What a weekend! Hopefully the world knows by now that I moved to California a month ago. I haven’t really gone out much and dreaded the idea of staying in the apartment for the holiday weekend, especially since Citrix gave us Friday and the 4th off. I couldn’t let a 4 day weekend go to waste! So at the last minute (spontaneous as usual), I decided to fly to Los Angeles to visit my cousins. I booked my flight Thursday morning and left that evening after work. I hurried home, packed, and got to the airport only to find out that my flight was delayed THREE hours. So not cool. :( But I finally got to L.A. and settled in. I got to hang out with one of my favorite people, Jermell, who I haven’t seen in three years! I’m so glad we got to catch up. He’s the coolest of the cool. :)

I didn’t do much on Friday, just relaxed, and then my cousins and I drove to Las Vegas for another last minute trip. It was a three hour drive and a bunch of my cousins and I went in two cars. We got in pretty late on Friday night and stayed at Circus Circus, which is probably the most *ghetto* hotel on the strip (at ~$60 a night, you get what you pay for! lol). Then again, we only needed somewhere to crash for the night since we got in so late. My cousin Jessica stayed with me and we ended up checking into another hotel just off the strip. We had a suite, which was AWESOME. So much better than the Circus Circus room we got stuck in.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking the strip. It was SO hot. Nevada has this blistering, thick and unforgiving heat that just seeps into every pore on your body. I got to play a little poker but not for as long as I would’ve liked to since Jessica doesn’t know how to play and I didn’t want her to get too bored, lol. I didn’t get a chance to make any money!! After that, we went to a couple malls and I bought a dress and some fly black and silver heels. Those stilettos are WAY too tall (4″ heels) but SO comfortable and sexy! Plus, Jess is 5’11” anyway so wearing heels around her was awesome since I wasn’t towering over her like I was over everyone else. B)

After shopping, we rushed back to the hotel to get ready for Rihanna’s concert (which I found out about from a Billboard we saw while driving into Vegas; I purchased two tickets ASAP on my iPhone as soon as I found out, lol). We were late to the concert, of course, so we missed B.o.B.’s opening performance (womp) but luckily got there during intermission so we didn’t miss Rihanna. The show, I might add, was SPECTACULAR! Rihanna is so beautiful, although shorter in person than I thought she would be. She had her fire red hair and glittery (and minimal) outfits. Her voice actually sounded good, too (MOST of the time; it did crack every now and then but that’s to be expected!). She is full of so much energy and was really interacting with the crowd. She performed every one of her hit songs, although I wish she had performed songs from her first two albums (even though that was when she was more in her Caribbean stage and pre-pop icon era). She even came to the back of the arena and played the drums. That was cool, especially since we got to see her up close. We were in seats located towards the back side of the arena, but they were right above the floor seats so we had a pretty good view. I brought my camera to the concert but didn’t realize that the battery was dead, so I had to find pics on the internet from the show. Luckily I found some good ones. :) I asked the guy sitting next to us if he could send me his pics too, which he happily agreed to do. Hopefully he doesn’t forget!

After the concert, we hung out at the Luxor and got some drinks. I had my first drink since August, so it was a refreshing experience to say the least, but we had SO much fun! We went to Rihanna’s after-party at Club Nikki/Nikki Beach in the Tropicana hotel. That was SO much fun. I even ran into a guy I went to Cornell with which was crazy. Every time I go to Vegas (this was my 4th trip), I see someone I know. Ridiculous how small the world is. Anyway, he was there with some friends celebrating his boy’s birthday and they were in a VIP booth RIGHT next to Rihanna’s. I got to see her up close. She’s so pretty!!! Not sure how I feel about the red wigs, lol, but she’s still a gorgeous girl. I heard she got paid $100,000 just to show up at the club. Madness. Go girl!

We left Vegas Sunday afternoon and went to another casino in Nevada on the way back. I played Blackjack with my cousin Tony, which I just learned how to play, and made 100 bucks. Yay! Everyone hung out at Tony’s house after and tested some Fireworks. I’m such a punk. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the fireworks while they were being lit. But I love to watch them light up! ;D Hopefully Tony doesn’t get in too much trouble for lighting the fireworks. Apparently it’s not too legal in Cali. lol.

I flew back home (it feels weird saying that, since “home” was Florida for all those years) Monday morning. I didn’t really do anything for the 4th; I just relaxed and played Black Ops (of course). I was so exhausted from a busy but fun weekend. Now, back to reality!!!!