What Happens In Vegas...

What happens in Vegas apparently doesn't always stay in Vegas since I'm blogging about it.  Hopefully I'm not shunned like the girl on the Vegas.com commercial.  If you're not familiar with the commercial I'm talking about, watch it below.

Vegas was fun! Since it was my first trip to Vegas, I had a lot to take in during such a short trip.

(From left to right) Myself; JA; DB, the birthday boy; and

VN, The Boyfriend; all left for the roadtrip early in the AM.

We stopped at the Barstow Outlets on the way there,

where I  bought this ring as a good luck charm.

Slot machines, here I come!

A couple hours later, we arrived in Vegas!

Checked into our rooms at Planet Hollywood.

I was thoroughly creeped out when I walked into
our room and saw old clothes in display cases.
This one is mild compared to the old dress-suit
hanging on a dress form next to the television.

YR flew in, and we all got ready to head out to the club.

It was DB's birthday, so he got to decide what we were doing for our nights out.  We headed over to KRAVE, the gay bar in Planet Hollywood.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm not one for dancing, but I love to people-watching.  Also, critiquing the dancing styles of the paid male dancers who were dancing on stage in nothing but briefs was quite funny.

The following day we walked the strip and did a bit of gambling.
It was a little difficult getting around though since Las Vegas
Blvd. was all blocked off for the Rock n Roll Marathon.
 

The marathoners left a mess on the street.  Look at all those cups!

It rained a little bit, then we made a brief trip to a bar where we played pool and darts.  People-watching was also fun here.  Heck!  I think people-watching is fun everywhere, especially in Vegas!

 

We reluctantly headed home the following morning.  Of course

we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Primm to do some shopping.

Overall it was a great trip with great people.  Lots of bonding experiences and fun stories to tell.   I didn't lose any money.  In fact, I made a little bit .  If I did my math correctly, that is.  And since I'm not so good at math...  Who knows?

13 Pounds of Deep Fried Goodness...

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year I spent Thanksgiving with my boyfriend at his best friend's house.  They go all out for the holiday.   We feasted on two turkeys (one deep fried, one roasted), mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, homemade french fries, steamed vegetables, peas, corn, spiced pumpkin custard pie, coconut cream pie, and various other cookies and desserts.  The Boy and I baked the Spiced Pumpkin Custard Pie.  It came out alright.  There was a slight oopsie in putting the pie together, but it still tasted good!  The Boy fried the turkey, and it was soooo good.  His bestfriend's mom made a turkey as well, and it was sooo moist!  I was pretty good about not eating to much.  I'm not a fan of the food coma (or packing on the pounds).  Turkey gumbo with the leftovers!

Me, The Boy, and his best friend's mom.

The boys checking on the bird.

The Boy's best friend's family.  So nice of them to have me!

Layouts, Geocities, and HTML...

Yay!  I have a new layout!  It's nothing fancy obviously, but for my first crack at putting together a layout that isn't 100% Blogger-made is pretty exciting.  I'm sure I'll be playing around with layouts a bit more, so don't be surprised if you see it change again.  I've made digital art and websites for a while now, but learning the Blogger tricks will be what takes the most effort.  Want to hear how my geekdom began and progressed?  Let me tell you a little tale...

It was freshman year of high school and, naturally, I was obsessed with a boyband.  (While most of the girls I knew growing up went through this phase in junior high, I was a bit of a social late bloomer.)  The logical (please note sarcasm) thing to do to support my obsession with said boyband was to make a website dedicated to them.  (Yes, I was that kind of teenybopper.  I formally apologize here and now for my past indiscretions.  I am very much embarrassed of my early high school years.)  So I started my own Geocities site.  If you've been around the internet for a while you remember Geocities.  It was Yahoo's drag and drop website building client back in the day.

Eventually, my boyband obsession petered out only to be replaced by an admiration for an up-and-coming singer/songwriter.  I'm sure you've heard of her: Avril Lavigne.  A friend of mine (shout out to Kristy!) heard about Avril from one of her friends, and she began spreading the word and promoting Avril.  I too wanted to spread the word and help promote, so I went to start an Avril website myself.  For some odd reason this time however, Geocities wasn't working on my computer properly.  So out of my many options, I narrowed it down to two: 1) Don't make a website, or 2) Learn HTML.  I chose the latter.  It was an interesting learning experience trying to get the hang of HTML (with major thanks to Hailey), but eventually I did.  In learning HTML, I also had to learn some form of graphic design to produce a somewhat decent layout.  I chose to learn JASC Paint Shop Pro.  Who knows what version it was...  So eventually that Avril site did make it up onto the web.  And thanks to Geocities refusing to work with my old family PC, I now have the ability to code HTML.  It may not be textbook HTML, but browsers can read it just fine.  The HTML also helped in making some pretty cool MySpace and LiveJournal layouts back in high school.  If I can manage those two sites, surely I can manage Blogger...  Right?

Back to Blogging...

So here I am back to blogging again.  The last time I found myself writing a blog was back in high school.  Though if I remember correctly, my posts from 6 years ago were mostly filled with emotions, drama, and angst.  I'll do my best to leave those out from now on--or at least tone them down.  ;)

Allow me to officially introduce myself...
My name is Sarah.  I'm a 24-year-old born and raised Southern Californian located in Northern Orange County.  I'm currently a college student, working towards a degree in Sociology.  I also work part-time in the Social Services field, where I get paid to play with kids.  (Okay, so the job is a lot more than that, but I'm trying to keep this brief.)  I've been told I have an old soul and a baby face.  I'm mistaken for a high school student quite often, and I've gotten used to it.  I've been crafty and creative all my life, but up until several years ago I thought craftiness came naturally to everyone.  In the last couple years I've spent time cultivating my creativity in making greeting cards.  I love it!  Love, love, love it!  And now, I want to share my love of crafts with the world...  Hence the beginning of this blog.  Join me on my journey, won't you?