Treah’s Blog

Here are some pictures from another day in Vegas. This would be the Thursday that we were there. We went to the Dolphin Habitat, a giant car show and to the Tounament of Kings Show. Tournament of Kings was something I have wanted to see for a long time. It was a neat show but the food was not that good. I felt like it would be good to see after eating somewhere else. Now my pictures today are all from the Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. They also have the grounds where they keep all their big cats.

The first dolphin is getting an ultrasound. How cool is that. She will carry the baby 12-13 months. The neat thing about this research facility is that I was standing right behind the trainers and staff doing the procedure and you could ask them anything. They welcomed questions and loved talking about their animals. She second dolphin could be the same as the first. I thinkt hey had about 6 dolphins out the day we were there. They had an underwater viewing room but my favorite was from above. You could just sit on the edge of the pool. Later in our visit the dolphins began playing with balls floating in the water. They do not do shows. You just watch for trainers to come out and begin working with them.. The trainers often play with them to give the dolphins more exercise. Neat place. I highly suggest a visit.

This guy was great. He was up on this limb type structure snoozing (all the large cats were snoozing, they are nocturnal) and got tired of laying one way so he moved his head to the center. Too cute. He was probably a good 8-10 feet in the air.

How scary is that picture of a tiger! You would think he was mad. Only a yawn though. Like I said above, they are nocturnal and so we mostly just saw them sleeping or yawning. I wish I could stay till close to keep watch for things like this but we had a show to catch so I was unable to. We also watched a tiger eat the freshly layed sod in his area, that was cute but I bet the trainers were upset with him! Sod is probably a hot item in Vegas, like a luxury. You can see every different type and color of big cat that there is in Vegas. There are many opportunities, just have to keep your eyes open for them. These animals are VERY beautiful and amazing up close.

So I have this tiny food processor that we got for a wedding gift. It is a baby kitchen aid. I remember wanting it and registering for it but I can honestly say that is has not gotten the use it should. Well, until now. Today I tried my first batch of fake hummus. Fake because it lacks tihini. I didn’t want to buy a big jar of it so I didn’t. Anyways, the dip came out wonderful. I would use less garlic next time. Cut it down to 2-3 cloves. I am breathing garlic fire right now. But, no one here to breath it on so who cares! Also, next time I want to put some thyme in it. I need to let my little thyme plants mature a bit before I go picking sprigs off.

Hummus (faker)

1 can of chick peas
1 lemon (zest and the juice)
2-3 cloves garlic (I used 4 this time, too much)
Hot sauce (few spurts)
Ground Red Pepper (tapped a bit in)
Olive Oil (Just poured in till consistency looked nice)

Put all ingredients into processors. Pulse a few times. Run the oil in while processor is running. Yummy!

The garlic may need adjusted. It is really really strong with 4. I’ll still eat it though. Sorry Justin!

Ok, more on Vegas. I hate to bore you but its hard to not talk about a wonderful trip. Justin has some other pictures up on his blog.

This is the ceiling at the check in desk to the ballagio. The glass hangs through a giant rectangle in front of the check in desk. It is an istallation by Dale Chihuly. I can not even explain how amazing it is. I thought it was going to be difficult to photograph but I did get a few good pictures. When I go back, I will take pictures at night also. We only walked through the Ballagio once. I think I needed to slow down and absorb more everywhere we went.

These next three pictures are of the Wynn. I wish I could stay there. It is a hotel for others. Others with a lot more money. It is beautiful. Someday, maybe a weekend there will be in my cards. I can dream right. The attention to detail in this hotel amazes me. I wish I could stay there also all day to heavily photograph and dream up ideas for my home. They used a distinct pattern throughout the hotel. You could see it on ceilings, floors and paintings. Different colors though. The atrium in the last picture was very pretty. I wish everyone could see this place once. It is worth the visit (and I am sure the stay!)

Ok, visiting Vegas and not seeing an elvis? Not possible. I have no recollection of this Elvis though. At all. Heck, he could be a wax elvis or something. I couldn’t even begin to tell you where I saw him. The bus??? Where was he?

Awwwwhhhh, and the Bellagio fountains. WOW. I know. Every Vegas tourist sees these. But seriously, they are amazing. The beauty is outstanding. As you can see in the photo above, they make the water dance. And it dances perfectly with the music playing. Better yet, there are multiple shows. I am not sure how many. Again, on my next trip to Vegas I will watch the fountains for hours one night.

Vegas was much different than I expected!

I got a new camera. My first SLR! So far I love it. I have all kind of plans and accessories I want for it. Below are some pup snapshots taken on a walk yesterday. She got in her rolling mood to rub herself in the grass. Weird dog!

