Makin' a list, checkin' it twice

I am just starting to recover from the non-stop party that was our week in Vegas. I had an amazing time, and it was one of the best Christmases on record. I hope yours was, too.

If ever there was fertile ground for crossing off To-Do List items, Vegas is the place. In the spirit of the list, I won't count #1 or #90, even though I did the Vegas version of both. I did, however, find two others to cross off in the short week I was there.

71. Eat snails the next time I'm at a restaurant that has them on the menu.

As an added bonus of our romantic/anniversary(!) dinner at the foot of the fake Eiffel Tower, there were snails on the menu. So I had to eat them. And they were delicious. Kind of anticlimactic, actually, because there was nothing uniquely snaily about them. Mostly they tasted of garlic and pesto. Also, I was hoping they would be served in their shells so I could re-enact that moment from Pretty Woman. You know the one I mean. Instead, they came in a dish (see picture) that made them very easy to eat. CM reminded me that not every single list item is going to be incredibly exciting to complete, and that the point was that I was doing something for the first time. And really, who doesn't like garlic and pesto? I would order snails again.

29. Go to Vegas. Stay somewhere outrageous.

Ummm…done. I went to Vegas. I stayed somewhere outrageous. It was glorious. After going into countless hotels and casinos on the Strip, I can safely say that if I go again, I would stay in the Palazzo again in a heartbeat. The room was luxurious, the view was gorgeous, the service was impeccable, they took our minibar items off of the bill for absolutely no reason, and they gave us free money with which to drink and gamble. How's that for outrageous?

9 down, 91 to go. I think that's pretty respectable, don't you?

Dreaming

Last night I had the craziest dream.

I dreamed I was eating escargots and moules frites and drinking red wine in a romantic bistro at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. I was sitting by the window and I could look out and see the lights of the Tower itself. In my dream, I took an elevator to the top and took pictures of the view from every angle I could find, and then I had dessert: mousse au chocolat and pots de crème and raspberries.

I dreamed I was sitting in a café in the Piazza San Marco. In the distance I could hear a gondolier singing as he paddled his boat along the canal. Street performers walked right by me as I munched on caprese and pizza con salsiccia. After lunch I walked along streets filled with designer boutiques and got lost on purpose.

I dreamed I skipped the rope line at an exclusive nightclub and was ushered right in, where a man in black stamped the inside of my wrist. A guy with an earpiece took my drink order, and a pretty waitress in a skimpy dress brought my drink right away. The music was loud and the lights were dim, so I couldn't tell for sure, but I'm guessing there were probably movie stars in the corner booth.

I dreamed I was in a casino, and someone gave me $100 in free credits for slot machines. In my dream I played it all, in $1 machines and 5¢ machines and 1¢ machines, and then I won $207.

I dreamed I sat at the edge of the water and watched dolphins leaping. I saw a baby dolphin swimming next to its mother, and I looked through a window under the water to see them swimming. I dreamed I wandered through a forest and saw white lions playing, and leopards snuggling, and 5 tiger cubs napping and bathing each other.

Then this morning I woke up, and I was in Vegas, and it was all true.

I could get used to this.