A Perfect-Timing Day

This a.m. I woke up with just enough time to get ready, at a leisurely pace, for the airport. Even had time for coffee! Got to the airport in just enough time to check my bag, buy a bagel and juice, put on my makeup in the ladies room, then wait, oh, maybe 5 minutes before boarding. Got a seat right near the front, therefore, got off very quickly and claimed my bag within 5 minutes of getting to the baggage claim. Got on a shuttle that left within minutes and aside from the long line at the hotel check-in, it was an eerily smooth cruise! I was able to check in early and get all unpacked, get my Internet all set up, and enjoy the awesome view of the pool and gardens at the Venetian from my elegantly cozy room. Two flat screen TVs, a bathroom about the size of my kitchen, and a guest services dude on the phone who calls me Mrs. Tafoya. Wow! Considering the snafus and delays that can occur when travelling, this has been a perfect day.

After getting settled in, I went shopping. My strategy when travelling for work is to get the souvenirs over with as quickly as possible, because I often don't have time to shop later on. And in Vegas, the shopping is easy! (particularly if you like tacky souvenirs ;-)

The Venetian is connected to (a casino of course, and probably dozens of eating places...) a bunch of shops, including Coach, where I drooled over the new plum patent leather bags for Fall!!! I bought Papa a ridiculously expensive fuzzy monkey keyfob and in a little shop called Ice, I treated myself to a dreamy old-fashioned sparkly hamsa necklace by Israeli artist Michal Negrin.

The one I got is sort of like this, but not quite as fancy.
Mine has an old fashioned cerub holding a rose.

And if I'd had an extra $1,200 or so I'd have bought myself a beaded bracelet by Adonnah Langer, aka Chili Rose! <--the link goes to several examples from Wild West Trading Co.) Here's an example of her work, from Avilaretail wiki:

Enough drooling and back to the obligatory souvenirs. Junior was going to come with me, but unfortunately he is right on schedule with the urgent care injury visits -- yesterday he flipped over the front of a bike and landed on his tailbone. You know he's hurting when he bails on a trip anywhere. I had to cancel his ticket but you know, I wouldn't have been able to spend an hour in Ice if he'd been with me. I'm gathering up more than the usual bunch of goodies for him...(shhh, he might be reading this!)

After shopping til I almost dropped, I had just enough time to prop up my dogs for a few before getting ready for the exhibit hall swag-a-thon, complete with free drinks and an antipasto spread that functioned as a hearty dinner! Proscuitto, cheeses, cooked veggies, breads, fruit, yum!

I came back to my room embarassingly rich with freebies, including fancy post-it notepads, some little journals for my interns, lots of pens of course, a couple of T-shirts, an umbrella (???), a nifty zippered totebag with compartments for technology items that probably aren't even developed yet ;-) a Mad Libs book, and even a headset! I wish I had a camera! It's poundage!

So now I'm kicking back in my plush Venetian bathrobe, blogging. Yep, just enough time to relax, chill, blog, drink water, and switch back and forth between my two flat screens before settling in to read and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. A perfect, perfect-timing day.