Staycation Alert!

So this whole running the PR department thing has got me on a tight leash here in Vegas until April 5 (at which time I am tempted to take the whole week off...) so when I found out that Chloe was coming to visit, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity for a staycation. They are all the rage now.

Chloe is one of my nearest and dearest. I met her through Panda (Arlene) here at SK+G. The two of them quickly adopted me into their lunch hours and it's been a beautiful, blossoming friendship ever since. About a year ago, Chloe's world got turned upside down and she made the decision to take the opportunity to move back home to New Hampshire and go to Nursing School. Truly following her dreams and her heart for the first time in her life.

This was her first trip back to Vegas and her first trip ever here as a girl without a ring on it. We made a list of all the places we had to go, things we had to eat and all the drinks in-between. Needless to say, I think I'm going to need a vacation from my staycation after all of this!

Friday night kicked off with HALLELUJAH the first baseball game of the season. It's tradition that Renee goes to Major League Weekend here for her birthday every year with her family and this was my second year tagging along. The Cubbies won this year and so did the beer.





Saturday Chloe arrived! We started the evening at Downtown Firefly which prompted a post on my Facebook explaining that if Downtown LV is my home away from home then Don't Tell Mama is my living room, The Griffin is my basement, Firefly is my kitchen and Globe Salon is my dressing room. Especially since it feels like I've spent more time at these places over the past year than I have in my own little cozy abode. So yes, we enjoyed several hours of tapas and sangria at Firefly....



.....followed by a trip to Don't Tell Mama where Panda treated us to her singing talents. You should have seen the crowd the moment she opened her mouth. She gets up like "I want to sing a song" and then BAM R-E-S-P-E-C-T. And respect she earned. That girls got cords for days.

And you know what we had? Shots for days. When we got our tab from the beautiful Bianca, my jaw hit the floor. But WTH, I'm on staycation. We then headed two doors over to The Griffin. Which, after several hours of more drinks and conversation, eventually led to pancakes with Superchump (you read that right) at the El Cortez which led to Chloe and I getting back to The Palms just in time to catch the sunrise over CityCenter from the view out our room.

It was one of the most surreal nights of my life.

And yes, I needed the entire next time to recover but alas, we had a tattoo appointment to get to. Chloe decided that what happens in Vegas, doesn't always have to stay in Vegas and got herself her first tattoo. It is so perfect, three stars...past, present and future. The past and the present stars are filled in with the future wide open. I just love love love the meaning of it and she's really happy with it (probably because it's not a giant fairy tattooed above her ass).

The rest of Sunday was spent recovering with meals from In-N-Out and a trip to Golden Spoon (the necessities, you know).

Monday evening brought the 2nd Annual Happy Birthday Pung You Hike out at Red Rock with Audrey, Mousse, Gordie and myself.


Gordon of course found the first stream of water, splashed all the way through it, rolled in red dirt and basically ran amuck. Look how happy the boy was!


Last night was Tiki Tiki Tiki Time over at Frankie's and catching some of our favorite local talent at The Brass Lounge.

And tonight brings a final trip (at least for this staycation) to Downtown Freemont East. I have so so SO enjoyed my time with Chloe since she has been here and it breaks my heart that I don't get her like this every day anymore but we have certainly made the best out of this first trip and I know there will be many, many more to come. I am so happy to see the person that she has blossomed into during her adventure of this past year and am blessed to be able to call her one of my closest friends. Love you, Chloe.

Vegas Sunrise

This weekend was one for the books. I am still gathering all of my thoughts (and photos) on it - any maybe still sobering up a little bit - let's be honest.

In the meantime, the photo above was a result of seeing the sunrise Sunday morning from the Fantasy Tour at The Palms.

Intrigued? I thought you might be. Stay tuned.

Katie Knoch : Sommelier

A few summers ago I visited Napa Valley with Pep and Aunt Karen. I had JUST started crossing over from White Zin (I know, I know....we all gotta start somewhere though) to white wines. So I was excited - not like I would be now - but still, excited.

We checked out a couple little wineries before we headed to V. Sattui Winery where my lush of a mother (gotta get it from someone) is a member of their 'exclusive' wine club. Meaning, we got the V.I.P. treatment with a private wine tasting down in their cellar. We got this GREAT sommelier who explained that he would be walking us through the tasting. We would start with whites and then....

"Oh no, no, sir. I would JUST like to try the whites. I do not like red." (My 26 year-old-self cannot believe I just typed those words...)

"Oh, no, my dear...you're trying them all. I will get you there. Trust me, by the time we reach the reds, you'll be ready."

Who am I to argue? This guy OBV knows what he is talking about. And, let's be honest, I've never been as picky with alcohol as I am with food.

So the 'tasting' begins. I put tasting in quotations because there was nothing tasting-size about these samples. We are talking half glasses of wine. And like 12 of them. In two hours. Standing up. Pre-lunch. By glass 7, I was stuffing pretzels in my face like they were cheese. And sure enough, the whites came and went, the rose wine came and went and before I knew folks, I was drinking red wine.

And it's been a serious love affair ever since.

