A Quick Rendezvous

Life can change in a New York minute and when you live in Las Vegas it can change even faster. Change can be hard to accept, especially for me, until the reason becomes clear. Usually when things change, people come and go as well. To let go of the old and have the ability to accept the new can be challenging, but I once read, “good people will give you happiness, bad people will give you experience, while the worst people will give you a lesson and the best people will always give you memories.” In the last couple of weeks, I’ve known all those types of people and my life has gone through a change. I needed a break from Sin City to remind myself why I’m here and how change can really be for the best.

Two of my close girls and I hopped in my car to have a one night stand with City of Angels. There is something so calming about taking road trips. The drive can be so comforting and reflective. After a few pit stops and four hours later, we arrived in Hollywood and checked in the W Hollywood Hotel. It was my first time staying there since my normal spot is the Roosevelt, but I thought I would try something different. The hotel is beautiful, modern design with classic details. The Living Room Lounge features a red staircase with a glamorous chandelier replicated from the movie Scarface. I was impressed with the room as well, we stayed in the Wonderful Room. It featured a king size bed with a window seat topped with a cushion, comfortable enough for someone to actually sleep on. The bathroom was a good size (essential for three girls) but not very private. The shower has “peek-a-boo” slots and with only a sliding door to close, you can hear everything. The room also features every electronic charger you can imagine. I forgot my phone charger so to see this was a life saver. It’s the little things that impress me.

We got ready pretty quick and headed downstairs to meet up with a girlfriend that was also in town from Seattle. She said she was in the lobby, but when we got there, she was nowhere to be found. She was at the wrong hotel. I spotted someone that looked like they could help and as he explained where she was at I got her on right track to where she needed to be. The nice gentleman that helped was the Manager of Bar Operations. He got a round of drinks as we waited for my friend to arrive. We were trying to figure out where to eat and he suggested checking out the Delphine Eatery & Bar inside the hotel. The restaurant is part of Innovative Dining Group that also owns Sushi Roku, Boa Steakhouse and Katana, whose reputation of good dining exceeds itself.

Being girls and knowing we had a long night ahead of us, we decided to just sample a bunch of different items. One of my favorite things to eat is hummus and the Roasted Garlic Hummus served with a mini Greek salad, pita bread and pita chips was one of the best I’ve tasted. The ladies tried the Raw Bar with oysters and shrimp cocktail… not my style. We also ordered the Pan Roasted Halibut and Pan Roasted Garlic Chicken. I do enjoy halibut. It is hard to perfect because a lot of times it can be too salty, but the chefs did a great job with balancing the taste with nicoise, olives, potatoes, and tomato almond vinaigrette. The chicken was good as well, but the halibut is definitely a must order. Since we were on vacation, we indulged in dessert and specialty cocktails at the end of the meal. The dessert was as good as the meal. We tried the Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake, which is really rich, good, but rich. Chilled Apple Risotto, which is similar to a tasty apple crisp and I’m not sure what the last one was but it was pastry filled with bananas served with vanilla ice cream. By this time, I had had three drinks and two shots so to remember all the names of things… well, yeah not going to happen. However, thank goodness for taste. As for the drinks, we tried a spicy tequila drink that was garnished with a jalapeño. I don’t like spicy things but that drink was mixed with juice that almost killed the spice right away with a sweet aftertaste. There was a cucumber based drink, which anything cucumber to me is awesome and a raspberry drink that was a little too sweet for my liking.

After we finished with dinner we went to the outside area of The Living Room. We could’ve stayed there all night, the weather was perfect and the music and crowd were good. Alas, we were in Hollywood and with this being the first time for all the girls except myself, I decided it was time to head out. We were meeting up with another friend at the Supperclub on Las Palmas and Vine. It was my first time at this specific club and it was what I expected for a typical L.A. club… a big room, one bar and crazy crowd. It is so strange to see the difference in nightlife between two cities that are very similar in people. After taking two shots of tequila back to back, the night ended short due to bar time, which was probably for the best. We hung out for a bit in the hotel room, but eventually sleep set in.

The next day we checked out of our room. I had to use my debit card for incidentals because I was having problems with my credit card and the manager was nice to call my bank to make sure the charges were removed immediately instead of having to wait 3-5 business days. Like I said… it’s the little things that make me loyal. There is a pool party that goes down at W on Saturdays but since we can experience that any day in Vegas, we headed to Venice Beach to soak up sun. Venice Beach isn’t the cleanest beach, but I love going there simply because of the interesting people. We had lunch at the Sidewalk Café where I actually ran into someone from Vegas. It just proves Vegas is the smallest big city in the world, or at least I like to think so. We headed back to Vegas later that night. We stopped in Victorville on the way home to get a bite to eat. I have never stopped in this city and it was very interesting. I missed the exit to the newer part with all the franchised restaurants and ended up in all the mom and pop places. We stopped at this authentic Mexican restaurant called Rinconsito Del Mar. it was an old diner that had some Mexican décor equipped with an old school jukebox full of Mexican music. The food was okay… I have had better, but the experience itself was intriguing. I can’t say I will be stopping back my next time through.

Hollywood was a great time and I’m so appreciative of the people I met while I was there and for those who got to experience it with me. However, it is good to be home and celebrate Easter with my amazing friends. I went to church yesterday morning and the pastor said this: “You are not here by accident. Someone that was brought into your life brought you to this very moment. Someone that was brought into your life brings you to every moment in your life because that is what is meant to be. It’s up to you to accept it.” I guess I didn’t have to leave Vegas to remember why I am here, but I am still glad I did.