We are so fortunate in our friends. I can’t even imagine life without the wonderful people who populate our days. The Busches are people we don’t see often enough, but they couldn’t be any dearer to us. When we found out Ludger would be arriving in Vegas, just as we were rounding out our visit, we immediately made plans to see him.
Ludger goes to Las Vegas on a fairly regular basis, but not for fun. He’s there to work and this trip was no different. But he does know where to stay. I didn’t think much about it when he said the Mandalay Bay would be his hotel, but when we got there and started looking around, we wished we’d thought to ask his opinion about where to stay!
From Paris to Myanmar
We left our tacky fake Paris, crossed the street to the Bellagio’s Renaissance splendor and rode the Deuce to the Mandalay Bay stop. Then I had no idea it was named after a Myanmar location, but the moment I entered the walled-in gardens, I knew I was someplace special.
In a place where almost everything is gaudy and much too far over the top, Mandalay Bay exudes understated elegance. If I ever go back, that’s where I’m staying. Even the casino is quieter and less hectic than the rest of the Strip.
Rhythms & Riffs
Our first stop was, of course, the M-Life desk. I had earned My Vegas Slots awards for both drinks and dinner. For drinks, Bill and I enjoyed the Rhythm & Riffs bar, where my first round was complimentary. That was when we started getting texts from Ludger that he’d be running late. Unfortunately, he missed the entire drinks portion of the evening, because sitting there in the lobby, enjoying a drink and watching the people go by was very pleasant.
Lupo by Wolfgang Puck
The time for our dinner reservation arrived and Ludger assured us he was on his way, so we went ahead and were seated at the restaurant. The understated, quiet part of the Mandalay Bay hotel did not enhance the dining experience. With a few lonely exceptions, we had not only the restaurant to ourselves, but that entire wing of the hotel, which should have been full of patrons for a variety of restaurants.
The total absence of patrons was a shame. I’d been eating and visiting all over the Strip for the last few days and nothing we’d seen or eaten compared to the experience we had a Lupo’s, but we were virtually all alone while enjoying it.
Thankfully, we had some of the best company we could have hoped for, sitting at our own table. We were able to relax and really chat about all the things happening in the Busche household – something we hadn’t been able to do when we saw him in Chicago in July. And we were able to do it while having a remarkable meal.
Bill tells me the price was remarkable to, in spite of one entree having been for free. I think Bill was most surprised by the cost of the bottled water. I confess, I had no idea that asking for bottle water rather than still water would break the bank.
Back to Paris
All good things come to an end. Ludger had early morning appointments, as well as work he still needed to do, so we had to say farewell and head back to our own accommodations.
Outside the Mandalay Bay the streets were empty. Had we disappeared between Ludger and our hotel, no one would have had a clue what happened. We were almost as glad to see the Deuce as we’d been during our Fremont Street Experience. The bus stopped at Paris and our Las Vegas adventure was almost over.
Come back next week and help us get to the airport. We’ll be Texas bound!
On our final full day in Vegas, we lingered in our room all morning. We’d been out late the night before and were still managing our business long distance, so there were photos to deliver, appointments to schedule, etc.
When we did venture out on the Strip, it was for lunch. We hopped the Deuce to The Mirage and used one of the My Vegas Slots awards for lunch – bogo sandwiches at SNACKS. I had loved the burger we shared with the free beer and this time I got a whole one to myself, but it was too early for beer!
Then we hopped back on the Deuce and stopped at the The Forum. This was the day The Fall of Atlantis was supposed to be presented. We got there in time to see the end of it, but it was enough to tell us it we hadn’t missed much.
What now? We’d pretty much hit all the free attractions, so I had suggestions for how to spend our money and our time. Thankfully, Bill chose to see exactly what I wanted him to choose.
Barbie, A Cultural Icon Exhibition
My Barbie Collection
I was four when Barbie was born, so she and I have basically grown up together. I loved her with a passion! I had numerous dolls – Pony-tail Barbie, Bouffant Barbie, Midge, Ken, Allan and Skipper – multiple cases of clothes, the house and the car. On Christmas morning I would wake up to a living room floor covered in her pink striped packages. My grandmother sewed clothes for her. I wanted it all!
Her trunks of clothes were my treasures. The outfits were hung on tiny little hangers, the shoes were stored in their compartment and I had every accessory that was ever given to me. I didn’t actually “play” Barbie. It was more like curating a collection. I would dream up an occasion and get all my dolls dressed to attend it.
My Barbie House was a portable cardboard version that folded up with a plastic handle, so the fun was getting it all set up and placing my dolls in various positions. Then I’d have Ken and Allan drive up in the car and join the fun. At that point, it was time to put it all away again.
So imagine my chagrin when Mom gave my collection to my little sister. I came home from college to discover one of my dolls in my sister’s room, butt-naked and her hair sticking out in every direction. It was obvious my sister had been carrying her by the hair, something I would never have allowed.
