Grammy's II

More pictures taken at my mom's, from Monday...


Time to collect eggs






I wish this was a crisp shot.


Thankfully, I caught this one.










I'll never tire of that boy's smile or desert sunsets.

Articles

I have two articles to share this week.

The first is Vegas Values: Grand Lux Café. Have a favorite dish there? Please share.

Secondly, there is a neat event happening tomorrow at Macy's Fashion Show Mall, check out Make Over America for details.

I'm baaack

Things are less hectic. I don't foresee anything to prevent me from catching up. So, now I just need to sort through photos and make sense of the last couple weeks.

What a whirlwind. I'm exhausted. I cannot tell you how happy I am that the weekend is nearly here. I need sleep. My house desperately needs a good cleaning. I've been doing laundry all week, but I'm still not caught up. My silverware drawer is empty, everything is in the dishwasher. I ran it, but forgot it was clean until after I added more dirty dishes to it. Then, I ran it again. Only to later realize Nicky turned off the heat dry setting. Air drying with hard water does not work. Yesterday, I dumped a bunch of vinegar and ran it again. The third time better be the charm.

I miss my husband. He's been working lots of hours. Free time was spent with family. He got the flu and suffered Monday and Tuesday. This weekend he'll be working, March Madness is one of the busiest weekends of the year. Then, with any luck things will settle down. We should at least get out for a celebratory birthday dinner on Thursday. Where I choose depends on whether he can get off work at a decent time. Next weekend, we're headed to Phoenix for Spring Training. That'll be fun. A nice road trip through the desert is good for one's soul. Must remind Frank to get the speakers replaced in the Firebird. They've been blown out for quite sometime. I told him I'm not suffering with poor sounding tunes the whole way.

Weather has warmed up, finally! Yesterday was 80, of course I was stuck inside working all day. But it felt wonderful afterwards. I ran over to Town Square and soaked up the warmth. When I ran into Walmart on my way home it was just as nice, but when I left. The skies turned gray, the winds were insane, and the temperature dropped a good 15 degrees. When I was being pelted with dirt and debris, I had to laugh at all the women in their super short barely there sundresses. They worked so hard to keep warm and keep from being exposed. Anyway, the weekend calls for sun and 70's. That ought to be nice.

Off to be productive. Photos and stories to come.

Time is not on my side

I don't mean to suck. I'm just swamped. There are dozens more photos to share and a few stories to tell. Amy and Nicky left last night. It's always sad to see them go. We had lots of laughs and created many memories. Now, it's time to fall back into to regular routines. I hope to get all caught up soon.

In the meantime, here's an LLV article I never shared. Vegas Values: Pad Thai Throwdown. Check it out for the scoop on my favorite place for Thai. Hurricane Mikey, gave Archi's a try based on my recommendation. He found it to be a tasty bargain, too.

Keepin' up with Rockstars

Last weekend friends came in from Chicago for the Bon Jovi concert. They were staying at Monte Carlo. We planned on dinner and drinks with them and uncle Pete. We opted for dinner at Diablo’s Cantina. Which was this week's topic for the LLV column, check it out Vegas Values: Diablo’s Cantina.

Here are a couple other photos for you food porn lovers out there.









After dinner and few margaritas we walked over to the Pub at Monte Carlo. There was a $5 cover, because Zowie Bowie was playing. However, the cover is waived for hotel guests. So, Marie and Irene were able to get us in for free. They thought it was fun to comp us since locals are usually the ones with perks.

We ordered a round of drinks. I went with my current favorite draft, Redhook Slim Chance. They had some happy hour special going on so I got two for one. I hate when they bring ‘em up front, though, the second one gets warm while it waits in the wings. Oh well, it just encouraged me to drink faster. Only issue was the second beer was not Slim Chance. It was some beer that tasted like cherry cough drops had dissolved in it. Blech. The next round, Marie, convinced me to try Longboard Island Lager. Not bad.

Meanwhile, Zowie Bowie took the stage. I’ve never seen them perform but they’re names are unavoidable between promotions, billboards, ads and special events. They played pop music, a lot of Black Eyed Peas, and they butchered Lady Gaga. They did get the crowd going, but they were pretty ridiculous. Better than other wannabe lounge acts, but I expected better. The chick in the duo continuously sang into a wind machine. Blowing of the hair and half nakedness must help her belt it out. The douchy guy was on stage most of the time with another guy that bounced about, he filled in while chickie disappeared every third song or so. I never imagined I’d say it, but I actually prefer Cook E. Jarr at Carnaval Court. He’s notoriously terrible, but that’s part of the act. Zowie Bowie plays the same stuff, it’s cheesy as hell, but I think they’re supposed to be taken seriously. Anyway, the more I drank the better they became.

It was all good fun. We had lots of laughs. 2am rolled around, I was beat. Frank and I decided we’d take off. Leaving the trio behind to party it up. I gotta say they’re rockstars, I pooped out before they did and I’m 20 years younger.

Smiles and belly laughs

No time to write today. Here are a couple videos, instead.

Nicky plans to scare uncle Frank. The kid is a trip with balloons. He kept popping balloon after balloon "I will scare you out of crap".

This one is from bowling on Sunday. You gotta love the attention span of a 3-year old.

China Ranch Date Farm

Along the way on Hwy 160.


Lots of cacti were for sale at the date farm.




I don't know the story behind the bottles but there were a lot of them.


Trail through the woods along the creek that's nearby.


Alligator warning, we never spotted it.




Nicky's checking out the fish in the creek.


Rows and rows of dates, there are several varieties grown.






Toyed with an effect on this one










Grammy doesn't like her picture taken, but Nicky asked her so she couldn't refuse.






Table and chair, outside the giftshop, made from horseshoes.


Date shake, yummy!


Hummingbird





We had a great time at the China Ranch Date Farm. It's a unique little oasis in the middle of nowhere. After our visit, we drove along offroad trails and saw old talc mines. We'd like to return and do some hiking and check out the hot springs nearby. We brought home a package of dates. I plan to make date bread. I have my grandma's recipe, I've been itching to give it a try. We also bought chocolate oat date cookies. They were so moist and delicious. I might take a stab at replicating them.

Silliness, Bowling and Pinball

Next round of adventures from the weekend...

Pillow Fight!!


Riding the train.


I'm on the train, but the conductor took time out for baseball? yeah, that's what we'll call it.


Nicky didn't like that I was free. He had to lock me in jail.




Then tickling ensued.




Climbing the web like spiderman.


Nicky's first time bowling.








Fun continues at the Pinball Museum.






Next up, a trip to the date farm.