Las Vegas Baby: Pawn Stars Mandalay Bay and my boyfriend Drew Lachey

Here's Part 2 of my series on what I did on my summer vacation. I will probably take a short break before the third installment. I got some ebay business stuff to attend to (which means I have a lot of good junk to package up and mail).

We drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in our rental car and stayed 3 nights at Mandalay Bay Because of Jeff's previous gambling in Vegas, we got 2 nights for free and we paid for the third. We could have gotten 4 free nights at the Venetian but in my online research I decided Mandalay Bay would be better for us. And let's just say I absolutely loved it. Staying there definitely helped to soften the disastrous blow of missing out on Saturday's yardsales (we were there for a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night). Drove back to Los Angeles on Sunday.

Jeff thought 3 days in Vegas would be plenty of time. I could have definitely stayed longer. Jacob loved it too. The last time I was in Vegas (I believe, was 1991) and we stayed in the old Aladdin - which ended up getting imploded years later. All I remember about that trip was just getting free junk at the different casinos. One advertised a "free professional slot players glove" when you signed up for their gambler's card. It was the cheapest cotton glove you've ever seen. I still got my free keychain from Fitzgerald's. I had my picture taken with the million dollars at Binions (but lost the photo long ago). But really not doing much except from walking to casino to casino. Sorta boring actually.

Well what a difference a few years make. I loved Las Vegas this time around. I think the difference was having Jacob around to do stuff with - while Jeff gambled. Or should I say, while Jeff won money. I am not really into gambling. Over the course of 3 days, Jeff was $750 ahead. He ended up giving back $100 on the last night, but he knew when to quit and still come out $650 ahead.

While there, he also put a $100 bet down for the Vikings vs Saints on NFL opening day (last Thursday night). So even tho the Vikings lost, he had a 6 point spread, so he still won! He goes back in October for his guys Vegas trip, so then he'll claim the $200 then. I think I deserve a girl's trip (like a Sunday - Friday) so I could be back in time for Saturday's yardsales.

I had 3 things on my To Do List for Las Vegas. Go the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop - you know the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. Go to the The Price is Right Live Show at Bally's Casino and meet Jenndiggy from West Virginia.

Jenn (or Jenndiggy) is a woman in West Virgina who has been a member of my message board that I've known online for at least a dozen years. I know I knew her way before I had Jacob, and he is now 10 years old. It was good to finally meet her in person. She is a big time sweepstakes person and had won a trip for 2 to Vegas thru the Home Shopping Network. HSN was doing a big convention thing with live tv tapings, celebrities etc etc during that time so she was there for that. So I got to meet her and her cousin and I also dropped by the HSN convention and saw Tori Spelling and Criss Angel. I also got some free make-up and other small goodies.

I had Jeff go to a Tickets for Tonight ticket outlet to get discounted tickets to the Price is Right Live show. It's not 100% like going to a tv taping in Los Angeles, but it was still a lot of fun. And Jacob loved it. At the real show, kid's aren't allowed in the audience. But in Las Vegas, they are (since of course you are buying them a ticket.) But only adults are called to Come On Down. We did not get to come on down. Oh well. Next time. They choose people at random - you put your name on a form prior to the show. If they had picked people based on personality, there would have been no doubt. The big wheel, the games etc are all from one of their anniversary shows, so it looks just like how it looks on TV. And the prizes that people can win are much less expensive. The guest host was Drew Lachey and the announcer was David Ruprecht. Afterward they posed for pictures. I bought Jacob a t-shirt and got that autographed. Of course, I had the settings all wrong on the camera so there was no flash. So the pictures look grainy when enlarged. But while the poor girl was trying to get the camera to work, she didn't realize she had taken two. So that just gave me and Drew more time together. And they took pictures of everyone to make it look like you are in front of the big wheel.

Since we had our rental car, we drove to the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn store (713 Las Vegas Boulevard). The place is a tourist destination now - had to wait in line to get in, they had misting sprays out front. The only person from the show that was there was Chumlee and he was in the back. But then as we were leaving he also walked out and I sorta played paparazzi and taped him leaving. I brought my Batman ring to the store and they were just gonna give me $3 for it to melt it down! I recently sold it for $30. I bought a "I heart Chumlee shirt"

At our hotel, the Miss Universe pageant was going on - Jeff met Miss Canada at the craps table. I thought about applying to be in the pageant as a last minute entry, but since I'm married they said no. Otherwise I'm sure they would have let me.