I freaked out and demanded to see the rest of it, but there wasn’t much. My entire collection of treasures was reduced to one small case and what clothes still existed were stuffed inside in a jumble. No shoes, no hats, no gloves. It’s about the most angry I would ever be at my mom and my sister.
I can only guess the value the collection would have today. The cardboard house alone would be considered museum quality. It was pristine when I packed it away. Now it doesn’t exist. Yes, I’m still angry.
The Exhibition
I’ll start by saying I loved the exhibit and am so glad we went, but I also have to tell you it’s not worth the $45 price of admission – not when you can visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $30. The Barbie memorabilia presented wouldn’t even fill up one of the galleries there. They also didn’t have much to show you. Sure the photo op with the hanging chair and the Barbie car were cute, but I wasn’t there for the hashtag. I wanted to see my old friends.
I wanted to see every single character with all their various hairstyles. I wanted to see every single outfit – the wedding dress, the ball gown, the red velvet coat, the hats, the shoes, all of it. What they had instead was all the Barbie career dolls, which came a long time after my Barbies had been destroyed. They wanted to show Barbies of various skin tones and ethnicities, when all of mine had been white. They wanted to impress on me how righteous and woke they were from the beginning, but I knew that was just a lie. Little white girls like me, whose parents had expendable income, had been their target audience in the beginning and no amount of virtue signaling at this point could erase that.
In the end, we paid $45 each to experience some committee of millennials’ idea of Barbie’s social significance. What I wanted instead was the good stuff. The young attractive attendants were very nice, but they knew nothing about Barbie. I tried to strike up a conversation with them about my treasures and they didn’t even know there had been a cardboard Barbie house.
Bill rounded out our time at the Crystals shopping mall by finding another gallery where he could chat up the sales clerk. This time it was a photographer’s gallery. The art was gorgeous. The sales clerk was a bag of hot air. We headed back to the hotel, stopping by Walgreens for an ice cream and a Diet Dr Pepper.
Next up we join a friend for dinner at Mandalay Bay. Come back next week and get a bite at Lupo’s.
TRAVEL THERE – SAN ANTONIO , MY FAVORITE CITY TO VISIT
What? No Luminaries AGAIN!!
So, I love any excuse to go to San Antonio and I would probably have suggested going by there under any circumstances, but I particularly wanted to go this time, because I thought I could see the Luminaries on the River. It’s a tradition San Antonio has done for years, but I’ve yet to see it. I tried once before and brought on an ice storm. No luck this time, either.
This trip happened fast, as I explained at the beginning of this Weekend Report, of which this is the fourth installment. As we hurried up and made plans to go to Galveston, I checked the dates of the Fiesta de Luminaries and the Luminaries were on. What I didn’t realize was that it was only on weekends.
Bill was a little put out that we had driven all that way to see something that wasn’t even happening, but then he got over it and managed to have a good time in my favorite city. I was very disappointed, but I can’t stay disappointed for long when the RiverWalk is calling.
The Crockett Hotel
We found a great deal on Expedia for the Crockett Hotel. I was a little taken aback at the prices, but last minute travel can be a little hard on the pocketbook. My favorites were running $250 a night and up. This wasn’t that kind of stay, so $120ish for a “cozy queen room” sounded good.
We didn’t realize how “cozy” it would be, but it was tight, as you can see by this shot we took the next morning. However, it served our purposes and while small, it was well appointed, so no complaints.
The Alamo Lights
So, ready for some adventure, we headed out of the hotel and went right next door to the Alamo. The idea was just to get a look at the landmark, because looking down on it from our hotel room we saw a lot of lights in the trees. We were directed to the front façade and someone there asked us if we had tickets. We asked what was going on and they said, “Alamo Lights.” “How much?” “$5” We forked over $10 and roamed inside.
We’d happened upon a very pleasant little event, that goes through January 2nd. The huge old trees surrounding the Alamo are all lighted up and a few Alamo related scenes are set up with lighted figures. The trees are certainly the star of the show and the price was right. It was a nice way to start our evening in San Antonio.
The River Walk
If I’m on the San Antonio River Walk, I’m happy. We strolled from the Alamo through the Hyatt Regency onto the River Walk’s restaurant row, past La Villita and around the horseshoe. Bill was fascinated by the area, especially all the holiday lights in the trees. I would have loved for there to be Luminaries and one day I will catch them, but he was happy with what was there. The photographer/videographer in him came out and if we’re lucky I will include some of his shots in this post before it goes live.
Bill kept remarking on how crowded it was and I had to laugh to myself. It was a slow night for the River Walk. (Note to self – go see the Luminaries with someone besides Bill.) Still the very best restaurants had a long wait list, so we just went to an old favorite Casa Rosa. There was a time when it was the star of the river for me, but those days have faded. I’ve sat on the patio and been serenaded by mariachis. I’ve ridden the river in their dinner boat. I am an old Casa Rosa aficionado. It may not be what it used to be, but the margaritas and nachos were pretty darned good and there was plenty of people watching available.
