Viva... Las Vegas!!

Our final week of school before heading into our 3 week break, was our first Student Council "Spirit Week." One of our themed days was "Wacky Day," check it out!

And what ended up being my favorite... "Rock Star Day." Normally, Rock Star Day gives me nightmares, because if you know me, I own NOTHING even remotely close to something a Rock Star would wear. I got into talking to my (fairly new) roommate Lily (have I told you about Lily yet?! I will in my next post... she is amazing!) who was beyond excited about this themed day, and told me she would take care of my outfit.

Did.
She.
Ever.

Students didn't even recognize me!
"Who is that?!"
"That CANT BE Ms. Buchheit!!!!"

It was
h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s.

See why, for yourself.

Yes, it happened.



A close up of my very clever, if I do say so myself, math tattoo:



Some pictures with some other teachers from around my school:

What a FUN week!

Moving on.

Then began our October break.
I spent a lot of time relaxing... and hanging out with my MOM!!! :)

Mom planned a visit out for my break... which was, as it always is, a BLAST! We spent quite a few days around Tucson, mostly doing a lot of shopping.


Do we look good or what?!

I also finally took my Mom up to Mt. Lemmon - which she has never seen. There was a tarantula there to greet us:





Whenever I have visitors to Tucson (well, most of the time) I always try and take them to the Starr Pass Marriott - a BEAUTIFUL hotel on the West side of town. Why is it so beautiful? They have a huge deck that overlooks all of Tucson, with a breath taking view. Mom and I discovered it on our first visit to Tucson, and have been going back ever since. It is just the perfect place to go and drink a glass of wine.

I was able to get a good deal on actually *staying* at the hotel overnight while my Mom was here, so I jumped on it. It was SO FUN to be able to relax at the pool all day (normally we're just staying on the deck) and then head to dinner and the deck later on without having to worry about driving home.


Except the pool part didn't go exactly as we had planned. See why:

Out of what seemed like nowhere, a huge storm blew in, and we ran to our room to watch.

It was VERY fun to watch... until....

A HUGE lightening bolt hit right over that hill to the left of my head. Not the far hill, the close hill. The thunder was SO LOUD! Mom screamed and ran into the bathroom. This is how I found her:

I kid you not.

After the storm blew over, we decided to go take a walk on the now empty golf course. We brought some wine and cheese, and found a nice place to sit. SO beautiful!

Did I mention this was only AFTER we spent an hour climbing through brush and cacti collecting golf balls? I don't even LIKE to golf, but seriously enjoy finding golf balls. It's like a treasure hunt!



At the end of the day, we headed to the hot tub - then the infamous deck. Except, I was EXHAUSTED! Did I mention I woke up at 6 that morning and ran 9 miles? I believe it was about at this point that Mom said: "OK, time to go back to the room."
We woke up the next morning, and enjoyed breakfast (there is a Starbucks in the hotel) followed by some more quality time at the lazy river.


Well, I enjoyed the lazy river, Mom gazed longingly at the golfers.


Anyways. After lots more shopping, relaxing and hiking with Mom we took off for VEGAS! It was upon entering the airport that we knew we were destined to have a great time.

The airline gave us each a free drink! I ordered a rum and coke. Except, it ended up being RUM with a DROP of coke. Strongest drink of my life.

A couple highlights of the trip -- we saw Cher, which was a LOT of fun! We also went to Chippendale's, yes the one and only. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of laughs.

The strip at night:


Doing some gambling....
Statue posing.....
Fountain observing....
Happy Hour drinking.....


Mingling with the locals:

Watching the Bellagio fountains:

And walking around the ever-so-pretty Wynn:

A romantic dinner at the Venetian:

Hanging out with some studs:

And a small detour to Paris:

Enjoying the sights from our room:


While all of these things were fun, none were the highlight of Mom's trip.
Mom's highlight was this:

But who, you might be asking, are they? They are none other than the caddies for the European Golfers in the Ryder Cup. Green shirt guy caddies for Lee Westwood. Cool, right?!


On our final night, we moved hotels and ended up at a little restaurant my Mom had read about online, Firefly. It was SO GOOD! You order appetizers only, and everything comes in small serving sizes. It was fun to try all kinds of different things.
We were also right next to a Hard Rock, which ended up being a lot of fun. We gambled on this one machine that LOVED US! It was a blast.


Such a fun trip. Really enjoyed having so much quality time with my Mom.
Can't wait for the next vacation!