Beso Las Vegas

It's 11:30 p.m. Vegas time, and I just got back to my hotel room after a yummy dinner, some window shopping and people watching.

At Beso, Eva Longoria's restaurant at Crystals in City Center, Julia and I recalibrated from the flight with some lovely pear and elderberry sangria. (We were tempted to try Eva's Cadillac margarita for $99 - what the eff is Persian lime juice anyway? - but we abstained.)

I really wanted to try the
chili rellenos with short rib and goat cheese, but they were all out. I settled for some guac and a salad with an interesting orange champagne vinegarette.

During our people watching as party goers headed to post-Billboard Awards gatherings, I lamented that the wardrobe I brought is not slutty enough. Actually, I own nothing slutty enough to compete with all of the skin and sparkles we saw. But I will make do.

It's time for bed, little mouse little mouse (kisses to Dylan)...

Sixth time's a charm?

Headed to Vegas on a work trip and hoping to score big with great meetings, weather, dining, shopping and winning. Not too much to ask, no?

Based on my calculations, this will be my sixth visit to the Strip. So what's different about this trip? I'm sans hubs, lover of all things Vegas, and I'm a mama away from her Pickle. (I directed Dylan to abstain from reaching any milestones while I'm gone. My days away arms Phil with several hours of drilling him to say Dada v. Mama...I'm doubting our Skype chats will be effective training sessions.:))

I'm also experimenting with traveling with antravel instead of a laptop. I'm a little leery of forgoing access to my work file network, so I emailed myself a bunch of docs I might need and have been downloading apps like Docs to Go to let me create and edit Word and PowerPoint files. I'm traveling with a colleague (a Vegas newbie!), and she has graciously agreed to let me comandeer her computer should I run into issues. I have to say, so far, I'm loving the feel of my lighter purse and not needing to take out a gadget while moving through airport security. I do miss not having a way to save photos so I can upload them to the blog. Unless anyone has better suggestions, I'm planning to link to my twit pics.

Tomorrow will require lots of caffeine to keep my batteries running. We have late dinner rezzies tonight (Julia shares my love of restaurant hopping) and I expect to be a little jet lagged. Tomorrow, our 12-hour work day starts at 7 a.m. You know I'll be hitting the coffee shop at 6:45.

Can't wait to introduce Julia to Vegas' chiming, clanging background noise (and Pai Gow Poker)! And, the Billboard Music Awards are at the MGM Grand tonight, so maybe we'll rub shoulders with some celebs.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Travel 2.0

I'm in the Big Apple for a last-minute, quick work trip. I was happy for the chance to go to NYC, but navigating my new responsibilities as a mom can be a pain. Here's what can be frustrating:

1) Coordinating schedules with Phil to make sure he can be home when I'm away
2) Waking up god-awful early to catch a flight since I need extra time to feed the baby
3) Lugging my pump everywhere...Marc Jacobs, please, please partner with Medela for a kick-ass bag
4) Pumping on the road...desperation yesterday led me to a bathroom in Five Guys in Greenwich Village. Not awesome. A shot of tequila about five minutes afterward did help, though.

With all that said, I know the most annoying things are temporary, and I'll figure out the rest. Certainly not worth forgoing adventure...