Saturday, May 22, 2010

Feeling Crafty!

I am so excited to share with you my crafty project I did. It's a mirror that I redid a little.

Now, I've had this mirror for a year. It just sat in the storage room. Not getting any attention. Why? You may ask...well because the lady I bought it from spray painted it. I got it from a garage sale, kinda just impulse buy I guess you can say. Well the lady I got it from spray painted the frame black. Not a pretty black....but an ugly flat black color. I honestly regretted buying it a few weeks after I did.

Recently I've been reading all these craft blogs:
http://www.remodelaholic.com/
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/
http://monkeyscandoittoo.blogspot.com/

So I decided to sand that ugly black framed mirror. If nothing else I wanted to give it a distressed look. And I ended up with this:


I totally forgot that the lady told me that the frame was originally silver and gold!! It looks SO nice! I am still in  awe with how well it turned out! What a blessing!

Here's a close up of the detail:


Sorry about the light. I did this at 10:30 at night, so the overhead light was turned on, making the room a lil more yellow. 

I LOVE how it turned out! My only regret: not taking a before picture. I bet if the lady would have taken some sandpaper to it, she would still have it! Pretty good for a $1 or $2 mirror! :D

My next craft involves a plastic graduation tray (Class of 2006! Yay! LOL) and some silver metallic spray paint. I'll let you know how it turns out! 

Target Finds!


Woohoo! I am still excited about the good deals I got at Target yesterday!! Here's what I got:


- 6 pack of Bounty Extra Soft Paper Towels
- Bleach
- 3 Kraft dressings
- 3 Crystal Lights
- 1 Nivea for Women Shower Gel
- 1 Nivea for Men Shower Gel
- BIC pens
- 2 things of ribbon
- 1 8-pack of greeting cards

I guess your wondering how much I paid for all these things, since Bounty and some of those things can be really expensive. 

Well I paid:
$16.49!!!

I saved: $29.23!! YAY!

Here's how I did it:

  •  3 Crystal Lights (regularly $3.94) on markdown for $1.97
    •  Had a $3 off of $3 coupon
    •  Had a $1 off of 3 Target Coupon
      • Made them $1.91 for all 3 boxes!!
  • Nivea  Shower Gels
    • Women Shower Gel- on clearance for $3.84
      • Had a $4 coupon
        • FREE
    • Men Shower Gel- on clearance for $3.84
      • Had a $3 coupon
        • Paid .84
          • Just got to say that I was totally blessed finding these. I've been wanting to try the women's one in that scent for a while. Then a normal bottle of the men gel was 3.99, I did not want to pay .99 for it. Instead I found 2 bottles and paid .84 for it!  Cheaper and I got more! :D
  • BIC pens - .99
    • Had a $1 coupon
      • FREE
  • 3 Kraft Dressings (regularly $2.69) on sale for $1.89
    • Used a .55 off of one coupon
    • Used a Target coupon B2G1 free
      • Made them $3.78 for all 3 bottles or $1.26 each
        • That's a good price for me, since Kroger's is usually in the upper $2 each.
  • Bounty Extra Soft Paper Towels- on clearance for $7.64
    • Had $1 Target coupon
      • $6.64- thought this was a good price since I usually buy them when they are on sale for $6.99 at Kroger. Plus we needed paper towels!
  • Ribbons and Notecards
    • These were normally $1.00 each(from the Dollar Spot). They were 50% off
      • Paid .50 each
  • Clorox Bleach- $1.87
    • Had .50 coupon
      • Made it $1.37


I am so excited about that Crystal Light! lol I paid .06 per packet. Now that's some affordable lemonade! :D

Mail Call!

This past week has been a pretty good week for mail freebies! Plus we had some goodies in the mail when we got back from Vegas!

