the around the wold new years adventure.

living in las vegas, you have access to some pretty cool things, new years is no exception. every year they close down las vegas blvd from the stratosphere to mandalay bay and turn it into a huge party. the exits off the freeway are closed, side streets are parking lots, and hundreds of thousands of people all come together to ring in the new year. also many of the hotels launch fireworks off the roof that you can see all over the valley for like 10 minutes! they even have music playing to go along with it on the radio and tv stations. i have been down there twice, not in about 5 years, and it is a blast! you see the craziest things down there. richard had never been and didnt really want to, until this year.

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after another house party last year i was really hoping to do something different to ring in 2012. a couple of the girls from work had told me about their new years and it was so different i hoped they would do it again this year. so in may i got a facebook invite (as did richard) for the around the world new years adventure. we would start in the afternoon in a bar/hotel/place that corresponded to it being midnight in that country. for example chinatown for new years in china, the paris hotel for paris, etc. i thought it would be a blast but richard wasnt quite convinced. after thanksgiving though he came to me and said, lets join the girls and something completely different, hell yeah!

here was the plan:
3pm- italy- venetian
4pm- ireland- o'shea's
5pm- FOOD/HYDRATE
6pm- faulkland islands- margaritaville (flamingo)
7pm- rio de janiero- pampas churrasciara brazillian grille (miracle mile shops @ planet hollywood)
8pm- FOOD/HYDRATE
9pm- new york- nyny casino
10pm- mexico city- diablos
11pm- strip 
12pm-midnight!- strip


saturday afternoon we decided to all meet at angelas so we could carpool and leave at 230p so we could get to the venetian on time. i had timed my run and nap to include food afterward to make sure we could leave at 145p to grab cash on the way. during my nap i head back from angela on some logistic things (jackets/purses/girl things) and found out that we were actually going to carry camelbaks full of our liquor of choice. this meant we had to leave a few minutes early to grab it at the store, but no big deal. the girls were also making t-shirts to wear, which richard was really not excited about, so we could find each other.

we showed up right at 230p afraid they would be waiting on us to find that they had just started on shirts. finally at 415p we actually left and sat in traffic to arrive late to osheas. i just wanted to drink at this point, but wasnt really sure what i was supposed to be doing. if we had these camelbaks full of alcohol we didnt need to buy a drink/shot at every place, so why were we going to all these places? the whole night was a little confusing so richard and i decided drinking was the way to go.

everywhere we went seemed to take forever. there were tons of people on the strip but once they opened the street it was sooo much easier to get around. we did go back to the car after eating at margaritaville to get warmer things and i dropped the camelbak. we werent drinking out of it and i didnt want to carry it anymore. for some reason the car stop was the longest break i have ever seen in my life and the rest of the group decided to make the night more about getting the t-shirts signed from all the people we were meeting rather than actually going to all our stops.

i should have known we were in trouble
when this was the 1st signature of the night,
on jodis dad by a super gorgeous girl!

our pitbull look-a-like at dinner!

as we started walking to nyny to celebrate at 9pm richard and i got separated from the group leaving us a great time to talk. they were walking so slow and stopping every 5 seconds that we just saundered on our own. we even discussed what we are thinking about for next year! definitely over the big house party thing, and probably not going to wander the strip all night next time. were actually thinking about going somewhere new or getting a room on the strip and having a late late dinner and celebrating in the hotel or going outside just for midnight. i like this new, we dream together thing:)

we found out later this is what the
rest of the group was doing haha!

once finally finding our group at nyny we decided it was time for serious drinks and the others grabbed some hot dogs. it got out of the street for awhile and some much needed aid haha. after leaving we headed up to the bellagio to meet one of our group members brother's. again nice to get out of the cold and sit for a little while. we made sure though to leave no later than 1115p to get outside to ring in the new year right! it was starting to get packed inside and outside so we knew we had to get going.

in las vegas serious drinks means these guys!

we weaved our way toward the paris/ballys so we could be close to our car so we could get out as soon as possible. it wasnt long before we were getting ready to countdown the last minute it was finally here! everyone joined in as we got to the last 10 seconds and then there was confetti and yelling and kissing everywhere! i got to ring in the new year the best way possible for the 3rd year in a row, with my love :) the fireworks were so beautiful and we could see them from a couple different hotels!

waiting...waiting.

the countdown!

next to paris.

over caesars.

once the fireworks were over it was time to go. they usher you off pretty quickly so they can clean up the street. the problem is you cant get into any of the hotels unless you are staying there. since we were parked at paris we tried though to get in the back way through ballys which only worked because dave had a membership card!! we were all exhausted at this point and tired of all the crowds. finally in the cars after our goodbyes to the other car we headed out of the garage to the back road to find it dead stopped. it took us almost 2 hours to get back to angelas!

as i stumbled to my car from the exhaustion with my extra layers i started to get hungrier and hungrier. now i know im in training and not supposed to, but we totally went to del taco on our way home and it was amazing! seriously its only that good when your up super late or have been drinking. that night richard and i actually fell asleep on the couch together after eating and woke up just enough to brush our teeth and actually go to bed together.

when i woke up the next morning i thought i would be a lot more sore than i actually was. i started thinking about the night before and all the things we saw with 300,000 of our closest friends on the strip. i realized it wasnt exactly what we thought or hoped, but we had a really good time! definitely something we can cross off our bucket list. and at the end of the night i got to kiss him at midnight, which is all i really wanted anyway:)