After dinner we made our way up to street level and strolled back to the hotel. It had been a wonderful evening, but tomorrow was another day and we had a long way to drive.
The Chinese Tea Garden
The next morning I was up early and made my way to the lobby with the laptop, since the room was so small. I wanted Bill to get his beauty sleep, but not so much that I could lay in bed after 6 AM. I found a cozy corner near a plug and started pounding away.
He texted me when he woke up and I went back up to the room to entertain him while he had his coffee. We were headed to New Braunfels to have lunch with a friend, but Bill wanted to squeeze in one more sight-seeing jaunt. I told him if he moved things along we could probably go to the Chinese Tea Garden on the way out of town. We made it with no time to spare, but he got about a half an hour to enjoy it and he loved it.
Shana and the Huisache Grill
My friend Shana has been a part of my life since the late 90’s. We worked together, but it was more than that. Our hearts were knit together. We’re not the kind of friends who see each other often, but when we do see each other, we pick right up where we left off our last conversation. We also know that all we’d have to do is pick up the phone and the other person would be there, at the drop of a hat. We try to be there for each other’s important milestones, but we love it when we can just get together and laugh. My bestie has come to love her almost as much as I do. Connecting wonderful people is one of my favorite things.
So, while seeing the Luminaries on the River Walk was one reason to include San Antonio in our itinerary, the chance to also see Shana loomed large in my decision making. The Luminaries didn’t happen, but I did get to see Shana. She suggested we meet at the Huisache Grill for lunch. I’d been there with her before and I knew Bill would love it, so we planned to meet there at noon.
It was just a great visit. A lots of news to share about everything from family to embezzlement with lots of laughter thrown into the mix. It was a blessed time. I am so fortunate in my friends and thank God for them every day.
And Then Home
The drive to Heath from New Braunfels was brutal. We spent too much time inching along the highway – in San Marcos, in Austin and other places along the route. We were caught in rush hour traffic as we made the turn towards home and the last hour we crawled along I-20, finally taking some backroad across Forney to get to Heath. Why Forney? Because LBJ was a parking lot.
This has been a very long multi-day weekend report, but it was a very busy weekend. Come back Wednesday for more of Las Vegas and on Thursday we’ll get back to memory keeping. Thanks for dropping by!
Were I to try and list all the marvelous things we enjoyed while we were staying in our friend Stephanie’s beach house, Footprints in the Sand Galveston, I’d be writing this Weekend Report for a long time, so I’ll try to stick to the highlights.
The house itself is the star of the show. What a beautiful, relaxing beach house it is. Because of our late arrival and the heavy fog, we were insulated from what a special place it was until the morning came around. I was up first, enjoying the quiet hours of the morning and for a while, it appeared we’d be socked in with fog again. I devoted some of my prayer time to chatting with God about that and he delivered a spectacular day for shooting. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the roar of the surf and my beautiful surroundings.
Lunch at The Sand Bar
By lunchtime, Galveston was really putting on a show. The weather could not have been more perfect. Gene Alton is my cool cousin. With his first hand knowledge of the area, we depend on him to recommend places to eat. His suggestion to go to the West End Marina for a bite was great!
The marina is extensive and there are several venues to enjoy, but on a Monday afternoon, the only one serving lunch was The Sandbar Grille. We found a seat on the patio and fell in love. Bill in particular enjoyed the scenery. He is fascinated by boats and loves the water. So he was in heaven.
Gene Alton and I caught up on family news and what each of us had been up to. Meanwhile, The Sand Bar was delivering up great drinks and an even better lunch. The margaritas were stellar and when the food arrived, it got very quiet. We were hungry and the food was good. A friend let us know we should have tried the Shrimp Kisses, but the news came too late.
Gene Alton’s shrimp poor boy looked great and I can tell you it was delicious, especially the sauce, because he gave up a few shrimp to me. Bill had the fried shrimp and nary a shrimp was left behind. I had the fish and chips, which were good, but surprising. There are no chips. There’s a big bowl of rice and beans, but no chips!
A Walk on the Beach
After lunch Bill had more shooting to do and then he took a nap, but I went to the beach. Beachcombing was one of my mom’s favorite things to do in the world, most likely because it was a way to do nothing at all and not feel guilty.
I felt her there with me as I strolled along the beach. I took pictures of the things she might find interesting as we walked along. Take a look at what the Gulf of Mexico offered up for the day.
Dinner with Friends at Waterman’s
Okay, after shooting photos all day long, we were total photography drop outs at dinner. Our good friends, Linda and Clay left their Penthouse on the beach in Galveston proper and drove to the West End to see us and the spectacular house.
