Renovations: 2009

First and foremost, Happy New Years to you all. Allow me to gloat about my lavish and sexy (without the sex) New Years celebration from the high rollers' rooms on the top floor of the Rio's Ipanema Tower in Las Vegas. It was an adventurous few days with not a little drama--fortunately for me I was on the outer fringes of the more risque parts of the Gilliland 2009 Family Trip. I saw Chippendale dancers, I doubled my money at the Star Wars slots of Caesar's Palace, I bought a new hat, I ate at the restaurant on the top floor of the Paris and I ate ridiculously decadent room service breakfasts daily. I gained approximately 1,000 lbs.

The hotel rooms were larger than the house I grew up in. The windows took up the entire wall and the lights of Vegas would blaze in carnival glory, blocking out all but the sliver of a Cheshire Cat moon and one lone star dangling like an earring beneath it. We didn't go out on New Year's Eve but watched from above. I'm pleased to say that on that night between the years 2008 and 2009, I, at 26-years-young, received my very first New Year's kiss.

I know this picture is heinous--apologies to D.E. for posting his early morn mug on the world wide web. It's all I've got. I wish I could aptly describe the sheer girth of these hotel rooms. This picture was taken in the banquet hall. There was also a living room, a bar, two bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a strange little bench at the end of a hallway covered in art. The baths were like hot tubs. And there were no doors anywhere--you had to warn people when you were getting naked so they could avoid the vantage points that included the open shower in their periphery. I felt like Gatsby's Daisy. "Even the books are real!" And they were! We had an antique Treasure Island and a first edition Anne of Green Gables hidden on different shelves in the room. Note: The Rice Krispies on the table are for my vegan sister and her vegan friend. Even those mini-boxes were served on silver platters.

Unfortunately this next picture looks like senior Prom, only it looks like I'm a sophomore going with my teacher. A pregnant-looking sophomore. A super hot poet teacher. Darren and I bought a disposable camera (talk about retro) that cost a pretty penny at the Rio gift shop and as soon as we fill it up and develop it I'll see if there are any more worth adding. Developing pictures--this excites me as much as it would have five years ago.

I'm quite apprehensive about this upcoming year. I will be in Rexburg for the full of it. This is certain. This I have promised to do. Everything else is vague and misty. My fella will still live almost a full three hours away until May and then perhaps farther? And I still have no certain plans for 2010. 2010--what a frightening landmark for us 1980s babies. Our third decade. Those days of Square One and 3-2-1 Contact sure seem pretty far back there.

Ah, the past. I get so murked up in it. Thus, the renovations. I'm clearing out the full right side of this here blog. None of you will notice, I'm certain, but this is huge for my heart. I'm going through the first of probably many mid-life crises. I'm frightened of wasting my time (think the cobwebbed wedding cakes of the old dame in Great Expectations). And thus, in place of my dusty pictures, I am keeping that right side there to document what I do in 2009--the books I read, the goals I keep, etc. I need to start living in the NOW. Sucking up today's life marrow.

Okay, I can't get rid of ALL the pictures. I'll keep just the bare minimum. No more than ten.