Once upon a time it was 2-22-22 on a twosday and Jeff Ogden was the birthday boy.
His greatest wish was to go to downtown Vegas and being the girlfriend of his dreams, I planned a getaway to the Circa hotel that would make him feel lucky, loved and celebrated!
The adventures of Paige and Jeff continue….
(click here to read about our first vacation as a couple and my thoughts on Tulum)
After this quad stretch to combat the potential deep vein thrombosis I might have fallen victim to on the flight over.
I had never been to downtown Vegas and Jeff was ready to show me all that it had to offer! I love the luxury of some of the hotels on the strip and Circa was the perfect choice to get the downtown experience with the upscale accommodations.
I got us the sunset suite and it was just as awesome as I thought it would be!
Here is the picture from the Circa website…
Annnnd the pictures I got on the iPhone….
The views were unreal, mountains, buildings, the enormous Stadium Swim!
After we got settled in, it was time to go exploring! Why not start with the D?
That’s what she said. Laugh out loud.
The drink conditions were frozen, the weather conditions were gale force winds. One look at Jeff’s hair and you likely came to that conclusion on your own. Actually, I hope you thought that was his chosen hair style. Tall, spiky, crispy gelled and with a little bit of a gangster lean, perfection.
I’m new to black jack. Jeff has been coaching me up, but I was too nervy to sit at a table with an actual dealer. We decided to ease into my newfound skill with the computerized version.
$12 up! Count it!
You may remember the personalized playing cards that I got him for part of his bday gift…
He loved them.
Jeff’s sister recommended that we go to Golden Steer Steakhouse. It opened in 1958 and is the oldest steakhouse in Las Vegas.
Long long ago this was the spot for the Rat Pack, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe to be seen. Now it’s more popular for the pro poker players and locals.
The outside is very low key, dare I say, rundown looking.
The inside looks like this…
We loved the cocktails, steak, twice-baked potato and the atmosphere. This was a great birthday dinner place for an off the strip, old school Vegas experience.
Day 2 we went to the strip to do some shopping! We started at the Venetian, and then spent too much money there so we also finished at the Venetian.
I blame the Pina coladas for the spending spree. That and the fact that I stumbled upon Urban Necessities on the way to the restroom and could not leave empty handed.
Sneakerheads unite! Imagine every hard to find shoe on display and ready to be purchased. Basically if StockX or GOAT was an in person store.
One for me. One for Jeff. One for my brother.
OG Starfish, Game Royal, Pink Velvet. IYKYK.
The bottom left picture below, in case you can’t see the tiny print, says “try singing your favorite Mariah Carey song while you wash!”
Oh, when you walk by everynight
Talkin’ sweet and lookin’ fine
I get kinda hectic insiiiiiiiide
I paid $335 for this jacket, I have definitely gotten my money’s worth out of it, but you could be the proud owner of this Mother bomber for $99! Jeans are TTS and Js are a 7, so I sized down half a size.
Later that night we had the best time! So many of y’all recommended the show Absinthe and it was awesome, pervy, but very entertaining. If you go to Vegas anytime soon, see it. We were on the front row, humble brag, but there isn’t a bad seat.
I wish I got a picture of us that night. My dress was fire! I’ll link it here anyway with a lame mirror selfie for anyone looking for something like this. Comes in black, white, teal and pink!
Dress is a small, shoes I sized up a half size to an 8 because I didn’t want squished feet.
I don’t have any more pics from after the show, but major fun was had at the casino! I got up enough courage to play blackjack at a table with a living breathing dealer and did a decent job. I still needed Jeff’s help some, and he would announce to everyone that I was a first timer and I would awkwardly smile. It felt like, “Class, I would like to introduce you the new student from a less fortunate rural area where they do things differently, her name is Paige and please allow her to join you at recess.”
Backing it up a bit, it was literally a Wednesday in a town that just lifted their mask mandate the week before. This wasn’t your normal crowded and rowdy Vegas experience, so a pink mini dress and glitter shoes felt so wrong, yet also so right. Comfort ultimately won and I changed out of my fancy look.
I sat down at a computer blackjack table and Jeff went to the bathroom. I was up maybe $50 by the time he got back. He boldly stated, “If you get blackjack on this next hand, we are getting married tomorrow!”
Don’t threaten me with an impulsive Vegas wedding with a man I’m crazy about!
I pushed the button for my next hand….
BLACKJACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff throws his arms in the air, screams and starts running a huge victory lap around the casino. I couldn’t tell if he was seriously thinking we would get married the next day by Elvis, but he was convincing. I mean, the gods were clearly in favor of us coming together in holy matrimony, but this isn’t what I had in mind if I ever were to get married again.