First, when we got home, I got a package with this in it! I had won a giveaway a lil while back and this is what I got :)
- Seventh Generation bathroom cleaner, all purpose, wipes, paper towels, and caddy
- The Conscious Kitchen book

This also came in the mail. 
The Kraft kit, which included:
- 3 Wheat Thins
-3 Vanilla Carmel Latte things
- coupon for a FREE package of Premium Oscar Mayer hot dogs(normally $4.35 at our Kroger!)
- coupon for FREE Bullseye BBQ sauce

-I got a sample of Dr. Scholls insert...only for one shoe...but it has a $2 coupon with it

-John Freda samples, along with a coupon

- A nursing care sample. I got this to include in any baby shower gifts. It has a cooling ring with 3 covers. Pretty nice for free I thought!


Then I got this!
- 2 Cascade tabs
- Gillete Fusion Proglide razor!! I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. I thought it would just be a razor thrown in a box. 
- Gillete coupons


I am happy that my freebies are starting to come in now! For a while there I wasn't getting anything. Sure does make checking the mail more fun!


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Random Pictures

Apparently, I took a lot of pictures in Las Vegas that were random. I thought I'd post them for your enjoyment! :)

The one-armed bandit at Gilley's in Treasure Island. This is for Joey's Dad, Joe. (Slot machines are known as the one armed bandit)


Dolphin in the fountain at the Mirage


Joey and I in the Mirage Lobby, there were pretty trees and a waterfall!

Mirage Lobby


Huge Lion statue in the Caesar shops


I loved this fish's nose!


The beautiful tile that was in the Bellagio, as we waited in line for the buffet!


Decorations in the Bellagio. 


Random duck in the fountain at Caesar's. I think he enjoyed all the attention.


Entrance ceiling at the Wynn. Wynn was decorated w/ flowers, Encore was butterflies :)


Beautiful tile in Encore


Artwork in the Hoover Dam generator room. It is Indian symbol...I forgot what it stood for. There was another one that had a plug looking symbol in the middle. 


The beautiful mountains from our 50th floor view.


That's all :) Have a lovely day!

Las Vegas: Last Day

Wow, sorry it has taken me a while to write about the last day!! I've been super tired lately.

Friday was a good day. It started out a little hectic though. Before I was awake, at about 9:15, Joey found out that we were to check out at noon! Our flight didn't leave until midnight! Ack! I was just imagining us wheeling our luggage around with us the whole day.

So I got up, got ready, and we scrambled to get everything packed up. By 10:30 we were ready to check out. The awesome thing was Joey found out that the Bell Hop offered to hold our luggage until that night! What a blessing! :D So everything turned out well with the noon checkout after-all! :)

Once we checked out, we walked across the street (it's a farther walk than you think....walk through the Wynn, up to the bridge that crosses the street and down) to the Starbucks. I figured out on Thurs. that they have an amazing fruit cup! :D We got there and ate.

After we ate, we decided to see what shows the discount ticket place had, that was located across from Starbucks. We discovered that they had Blue Man Group tickets!! :D So we waited in line and bought tickets for the show that night! :)

After we ate, we decided to go back to the pawn shop where they film Pawn Stars, to try to see if we could go inside. We got there and there was a line!! lol A line for a pawn shop! I felt kinda sad for the EZ Pawn a lil ways down the street...no one was there! I think only 1 person in line had something to sell...the rest wanted to just see the shop. We didn't stand in line too long. We got inside and the pawn shop is not that big. Joey and I walked around and looked at the stuff. Guess who we saw!! :D We saw the Old Man! :) He was sittin' behind his computer...just like on the show! lol I couldn't get a picture bc he was where the register was, pictures weren't allowed.


After that we decided to go see the hotels we haven't seen yet, Excalibur, New York New York. Plus there was an M&M World I wanted to go to down that way.

We went to M&M World, it was super crowded! Then they had a Coca-cola store...it was over-priced lol There were neat things in each store though. We went next door to the MGM.


Joey had heard of a place there called Television City. So we walked around to find it. Television City is where CBS pre-screens their shows. It is totally free!! You sit and rate the show, it can be a totally new show (not on the air) or one that they already have on the air. You rate it as you watch.