The pool area was gorgeous. A person could really spend a lot of money there if they wanted to, you know, rent a cabana for the day, rent a special padded lounge chair, buy food/drinks, buy inner-tubes for the lazy river etc. We didn't spend a dime at the pool. You don't have to have a inner-tube to float around in the lazy river and we only spent like an hour or so at the pool each day. Perhaps if we were there all day long it would be another story. They provided free beach towels and we just sat on the plain, non padded, lounge chairs. There was a wave pool, a few other pools and they also have an adult only private pool (which I did not go to).

We accidentally got a deal at the Paris Eiffel Tower. We were at the casino and told Jeff I wanted to take Jacob up in the Eiffel Tower. He starts complaining about what a waste of money, you can go up in the Stratosphere for free and it's taller, yadda yadda. He thinks he knows all of Las Vegas since he's been going every year for the past 20 years or so. So I said, whatever, I'm taking him. Stay with him while I go buy tickets. I had picked up a Las Vegas coupon booklet that had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon. So I go and pay for two tickets $10 (for both) for me and Jacob. I find Jeff and Jacob and what does Jeff say? "Where's MY ticket?" Sheesh. So we are standing there *discussing* the ticket situation - I was telling him to go buy another ticket if he wanted to go so bad) meanwhile the Eiffel Tower lady sees me holding the tickets and rips them and half and tells us all to enjoy the view and pointed where to get on the elevator. I don't know if she noticed I only had 2 tickets in my hand or what. So Jeff got to go for free. I don't feel that bad, I don't think the casino is hurting for money.

I am disappointed that I didn't take more pictures of the inside of our hotel room. Our bathroom had a tv. We were only on the 7th floor but could still see the strip all lit up at night. I took some videos with my cellphone - but they are some weird format that I have to reformat or something. I can't see them as is. So.....even after my vacation series is over, you may still have to hear more about it later.

Now pics and videos:

driving up to Mandalay Bay


Jacob as Miss Universe. He is modeling his Las Vegas t-shirt that I bought him - NEW. It was $2 at a seedy discount place in downtown Las Vegas.




Pool/Beach area






The stuff I covered with a towel within 5 minutes of getting into the hotel room. I didn't need Jacob eating $5 Pringles. The Doritos were ours. We had stopped at a grocery store for some Basic Needs.


Trying out the tub.






Our floor was the floor with the big X's on the windows.


As I've said before, the primary reason for going on vacation is so Jacob can play computer in other locations. haha. You can see Luxor in the background.



In the Eiffel Tower. Mandalay Bay is the gold looking hotel way down the strip.






One evening we went to the Fremont Street Experience. And they had a Partridge Family short bus. (They were doing a 70's music theme). That reminds me, it was a year yesterday that I got to go to David Cassidy's moving sale and see his stuff and try out his bed and see his toilet. Oh what memories!



Here was a casino four me!





Jenn's cousin, me and Jenn (photo taken at a restaurant. Jenn's cousin bought it, and me being cheap, just took a picture of it).


Fremont Street laser show


The Price is Right Live (no pics allowed during the show)


Family Christmas Picture 2010. Me and Drew Lachey getting to know each other. Yes, my name says Jacob. Jacob tore his tag off the minute the show ended and I wanted to save it as a memento so I stuck it on my shirt. I regret not telling Drew that we had *dancing* in common. Many of you do not know this but I took dance lessons as a child and toured. Ok ok, it was only Polish dance lessons and we mainly appeared at the local nursing homes, but hey, I know all about the stress and physical endurance of taking dance lessons. My mom's friend was the dance teacher.


Drew Lachey and me with Jacob and some other people:


The World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn




Had to take a picture of the Jim Morrison picture. ($20,000)






The back of Chumlee's head


At the HSN Convention. Tori Spelling at a Meet N Greet. I was too late to get in line.