But I digress. The guy, I can't remember his name, so we'll just call him Oscar. Oscar was REAL good about telling me what he thought I would like, what I could expect my taste-buds to experience, what cheese would go well with such and such wine (again, love this man) and I might not like this one as much, but this will be the one you will want to take home with you, etc. etc.

So needless to say, we are PRETTY SAUCY by the end of this whole thing. And let me tell you, I am a PRO at tasting wine. I am swirling it in my glass, slightly sniffing for a preview, taking in the aroma. Then Oscar, my new B.F.F. at this point, tells me that THIS THIS RIGHT HERE will FOR SURE be the one you want to purchase. "I saved the best for last," he tells me. BRING IT ON OSCAR, BRING IT ON!

I take a sip and BY GOLLY it truly is the most delicious thing in the mouth EVER.

"Oscar! Holy SHIT! (hey, I was drunk). THIS IS DELICIOUS. I'll TAKE 4!!"

Oscar starts to crack a smile as he shows me the bottle of their exclusive, bottled-on-site...
GRAPE JUICE.

Oh yeah, that one really got my mother and aunt rolling. Here I was, age 23, thinking I had just taken the most sophisticated glass in wine tasting EVER to be fooled. But I did learn an important thing that day.

I love red wine. All day. Every day. And Forever.

A Celebration

If you know me, you know I don't need a reason to celebrate on a Friday night. Just the fact that it is Friday seems like a fine enough reason for me to put on a dress and hit the town. However, this past Friday called for not one but TWO occasions to celebrate so you can imagine how excited I was.

The birth and return of Miss Anika Jones.

You know Anika, she is the one I make bad decisions with on a school night. I've known Anika for YEARS, over a decade (as I am lucky to have known most of my friends for that long). We had photo class together in high school and then were lucky enough to reconnect (thank you Facebook) and reunite at Don't Tell Mama over the summer. And what a summer it was. We were inseparable! She was my Plus One and I was hers. We ran this town on The Strip, Downtown Freemont East, at the Hard Rock Concert Series, Britney Spears, UNLV Football games and the infamous Zappos party but the nights we enjoyed most were sitting on my patio, sipping cocktails and running our mouths away. After all, we had a lot of catching up to do. And then one night, in walked The Germ and love happened.

And then she went to live in the NYC with him for what felt like eternity, but winter does that to a girl sometimes.

Then came early March and just like Springtime, FUN arrived. Chris and Anika are back and for good if I have anything to say about it. So we celebrated. Anika turning 27 and having not one, but now two, friends back in my life.

A Morbid Week: Inside the L.A.P.D. Evidence Room

So in keeping in tune with the accident post from earlier this week, today's blog comes with a warning. This post is not for the majority. I'll screen you? How does that sound? Did you see the movie The Black Dahlia and enjoy it? Safe. Does Charles Manson give you the heebie jeebies but maybe you're slightly fascinated by the Helter Skelter family? Safe. Ever had an interest in Forensic Psychology and the study of serial killers? Safe. Do you think O.J. was guilty? Safe.

Sticking around? Ok, here we go. I was watching the Today Show Monday morning while getting ready for work and I saw this piece about the L.A.P.D. putting historical evidence on display for the first time ever here at the Palms. I did some investigating and found that it would be open to the public Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. so yesterday after work, Kristin and I met Frank down there and somehow, we were surprised at the line that wrapped through the casino and out the doors. We decided to stick it out though. I knew this was something I didn't want to miss. We waited in line for an hour and let me tell you, it was well worth it.

To see all of those Hollywood Homicides and the evidence with these infamous cases - my mind was BLOWN. From Marilyn Monroe and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy to the Manson family car that they drove around during the murderous rampage. By far, the most distributing thing we saw was the evidential photographs from The Black Dahlia case from 1947. To see Short's body laying there, cut in half and what he did to her face...gave me the chills. The one that made me feel the most sad was the murder of Bill Cosby's son in the "robbery that went wrong" just because I remember Mr. Cosby's heartbreak when that happened back in 1997. The one that hit closest to home though was definitely the O.J. Simpson case and THE GLOVE. "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" To see all the evidence against Simpson laid out right there, was astounding. Kristin was in elementary school when the case was in the media and hadn't paid too much attention and she was APPALLED. How OH HOW did he get away with it? Justice system = FAIL.

I was shocked that they were allowing us to take pictures so for those of you who are curious, I present to you the L.A.P.D. evidence room.

10 Years Later: The Accident

March 2, 2000. Renee came to pick me up from Mixer's. I had requested to get off a little early to go hang out with my crush, Stevie B. Renee pulled up out front, I took off my hot pink apron, grabbed our smoothies to go and said goodnight to my co-workers. I got in the car, turned around to say hello to Katrin and Matt and that is the last thing I remember.

Let me start off by telling you that I always wear my seat belt. My father would not leave the driveway until I was all buckled in. I have no idea why on this particular night, I did not click it.

