What happens in Vegas...

I'm back! Vegas was a lot of hard work but we managed to fit in some fun too :D I went with my boss and coworker to the ERA Tradeshow which, for us in the Direct Response industry, is THE tradeshow to go to!

I spent the weekend relaxing and getting ready for the tradeshow. I haven't been feeling 100% (my guess is that allergies are to blame) and Vegas always takes a lot out of me so I decided to take the weekend off of running. Saturday I slept in, did a little shopping and hit the nail salon. My feet always take a beating in Vegas but at least my toes could look pretty :D On Sunday I was up early printing out boarding passes and then met up with Lindsay and Claudia for lunch a little later. We had a yummy meal, enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and took a walk around the Sidewalk Art Show. The rest of the day I spent packing for the tradeshow.

The next morning my alarm went off at 4:45 am :( WAY too early. I had to get ready, finish packing up and be outside waiting for my coworker Anna at 5:30. Her BF nicely took us to the airport... it felt VERY wrong to be leaving for the airport in the dark. They were a little late picking me up and by the time we checked my bag, went through security (the line went through the baggage claim area and out the door) and got to the gate, our flight was already boarding. The flight wasn't full so we were able to have a seat in between us.

We got into Las Vegas at about 7:30am and made it to the Venetian around 8:00. The first two years I went the tradeshow was at the Paris, the last two years were at the Mirage and this was the first year at the Venetian. I LOVE the Venetian! The rooms were SO big and are all suites, which means we had a seperate, sunken living room with an "L" shaped couch, desk, table, chairs and flat screen tv. Our "bedroom" also had a flat screen tv, and so did our bathroom! My boss, Anna and I went to breakfast (what ended up being our ONLY real meal that day) and then spent the rest of the day shuttling back and forth between our room for private meetings, and the tradeshow floor. Why oh why do these hotels but the conference centers as far away from the rooms as possible. At the end of the day my feet hurt SO bad and I was already starting to get some blisters, and I was wearing my most "comfortable" heels :(

During the day we had been invited to a party hosted by a big internet marking company in their (even bigger) suite. My boss really wanted to go, and of course Anna and I were happy to come along since most of these parties all have finger food and an open bar. We schmoozed with some people, made some new friends, my boss left after about an hour and at the end of the party Anna and I were invited to join the President of the company (who just happens to have a jet that he flew out to Vegas on-- no commercial flying for him!), his wife and some other DR peeps at Tao for drinks and food. Why, OF COURSE we'd go!!! More drinks, and one small Spring Roll later, we took our leave and headed over to rumjungle at Mandalay Bay for another party hosted by a fulfillment company. The party started late, and we arrived fashionably late at about 11:00 so we didn't end up staying too long. Some nice guy let us into the very empty VIP area so we could actually sit down. We got back to our room a little after midnight and made it to bed not long after that.

6:30am the alarm goes off :( It took Anna a little extra time to get ready that morning. :( Another day of meetings, walking the tradeshow floor and schmoozing were in order! It was much quieter on the tradeshow floor than on Monday... probably too much partying for everyone the night before! Around 4:30 or so we were headed back to the airport for our 5:50 flight. I brought some clothes to change into and my feet have never been so happy to slip into a pair of flip flops! Ahhh, much better :) We decided we had enough time to grab a meal at the Mexican restaurant at the airport. I think we were all in a food and exhaustion coma and that coupled with some interesting drama between a waitress, her customer and a Dallas Cowboy football player (who came to the waitresses aid) meant we almost missed our flight! We rushed down the terminal and were the last three people on the flight. Of course THIS flight was completely booked solid :(

After waiting forever for my bag, Anna and her BF dropped me off at home a little after 8:00pm. Finally I was home! I was so happy to be back and in my own bed. Vegas was fun was I was pooped!

Tonight I'm meeting up with Amy for our run... thankfully she's tapering so I'll be able to take it easy on my tired feet and poor little numb toes!