Incendiary Blonde: Viva Las Vegas 16

I can't believe that is has already been two weeks since the start of Viva Las Vegas 16. Those two weeks have flown by so quickly, and yet the thought of how long we have to wait until the next one is quite maddening!

As with a lot of other bloggers, I'm going to break this thing down into a few separate posts, as there is just too much to share in one go! This was my third, and best time attending Viva yet - and as we had been in LA for eight days beforehand, we were over our jet-lag, nice and relaxed and ready to party!

We flew from LA on the Wednesday afternoon, and ran into some Aussie friends at the airport who were also on our flight. These two are fabulous dancers, and I'm just sad that Loverboy and I didn't get to dance with either of them all weekend! Booo!

On arrival, we checked in and promptly went to dinner with the other half of Team Brunch. I'm sure that I could hear 'Reunited and it Feels So Good' playing somewhere in the background (probably in my head)...

After eating my body weight in chips and salsa, washed down with a $3 margarita (I love Vegas) we headed to the booze store to stock up for the weekend. On a whim, I picked out a bottle of caramel vodka, which to my delight, is absolutely delicious, especially when mixed with soda water and served in a boot!

There was a pre-party in Big Al's (one of the bars in The Orleans, where Viva is held) that night, so after a quick outfit change, we headed down there to see what was going on. Big Sandy was the compere for the evening, with musical performances by the legendary Joe Clay and Bloodshot Bill.

Joe Clay was awesome, but I'll admit that after a few songs, I got so excited and consequently distracted to reconnect with so many friends whom we hadn't seen in so long, that I spent most of the night chatting away and taking (blurry) pictures of gun shows....

Viva hadn't even officially started at this point, but the pre-party was packed and full of friends and familiar faces. The consumption of deep-fried mozzarella sticks and club sandwiches may or may not have taken place at the Courtyard Cafe at silly o'clock in the morning. Either way, I decided that cheesey, breaded, deep-fried snacks dipped in ranch at 4am were probably not the way to go when there was an imminent pool party to attend.

The following morning, loverboy and I went to get our wristbands, before going to lunch with friends at the infamous Courtyard Cafe. Incidentally, it was around this time that I ran into Mid-Century Pink and her Honey and didn't take any photos with them (as we have both already noted) - I wish I would have as they are such a striking couple!

I'm pretty sure that 'Reunited and it Feels So Good' was playing again when this photo was being taken...

A trip to the international supermarket with Team Brunch yielded many laughs - sashimi flavoured crisps anyone? - if you haven't been, it's quite the experience. That shop sells all sorts of weird stuff, and frankly there's not much there that appeals to me! Still, we came away with some fruit to stock our mini fridge with, in the hopes of avoiding any further late night cravings for fried mozzarella sticks.

Note that the Viva milk was actually bought at Walgreens, not the International Market.

On return, Anne and I fortified ourselves with 99c margaritas, chips and salsa - fuel ahead of the vendors' grand opening. It was a pretty overwhelming experience (the vendors, not the Mexican snacks...although the salsa was pretty potent, and I became increasingly aware that I was probably breathing fire onto anyone I came into contact with) as everyone wants to get there early to snag the best stuff. Tequila + too many people meant that I had no patience to try anything on at this point, and I was content with buying one bakelite bangle and heading off to do something else.

That night we went to get sushi for dinner with Team Brunch (no actual brunch yet at this point). It was on Thursday night that I wore my custom-made BooBoo Kitty Couture dress, which I love!