After staying up to 4 AM Wednes-Dee night I wasn’t real eager to get moving Thurs-Dee morning. My scheduled items were a Pool Party at Paris for 2 PM and dinner at 7 PM. That left me some free time in the morning–or whatever was left of the morning–to wander over to the Fashion Show Mall and see if anything interested me. I chose a floral sundress and my Red Keds and headed out around eleven.
The mall was about a twenty minute walk and the sun was pleasant and not too warm. As with the rest of the week, there were plenty of tourists and natives out and about–along with the “showgirls” and “cowboys” angling to have a picture with them–but I have become immune to worrying about others, especially in Vegas.
The mall, like most malls these days, wasn’t extremely crowded. I walked through Macy’s and Nordstrom, found a couple of things to attempt to try on (mostly too small), but nothing that appealed to the eye or my wallet (the prices seemed higher than my local Macy’s or Nordstrom). I also ventured into White House Black Market, given recent successes there (two sundresses and a pair of shiny jeans, all cyberstalked and bought at roughly 25 to 30% of the original price). WHBM is also a favorite of Ms. Dee-ism. The staff at WHBM were eager to help–almost too eager–and I tried some dresses and outfits, but none were that special to either buy or to track at their website. My retail therapy urges sated for a while, I returned to the hotel to get ready for the pool party.
As my goal for the week was daily pool time, I brought multiple swimsuits to Dee-Va Las Vegas. Today’s choice was a red top my wife had abandoned, and bottoms that my GG friend Michelle had given me. I thought the two went together pretty well (and Ms. Dee-ism always says red is my color). For the walk to Paris, I wore a brown tube top and black skater skirt over the swimsuit combo, plus my hat, of course.
The designated pool was at the Paris casino, a couple of blocks away, maybe a fifteen minute walk. Unfortunately, the Google Maps link I had took me to the pool at the Horseshoe Casino. When I arrived there, the pool was closed but had a sign directing guests to the pool at the Paris. More walking and navigating, until I finally broke down and asked for directions to the pool, and found out I needed to take the elevator to the third floor. My fifteen minute walk ended up a half hour journey. Of course, it was a half hour in a cute outfit, so not all bad.
Upon arrival I found some in our group but no available chairs near them, so I wandered until I found one near shade. I’m not really a sun worshipper–having surgery to remove a couple of melanomas in May, plus my tendency to sunburn–influenced the decision to find shade. The temperature was comfortable, about 80, cool by Vegas standards. The low desert humidity causes things to dry quickly, so in the shade it was a bit on the chilly side.
Truth be told, I was feeling a bit anti-social. I’m not exactly an extrovert, and several days of meeting new people and conversing with them had emptied my conversation tank. I was happy to lounge by myself, take the occasional walk to the pool to dip my toes, and play on my digital tablet or do my math puzzles. I did watch the other Divas–perhaps a dozen in total–manage to shoot some (read: lots of) pictures (who’s the snarky b**** now????). I was happy to soak up a couple of solo hours outdoors in a swimsuit. When the pool closed just before five, I clothed up and walked back to the LINQ, at least knowing the directions there.
Dinner was at seven at a BBQ restaurant near the LINQ, an easy walk, even in my highest (and newest) heels. I wore a blue junior’s dress I found a couple of years ago at Macy’s, paired with black fishnet nose (combining cute and comfortable). I found a table with two pairs of married couples, including Ivy and Tiger, my dinner companions of the night before.
About thirty years ago my then boss taught me a lesson. He used to say, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Get” (as opposed to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which many in our circumstances can relate to). I really, really wanted to do something fun after dinner (like hit a club) and I had a second sequin dress to wear that I had bought at Plato’s Closet the week before. After my conversation with Megan and Laura–who met at a club when Megan was dressed–I figured they might be going somewhere, so I approached Megan and asked both if they were going out (yes) and if so, could I join them (yes). Bingo!
I hustled back to the LINQ–as quickly as I could hustle in three inch heels–and changed as quickly as I could. Change hose, heels, and dress, and head out the door, while Megan was texting me to hurry, hurry. I met the other six downstairs and we Ubered in two cars to a bar with live music at Mandalay Bay.
We found a table and had a couple of rounds of drinks (I might of only had one, because when it comes to alcohol, I’m a lightweight; I often say that for me, “alcohol and heels don’t mix well”). Treena, a Diva from the Great White North, was the first in our group to tackle the dance floor. After some indecision, I finally decided WTF and joined the dancers. The band was taking requests and playing covers of rock songs from the 70’s to the 90’s, so I knew most of the songs. I did my best to find my groove, and just to enjoy being out in a short sparkly white sequin dress in heels and hose in Party Town USA. What I had dreamed about for lots of years was actually happening. I danced in total for probably about an hour, more than I had ever danced (while dressed) before.
About 2 AM three of us decided to call it a night, but not before I got a picture with Megan and Laura in our somewhat matching outfits, and Treena joined us for a selfie. Back at the LINQ, I decided against hitting the casino, figuring I didn’t need a second late night in a row, and to be somewhat functioning when I had to checkout Fri-Dee morning.
__________________________________________________
Due to the fact that the blog hostess is not really good at her job, the following pictures from last week were added during the day Sun-Dee. If you missed them, please take a look here! Mea culpa…..
