Home again. Didn't get on at the airport because though the internet was free, it was too slow for pages to load. So hopefully I'll get around to answering comments today. I shall be resuming my schedule today - well, my modified schedule because I don't really have one with the inlaws here. Thankfully, they were here to take the kids in to school and pre-k today. I've been sleeping in until 8 most mornings while we were on vacation, and when we didn't even go to bed until nearly 2 last night, I had to struggle to get out of bed at 8:15 to say good bye to the kids so they had visual proof I was home. Oh, and dreams of Steve Carlson didn't help the urge to wake up. If I didn't know that I probably wouldn't recapture them, I'd go back to bed.

It's a good thing we got our vacation when we did. Craig has to go to India on Sunday for 10 days. We found out yesterday over lunch. In fact, all he did yesterday was work, so it doesn't even count off his vacation time.

I have *so* much to do today. Now if I could only wake up to do them...

Well, Craig and I are heading home today. This vacation has been *so* therapeutic for me. Tons of time to relax, not think about mundane stuff, write, experience new things. I flew in a helicopter for the first time, taking the tour out to the Grand Canyon and was astounded at how much fun it was. Last night, we finally got to see Toni Braxton, and Craig got a fanboy moment and a photo when Toni sat on his lap during one of the songs. I got to fangirl for a few moments over Penn. We saw movies galore (including Dreamgirls, which, while flawed, proved Jennifer Hudson deserved her Golden Globe the other night). I got to see wonderful internet friends, and meet _sharvie_'s gorgeous husband for the first time. And I'm dying to see my kids again. That's a good sign. :)

Writing-wise, I managed to get another chapter of Soul written, a novella that pepperlandgirl4 and I edited and submitted to Liquid Silver, a chapter on my vampire 3some book done, and pepperlandgirl4 and I got bit by a new, very rabid bunny that we're going to start writing on Friday. Not too bad considering I'm supposed to be on vacation.

The airport has wireless internet access so I'm going to get on there and finally respond to all the comments from the last chapter. If for some reason I can't, that's likely to happen tomorrow instead. We don't fly for another 7.5 hours, but we're staying in the hotel until as close to checkout as we can to get stuff done. Which means now I have to go pack. :)

It was *snowing* here in Vegas at noon. And boy am I glad we did all our Strip walking yesterday because today was just bitter cold. Blech.

On the plus side, we went and saw Casino Royale and Night at the Museum. Craig decided he didn't want to wait the hour and a half for Dreamgirls, so maybe we'll see that after we get back to CA. *Loved* Casino Royale. The other was all right, but it was spoiled by these two idiots behind us who wouldn't freakin' shut up. We walked back to the hotel after seeing traffic was all jammed (my hip isn't happy with me right now), got deli sandwiches from downstairs, and are currently ensconced in our room to take it easy for the night.

I'm dead tired. But I've got editing and writing to do tonight.

Oh! But I did get some good news this morning. A 14k short story that pepperlandgirl4 and I wrote (over a 2day period at New Year's, lol) was accepted by Samhain as part of their summer shorts they're putting out. It'll come out on its own in e-form, and then they're going to bind groups of shorts into anthologies for print later on.

With the weather supposed to cool drastically this weekend, Craig and I wanted to take advantage of it still being warm outside to walk the Strip. So, we slept in, had a very late breakfast at nearly 11, and then headed down the road. We're staying at the Mirage, so we're mostly at one end of the Strip, thank god. The only things we knew we had planned for the day were seeing Toni Braxton in the evening and meeting up with bnddbl07...

( Vegas, Day 1 )

Today is taking it easy. We're going to go down to breakfast in a few minutes, then we're lazing about our room the rest of the morning. At noon, we're heading up to the movie theater and catching a double feature - Casino Royale and Dreamgirls. Grown-up movies! Not an animated character in sight! Can you tell how excited I am about this? :)

I'm exhausted, and only just now getting back to my hotel at 11:30 from being out (walking!) all day (my hip is KILLING me), but I just have to squee about this, because I'm a silly fangirl...

Craig and I went to see Penn & Teller tonight. This was one thing I *really* wanted to do. I've wanted to see their show for *years*. And it was great. Everything I could have wanted. We walked out of the theater, ready to catch the shuttle home, and...

They're in the lobby, talking and signing and taking pictures with all the patrons.

I got to touch and talk to Penn!!!!!

No picture, unfortunately, because we didn't bring our camera and Craig didn't have enough charge on his phone to use that, but I got a little hug, and he signed my ticket, and when I told him my friend Haley was so so SO jealous of me right then, he laughed and said, "Good." And he's so funny and charming and can you tell I've had a fangirl crush on him for years? I think he's absolutely brilliant.

*sigh*

It was an amazing end to a fantastic day. But I'm exhausted and my painkillers are finally kicking in so I can go to sleep. I'll post about the rest of today tomorrow morning.