chopped up fruit out of it for us to munch on all week.  It was really good!

 

I also had to do some baking.  I work at a university, and during finals time, the faculty and staff all bring in treats for the stressed students.  I decided to bake two things, and send some to work with Tim.

Peanut butter brownies…

And the return of the infamous cake balls!

All day I simmered a giant roast in the crockpot.  This couldn’t be easier—about a two pound roast, some beef broth, a few cloves of garlic, and let it go on high for about 6 hours.  Pull the roast apart with forks as soon as possible!  We made sammiches out of it.  This was Tim’s.  (Mine was smaller, on a sandwich thin!)

And now we have dinner for at least the next two nights!

I decided to be a little creative with the side dish.  The other day when I went out with my boss, we had wonderful Portabella “fries.”  I tried to make my own version today, and it turned out pretty good!  We only had regular mushrooms, and they were about to turn, so I’m glad I got to use them.  I didn’t measure—I just grilled them on a griddle with a little EVOO until they softened up, then dipped them in an egg wash, then dipped them in a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs, whole wheat flour, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper and put them back on the griddle until they’d crisped up a bit..  They turned out great!  Tim even asked for seconds.   I’ll definitely make these again!  I love all things mushroom.

I also managed to finish up a last minute DIY project for the wedding.

Directions: raid Michael’s cheap flip flops.  Buy lots of ribbon.  Remove ugly tags and tie together with pretty ribbon.  Spray paint clearance basket from Michaels.  Attach ribbon and sign with glue dots.  Enjoy.

I don’t know why I did this other than that I think it’s cute. 

Anyway.  I’ve got a fridge full of delicious shredded beef, pineapple chunks, and sweets.  I’m a happy camper.  Normally, I’d at least try some of the sweet stuff, but I’m on my absolute best behavior until the wedding—it’ll be a scoop of fro-yo for dessert for me tonight!  Also, I’m happy to announce I’ve been coffee and Diet Coke free for…four days now, I think?  Not going to lie, I’m craving both here and there, but it helps not keeping it in the house.

I got really excited today when I realized that by the time our gallon of milk expires…we’ll be married.  See?

I’m off to finish getting ready for my last full work week before the wedding—we’re officially getting married next week, y’all!  I can’t wait to get back to the gym this week—I hope hope hope my leg feels better so I can get some running in.  I feel lazy!

What things do you bulk cook? I love making a full roast or chicken on Sundays to eat all week, and usually cut up fresh fruit too.

Playing it by ear

Thank goodness it’s Friday!

Today did NOT go according to plan…but in a good way!

My boss owed us all a lunch out, and she announced that today was the day!

So I abandoned my packed lunch in the fridge in lieu of lunch out.  Hooray!

I had a soup and salad combo—chicken noodle and Caesar (easy on the dressing.)  I also had one or two of the appetizer she ordered for the table—Portobello mushroom “fries”!  They were pretty awesome.  The chicken noodle soup was great—it was really different.  It was almost more like a chicken tortilla soup because it was spicy, but I liked it!

No pictures because I’m camera shy at work (when my office door is open.)

My boss came back late…because she’d stopped at a bakery to get us all chocolatey desserts!  What a lady.

I wasn’t really sure what mine was, although it was mildly phallic.

Alas…

It was kind of like a fancy pants Three Musketeers bar.  I had two bites and tossed the rest—it was good but not great.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty easy.  My boss has specifically stated that I’m not going to get assigned anything TOO in-depth until after the wedding.  Apparently I’ve looked a bit frazzled lately!

I was prepared to hit the gym after work, but then I got an e-mail…the gym was closing today at 5 for a special “thank the gym employees” event!  So, home I went.   It’s probably for the best, because my left shin has been complaining intermittently all week.  STILL.  Ugh.

We decided to celebrate the weekend with an animal photo shoot.

 

Please ignore my godawful roots.  I’m getting my hair dyed tomorrow!

This is the big project this weekend:

Programs.  They will be done this weekend if it kills me.  And it might. 

