Viva Las Vegas!

As the AP Coordinator at my school, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the 2013 Advanced Placement conference in Las Vegas last week, and even luckier that my mom was able to come with me for a little girl time! Last year, The College Board sent me to Orlando for the 2012 AP conference and it was great. When I returned, they sent me an email survey asking for my feedback, which I completed. Apparently there was something in there about the possibility of winning your trip to the 2013 conference, because in April, I was notified that I had been selected because I had filled out my survey the year before. What's the lesson here? Fill out those feedback surveys, people!

The conference itself was wonderful and informative (with the exception of one bummer of a session, but I guess I can't complain! ;), and equally wonderful were the accomodations at The Venetian Resort, and the super special time with my mom. We never get the opportunity to relax together!

Our suite at The Venetian. It was gorgeous! There was so much room, we almost didn't need it all. But we sure enjoyed it!

I was in love with this bathroom. It was HUGE. I have stayed in NYC hotel rooms that weren't as big as this bathroom ;) There was a separate toilet area, a whirlpool tub and a glass-walled shower. I definitely have bathroom envy.

I asked a fellow tourist to take this photo of my mom and me in front of our hotel. Little did I know I had selected the worst picture-taker on the entire strip. Even after cropping out her finger over the lens, it's still not a very satisfying photo ;)

The Grand Canal, complete with singing gondoliers. If it weren't for the incessant blinking billboards, you could almost believe you were in Venice.

Friday night, The College Board hosted this amazing celebrity mixer - look who was there in support of the AP program!

Matthew McConaughey: "So, how many AP classes is your school offering this year?"

Me: "Hum-in-ah-Hum-in-ah-Hum-in-ah. I'm sorry, what?"

Me: "Leo, I am super-psyched to try out these strategies for growing our AP program!"

Leonardo DiCaprio: "Do you see that hot girl over there?"

Me: "Tim, what do you think about pre-exam administration sessions?"

Tim McGraw: "I like it, I love it, I want some more of it."

Lighten up, Bobby, you're so serious!

Just kidding, we went to Madame Tussand's wax museum.

We couldn't leave Vegas without playing some slots. Neither of us was very adventurous - we prefer our money in our wallets! But, I did find a machine I liked, and a few bets in, I saw lucky sevens! So I took my $3.50 and walked away ;)

Mom, unfortunately, did not have any luck!  

A crazy desert storm rolled in on Friday night. We were watching the (really lame and slutty) pirate show at Treasure Island, when an insane wind kicked up and a wall of dust came roaring down the street. People were scurrying everywhere looking for cover, which is when we ducked into the wax museum. While we were inside, a torrential rain blew in, and the museum was taking on water, so we had to leave. It turns out, pretty much everywhere was leaking...back at the resort the elevators were closed because water had flooded in from the pool deck and was coming down the shafts!

This was the view from our window the next morning...all the lounge chairs had blown into the pool!

So, all in all: Vegas is certainly a unique place, but I think seeing it once was definitely enough for me. But, the time with my mom rocked and I definitely hope that there are more girls' weekends in our future! We ate great, relaxed, saw some sights (and there's no shortage of them in Sin City!) and had the time we so rarely get in day-to-day life to really converse - without interuption and not about my child's sleeping habits ;) Where to next year, mama? Oh wait, at this time next year, I'll have two kids, which means I'll need a getaway twice as bad, but it'll be half as easy to take it.