We went to Waterman’s, which is beautiful and serves amazing food, but I can’t show you, because we didn’t take any pictures. Our server was so sweet, but I think she fibbed a little. She brought the wine to the table to serve and began to open the bottle, but she never cut the foil! It was a petite drama as she struggled to open the wine, disappeared for a while and came back to struggle again – and once again, she didn’t cut off the foil. I wrote it off to “new waitress” and wasn’t worried about it. Then she informed us she had opened “thousands of bottles of wine and never had such a hard time.” I’m not sure where she was working before, that they only had screw top wines, but I swear I think it was her first pour from a corked bottle.
The food was great, though. Bill and I shared a seafood pasta dish and I ate entirely too many of their hot rolls. The company was better than the food, but we were exhausted after a long day of shooting. We went back to the beach house and were soon in bed.
A Morning at the Beach
Some of my favorite hours at the beach were solitary. I really enjoyed the quiet time. The second morning there was our own, except for a quick delivery by the rental company and a few shots of the decor items they delivered. Some items had gotten broken in the renovation and they wanted us to be able to shoot the replacements before we left.
Here I am, beach hair and all, checking out the beach with Bill. Too soon, we were loading up the car and heading to a new destination. I had managed to squeeze a night in San Antonio out of this trip.
That’s right, we loaded up the car and headed to San Antonio via the backroads, since we were on the west end of the island. A few hours later we checked into our hotel and went right to the Riverwalk. So come back again tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, I’ll wrap up this weekend report.
Welcome back to the second part of The Weekend Report for the First Weekend in December. Let me remind you, we left Dallas behind schedule and made our way to Galveston to shoot a rental property for a good friend. We’d hoped to arrive in time to get some shots done that evening, but even if we’d left on time, the weather was not our friend. Galveston had been cloudy and foggy all day.
With nothing to shoot, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some wine. No need to waste the evening, right? At the Sea Wall, the GPS told us we still had some driving to do. Our adventures on the island had all been on the East End, where the hotels and cruise terminal dominate. Stephanie’s house, Footprints in the Sand Galveston, was at the West End, so off we drove with the city lights behind us.
The West End is a very different experience than the hustle and bustle of the island’s city. It was pitch black out there, with a few brightly lit exceptions, and it was quiet, very quiet. When we arrived, the rental company, Ryerson Vacation Rentals, had turned on the lights and unlocked the door for us, so our first peek at the house was merry and bright.
If you know Galveston, then you are familiar with its popular architectural style. Almost all the beach houses are on stilts, perhaps a garage downstairs, but never much else, because when a hurricane or tropical storm blows in you want your house to be there when it is done. So we parked under the house and made our way up the stairs.
Knock Us Over With a Feather
Now, we know, anything Stephanie gets involved with is going to be top notch and she has immaculate taste, but we were still blown away when we walked into the house. We looked at one another in glee at the prospect at staying at this beautiful place for a couple of days.
The first thing we did, even before bringing in our luggage, was explore every corner of the house to figure out which was the master bedroom. Each room was better than the next, but we hadn’t seen what we thought was the primary suite. We went back to the gorgeous living room and there was a spiral staircase leading to another floor. We climbed up there and it was like discovering heaven. A huge bedroom with its own private balcony and a spa-style bathroom. WOW.
We hustled back down the stairs and brought up our luggage. We wanted to start having fun as soon as we possible could. After stowing away our stuff, we poured ourselves some wine and hit the huge wraparound porch. It was too dark to see the beach, but we could hear it loud and clear – and we could smell the delightful scent of the sea.
Now, we were a bit of a surprise to the rental company. They’d just taken the property over from another company and had overseen some renovation. We were the first guests for them and they hadn’t even known we were coming until that morning, which was a Sunday, so the fact the house was ready at all was a miracle. However, they hadn’t had the chance to inspect everything before we arrived. We became the inspectors and discovered two things right off – there was no propane for the firepit and something was wrong with the hot tub. We called the next morning and had workmen there in minutes. Personally, I was impressed.
A Day of Shooting
So, it really doesn’t matter when I go to bed, I’m going to wake up between 5 and 6, even at the beach. So, very early I crept down the spiral staircase and fired up my computer. When Bill joined me, we didn’t have much time for enjoying where we were. It was time to go to work. I staged the areas we’d been in, while Bill started shooting.
First up, he took the standard interior and exterior shots for a short term rental – which is a lot more than it would be for a sale property. Renters are looking for different things than buyers. Once those shots were finished, it was time for the video. We took a lunch break with my cousin, who lives in the area. When we came back, Bill did the drone work.
Then Bill was exhausted. That’s a lot of shooting and he needed to take the twilight shots at sunset. With about an hour to kill, he needed a nap. I’m not good at napping. If I lay down, I’m going to sleep for eight hours or wish I would have. So, I went for a stroll on the beach.
At five, very good friends of ours, who make Galveston their home, arrived. Bill showed them around the house and served up some wine. Then he went outside to take twilight shots, while I caught our friends up on what we’d been up to.
