Reflections on Vegas

So many good things to report from Sin City. Typically what happens in Vegas stays there, but not this time.

I was able to meet some great new people from around the world and reconnect with a few fabulous people, too. I guess that is always the most important thing about the BBW bash circuit -- the people. Some go to dance, to swim, to buy clothing, to get laid, to drink, etc. I just go to connect on some level with others who attend.

This year I was touched by a couple of beautiful individuals who let me know what a difference this site has made in their lives. One, an FA and the other, a BBW. Two completely different perspectives on how, through the years, this site has changed their personal views and even changed their lives. I was, and am, very, very moved. Thank you for letting me know. I'm ever so grateful and I think I failed miserably in trying to convey this to them at the Bash. Thank you, thank you. You give me strength and purpose to continue.

To my friends with whom I reconnected, I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see you in the flesh again. No matter how much time I had with each of you, it really wasn't enough. It never is. I wish you could all move a bit closer so that we could get together more often. Seriously. Salt Lake City....consider it, please?!

The BBWNetwork bash hotel was always abuzz with bustling bbws. There's such a sweet feeling knowing you're not the only fat person in the pool, casino, restaurant, or hotel. So many other fat bodies to oogle and admire. I always appreciate that.

Gamble, Gamble! I won 400 on a penny machine at the Tuscany on the first night of gambling. One the third night, I won another 300 on the very same machine. Glinda, the good witch was very, very nice to me. I wish I had clicked my heels and left Vegas before I was able to gamble most of that away! Note to self -- do not win early in a Vegas trip. Win only on the last day. It makes gambling much more fun that way. Oh, and while I'm at the noting, please remember to wear sun screen when spending hours and hours chatting in the pool. Thank you.

I didn't spend my entire Vegas trip at the temporary fat mecca of the Tuscany. Only about half was spent there. After I left the bash, I headed to the Palace Station to stay -- comp nights -- can't beat the price! It's funny leaving the ~safety~ of the bash hotel for another hotel. Suddenly, I was one of the fattest around. I captured the eyes of non-admirers and it made me suddenly self-conscious. Luckily, there is this casino maintenance guy that is there every time we've been there. It's sooo obvious he digs me and the other fatter patrons. He's a gentle reminder that you never know where an FA may turn up (note to the single women!!)

Fat friendliness was all over Vegas this trip. We stopped at a rock shop on Flamingo, I believe. The attendant was completely flirtatious with his questioning. Funny, too, he would stop asking questions every time Ivan would come around me. Too fun!

Finally, just before we got in the car to head home, one last bathroom stop at the Palace Station. I was doing my thang and I got a couple of texts from the fam back in Salt Lake, so I was taking a little while to respond. Upon leaving the stall, I see this average size, blonde woman staring at me. I do my "kinda smile" and walk towards the sink. She looks at me and says, "I don't know if this is appropriate or not, but I just wanted to tell you..."

I thought, "Oh gawd, she's going to try to sell me on a weight loss program."

She continues, "I just wanted to tell you that I think you're beautiful and that you should never believe it if anyone tells you otherwise. I know it seems odd, and probably not appropriate but I just had to tell you, just don't believe them."

Blow me over with a feather. I did not see this coming. She seemed really kind of nervous. The kind of nervous when you tell someone that you have always been in love with them, or the kind of nervous when you ask someone out. Now, it does strike me as odd that she was watching my stall while I was texting -- I'm sure she wondered what takes someone so long?! Aside from that, it was a fabulous encounter. I thanked her and told her it wasn't inappropriate. Who doesn't like to hear they're beautiful in someone's eyes?!

As I left the casino, I saw her again, with a young man about her age and I thanked her again. What a great way to end the trip to Vegas.

Not to be outdone by Nevada

...well, actually, it has been outdone by Nevada (see this post from a few weeks ago). I'm starting to wonder if there's not some sort of issue with desert air and the need to display old shoes on trees? This beauty was found in Milford, Utah. In the middle of the small town, not in the middle of *nowhere* as the Nevada shoe tree was, so that probably accounts for its diminutive size.

Trash to Treasure

 

 

Ivan took these photos of the famous "Nevada Shoe Tree" this past weekend. This shoe tree is in the middle of "nowhere Nevada". Seriously far from any city of significant size. I do think it's really thoughtful to offer up shoes to Mother Nature (or wandering people lost in the desert for that matter.) While part of me thinks "what a waste of a perfectly good tree...oh, and shoes, too", the rest of me is thankful for odd traditions in our American landscape.

