Adventures in Vegas - Day Seven

Okay, so basically this entire trip was about THIS day.  The big, giant book signing!  Woo-Hoo!!

There were probably about 600 authors there and it's a giant room and ticket holders come in and wander around and either buy books or bring their own to get signed.  It's awesome.  From 10-2 we sit and socialize and watch the craziness and meet and greet more people than you thought possible!  I love the energy in the room but I love it just as much when it's over and we can leave and go back to our room and kick my shoes off!  LOL!

Seriously, hubby was great because he knew when the signing was ending and he went to the bar and grill and grabbed us a table before the mass exodus could come through and crowd the place.  So all I had to do was walk that mile from the convention hall to the lobby!  I enjoyed my burger immensely!

As it was our last night in Vegas - the shuttle was picking us up at 5:25 a.m., I had wanted to go out with a bang, but I was mentally exhausted!  Getting old sucks!  So after lunch we relaxed a bit and then went and did a little bit of gambling, had a late dinner at Guy Fieri's again and then went back and packed.  I'm not gonna lie to you - I couldn't wait to get on the plane to come home.

Thanks for a great week, Vegas!!  I'm hoping to come back again just for the fun of it!!

The highlights:  The Grand Canyon was obviously the biggest one of the trip.  I would do that again in a heartbeat and next time I'd want to bring the kids.  Meeting so many amazing authors who I admire was next - Erin Nicholas, Candis Terry, Jennifer Bernard, Melanie Shawn, and Damon Suede (who I did NOT get a picture with but I'm totally crushing on!).  You guys ROCK!!!

Adventures in Vegas - Day Five

Okay, so by this point...I was seriously missing my bed.  Not that the bed at the Rio wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't mine.

And I was crazy-missing my dog.

Look at that face.  Can you blame me?

So Thursday was a crazy day.  But in a good way.  Plus, it was really the first day that kept me in the hotel all day long.

Today we started our day at - of course - the Hash House a Go-Go.  I seriously just like saying that name.  But this was no ordinary breakfast.  Nope.  This was breakfast with Susan Mallery!!  Holy crap, I kid you not!  It was a small group of us that Susan invited to breakfast and I have to say, it was glorious.  Just imagine sitting at the breakfast table with one of your idols and thinking, "Um...that's right.  We're friends."  That was me.  :)

I had barely gotten over breakfast when it was time to go and meet my publicist for lunch!  There was a great Chinese restaurant in the Rio and we met there to discuss upcoming plans for FRIDAY NIGHT BRIDES (coming May 3rd!).  We had never met face-to-face so it was kind of cool to just share a meal, get to know one another, and talk about this exciting new book.  And just in case you haven't pre-ordered it yet, here's the link:  http://fridaynightbrides.instapage.com/

Now - with a completely full belly - I had to run to the convention end of the hotel.  Did I mention that it's about a mile round-trip from the convention hall to my hotel room?  I got quite the workout this week!  But I ran down there for the spotlight my publisher was putting on.  It didn't require anything from me except to smile and wave once and listen to the presentation.  It was a great time to just relax and think about all the food I had already consumed.

And where was my loving husband during all of this running and eating I was doing?  Well, he did join me for breakfast but at noon we went our separate ways while he went and got a totally KICK ASS tattoo!!  I have to admit, I'm totally jealous because we've always gotten our tattoos together so this was the first time I wasn't with him or getting one beside him.  But check out how amazing it is!!  So while I was socializing and flitting around the place, he was getting new ink!  And what was worse, was that he wouldn't even send me a picture of it to hold me over until I got to the room so my curiosity was absolutely KILLING me!!  Such a brat.  But...it's awesome and it's one he's been wanting since forever and the quality of it far exceeds anything we've had done locally.  So that was his Vegas souvenir!

The day ended on a high note again with a fabulous meet and greet with my promo group.  We met up in the Masquerade lounge at the hotel where readers could come and have a drink and hang out with us.  It was awesome.  We had a lot of people stop by and we laughed and talked and I can honestly say that I met some wonderful people that are going to go on and be my friends.  I couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies to promote with so thank you Erin, Candis, Melanie and Jennifer!  Love you girls!!

But wait...there was ONE last little bit of fun to be had.  The VooDoo Zip Line!  That's right!  This crazy chick - who is afraid of heights - did yet ANOTHER high-in-the-sky event!  Five hundred feet above the ground is a line between two of the towers of the Rio Hotel and we zipped it!!  How badass are we???  I have to say, I loved it at first, then not so much.  Then I wanted to cry.  And THEN they made us do it in reverse!  GAH!  But I did it and I survived and I felt like a total rock star again!!  Woo-hoo!!

