A plus B equals... LOVE

There's nothing like a really strange, bizarre, hard-to-follow movie to inspire you to blog.  I rented Cosmopolis from Redbox... and I have nooooooo idea what on earth I'm watching.

Anyway, I want to say I don't know how I got this far behind on my posts, but I DO know.  The 5am - 2pm shift has really just affected me in ways I didn't know.  I feel awesome and invigorated in the morning at work and during lunch and stuff... but then when I get off at 2pm - it's 100 degrees outside and I'm happy to hide indoors, veg out in front of the TV, do some light cooking, and just kind of relax and/or get busy doing a million errands and chores.

So here's one of the many things in my backlog... Bi-Ying came and visited me in early May.  We had such an awesome time together!!  We have a really natural and relaxed closeness forged by the fires of college freshman dorming.  LOL, seriously though, once you've shared a 12' x 11' box together for a year - there's nothing you really don't know or can't share with that person.  It's funny because when I slept in waaaaaay late during her visit or showered in the middle of the day and left her sitting all alone playing Candy Crush on the couch, I didn't even feel bad.  Yes, that makes me a bad host... but I don't even really see her as a guest anymore. But in my defense, I did go to Lee's Discount Liquor when she DEMANDED that we get beer in order to watch Magic Mike at home - and then when she changed her mind after sobering up a little, I did make her hot tea.  Haha!

So, she came because she's on a vacation after finishing her last year of medical school.  She's worked so hard over the past like 6+ years towards this goal, and way more if you count college, so it was a vacation very well deserved.  She spent the majority of those years in Chicago while I stayed behind and trudged along in San Diego... we even had a term for our friendship: Prison Love.  It's like those couples where one of them is a convicted murderer/felon put away for 25 to Life... and their spouse wait patiently forever on the outside (minus the whole conjugal visit part, ewwww!).  Then, the instant she starts applying for programs to come back to Southern California - I moved to Las Vegas!!!

Another fun fact, is that we actually went on a very, very short trip together to Las Vegas like a month before I started at Zappos because she had an interview for a program at the UNLV Medical Center - but their program apparently sucks and she wants nothing to do with them.... whatever.... we could've reunited forever, but I guess that's not important to you.  I *don't* hold a grudge against her because now she is in one of her top choices and she can finally live with her fiance again, I GUESS.  *pshhhhhhhh*

I took a half-day off of work and accompanied Will to pick her up from the airport.  We got ready and headed over to the Golden Nugget Spa for a massage and facial living social deal.  Then we headed down to the H2O Tank where I finally went down the water slide through the shark tank!!!  Geez, I've only wanted to do it for like 4 years now... haha.  Embarrassing Story: when we were waiting for the mirror-doored elevator to arrive... I grew quite impatient.  I started hitting the button a lot and then in extreme rapid succession with BOTH HANDS *pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow* only to realize that the elevator was already there with the doors opened - the interior is filled with mirrors.... I was soooooooo embarrassed!!!!!!  Seriously.

Then we wrapped up, ate a nice dinner, and went to the Mirage to watch the Cirque de Soleil - Beatles LOVE show!!  It was every ounce worth the anticipation - great even watching it again after about 6 years later.  BiYing and I made plans to watch it in 2009.... so yeah, it was about time.  After the show, we had a flight of white wine at my favorite wine digs - Onda - and since she was totally wasted after that tiny bit of alcohol... we went home.

The following day we went indoor rock climbing at the Nevada Rock Climbing Center and afterwards had a really awesome light lunch at a local raw, organic cafe... so healthy!  For dinner, we met up with our friend Cindy and had ourselves a 4-course dinner with wine pairing at Garfield's Restaurant... another deal, of course!  I really wish they would've posted their menu for the evening ahead of time because there would've been nooooo way I would've bought the deal if I had known they were going to serve Salmon TARTAR, ew gross!!!!  I tried to be elegant, fancy, and gracious... but I ate like 3 mouthfuls of it and that was it.... so I traded it for BiYing's wine, haha.

We finished our extravagant meal and then got our beer and went home to watch Magic Mike.  The dancing was good... but yeah, so glad I waited for the rental.  LoL.  But it was pretty priceless hearing BiYing giggle "Release the Tatum!!!" many times throughout the night.

We woke up for her final day and, of course, headed over to Zappos.  We ate a small brunch in the Bistro and did a complete guided tour... yes, I toured my place of work yet again - but I love it every time!  Then we rounded out our afternoon by a Downton Abbey-esque Victorian High Tea at   English's Quintessentially British.  For $20.00 each, we had unlimited pots of tea to our hearts content as well as three tiers of:

 Savory

Smoked Salmon & Dill Crème Fraiche

Parsley Dressed Freshly Boiled Egg

Minted Shaved Cucumber Mousse

Cheddar Cheese & Branston Pickle

Fresh Scones

Cranberry & Plain Scone

with Housemade Strawberry Jam & Whipped Cream

Sweets

A selection of house made Petite Fours, Macarons & Pastries

Everything was freshly made and unlimited... we must have been there for like 2 hours.  Finally, we headed out for a small errand at Michael's where she helped me brainstorm for an art project.  Then, it was time to say farewell....... *tears*

I took her back to the airport and we must have hugged a million times before I finally let her go inside.  I missed her so much for so many years, it was hard to say goodbye again.

Oh, and we saw a gigantic rainbow before she left... in fact, we saw DOUBLE RAINBOWS!!!  We just couldn't get a good picture.  It was pretty epic.

This weekend is her graduation ceremony and I am SO PROUD of her!!!!  I hope she enjoyed her vacation and made the best of her entire time off because it'll be time to roar those engines again as she heads into her residency program.  I hope we will always be great friends and that she never forgets me when she becomes a super important, world-renowned, big time doctor who gives lectures and throngs of medical students will rush to her for advice, explanations, and autographs afterwards!!!  It has been written... =)