Anyone else get a fun surprise today?

I’m a bad, bad bride

(And blogger, because I forgot my camera today.)

Lunch was about the same as usual lately—cantyloupe, strawberries, Greek yogurt, a multigrain bagel with Laughing Cow cheese, and what was SUPPOSED to be a big bowl of spinach with a little balsamic on it.  But, the balsamic was left at home.  Clearly, I’m forgetful today.

After work, I went to the gym in the pouring rain.  I ran about ten steps and my knee and shin just didn’t feel great, so I stopped.  At this point, I’m just holding out until I get my custom orthotics—I will probably do minimal running until then, because a) obviously my current shoe situation is not working and I don’t want  to make the problem worse and b) I kind of have minimal energy for the gym going on right now because of the wedding.

I spent half an hour on the elliptical.  It was kind of miserable.  Dan Savage’s podcast was the only saving grace.  (PS:  I met Dan Savage.  He’s been in my car.  He gave me marriage advice and we did a shot together.)

Now, why I’m a bad bride.

Our house has been kind of in a state of perma-squalor for the last few weeks.  I haven’t been around to clean, Tim just doesn’t really notice that things need cleaning, so, yeah, it’s gotten bad.  Particularly…our carpet.  You can imagine the amount of hair two moderately floofy cats in springtime, a beagle, and a stressed twentysomething redhead Sasquatch produce.

So I broke the rules.  Technically, any shower or wedding gifts received before the wedding aren’t supposed to be used until, well, after the wedding.  But I was dying to use our Dyson Animal Ball and get some normal, clean carpet going on.  (Our current vacuum, well, doesn’t suck, literally.)  It was worth it.  Even Tim begged me to take a whirl.

Yes, friends, we exceeded MAX DIRT in our house.  (Okay, more like max animal hair.)

It appears the major culprits were Southpaw and me. 

(If Tim dumps me in the next two weeks, I’ll ask my sister if she wants her money back.  But I’m keeping the damn vacuum.)

In other wedding news…we have a situation.

We invited 204 guests to our wedding.  We currently have 88 coming (3 of which are children under 5 that are free), 80 NOT coming, and 36 question marks.  Of the 36 question marks, we’re anticipating that at most, 8 or 9 will come.  (Most of them are really long distance guests we’re not SUPER close to.)

Our venue contract states that we have a minimum of $X.  To meet $X, we would have to have 114 guests attend under our basic wedding package.  Clearly…that’s not going to happen.  But we don’t want to pay all this money to the venue for 20 guests that aren’t there, right?

So we are looking into upgrading our package.

• If we upgrade from the basic package to the deluxe package, we get an extra hors d’oeuvre, wine service during dinner (we have open bar, but it closes during the meal), and a full on dessert table with 12 options rather than two plated dessert options.  The cons of this?  If we do have about 95 guests attending, it will put us slightly over our minimum—not a ton, but a few hundred bucks.  Also, it doesn’t seem like we GET all that much more for what we’re paying.  Our crowd doesn’t really drink wine, so I doubt they’ll make much use of the wine service.
• Stick with our current package and add a lot more appetizers and some other random stuff—side dishes, maybe a special martini bar, maybe more desserts.  The cons of this?  We already have a TON of food.  Like, guests are going to be rolling around.  Do we really need to add a sweet table if we’re already going to have two flavors of wedding cake, cheesecake, and profiteroles?  Prolly not.
• Stick with our current package and eat the cost.

We’re not really into just eating the cost…but neither other option seems great either.  I’m thinking of potentially bargaining with the reception venue—maybe pay for the deluxe package, but skip the wine and add a few more apps instead?  Or see if I can switch the wine service at dinner to keeping the bar open?  I don’t know.

What do you think?  Upgrade the package?  Add on a bunch of appetizers?  Any other great ideas?

Flexibility is fun

Hi, everyone.  The benefit of a Monday off is that every day always feels earlier!  It felt like a Tuesday, but it’s Wednesday!  How ‘bout that.

