Sin City
On the night of April 13th, 2014, I was celebrating one of the biggest
milestones of my life in Sin City. I just turned twenty-one years old when I
was in Las Vegas with my parents and my two best friends. The night was more
amazing than I ever imagined it would be. I honestly couldn’t have imagined celebrating
my twenty-first birthday any other way
It truly felt surreal. I couldn’t believe that I was actually
celebrating my twenty-first birthday in Sin City. We spent the whole weekend in
Las Vegas, but Saturday night was my favorite part of the trip. Saturday night
was the night we planned to actually celebrate my birthday. We started the
night with seeing Sir Elton John’s Million Dollar Piano concert at the
Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace. Then we ended the night with having a V.I.P.
table at a nightclub called Light.
I was extremely excited when my mom
brought tickets to see Sir Elton John in concert as one of my birthday
presents. Sir Elton John has always been one of my favorite artists. I have
loved all his music since I was little girl.
The concert was more amazing than I have expected. Sir Elton John
performed every song amazingly. He was very energetic throughout the show. He
was absolutely incredible at playing piano. The piano that he played had more
than sixty-eight LED video screens. As he played, the piano changed colors. It
looked incredible on the stage. He wore his signature look of course. He was
dressed in a bedazzled suit that was bright as the LED lights on the piano. I
really loved hearing him sing all his music live. Tiny
Dancer” and “Your Song” have always been my favorite songs of his. When he
started singing his song “Tiny Dancer,” I was absolutely blown away. I could
remember my best friends Shelby, Marlene, and I held each other’s hands and
sang along when he performed “Your Song.” It was truly one of the best concerts
I ever been too.
After the concert ended, we headed
to catch the handicapped cab to go to the nightclub named Light at Mandalay Bay
Resort. Light was one of the hottest nightclubs in Las Vegas, so I felt super
lucky that my stepdad Todd got us a V.I.P table there. My mom’s best friends
Shelley and Jennifer came to the nightclub too to celebrate with us. A very
cute guy brought us to our table when we all arrived. I could remember being amazed by how huge and
incredible Light was. There was a huge a dance floor with a DJ playing music
from a big lighted up booth. There were performers in costumes doing cirque du
solei type of things. There were music videos playing on big video screens. Our
table was in a perfect spot where we could see everything perfectly. On the table,
there were bottles of my favorite alcohol.
I was about to decide what type of drink I wanted when the waitress
walks up with a bottle of champagne that was lit up with a sparkler to the
table. I felt so special. “Happy
Birthday Brooke!” I remembered everybody cheering as glasses of champagne was
raised. We drank and danced the rest of the night. The music was awesome. The
performers were amazing. The drinks were
great. It was absolutely the perfect club to be at to
celebrate my twenty-first birthday. I could remember Shelby, Marlene, and I
continued celebrating after we came back from Light. I have no clue what time
we finally fell asleep, but I do know I woke up with having the worst hangover
ever.
I can honestly say I had the time of
my life in Sin City. Being there for my twenty-first birthday was so
unbelievable amazing. I loved that I got to spend the special moment with my
best friends Shelby and Marlene. I can’t wait for the next time I get to enjoy
the nightlife of Sin City.
Isabela
On
fall break, I had the pleasure of staying in a gorgeous city of Puerto Rico. My
family and I went to visit my mother’s best friend Jessica for the weekend in
Isabela. We stayed in a big beautiful house in Isabela called Casa Vela Beach
Villa. There was nothing but luscious landscape and crystal blue waters to be
seen. The villa that we were so lucky to
live in for four days was more than perfect. The food of Puerto Rico was very
delicious and fun to experience. Being away on vacation with my mom, stepdad
Todd, little brother Peyton and spending time with two of my mom’s best friends
was definitely amazing. I couldn’t
imagine not taking the chance to write how incredible it was to spend fall
break vacating in such a picturesque island city.
The
minute we started driving from the airport, I was blown away by the wonder of
the island. The appearance of big dark mountains and green luscious plants
could be seen as we headed to Isabela. There was an endless amount of tall palm
trees with fast growing coconuts all around too. I didn’t think a hot dry
island like Puerto Rico would have such beautiful landscape. It truly felt like
we were driving through a jungle as we got closer to Isabela. I honestly didn’t
expect I would like Casa Vela as much as I did.
The
brown stone two storied villa was just a short walk along a wooded path to a
secluded beach. The crystal blue ocean could be seen perfectly from the balcony.
The inside was decorated beautifully with tropical island décor. Some of the
walls were painted as a big blue ocean with fish, turtles, and seahorses
swimming around. The room I slept in had some interesting looking handmade
spears on the wall. The condo was as enjoyable as it was beautiful. There was
plenty of room for my family, Jessica’s family, my mom’s other best friend
Chrisie and her girlfriend Alexis. We spent most of the trip laying out by a
really nice private pool with a relaxing waterfall in it. Beside the pool,
there was an incredible two story tree house. The tree house was absolutely my
favorite part of the house. A big tall palm tree rest in the center of the
small brown wooded treehouse with four colorful fish next hammocks hanging on
each side. I felt nothing but peacefulness of my soul as I laid in the hammock
watching waves come in. We were truly living in paradise.
Experiencing
the food in Puerto Rico was interesting and exciting. There were always food
trucks along the beach line cooking delicious meals like spicy grilled chicken
or fish and fried plantains, so we basically didn’t have to go out to eat much
to experience great Puerto Rican fare. There was even a coffee truck nearby our place
that had the most delicious flavored espresso drinks. They made the most
delicious snickers iced coffee. We did get to go eat at this fancy restaurant
called O. The experience eating at O was quite interesting. We had a reserved
bed instead of a reserved table. At O, people have dinner sitting around on
comfy lounge beds with colorful pillows. Your food is served on a long serving
tray in the center of the bed. It was such a unique and fun experience. I had
grilled salmon with sweet chili sauce and it was delicious. I have also noticed
is that the sweet taste of coconut is adored by the Puerto Ricans. All the
candy bars there are coconut flavored. I tasted a candy bar called Dulces de
coco. It looks like a white Kit Kat bar and tasted like coconut and pure sugar.
I actually got to drink coconut water
from a real coconut that my stepdad picked from a palm tree outside of our
villa. We drained a couple each night and refrigerated it overnight. It was
quite a treat to have ice-cold, fresh coconut water first thing in the morning.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the
food and culture of Puerto Rico.
I
can honestly say there are so many wonderful memories made on this beach
vacation. I got to see the uniqueness of a humble city on a tropical island. I
feel fortunate to have experienced a more remote, less commercial area of
Puerto Rico. I got to truly experience the culture thanks to the help of
friends living there. I got to fill my stomach with delicious tasting food and swim
in a beautiful crystal blue ocean. I relaxed in a hammock in an interesting
tree house, and best of all I laughed with my mom and her friends as they told
stories from their youth. It was definitely an amazing fall break.