HSN live show with Criss Angel

Los Angeles 2010 aka What I did on summer vacation, Part 1

Finally, here is Part 1 of a series: What I did on My Summer Vacation. Part II will be Las Vegas and Part III - will cover our Amtrak adventure. Stay awake - I may test you later on this.

Our flight to Long Beach was on a Saturday night - so of course I went yardsailing in the morning. And I fell down and went boom. I was at someone's yardsale, when I noticed a sign for another yardsale and when I walked over to it, I didn't notice a hole and splat, I was on the ground. Because I am in excellent physical condition (thanks to my hearty eastern European ancestor genes), I just dusted myself off and continued on my merry way. But I still thanked the Yardsale Gods for watching out for me and preventing me from twisting my ankle. That would have been a very bad scenario right before the start of a two week long vacation.

In my previous vacation post, I laid out a detailed plan on how we were to get ourselves to the airport (75 miles away), how we were going to feed burros in the wild west and go to Lake Havasu and Palm Springs. All that didn't happen as planned. And we didn't go to Disneyland. We decided Las Vegas was probably a lot more fun than burros, so we stayed a little longer in Vegas.

DH came up with an easy way to get us to the airport. We rented a car for a day down where we live and drove ourselves to the airport in the rental and returned the car there - all for about a total cost of $40. Normally when I fly, we fly out of Baltimore (BWI) but since Jacob hadn't flown in a while, I wanted a direct flight and an airplane with little TVs. So instead we flew Jet Blue out of Dulles - a direct flight to Long Beach.

Once we got to Long Beach - which is a cool airport that's in a time warp - we rented a car. And then headed to Jeff's mother's condo in San Pedro. So it was kinda late and Jeff is driving in Long Beach, and a car full of gangbangers pull up alongside of us and roll down their window and are yelling at us. So what does Jeff do? He rolls down and yells back "what are you saying? etc etc". And I'm like, "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get us killed within 30 minutes of landing?" Sheesh. Like he thought they were good samaritans trying to tell us something. Yeah, like trying to tell us to pull over so they could rob us or something.

Anyhow, we stayed with Jeff's mom who has a condo with a view of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. The last time I was in Southern California, Jacob was less than 2 years old. My MIL has been out to visit us several times since, and Jeff has been to SoCal a few times on business trips. He graduated from high school in Lawndale so he is good about navigating all the highways. Or freeways as they are called. To me, they are called highways.

The first full day, we went to Venice Beach for a tv taping of tryouts for American Ninja Warrior a tv show on G4 that Jacob loves. It was a very well organized event - they had bleachers to sit and watch the tryouts, they had a free mini-course set up for teens to test their ninja skills (Jacob was too young), they had a photo booth for free photos, a Meet n Greet to get autographs from the 3 past winners of American Ninja Warrior, free temporary Ninja Warrior tattoos etc etc. Of course we bought Jacob a $20 t-shirt and got it autographed.

Then in the evening we went to Aquarium of the Pacific since I saw they had half priced admission on Sunday nights. It's ok, but it's no National Aquarium. A few days later, we also went to Cabrillo Marine Museum which in a lot of ways was better than the big Long Beach aquarium.

One day we look the subway out of Long Beach to Hollywood. The touristy area of Hollywood used to be very seedy but they've cleaned it up a lot, put in some expensive stores etc etc. Only saw one beggar - see photo below. Would have liked to have toured the Kodak Theatre (where American Idol has it's finale,) but I know Jacob/Jeff would have been bored etc). Then took the subway to downtown Los Angeles and saw the Disney Theatre. A very cool modern looking building.

We did some other things - my MIL took us all around San Pedro to some historical sites, like the Point Fermin Lighthouse - which apparently I didn't take a picture of. Sheesh. I am not happy with my photo skills this trip. The entire time I accidentally had some automatic adjust setting on, which I think made the pictures not as clear or crisp as they normally would. Plus, I ran out of storage space, but that is another story.

Also saw the water fountain show in San Pedro. And we did a lot of eating and drinking. Took a boat ride tour of the Port of Los Angeles. It's mind boggling to think about all the stuff in those container vessels.

