Vacation Week - Part Two

....Vega$ baby!!! That's right. After a nice, relaxing 5 days on the beach doing nothing, I did a complete 180 and headed to Sin City for a weekend of fun, madness, drinks, gambling, dancing, sun, and just general shenanigans. And with some of my favorite people in the world. Amazing. We had the best time ever!

Here's the gang:
And here is the view from our room - that room being a 1200 square foot suite on the 26th floor of Palms Place (crazy, right?):

And then, here are some of the lessons learned while blurring our way through Sin City:

1. Bromance lives, even in Vegas.

2. You can drink ANYTHING in the morning...as long as it's out of a coffee mug (that makes it legit):

3. Having a giant bathtub, with jacuzzi jets, in the middle of the room...is actually super awesome. A little weird? Yes. But really quite fabulous too:

4. You can actually sneak a sweet moment in amidst the madness while in Sin City. Awwwwww. Thanks LK, for capturing that on film! And thanks AK, for (hopefully) not caring that I shared it:

5. McDonald's is the real breakfast of champions! And also the snacks/lunch/dinner/late night chow of champions...champions pretty much ONLY eat McDonald's:

6. You can make any place into a dance floor:

7. Hugs in bikinis are great....:

8. ....especially with all of your "boo-boos":

9. It's possible to have a serious conversation in Vegas. As long as you're at least 1/4 of the way in a pool and with drinks in hands:

10. We should all have these shirts...because none of us get drunk...we all get awesome too!

11. Pool cabanas are way too much fun:

12. If you have so many $100 bills that you don't know what to do with them...just throw them all in the air until you can decide:

13. There's nothing like a good cigar:

14. "Baby bjorn" dresses are the coolest. I just wish she would have carried me around in there all night...like a baby kangaroo:

15. You're never too old for a good jumping-on-the-bed party:

16. Eating al fresco on the Strip in Vegas is like no other:

17. It is possible to have a ridiculous amount of fun in a bathroom...if you have a camera...and good spirit...and no sense of boundaries:


18. LK should quit her job and be a photographer:

19. Gambling is too much fun. I get it now, you gambling addicts!

20. That same jacuzzi bathtub in the middle of the suite is the perfect place to hang out at 3:00 in the morning. Bathtub party!

Vegas is really one of the most ridiculous places in the world. But it's so great too. I already can't wait to go back!! Even considering how painful Monday was. It was totally worth it. Go on and do it...grab some great pals (and someone you're super sweet on, if possible)...pack your swimsuit, dress and stilettos, and sweet tea vodka...put on your gameface...and JUST DO IT.

I just hope I'm still rockin' it in Vegas when I'm 80. I just know it's never gonna get old.

Vacation Week - Part One

For those of you that don't know, I took an entire week of vacation last week. Yes. Me. Crazy, right? I never take vacation! It was loooooong overdue.

The whole glorious week was split into two parts. Two VERY different, distinct parts. Part 1 = peaceful, relaxing week...beautiful beach house in Florida. Part 2 = crazy, off-the-wall, unreal weekend...giant suite...Palms Place in Las Vegas. I'm going to tell you about part 1 first.

My good friend, ES, was in the same boat as me recently. Working super, crazy hard. Long hours. Tons of travel. Just really in need of some time to kick back, relax, soak up some sun, and all that good stuff. We realized at about the same time that we both needed this...eureka! Why not plan a little get-away together?! Genius.

So we were able to snag 5 days at a gorgeous beach house in Seacrest Beach, FL. What did we do that whole time? Let's walk through a few pictures to help illustrate our activities.

* Spent countless hours drinking this in:

* Soaked up lots of beautiful sun:

* Ate soooooo much good food (pretty much only super fresh and delicious seafood), and drank yummy drinks:
* Walks on the beach! Sometimes stumbling on awesome things...like this gem...people really still fly confederate flags?! Really?!:

* Soaked up more sun:

* Ate more amazing food, and drank more refreshing drinks:

Annnnnnnnnd so on and so forth. Seriously? That's really what we did the whole time. It was incredible. I can't remember the last time I spent a few days like that. It felt so great. I haven't felt that refreshed, relaxed, peaceful, etc. in a long time. Just what the doctor ordered.

* See how relaxed we look?!

The beach was perfection. Sometimes I get so caught up in my bouncing-all-over-the-place-all-the-time lifestyle (which I love), that I forget what it's like to actually relax. It's pretty great too. I probably should work on doing this more often. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh. Love it.

You know what I also love? The abundance of hilarious signs in Seacrest Beach! They're everywhere. Here are a few of my favorites:

* Amen to this one:

* I grew up in Wisconsin...I obviously have known this since birth:

* Here, here! Take it outside, people:

* Hahahaha:

* Um....right on, souvenir store:

* And probably my favorite. Makes me want to move to the beach and open a dress shop...so I can set my own hours...and start work at "11'ish":

So great! What a wonderful time. Thanks ES, for being the perfect buddy for a get-away like this. We nailed it with this one, for sure! (Let's just make sure we ALWAYS have Solo cups with us wherever we go in the future...you know what I mean, right?)