The original reason Jeff wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday, was to go to a pro disc golf tournament. Well it was the day of the tournament, we woke up and he was weighing the options of what exactly to do that day.
“Do we really need to go to the disc golf tournament? We can go to the one in Waco in a few weeks instead. We can’t go to a Vegas pool anytime soon.” Jeff ponders.
I am in suspense, is he going to choose to uber out to a Vegas suburb and walk around watching frisbee throwing or is he going to choose the incredibly cool Stadium Swim that we may never get a chance to come back to??!!
No pressure. I remained neutral to not try and sway him in any direction that could lead to deep resentment and distrust down the road.
He picked the pool! That’s my guy!!!!!
Good news and bad news.
Good news: I packed a swimsuit.
Bad news: I did not pack anything that would look remotely appropriate over a swimsuit. A sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers it was. I felt so ashamed wearing jeans to the pool. Like I had never heard of a pool or what to do there and how to act and what to wear.
Obviously, I really didn’t care because I paraded all around in my sweatshirt, swim bottoms and sneakers.
It was 48 degrees outside, but the pool was heated. We drank Pina coladas, did cheer moves we picked up from our recent CHEER binge watching, laughed way too loud and had entirely too much fun. He kept trying to get the security guards and lifeguards attention so he could tattle on me for various stupid things and I was like noooooo and scream laughing.
“Excuse me, security guard? She touched my butt and didn’t stop when I told her to!” Hilarious Jeff. Laugh it up.
We got out of the pool and went back to the chairs where we watched some of an unknown golf tournament. That pool would be so fun during a big game or any kind of a game for that matter that was not golf.
A younger guy walked by and said, “the pool just isn’t the same without you guys.”
Ha! You know what we bring? The party. The energy. The happy hype.
Later that day we went to the Sportsbook, Texas Tech basketball was on and we wanted to make some bets and some dolla dolla billlllz.
I gave Jeff some terrible intel and lost all of our money. But what I gained is this picture of Jeff in the cutest little booty out stance placing a bet. Silver linings are important. I also ate a bunch of pickles in a bag and a salad I got at this gas station type market and was just truly living my best life.
That brings us to the final day in Sin City. We decided to walk around outside the gates of the familiar hotels and casinos and into the Fremont East District.
We did things.
And saw things.
And tried on huge foam NFL piece and chain options. It’s about fashion, style and risks.
Nothing too exciting down in there, but we were very fortunate to get to see an art installation that I have been really wanting to go to. Before we got to Vegas, I asked Jeff if maybe, possibly, somehow, in the event that there was some spare time, could we go see the Seven Magic Mountains colorful rocks.
He didn’t give a firm no, but I knew we weren’t going.
In an incredible and unexpected turn of events, we stumbled upon this…
Janky great value Seven Magic Mountains locked in a barely standing chain link cage.
That’s ok because I couldn’t get my mind off the D.
I had to get one more of these!
That concludes our Vegas vacation wrap up.
Here is what we did to remember the occasion…Jeff wanted a black and white pic of the Ogden Ave sign and I wanted something cute that I could frame and add to my gallery wall
Here is Jeff’s before and after, or I guess after and before…
And mine…
I took these on the iPhone 13 pro max and edited in photoshop like I would any image I took on my D5. It’s already hanging on my wall and looks so cute! Meaningful art is the best!
I love this framing company and use them often!
This story does have a sad ending, I’m sorry to say.
I forgot about the limited amount of ounces you could bring in your carry on and I put my brand new, used twice, absolute favorite, not cheap, Brazilian Bum Bum Cream in my backpack. It smells like heaven, I have never received so many compliments on smelling good until this stuff.
R.I. freakin’ P.
It took me at least 25 minutes to stop mourning the loss.
Last thoughts: Circa is the best option for downtown Vegas, Absinthe is a must see, Downtown Vegas is great for newer gamblers that want to do smaller bets and we did not end up tying the knot.
You’re one darn fine writer, Paige! I was very engaged and it definitely gave me some good smiles and laughs. Hope you got the sequel you were looking for like you talked about on stories haha!
Ahhhhh! A comment! Ha! It was one of the most fun trips I have had, so yes…sequel was everything I was hoping! Thank you!!!
Haha this is ahhh-maaaz-innnng and makes me want to visit Vegas now! Also. Bum bum cream is MY JAM. Have you tried the Trader Joe’s knock off?! Dare I say, BETTER than the OG.