Oh, it's gorgeous here! Sunny, warm, DRY. Did I say sunny? We've already done some shopping, spent a little time by the pool but we got there late and were only able to sit out for 30 minutes -- only open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Geez! Sun will be out here until 9 p.m. even if the pool area is shady now.
We'll be heading out shortly for the evening. We got tickets for Mama Mia tomorrow night at New York New York and will be heading there shortly to get advance seating. Then we'll hit the Strip and the casinos!
Some pics:
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| Jan and Thelma on the plane |
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| Thelma in Venice! |
What a long day! Thelma forgot her sunglasses -- she left them in her jacket coat pocket, the jacket she decided not to bring because the forecasts here were for temps in the 80's. I realized that I had forgot to pack my facial cleanser, drat! Cannot use any kind of soap on my face, I break out in horrid rashes if I do, and I also wanted to pick up a new hot curling brush. So our plan was to check-in, get some sunglasses for Thelma and then head to the nearest Walgreens and get the stuff I needed.
Fortunately, check-in did not take a lot of time. Our rooms are average. Main point for me is that they are inexpensive, my wi-fi this trip is free, I have a king-size bed, the bedding and bathrooms are clean and there are an abundance of towels and washcloths, plus cable t.v. for watching shows or news when we rest in-between bouts of dealing with The Strip! NOW Thelma realizes what I was trying to explain to her before we arrived and she actually experienced today for herself.
LAS VEGAS IS EXHAUSTING! We hiked to the nearest Walgreens that I remembered the location of, to the north of the Venetian. Thelma was oohing and aahing as I pointed out the various casinos and resorts along the way. The Venetian is one of my favorites and I will make it a point to take Thelma through the shops there, because they are gorgeous and the decor is so much fun! Took a couple of pictures - Thelma's turned out much better than mine but I was not able to loan her memory card into my memory card reader (either my portable one or the built-in inside this tiny little Acer notebook). So I will have to wait to get those photos that she took with her camera and the extra portraits I took of Thelma in "Venice."
We were barely out of the hotel on the walk headed toward Walgreens when I spied $10 a pair sunglasses in a gift shop right by Harrah's and so I steered Thelma there, which was a good thing because in all the subsequent hiking we did up and down the Strip today, I did not see a single damn street vendor selling sunglasses! What the hell has happened to this city, I ask you?
Thelma tried on a few pair, I gave her a thumbs up on one and a thumbs sideways on the other, she bought the pair I gave thumbs up to (I am beginning to feel like a mother, not sure I like the responsibility) and Thelma sure looks cute in them. They suit her face.
I also sort of twisted her arm into buying a different hat than the one she brought to Vegas with her. Her original choice was too small to provide any shade to her face and eyes, really, and the style was not flattering. More about the hat later...
While at Walgreens we also picked up some make-up primer for Thelma. She had never heard of any such product and was intrigued by the idea. You see, I had talked Thelma into trying out mineral make-up (I swear by Bare Escentials, love the product!) but I did not want her to pay $28 for their "Primer", so we picked up something less expensive at Walgreens to try out. If she doesn't like it it will not be a financial bust.
Then we headed toward Sephora. Wow - what a change. Last time I was in this particular Sephora, the place was packed with women. This time it was nearly empty. But that helped, not having to fight through hordes of women to get to the Bare Escentials display. We ended up buying Thelma the same color I use, in the "original" formula, after looking at the color samples. Thelma is a little lighter skinned than I am, but she is not anywhere near an ivory. She has to be careful with her undertones, too, because she has oily skin and that can and has interacted with liquid foundations she has worn in the past, and the latest not inexpensive brand she was wearing today, which turned streaky, blotchy and in places, downright yellow (like Thelma had Dengue fever or something, yikes). I felt horrible pointing this out to her on the jet as we were getting closer to LV, and gave her my compact so she could see what I was seeing. She did a good job correcting the issues with the compact, but because her skin seems to be producing a lot of oil very quickly, and of course walking around as we were in the heat of Las Vegas, her make-up was soon streaking again. Not good. A woman never wants to look like she is actually wearing stuff on her face, let alone streaky stuff!
So, we get the stuff at Sephora, and I totally forgot to check there to see if they had any hot brush curling irons, but in hindsight glad I did not because whatever they carrried would have been way more expensive than the outrageously priced not-correct-style-ones at Walgreens! So, when I wash my hair tomorrow morning it's going to look like shit after it dries because I won't be able to tame it's frizzies and I cannot brush blow-dry my hair to save my life.
Now, about Thelma's new hat. She didn't wear it today, but when we head out during the day tomorrow she'll have it on, so I will get a photo or two of her in the hat. After we left Sephora and headed back to our hotel, we were chatting about her hat and why it didn't suit her, and as we walked we started passing that same gift shop near Harrah's that we had visited earlier, noting the hats they had there at the time Thelma picked our her new pair of sunglasses. The primary issue was foldability. Thelma wanted/needed a hat that she would be able to pack in her luggage when we return home without permanently ruining the hat's shape. So, we changed course and went into the gift shop, and Thelma modeled a couple of the hats for me. We were really lucky on the first try, because Thelma tried on a broad-brimmed white cotton stitched hat that was very foldable, and it looked so flattering on her.
Then she tried on a straw-colored hat that was a wide-brimmed beauty with a brown ribbon tied around the crown, it looks like something out of The Great Gatsby to me, something the ladies wear at the Derby. It also was very flattering on her.
Ultimately Thelma picked the white hat because it had a great deal more foldability and we decided that it's white color would go with more outfits that the neutral, but bolder-colored "straw" hat.
Success! Got back to the hotel and took a 30 minute break so we could we could do our own thing. Thelma changed into her swim suit cuz the plan was to FINALLY get to the pool. Oh - yeah, we also stopped at half-price tix --
more tomorrow, it's been a long day and I need sleep like - right now!
$5 on lucky 13 if you get to the roulette table!:)
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