After being on the road last week, I was craving fresh fruits and veggies…so that was my lunch.  I ate a huge bowl of cantaloupe, a spinach salad, and a pile of fresh strawberries.  (Some went on my Chobani, some went on my salad!)  I also had a sandwich thin with almond butter.  Seriously, since I’ve been home, all I’ve wanted is fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, and eggs.  WTF?  I’ll go with it, though.

Also, Operation Tooth-Stainy Stuff Free Day One was a success.  No coffee or diet Coke.  Hooray!  One down, sixteen to go.

After work I hit up the gym for the first times in awhile!  It felt good to be back.  The only exercise I’ve done since my half on the 10th was one trail run in Napa with my sister, and lots of recreational walking on vacation.

Unfortunately, when I started running…pain.  My left knee, outside of my left shin, and my left ankle started throbbing.  So, after a mile, I realized, “Hey!  You’re not specifically training for a  race right now!  Go do something less taxing on your leg!” and decided to hit the weights for the first time in for-ev-er instead.  As much as I like having a schedule and being in serious training mode, it’s nice to have a little bit of flexibility.

So, I went to the weight room and gave my upper body a quick  beating like so:

• 3 sets of 12 overhead presses using 15 lb. dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 deadlifts using 30 lb. dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 upright rows using 15 lb. dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 squats using 25 lb. dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 bench presses using 20 lb. dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 lat pulldowns at 48 lbs.
• 3 sets of 12 underhand grip lat pulldowns at 48 lbs.
• 2 sets of 12 reverse crunches holding a 25 lb. plate

Yowza.  My upper body feels like jelly!  It’s been far too long since I’ve hit the weights, but it felt good to do something different.  Also, my arms are really the only flesh that will be exposed in my dress, so they might as well look rockin’. 

I came home and we’d gotten a fun package from My Blog Spark of some most excellent goodies for me to try.  Buckley preferred the box.

Speaking of which, in honor of Earth Week, visit Cascadian Farm on Facebook and make a pledge to be more eco-friendly!  They will donate $1 to the Organic Farming Research Corporation for every pledge.  Cool, huh? 

Anyhoo.  Have a great night, all!

Do you prefer to be on a workout schedule or do you like going with the flow in the gym?

Heading home

(Note: for some reason this didn’t publish last night.  So…rewind in your head a bit.)

Hi, friends, from the Vegas airport (though the wireless here is wonky so I probably won’t publish this until I’m back in KC for the night).

Anyway.  Today was the same as yesterday.  Breakfast, meetings, lunch, meetings, airport.

Except it’s still pretty cool to spend your lunch break here:

 

 

…looking up at this:

Who am I to complain?

Again, I avoided the sun.  HOWEVER (tangent alert!) in my quest to buy running shorts last night, I remembered “hey, weren’t you going to try various self-tanners before the wedding?”  So I headed to Victoria’s Secret and bought a bottle of their Instant Self Tanner.  (Beach something or other line, it’s in an offensively fuschia package with some kind of palm tree on it, I think.)  And I used it.  And it was excellent!  I don’t look orange or streaky today, but I do look noticeably…glow-ier.  I like it and plan to continue using it at least until after the honeymoon, at which point I will realize “Hey!  He’s tied down now!” and let myself get pale, fat, and unpleasant.  (Kidding.)

Also, on my lunch break, I picked up a little something-something for Tim (since he was so kind to bring me back chocolate from HIS Vegas excursion a few weeks ago.  I also decided that I have never had a real French macaroon and I should probably try one.

I have always been curious about what these tasted like, what with their bright colors and such.

I think this one was strawberry-flavored?  Anyway, the experience was interesting.  The texture is kind of cool—very light and melt-in-your-mouthy, but kind of unsatisfying.  I’m glad I tried one, but I think I prefer chocolate.