Adventures in Vegas - Day Three

It was going to be pretty hard to top yesterday's adventure, so we didn't even try! 

There is a great brunch place in The Rio - the Hash House a Go-Go - and we had breakfast there.  Hubby had a flapjack that was the size of his head!  And let me tell you, it was amazing.  Yes, he shared - not that I gave him much of a choice!  The portions were HUGE and we didn't need to eat again until dinner! 

After breakfast we took a shuttle to the Strip and decided to walk the hotels.  We walked through Harrah's and the Flamingo, we rode the monorail, we toured the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace and took a gondola ride at the Venetian!  We did a quick tour of the MGM Grand and then another quick ride on the monorail before heading back to the Rio.

My blogger buddy got me into the Harlequin cocktail party (which was really only for bloggers) and I FINALLY got to meet Susan Mallery!!  OH.  MY.  GOODNESS.  For those of you who don't know me very well, I used to be one of Susan's cheerleaders before I became an author.  And it had always been a bit of a dream for me to meet her in person.  And I did!  I got to talk to her - and her fabulous assistant (who I was even more star-struck by because she's always been so gracious to me!) for a little while before I had to head out to another event!

Then...and I wish I had captured this on video...I got to go and meet the ladies in my promo group - Erin Nicholas, Candis Terry, Jennifer Bernard and Melanie Shawn.   I cannot even begin to describe how amazing this was for me.  I am a fan of ALL of them and to know that they consider me a peer and want to work with me???  VERY cool.  We all talked and laughed and ate pizza together in Erin's room and it was just a wonderful way to get to know one another.

But alas, my husband was patiently waiting for me to come back and pay attention to him.  Lol!  So I had to leave the party and we went and rode the High Roller.  If you don't know what that is, be impressed.  Be very, very impressed.  It's the highest observation wheel in the world and so - for the second time this week - I had to overcome my fear of heights!  This giant wheel takes 30 minutes to go around once and at the peak, you are 550 off of the ground!  I did not go anywhere NEAR the glass and look down!  Each pod holds like 30 people so it's a large space and you get an amazing 360 degree view of Las Vegas, but...it's high!!

Afterwards, we walked around for a bit and even though it was only 10:00 at night, we were kind of proud of ourselves for being out late!  Kinda sad but true.

Adventures in Vegas - Day One

So I just got back from Vegas.

That's a sentence I never thought I'd write!  Lol!  But it's true, I just got back from a week in Las Vegas.  It was part business, part pleasure and totally exhausting!  I was there for the RT Booklovers Convention and my hubby and I decided to also make this our trip to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary - which is technically next month.  :)

Our first day was spent primarily getting to Vegas from North Carolina.  We landed at around four in the afternoon and then took the shuttle to the hotel - the Rio.  It was off the strip which was a little disappointing, but considering we'd never been to Vegas before, we were kind of okay with it and just happy to be there.

Our room had a great mountain view - not what you'd expect when you think of a hotel in Vegas - and we were excited to see it from the fourteenth floor!  Actually, we'd never seen a casino or a hotel quite as big as the Rio so we were totally walking around like dorky tourists for the first few hours!

Then I was so excited because a very dear friend - who I happened to meet at last year's RT convention - was already in Vegas.  She's a blogger and she's awesome and her husband was there with her too!  So we all met up for dinner and we went to Guy Fieri's place - El Burro Borracho - for dinner.  VERY yummy!  I'm a foodie so I was pretty psyched to go out and eat at some of the places Vegas had to offer and this place was wonderful.

After dinner we drove up and down the strip just to see what there was and to get an idea of where we wanted to start when we weren't so full - or tired! - and could walk around for more than a few minutes.  And even though we spotted someplace for dessert - Serendipity 3 - we never stopped.

Back at the Rio, we walked around and got the lay of the land and scoped out where the convention was going to be held and I was so excited to see the window cling that I was on going up!  And it was in the main hallway!  EEK!!  I went in on a promo group with Erin Nicholas, Candis Terry, Jennifer Bernard, and Melanie Shawn.  Can I just say what a HUGE fangirl scream I let out when I got asked to join that group of girls???

All in all, we didn't do a whole lot, but I knew we were off to a great start!

Come back tomorrow and hear all about our Grand Canyon adventure!!

HUGE GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW!!

HUGE giveaway going on right now!!!  Me and the girls at Sweet N Steamy Romance are giving away the ultimate romance reader basket including books and gifts from nine authors!!  Gifts include signed paperbacks, swag, treats, an Amazon gift card and a Kindle Fire! 

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