Las Vegas Show Tips for Fat Chicks

For those of us in the "fatter than average" category, oftentimes going to theatrical shows can be a problem. Live theaters are often fitted with the smallest seats on Earth. It's been years since I've been to a Broadway production in NYC, but man, I still remember the pain of the cheap, nosebleed TXTS seats we had for one performance. The seats were ultra narrow and the rows were just as narrow. I spent two + hours crammed into a seat with my thighs around the head of the person in front of me. No where to move. Aaack.

Anyway, for my recent birthday, I wanted to go with my friends to a show in Vegas that would be accomodating for the fatty-puffs in my crowd. The two that came up in my searches were the couch seating for Zumanity and the Wynn's VIP seating for La Reve. Zumanity was dark that week, so no luck there. La Reve showed no seats available for the nights we were there. Booo. I didn't have a lot of lead time, so I didn't find any other spots available. So, I pretty much trashed the idea.

To make a long story short, my sister ended up calling around while we were down there. She found out that La Reve had one VIP seat available and the rest of the party could sit in the row directly in front. BONUS! So, yeah, because it was my birthday celebration, I got the VIP ticket with champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, my own sweet waitress, an LCD screen with underwater action...and...and...the most comfortable live theater seat I've ever experienced. ME! The fat chick! Comfortable at a live theater performance! Yeah, it was a good night! The champagne was good and the strawberries weren't half bad either.

The only drawback to the VIP seating -- the price. If you're going for a special occasion, the $200 isn't tooo...tooo...toooo bad. It's only ~$50 more than the regular seats, so if you're fat and fabulous (or even just fabulous) and looking to have a sweet water-filled theater experience in Vegas, check it out! Even the regular seats were larger than typical seats, not super comfortable for super-size, but not bad for average size people. Oh, and, I love the Wynn as a casino and restaurant stop, too -- extra comfy slot chairs and yummy food. A great all around experience in Vegas! Here's info on the show at the Wynn.

Arches National Park

If you're looking for something to see this summer and you happen to find yourself in southern Utah, I heartily recommend Arches National Park. My most recent visit was yesterday with my sister and my step-daughter. It showed me even more things than I had missed in my previous visits. Everytime I go, something new pops into view. There really is so much to see, and it has this "other world" feeling that you don't find just anywhere. And for $10/car for admission, you can't find much cheaper family entertainment.

I hope to make a camping trip of it this summer. Baking in a tent on some purty red rock sounds like fun at this point. Of course when it's 120 this summer, it may not sound like such a huge blast, but I'm sure that pretty red rock will keep me warm at night! Anyway, check it out when you get a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Touring with Friends

  I've been busy the last couple of days visiting and touring around with a couple of friends of mine from Minnesota. During our little day trips to the Golden Spike, the Idaho border, Evanston, Wyoming and the canyons in the Wasatch valley, we've been had the pleasure of seeing a LOT of wildlife. Pheasants, deer, mountain goats, elk, and moose are all closer to the roads due to the overabundance of snow in the mountains. Their misfortune, while beyond my control, is not beyond my sympathy nor my camera lens. I'm hoping that the warm weather we're experiencing now brings them closer to plentiful nourishment.

Bodies the Exhibition - Part 2

Way back in November of 2005, I was writing about this exhibit in my blog (see this link). I was dreaming of possibly being able to see it. Well, I actually got to see it a few weeks ago. Yay!

I don't think it has come to Utah yet, but luckily for me, a quick weekend trip to Vegas in mid-December paid off big. No, I didn't win any money, but as I mentioned, I got to have a little gross-out fascination tour at the Tropicana.

When you first see the full bodied display, there's a "ewwww" factor, but for me, it quickly turned into pure fascination. Bodies are really quite the groovy machine. A vessel that carries us for quite a long time all the while growing, changing and moving with great precision. Seeing the innerworkings in all their glory was -- to use my overused term -- awesome.

I did wonder, too, about whether or not it was ethical to use prisoners for this, and whether or not anyone really granted permission, but when I thought about it, what a great way to leave this world. Sure, your bits are on display, you've been cut to shreds, but how fortunate to be able to give to humanity in this way. We all should be so lucky.

Bottom line, GO if you get a chance to see the show in your neck of the woods.

