Viva Las Vegas!

I recently returned from the 2011 IMSC Conference in Las Vegas.  I really enjoy these conferences because they are great for networking, and I have had some super shopping opportunities come from the people I met at the Orlando conference in May.  I enjoy talking with other shoppers and hearing about their experiences, and I just meet great people at these!  I also was invited to speak at the Las Vegas conference, and I held two editing workshops.  It was a lot of fun!  Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about the rest of the conference because I missed most of it!  Let me explain.

When I learned I would be attending the Vegas conference, I wanted to get the most out of my visit without spending a lot of money - yes, the mystery shopper in me never rests.  So I quickly applied for my Nevada work card with the help of A Closer Look, and I signed up for a bunch of restaurant shops.  As it turned out, my Uncle and Aunt, who live in Reno, decided to drive down to visit while I was there.  I also invited my gal pal editor friend, Alison, to come with.

When we got there, my Uncle and Aunt picked us up from the airport and whisked us off to their hotel for a quick breakfast (we arrived at 8:30 AM) and then we went on a grand tour of some of the finest casinos on the strip.  We visited Caesar's Palace:

and then we went shopping somewhere in or around The Bellagio:

and later at night we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris:

We also went to two shows, KA, a great Cirque du Soleil event in the MGM Grand, as well as Legends of Music show at Harrah's.  This is where Alison got kissed by Elvis and sang to by Toby Keith.  We stopped by Toby's bar after the show:

We experienced a unique cab ride from a Mad Russian, and I'm pretty sure Alison was over there praying us safely back to the Tropicana for the entire eight miles from downtown Las Vegas.  We also learned about a secret pizza place on the third floor of The Cosmopolitan. Apparently, just knowing about it makes you cool by default. Now you can also be cool by default! ;-) 

I don't know how we found time to work, but we did.  We managed to complete all six mystery shops at six different restaurants in between all the shopping, sight-seeing and shows, not to mention just a couple hours at the penny slots.  Sleep was definitely an afterthought for the three days we were there.  So how was the conference?  You'll have to ask me next time.  I will definitely budget my time better or go sooner or maybe even stay later.  But one thing is for sure, I will definitely be back!