Bette Midler!

Tara and I made a last minute decision to go to Bette Midler and let me just say, it was an awesome decision! you do not want to miss this show if you are in vegas it is a must see, she splits the theatre with Cher and I am sure that Cher is just as wonderful but Bette was A-FREAKEN-MAZING! we were taking pictures of everything bette related.

This is above the casino entrance

Close up

Above the box office

Entrance to the Theatre

me with Bette

Tara with Bette

Her logo above the gift shop, where we spent money on GREAT items!!!!

the three of us (we are best friends now) (okay that was dream but whatever)

again the three of us

Me and a small Bette Poster

Tara and the poster

Tara with no flash,

Giant sign outside!

Entrance to the theatre

Tara and I have a tradition of Dinner at Chili's we love chili's we had to search one out there are only three in the Las Vegas Valley, but we found one, and we ordered our favs, and got some chips and salsa. It was a great dinner, but we were both so excited that it was hard to focus on what we were eating, we just wanted to be at Bette!

Here is Tara at dinner! TO EXCITED TO SPEAK!

It took us a little while to get to the theatre, couple of wrong turns, and a ton of cars later we finally got into the theatre, and found our seats! NO PICTURES ALLOWED! We snuck a couple of shots before the show,

Here is one of our feet :-)

Here is a straight up shot of us!

STILL WAITING FOR THE SHOW TO START!

The show started, I was in awe! the costumes were great, there was show girls, band, great Sets, and Bette was amazing, she was stunning! During one of the songs she asked us all to pull out our cell phones and use them like lighters, well i did, and this is the picture i got during that moment! By the way, i thought I invented this????

The show ended like three times, and everytime she would come back and sing more, in a new costumes, You do not understand how great it was, she was so so so so so so so amazing, I will judge all shows from here by Bette!

We were sitting like 12 or so rows up and it was great, the best seats you could ask for and for cheaper then the highest seats all the way at the top!

After the show, here is the "Curtain"

there were two balconies, and an upper orchestra, WE WERE NOT IN ANY OF THEM!!!! we were down on the floor! IT WAS AWESOME!

After the awww of bette midler we walked the strip and I got this shot of me, Which I LOVE! so skinny! when did this happen!

YOU SHOULD SEE BETTE! it was amazing, and so worth every penny! I would go again ten times atleast!

More blogs to come!

WHERE THE CRAP DO I START!

OKAY, there are many blogs to come, I am going to break this down, General Vegas Stuff, the Reba Concert, the Bette Concert, The Wax Museum, and the Stratosphere, those will all be coming in the next few days! But here, Is the general stuff!

Tara got here about 9:30 on Friday night, and what did we decide to do but GO OUT! see the strip, it was awesome, we walked down and saw the pirate show, which I have told you before is awesome here are a couple of not so good pictures but you get the drift (Ha! drift get it?)

Katy came and joined us at the end of the pirate show and we decided to go for a little walk after to see the strip, We wanted to get some Ben and Jerrys which was a few casinos away, so we went up to that one to see about getting us some ice cream. Well wouldn't you know that we got to B and J's and it was closed! it was JUST after midnight, and can you believe they close at midnight on a friday night IN LAS VEGAS!!!!! shut up i know! Well we decided to go back to Dennys which IS ALSO on the strip in Vegas! weird! ON the way Tara and I got some pictures with some gambling machines (p.s. sometimes i see pictures of me in this new skinnier stat and i think WOW i look skinny, THat was not so you would compliment me, but feel free to do so ;-))

Well, we made it to Denny's we had a shake and it was great, It was a little odd to be eating at dennys on the strip but whatever! That ended our night, and we head to bed to rest up for the next crazy day!

We started the day just seeing the strip and the casinos and whatever we could see, we went inside the "paris" it was awesome loved the inside of it, below is Tara buying cards in the casino she wanted to get a deck of cards from each casino to play Nertz with!

Below is Tara and I and the Eiffel Tower, FUN HUH!

Okay then we went to Planet Hollywood (famed Miss America location) while going in I realized that Holly Madison from the Girls Next Door On E! was staring in a show inside! I LOVE HOLLY! seriously think she is the greatest! I don't know why but I really want to be her friend! I don't want anything money or connections, just want to go to dinner with her, you know hang out! Anyway we were discussing how we were going to get some pictures with me and her signs and we could pretend it was her, we went inside the mall there and we were walking down the shops, and GUESS HOW WALK IN FRONT OF US TURNED AND WALKED OUT OF ONE OF THE SHOPS!!!! HOLLY FREAKING MADISON!!! i am not kidding, you can ask Tara, she was right there, and i was like thats holly, thats holly, I wish i would have said will you take a picture with??? Tara and i turned around and tried to follow her, but she was gone! It was great to get a glimpse of her however, i felt so goofy falling over myself for another human! Well here I am with one of her pics in the casino...

While walking through the stores we found a build a bear, and they had a "Show Girl" bear, ITS UGLY! SERIOUSLY! UGLY!