Well.....we got such a BORING show to watch!! lol First of all, it was set in England...which I didn't like. Nothing against English people, but I felt detached from the characters. Then they had this really gross relationship with a 30 year old with a 70ish old. UCK! It wasn't all bad...some points were interesting. However depending on how we rated it, it might never show, might get revamped, or they might just run it anyway! lol

It was such a neat experience though, so I recommend it. You have to be at least 18 years old. Plus it is FREE! Free entertainment! :)

After Television City, we rushed to the Blue Man Group show. OH MY GOSH, it was SOOO fun! One point during the show I caught myself giggling like a little girl! :) I highly recommend this show! It is audience-involved...so if you just want to sit and stare...don't go. They walk in the audience, pull people up on stage...and whatever you do...don't be late!! We had people come in late and they shined a light on them and put their image up on the big screen. It was funny! Here's the band:
The people in the black suits...people didn't know they were there so they kept walking. 

After the Blue Man Group we almost literally ran to the Bellagio. We wanted to catch the fountain show at night. We almost, almost made it and it started. Both of our legs hurt from walking so fast, but it was fun! Sounds weird, but it was :)
So we decided to hang out in the Bellagio till the next show(10pm...an hour wait) We saw the next one. It was beautiful!!! 



Then while we were walking back, they did another show at 10:15! LOL I think on the weekends they do a show every 15 minutes! 

We walked all the way back to the Mirage, took the tram to Treasure Island...then walked to our hotel to get our luggage. 

While walking back, my leg started burning!! Like really burning! I get a heat rash on my legs when I get hot (during the summer usually). Plus my leg was swollen. By the time we were back to Encore, I was almost crying I was in so much pain. By the time we got to the airport I could barely walk. So my awesome, amazing husband pushed me in the wheel chair to our terminal. I took off my shoes and that seemed to help. Once we were in Houston, I could walk.  Don't worry I am all better now. I think my leg just missed Houston! :)

We had such a great time in Vegas!! :) I hoped you enjoyed reading about our adventure! 

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Pawn Stars and Fremont Street

So as you read, Friday morning we went to the Hoover Dam. It was really exciting and pretty! :)

Well that afternoon we decided we wanted to visit the pawn shop were they film Pawn Stars. It is a show on the History Channel basically about a family owned pawn shop and about all the interesting things they get in their shop.

Well we took the bus out to the pawn shop. Which is located between the strip and Fremont St.

When we got there, we were not able to go inside because they were closed. Not for just any reason, but because they were FILMING!! :D

We stood there and watched them film for about an hour!! It was so neat!

Here are some pictures:





We saw Chum Lee. He was leaving the shop.



Here's an insight to an upcoming episode. Some of you may recognize it, some of you may not. It's the A Teams van!!

We watched as they this shot about three different times. They had to close off the road so they could film it!









We saw Rick. They were shooting a scene with him walking into the shop.


The guy in the green is the director!

It was so neat!! When Chum Lee came out, there were a lot of weird middle aged women around us, so they were shouting his name and saying they wanted a hug or a picture with him. He just got in his car and drove away. lol I would have done the same thing. Crazy women!

Those women left by the time Rick came out. I thought it was so neat that we got to see them film a few scenes. :)

After filming was done outside at the shop, we left and headed to Fremont street. We walked around and waited for it to get dark so we could see the light show!



The Golden Nugget


At the entrance of a gift shop.



The cowboy and the cowgirl.
The cowgirl marks an entrance to a Gentleman's Club...but I liked the pretty lights and the cowgirl.

This is the sign that marks another Gentleman's club. But I thought the goose was cute :)


We then saw the light show. It was "American Pie". It was so amazing! To think that it is made out of little LED lights, it is amazing! :D I took a video, but Blogger is not letting me upload it. Boo!

Friday was a really fun day! Hoover Dam, Pawn Stars, and Fremont Street! :)

Monday, May 17, 2010

Hoover Dam!


Friday was an exciting day.

That morning we went to the Hoover Dam!!

