Las Vegas

My Year in Review… 2011.

Published December 30, 2011 | By Rachel

As 2011 comes to a close, I wanted to look back on the year, and see if I had accomplished my goals that I set out to do. So, I went to my archives posts and realized that I never wrote a goals post for 2011. Cray cray. But, 2011 was a BIG year for me. In every aspect of my life. Let’s reflect shall we? (This is gonna be fun.)

I started and completed a Project 12 (More on this later!).

We took the girls out of school to help pay off some debt– we paid off two credit cards this year, leaving us with only one left!

I met Greg McElroy… AKA my Baby Daddy. Kidding! But doesn’t he look like he could be the father of my children?

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I went to Blissdom- my first blogging conference! It was amazing! And I am returning in 2012 to Blissdom as a Community Leader!! HOLLA!

I ran my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Half Marathons this year.. (That’s a LOT when you say it like that!)

I reached my goal weight.

We had a tornado rip through our town.

We traveled.. hitting VEGAS!, Disney, Penn State, NYC, and numerous Alabama Football games.

I marked several things off my 30 in 30 list!

I became a FitFluential Ambassador.

And I found out this week that I have been accepted as a Nike Fit Tester. Whoo!

2011 rocked my socks off.

How was your 2011??

Posted in awesomeness, budgets are sexy, half marathons, I jiggle but not as much as I used to, Las Vegas, Princess Half, Rock N Roll Savannah, Ruben Studdard Run, running fool, tornado | 6 Comments

Vegas… Part 3.. The Finale

Published June 17, 2011 | By Rachel

In case you weren’t tired of me talking about Vegas, I have this post. Bear with me, it’s kind of another hodge podge.

When we got there Monday, we ate dinner at the hotel in the Cafe Bellagio.. Yummy!

My Chicken, avocado, tomato wrap

Tracie’s bacon burger that she warmed her hands on her plate.

Tuesday we ate at Serendipity.. hello yummy dessert.

Friday, we did a girls day shopping trip… where Linda made her FIRST Louis Vuitton purchase in the form of a make-up bag.

And we went to the BIGGEST Forever 21 in the world. And tortured Linda while we shopping around for 2 hours. Whoops. It was seriously massive. Two stories.. approximately the size of a Macy’s.

Saturday morning.. the day we leave. Super tired and sad.

More sleep please!

Ha! I got John mid yawn…

Jo-Jo’s $1000 chip. That’s right. Guess all that statue feet rubbin’ came in handy!

John borrowed his, but you get the idea.. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

Banana’s Foster Waffles. Yes. They were as good as they sounded… I had them 3 different times.

I’m so glad you came into my life…

Linda went to see Barry Manilow… with her Barry shaped record.

We went to Minus 5 Wednesday night… it was really cold. Too bad they don’t let you take cameras in there. You get to wear coats and ugg boots. And sit on ice furniture and drink out of an ice glass.

Wednesday, we went to eat at the Pink Taco in Hard Rock… yep. You can imagine the jokes.

It was oh, so, delicious. Seriously.

This is what happens when I drink margaritas.. not really. Something else much worse happens.

Yummy… too bad I can’t remember the name of this 5 star restaurant in MGM…

Friday night, we ate at the Top of the World and went to Cirque Du Soilel “O” show.. So flipping fantastic. The Olympics has NOTHING on that show. Sorry for the messed up pics…

They have roller coasters and the Sky Jump at the Top of the World.. I laughed at this sign. The dining room rotates so you can see the entire city of Vegas. Pretty awesome, even if the decor is a little 80′s.

Yup. I got my first In and Out Burger.. it was heaven.

Posted in Las Vegas, stuffing my face, vacation | 9 Comments

Vegas Part 2- The Hotels!

Published June 14, 2011 | By Rachel

After the Hoover Dam, we ended up walking around Vegas- we had them drop us off at the Venetian. Gorgeous!! Seriously.

Now, this post is a little hodge podge, but I didn’t feel like moving all the pictures around. Sorry.

The lion outside the MGM

The walkway from New York, New York to MGM

You could seriously walk around for days.. the hotels are all themed, and gorgeous!

The lobby of the Bellagio

Sorry lady. You are forever in our Vegas memories now.

That’s right.. The Bellagio had the largest chocolate fountain ever.

Ahem. Joseph: open your eyes. John? Get out of my picture.

Yep. You made the face. I put it on the blog.

I’m starting to notice a trend with these McPhillips’ on getting my pictures…

The Paris hotel, across the street from the Bellagio.. and Joseph. In my picture.

The fountains.. every hour on the hour they do a water show.

The Bellagio’s atrium was pretty cool.. it was “America” themed.. why is Smokey the Bear in here? P.S. His vest is made of flowers!

Only you can prevent forest fires?

I love shooting water!

Caesars Palace.. No, the real Caesar didn’t live here…

Is this hotel pager friendly? I’m not getting a sig on my beeper.

Touring the hotels is some good people watching. Like for serious. And while walking around, I got tired and stopped taking pictures. Sorry. I think you have plenty to look at though.

If you missed part 1 of Vegas- The Hoover Dam.. check it out HERE.

Posted in Hotels, Las Vegas | 12 Comments

Las Vegas– Part 1– The Hoover Dam

Published June 10, 2011 | By Rachel

We arrived in Las Vegas Monday afternoon and just hung around The Bellagio, ate dinner there and watched the fountains. We went to bed early, because we were still on Central Time Zone and we had to get up early Tuesday to catch our tour out to The Hoover Dam.

That place is pretty incredible and my uber nerd came out. I just kept thinking.. “They built THIS in the 1930′s?!!?” They had to re-route the Colorado River to be able to built this thing.. meaning, they blasted through the rock and made tunnels for it. Ah-mazing.

I’m just going to show you all the pics.. with captions.