So yes, I left Florida feeling wonderful and refreshed (and with a bit of a tan!)....only to head off to part 2 of the vacation...and un-do all of that good work. Stay tuned for the run-down on part 2. I promise you won't want to miss that one.

Introducing...Mr. and Mrs. Salierno!

May 14, 2011. Chicago, IL. The wedding of two of my favorite people....Jugdish and Meeeeeeeechele....known to the rest of the world as Mark and Michele. 5 years after meeting, they tied the knot. And you just know they're a couple that will last...through anything.

But before I get to their beautiful wedding...let me take you back 5 years, and paint you a little picture of how these two crazy kids got together.

The year was 2006. Setting? Bangor, Maine. Or more accurately, Brewer, Maine. (Yeah, we didn't even live on the good side of the river) There were 14 of us consultants staffed on a 10 month project there, working with a small-ish hospital, and making the best out of the location of our work. Here we are:

(There was a giant Paul Bunyan statue in downtown Bangor, Maine...we ended up taking about a million pictures there in 10 months. The one above is us before we went to a Willie Nelson concert. We always managed to find/make fun in a less-than-desirable location.)

We lived in an old Tupperware factory (no joke), where we could all break into each other's apartments with just a credit card. Which led to much pranking (involving both the bride and the groom, among others)...the peak of which was toilet-papering the rental cars:

Anyway, I get side-tracked easily. Mark showed up about 3 months late to our project. And I'll never forget how he and Michele were drawn to each other immediately. They were very quiet about it at first...but I was super close with both of them, so they couldn't keep it from me for long. I was one of the only ones who got to see them together and hang out with them together while they were still a 'secret' to the rest of our coworkers. (I'm pretty sure more people than they thought knew all along...it was so obvious how into each other they were!)

Circa September 2006, here is me with the bride, sailing off the coast of Maine:

And August 2006, me with the groom, hiking in Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine:

The funniest thing about how close I was with both of them, was that Michele thought originally that Mark and I were into each other...and was close enough to me to ask me point blank if there was anything going on. I'm pretty sure I spit out whatever I was drinking at the time. Great friend? Absolutely. Anything more? Never.

Our little team was just set up for loooooooove. There wasn't always much to do up in Maine, so we all hung out with each other CONSTANTLY. A bunch of fun, attractive, smart, 20-somethings spending way too much time together? It's like shooting fish in a barrel. That project ended up producing 3 couples...all long-term...but Mark and Michele are the only ones that lasted. And now they're married!!

It was a beautiful wedding, and oodles of fun. Here are some of my choice shots from the big event:

1. It's kind of hard to see how great these two look together in this picture because I pushed my way in-between them...but trust me. They really, really do.

2. Pretty gorgeous bride, huh?3. Three of us Maine survivors! (There were actually 6 of us at the wedding in total)4. The longer it's been since you've seen each other, the harder you hug. 5. Hanging with other super awesome couples - the McPhersons!

6. Margaret actually used to be a Radio City Rockette. How sick do you think she gets of people making her do shots like this?

7. And last, but certainly not least...I was lucky enough to have the best date ever. Not to steal attention from the bride and groom or anything, but how good did we look? :) AK, you rock.

Luckily I don't have a picture of the bottom of my feet after spending the last hour-ish of the night dancing and running around barefoot. Not pretty.

So cheers to Mark and Michele, and a lifetime of laughter and love, and nothing but the best for them! Love you both so much.

Catch Up

In addition to my apologies and promise to get back at this regularly, I figured some of you might like to hear a brief synopsis of what I've been up to/what has been keeping me from this love of mine. Here is the high-level recap of the last few weeks in Lindsay-land:

1. Flying...what's new? (Gotta love all those 1st class upgrades though)


2. Disneyland! Running around and putting our mark on one of the happiest places on Earth!

3. Playing with my friends in L.A....when I get to actually be there (if you look real hard, you can see the Hollywood sign in the background!)


4. Work (which often doubles as 'having fun')


5. Catching Santa Monica sunsets...again, when I can actually be there for them!


6. Sunday-Fundays with amazing pals


7. General crazy antics


8. Celebrating Cinco de Mayo! In Winston-Salem, NC...not tooooooo far from the border...
(included a giant margarita race with AK....I ended up winning, obviously)

9. Creating new drinks (this is a patented LO and AK creation)...if you haven't heard the story of this one yet...it would serve you well to ask me about it :)


10. More general crazy antics....these never get old, right?

One thing I can say for sure is that my life is never dull. I don't blame all of you that tell me you can barely keep up with me and what I'm up to and what time zone I'm in...join the club! I can barely keep up with myself a lot of the time! But I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.