Because there is an entire wall of Walkens at the Aria, and I smile every time I walk past it.
It reminds me of this one I saw last summer while walking on 9th Street:
#vegas
finding time
It’s been almost a full month since I last checked in with this blog and I can’t explain how unhappy that makes me. I am basically good at multitasking and can take on a lot of different projects at once. But when it comes to sitting down to type – to open up my mind and heart – it just doesn’t come as easy. I find myself pushing it off: “I’ll do it tomorrow,” I ALWAYS says. The next thing I know, tomorrow is a month and I’m upset about it.
I love sitting down and sharing my thoughts, even if no one ever reads it. It feels cathartic. When I go too long without opening up, I start to feel blocked and anxious. I crave the release. After all, I am a writer.
Above all else, this blog is a way for me to stay in touch with friends and family at home and beyond. I have had a bunch of people tell me they like reading it to know where and am and what I’m doing.
Unfortunately, life gets in the way. My job is unbelievably time consuming and, at times, demanding. I also have an almost OCD relationship with working out – I must do SOMETHING active everyday, usually a long walk with my dog Riley on the Strip. If a day goes by without it, I feel insane. There are also the sporadic yoga classes which I’m working on being better about attending – but more on that later. I’ve also been going hiking as much as possible but even that stresses me out sometimes. I find myself getting agitated while driving to the trail and wondering if there was something better I should be doing with my time. I’m always happy once I’m doing it by sometimes getting there is the hardest part.
Aside from the work and workouts, there is weekly therapy (much-needed in this massively unbalanced city), research for an exciting new side project, impromptu road trips to LA, entertaining the ever-present (and much-welcomed!) out of town guests, phone calls with friends back East and, of course, many nights out. Too many? I’m trying to be better and stay home here and there, to catch up on the New Yorker, blogging and sitting still. It happens rarely. There is always something more fun, more interesting to do.
Plus, I’m still pretty new in town and meeting interesting people all of the time. Las Vegas is full of intriguing stories. I love hearing them all.
But I’m making the effort and doing the best I can. Hopefully soon I will find a routine that will give me some more free time. Hopeful but doubtful.
I just hope I can devote so more time to writing, opening up and slowing down, especially since it’s always what makes me feel the most balanced, calm and connected.
back from the dead
Well, it took me an actual month to recover from New Years. That and a few other disasters, but really New Years. And the aftermath, which I won’t get into here.
Being from NYC, I’ve had my share of crazy December 31st nights. Most years were spent bartending at Ava Penthouse at the Dream Hotel in midtown – where I made at least one rent payment and drank my weight in Patron – but nothing could have prepped me for the insanity of Las Vegas on New Years Eve.
First of all, it wasn’t just one night. It was 4…in a row. Til like 4 am every night. By the big night, I was dead. But considering we had newly impregnated Kim Kardashian and my secret crush Kanye showing up at 1 OAK to ring in 2013, I had to rally. Also, because it’s my job.
So off to the party I went. Since it was less than 24 hours after Kim announced that she was expecting, the red carpet was, well, slammed. And this happened.
But all went well, and the party was a huge hit (Leo, anyone?) but since I was working, I had exactly half of a shot. Still, I had a blast with my BFF from home, Jon, and my girls from work, Stephanie and Christina. There were party hats.
After the night was done and the pitching was complete, it was time to have a little fun. So off to the Cosmo I went. It was 9am when I started REALLY drinking. But since it’s Vegas, I was not out of place. My work friends came to meet up and we got the party restarted. And then it was off to the after party at my poker player neighbor Antonio’s apartment. He wasn’t even home but the party was raging nonetheless. I finally fell into bed sometime around noon.
After a quick nap, we rallied and hit the Wynn buffet where I ate about 10 plates of king crab legs. I never removed my sunglasses and wanted to sleep for a week but alas, it was party weekend. And so back to 1 OAK again that night.
I finally knew what a Vegas bender was. And it only took me a month to recover…
Reason I Like Vegas: #7
Because even in the winter, when it’s freezing cold, the sun is always shining. And sometimes the sky looks like this. #nofilter #allnatural
Reason I Like Vegas: #5
Because even an upscale hotel like The Bellagio carries beer pong paraphernalia in the gift shop.
walking in vegas
When I lived in NYC, I legit lost 8 pounds just walking everywhere. I had a membership to Equinox but I really only used it for rare 15-minute sessions on the stairclimber and to weigh myself on the scale in the locker room. What? Using the same scale every time is very important to me. Plus, I got a workout just walking there and back. Win-win.
But the real test was the 30-minute walks across town in 5-inch heels. Every single night. It started in the fall when the weather was (briefly) perfect but then I became obsessed with reaching all of my destinations on foot. I knew that in order to meet friends for drinks at The Spotted Pig at 9pm, I had to give myself exactly 13 minutes. Brunch on the Upper East Side? I laced up my sneakers for the 60 block trek. Cabs were reserved for those nights when I was just too exhausted – or drunk – to make it home by foot.
So when I moved to Las Vegas, I was terrified about losing my routine. First of all, everyone drives. Sometimes from one hotel to the one next door. Second, The Strip isn’t exactly the most ideal place to take a stroll – I mean, the slowest walking tourists EVER! – and the scenery (or lack thereof) doesn’t quite compare to the tree-lined streets o
f the West Village. Adult entertainment stores and desolate back alleys don’t exactly give me that fuzzy feeling.
But I was on a mission to maintain some semblance of one of the things that made me happiest in NYC. So I figured out a way to walk from my apartment to the hotels (over a very shady and possibly dangerous bridge) and vowed to use the lesser-known back entrances and pathways to hop between properties. Sure, it’s not the same – walking through a smokey casino isn’t ideal. But, just like in NYC, cabs have been used only for special occasions and I think I’ve finally figured out how to tackle this city on foot.
time to settle
When I first started writing about my time here on the West Coast, I vowed to give it a solid chance, to do my best not to compare it to NYC and to really just make a life here. And I truly feel like I have put so much energy into doing that – which hasn’t been hard because Vegas, and everyone I’ve met here, is actually pretty awesome.
But I’ve been here for 7 weeks now (O.M.G.) and had a realization this weekend – while I’ve set an intention to commit to living here, I haven’t totally acted on it yet. I love my friends from home more than anything in the world, but in some ways, making nightly phone calls to people back home and having lots of visitors has made it a little harder to REALLY connect with my new life. The friends who have visited from the East Coast have all been amazing, low maintenance and helped so much with my transition. But it’s like I’ve been on vacation since I moved. A really, really awesome vacation with some of the people I love most. But a vacation nonetheless.
Now it’s time for reality. I want to make friends here, learn more about the local hidden gems and stay home and watch TV once in the while. Fine, scratch that part. But it’s more about building a routine, something that makes me feel grounded and present, HERE.
Aside from a work trip to LA next week and 7 days in NYC for Thanksgiving, I’m going to stay put. There will be loneliness and I’ll surely be begging my friends from home to come see me, to ease any anxiety about my new life. And I will love when they come. But I’m ready to really, truly be a Las Vegan.
Going Confidently 