Still awake? Now for the pics and videos:

Trump National Golf Club is down the street from my MIL's condo. Nope, we didn't golf there.


mmmmm snow cones, with the Queen Mary (Long Beach) in the background.


Hanging out on the balcony at MIL's. Sometimes its hard to see Catalina due to the "marine layer". Whatever the hell that means.




View from the swimming pool:


We spent a lot of time at the heated pool (it was COLD when we were there, a nice break from humid Maryland)


Pool house with laundry room. Doing laundry California style wasn't too bad - put in a load to wash, go swimming, put it in the dryer, go swimming.




American Ninja Warrior at Venice Beach


Getting Jacob's t-shirt autographed by the past winners


Three Ninja Warriors and 3 others


Jacob at his Ninja Warrior Photo Shoot:


The result (told him to look mean)


Jacob and some other big kid:


Watching the tryouts:




Jacob - not showing good high-fiving etiquette


Canals at Venice Beach:




Some California surfer dudes


On the boat tour around LA Harbor. Fishery throwing out fish for the seals:


Lots of cargo. Vincent Thomas bridge in background


Lots more cargo.


At the Cabrillo Marine Museum. Jeff was watching a recent episode of True Blue and noticed they filmed part inside the museum.


Jacob inside a fish tank at the Cabrillo Marine Museum with Grannie:


Dancing water fountain at Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro)


Water show


While in Hollywood, I found my star on the Walk of Fame. Unfortunately they accidentally left off "yardsale".


The start of our Price is Right theme for the vacation:




Child beggar on the streets of Hollywood. No wait, never mind, that's just Jacob with a cup of ice.


Kodak Theatre


Capitol Records building (with Hollywood sign up in the mountains)


Shopping at Kodak Theatre plaza (Hollywood sign in background)






Walt Disney Theatre in downtown Los Angeles


Inside the lobby of the Disney Theatre


Staples Center (just took this picture since I love Staples)


Korean Bell in San Pedro


Korean Bell again - before my MIL retired, she worked at the building at the top of the hill (best view of the LA Harbor)


Visiting a park


Photo taken at the top of the Point Fermin Lighthouse


Photo taken in the mall - Basic Needs - I just thought it was funny since it was 200% junk food


Bye bye San Pedro. After we got back home, Jeff said "you know, my high school reunion is next summer" - so we may be back sooner than I thought! (I don't think he has missed a HS reunion yet. I refer to his HS years as his glory days.)

It's still a black hole....

but I found the missing baseball today. It had rolled off the kitchen table and was underneath some shelves. Now just need to find my driver's license.

Bonus Post

I know I already posted once today, but today is your lucky day and I am doing a bonus post.

On Sunday, we went to a minor league baseball game - the Blue Crabs (cuz of course I had free tickets). And as luck would have it, the team was signing autographs when we arrived so Jacob got a lot of signatures on his thrift store Blue Crabs hat. He has two Blue Crabs hats (both from the thrift store, but one is a nicer, embroidered hat). But when we left for the game, the first hat I found was the non-embroidered one. Oh well. Here's Jacob getting an autograph from player #8.



I must have made quite an impression on #8, since he (purposely - I'm sure) spotted me in the crowd and hit a foul ball pretty much directly right to me. It did bounce a few times, but I know he wanted me to get it for Jacob. I have that effect on people. So here's Jacob posing with the ball I got. But with my house being the black hole that it is, I have no idea where the ball currently is. I remember putting it on the kitchen table Sunday night but where it is now, I have no idea.

And also on Sunday the clubhouse at the stadium was having a open house, so we ditched our regular seats and sat in the cushy seats. And that's where #8 spotted me and hit the foul ball to me.



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I met my ebay deadline today so hopefully I will do the vacay 2010 post soon. Also today I went to Walgreens and saw they had clearanced a lot of their cleaning products. So...more cheap laundry detergent for me (the small light blue bottles were .50 each for 12 loads. So I figured $1 for 24 loads of laundry was a good deal. And I stocked up on other clearanced stuff like Downy at $1.39 each. I never buy Downy because it's too expensive but I'll buy it at $1.39 a bottle (I do buy fabric softener, just not Downy cuz of the price). Plus I used a bunch of Register Rewards to pay for it, so I only paid a little over $3 for all the stuff in the cart.