We took a tour with the Pink Jeep Tour. They picked us up from our hotel along with some other couples and drove us there. It wasn't a long ride, only about 20 minutes there. Plus we got to see such pretty mountains!

Here's our tour jeep:

I took many pictures on the way to the Hoover Dam. 

                           Lake Mead


Pretty mountains!


As we drove over the Hoover Dam. The line is from the calcium in the water. 














The generators. They were 500 feet below the surface. Everyone taking the tour( not just people from our tour, but many others) got in an elevator with the guide. Tour guide: "Do you know our photo policy?" Everyone: "No" Guide:"Take all the dam photos you want" lol





The view down. Looking over the rail of the observation deck. Eek! It was really scary. Oh, I didn't tell you, I'm afraid of heights! I just put the camera over the rail and took the picture. 




I liked the story behind this. The little pile in the middle is a missile station. It was put there back in WWII just in case the Japanese decided to bomb the dam. It never happened, but it is still there!


The new bridge that is going to carry traffic over to Arizona. The lanes on the Hoover Dam are not sifficant enough to carry all the traffic. It is a 900 foot drop from the bridge to the water!
The memorial to the men who died. There were over a hundred that died. The tour guide said that there are much less reported deaths bc for it to be recorded, they had to die on sight. Most died at a hospital or on the way. 



"In Memory of Our Fellowmen who lost their lives in the construcition of the dam. Certified by the Boulder City Central Labor Council May (can't read the date)" 


This was a memorial to the Hoover Dam mascot. He was found as a puppy at the construction camp. The dog would travel with the guys to the dam each day. Sadly, he got ran over by a truck that he was sleeping under. However the guys gave him a special grave, which was right under this plaque. 

The Hoover Dam is definitely a beautiful place! I enjoyed it a lot!


Friday afternoon will be for another post! :)

Las Vegas: Day One

Why hello there! How has everyone been? Me, good just relaxing listening to the TV and watching the lightning outside. The kitties are sleeping.....

Just kidding, I will not make you wait any longer about telling you about Vegas! :D

Vegas was awesome! Tiring, but awesome.


Wednesday night we arrived at Las Vegas at 11 (1am Tx time). We left Houston at 7pm, went to Dallas, waited for about an hour and then boarded for Las Vegas. We got off the plane and went to our hotel. Since we did not eat any dinner yet, we were starving. So we found a little cafe in the Encore. We bought 2 bottled waters, Cheese Danish, Cinnamon roll, and a banana. You know how much that stuff cost us?! $20. Yep...$20!! The banana was.....$2.00!!! Oh my gosh! I could have bought a whole bunch of bananas for that! But we were so hungry that it was the best banana I have ever eaten! lol

Here was our hotel:







The view outside our hotel from the 50th floor:


How high we were:



Thursday :
We walked from our hotel (Encore) all the way down to the City Center! That is at least a mile, then we went through all of the Caesar's Palace shops and such. The funny thing about that mall is that when you get to the end....there is no exit!! You have to turn around and walk all the way back to where you came in! So we walked much more than a mile. I took a ton of pictures as we walked.

Our hotel was the Encore- on the left.


The Palazzo- It was featured on Build it Bigger on the Science channel :)


Treasure Island


Mountains


The Mirage

The creepy Siegfried and Roy statue outside the Mirage














The Venetian

Caesar's Palace




Paris


Bellagio

We got to see the fountains :) It was really pretty, even though it was during the day.



Here's the detail that was in the shops at Caesar's. It was so pretty!












Then for lunch, we ate Bellagio's buffet! It was SO yummy!! I had at some sword fish!! Joey had some really good Prime rib. It was great!

After all the walking we did, we decided to go back to the hotel. We were tired!

Then that night we went to a show at the MGM.

New York New York





Beautiful tile work in our hotel. I loved these butterflies, I thought they were so pretty!








It was a good day, full of walking, but I enjoyed seeing all the different hotels!


Friday's details to come a little later :)