Speaking of which…Payard’s, the chocolatier in Caesar’s Palace, has this ridiculous looking contraption in the middle of it.  Of course, I Google before I go anywhere, so I realized online that it actually spits out tiny boxes with one little chocolate in them once in awhile.  All week I’d been walking past it to see if I saw one, but alas.

But then, on my way out the door to the airport…I finally hit the Vegas jackpot!

One tiny, free chocolate, all for me.

(I’m saving it for my three hour flight.)

So, now, I’m in the Vegas airport, hoping to find something halfway decent to take on the plane with me.   (The Vegas airport is kind of trashy.)  I play favorites with airports, and thus far, I very much like Denver, Kansas City, and Midway.  

I’ll be back in Kansas City late tonight…I have tomorrow off work, in which I will frantically be doing laundry and re-packing all my belongings because I head to Napa Valley for my bachelorette weekend late tomorrow afternoon!  Talk about a whirlwind.   As excited as I am, this whole wedding/travel crazy few months is really making me realize what a homebody I am—I love seeing new places, and traveling, but after a day or two all I want is my own shower (I miss my shower more than my bed, usually), TIM, and the animals.  I thrive on normalcy and routine, and all this hoopla (while wonderful and touching) is making me feel a little out of sorts.

I probably won’t be blogging from Napa—I’m not out of the closet with my family and most of my friends yet, and I intend to keep it that way.  I’ll be back on Monday with a full recap!

See you later!  Have a great weekend!

Vegas, Day Two!

Hello again from Vegas!  I”m blogging a bit earlier than usual so I can do some more ‘splorin’. 

Conference breffist:

The eggs and taters were pretty meh, so I left them and ate all the fruit, yogurt, and granola, as well as an unpictured small banana nut muffin. 

Went to meetings all morning, then conquered lunch!

I seem to be doing a good job with the “fill half your plate with fruit/veggies” rule.  I had a giant salad with a balsamic dressing, plus some roasted chicken on the side.  I got some beef and cheese, too, but…it was kind of like eating lunchmeat/cheese without bread, so I left most of it.  I also had a wee bit of tomato basil soup and a PRETZEL ROLL.  (OBSESSED.)

We had an hour and a half for lunch, so I went exploring!  Mostly to the pool area of Caesar’s Palace.  Can you blame me?

There was some sort of photo shoot going on.  You can see the photographer up on the balcony.

Basically, there was a model floating on her back, and some guy had to keep throwing those red balls at her.  Weird.

Everything here is so massive!  I can hardly believe it.

I finally settled down in a beach chair in the shade (don’t want to get tan lines before the wedding/didn’t have sunscreen!) and relaxed and people watched for the remainder of my break.

After the afternoon sessions were over, I ventured out onto the strip for a very special task given to me by Leah: 

The Flamingo!  She’s getting married there a few weeks after our wedding. 

I did a little more wandering on the Strip, BUT I had a lot of strange men coming up to me offering their sexual services.  Like, at least 2 or 3.  It creeped me out, so I headed back to Caesar’s.

There’s more than enough to entertain me here for a long, long time, and I am completely paranoid when traveling alone, so…yeah.  Also, with all the events I have to pop into here and there, I don’t have a whole lot of time to stray too far anyway!

The plan for tonight?  We have a dinner/reception thingy, then I plan to gamble a bit more (NOT blowing $15 in one bet this time).  I’m also debating splurging on a pair of running shorts from the Nike Store for my “souvenir”—I only have capris, and I’d love to find a pair that doesn’t chafe my thighs.  Oh, and who am I kidding, probably another television bubble-cuzzi!

Re: exercise.  I wanted to exercise here, but they charge $25 a day!  My sister has been pestering me about running with her in Napa, so we might wind up doing that.  If not, I won’t stress about it—I’ll be back at the gym next week!

Question of the day: Are the mixed nuts and chocolates next to the “Welcome” note on the minibar free or not?  They are not in the “lift the chips up for 20 seconds and get charged” weighted looking thing, and not listed on the minibar menu.  Discuss.