wedding and vegas recap (part 1)!

Hi everyone!

Whew, that was a long blog break, wasn't it? We are home from our wanderings...a long weekend for a wedding and then the rest of the week in Vegas. All of it was fabulous.

The wedding weekend was lovely, spending quality time with my in-law family. For the wedding, I had planned to wear my pretty J.crew Lillian dress, but it was scorching outside. Thank goodness I am anal enough to pack an alternate dress. I chose the old-school J.Crew Giverney-print Sydney dress. It's a gorgeous silk, and feels like a breath of fresh air in that lovely floral. (You can see my packing plan here.) Alas, the only picture I got was not my most flattering, ha, but I'll share it with you all:

We had a day back at home before our trip, which was a luxury. We left for Vegas before dawn, with a town car pickup (Fancy! Thank you Deal Find!), and had quite a nice flight on Southwest.  I have to say that I kind of love them. Why? 1. All personnel we encountered were extremely pleasant. 2. There is more leg room, I swear, than American or United. 3. I like the no assigned seats set-up -- it goes way faster than assignments. 4. They offer lots of good snacks, and you can have more than one.  5. Free checked luggage. (I'm not sure if it's the airline in general or just Southwest Vacation packages?)

Here's a snap of my carry-on, the J.Crew Tillary Tote in Canvas. It was a good size, although it would have been better to have a cross body strap. I was going to rig something up with one I have, but ended up skipping it. It was totally fine. I wore the Top Sail Maxi Dress from last year Anthro, topped with Madewell's Perfect Chambray Ex-Boyfriend Shirt, and it was the perfect traveling outfit. Like wearing pajamas, but cuter, and cool enough for when we got to Vegas (taking off the shirt, of course). Highly recommend a maxi for a plane ride, b/c the length keeps you warm in uber-ac.

We stayed at the Aria Resort, which is quite new to the Vegas strip, and loved it. It's definitely nice to be in a newer hotel over the more dated ones showing their age. It's a more modern hotel than the last hotel I visited, Bellagio (which is my favorite).  The room was quite large, with a wonderful view (we were on the 22nd floor), and motorized blackout shades (heaven the morning-after!). 

Large bathroom with a cool combo shower and bathtub.   The hotel itself is large, but very manageable. Easy access to the pools, where we were able to get shaded loungers every day, and loads of fluffy towels.

Restaurants were wonderful!  We loved being able to get Jean Phillipe Patisserie pastries and coffee in the mornings.  Below is a picture of the chocolate fountain. Mmm, I miss those chocolate croissants already...

We are not big gamblers, so I can't really speak to the casino, but we found it quite nice and not overly crowded. We didn't win big, but we didn't lose either. I think my best win was playing a $.05 slot and winning $50. So fun! 

I'll just mention two of our favorite meals. First was DH's birthday lunch at Todd English's Olives in the Bellagio. If you get there just before they open for lunch (11am), you will get your pick of the tables in the small-ish patio, which overlooks the lake/fountain and the Strip. Gorgeous. And the food was soooo delicious. Along with some Bellinis, we ordered the Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread (rosemary crust, sweet & sour fig jam, gorgonzola, prosciutto di parma) and the Shaved Roast Beef Sliders (vermont white cheddar, horseradish crema, chiffonade romaine, sautéed tomatoes, skinny fries). Insanely good. They knew it was his birthday, and the chef sent out strawberries and truffles as a little treat. Yum. Highly recommend!  I wore my Big Apple Tunic Dress from JC and it was perfect. Very airy and cool and cute. I topped it with the turquoise factory bubble neclace a bit later on and and added the Seville wedges (which were quite comfortable first day out).

The other memorable meal was Eva Longoria's Beso Steakhouse (at Crystals), a dark and romantic place, just what you want in ambience for a special night. We were given a very comfortable booth, and ordered petite fillets, which were melt-in-your-mouth.  The executive chef came out to chat with us, which we thought wonderful. He then sent DH a special birthday dessert after the meal, tasty churros with caramel sauce and some cream (I nearly licked the jar). 

More to come tomorrow...including shopping escapades at Anthro and Kate Spade, my Campo di Fiore ballerina dress in action, and what clothing/accessories were the hits and misses. I also have a backlog of J.Crew and factory reviews to come!

p.s. While I didn't have much time to comment, I did keep up with your comments and others blogger posts. I also caught a bit of the MSNBC show on Mickey Drexler. Was so fun to see Alexis' blog get recognized!


p.p.s. I checked for a J.crew extra % off sale promo every morning but the day they started it! Lol. Luckily, I was still able to snag a few wishlisted items. Also, yesterdsy my store did match the online 30% off (and didn't make it final sale), so it's worth asking. I think it just depends on the store -- some might not want to do it. Have you guys been shopping the promo? What did you pick up?