OK, back to Vegas

After a really annoying night when I tossed and turned and had this horrible nightmare about my cat having all four of her legs cut off (thank you so much, "How It's Made," for that lovely segment on hams), I woke up for what was, really, our One Day in Vegas.

Started the morning with a stroll out to Fremont Street.  Having investigated the situation the day before, I knew exactly where I could buy myself a thing of Yoplait, and therefore stick to my eating plan while on vacation.  Of course, it was hard to say my peach yogurt was actually breakfast, as it was about 11:30 by this time, but allowances have to be made.

Went up to the gym and did about 20 minutes on an Elliptical machine.  I haven't done cardio in a while so making it through 20 minutes was a bit of a challenge.  My brother-in-law (who runs distances -- like, marathons) is cheerfully running along on the treadmill next to me.  I've plodded elliptically for about four minutes, sweat is pouring off me, I'm breathing heavy, and I look at the "Calories burned" display to see I've managed to work off a small cookie.

It's a small cardio room, with maybe eight machines in it.  Two flat screen TVs on the wall.  The one on the left is running CNN; the one on the right, Fox News.  I find this amusing.

I actually had a lovely afternoon in the gym/spa facility.  For one of the Very First Times (on vacation), I had the foresight to pack everything I'd need for a gym/spa -- workout clothes, sports bra, mp3 player, swimsuit for the jacuzzi, book to read, sneakers, flip-flops, clean change of clothes ... my workout bag was pretty heavy, but damn, I had a good time. 

Got a massage too.  (I ended up with the same massage dude my sister got.  Probably the only dude on the planet who has seen both me and my sister in that state of undress.)

Spent most of the afternoon there just hanging out, snacking on fruit, and ... showering.  (Good Lord, you've got to shower a lot at one of these places.  Shower after workout and before massage.  Use Sauna.  Shower after Sauna and before using Jacuzzi.  Shower after jacuzzi before leaving ....) 

Got back to my room with about 20 minutes to spare before meeting the family for dinner.  Had spied an internet place on Fremont street when I'd picked up the morning yogurt, so took the opportunity to print out the boarding pass for my flight home and journal like a madman for 10 minutes.  Ran back to my room, put on my Nice Evening Clothes (purple tank top, black skirt), and headed off to meet the family for dinner.

OK, here's the thing about the black skirt.  Remember a few posts ago when I ran to the storage cage to get my suitcase?  When I was putting together my packing list, I thought I'd take my black linen skirt.  Except I couldn't find my black linen skirt.  When I ran to the storage cage to get the suitcase, there was a bag of clothes in the cage and the black linen skirt was right on top.  I grabbed the skirt (thinking it must have been fate), held it up to myself to see if it looked like it might fit (it did), and packed it.

So, I put it on for dinner, ran to my sister's room to meet the family, sat down, and discovered the three-inch rip in the seam at about hip-level.

Crap.

My sister had no needle and thread and neither did I.  But when mom came to the door, she said she had one, so she ran back to her room to get the sewing kit.  She comes back and offers to sew it for me.  Since the rip was on a seam, it would be really easy to get from the inside.  Which required me to take off my skirt.

I stand behind the bar in the little sink area in the room (did I mention my sister got upgraded to a suite for pretty much no reason at all?) and my brother-in-law walks in the living room.  Because I am now, y'know, wearing no skirt, I purposely lean up against the half-wall that's the front of the bar.  Because he's obviously not going to see me standing in my underwear if  I'm all pressed against the wall. 

My mother is sewing away at the skirt on the bar; I'm standing behind.  Brother-in-law yells back into the bedroom, "Your sister's naked out here!"

It was then that I noticed the mirror behind me.