Who: Me, Cynthia, Kathy, Shine, and Madeline
When: Feb 16th - 19th
Where: Caesars Palace
What: PTO time!! Everyone needs a vacation... why not in Vegas?!
THURSDAY: Went to work with my suitcase that was over packed. I was supposed to get off at 4pm but didn't leave until 5:10pm. My flight was at 6:15 out of SFO, and I had to HAUL ASS!! Fortunately, I got on the N-Judah to get to the Embarcadero BART station. Not only was I COMPLETELY cutting it WAY too close, there were little things that made me cut it even closer.
1) Not purchasing my BART ticket in advance
2) Not printing out my boarding pass
Fortunately, I caught all the trains to get to the airport right when I got to the station. I got to SFO at 6:05 and RAN to the security gate where the line was wrapping around multiple times. I was anxious and antsy at that point... hoping that someone would just let me to the front.... It didn't happen. I waited 15 minutes to get to the front and was on the phone with Cythnia the whole time trying to get her to halt the plane from taking off.
After passing through security, I ran to my gate and just as they closed the door after everyone had boarded I asked if I could board the plane since it didn't take off yet. I was SOOO LUCKY because she was like, "Are you Ms. Lee?" I replied panting, "YES!!!!!!! Can I get on that plane... PLEASE!!!"
That began the Vegas fiasco... We all arrived at around 9ish and checked in with my cousin who works for Caesars. He hooked us up with some discounted rooms and later a free meal at Cafe Lago. He's the bomb!
FRIDAY: Woke up at 9:30pm to go swimming in 50 degree weather. It was actually pretty sunny and quite warm despite the true temperature. We pretty much had the whole pool area to ourselves. Madeline and I layed out. I got a slight tan. After the pool, we went to eat at the Bellagio (lunch) buffet and stayed there for a long time. Shinie claims it is the best buffet (dinner buffet) on the strip, but I think otherwise. I still think that Paris's lunch buffet is the best. Later in the day, we went to the premium outlets that were just 10 minutes from the strip to go shopping. All of us spent money and had a good time. Some of us may have spent too much, but hey, they were good deals!
FRIDAY NIGHT: We began our night at Tao in the Venetian. The place was gorgeous, however filled with many buddas. I don't know how I feel about that, but nonetheless, it was decorated to the theme of the club. Go-go dancers all around and a pretty nice view of the strip from the balcony area.
We had a pretty good time especially when we met some hotties...
Since Madeline had hook ups at the Palms, we left Tao and went to Rain. We knew one of the club hosts, and he hooked us up with VIP wristlets and gave us access to the VIP area. I got used to being VIP after a while, especially when everyone is very nice to you and everything's free. Not having to wait in line was the best part!
After Rain, we went up to Ghostbar and chilled there. Met a shady guy who was a Cal alum and now in med school, but other than that, it was NICE. I loved the view. It's definitely a cool place to hang out, especially after work if people go there after work.
We came back to Caesars to check out PURE since we met a VIP host at the front entrance earlier in the day and he hooked us up with some passes. PURE was really nice. There are 4 different areas to dance with different music in each room. One of the rooms was the Pussycat Dolls (PCD)Lounge, and they put on a show there every weekend. There was a huge second floor that was basically the rooftop open to the strip. We didn't stay too long because we were extremely tired.
We went back to our hotel room, and I ordered a $3.69 thermas full of hot water to eat the ramen that I purchased at CVS because I needed cash and didn't want to pay an ATM fee.
SATURDAY: We woke up at noon only to find ourselves extremely hungry. We couldn't decide what to do or where to eat. After an hour of laziness, we just decided to eat at the Wynn buffet. We did it Chinese style where we paid for lunch but got a dinner buffet. We went there at 3:30pm when lunch just ended and dinner didn't start until 4pm.
The presentation at Wynn was excellent. The variety was decent, however, they had some special things that I wasn't expecting like congee with chinese donuts, chow fun, lamb chops, and even special drinks like the fruit punch concoction. The Wynn is just opulent! The tables were all real stone, the seats where crocodile, (at least I think they were). I loved the floors and all the hanging flowers or lights throughout the hotel. All in all, it was a good looking hotel that definitely had an emphasis on targeting wealthy Asian business clientele.