For some reason when Tara and I are together for breakfast we eat cinnamon rolls, well thats not good for the diet but life goes on, Also it is not good for the fact that i need protein and by 1230 that day i was dieing for food, and Pizza won out! first time in 5 months, it smelt so good, i was so excited to eat it,

Just so you know it wasnt that good, but it did get rid of my pizza cravings, which i have been having for a very long time. While we ate, we sat by this thing that said "rain storm" every 15 minutes, We were excited, IT WAS LAME!!!!! it drooled down from the ceiling you couldn't see it and blah! but we sat and ate which was VERY NICE!

We continued the shopping it was a blast, We were joking around about getting a picture of me propping up Holly's bust, so we did! Funny i know, think about everything behind that picture... so many internal thoughts! HA HA HA!

Well at this point Kelli joined us and it was a blast we went up to New York New York, wandered around, saw great things, and it was getting late afternoon and we HAD to go get ready for Reba, so we were headed back to the cars when we decided for the picture below, COME ON THAT IS FUNNY!

Look at the guys behind me!!!! LOL

OKAY! Now at this point we went back to my place where we got ready and went to the REBA concert! THAT IS A SEPARATE BLOG! DON"T MISS IT!

ON sunday we got up early and went to get some half price tickets to a show for sunday night, we were just going to settle for Phantom and we walked all over checking shows and stuff and finally we were like lets just do it lets go to Phantom, when we got to the 1/2 price window, they had Bette Tickets for 1/2 off, and they were like 12 rows up and we DID IT! we bought them and had to go to the bette box office and exchange them it was a surreal moment! THE WHOLE BETTE EXPERIENCE IS A DIFFERENT BLOG COMING SOON!

After that whole extravaganza we went to the WAX museum, DIFFERENT BLOG!

THEN! we went to circus circus, and let me just say, we hadn't had much traffic or parking problems all weekend, but the C C parking garage was packed it was awful! we finally found a place, and headed in to the casino, IT WAS PACKED TO THE BRIM WITH PEOPLE< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">IM NOT KIDDING, last dollar to either of our names in cash at that moment) we won matching bears! they are called "las" and "vegas" It was fun playing those kid games again!

Our families both love Donny and Marie, so we took this for them, we are all going to go sometime soon! IM sure of it!

We then made our way home we had a couple hours to get ready for BETTE! the excitement was overwhelming but some how we both still found a way to take an hour nap! It was great and really needed Being a Tourist is HARD!!!!!! We went to dinner at Chili's a Tara and Brandon Tradition, and this is the picture of the famous sign on our way back in to the show.

THen we made our way down the strip a few wrong turns and a couple of GET OUT OF MY WAYS! we started to stress about getting to Bette on time (mind you we still had 45 minutes, but if you know me or tara that is stress time) We made it Finally, we were in our seats 25 minutes early or so, and we were so so so so so so so so so excited!!!!!

After bette we went to watch the volcano, FINALLY got our Ben and Jerrys, and walked up and watched the fountains at Bellagio for an hour, IT WAS WONDERFUL! That was the end of our weekend, we came back to my place, literally fell into bed and slept and slept and slept !

This is a good time to tell you how much I appreciate Tara in my life, she is so so great! I felt so at home with her, i know that may sound weird but at the end of the night we would sit and talk and recap our day and the next day and it just felt natural! I LOVE HER!!!!!

Okay more blogs coming soon, tomorrow im off again so i will try and get them all done tomorrow BUT NO GUARANTEES!

Bette Midler IS/WAS amazing!

I am exhausted, I am going to spend a week catching my blog up with pictures and everything. BUT! I have to say Bette was amazing, so freaking amazing! PEE IN YOUR PANTS! I would recommend it to anyone! More info coming soon!

Tourist with Tara!

UMMMM!!!! quick update, Amazing blog coming soon, but man oh man have i been a tourist this weekend! We have walked and walked and walked the strip

I WENT TO THE TOP OF THE STRATOSPHERE!!!!! i was crapping in my pants, more pictures coming!
I WENT TO A REBA CONCERT IT ROCKED
OH YEA! and in like 4 hours i will be watching BETTE! THE DIVINE MISS M!!!!! seriously! MORE TO COME SOON!
SHUT UP!

End of week 2

Wow,

What a crazy week, but to be honest its the kind I like!

I am going to start working for the department, Brackley called (Department Chair) offered me a GA (Graduate Assistantship) working in the shops, I said, great, for sure, however you have to know up front I'm not the most Hammer and Nail Kind of guy, But he said that was fine. You all know that I can build and make things work if I need to, its just not my favorite place to be. Hopefully I can get some costume and props time...

I got cast in a show, again odd story that never saw coming!

The show I'm stage managing is going to rock, we have a great cast! We had a production meeting today and it seems things are coming along just fine! So with five weeks before rehearsal starts no complaints on my shows front!

