A Few Days of Sin

It is 18 degrees F, and snowing like crazy here! I can't help but long for the Southern California weather I wrote about in my previous update here. Having said that, I'm also enjoying this weekend snow-day. There's supposed to be 6-12 inches of fluffy white stuff here, and we're already about halfway there. Being snowed in isn't a bad thing (other than hearing the annoying, thumping bass of one of my neighbors), since I need to hunker down inside and work, anyway. Write, write, write. Since I'm indoors, I might as well be cozy too, so there's broccoli soup on the stove and a pot of tea to keep me warm.

Although it was awesome to see the coast for a couple of days at New Year's, it was also fun to drive inland. And that's because, on the way out of Los Angeles, before you head East and into the San Bernadino hills, there's a town called Arcadia. And if you're a fan of good Chinese dim sum and know where to look for it, then you know to stop at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House for their most excellent Sunday dim sum brunch. If you love sautee'd stringbeans, among other things, I recommend this place.

Afterwards, you hit the road, put the pedal to the medal, and speed across the Mojave Desert as you clap your hands with excitement at seeing Joshua Trees (yes, like U2) and various other scrubby cacti for the first time. You cross the Sierra Nevada mountains as the sun is setting, creating the most beautiful, rose-colored, painted desert images in your mind. You sail into Las Vegas as evening sets in and all of the over-the-top neon lights burn bright and remind you that, other than New York, Vegas is a city that never sleeps. Isn't bedtime 4am there? A perk of driving to Sin City from California on a Sunday is that you're going in the opposite direction from the heaviest traffic, which is comprised of people from Los Angeles who went to Vegas for the weekend, or who went weekend skiing at Big Bear Lake.

Sure, "w.h.i.v.s.i.v.", But what I WILL say is that if you go to Vegas, it's worth thinking about staying at the Encore/Wynn. Awesome hotel and casino. If you know me and my one most "girly" trait of loving fancy bath products, you know that upon check-out, I crammed as many bottles of swanky lemongrass scented "Desert Bamboo" brand bath products into my ziplock to carry on the plane back to Denver.

I'm not really a gambler, but I did try my hand at the penny and quarter slot machines, and won $4. So that was fun. I can recommend trying a pear cocktail at the Encore/Wynn. It was so delicious, crisp, and refreshing, it was almost like biting into a ripe, fragrant pear, with the juice running down my chin. Are pear drinks the new "it" drink? Trends aside, it was yummy enough that I was nice and toasted by the time the bottom of the glass came into sight.

The fountains in front of the Palomar Hotel/Casino are worth a look, if you go on the hour, and if you don't know what I mean, then go see it for yourself sometime. It wouldn't be right if I didn't recommend that you go see Le Reve. To say that this show, similar to Cirque Du Soleil, but in water, was "stunning" or "breathtaking" doesn't do it justice. Short of going there, simply google "Le Reve" and pull up some images.

Obviously, I'm back home, back at school, and busy writing, writing, writing. And sitting in on not 1, not 2, but 3 classes. But more on that another time. The dissertation proposal is moving along at the pace of frozen maple syrup, but I'll get there. I'm really hoping for an August graduation, which gives me until June 30 to defend my dissertation. I'm stressed out about multiple things at the moment but deep breaths and yoga are in order. *breathe*