Fat Woman Goes Around the World

This is just one example of a fellow fat chick taking the world on with a healthy dose of self-esteem: Where is Geri http://www.whereisgeri.com/ is a blog written by a woman I've known off and on at fat friendly events in Minneapolis. When I was at Kim's wedding last month, Geri told me of her plans to go on a grand adventure around the world. She found the timing, finances and ~everything~ had aligned to make it possible to follow this dream. I'm so overwhelmingly happy (and jealous, in a good way) that she's doing this. I should mention, too, that she's doing it alone. All around the world, alone. I believe she said she was going to catch up with a few familiars in various countries, but by and large, she'll be on her own. Just freakin' impressive!! Anyway, she's going to blog her journey at her site. I hope that you all stop in and read about her year-long adventure. Isn't it just awesome?!!? Go Geri!!

Things I Learned on My Autumnal Vacation

The first thing? Photo booths at wedding receptions are AWESOME. At Kim & Chester's wedding (Congrats by the way!!), they had the booth by PartyBooths.com, a parcel of silly props, and several hours of booth availability to take fun shots. It was a great diversion for guests and it kept wee ones very busy. Not only that, but the typical party favor of a few Hershey's kisses on a stick is now a very personalized remembrance photo(s) instantly printed out for guests who participate. OH and another brilliant idea? The bride did a "dollar photo session" -- similar to the "dollar dance" where you get one-on-one attention with the bride/groom on the dance floor -- only with this, you pay (ahem...DONATE) to get a photo taken with the bride. FUN stuff! For their money, the bride and groom also get a CD with all of the photos taken at their reception ...and all of the photos are also availble online for all of the guests to see, too. I really can't recommend this idea enough.

Next item -- Minnesota can be WARM in October. I was thinking it would be oh, I dunno, 60ish for highs. Au contraire. 80s! So, there I sat with a huge suitcase full of cool weather clothing and only one short sleeve shirt. Yeah, poor planning on my part.

Next item -- Working in the office...no matter how hard I try...ends up being a LONNNNNG week with very long hours. I worked for half of my time in Minnesota and I was ever so grateful that I planned a week off after HELL week which was filled with training, meetings and many more meetings.

Next item -- Attending a meeting in person became very important due to the unique announcement that started it off. If I had been on the phone listening in, I'm quite sure I would have been saying, "What? What did she say? I really misheard something. Please tell me what she really said..." I know some people from work read this, so I won't be divulging the particular surprise publicly. Trust me when I say it's an amazingly unique announcement. I really feel a lot of sympathy for the couple involved as it's a very complex situation. I hope all turns out well for them.

Next item -- My coffee obsession had me traveling all over small northern and central Minnesota towns in search of a good mocha..."Is there a Starbucks here? A Caribou? A Dunn Brothers? Anyone??" Sadly, in towns under 15,000, trustworthy coffee chains are VERY hard to find.

What was NOT hard to find -- BIG stuff (http://www.biggirlbigstuff.com). Which reminds me I really need to update that site! I've got several entries from the summer contest, several from Kimmy and now several happen-upons from my autumnal tour of small town Minnesota. I "captured" a fish, Robin Hood, a bowling muffler mand as Paul Bunyan and his trusty Babe with bowling pins in its mouth, a deer and a sea serpent --- all without even trying to find 'em. I did see a giant hot dog on a roof, too, but it was raining and we were cranky. That will need to be "captured" another time.

Finally, my hubby can be pretty brave. While traveling into a small town, we noticed that a house was just starting to catch fire and that no one was stopping to even investigate the situation. He turned the car around and parked out front. At this point, he jumped out of the car and was going to make sure no one was stuck inside. I told him to NOT open the front door as that's where most of the smoke was coming out. By the time he got to the front of the house, a cop car pulled up...and immediately following him...a distressed homeowner. She had just gone into town a scant few minutes before this. She shouted out that no one was inside except for her cat. So, Ivan came back to the car unscathed and we watched the firetrucks pull up. It took them quite a while to even get water to the hoses, and by that time, it was looking REALLY bad for the house. The photo shown here is my hubby to the right and the homeowner getting consoled by the police prior to the firetrucks arriving.

The Winds Were A-Blowin'...

Just a quick embarassing story for ya'll:

Yesterday we were out on a wee little ghost town and rock hounding expedition with a friend of my hubby's. Every so often when you're ~out there~ you need to...ahem...use "the facilities". A true call of nature, ya dig? My usual way to accomplish this task when an hour's drive from anywhere with a porcelain god, is to open the side doors of the Jeep to block the view from at least two angles, wait until no one is behind me and then drop the undies and crouch down to pee. A fine and dandy way to accomplish the task at hand...usually.