OHHHHHH!!!! it rained today, BIG HUGE RAIN! LIKE MASSIVE DROPS THAT COULD DROWNED A GUY! it was actually AWESOME! dropped the temp 10 degrees, then it stop and back up the temp went! WHAT THE! oh well it was nice while it lasted.

Now onto the biggest news of the day.

TARA IS GOING TO BE HERE IN LIKE 1.5 hours! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND! we are going to a reba concert and being tourists! Should be AWESOME!

Getting on the Freeway

So nothing huge to report today, I must say i haven't got on the freeway once since i have been here. In salt lake it was how you got every where, but here it just doesn't seem that necessary! weird huh?

Also it feels like "the strip" is in a whole different town, i cant even imagine it being in my town, is that weird. I dont know why i just know it feels forever away!

No official news today, I think it might be official that I am in the show, but Its been a confusing day, director says we are waiting till next week, stage manager says its official, I have no idea, so I guess I wait for a sign :-)

OH another thing i noticed about Vegas, it may be 600 degrees outside, but inside EVERY building its negative 2 degrees! Seriously! I was FREEZING today everywhere i went, I wanted to have a jacket or a blanket to make it through my classes, even the student union! but i guess its better then hot. I can't imagine the money they pay in electric bills.

An interesting couple of days...

Well well well let me just say it has been a random couple of days!

When last we met (see how I am pretending that we all see each other everyday and have a little class) anyway. Sunday night brought an end to all of the callbacks well cancel that two shows were done with call backs a third one still had to be completed on monday night.

I really didnt do anything on Sunday, I mean like really nothing, after i got home i was exhausted and I spent the rest of the night getting ready for monday and the rest of the week.

Monday started with my Stage Management class and it was an alright class, we talked about equity's rules and such which was interesting to see the other kids in the class most of which have never stage managed and most of which have no idea what a stage manager is and or does. So as they found out what stage managers do they were shocked. Anyway end of class, nothing eventful.

After moving to my next class which happens to be my favorite class at this point Directing. I got to sit on a couch which was awesome, made my class even better. We talked about some interesting topics in directing, Doings, Substitutions, and Obstacles. My professor is a great guy, been acting all his life and he is just visiting here I think, I am a little unclear on that at this moment. However, i always learn from him, i am not sure why what he says makes so much more sense then any other acting/directing class I have ever had. One of my favorite things from the class was learning about substitutions, using a personal person in your life and putting those feelings on the character you are acting opposite. but not just your mom when the other character is a mom, but someone in your life that you want the same thing from, Like i want you to love me, i want you to accept who i am. So you need to pick someone in your life that you want the same thing as your character wants from the other character. Anyway interesting.

Later on I had Stage Management studio where all of us Grad Stage managers get together and talk through everything going on. There has been some drama in the casting process, and or the kick ball process but i thought then and know now that it was all okay, not a reason to fret. Erica another stage manager asked me to go to her call backs and read in a character that they didn't have anyone called back for nor did they have huge leads on getting someone. Well i was unable to say yes to that for sure because I was still unsure as to if i was doing the benefit show. Which was weird because the show opens friday and it is still under debate. I went to the department chair and asked if the show was still happening, he said he was supposed to have a firm answer 30 minutes ago and didnt have an answer, So no rehearsal monday night either way, and we wait till tuesday for the answer for sure. So i said yes to call backs, and reading in for the character.

I read in for call backs most of the evening and i really enjoyed it, the night progressed into the possibility of myself being cast in the show... go ahead re read that line if you need a minute i can wait... So the dilemma became a real dilemma at that point. Hear it is in a nut shell, my show im stage managing is two weeks after the one i might be cast in, I am here to stage manage, and Josh and "Whales, Save Us!" is my priority so how do i decide if that is the right choice. I have talked with the stage manager for the other show and I really feel like we can work out the schedule, and make it work, but however I still want to make sure that Josh is covered and they have everything they need. I am pretty sure that i can handle it and make the schedule work, i just dont want to leave josh hanging. Spent the night fretting about what was the right thing to do. I don't know. I got up this morning and went in to my advisers office and talked with her about it, i told her my concerns and my thought on how the plan could work, and she was all for it, she liked the idea of getting the experience, and i told her, which is one of the reasons i am really wanting to do the show, is that the professor from my directing class is directing the show, and i really want to go through that process with him... anyway she was behind me and as we discussed if there is a semester to make this work this is the one, because i have no classes tues/thur/fri. So the general consensus was that i would do it. I told Tylo (the director) I was good to go if he wanted me. It seems to be leaning that way, and I am nervous and excited about it. THere is nothing official on the cast list yet however i think I will know for sure this thursday. I'm not sure what to think, excited, nervous, happy. Josh i know you read my blog, so just know i have every intention of making sure you have everything you need and making your show fantastic. Now if im not cast in the end thats great to, because either way this semester is going to be a great semester, I really like josh and elizabeth (director and writer) for Whales, Save Us! my classes are good, and its going to be great!

anyway! three days till tara comes to visit! ROCK ON!

OH AND P.S. STILL HOT VERY HOT!