Oh how I love vacations! Some people I know will argue that I'm currently on a long-term vacation, seeing that I am unemployed but in reality I don't feel like I'm on vacation. When I go on vacation I wake up at the crack of dawn and look for new things to do or see, new food/restaurants to try, and generally jam-pack every minute with something diverting. That's what a vacation is to me. My life currently differs greatly from this definition: I generally get up in the (late) morning and do the basic get-ready-for-the-day things; occasionally throwing in a work out session. I eat brunch, job hunt, do laundry, load some dishes in the dishwasher, eat a late lunch/early dinner while watching about an hour of television (which is about the total time I would watch tv in a 2 to 3 week time period while during school), check emails, facebook, blogs, etc, occasionally attend a ward activity of sorts, and sometimes have a snack before watching a show on hulu or converting some of my vinyl records into mp3 format. Sleep. Repeat.
Trust me - this cycle gets old quick, and is definitely NOT a vacation. Not having a job or anything I need to leave the house for makes me feel quite useless and unwanted. So, after about a month of boredom my former roommate's wedding in Vegas was a good excuse to take a real vacation!
The moment I crossed the Nevada border late Thursday afternoon I was on the phone with friends (it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving in Cali if you don't have a hands-free way of doing so...) planning the evening's activities. First, Indian food at one of my favorite restaurants and then a late night movie at a friend's house. Friday morning was a 3 hour pretzel-making adventure followed by lunch with another friend at an AWESOME Spanish tapas restaurant called Firefly. I'm so ashamed I didn't try this place before I moved away; I'd love to eat there on a more regular basis. It's that good. After lunch I got to visit my couch that's being babysat by two of my former roommates (and by "visit", I mean "got to take a 20 minute nap on"). The evening was filled with the good company of yet another friend while attending the wedding reception for which I had made the journey, and that good company continued on to the movie theater to use the free ticket I had won at the "famous couples" dance I attended back in February.
On Sunday I was able to attend my old ward and I LOVED being able to sit by people I know and participate in classes without anyone wondering who I was. As was the tradition before my move, I was invited to dinner with a friend's family who I love dearly. The evening there was cut shorter than normal however because a school friend had contacted me earlier in the day with an offer I could absolutely not turn down, and if you know me at all you'll understand why: it was a FREE ticket to see CHER at Caesar's Palace!!! Yeah baby! I had seen Cher on tour 4 times before, and once previously at Caesar's Palace, but this was the best deal yet. Trust me - when I have the money I'm not afraid to lay down some dollars for a good seat to her show, but I sure am grateful I could see her for free too.
My original plan was to head home Monday morning, but when Sunday night was coming to a close I just didn't feel like packing up my things and heading back "home." So I didn't. It's not like I had a job to come back to or anything. The best part about staying an extra day was getting to spend time at the institute with friends I wouldn't have seen at all had I left earlier. It was my most laid back day (since I hadn't previously planned on being there), and ended my evening with board games and frozen yogurt at a friend's house, and a quick trip to give a hug goodbye to my good company from Saturday night.
Man, I love Vegas.
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