Flashback Instagram Friday Series.4 l Personal

YAY for Friday, we all love Fridays. What I love about Fridays is I get to share a little into my life from Instagram with all of my wonderful clients and followers. I have slacked on this series for the past two fridays because I was in Vegas for WPPI, and in the air on an airplane on our way back last friday. So this weeks 'flashback Instagram Friday' is playing catch up with a lot of our trip. I will be blogging about our headshots and our trips to the desert and old vegas next week.

Myself and Erica had been planning for WPPI for about 10.5 months, as soon as WPPI opened up seats Erica had booked WPPI, flight, hotel, and car.....she was ON IT! The reality of flying to Vegas really didn't set in until we were up at 3:00am Thursday, March 27th, and Adam was taking us to the airport....poor guy. Why poor guy? Because my boyfriend is the book definition of hating mornings, where myself and Erica were chatter boxes all the way to the airport. He was nice enough to grab a pic of us out side of the airport with our huge luggage bags that were over weight  invest in a luggage weight thing so you don't have to pay the $125 over weight fee like we did) luggage bags and our think tanks bright eyed and bushy tailed. Our first flight was to DC from Richmond, stupid, but we did get to watch the sun come up while the stars were going down and that was so worth it. The next flight was a 5 hour one, talk about sucky.....and I was stuck in the middle seat falling asleep, while Erica laughed at me and took pics....ugh...can't wait for those to hit social media...NOT!!

We arrived in Vegas about 11:00am, their time. It took us awhile to get the rental car. Then we hit In and Out burger for lunch, and arrived at MGM about 2:00pm. Our nap plans did not happen, but we packed a bag of outfits, did hair and makeup and headed out to the desert for first round of headshots. I think in the desert the sun drops a lot faster, because we did not have a lot of shooting time and it was rather windy that day, and the temperature dropped drastically once the sun dropped because the red mountains.

 

After we got back we decided to see a little more of the hotel, and be vegas tourists. So we hit the casino and lost a whopping $5.00, because we both did not have the urge to be big time gamblers while there. And we got the vegas cups and adult beverages and went back to the room. Funny story, neither one of us finished our drinks, we were out like lights before 10:00pm Vegas time....the first of many busy wore out days.

 Friday: We were both up at about 5:00am and we decided to get an early start out to the Hoover dam. We wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but it was too far of a drive. Once we got the dam, we signed up for the next dam tour....or the Damn Dam Tour if you have seen Vegas Vacation. :) When else can you say Damn at least 30 times in an hour and no one think bad of you?

After leaving the Hoover dam, we wanted to get some head shots of Erica since it was too cold the day prior. Well, it was raining and cloudy, so we decided to do the scenic drive, head out to a ranch, and drive around a little town called Blue Diamond. Driving through the scenic drive that was 13 miles long, I was really hoping to see a road runner, coyote, and an acme sign.... HEHEHEHE!

 Once we got back to our hotel, it was time to go back out as we had planned to go to a Burlesque show before we flew out to Vegas. The little time in between getting tickets and getting pretty we were able to take in the Vegas strip. Now with that being said, there are some sketchy people in Vegas and we met some, it was not fun. We also got lost in Paris hotel, that was not fun either. But the Burlesque show was fun.

 

Saturday we started out our day in Old Vegas. We toured the Neon Bone yard, and they let us do head shots during the tour. and in all seriousness, if you go to Vegas that is a definite must see.

 After getting back from Old Vegas, Erica had signed us up for a Burlesque class, and we met our friend Tori at the class as well.

 
 After Burlesque class, I believe we took a nap, it was needed. But we were able to snag some Miley tickets that morning, she was performing at our hotel...so hey why not?? She was AMAZING in concert, I will say that. But as for myself and Erica I think we were a little over dressed to be there....times for style in young girls have definitely changed since I was a teenager. And yes she did ride a big wiener over the crowd...HA HA HA .

 Sunday was the start of WPPI classes. Classes went from Sunday to Thursday, 4 classes a day, and just one on Thursday. I got to meet and learn from Sal Cincotta, Jose Villa, Zach and Jody Gray, Katelyn James, Travis Gadsby, Jen Rozenbaum, Matt Kennedy, and a few others. Talk about an amazing experience, and I can't wait to implement so many things I learned into my own business this year. :)

 The WPPI expo last 3 days. Myself and Erica would meet in between classes and go to the expo to meet new vendors, look for new companies to use, and catch some good deals, and listen to photographers speak at different booths. We did treat ourselves to a Kelly Moore bag....Erica got to carry hers away, I had to wait for mine to be shipped.

 I did visit the MGM gym and spa gym while we were there. We also had to walk over a mile from the room to class, I would say we walked a good 10 miles plus each day. Trying to stay on a reasonable meal plan on vacation can be easier than most think. And it is okay to indulge in Jack in the box, pizza, and pancakes if you tell yourself you have to work that much harder in the gym that day. :)

Our last full day in Vegas we did a bit of site seeing, walking the strip, and our last set of head shots right after our last class in Vegas. Ceasar's Palace was by far the most gorgeous of the hotels we walked into.

 Thursday was our last class, it ended at 11:00 am. We decided to head out to finally headshots in the desert when it wasn't freezing, and we happened to have gorgeous lighting and it was 74 degrees that day. The drive to the desert is amazing. We totally climbed up the rock mountain barefoot and in Toms.

After being in Vegas for 8 days, it wears on you. Myself and Erica were both home sick and couldn't wait to get home. A good lesson I learned is I am not a fan of Vegas airport...AT ALL!!! It had to be the worst airport I have ever flown into or out of. We left vegas with a ton more stuff than we arrived with, enough to have to buy another luggage bag, sad but true. And how about that cute sign Adam made me to hold at the airport when he picked us up. :)


 

 After arriving home I couldn't wait to see my puppies!!! I missed them a lot while I was gone, and I even had Jonathan, my brother, put me on speaker phone to talk to Skeatti as he said he was depressed. Once getting home I got what they call 'Vegas Flu' if you visit the desert for more than 3 days and you head back to the east coast this is bound to hit you. It is a head cold that sucks at life, and you will feel like death for about 3-4 days. But I did get to visit my childhood best friend that I hadn't seen since New Years, and I love family dinner Sundays with the boyfriend's family :) And best part of all is my Kelly Moore bag came in this week, I can not wait to carry it on sessions this weekend.

Pin It