Las Vegas: Of Dice and Men

Without any further ado (and a three week delay)...

What do you get when you combine 12 fun-loving ladies, 1 Barbie suite, 1 poolside cabana, 2 tables at clubs, approximately 7 limos, a slew of hot Australian men and countless cocktails?  The most amazingly ridiculous Bachelorette weekend of all time. In celebration of "Caroline's last night on the town before she becomes Mrs. Brown" (one of a few taglines for the weekend), Annie and Mary headed to Las Vegas to party down with Mary's younger sister Caroline and her bridesmaids and friends. We  definitely sent the gorgeous bride-to-be out of singlehood with style.  Here's a photographic journey through some of the shenanigans.... captions by the caption queen herself, the marvelous Maid of Honor (and planner of the whole party weekend!), Mary.

Poster children of bachelorette weekend misadventures. 

Our digs... the Jonathan Adler-designed Barbie Suite at The Palms. Thank you Diane!

Things took a turn for the crazy en route to the Thunder From Down Under show...

Cheers to Caroline! (ie- Getting ready for an all Australian Male Revue. Yes, please). 

Good show, mates. Good show. ;-) 

Scandalous gift wrap at a scandalous breakfast party. 

Nothing says 'Bachelorette pool party' like crazy sunglasses... it goes without saying that we were a huge hit. 

MTV Spring Break... aka The Palms pool at all times. I'm not sure how to party at this level, nor have I ever seen so many Jersey Shore cast lookalikes in one place. 

Sorry for partying?... The bachelorette took a poolside disco nap. 

Our 22 year friendship has aged prettttty well, if I do say so myself.

12 girls in a limo built to hold 8... if that's not impressive, I don't know what is. 

White sequin dress? check. Bride to Be sash? check. Feather boa? check. She totally looks the part. 

Group pic at Marquee. Please note that I would never be caught dead in this club in NY (well, never again), but it is THE place to be in Vegas!

Bachelorette and Maid of Honor reclining on a sofa, and occasionally demanding, "Veuve Me!"

My own narcolepsy continues to surprise and amaze me. 

Champagne Brunch at The Wynn can be sumarized as such: "Marquee may have won the battle, but we will win the war." -Blaise Peitner

Parting is such sweet sorrow... 

xx, annie and mary

Best Friends Reunited: The Photos

As you know, Mary came to visit last week. We had a gloriously good time... maybe her best visit to LA yet! Here are some highlights from our much-anticipated reunion. (Captions by Mary, like in our last reunion post). :-)

Day 1: Those other life-changing three little words: bottomless. mimosa. brunch.

Two hours later, the pictorial exemplification of aforementioned bottomless mimosa brunch... pictures with a curly-haired dog belonging to strangers. 

After a (hazy) post-brunch watch party of the greatest television show of our time, The O.C. Season 1, Annie and Garrett took me to my very first Academy screening! The thing I remember most is that the audience stayed in their seats until the end of the credits and then applauded. The thing I remember least is the film. 

Dinner at a little diner called 'Swingers.' Copious amounts of fried food? check. Slightly rosy complexions indicating the beginning stages of a hangover? check. Annie wearing a shocking combination of black tights and a Pepperdine shirt? (Thank heavens my black trench coat came to the rescue) check.

(Note from Annie: my inappropriate-for-public outfit choice can fully be blamed on the bottomless mimosas. Trust me, I disapprove myself...thank heavens for Mary's trench coat indeed.)

Day 2: Absolutely glorious dinner on the patio at 'The Alcove.' Pink and orange California sunset coupled with twinkle lights and my bestie... lovely moment.

View of the city from The Griffith Observatory, conveniently located near Annie's apartment. That view really is magical, you can see straight down Western Ave, a very post-modern perspective.

Us with the city in the background. The evening was a little chilly, but I would take it over NYC in March any day. In fact, I even started to LIKE Los Angeles a little bit during this trip...

Day 3: The day we hiked a mountain. Literally, I took this picture two hilltops over from the Hollywood sign. The view was breathtaking and the exercise exhilarating, but why people would go jogging on a fault line everyday is beyond me. 

Lunch at Villa Blanca in Beverly Hills, owned by my favorite Real Housewife ever, Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd, Annie's Sports Club LA buddy. (Apparently, he wears purple sweatpants to workout everyday, but it is still uncertain to us whether they are the same pair). Though lunch was delicious and the ambience fabulous, we were disappointed that we didn't get to see Lisa's mini-Pomeranian with Alopecia, Giggy. 

Visit to the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills to see Ed Ruscha's "Psycho Spaghetti Westerns" show. This was particularly exciting for me, because I'm currently doing research for the artist's catalogue raisonne. I think Annie takes these shots from behind for entertainment when I go off on art-related methodological tangents. 

Annie and I at The Sounds concert. We have been fans ever since Annie saw them open for The Strokes in 2002. It was so amazing to see them perform yet again! 

Maja from The Sounds. In the words of ZZ Top: She's got legs. And she knows how to use them. 

Hope you enjoy these pictures half as much as I enjoyed captioning them. (Oh, and experiencing them...)

Over and out,

Annie and Mary

Together Again!

LOOKS WHO'S IN LA...!!! 

It is going to be a very fun weekend.  I love my best friend! :-)