Here is how the story goes, as it has been told to me since my memory never came back of what happened. And isn't that so interesting? How our minds protect ourselves from remembering traumatic events? We were at the intersection of Smoke Ranch and Tenaya, right by our high school, Cimarron. We were in Renee's '87 Ford Escort, heading straight through a yellow light when a Ford Expedition failed to yield the right of way to us and that's when the collision happened. My face collided with the windshield, Renee's with the steering wheel and Katrin and Matt were slammed up against the front seats from the back. Needless to say, after that kind of impact, Renee's little Escort was totaled.

When 3 of the 4 of us came to, Renee says that she looked over to find me trying to clean the blood and glass from my face with my Independent sweatshirt and when the ambulance arrived, I just kept repeating my home address over and over again to the paramedics. It's fascinating to me the things that we do in a semi-conscience state. I'm just glad I wasn't singing the lyrics to 'Dirty Pop' over and over again.

They took me to UMC and then began trying to call my mother. Pep was out shopping though so she didn't get the message until a few hours after the fact. I think she still feels guilty about that to this day. I didn't actually wake up until THE MIDDLE OF MY CAT SCAN. Yeah, can you imagine?? I have no recollection of the accident and I wake up inside a giant DOME. But I'm pretty sure I just went back to sleep after that. The next thing I remember is waking up to my mom while I was getting the stitches put in my eyelid. She was holding it together pretty well. They suggested I not look in the mirror.

I got home and showered and tried my best to avoid the mirror but I was 16 so my vanity got the best of me. Sure enough, probably should have avoided. I was 16 and the left side of my face was practically gone and what was left was glued together. My eyebrow has been shaved off and I couldn't really open my left eye. I didn't think that I would ever look the same. The doctors hadn't been too clear on the prognosis but told me that more than likely, I would need reconstructive surgery. I cried a lot. And then I ate Ben-n-Jerry's ice cream that Lauren brought over. Again, that is why she is And More.

They excused me from school for the next two days but I had to go back on Monday. You know how cruel kids can be so I wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity to walk through the halls of CMHS. I remember people starring but the only comment I remember is from Fallon Arnez, who TO THIS DAY, is an awful, awful human being and horrible bitch, making a comment about how she would 'never come to school looking like Quasimodo'. The lucky thing for me is my face healed, her cold dark heart never has.

I did end up needing reconstructive surgery underneath my nose. Mederma was my best friend and I highly recommend it for any scars...worked wonders on my face. If I don't have make-up on, you can see the scar that runs down my left cheek, the scarring under my nose and on my forehead. Picking shards of glass out of my forehead as it resurfaced was a regular occasion for the first year. I would constantly run my fingers over the surface of my forehead and whenever I would feel something sharp, off to the surgeon we would go and she would pick glass out for (what seemed like) hours. The actual last piece of glass I had removed was 3 years after the accident.

Post accident, I had a lot of trouble with yellow lights. Even though I don't remember the actual collision...or a majority of that night even, something inside of me does because my heart would skip a beat and I would get an awful feeling in my stomach every time I would see a light turn yellow. We are all very lucky that the damage was not worse. And yes, I got a settlement of $10,000. My mother was smart enough to make me invest 1/2 of it and the other portions went to my lawyer and got blown on plane tickets from Reno to Las Vegas (Have I mentioned that I was an idiot when I was 18?).

Moral of the story? Buckle Up. Always. You don't want your face to ever look like this.

White Trash Bash

Shelly and Mike playing the 'disapproving parents' role to KK and KW

One of my nearest and dearest, Austin Spencer, owns a tattoo shop here in Las Vegas called Studio 21. Now, as you may have guessed, tattoo shop in Vegas are a dime a dozen but what makes this shop unique is that it is a family affair. Austin owes the shop with his mother, Becki, who manages and handles the business/marketing side of things, father, Charlie, who is also a tattoo artist and sister, Courtney, front desk/organizer/booker extraordinaire. They started this little project seven years ago and it is now one of the most successful tattoo shops in Las Vegas and has been featured on shows like 20/20 and 'The Biggest Loser'. They certainly have a lot to celebrate so celebrate we did this past Friday night.

For those of you who do not follow me on a daily basis and were fortunate enough not to see me drowning in my own self-pity as I suffered from Bronchitis last week, would not take it as a surprise that I put on my party pants (and party pants they were, just you wait!) and toasted to my dear friends but those of you who were witness to my misery that was last week, might be surprised that I did put on said party pants and did, indeed, toast to my dear friends. On codeine and antibiotics with an inhaler in my purse. Who said Club Monster Katie had died??

Usually, I am not a fan of the 'White Trash' themed parties. I tend to think of them as a little played out and yes, I can tell you that everyone will be pregnant in a wife-beater while smoking and drinking and the guys will all be wearing trucker hats. But if I'm going to go, I'm going to dress up. That's just WHO I AM. So Kristin and I headed to Savers and made out like a couple of white trash bandits. So Friday night rolled around and I put on some leather pants. That's right kids, LEATHER PANTS.

Did I also mention that this was all for a good cause? Studio 21 Tattoo raised over $2,500 for Adaptive Action Sports, our friend Amy's charity that benefits young adults living with permanent physical disabilities who are active in action sports. So (trucker) hats off to you, my friends. We've all been known to drink and when you tell us we're drinking for a cause, well....party on.

I'll let the photos take it from here.