We were almost through. The property management company was bringing by a few decorative items the next morning and we were going to reshoot the fireplace, but otherwise, we were able to take off our work hats and start enjoying the property. Whew!!
So, I’ll tell you more about the fun stuff tomorrow. This is a very long Weekend Report, but it wasn’t our usual weekend!
We woke up with a to do list. Shoot a home in McKinney, pick up photos for a memory keeping project and then go home and pack. Two out of three ain’t bad – am I right?
The shoot went well. It was an amazing house and we were doing everything standard real estate photography for the MLS, drone work and videography. It took a long time, but it went smoothly.
There was a little time to kill between the shoot and the pick up, but no place to kill it. The locations were just around the corner from one another, but nary a Starbucks or a McDonald’s in sight. We were both a bit peckish since it was past our lunchtime, but we were forced to go from one place to the other without so much as a tater tot.
It was a quick handoff. Once the boxes of photos and memorabilia were safely stowed away, we started looking for food. We’d about decided we’d just go home and eat our leftovers when a Sonic came into sight. We pull into a stall, only to be told nothing was working. The food gods were not on our side.
The leftovers were back in play, until a Jason’s came into view. A Rueben for Bill and a Light Loaded Potato for me. Time to head home to pack.
A Hitch in our Get Along
So, it’s a little before 4. I’m driving us home and I take our exit off the George. As I go up the ramp to take the split for I-30 E, I realize there is something very, very wrong. The ramp is backed up to the split and the eastbound traffic is backed up as far as the eye can see in both directions. Welcome to the Rockwall Bridge!
Two hours later we’re being directed off the bridge at the DalRock exit to join the rest of the traffic trying to sort itself out. As we made our way across the 66 bridge, Bill decided Wayz would find us a shortcut. I am not a fan of Wayz. I have my little ruts I drive in and I like them, but I’m too tired to argue when he tells me to turn on Lakeshore. We made a few more turns and suddenly I am faced with the prospect of turning onto 205 without a light. I put ‘er in park and told Bill it was his turn.
It’s 6:30 now. I have a load of texts to answer and photos to send to the editor, but I’m not even home yet. How exactly am I supposed to pack for our trip? The short answer is that I wasn’t.
The hitch in our get along stayed with us through the next morning. My phone was blowing up. A lot had to do with our accommodations in Galveston, but there were also new appointments to book, which is not usually the case on a Sunday morning. It’s a bit difficult to pack when your phone is going off every 3 minutes.
Long story short, it was noon before we got away from the house. We were hoping to get away earlier, because Bill wanted to get some of the shots out of the way for the rental property we’d be shooting. Some of the interiors for instance, where we’d be spending our time or perhaps the twilight shots. But of course, that’s not how it turned out.
Going to Galveston
This trip had its inception at a Polka Dot meeting back in the summer. A friend with a short term rental in Galveston was making some changes to her property and wished Bill would shoot it, because no one down there had his eye. I told her if she’d put us up at her place, we’d be happy to shoot it for her. She said it would probably be September and that was cool.
September passed and so did October. By November it had fallen off our radar completely. So, when she texted me on November 29th letting me know the property was ready, we were taken by surprise. While December is traditionally a slow month for real estate photography, there is a lot on our calendar for the holiday. Also, we needed good weather, for a good shoot – especially since drone work was involved.
We checked the weather and our social calendar to discover December 4-6 would be the optimal dates for those two entities to cooperate. So we booked it. We just didn’t know they were going to close the Bridge down on December 3rd.
My weekend reports are usually a one day read, but I’m just getting started. Come back tomorrow and we’ll go to Galveston!
There’s nothing quite like the Bellagio. She stands back from the hustle and bustle of the Strip, protected by the waving arms of her fountains. When you step into her looby, which by the way, is free of gaming tables, the Chihullys on the ceiling let you know you’ve enter the Queen of the Strip.
We were in a bit of a hurry, not only to make it in time for the Cirque du Soleil show, but we had friends who’d arrived in Las Vegas for a trip of their own and had tickets to O at the same time we did. We made our way to the theater and by luck ran right into them. The show was starting in minutes and Kathi needed to potty, so we hugged and promised to meet up after the show.
This should have been a signal to slow down, right. We were at the theater and the doors were open. We should go claim our seats, right? Au contrare!! I had earned a bogo award from My Vegas Slots for Cafe Gelato. That’s one award Bill wasn’t going to go unredeemed!
It was past time to hoof it back to the theater. We zoomed into our seats and finished up our gelatos. The Main Event was about to begin.
O by Cirque du Soleil
If you’ve never gone to a Cirque du Soleil show, then you are missing out on a treat. They do not begin with the curtain going up. Instead you notice strange creatures wandering throughout the auditorium. Some interact with the audience. Others act out little vignettes with fellow cast members.