Last week was our big trip to Las Vegas. We went with no set plan and did things as we passed them and wanted to do them. Some of the things we did included

- Cirque Du Soleil - LOVE

- Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

- Tried 16 different types of coke from other countries

- Saw two celebrities: Mike Tyson and Pete Rose

- Went to Tournament of Kings

- Saw a comedian/magician

- Lost some money to craps

- Went to see many expensive cars

- Enjoyed looking at the amazing things built in Las Vegas

- Saw the basement of Ceasars Palace where they keep the aquarium stuff and some animals not in their display area.

- Saw the various resort shows: Pirates, Fountains, Parade in the Sky, Volcano, White Lions, MGM Lion

- Went up in the eiffle tower replica at the Paris

- Saw a dolphin get an ultrasound

I had such a great time but I do wish we had about 2 more days. We never saw some of the other resorts and I wish we had seen Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. It was a great place to go on a trip. You can eat neat food even if you want cheap or expensive. There are tons of options. There is so much to do. We did things on the fly as we saw them. I could have spent half a day at least at the Secret Garden - Dolphin Habitat. But we had reservations for a show so we could only stay about an hour and a half.

Coke from 16 countries. Beverly from Italy (Clear one in the bottom of the picture) tastes like what you might think rotting rats taste like. The rest varied from Ok to really good.

MGM Lions. They are descendants of the original one from the start of movies.

This lion jumped up on the glass roof in one the the pedestrian walkways. Kinda neat to stand under it and watch the lion eat a rawhide.

This is a close up of the rawhide and feet. The trainers were in the enclosure with them. They would eat out of the trainers hands. and seemed to play catch with the rawhide. I enjoyed watching them.  I could have watched them a while longer but we still had a lot to see!

Well, I have tons of pictures to go through so more throughout the week.

Boy, I have not been posting about the crafty things lately. Guess there has been little time for sewing. I think I would consider going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival crafty though. Anyways, today was full of sewing and spinning. I got a tablerunner to the point of hand quilting it and got some wool double plied. I then started my spindle right back up with the light purple. I may finish off that wool soon. I will post more photos later on. I took pictures tonight at 11PM on my parents couch.

So last weekend was so wonderful that it should be covered over a few posts. Here is a rundown of what we did for the weekend.

Friday:
- Cookout

Saturday:
- Graduation (YAY!)
- Turkey sandwhich lunch on the porch
- Relaxed and enjoyed the company
- My dad took everyone to dinner at Church Brew Works for celebration

Sunday:
- The Bickford’s took everyone our for a wonderful breakfast at IHOP
- Some relaxed. Some got tours of the campus.
- Mother’s Day dinner of Lasagna on the porch

I had to write it down because I want to remember how my weekend went. Now, how to back this up!

These are the graduation flowers Justin bought me. They helped decorate my house all weekend. So pretty!

I finished with a huge chapter in my life. That would be the last 4 years of medical school (and the 17 years of school prior.) From now on out I will not be a graded student but will have the opportunity (and responsibility) to continue to learn. The weekend was wonderful. It went as well as I hoped. More to come about this weekend over the next few days.

My dad and I in our “outfits.” He was able to hood me since he is also a doctor. And yes, that thing in my hand, it is a medical degree. The actual diploma. Pretty surreal still. I do not think it has clicked yet.

YAY!!

I could fill many posts from this one activity. At the festival there is a sheep to shawl contest. This contest consisted of 4 teams with 4 people per team. The teams included 3 spinners and 1 weaver. They brought a loom with them that already had its warp on it which had to be naturally dyed by the team. They also bring a sheep with them. On the contest morning they shear the sheep and begin spinning. The wool is then double plied and used on the loom to create a shawl. I believe the length of the shawl had to come to 70-76 inches. I am not sure about the width. The teams have 3 hours to spin and weave their final piece. We left after two were cut off the looms but I believe after that the shawl had to be washed and dried over the next 1.5 hours. They then show the shawls and auction them off.

I was very impressed with the final pieces. The team that won was the Chesapeake Spinners and Weavers. Their shawl was by far my favorite though they were all wonderful. Their shawl was an all white/cream with some slight color spots dyed into the warp. It was beautiful but usually when I think that they will come in last place. Pictures below.

This place was amazing. Here are pictures from my day.

He was getting groomed and did not like it. During his scream, or baaaaa, his tongue stuck out. Too cute!

These dogs are amazing. This was a sheep dog presentation. The dog would go straight from a full run, such as in this picture, to a lay with one command. Sometimes he looked like he was playing mind games with the sheep to get them to do what he wanted. Very fun show!