Lane Cedar Chest Lock Recall / How to find out the age of your Lane Cedar Chest (maybe!)

Just to follow up about my blog post yesterday about my $10 Lane cedar chest, I wanted to remind/inform people that if you have a Lane or Virginia Maid brand chest made 1987 or earlier, the lock needs to be replaced. My mom still has her Lane hope chest from the 50's and she got her lock replaced a long time ago (Lane will send out a free replacement). Too many kids were crawling inside and getting themselves locked in - with tragic results. Lane estimates there are still 6 million chests out there (occasionally showing up at yardsales etc) - that need replacement locks.

So I called today to get a free lock replacement. Here is information about the locks.

Anyhow, I talked to a customer service person who explained how to determine the age of some of the older Lane cedar chests. If you need info on how to determine the age of your Lane cedar chest - you should call customer service at Lane and see if they can help you too. Mine has a birthday of April 15, 1967. Above is a picture of the serial # (style #). To determine the age, work backwards from the Serial #. Take the last two numbers (40) - reverse them and you have 04 - for April - the 4th month of the year. The next two numbers (51) get reversed to 15 - the 15th of the month. The next two numbers (76) get reversed to 67 - meaning 1967. The first number - #2 - just represents which plant # it was made it. So there you have it - 04/15/67

My One Cool Yardsale Buy

Here's the one thing I really like that I bought on Saturday at a yardsale. A vintage mid-century modern Lane cedar hope chest for $10. The right corner needs some wood scratch cover. I think it's going in our foyer - I will replace a telephone gossip chair that I currently have in the foyer. Although I would hate to get rid of the gossip chair (paid $1 for it and refinished it). But now it's basically used as a storage space for magazines. This way with the hope chest, I can hide all my magazines in it. And I can get a cushion for it and use it as a place to sit down to put shoes on or take off.



One of my other favorite buys this week - was a thrift store buy for $1. Microphone Mike from Hallmark - new with his $19.99 price tag still attached. You press a button, talk into the microphone and it repeats it back in a monster voice. Will put away for Jacob for Christmas. But really, its for me to play with. I saw them at a Hallmark store a while ago and wanted it but no way would I pay $19.99.

Tyler Bryant / REO Speedwagon / Pat Benatar

I took an eBay break yesterday and did volunteer work for the REO Speedwagon / Pat Benatar concert at the local museum. When I signed up to volunteer they said they already had too many bartenders and asked if could I do something different. I said sure. So yesterday morning, with Jacob off to school I went and helped label chairs for a few hours. Very low stress job - not like when someone says "I want 4 beers, 2 wines, a soda and no, sorry I meant 5 beers, and 3 waters, and 2 sodas - how much is that? Meanwhile, the beer line just keeps getting longer and longer.

So in the evening, since I already had a wristband, I was able to go back and see the show for free. The place is only like 5 miles from my house. Another benefit of volunteering is getting parking pass to park in the volunteer lot. After the concert ended, I was back home within 15 minutes. During the concert, I could have had a seat way in the back, but I prefer to be closer to the stage.

What the venue looked like as I was volunteering:


As luck would have it, guess who was next to me the majority of the REO concert? This guy:


But he was very polite - since he always apologized when he spilled beer on me. But majority of the time I was watching the show:



During intermission, my dancing friend said he would come back for Pat Benatar but he wasn't seen again. No videos of Pat Benatar, since I got informed that only cell cameras were allowed. Geez, don't they know who I am?

The place was packed - when I first got there - I strolled by *my* beer truck and saw the lines were very deep and for a split second considered asking if they needed help. Then I came to my senses and thought "oh hell no".


The opening act was Tyler Bryant which I totally missed since I didn't get there until after 7pm and they were almost over. For some reason I thought the show started at 7:30pm. I'm pretty sure they hung out and signed autographs most of the night. I was too cheap to buy anything and plus, I didn't see them perform. Snapped a few pics though on my way to visiting my super secret special toilet. Looking at them, I felt old enough to be their ........ older sister.



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Of course I got up early this morning and hit a few yardsales. Most of them sucked. I did buy one cool $10 item, which I will post about later sometime.