Vegas! And a cycle calendar!

We've been back from Vegas for a few days, and I'm so ready to go back.  I don't necessarily want to spend more money - or even drink more alcohol - but oh, do I miss that 80 degree weather!!

We had SO MUCH FUN.  Like so much, it made me all warm and cozy on the inside by our last day there.  (I'm sure the copious amounts of whiskey I drank had nothing to do with that).  The only cranky times were first thing in the morning before we had our coffees.

We arrived on Friday, and I was faced with one major concern.  There is a two hour time difference between Vegas and home.  Our dinner reservations were at 8pm, which was like 10pm here.  I had no idea how I was going to stay awake for dinner and after!  10pm is pretty much the latest I go to bed on many nights.  So once we watched the end of a basketball game upon arrival, I headed up to our room for a nap.  My goal was to stay up until at least midnight Vegas time (spoiler alert:  I did!).

The nap was a great idea and then I dressed in my new black dress and awesome leopard print high heels.  T wore a dapper linen jacket and we were off for our dinner at Picasso.  This was our awesome menu:



The foie gras was my absolute favorite course, and definitely in my top 5 of all time favorite eats.  T has the snapper for his main protein (I had the lamb), and he thought it was even better than the foie gras.  We both were blown away by the wine paired with the Snapper...it is a spicy white wine from Rioja, Spain.  I'm sure if any of you are wine aficionados, your head tilted a bit at the reference to a "spicy" white.  It was definitely a unique taste and we ordered some bottles when we got home!

We sat outside on the terrace which is right on the Bellagio lake and saw the fountain show several times throughout dinner.  It was definitely magical!

On Saturday night, we wanted an early meal before our 7:30 show (Cirque du Soleil's "O", which was awesome as well), so just sat at the bar at Comme Ça and had this lovely feast (can you tell I was obsessed with food while we were there?):




All this was only $30 during happy hour!  For oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp and lobster!

Our time chatting with the bartender set us up for the coolest part of our trip.  We were trying to figure out where to go for a drink after the show.  A place with great cocktails, not a club, and we could hear each other speak.  The bartender got his cell phone and quietly gave us the phone number of a "secret" speakeasy in downtown Vegas.  It only holds 12-15 people, so we were supposed to text the number to see if we could get in.  They would then direct us to what ended up being a very unassuming door inside another bar.  I actually had read about this place during my research prior to the trip (http://www.vegaschatter.com/story/2012/12/17/18930/664/vegas-travel/Prohibition-Style+Hootch+Is+The+Bee%27s+Knees+In+Vegas) , but it is new enough that no one was yet was giving up the contact details.  I imagine it will be readily available soon, but I never in a million years thought we would be lucky enough to have them randomly fall into our lap!  I think perhaps there are a couple numbers you can use, with one being the more "private", cool people number?  Who knows!

We were able to get in around 10:15 that night, and it was totally perfect.  The bar itself sat about 5-people, then there a couple tables nearby.  The whole room was smaller than our master bedroom.  And NO SMOKING, great music at a reasonable level, and phenomenal drinks.  No wine, beer, or flavored vodkas at this place -- just good old fashioned drinks with a modern twist. 

We rounded out our day Sunday at Emeril's Stadium at the Palazzo to watch the Big Ten Finals and the tourney selection show.  For being an Emeril place, the food was just meh, but the setup is pretty cool!  Big TVs, with loungy chairs to put your feet up with a beer.  Nice!

Unfortunately, good things must come to an end (and livers must be protected), so we headed home to jump into IVF #3.

I'm still on my BCP and testosterone gel.  After about a week, I'll add testosterone patches.  No Lupron this time (this is considered an antagonist cycle - all medical mumbo jumbo).  I'll start the stimulation drugs the week of April 8th, and then have the retrieval the week after. 

I'll admit.  I am tired.  Somewhat fed up.  Just ready to be DONE.  I really really hope this is it for us.  I'm not sure yet what we'll do if it is not.  It is so hard to give up now that we know we can, but I know we may have to get to that point eventually.  I just hope this cycle works and takes that decision away from us.