Yesterday's wind was fierce. I opened the front door and it blew back toward me. Fine, I opened it all the way and figured when I was crouched down, I'd hold the door open. I had to do without the passenger door. Fine. Not many peering eyes around anyway...at least none that I noticed. I let go of the door to drop the undies and a HUGE gust blew...the door slammed shut and caught the majority of my skirt, too. There I am, undies at my knees, my skirt stuck in the door and up around my bum. I try to open the door. No go. I pull harder. No go. Great. Now what? I check the lock. Nope, not locked. I pull harder. No go. At this point I'm fearing that we will need to abandon the skirt in the door when we leave. Ok, I call to Ivan who was quite a distance away.
"Come here!"
He's looking at me through the glass. I'm trying to signal over the top of the Jeep. He gave me a puzzled look and then came over. He's no slouch when it comes to using muscle power, but he had to YANK a couple of times to get it to come loose. Freedom!

Just a crazy situation. I'm so happy to be free!

Popular Tourist Attraction MeMe

I don't do MeMe's very often, but you know, to fit in, I better do one. Ok, here's a list of frequently visited touristy spots in the world, followed the the annual number of visitors. For your edification (a little too strong of a word, really) and relief of boredom (again, relief?? Doubtful), I've bolded the ones I've been to:

1. Times Square, New York City, NY: 35 million visitors every year
2. National Mall & Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C.: About 25 million
3. Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.: 16.6 million
4. Trafalgar Square, London, England: 15 million
5. Disneyland Park, Anaheim, Calif.: 14.7 million
6. Niagara Falls, Ontario and New York: 14 million
7. Fisherman’s Wharf/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, Calif.: 13 million
8. Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea, Tokyo, Japan: 12.9 million
9. Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France: 12 million
10. Disneyland Paris, Marne-La-Vallee, France: 10.6 million
11. The Great Wall of China, Badaling area, China: About 10 million
12. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina: 9.2 million
13. Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan: 8.5 million
14. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, Paris, France: 8 million
15. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France: 7.5 million
16. Everland (amusement park), Kyonggi-Do, South Korea: 7.5 million
17. The Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China: At least 7 million
18. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France: 6.7 million
19. Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, Fla: 6 million
20. Sea World Florida, Orlando, Fla: 5,740,000
21. Pleasure Beach (amusement park), Blackpool, England: 5.7 million
22. Lotte World (amusement park), Seoul, South Korea: 5.5 million
23. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Japan: 5.4 million
24. Hong Kong Disneyland, China: 5.2 million
25. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France: 5.1 million
26. Tate Modern, London, England: 4.9 million
27. British Museum, London, England: 4.8 million
28. Universal Studios, Los Angeles, Calif.: 4.7 million
29. National Gallery, London, England: 4.6 million
30. Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY: 4.5 million
31. Grand Canyon, Ariz.: 4.4 million
32. Tivoli Gardens (amusement park), Copenhagen, Denmark: 4.4 million
33. Ocean Park (amusement park), Hong Kong, China: 4.38 million
34. Busch Gardens (amusement park), Tampa Bay, Fla.: 4.36 million
35. Sea World California, San Diego, Calif.: 4.26 million
36. Statue of Liberty, New York, NY: 4.24 million
37. The Vatican and its museums, Rome, Italy: 4.2 million
38. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia: More than 4 million
39. The Coliseum, Rome, Italy: 4 million
40. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY: 4 million
41. Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Calif.: 4 million
42. Empire State Building, New York, NY: 4 million
43. Natural History Museum, London, England: 3.7 million
44. The London Eye, London, England: 3.5 million
45. Palace of Versailles, France: 3.45 million
46. Yosemite National Park, Calif.: 3.44 million
47. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt: 3 million
48. Pompeii, Italy: 2.5 million
49. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia: 2.5 million
50. Taj Mahal, Agra, India: 2.4 million

Clearly, I haven't left the continent. I ought to change that at some point. If I were a terrorist, I would think a list like this would give me a good place to start when considering the greatest impact in terms of human lives. Note to self -- avoid the above when feeling a little hinky about terrorism.

I Have Proof!

That's right, photographic proof that I was at the Vegas Bash at the end of July. Look at the photo here. You'll see me behind the winner at the dice tourney. Lucky dude! You can see the "official" BBWNetwork Bash photos here. By the way, I neglected to put week's Photo Selection up. I will do so upon my return home. I don't have the photo on my laptop, dangit, and the pix are 500 miles away. Bummer.