Eventually work their way to the stage where more of the cast file out across the apron. Suddenly, you realize the lights have gone all the way down and you realize the show actually began when the first cast member appeared in the audience.
Once, during a show in Dallas, Bill was drawn out of audience onto the stage and coerced to ride a bike during the warm up, but this time we strategically chose to sit somewhere out of the limelight. We also knew better than to sit down front where we’d get wet.
There is usually a strange sort of plot that loosely weaves the activity together, but don’t expect to understand exactly what it is, because nary a word is spoken and odd things will occur on the stage. You’ll understand who the main character is, but you’ll also understand they are confused as you are.
If all that sounds a bit weird, don’t worry. You’ll spend the entire show so mesmerized by the acrobatic and aquatic antics of the strangely costumed players on the fantastical stage sets, that the plot doesn’t really matter. The earliest Cirque shows did not have water. They kept their audience agog with acrobatics and costuming. With O, they added the water element and it was so well received they’ve figured out ways to include it in shows, even when they don’t have access to the amazing stage at the Bellagio.
There’s no way to fully explain the drama added by the water element. One moment the stage is just that, a traditional stage with oddly costumed characters cavorting on it. Then in the blink of an eye, characters are diving into the water from great heights or the stage itself will tilt up and somehow the characters are fighting a battle all atilt. I’m always exhausted when it’s all over, but that never keeps us from enjoying the show, wherever we happen to go to it.
Our big night at the Bellagio wasn’t over with the curtain call. Come back next week for more fun at the amazing resort.
TRAVEL HERE – THIRD WEEKEND IN NOVEMBER & AUTUMN IS DEFINATELY HERE
I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration yesterday. While last weekend was fairly busy, there’s not a lot that will be interesting to you. However, we did try out a new restaurant on Thursday and on Friday I did have one thing worth mentioning.
Finally Four Winds
So, shortly after we moved to the Rockwall area, we started hearing about a steak restaurant called Four Winds in Wills Point. We also heard that to get a reservation there, you needed to book a month in advance and you’d still be lucky to get in. We’re fairly spontaneous about our dining out and steak is something we usually cook at home, so even though folks raved about the food, we had not made any serious attempt to go.
Still, we kept hearing about it, so we’d begun to look for a reason to make a reservation and go. That’s when one of those people who want to sell you annuities sent us an invitation for a free meal at Four Winds in exchange for listening to her presentation.
I’m warning all of you people who offer up time shares, vacation clubs and financial plans, Bill and I are very good at ‘no thank you’. We actually consider the presentations a sort of entertainment and feel no compunction at leaving without setting an appointment or buying any thing at all. Remember, you contacted us. We didn’t come looking for you.
A free dinner at one of the most popular restaurants in the area? That’s a no brainer. I won’t waste your time with the annuity bit, but I will tell you Four Winds made listening to the spiel worthwhile. Both of our steaks were noteworthy and the side dishes were good too. I’m sure we’ll find a reason to go back and we won’t even mind paying for it ourselves!
Wine, Women & Wealth
One of my dear friends, Susan Bennett-White is a financial consultant. She handles all kinds of things from a program to save you money on the things you buy every day, to being able to help you get your finances in order to buy that house you want or even what kind of life insurance you need. Once a month she has a program directed at educating women, which as a group are generally underserved in the financial arena. It’s called Wine, Women & Wealth.
Besides being a good educational vehicle for women concerning their personal finances, it’s also a great networking event – that’s why I’m there. The meal is free, the event is fun and while it’s obvious Susan would love to have your business, there is never any pressure to buy, from Susan or from the various businesses – one of which is spotlighted each month. Just so happens this month, my memory keeping business was the spotlight.
So, in the photo above you see me, begging people to turn their mess over to me and let me turn it into memories they can share with pride. We’re at Alfredo’s Steakhouse in Forney, TX. Since I go there once a week for FANG, Forney Area Networking Group (Networking you can sink your teeth into) once a week and then once a month for Wine, Women and Wealth, it just might be the restaurant I go to most frequently, but even though it’s a steak house, all I ever get is breakfast, a salad or a sandwich.
I’d love to connect you with Susan and her monthly free lunch and networking event, so just let me know if you’d like to be invited next month.
Wedding Bells and Sunday School
The only other place I went this past weekend was church and I went twice. One of the sweetest girls in my church married the love of her life there on Saturday. It was a very tender event. Then, of course, on Sunday morning I got up and went to church. I happened to be the greeter, which meant I froze my patookus off, there in the breezeway of Rockwall Bible Church.
Otherwise, I took care of a few real estate photography clients, designed and ordered my company Christmas cards, finished a digital photobook and ordered it, started another one and tried to deliver a pair of scrapbooks I had finished, but my client got caught up at the mall. Not very exciting, huh?
