Saturday, January 29, 2011

What Happens in Vegas and at Sundance ...

It's been a crazy-fun couple of weeks, starting with a trip with just my husband and I to Las Vegas. The first two days, we stayed at the Luxor (the big black pyramid casino on the strip) and I shopped while he was in meetings. Each night, we got to join his colleagues for fancy dinners like steak and seafood. Then we headed over to one of my favorite areas, Lake Las Vegas, where we stayed at a peaceful, luxurious hotel and went on long strolls in the sunny, 65 degree afternoons. Since I've never been to Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon, we took the short roadtrip and experienced both. Then we came home and played catch-up for a couple of days, until Sundance Film Festival came to town.

As you might have guessed, the Sundance Film Festival is one of my favorite events of the year. Last night, I got to go to a reception with some delicious munchies and then a big group of us "Valley Locals" rode down to Ogden (Utah) in a trolley. (Well, this year it was a Powder Mountain bus, but in the past it's been an actual trolley.) So, after having grabbing some chocolate to go, we rode the bus (it felt a lot like elementary school, with singing and carrying on-- good times) and went to the screening of "Like Crazy." It was about a cute, barely out of college couple, a girl from England and boy from the U.S., who struggle to stay faithful and question whether they're in love when an entire ocean separates them. A looooooong distance relationship story with lots of good conversation-sparkers. Did I love it? No. But I liked it. It was well done and not too cheesy.

Then my husband and I drove about an hour to Park City, where the awesome house deejay Kaskade was getting the entire club of Harry-O's dancing. Seriously, if Kaskade is ever in your neck of the woods, check him out. Fab-u-lous! (Marley would agree. We got to see him in New York.)

On Saturday night, we went to the late night showing of "Life in a Day," which was my number one choice of all the films to see this year. It's the result of an earthwide invitation for people to submit footage (via YouTube) of what was going on on a certain date, July 24, 2010. (Get it? 24-7) And then some really talented film people made a montage of these slices of life. I cried, laughed (loudly), got queasy, got a tickly feeling, felt warm--my emotions ran the whole gamut. I talked about it the whole drive home, and then thought about it all night and talked about it some more (to my husband's delight) this morning. Did I love this one? Heck yeah!

And to keep this perfect weekend going strong, I'm about to go snowboarding with my family!
So ... what have you been up to this weekend?


What I'm reading: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

8 comments:

stephhale said...

It sounds like you had a great trip, Wendy. I adore Las Vegas. The hotel in Lake LV looks amazing. I bet Sundance is a blast. I'd love to go and try to spot some celebrities!

nymfaux said...

ditto what Steph said!!!! Looks like SO much fun!!!!--And I'm such a movie buff--I think of film festivals as my kind of Disneyland. sigh.

I'm so glad you had such a good time!!!!

TinaFerraro said...

Wow, my weekend has been busy, but no way it measures up to yours. Keep the good times rolling, Wendy!

Heather Davis said...

Ooh, it sounds so fun, Wendy! I'm glad you are getting out and having fun with your hubby. I have always wanted to go the Sundance. *sigh* maybe next year...

Wendy Toliver said...

Okay, here it is Monday and I'm still not recovered. LOL! Thanks for the great comments, ladies!

nymfaux said...

@Wendy--Mondays don't count, people spend the rest of the week just trying to recover from Monday ;)

Marley Gibson said...

So jealous that you got to see Kaskade...without me! LOL!!

We had an awesome time in Reno, but now we're nestled away in NoCal so I can finish my book.

Debbie Rigaud said...

Yay, Wendy! Glad you made it out to the Grand Canyon. Did you enjoy it?