News and What Not

I’ve got lots of tidbits that I’ve been meaning to post, but haven’t had time to do so:

 

v                    While flying back from Minnesota last week, I fell asleep. I awoke to a two year old staring at my over the chair in front of me. We had a little face-off where we would make faces back and forth. Good stuff. Then he started telling me about his family and his dad’s deer, etc. Pretty verbal for a two year old. He went back to his family for most of the remainder of the flight. After the plane landed, he looked at me again and said, “Pop-pop and gamma are picking me up. Wanna come?” How cute was that?! I told him I was getting picked up by someone too, but thanks for the offer. Yeah, I’m a hit with the two year olds.

v                    I was flown into Minnesota for a service awards program put on by my work. I’ve been with ‘em for 10 years! Aaaack! Time flies. But ya’ll knew that, right?

v                    The week before last, I was diagnosed as being “hypothyroid”. So now I’m the fat chick with a thyroid condition. In the old days, didn’t all fat people say, “I have a thyroid condition. That’s’ why I’m fat?” It kind of struck me as funny and also struck me as, “DUH, I bet I’ve had this for quite a while.” I have lots of reasons to think that after looking at the list of symptoms for low thyroid production online. As far as I can remember, I’ve never been tested for it. I’m hoping that the Synthroid (read ground up piggy thyroid) is a miraculous energy producer. We’ll see. It’s supposed to take several weeks to “build up” in my system.

v                    Happy Cinco de Mayo! We’re doing a little party here tonight with a wide variety of Mexican and Amero-Mexi food offerings. Gotta love it!

v                    Oh, a funny thing at the doctor. The intake nurse asks, “How tall are you?” I said, “I’m 5’5”. “How much do you weigh?” To which I replied, “150, give or take.” Her head whipped around so fast, I thought her eyes were going to pop out. I’m not sure if she *really* thought I thought I weighed 150 or what. Good times all around though. J

A couple of things from my trip to San Diego/Las Vegas...

Worthy of note:

• While being seated at a little hole-in-the wall restaurant in San Diego, the host says, "Have you been here before?" Ivan, answering someone else in our party says, "Yes." Host says, "Huh, I don't remember seeing you before." Apparently, said host lives 24-7 at the restaurant and has a brilliant memory.
• Odd jewelry still amuses me. While at the antique bottle show, I came across a woman selling vintage jewelry. We spotted a vermeil fish pendant from the 30s. What makes it odd and cool? The thing is 3-D and the tail moves much like a real fish does. Also the mouth opens and closes shut. Hard to explain, really. Suffice it to say that whomever designed it had a keen sense of architectural integrity and a love for the odd, much like me. Yeah, so I *had to* buy it.
• Money enters slot machines easier than it comes out.
• The Point Loma cemetery in San Diego made me think that there are far more dead people than alive and yet looking at a military cemetary of this magnitude makes me wonder where all of the bodies are. I mean, the cemetary is HUGE, but in reality it's a drop in the dead body bucket.
• Big Things are hidden everywhere. I did some research and asked on web boards about BIG things in San Diego and between SD and Las Vegas. No one mentioned the giant fireman hat in Barstow. We just accidentally found it while looking around the town. Yay! I love finding the little known ones. Kinda like finding hidden treasure.

Frisco, Utah

We went back to Frisco. This being our fourth time there. This ghost town is HUGE. The first three times, we didn't even see half of it. This past Saturday, however, we made it to the main mine area, saw the collapsed mine, some of the mining structures and a whole bunch of additional home structures. I like the different types of home construction used at Frisco. Wood, rock, metal and brick, and various combinations of those. It seems none can fully withstand degradation due to nature's wrath or vandals. The western portion of town that we viewed on Saturday is further away from the road and thus, less hit by vandalism. There was much to see! I'm attaching a few of the pictures I took to this post. Click on it to see full size. I can't wait to go back! I ran out of disk space on my CompactFlash card and missed a lot of photo ops, including the spooky cemetary.

Catching up...
This past weekend, I went up to the Northwoods of Minnesota, specifically to Lake Itasca State Park. For those of you unfamiliar with the significance of Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca. Here, you can cross the river, and if you fall in, you won't be dissolved in the industrial chemicals that pollute the river a wee bit further downstream. A group of us stayed at a GORGEOUS two-story log cabin in the park. It's quite a steal, actually, because for ~$350/night, you can sleep 21 people. Plenty of bathrooms, bedrooms, air conditioning (if you want) and a beautiful fireplace in the center of the great room. The only thing that disturbed me about the place was the balcony on the second floor. The railing on the balcony was low...just about hip high. If I were to take a spill on the rug while walking toward the railing, my center of gravity would easily swing me over the ledge and down to the great room below. It wouldn't be pretty. :-)