I'm going on vacation. I think. I hope...? You would think one would be sure about such serious matters like taking some time off. But my plan is to take a week off from the bloggosphere and have a long overdue visit with family and friends in the annual Scorch Yourself Alive summer trip to Las Vegas. I'm scheduled to meet up with my parents who are there for a reunion and my BFF from college, a gal I affectionately refer to as the Angry Peanut. I took this photo a couple of years ago at the Bellagio, visiting their beautiful atrium garden, which they change seasonal and holiday themes regularly. I don't gamble, I just go to look at stuff like this. Vegas hates people like me.

Despite plane tickets being bought (with insurance) and hotel rooms reserved, I may cancel if our pup Indy isn't doing well. My biggest fear is not being here if her health takes a sharp turn for the worst;the last time I left for just an overnight trip, the Mister had to take her to the ER. So, we'll see. I've got a vacation I think/I hope I'll be going on. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And Indy. 

Jaunty Fine Print: Photo by Denise Sakaki

stay cool

Is it too late to shout SUMMER BREAK? This Birdy is getting ready to fly the coop for a few days. Just a short trip, but one I've been looking forward to. An annual trek to the hot deserts of Nevada to meet up with family for a reunion, plus seeing an old friend. 

This Bird is headed to the dry, dusty lands of Nevada again, to spend time with a BFF who lives right in Sin City, as well as to meet up with some Jaunty family who were also in need of a break. So to mark this desert landscape, neon-glow Mood, here's a photo I took on the trip I took last year, a little glimpse of Old Vegas, versus the shiny, sparkly, biosphere-like New Vegas.

Have no fear, this Bird will be back soon enough, posting away next week and hopefully sharing some new photos of the latest trip, although I'm considering not taking my giant camera. Professional-looking cameras and Las Vegas casinos don't mix so well and after all, this is a vacation -- even a Birdy needs to travel light and relax now and then. So here's to the saying: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!


Jaunty Fine Print:  photo by Denise Sakaki

This Bird has really done it now... Just booked a flight out to Sin City at the most insane time of year, the ridiculous heat of August! But it's for a good reason -- meeting up with family who will be there for a weekend and visiting my best friend who lives in the area. Less party, more of a weekend to unplug from the world. I've been out to Las Vegas before, on trips with friends to live it up for a weekend and have an excuse to wear sparkly, exciting things that would just never fly in the casual, relaxed land of the Northwest. And even though I'm not much of a high-roller, what with local gambling spots and internet casinos available wherever you have a computer, nothing beats the excitement of such a bling-bling city like Las Vegas.

This trip put me in a bit of a glitzy, bedazzled Mood, challenging my Jaunty eye to find some of the most sparkly, Sin City-glamorous things, but keeping in mind not to go overboard and dress like a showgirl. Let's face it, when people go to Vegas, aside from it being the most rowdy and obnoxious plane ride over, it's like someone pressed the "overexcessive" button and couldn't stop. Vegas does not have to mean tacky. Go for a bit of shimmer or bronzing powder for an evening sheen -- don't look like you went overboard in the tanning salon and rolled in glitter afterwards. All the sparkly baubles shown above certainly caught my eye, but this in no way constitutes a Jaunty Outfit -- pick one thing! A menswear-inspired tuxedo suit with the peekaboo surprise of shorts, paired with heels surrounded by feathers is a great play on masculine/feminine details. If one thing is outrageously sparkly, then the Bird gives her nod of Jaunty approval and says, "You're good, now get out there and strut your stuff."

Of course this is a fantasy dream, were I to have an endless bank account or a big casino bonus win at my disposal, but a Magpie with a sparkle in her eye can always dream, can't she? These were the goodies I couldn't help but share for my Vegas-inspired Mood board: {1} Make the First Mauve, Only Gold for Me, Sparkle Me Silver nail colors by OPI from Sephora, {2} Habibi minaudiere by Judith Leiber, {3} Two-tone beaded dress by Mandalay from Neiman Marcus, {4} Black feather strap shoes by Givenchy on StyleCaster, {5} Tuxedo suit by Yves Saint Laurent on Elle, {6} Glitters body shimmer by Make Up For Ever from Sephora, {7} Jewel-tone one-shoulder draped dress by Ali Ro from Neiman Marcus, {8} Gold plated ring with crystal detail from Kate Spade New York on Elle, {9} Humbee II in light gold glitter by Badgley Mischka from Piperlime, {10} Sparklicity gold shimmer dust by Tarina Tarantino from Sephora


Jaunty Fine Print:  images from shops/designers listed above

 

There's a lot to be said about the city of Las Vegas and "natural" is not one of those things. It's a weird and unique city that, like any controlled substance, must be taken in small doses. Upon a recent visit, this Bird was struck by its opposites -- it's both lush and arid, lonely and crowded, profane and sanctified. I've lived in the desert before, in the equally parched land of Arizona, so I understand how everything needs to be brought in, as very little can grow naturally, and even then I wondered, maybe we're not meant to live on every square inch of this planet. Las Vegas is that and more, as everything is transplanted -- people, themes, whole concepts that are literally plucked from history or one's imagination and then rebuilt as something new, with ringing bells and flashing lights. It's both amazing and frightening. Tightly packed houses of new construction, a long strip of modern hotels with the likes of Venice and ancient Egypt, rising from the dust in the middle of an empty basin; it puts a Bird in an unsettled Mood, watching the natural landscape disappear and turn into an urban desert sprawl.

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands. - Havelock Ellis

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. - Henry David Thoreau

Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work. - Pliny the Elder


Jaunty Fine Print: photos by Denise Sakaki

 

Bright light city, gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire -- most likely due to the fact that it's hotter than the surface of the sun in the state of Nevada, which is where this Bird is headed to in a few days! This Magpie is flying the coop to spend the very last of her frequent flyer miles on a trip to Las Vegas to meet up with her Jaunty parents who will be there for a college reunion. Seems like a strange reason to fly to Vegas, especially considering I don't gamble and the years in Washington have left my pasty skin sorely unprepared for the 100-degree heat, but it just came down to saving some Jaunty dollars by trading miles to travel a shorter distance to get in a family visit. Just call it "fuzzy math" in the new economy-class economy. Also, one of my very best friends lives in Las Vegas, so it will be a chance to visit her -- honestly, I could be visiting the middle of the South Pole for all I care, but it will most assuredly be a Jaunty visit, being able to see a good friend and my parents for a few days.

But to get into the travel mood, I thought of some Vegas-themed movies that I thought were particularly Jaunty and didn't include obvious choices like The Hangover -- which is totally hilarious, but I wanted to list some other favorites: {1} Oceans Eleven for hipster coolness (both the original as well as the remake, which was quite good as far as remakes go), {2} Honeymoon in Vegas for the best wedding scene, like, ever, {2} Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because it's Bat Country and Johnny Depp as the mighty Hunter S. Thompson, {4} Casino for its mobster love letter to the 1970s Vegas of polyester yore. Watching any combination of these movies will most likely feel like a weekend in Vegas. With any luck, my actual visit to Sin City will not result in any quickie marriages or tigers trapped in my hotel bathroom.


Jaunty Fine Print: images from IMDB.com