We went back to Caesars, and although Shinie and I thought we would play poker before heading to PURE, we opted to get ready first, especially since we knew that Paris Hilton was going to have her 25th Birthday Party there. Prior to getting ready, I had made the call to the VIP host to get us all on the guestlist. I should have known to go out of my way to meet up with him right before so that there wouldn't be any problems when we got to the door. Nevertheless, when we got there, there was long line to get in whether you were on the guestlist or not since there was a red carpet and "celebs" got access into the club first.
While waiting in line, we saw Paris enter the club. When Cynthia and I went to speak to the bouncer, we saw Rick and Kathy Hilton leave the club. While still waiting in line, we heard the PCD sing their hits and Happy Birthday to Paris. I got pretty frustrated after waiting an hour and not getting hooked up. Eventually we got into PURE at midnight and experienced the Paris Hilton & Hilton family show. There were definitely more men than women in the club and everyone had their eyes on them in the main room where they were. We went and chilled at almost every room for a bit because all of us couldn't stand the egos of the Hiltons. I must say that it was an experience. I have lots of pics and even a video. I loved it when Kathy Hilton was obviously drunk and explaining the slide show that she had put together for Paris. When a pic of Paris and Jason Shaw (her ex from a long time ago) came up Kathy said, "And that's Jason with Paris, isn't he cute. I like him a lot better than Stavros." Paris, while dancing against the wall behind her horrible DJ friend, replied, "F%^# off!" It was great... airing out dirty laundry in public. All in all, it was a fun night. It could have DEFINITELY been a lot better though.
Since the night was still young and the poker room was right next to PURE, Shinie and I decided to go play some holdem. We both cashed in for $100 and didn't last for very long. Shinie went out in 4 hands, while I stayed in for longer. I don't remember how long, but I was up for a bit until I was one on one with an Ace, 10 suited and a 10 was out on the flop with just random non face cards and a potential clubs flush draw. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but I bet pretty aggressively as I predicted that my opponent didn't have it. I did not anticipate him catching a flush on the river... as I went all in before. I was dumb and lost it all on that hand. Shinie and I left the poker room defeated.
SUNDAY: We hauled ass trying to get up and pack as check out was at 11am. I wanted Chipotle the day before for lunch, but we decided on eating lunch & dinner at Wynn instead. So on Sunday, I was determined to get some Chipotle for lunch. It was finished! It was sooo good. After lunch, Shinie and I went to the Mirage to play some poker. Shinie and I sat at the same table again, and she took the seat that I didn't want to sit in because there were a few cute guys right next door, and I don't think I could play with cute boys sitting next to me. I should have known better because one of those guys ended up being the host of "Swedish Idol!" Basically, the guy to Shinie's right was the Ryan Seacrest of Sweden. To Shinie's left was Johan, the magican friend of Tobbe Bolm, the host of "Swedish Idol" who is also a magician before landing the gig. They were horrible poker players, but they said that they're playing in Vegas to learn and gain some experience in preparation for a celebrity poker tournament in Sweden. I didn't find out about this until afterwards, because if I found out about it before, I would have tried to get contact information just in case if I were to end up in Sweden and wanted to party. =)
Poker wasn't too fun as both Shinie and I didn't see any good cards while others were just on fire getting pocket rockets every other hand and at some point two people splitting the pot with pocket rockets. After an hour or two, we left the table and went to Caesars only to wait for seats at the poker table. We ended up not playing poker and playing a few hands of blackjack due to the time crunch. I came up $15 and Shinie broke even after playing three hands each. =) Still, we must redeem ourselves at the poker tables in Vegas. Next time... more time will be spent at the tables...
Closing thoughts:
Loved it at Caesars!!! There's so much to do in that hotel! Glad we ate at the Wynn Buffet. Thanks Madeline for the hook ups at the Palms. Should have stayed a little bit longer at Tao... Want to go back to PURE because I know it would be a lot more fun without the Paris Hilton fiasco going on. Want to play more blackjack and poker next time. Good times with the ladies!
Will post pics once I get them. We have some good ones. | 
