All girls weekend Day 2

 Morning had us walking to Hash House a Go Go  the first one was in a hotel and PACKED so we opted to go to the one out on Sahara! It was a 15 minute drive but worth it as we got in quickly and ate HUGE meals
LOOK at the SIZE of those pancakes!!!

I got a hash. A chorizo hash. It was devine.

we were all splitting meals so we had hash, biscuits and gravy (served over mashed potatoes - this why it’s so tall), and a max-n-cheese breakfast style!  All delicious and super filling


After the huge breakfast we went to the hotel and split up. Liz, Linda and I went to the spa for a massage. It was Devine. 

Peggy, Amy and Wendy went to see Menopause the Musical. 


We gambled and played and eventually met up for dinner. At Batistas Hole in the Wall. It was interesting. It was a classic. It will not be repeated. Aka not worth it. I’m glad I finally went to see what it was all about. 


It was also LOUD. So loud that Linda sent a note to my end of the table to ask about an advertised feature of the place. 

The mandolins player was apparently NOT wandering. 

My lasagna. It was delicious and huge. I ate half. 

Before and after food. 

AFTER dinner we walked down to the High Roller. 

It’s a bar. Which is weird to me that they are pushing alcohol at every step. BUT it was free booze for the hour long ride. Liz had a few drinks. I did not. 





He was a hoot. He knew the timing of all the talking and could match the tone and words of the announcements to a T. 

And with that it was a walk back to the hotel then to bed as it was 11pm already and we had an early flight. I had the exit row again with TINS of leg room as there was no seat in front of me BUT the guy beside me was a very LARGE man. To the point I had to have him hold up his side so I could get my tray out for a snack in the way home.   Poor guy. I feel his pain!!

And back to reality. Boooo. BUT we stopped at IKEA on the way home and got Pizza at our favorite pizza place over there!  

All girls weekend day 1

Welcome to the 20th anniversary of this event!!

Our trip started out rainy for Liz and I. 

This was her first AGW!

So day one was meeting up in the bar with the Aviano crew, having a few drinks then bed by midnight. Arrivals straggled in from 2pm with the Utah crew to 1am with Amy. 

Day 1 proper. 

Mom, Linda and I roomed together so we got up and met everyone downstairs for a quick ride to The Omelet House

Local joint off of Charleston 

The grunions were not running for item 33 1/2. Ha!

The one WITH food

The staff was funny and our photographer took 13 (literally) photos of us for me to use ONE (ok maybe two)

The one without food!   And so you can see all of Wendy’s face!  Around the table left front to me: Peggy, Amy, Wendy, Marilyn (mom), Linda, Elizabeth, Caroline, Gail and me!  Good group of women!

From here we took Lyfts to the container er park. It is NOT what I thought it would be, however it was interesting!

I need to load Gail’s pictures and photoshop one for us as well with everyone in the shot!

We took mom home, got her settled and went out to Seven Magic Mountains in the outskirts of town. More details here https://sevenmagicmountains.com/

Pretty sunset coming back into town. We ran a few errands for family while out and about. 

Dinner was Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris overlooking the fountains of the Bellagio.  Wendy hit a HUGE jackpot on slots winning over $350 that night while waiting for the table!  Yay Wendy!!!  

We put all the newcomers to AGW and Vegas on the side overlooking the fountains so they could see how pretty they are!

Liz comes here all the time and eats in the patio for the view. I don’t come here to eat but have seen the fountains quite a few times. Mom opted to not join us on this dinner. 

Liz and the Aviano crew continued on to Fremont and beyond while the rest of us hung out in the hotel and watched a movie. Can you tell we have been to Vegas lots?

Saturday night fun with Elizabeth

Lots of concentration!!  There are two glass gathers and cooling before this step. Gathering color onto the raw glass to make the pumpkin. It goes back I. The oven to make it meld, then back out and roll on the counter to roll it all in. Then back onto the oven and when we take it out then it goes into the form…

Making the pumpkin shape using an aluminum form to put the ridges into the glass. You can fee the glass solidifying. It goes BACK into the oven and then he takes it to shape the bottom….

He is constantly twirling the glass and then lets us know when we can flatten the bottom. Now this was shocking as the glass is SO soft it flattens quickly. Shockingly fast!!



From there he worked in it a bit more to get the top thin enough to break off cooling it with some water at the neck then over to this startup. Where we whack the pole to break it off. This took a bit more effort than anticipated. Funny how the shaping was easier and this was harder. Just the opposite of what you would think. 1 out of 4 did it in one whack and it wasn’t me!!!

Next was the stem. More glass gathers, more color, more twirling BUT he did this one as it was time sensitive and being newbies we would not be fast enough. Once it was gathered, colored and shaped he would bring it over and place it on the pumpkin and pull. We determined the shape of the stem. Liz wanted a newly picked pumpkin stem. I wanted a curly one!!


After the snip of the glass a blowtorch was used to smooth out the end of the stem. Awesome. It was fun and them being young they had NO idea about making pipets in chemistry class. I now question why we were required to learn to make them. 

So my “fun with glass” was relived a bit here ;)

Weekend adventures

It was super foggy on Saturday when I got up. I was up at 7:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep so I decided to go to breakfast while others slept as there was no coffee in the house. Seriously. Zero coffee. So off I went. After breakfast I headed to Krogers to get some coffee and other things in the list. Then thinking o had tried to go to an estate sale the day prior but it wasn’t open so I swung by there as well

I found a few treasures. :)

LE Smith moon and star toothpick holder (came with the other three little amber plates)

Gorgeous Murano dish

These are all the rage right now - they are lucite/acrylic candlesticks. 

Honduras duck. 

These are small nut, jelly, dishes. 

This is tiny. It’s about 3.5” wide

I was enamored with this one. I will NOT be sad

It it takes a bit to sell! I may have to use them ;)

All that for $28. I should double my money on it all of things go well. They are all primed and photographed and ready to list within the week.  

After I got home I had to package a sale and take it to the PO before it closed. 

What does one do when she has to take packages to the post office?  She dumpster dives. Yup. You read that right. I went literal dumpster diving. I found the following

I fessed up to Butch what I had been up to and he was appalled - BUT when I said I would be selling the hand truck he changed his tune. Ha!  So the hand truck stays. 

Love the gnome. The hot chocolate bombs are well within expiration. Fully sealed.  

THIS is my favorite find for sure. 

As is par for the course for my funds. Angela is eyeing this one and wants it. She’s moving right now anyway so maybe she’ll get it at Christmas. It is pretty neat in that it folds to a single tube shape. 

So I’ll be going diving more at that store for sure at season changes!!

So what brought this on?  Who knows. I saw a group on Facebook and joined for grins. Turns out it’s right up my alley for sure. I love to dig through trash and estate sales to look for treasures. Speaking of that earlier in the day I did that as well.