This past week my family, boyfriend and I went down to Las Vegas, Nevada. Needless to say I've not been getting much done art or writing wise as of late, because previously I was preoccupied with school work for the week I was going to miss. So, the trip out there was... rough, to say the least. In the area of Minnesota I live in we had gotten a storm the night of departure, so when we got on our shuttle down to Minneapolis, the two-hour trip easily became four or more hours. This started before four pm, mind you. By the time we'd gotten on our delayed flight {thank God, otherwise we'd have missed the flight} it was around eleven or so pm. We took off an hour later, about half way through someone had a medical emergency and we had to divert to Denver, Colorado. We would remain there for a good three hours, at least. Finally we got to our hotel rooms around seven in the morning, every one of us ornery and wanting nothing more than to sleep.
 Eddie and I, however, only slept an hour or two before we hit the Strip and began exploring. There was quite a lot to see, and admittedly we did not see nearly as much as we wanted to. The first day we'd explored until about noon before my parents drug us down to the other side of the strip {on foot, mind you} to see something that wasn't even there, which took until six or so pm to get back to our hotels... by that time Eddie and I were so exhausted that we just went to his room and, with the intention of watching TV, passed out until my uncle Ben woke us up around one am only to say "Eh, just go back to bed." He's a pretty awesome uncle to have, allowed us to sleep together every night. {Don't worry, we kept our hands to ourselves... besides, Ben was maybe three feet away. Talk about uncomfortable!} Still, Eddie's a freakin' space-heater and I've never slept better in my life.
 The second day we spent exploring again, trying to see more before we headed to the wedding the next day, which is why we went to Nevada in the first place. I honestly don't remember much of the second day... That may have been when we went to the Red Rock Canyon for all I know. Third day, Wednesday, we went to Laughlin, Nevada for my grandmother's wedding. It was on a river and it was rather short, but sweet. My boyfriend made one hell of an impression on my family, to the point that I think my grandmother has basically accepted HIM as family. For once in my life I have a ton of pictures of myself... a rarity, I assure you. Other than the wedding there really was nothing to do in Laughlin, it was a very, very boring night. I managed to find Conan and How I Met Your Mother on the TV, and that was about it for entertainment.
  I swear every building in Nevada has some form of slot machine at the least in it, if not a full-blown casino. It was very, very different to see those everywhere. I probably could have gotten away with playing, too, since it seemed everyone thought I was in my mid-twenties. One of the best trinkets I got while I was out there was a sound-responsive, light-up led shirt. Though when I was putting it on {this was one of the FEW times Eddie was more than a foot away from me} some guy walks by and was all "Niiice." Me being innocent I responded, "Yeaah, cool shirt, huh?" "No, I meant your tits, but that's nice, too." As you can imagine, the kiosk clerk, eddie and I stood there dumbfounded.
  Everywhere you go in the strip there are people at every turn trying to get you to take these cards with pictures of naked women on it. Basically it was their calling cards. If you looked at the ground while you walked you would see boobs everywhere. Some may find this nice, but think of the diseases that those boobs have behind them. I swear, though, I was looking at the women more than Eddie was. XD This one guy tried to hand him a card and his response was "I already have a woman right here." The guy nodded and laughed a bit until I turned around and shouted, shamelessly, "And its free!" The guy nearly died of laughter. We could hear him from well over a block away. Granted, when I told that story to Eddie's parents they didn't think it so funny... Whoops.
  The last day we visited Hoover Dam and man do those tour guides like to use the pun dam for damn a lot. Goodness. After that we headed back to Las Vegas and we all branched off into our own business again, Eddie and I trying to catch the last few things we wanted to see while we were down there. We ended up in the Flamingo hotel/casino, our eyes caught by this pick-your-own-oyster thing to get the pearl inside. Yes, this is gooey romanticness so if you get squeamish from such things, turn away now. Though it may have helped to turn away a while ago, since I tend to be a helpless romantic. Eddie picked one for me, the colors of the pearl you get are supposed to show your feelings for the other person. Darker pearls such as silvers and blacks are rare to find. Lo and behold he pulls out a blue-silver pearl with a bit of pink to it. The look on the clerk's face was priceless when she saw the darker pearl.
  Blue-Wisdom
  Pink-Beauty
  Silver-Love
  We bought a setting for it, it was a very beautiful and actually flawless pearl, so she gave us another draw at the oysters. This time, I wanted to pick one for him. I know, guys don't wear pearls and I ended up with it anyhow, but I wanted to see what the oysters had to say about my feelings. So I poke around for a while until I found one that just looked right, which was strange because I found one that was oddly perfect to my eyes. She cracks it open, and the pearl inside is the same as the one he drew--Blue-silver with pink hues. {Mine was bigger but had a small belly button... guess that mean I have a bigger heart but a small flaw? That's up for interpretation.} The woman's expression, though. Two rare pearls drawn in the same exchange. She started going on and on about how we "HAVE to get married now, its a sign" and so on, though the words she was saying really didn't matter, it was the lulled expression on Eddie's face that did. He was very happy, and so was I. After that we went and ate at an Italian restaurant and caught the shuttle back to the Rio, met up with my family and then headed back to the airport.
 We had better luck on the trip back, though the flight was still delayed some. I had a lot of fun out there, it was a completely different world. Now I have school to look ahead to, getting a car for Christmas, apparently, and potentially joining Eddie in a play soon... That, I am not to certain on... Still, until the next rant of mine, Ciao.