I actually was away from the house for less than half an hour, because my client caught me before I got too far, but when I got home all hell had broken loose. My husband had decided to build a few shelves in the attic, for which I am sincerely grateful, but many of my “treasures” (translated that means “free tote bags” were in danger, because he wanted to “organize” (translated that means “dispose of”) them.
And really, that’s it! Next up, learn about Las Vegas’ High Roller Ferris Wheel and then on Thursday, we’ll be talking about the digital side of my memory keeping business.
Without air and accommodations to pay for, our big spend for Vegas was O by Cirque du Soleil at Bellagio, but we had other things to do before the show!
First up, the High Roller! I’d felt so wise when I bought a Big Bus package with two days of Hop Off/Hop On, the Night Tour and the High Roller. Well, you know how the Hop On/Hop Off went and I was too exhausted to do the Night Tour, so I wasn’t expecting much from the High Roller. I figured it was money down the drain.
We were all gussied up for our evening at the Bellagio when we arrived at the High Roller ticket office. We were dismayed to find their lobby chock full of people, standing in a line that snaked back and forth for several layers. What was worse was that there was no short line for people like us who had already paid and just needed to pick their tickets. We had to stand in line FOREVER with people who just happened by – people and their 47 kids. This was the biggest crowd we’d seen so far in Sin City.
I was not happy and my expectations were not being met. We’d allowed what should have been plenty of time with a will-call receipt, but the cookie was not crumbling our way. I was anxious as we creeped along towards the cashiers, hoping our package deal wasn’t going to ruin our big night out. We got our admission passes at the last possible moment, just before we had to walk away, and the wheel was about to turn, so we hotfooted it up the stairs and into our High Roller gondola.
Now truth be told, I would never have signed up for the High Roller on my own, but it was part of the package and I thought Bill might like it. Being somewhat acrophobic I don’t go around looking for high wire experiences, so with the exception of the Texas Star at the State Fair of Texas, I haven’t been on any of these new fangled Ferris wheels which are popping up all over the place.
I edged to the middle of the gondola, found a place to perch and held on for dear life. Bill, of course, stood with his nose inches from the glass. Despite my fears it was quite a lovely experience. Thank goodness we’d scored a gondola without any rowdy kids, so it was actually serene as we were pulled up into the sky.
We’d come at twilight, when the lights of the big city had just begun to twinkle, but there was still a little light in the sky. When the ride was over, it was full dark. We’d timed it just right.
As soon as we hit the ground, the serenity disappeared. It was almost time for O! I trotted across the Linq and down the Strip as fast as my kitten-heled black peau de soie slides would allow.
Come back next week for our Big Night at the Bellagio!
One nice tradition for the women of my church is the Sweet Sixteen Tea held for our young ladies on that special birthday. In the past, the events have been held at the church, but this time, the location was moved to a member’s home who lives out in the rural area between Heath and Forney. She’s been doing a lot of remodeling and she was thrilled for an occasion to share it with her sisters.
Since my house is theoretically on the way to the hostess’ house, my bestie planned on picking me up. I say theoretically, because we didn’t count on the traffic and wrecks she’d encounter getting from her dance lesson to my house. Good old Wayz kept rerouting her and when she told me she was being sent to Hwy 80, I knew she would have been better off going directly to the tea. At that point, she would have had to stop and input the address of Victoria’s house into Wayz. So she came on to my house and we went together, as planned and we ended up being only about 10 minutes late.
The tea was lovely. We played some game which combines, among other things, Charades and Password, using words which were particular to the honoree. It was a lot of fun, mostly because there were so many delightful young ladies, who knew the honoree well and played the game often among themselves. I was reluctant to join in the timed game, because the timing thing flusters me, but by the final round, where we could only use 1 one-word clue, we’d already gone through the words twice, so I figured I didn’t need to be too clever. Then the honoree opened up her gifts and she was very thrilled with each and every item.
After the Tea, it was nearing dinner time, so we decided to pick up something to take to my house and share with Bill. Deb wanted BBQ, so even though Bill and I had been to a Dickey’s just a few days before, that’s where we went. Can any Texan get tired of BBQ or Tex Mex? It hasn’t happened to me yet. We enjoyed a feast of ribs, okra and slaw. Then we settled down in the den to look at scrapbook albums two and three I’d just finished for a client.
Sunday Starts Quietly, Too
I finished up my latest scrapbooking client’s albums early on Saturday, so before the tea and Sunday before and after church, I begun to prepare for a presentation I’m doing Friday – this Friday and if you’re reading this the day it is published, that’s today. It’s only a brief spotlight, so the primary impact will be the door prize and samples I give away. I spent the time packaging the mini-album samples and getting contact stickers on the catalogs I’d just received.
This will be the second spotlight I am doing for this group, but the first one was a couple of years ago when I still had not figured out most people just don’t have or won’t make time for memory keeping. Now the focus of my scrapbooking business is creating custom albums for them. I’m happier, because I never loved selling scrapbooking supplies, but I love scrapbooking! When I get a new client, that means I get to scrapbook more and someone is going to pay me for what I love doing.
