After the exhausting flights from hell just to get to Sin City, the bf and I were beyond happy to leisurely wake up in each others arms the following day. Our Saturday was off to a fantastic start, and the only plans we really cared about at that moment was breakfast...

Cafe Bellagio

Cafe Bellagio is in the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens just adjacent to the Front Desk/Registration Area. There's always a line at Cafe Bellagio, but that's because it's so darn good! Everyone experiences Vegas differently, but I strongly suggest kicking your day off here--it's worth the hotel prices! The line moves quickly, too, and while waiting you can people watch or gawk at the creative themed creations they constructed that month. It was 4th of July weekend, so obviously it was very festive!

Once we were seated I ordered one of these.....

Grey Goose Bloody Mary

Mmm it tasted so good!!

For breakfast (brunch?) I ordered the Cafe Eggs Benedict...

It was AMAZING!

The bf opted for lunch;

Chili w/jalapeño corn bread

Would you like some corn bread w/your butter?

We were SO full after inhaling that yummy food, we had to walk around. Here are some pictures I took while we wandered around the Arboretum post-breakfast...

Fantasy Tree

This amazing 25 foot structure was handwoven in 3,000 hours using 60,000 Willow withies. Withies are grown in the English countryside and can reach up to 9 feet tall. It is harvested in the Winter months, and are traditionally used in basket weaving and thatching roofs!
  

Garden Birds...

Living Art Painting

This beautiful landscape is created using an assortment using 1000 stems of fresh flowers, including Sea foam statice, Thistle, Coffee Bean, Safari Sunset, Miniature Carnations, Kermit Mums, Celosia, Kangaroo Paw, and Boxwood.

Custom Blown Glass on the lobby ceiling

After marveling over all the beauty, we continued our walk on the Strip. It was clear, sunny skies, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees (it's a dry heat) and perfect weather for a pool party!



Around noon-thirty or so we met up with one of my friends and we headed for the Palms...



We had a sweet bungalow and partied like rockstars while judging people watching...


We ordered pitchers of delicious drinks..


And worked up an appetite again..



Intoxicated conversation lead us to watching the UFC fight at the largest strip club in the world (a.k.a. Sapphire) Up until this point I have never gone to a strip club, and in past conversations I always said I would only go to a strip club in Vegas. Crap. So, we left the Palms around sunset to shower and look sexy.


As a first timer, I was of course judging every second from the moment we pulled in to the parking lot. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little dirty.. but this place oozed VIP status. Bad word choice there, probably.  

My group was insistant I get a lap dance, especially because I was a strip-club virgin, and $60 later my boyfriend bought me one. Yeah, you read that right--Sixty Dollars... for a lap dance.. for me... Crazy.

What's funny (to me) is that the bf was very particular in who he picked, and the fact that this chic was $60 makes me curious if he's some kind of Stripper Expert, because all the other ladies were $20. OHH and the $60 included two songs, not just one. Yay me..

One word: awkward.

I had my arms to the side (thanks team for the pre-game prep-talk), but I didn't want to look at this girl, because that's just weird, and it seemed anytime I looked to my friends for help, they were in the own world! I couldn't stop laughing and when I looked around, dudes were staring, and I know they were perving out. The stripper had really soft skin though. Maybe that's why she was $60?

After spending $105 on drinks at Sapphire, we opted for $1 drinks at this dive karaoke bar just off the Strip. Then, after inhaling some greasy food and large quantities of cancer second-hand smoke, we bolted to the Wynn... Calvin Harris was screaming our name at XS so we thought we'd oblige...



There were MASSIVE lines on either side of the building at BOTH entrances to XS. The VIP/Reserved Tables sections were also lengthly, with at least an hour wait. We walk up behind the velvet ropes alongside the wall, blocking off the other lines being lead straight to the security guards blocking other people. We gave them our ID's like we were somebody special, and we were in. Ten minutes later we were sipping our drinks, enjoying the amazing vibe of Vegas courtesy of Calvin Harris... I heard they were charging guys $100+ that night... Ouch!

Have you ever been to Vegas? (I'm a Vegas pro, I've been visiting since I was like thirteen!)


Ladies, have you ever been to a strip club or received a lap dance?!


Gentlemen, defend yourself: why would you pay $60 for a lap dance?