Fabulous Las Vegas with some fabulous co-workers!

What a wonderful job I have! Not only was I able to travel to fabulous Las Vegas for an exciting conference for our industry, but I was finally on a trip with some of my FAVORITE co-workers!

I arrived late Sunday afternoon and headed straight to my resort: the stunning Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas! Luckily the majority of the conference took place here, otherwise I probably would have been stuck somewhere like the Luxor (sorry, work peeps). My room wasn't ready upon check-in, so I decided to pick up all of our conference materials. The front desk then called to let me know it would be at least another 2 hours before I got into my room, so I made my way down the strip to the fabulous Fashion Show Mall...what's a trip to Vegas without shopping?! I did minimal damage, at least in my opinion (Brent begs to differ, I'm sure), ate a wonderful sushi lunch at hot spot Ra, and headed back to the hotel.

View from my terrace!

That night, I met up with my friends and co-workers, Cherie and Clint, who had been attending a different conference all day. We watched the spectacular Sirens of TI show in front of Treasure Island, then headed inside for a delicious meal at Isla Mexican Kitchen. If you've never been, it is a MUST. Their margaritas and guacamole selection are to die for!! After that, we waddled our way back to Cosmo for a few drinks at the exquisite Chandelier Bar. It was just after 11pm when I turned in...though it was after 1am my time!

Chandelier Bar at Cosmo

Monday kicked off with a run down the Las Vegas Strip. This is always a favorite to-do while in Vegas. Not only for the exercise, but for the excellent people-watching. If you go early enough (before 8am), you get the pleasure of seeing at least a dozen women doing their walk-of-shame back to a hotel, car, or wherever. It's quite awesome. Around 10am, I started manning our promo booth. That afternoon, a consultant and friend of mine and I had lunch at Blue Ribbon Sushi...the food was just okay, but the service was excellent! I would plan on going back, however, the prices were somewhat ridiculous. The rest of the afternoon was spent promoting our booth...

The whole premise of this conference was for Mahaffey to move into more of a marketing partner role vs. being an average vendor. In order to do that, I came up with an idea to host a video booth, where attendees and exhibitors could come and film a 1-2 minute video promoting their business and telling viewers what strategies they learned and were excited to bring back and implement within their own business. Mahaffey's name is attached to each video, which we called a Mahaffey EventCast (on a Mahaffey-branded YouTube channel), and our name was the talk of the tradeshow floor!

Monday night, the ladies attended the Event Solutions Spotlight Awards, which we were named a finalist for Rental Company of the Year. Though we didn't walk away with the top prize, we were happy for a rental partner of ours. The event itself was mediocre at best...we paid something like $150 per person and didn't even get so much as a light hors d'oeuvres selection!? We made up for it, though, with good company and a trip to the Cheesecake Factory!

Cherie, me, and Angela

Tuesday was a great day, kicked off with another nice run down the strip! It was a long day at the tradeshow, filming company after company, hearing what makes them stand out and their top takeaways from the conference. Mahaffey's Catersource Video Booth a great success!

As soon as the show ended, my super fun co-workers invited me to join them on "The Roller Coaster" at New York New York, which luckily happened to be directly in between both of our hotels. If you haven't ridden this coaster, it is a MUST do! SOOO much fun!

We loved it!!

After that, we all got ready and headed over to Lavo at the Palazzo...another Vegas to-do! I have eaten here twice before, though none of my friends had. Once again, it did not disappoint! Everything from the calamari to the flatbread pizza to the salmon to the incredible wine selection and more is just heavenly! Once we finished our amazing meal, the five of us (Cherie, Clint, Angela, Josh, and myself) made our way over by limo (the said cheaper mode of transportation) to MGM Grand, where we attended KA by Cirque du Soleil. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe this show! It was hands down the most acrobatic, entertaining show I've ever seen. What a treat to go to something so fun with such fun people! The night quickly faded into a blur...but what an exciting blur it was!! ;)

Love me some Angela! :)


The Mahaffey crew! :)


hahaha!

Wednesday was another long conference day...especially after only three hours sleep (so worth it, though!). A big thank you goes out to my friend coffee. Most of the group headed back to Memphis that afternoon, with the exception of Angela and myself. Once I wrapped up our booth and even filmed a marketing promo (more info on that to come soon!), I met up with Angela at Caesar's Palace for more shopping. Once again, I claim only minimal damage to my bank account. :) That night, we ordered some scrumptious room service and turned in early. It was back to Memphis on Thursday!

I sure do love Vegas, but it's always nice to return home. And this time, I was coming home with a new found respect and admiration for both my amazing co-workers and my job, which allows for incredible opportunities like this!