A Paradigm Shift
Let’s face it. Dallas is expensive. When we lived in the small community of Pismo Beach, on the Central Coast of California for a few years, back in the early 2000’s, we’d get tickets to great events in the $35 -50 per person range. That’s not chicken feed, but it felt comfortable. When we came back to Dallas we were faced with sticker shock. Not only were things more expensive than they’d been on the Central Coast, but there had also been a huge jump in pricing from our previous days in Dallas. We’ve been back for over a decade, but we’ve been to very few live shows.
When we have attended something live, we’d usually see free or inexpensive performances at local colleges or we’d get reduced rates to events at the museums and gardens we belonged to. Season tickets to the opera, which I’d had in the past, were just not an affordable option, especially when Bill is not as taken with opera as I am. We’ve been to a few Cirque du Soleil events or won tickets to the odd sporting event, but outside that we’ve made our own entertainment.
Then came Covid and like everyone else, what used to be no longer existed. Our museum and garden memberships were not providing the types of entertainments we’d enjoyed in the past, so we’d let them go. We needed to get more aggressive in pursuing our entertainment. Recently, we bit the bullet and bought tickets to a Flamenco performance in a South Dallas venue. What WERE we getting ourselves into?
Seat Selection & Parking
On Facebook, I’d seen tickets to a Fever Flamenco event. We love Flamenco music and dance, so we definitely wanted to go. The price seemed right, about $60 a person, until I read the fine print, ” 🎫 Basic Admission – fair visibility without seat selection.” That made me nervous. We’d have no control over where we sat and we’d have “fair” visibility. What did that even mean?
For $65 we still had to sit where they said and our visibility would be good, but that didn’t seem much more comforting. So we bit another bullet and opted for Preferential Admission, where we could pick our seats and have great visibility. It was $90 per person, but the other option was to stay home and watch more TV. We bought the tickets.
The venue was Edison’s on Cockrell Avenue. I’d never been to Edison’s, but when I was growing up in Dallas, Cockrell Hills was a no-go zone. I am very aware of the renewal efforts happening south of Dallas in areas like Bishop Arts, but living on an opposite side of town, I don’t have much personal experience with them. So we were venturing into strange territory.
Arriving at the venue we were directed to a pay parking lot. Getting out of the car I saw a sign which instructed us to text the lot id to a number. I tried, but didn’t get anywhere. The attendant tried and got far enough along to realize we didn’t have any credit card loaded onto our phone. No _ _ _ _ Sherlock! And I don’t plan to EVER have a credit card loaded on my phone.
So, Bill moved his car to a spot on the street. Thanks to the irritating digital world we saved a few bucks. That’s not always an available solution and some day we may have to navigate that little technical maneuver, but that didn’t happen on Sunday evening.
Our preferential seating put us on the front row of chairs, but in front of that row is the VIP table seating which was $120-135 per person. For that price you either got “amazing” or “best” visibility with “a charcuterie box with Spanish products, and meet and greet with the artists to take photos after the show.” If you should decide to go this weekend (it runs through Sunday) go ahead and opt for the VIP seats. You may not be interested in the charcuterie box or meeting the artists, but since this is Flamenco, you’re going to want to see their feet and you have to work at that when you sit anywhere behind the VIP seats.
Fever’s Flaming Flamenco Feet
All that being said, we loved it. The stage is very small, so the performance is very intimate. The musicians come out one at a time for a short solo and then take their chairs on the back of the stage. Then out come the dancers and you are whipsawed into the fantastic!
The musicians were talented. The costumes were beautiful. The dancers? Oh my goodness!!!! They were truly amazing. Some sets they danced together and others they danced solo. The woman and her trailing flamenco flounce were astounding. How she maneuvered on the tiny stage with all that dress was a wonder in itself. She put so much vigor in her performance that one time when she nodded her head, bobby pins flew out into the audience. She also had beautiful, fascinating hands. Sweat poured down her face and I decided her dress must be lined in plastic, because in spite of the sweat on her face, none leaked through her costume.
Now the guy was a whole different experience. His costume was very body conscious and he didn’t have a flounce to swing around. Instead, he just had it all going on, from the tips of his fingers above his head to the flaming red shoes that moved so fast you could barely see them. He had sweat pouring out of every pore and by the end of his solo performance, his hair was sopping wet and sweat drops were being peppered on the audience closest to the stage. Remember that during your seat selection. If you get the VIP seats, you might want to be on the far side of the table!
Both dancers totally captivated the audience and the musicians provided comic relief from time to time, as well as wonderful, authentic music. Yes, I think you should go. I loved it and am so glad we took a chance on it. We’ll be checking out other offerings from Fever, because this was wonderful.
Keep coming back for Travel Here, Travel There and Memory Keeping 101.
jane sadek 